EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED WITH APPLE IN JANUARY

Record App Store salesIn the two weeks covering Christmas and New Year’s, Apple’s App Store hit record sales of $1.1 billion for app and in-app purchases. New Year’s day alone brought in $144 million in sales.

Image credit: Apple.

Apple pumps the brakes on car ambitionsApple’s rumored electric vehicle project, codenamed Titan, may be temporarily slowing down. The company has reportedly issued a hiring freeze after a performance review by Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive. The move follows recent news that longtime Apple designer and one of Titan’s leaders, Steve Zadesky, left the company. Apple is expected to debut its electric vehicle in 2019.

Google paid Apple $1 billion for searchA recent lawsuit between Oracle and Google revealed that the search giant paid Apple $1 billion in 2014 to be the default search engine on Apple’s iOS. That figure is in line with previous estimates, but it was the first time an official number had been revealed.

iPhone upgrades off to a great startCitizens Financial Group, which Apple uses to fund loans for its iPhone upgrade program, said this month that it currently has $220 million in iPhone loans. Piper Jaffray thinks this means 250,000 iPhones have been purchased though Apple’s iPhone upgrade program since the service launched back in September. Analysts believe the upgrade program could push the average customer’s iPhone upgrade cycle from 22 months to 15 months by 2018. Image credit: Apple.

Apple Music growsApple’s nascent music streaming service now has 10 million paying subscribers, according to the Financial Times. If that number is correct, Apple Music surpasses the 4 million paying subscribers Pandora has, but it still has a long way to go to catch up to Spotify’s 25 million paying subscribers. Image credit: Apple.

4-inch iPhone rumors heat upImages of Apple’s alleged 4-inch iPhone leaked twice this month. The new device, which is being referred to as either the 6c or 5se, will likely debut at an event in March. The specifications are still unknown, but it’s expected to have Apple’s A8 or A9 processor, Touch ID, and Apple Pay.

Apple makes a big push into India Apple sent a request to India's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion this month, asking for permission to open its own retail and online stores in the country. India is starting to soften its laws requiring foreign companies to use locally-sourced materials if they want to sell products directly to consumers. It’s still unclear whether or not Apple will get approval, or when it would be able to open Apple Stores in India.

Image credit: Apple.

Apple increases Mac shipmentsIn 2015, Apple was the only top five PC vendor to increase shipments from the previous year, according to research from Gartner. Apple’s shipments grew 5.8%, while Lenovo, HP, Dell, and Asus’ shipments all fell. Image credit: Apple.

Apple loosens its grip on iAdAfter six years of overseeing ad campaigns on its mobile ad platform, Apple is handing over the reigns to advertisers and publishers. The move comes as Apple only earned about 5% of all mobile display advertising revenue in 2015, while Google took 9.5% and Facebook nabbed nearly 38%, according to eMarketer.

Apple buys facial recognition company Apple purchased an artificial intelligence company, called Emotient, that makes facial recognition software for advertising and marketing purposes. The technology could potentially be used for photo sorting and categorizing. Image credit: Apple.

Apple Watch takes the leadJuniper Research reported this month that the Apple Watch made up 51.5% of smart watch shipments last year. Meanwhile, Google’s Android Wear made up just 10%. Image credit: Apple.

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