Australian Court Orders Apple to Open iPhone Sideloading, Third-Party Payments

The judge said Apple may apply by Feb. 15 for a delay to May 3, 2027, subject to court approval. The judgment cited Apple's 2020 actions against Epic Games, including refusing to activate Epic's direct payment option, removing Fortnite from the App Store and banning Epic's developer account. The judge called the removal and the account ban a typical case of Apple enforcing restrictive terms in violation of Section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

The court also barred Apple from requiring developers to report transactions completed through third-party payment channels and from forcing developers to offer Apple payment alongside an alternative payment method. Shaoshupai reported that Apple currently applies such rules in Brazil, Japan and other markets. Apple told Reuters it would seek a stay and appeal, saying it wanted a ruling that respects intellectual property and protects the safe and reliable App Store experience consumers and developers expect.

On Oct. 21, the European Commission opened a formal investigation into Booking.com under the Digital Services Act. The probe will examine whether the platform adequately assesses and mitigates risks from fake listings and phishing scams, and whether it clearly labels paid promoted accommodation listings. It covers nonexistent properties, people impersonating hosts and non-compliant accommodation information, and will assess whether Booking.com takes effective steps to remove such content. Regulators will also check how Booking.com shares order and guest data with accommodation providers, the design of its in-app messaging service and measures to prevent that data from being used for phishing and payment fraud. Opening an investigation does not mean a violation has been found; if a breach is confirmed, Booking.com could face a fine of up to 6% of global annual turnover.

China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and the National Engineering Laboratory for Computer Virus Prevention and Control Technology issued a warning on Oct. 22 about attacks by the Weaxor ransomware. The centers said they had found multiple attacks on users in China in which important files were encrypted and renamed with suffixes such as .weax, with ransom notes left on infected machines demanding contact and payment. The ransomware has multiple versions that are delivered according to the target operating system and can cover most Windows and Linux platforms. It mainly targets enterprise databases, OA office systems and other business systems. It does not self-propagate; attackers deploy it inside a target intranet automatically or manually after breaking in.

Anthropic announced Claude Duet on Oct. 21, describing it as an AI agent that can work proactively. The app organizes important cross-application items each day, reminds users of issues that need action and continues delegated tasks in the background after the user leaves. It can call more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in Claude Marketplace, covering services including Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe, LinkedIn, Canva, Shopify and DocuSign. It can complete online payments through Link or Shop Pay after user confirmation and uses virtual cards to avoid exposing real card numbers. Anthropic said Claude Duet does not directly access passwords or login tokens and must obtain user approval before sending messages, making payments, signing documents or deleting content. A classifier blocks requests that would leak highly sensitive information such as credit card numbers and government ID documents. The service is built on Claude Opus 5.5 and is available as iOS and Android apps and on claude.ai. A research preview is live, with a waitlist for Pro and Max subscribers in the US; preview usage shares plan limits with other Claude features.

Insta360 released the Insta360 Mic wireless microphone on Oct. 22, positioning it between the Mic Pro and Mic Air. Its transmitter has the same 1.22-inch six-color e-ink screen as the Mic Pro and supports automatic anti-clipping, dynamic gain, two levels of noise reduction, timecode and a maximum transmission distance of 400 meters. The microphone unit is the same as the Mic Air's, with a single microphone and omnidirectional pickup only. The Insta360 Mic has no built-in storage but accepts microSD cards from 8GB to 1TB; with a card installed, it supports 32-bit float internal recording. It supports up to four transmitters with one receiver and two transmitters with four receivers, and its transmitters can be mixed with Mic Pro transmitters on the same receiver. Battery life is slightly longer than the Mic Pro's, at 13 hours for the transmitter and 34 hours for the charging case. Prices are 439 yuan for a single transmitter, 799 yuan for a one-transmitter, one-receiver kit and 1,199 yuan for a two-transmitter, one-receiver kit.

Bose said on Oct. 22 that it had completed its acquisition of Skullcandy. Bose said the deal was aimed at expanding its user base, citing Skullcandy's strength in bold design, youth culture and sports communities, including music, gaming, fitness and snow, skate and surf sports. Skullcandy will continue as an independent brand, keep its headquarters in Park City, Utah, and sit within Bose's premium consumer audio business. It will gain access to Bose audio technology, research and development resources, global distribution and business partnerships. Before the deal, the two companies had a multi-year partnership under which Sound by Bose technology was introduced into a series of Skullcandy headphones.

PFU announced the HHKB Professional Elite keyboard on Oct. 22 to mark the 30th anniversary of its HHKB brand. The limited-edition model is based on the 2006 10th-anniversary HHKB Professional HG, and its Elite name traces back to the development code of the first HHKB Professional. It has a one-piece machined aluminum body with sandblasted and anodized surfaces, Type-S silent electrostatic capacitive switches and a newly designed internal mounting structure. Replaceable feet under the keyboard allow four tilt angles. PFU will make 300 units worldwide, 250 for Japan and 50 for China, each laser-engraved with the HHKB Professional Elite name and a limited-edition number. It will cost 300,000 yen excluding tax, about 12,700 yuan.

The same Shaoshupai roundup listed EA's closure of BioWare and cancellation of a new Mass Effect game. It also reported that Spotify is requiring family-plan members to confirm they live at the same address by scanning a QR code, with users who fail to confirm within seven days barred from rejoining a family or duo plan for 12 months; that Amazon renamed Kindle Unlimited to Kindle+ and extended it to audiobooks; that The Browser Company will shut down the Arc browser on Dec. 22; and that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology established an industrial software standardization technical committee on Oct. 21.

The roundup further reported that Sony discontinued its UBP-X700/K Ultra HD Blu-ray player on Oct. 22, leaving the PlayStation 5 as its only in-production device with Blu-ray playback; that some users of Japanese Sony Xperia models including the Xperia 1 V and newer models in Europe and the US found they could not connect to 5G or use dual-SIM functions, with suspicion that a Sony system update blocked baseband unlocks for cross-region use; that Mozilla, Google and Apple blocked a problematic intermediate certificate from certificate authority eMudhra; and that Apple will show a Made for iPhone Duo badge in the App Store for apps adapted to iPhone Duo. It also said Motorola is expected to release a razr flex 27 with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, a 4.97-inch cover screen, a 6.92-inch inner screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, a 215g body and a 5000mAh battery.