Here are five things you must know for Friday, Dec. 29:
2. — Apple Apologizes
Apple Inc. (AAPL) apologized and said it would offer discounted battery replacements for older model iPhones after users discovered that the company’s operating system updates deliberately slowed down the devices.
Apple said the operating system changes were made to avoid sudden shutdowns of devices as their batteries age. But some users complained that the degraded speeds actually served as an underhanded trick to drive people to upgrade to a newer phone.
Apple denied that. “We have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades,” the company said in a statement.
Nevertheless, Apple said it would cut the price of replacement batteries for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later to $29 from $79 starting in late January. The company also said it would update its operating system to give users “more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery.
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