Mac OS Ken Listeners Weigh In on Greyhound
When the movie Greyhound hit Apple TV+ last week, a number of people experienced an audio glitch. Right around 58-minutes into the film, the sound and vision fell out of sync. For me, I exited the movie, went back in, and had no more problems. Curious whether you had the problem and really curious what you thought of the film, I asked for your input. Here’s some of what some of you had to say.
Ken - no relation - confirmed a suspicion of mine. “I worked for the Navy for 40 years,” he says:
…and spent a lot of time on submarines in the control room, and I found the jargon and procedures to be very realistic.
The Tom Hanks character, in some ways reminded me of his character in Saving Private Ryan. In both cases, he is the Captain, but we really don't know very much about him. In Greyhound we know he is religious and wanted to marry his girlfriend, but, really, that is all we know about him as a person. Also, we see that he struggles with Command and with interpersonal relationships as he tries to get to the know the crew and fumbles their names; but he does rely on his XO as sounding board as he needs to make the decision to call for help. As the Captain, we do see how dedicated and professional he is, but also how flawed and still somewhat inexperienced…
“…I thought it as a really great movie and look forward to seeing it again.”
“Two thumbs up from me…” So says Ken - again, no relation.
Eduardo says:
The detail that made an impression on my wife and I was how young most of the men in the crew were. It seemed like the boat was operated by a bunch of kids with a few adults in command. It was almost like the characters played by Tom Hanks and Stephen Graham were the only men in the boat that were older than 25 years.
Our 13 y/o was impressed by the Germans transmitting nasty stuff over the radio. He's reading Sun Tzu's Art of War and he brought up a quote about breaking the enemy by saying nasty things to them.
We didn't notice a lag between the image and the audio at any time. However, at one point my wife did say "What was that noise?" but I believe it was a just a deep horn in the music that sounded too close to a siren. This goes to say the movie succeeded in keeping us on the edge of our seats kind of in a similar situation as the characters in the boat: listening and watching intently to try to figure out what is going on.
Randy did have the sound problem, saying, “I tried everything to fix that glitch and couldn’t. Fortunately it only lasted 2 minutes or so…” As for the film, he says:
I loved the movie otherwise. My wife likes more dialog to explain the emotion going on and got lost in all the “right full rudder; to 92 degrees” lingo. I can just let those details go over my head and take in the fact that he’s brilliant at maneuvering while leading his young crew and getting them all to trust him while building his own confidence.
John wrote in to say:
I thought it was a extremely well done, suspenseful and engaging movie. Tom Hanks was great. It was relatively short, but did not feel like it was missing anything. It seemed very realistic and overall thought it was a great movie. No technical issues with watching it. Ended up watching it a few times and would likely watch it again. Two thumbs up!
My 16-year-old daughter saw it, but could not get into it. She was having trouble following it, and said that the war stuff was depressing.
And finally, Sheryl wrote to say:
I'm generally not a war movie buff. The violence tends to make me cringe too much. My spouse likes war movies, though, so I recommended "Greyhound" to him (he hadn't heard much about it).
He made me watch "Greyhound" the very next day, and I am so glad he did. The movie is absolutely gorgeous, and I definitely hope it gets released in theaters after the lockdowns end. I rarely watch war movies, I rarely watch movies in the theater, and I have every intention of watching "Greyhound" in the theater. I usually listen to podcasts (Hi, Mac OS Ken!) far more than I watch TV or movies because I need something I can do while drawing, yet I want to rewatch "Greyhound."
This movie rocks.
We did not experience the sound issue.
Black in America: 18 Films Free to View on Apple TV
Have you seen the “Black in America” section in the TV app? Second row down under the “Movies” tab on my Mac and iPhone. There are movies of which you’ve probably heard, such as Ali and Selma. There are also documentaries that’ll probably be new to you like Emanuel - about the senseless murder of nine Black churchgoers by a white 21-year-old in South Carolina a few years ago, Stranger Fruit - about the killing of Micheal Brown in Ferguson, MO. in 2014 and the unrest that followed, and the Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 - which features a number of interviews with luminaries in the Black power movement from a few decades ago.
18 titles featured. Each one’s free to view right now.
