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Shooting at Michigan splash pad leaves 'nine, maybe 10 victims': authorities
Gunfire erupted at a splash pad in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, leaving as many as 10 people wounded, authorities said.
Longtime Apple executive Phil Schiller on Wednesday acknowledged a court-ordered makeover of the U.S. payment system in its iPhone app store hasn't done much to increase competition -- a shortcoming that could result in a federal judge demanding more changes.
Schiller, who has been overseeing the iPhone app store since its inception in 2008, made the admission during occasionally sheepish testimony about the new payment options that so far have been shunned by all but a few dozen apps since their introduction in January.
"We have worked hard to create this program and I think we need to do a lot more to do to get developers," Schiller said. "There is work in front of us to make that happen."
Schiller's appearance came two weeks into ongoing hearings being held in Oakland, Calif., federal court to determine whether Apple is properly adhering to an order issued as part of an antitrust case alleging its iPhone app store had turned into an illegal monopoly.
Although U.S. District Judge Gonzalez Rogers rejected the monopoly claims made by Epic Games, she ordered Apple to lower the barriers protecting its previously exclusive payment system for in-app digital transactions and allow developers to display links to alternative options.
That shake-up threatens to undercut Apple's own lucrative in-house payment system, which generates billions of dollars annually through commissions ranging from 15 per cent to 30 per cent of the purchase amount on digital transactions completed within iPhone apps.
After more than two years of ultimately unsuccessful attempts to overturn the order to allow alternative payment links within apps, Apple in January complied with the requirement. As part of the change, Apple set up an application process to approve links to alternative payment systems and imposed fees of 12 per cent to 27 per cent when users clicked on those options.
Epic, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, asserted Apple's commissions for clicking on external payment links combined with other costs for payment processing effectively make the alternative more expensive than just paying Apple's fees for using its standard system.
Prompted by Epic's objections, Gonzalez Rogers is now mulling whether to hold Apple in contempt of her order and taking more drastic actions aimed at giving consumers more payment choices in hopes of fostering competition that could lower prices.
In the five hearings held on the issue so far, Gonzalez Rogers has repeatedly sounded frustrated with Apple executives while occasionally asking questions, suggesting she thinks the iPhone maker is mostly focusing on how to preserve its profit margins and corral most payments to its in-house system.
Although the judge was relatively measured during Schiller's testimony, she was more blunt last week when was of his subordinates, Carson Oliver, was on the witness stand and she asked whether he understood the intent of her order.
"Did you understand the point was to increase competition?" Gonzalez Rogers said. After Oliver confirmed he did, the judge muttered, "Doesn't seem like it."
During his Wednesday testimony, Schiller repeatedly defended Apple's response to the judge's order as well-intentioned to allow more competition while protecting the privacy and security of users.
But he had trouble explaining why the company is receiving so few applications to allow external payment links.
In the first four months, only 38 apps have sought approval for external payment links, and only 17 of those currently engaged in digital transactions, according to evidence submitted in the hearings. That is out of about 136,000 apps in the U.S. that have completed digital transactions in the U.S.
Schiller said the facts emerging in the hearings -- all of which he has attended -- have prompted him to create "an action item" to prod more iPhone apps to take advantage of external payment options.
Gunfire erupted at a splash pad in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, leaving as many as 10 people wounded, authorities said.
Canadians would get more than $1 billion in unclaimed benefits each year through an automatic tax filing system, according to a report published by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).
The owner of a northern Ont. camp is continuing to clean up after an intense storm that prompted a tornado warning Thursday ripped through the area breaking his dock and downing trees.
The City of Calgary declared a local state of emergency Saturday morning in response to the latest developments in a major water main break that is impacting the city.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has concerns with how conclusions were gathered in a spy watchdog report.
London put on a display of birthday pageantry Saturday for King Charles III, a military parade that marked the Princess of Wales ' first public appearance since her cancer diagnosis early this year.
Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers is set to begin at Rogers Place.
36-year-old Daniel Callihan was arrested Thursday after a 35-year-old mother was found dead and her two abducted daughters were later discovered in Mississippi – one dead and the other alive – in what investigators say may be a human trafficking case.
Vancouver police are warning the public that the man who stabbed a stranger in a downtown coffee shop in January 2022 has been released and will be living in the city again.
Fancy Pokket owner Mike Timani has decided to create a 220-foot long flat bread to celebrate its 35th anniversary.
If certain goals that are in the Paris Climate Accord aren't met, the existence of polar bears in the Hudson Bay may come to an end.
In an attempt to invite one of the most popular recording artists in the world to the land of living skies – the City of Swift Current has offered to rename itself in honour of Taylor Swift.
More than a dozen dogs arrived by Cargojet early Thursday morning to the People for Animal Wellbeing Shelter to find a permanent place to call home in New Brunswick.
Peggy's Cove, N.S., is one of the most famous locations in the Maritimes. Recent visitors were treated to more than just the iconic landmark.
Hundreds of fans lined up to meet the Trailer Park Boys in Dartmouth, N.S., Tuesday, as Ricky, Bubbles and Julian promoted their new brand of potato chips.
Car break-ins plague Canadians across the country, but instead of worrying about theft, a northern Ontario woman is cleaning up a big mess that she says will not be covered by insurance after a black bear broke into her Honda Civic and took a nap.
Members of a Hutterite colony in southern Alberta have potentially built the world's tallest structure made of Popsicle sticks.
A dog who spent the first three-and-a-half years of his life suffering and almost a year at a shelter has found his forever home, according to the BC SPCA.