Russia arrests men accused of hijacking Australian Apple devices

Russian government officials say they have arrested two people accused of hijacking Apple devices in Australia and demanding ransom money. The scheme was reportedly lead by a 23-year-old man identified only as Ivan; an unnamed 17-year-old is said to have been his accomplice. Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs states that both are from Moscow, and were arrested during "operational activities" conducted by the Interior Ministry. One of them has already been tried in the past.

Retail workers, Apple Australia settle on new four-year contract

Apple retail workers and Apple Australia have come to an agreement on a new four-year employment contract, reports say. Under new terms set to take effect November 1st, entry-level pay will rise to $22.45 AUD ($20.95 US) an hour, while annual pay increases will be capped at 2 percent. The contract also restructures the hierarchy of Australian Apple Stores, defining specific responsibilities. Level 1 workers are those assigned to tasks like helping customers and doing repairs; Level 2 belongs mostly to supervisors, while Level 3 involves managerial positions like Business Leader, Store Leader, or Market Leader.

Australian Apple device owners witness products held ransom

A number of Australians are finding their iPhones, iPads, and/or Macs locked and held for ransom by one or more hackers, according to the Sydney Morning Herald and Apple's support forums. Victims are getting Find My Mac/iPhone notifications saying their devices have been hacked, and asking for a certain amount of money to be sent to a PayPal account before the hacker(s) will unlock them. A recurring name used in the attacks is "Oleg Pliss," but that's believed to be an alias.

iCloud sees outage in Australia, New Zealand

iCloud users in Australia and New Zealand have been experiencing outages for about half a day, according to complaints. Most affected people say they can't reach any iCloud functions, and some people complain that iMessage is failing as well. Apple's System Status page has made no mention of the downtime.

Newegg starts shipping selected range of products to UK, Australia

Confirming rumors from the end of March, electronics retailer Newegg is expanding its reach from its existing online stores in the United States, Canada, and China into more international markets. In a pilot program, customers located in the United Kingdom and Australia will be able to order a limited range of items from the US store for dispatch to either country.

Apple hikes App Store prices in Australia, India, Turkey, other areas

Apple is raising iOS and Mac App Store prices in several countries, according to an email memo sent to developers. The hikes will impact Australia, India, Indonesia, Turkey, and South Africa. Apple blames the change on fluctuations in exchange rates, which the company adjusts for on a regular basis.

Briefly: PayPal expands payment options, Pebble sells 400,000 watches

Paypal is expanding the range of food-related payment options available in its apps in the United Kingdom and Australia. Already available in the United States, the Pay At Table and Order Ahead options in its iOS and Android apps are being enabled in the two countries, which allow users to pay for food at the table via the app itself, or to place orders for food for later pick-up from the location. Head of retail services for PayPal UK Rob Harper advised to TechCrunch the new features will be spreading to other European countries in the near future.

Report: Apple dodged taxes on $8.9B in Australian profits

Apple's practice over the past decade of funnelling all of its foreign profits through its international sales office in Cork, Ireland has allowed it to skip out on taxes in some other countries on billions of dollars in profits, according to an audit done by the Australian Financial Review. In Australia, Apple has paid only $200 million on ten years' worth of profits, totally nearly AUS $9 billion, the report said.

iTunes Radio reaches Australia in first international expansion

iTunes Radio is now available to people in Australia, Apple has announced. There the service is functionally identical to its American sibling, in that it's primarily supported by advertising, but free to people who have an iTunes Match subscription. To listen, people need a Mac or Windows PC with iTunes, an Apple TV, or an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

New Brisbane Apple Store opening met with long lineups

The opening of Apple's new flagship store in Brisbane, Australia was met with unusually long lineups, observers note. People are said to have started forming a line almost 15 hours before the 10AM launch. Many of the people in line were reportedly aiming for the store's exclusive launch t-shirt; Apple regularly gives away custom shirts during the openings of high-profile outlets.