Apple News Adds "Protests Across the U.S." Section
So many freakin’ fires - both literally and metaphorically. Remember what a big deal it was when Apple dedicated a special section of the Apple News app to the Election in 2018 and again heading into this year’s election? Then, as the pandemic took hold, Apple started curating a special COVID-19 section in Apple News.
Now - a glance at Apple News on my iPhone shows a new section, above the one for COVID-19, labeled, “Protests across the U.S.” The header indicates that a quick tap will lead readers to “Special coverage of the demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice.”
Personally, even with a curated section, it’s hard to keep up with everything that’s happening. I’m a fan of the “Resources” section though. When I checked it it included “ways to support the cause of racial justice” from The Cut, links to various media explaining how to fight systemic racism from BuzzFeed, and a Vox article on “Tips to more safely protest amid the pandemic.”
Kind of a mashup, as everybody gets mashed up. You can keep up with all that Apple has to say about in in the “Today” section of Apple News for iOS.
New (Lack of) Hours at Apple Stores
Apple’s rolling store closures continue - you know, along with the violence and brutality cocktail being shaken and stirred across the country. I was supposed to pick up something from my local Apple Store on Sunday - not far from some off the national unrest, but not close, either. Saturday, I got a notice that the store would be closed Sunday and that I’d get an email with more information. Checked Sunday and Monday hours were listed, though by the time I went to bed, those had shifted to closed with hours listed for Tuesday. Then, Monday evening, Tuesday shifted to closed for an Apple Store in an area that - as far as I know - has seen no violence.
Not blaming Apple, obviously. Apple likes money. Apple likes taking and making money. Apple likes serving its customers and communities. Having just re-opened from COVID-19 closures, there’s no way they want to be closed.
Apple’s rolling store closures continue. Check yours before heading that way.
Apple's 30 Creative Activities for Kids
If you want something for your kids to do - or something for the kid in you, Apple’s got thirty things to check out. Apple Insider says the Cupertino-company has compiled “30 Creative Activities for Kids,” provided those kids are kitted out with Apple gear. Click the image above for the PDF!
Apple Valuation Pops Back Over $1T
The pit and the pendulum and Apple’s valuation. Just yesterday we heard word that Apple was out of the trillion-dollar-club, after weeks of having its stock hammered by the wider market’s coronavirus selloff. With hope of continued stimulus on the horizon, the markets were up on Tuesday - including Apple. As of this writing, it’s back in the trillion-dollar-club, with a valuation of $1.08T.
I doubt we’ll do that update every day since it’s likely to fluctuate for a while.
By Way of Birmingham - Tim Cook Talks to Fox Business
On Friday’s Mac OS Ken, we heard word of an interview between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Susan Li of Fox Business. Snippets of that interview were released on Thursday. That’s when we heard Cook say that he thought China was getting the Coronavirus “under control…” Now the site Apple Must has a full read on the interview.
Thursday’s clips didn’t mention other locations, but the full interview - aired Friday - did acknowledge the growing number of cases in South Korea and Italy. Asked whether Apple would be moving more production out of China, Cook seemed to say no. Though he acknowledged how much could be saved by moving manufacturing to countries like Vietnam or Cambodia, he says the same quality of work can’t be found such places.
As for the beating Apple’s taken in the market and the beatings the markets have taken as a whole, Cook says he doesn’t focus on the “short term gyrations of the market.” He and Apple look long term. Long term, Apple looks the same to him as it did four weeks ago. Eventually, he thinks the market will recognize that and come back around. “…for me,” said Cook, “I look through that, look through the noise and — and concentrate on the future. And the future looks very bright.”
While Cook may not focus on “short term gyrations of the market,” he’s not ignorant of them. Asked by Li whether Apple would be buying back its own shares on the current weakness, Cook acknowledged that the company is a buyer. Quoting the CEO:
I don’t want to announce anything on the air, but we — everybody knows that we’re buying — we’re buying shares and if the stock is lower, you buy more shares for the same amount of money…
A number of other topics were hit by the CEO, including Apple’s prospects in India, Cook’s dealings with the Trump administration, and more. Click here to watch the full interview.
A look at Apple's Blowout 1QFY2020
Here’s a surprise: The holiday quarter, with the new iPhones and AirPods and Services and such - turned out not too shabby for Apple. “…biggest quarter ever,” according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. In PR speak, Apple’s press release on earnings had the CEO saying:
We are thrilled to report Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, fueled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for Services and Wearables…
Though he didn’t say so in the release, on the call Cook said the December-quarter set records not just for revenue, but also for earnings. Revenue for the quarter came in at $91.8 billion, “an increase of 9% from the year-ago quarter,” representing accelerating revenue growth for the third-consecutive quarter. Earnings Per Share came in at $4.99, up 19% from the same quarter a year ago and also representing an all-time record.
Geographically, the CEO says Apple set records in the Americas, Europe, and the rest of Asia Pacific, and saw Greater China return to growth. What was that driven by? iPhone, Wearables, and Services.
Diving into iPhone, revenue for Apple’s communicator came in at $56 billion, up 8% year-over-year. Growth came compliments of the entire line of iPhone 11, with a special shout out to the run-of-the-mill model. iPhone 11 was the best selling iPhone every week of the quarter, according to the CEO, though the three phones in the 11 line made up the top-three iPhones for the quarter. iPhone saw double-digit growth in many developed markets, such as the US, UK, France, Singapore, as well as in emerging markets such as Brazil, Mainland China, India, Thailand, and Turkey. Apple CFO Luca Maestri says customer satisfaction for the iPhone 11 line is clocking in at 98%. Meanwhile, of businesses planning to buy smartphones this quarter, 84% plan to go iPhone.
Turning to Services, Apple’s CEO said revenue reached $12.7 billion - an all-time record, up 17% versus the same quarter a year ago. That was thanks to double digit growth in all five of Apple’s geographic segments. Mad props to Cloud Services, Music, Payment Services, and the App Store Search Ad business - each of which set all-time quarterly records. December-quarter records were also set for the App Store and Apple Care. Cook then did a quick “greatest hits” run-through of Services stuff, noting first the record App Store spend on Day One - 2020. Customers spent $386 million in the App Store on New Year’s Day alone, up 20% from the same day a year earlier. Informative, though not numbers that turned up in the December-quarter, because 1 January fell in the March-quarter. For Apple Pay, revenue and transactions doubled year-over-year, with a run-rate of 15-billion transactions annually. And they’re stoked about Apple Card, which now lets people buy iPhones and pay for them over 24-months. Also, congrats to Apple News for drawing in 100 million readers, to Apple News+ for adding titles, to Apple Arcade for being awesome, to the Apple TV+ series “Little America” for being critically acclaimed, and to the show “The Morning Show” for being nominated for and/or winning several awards.
While Apple’s CEO didn’t focus on Subscriptions, CFO Maestri did. The company has 480 million paid subscriptions running through its system right now, up 120 million from this time last year. Apple had had a stated goal of 500 million by the end of this year. Instead, they think they’ll pass that this quarter, so they’ve upped the 2020 target. They’ve now set a goal of 600 million paid subscriptions by the end of the calendar year.
Apple’s gargantuan installed base will go a long way to helping that happen. Between Macs, iPads, iPhones, and more, Cook said the company currently has an active installed base of 1.5 billion devices.
Wearables saw the company setting records again, in almost every market it tracks across the globe. If it was standalone, the company’s Wearables segment would be the size of a Fortune 150 company. Apple Watch and AirPods were must have gifts over the holidays, particularly AirPods Pro, which people kind of can’t have because Apple can’t catch up with demand. Same goes for Apple Watch Series 3, Apple’s lowest priced chronometer. Apple Watch set an all-time record for the quarter, and it keeps growing. Over 75% of people who purchased an Apple Watch in the December-quarter were new to the device.
Mac and iPad generated $7.2 billion and $6 billion respectively. Both of those numbers were down, though CFO Maestri said the comparison was tough, thanks to a slew of new products introduced in the 2018 December-quarter. Apple’s CEO said he’s especially happy about the Mac right now, thanks to the 16” MacBook Pro as well as the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR, both of which were launched last quarter. Also, props to the peeps making music on Mac, particularly this week’s Grammy Winners, making their music with Logic Pro X. As for iPad, Cook said the fondle-slab saw growth in key emerging markets like Mexico, India, Turkey, Poland, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. For both iPad and Mac, CFO Maestri said half of buyers buying last quarter were still new to the devices. For iPad, general consumer satisfaction stands at 93%, while business satisfaction stands at 92%.
Cook took time to recognize the work of Apple’s Retail and Online teams. “Thanks in part to a doubling of iPhone trade-ins versus last year,” the CEO says, “retail and online stores set an all-time record, and delivered strong, double-digit growth in iPhone.” Also, new stores… special things happening in all of them… Town Hall stuff.
Then, there are the things Apple says it’s doing to make the world a better place. That includes things like the all-new Everyone Can Code curriculum - introduced last November. Then there’s Apple’s new Research App - the latest in the company’s “ongoing effort to put the future of health in the hands of every user,” according to the CEO. That was also introduced in November. There’s Apple’s pledge to put $2.5 billion toward fighting the affordable housing crisis in California. And finally, there’s the help Apple has pledged for relief of the coronavirus outbreak in China.
Looking at the current quarter, Apple guided for:
revenue between $63.0 billion and $67.0 billion
gross margin between 38.0 percent and 39.0 percent
operating expenses between $9.6 billion and $9.7 billion
other income/(expense) of $250 million
tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent
Does that revenue guidance seem wide to you? Didn’t to me until CFO Maestri attributed the $4 billion range to uncertainty around the coronavirus. So, I guess it is a wide range, except it’s really not. A piece from Business Insider had an incredibly descriptive headline, “Apple blamed China's coronavirus for a ‘wider-than-usual’ $4 billion range in its revenue forecast. But the weird thing is, a $4 billion range is not actually unusual for Apple.” Kind of wordy for a headline, but I’m grateful since the article itself was behind a paywall and I couldn’t get to it. Instead, I looked at the last five earnings reports, including yesterday’s, and found that that headline is correct. For three of the last five reports - yesterday’s, 1QFY2020, and 2QFY2019, Apple offered revenue guidance with a $4 billion range in revenue projection.
“Weird,” as the Business Insider headline said.
Let’s Go to the Phones!
With prepared remarks out of the way, it was time for questions and answers from the financial folk. We’ll start with what may have been the most important question of the call. Shannon Cross of Cross Research had questions about China. Specifically, how were things in China before the coronavirus outbreak, and how are they looking now?
Pre-virus, Apple’s CEO said things were looking sweet. During the December-quarter, Apple saw double-digit iPhone growth in Mainland China, double-digit growth in Services, and strong double-digit growth in Wearables. iPhone 11 is doing particularly well, trade-in programs have been well received, and more new customers are coming to the fold. Cook says about three-quarters of people who bought a Mac in China last quarter were new to the machine, while two-thirds of consumers in China buying an iPad were new to it, too. Three of the region’s top-four selling smartphones were iPhones last quarter. So, yeah. It was a good time.
Turning to now, Cook again expressed the company’s concerns for all affected and again pledged financial help for the recovery. Apple is working close with its partners in affected areas, it’s limiting travel to those areas… outside of that, it’s still gathering data and monitoring the situation.
Focusing on the supply chain, while Apple does have some suppliers in Wuhan, it also has alternate sources for the things it gets from that area. Thing is, it’s hard to know how things are going for its supply sources outside of Wuhan. The impact is less clear at this time. China has extended the Lunar New Year holiday to 10 February. Once suppliers go to re-open, Apple should have a better read on the situation.
Finally, customer demand and sales may be affected. Apple has closed one of its stores and reduced hours at stores that are still open. Those stores are getting regular deep cleaning, and the company is taking the temp (literally) of employees. Channel partners, meanwhile, have closed a number of stores, and - not surprisingly - retail traffic has been down over recent days.
All of that said, execs have done their best to build all of this into their guidance for the current quarter. Hence the totally abnormal/normal $4 billion range in revenue expectations.
Morgan Stanley analyst Katie Huberty noted a modest slowdown in Services growth, from 18% in the September-quarter to 17% in the December-quarter. She wanted to know what slowed down, and Luca Maestri didn’t want to answer. Instead, he pointed out that the 17% growth for the December-quarter was better than the 16% growth for FY2019. He also noted all-time records for a number of Apple’s Services categories.
Her second question, she wasted on questions about 5G. In fairness, she phrased it in such a way that Apple could have answered. Taking it as a given that Apple will introduce a 5G iPhone at some point, she wanted to know what Apple’s CEO saw as the demand driver or killer app for the wireless protocol. Cook said it’s early innings for 5G, he couldn’t be prouder of Apple’s product line-up, and he wasn’t going to talk about future products at this time.
Maybe it wasn’t a wasted question when Huberty asked it. I mean, somebody had to. When Cowen & Co. analyst Krish Sankar burned his, though… well… it felt like burning it. Looking at the overall smartphone market, he said he wondered whether Cook could talk about 5G phones (which are or will be more expensive), budget phones, and how the two will evolve. The interesting part of Cook’s response was the one where he said something along the lines of 5G deployment looks different worldwide than it might here. Otherwise, he wasn’t talking about future products and certainly wasn’t talking about the price of handsets that aren’t even announced.
Cook also crushed a favorite idea of BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan. For a while now, he’s had this notion that Apple could make a ton of money selling ads through Apple TV+ without sacrificing user privacy. Putting the question to Cook, the CEO agreed that there are ways to sell ads without sacrificing user privacy, but it’s not gonna happen through the video streaming service. Cook says what the customer wants is an ad-free product. Keeping ads off of Apple TV+ is not about any Apple aversion to ads, but about giving customers what they want.
Jefferies analyst Kyle McNealy had a really interesting question, especially if you’re a certain kind of nerd. Pointing out that new spectrum is being opened not just for 5G but for even more 4G coverage, his firm is seeing handset upgrades. Are carriers or will carriers offer greater incentives to get people to upgrade their phones? Cook thinks carriers are incentivizing new devices, partly to get consumers to pay for the investments they’re making, and partly to battle the usual, carrier-to-carrier churn.
Next, McNealy wanted to know about supply/demand balance in Wearables, particularly - when will Apple achieve it? Cook says balance should be reached this quarter for Apple Watch Series 3. As for AirPods Pro, Apple’s working hard to reach it, but he just can’t say when it’ll happen.
Mike Olson of Piper Sandler - you heard me… While we may be living in an alternate timeline, this has nothing to do with that. Piper Jaffray merged with another financial firm. So, as of this month, it’s now called Piper Sandler. Anyway, Superman’s pal’s cousin wanted to know why Tim Cook is so high on augmented reality. What will be AR’s entry into the lives of the average consumer? Cook says he gets so excited because he sees it coming from all sides - consumer and business. That’s the reason it’ll pervade, in his estimation.
Tom Forte of DA Davidson wondered whether Apple was using subscriptions or critical acclaim to gage the success of Apple TV+. CEO Cook said success was being judged primarily on the number of subscribers. That said, the product itself is about telling stories. Do that well, and some will be critically acclaimed.
Tune In, Trun On
There were more Qs and As, but why should I have all the fun? If you want to hear the call for yourself, you still can. Apple has made the call available as a podcast. A replay is also available on the company’s Investor site. If you’re interested though, don’t delay. It’ll only be available to stream or download for a couple of weeks.
Apple on an Upswing
Wall Street spent Tuesday not freaking out about the coronavirus. While markets were across-the-board red on Monday, they were green as could be on Tuesday. That included Apple, which was up $8.74, ending the day at $317.69. Then came the earnings call, followed by an after-hours boost. Shares went up another $4.86 after hours, ending extended trading at $322.55.
27 December: New Highest Height for Apple Shares
Apple shares charged out of the gate on Friday. After Thursday’s new intraday high of $289.98 and closing high of $289.91, it was Katie bar the door as shares shot up nearly four-bucks, hitting a new intraday high of $293.97. You might expect those words to be followed by, “and a new closing high of,” but not this time. Despite the early morning spike, Apple shares actually ended the day off 11-cents. They closed the week at $289.80.
(Edited: The original post said Apple’s intraday high on Friday was $293.76. Despite this being the highest point visible on any chart, a number of sources list the actual high as the $293.97 mentioned above - KR)
26 December: New Intraday and Closing Highs for AAPL
Blazing through the holiday week - Apple shares hit new intraday and closing highs the day after Christmas. A quick check of Yahoo Finance shows Apple shares on Thursday hitting as high as $289.98 before settling to a close at $289.91.
16 December 2019: Apple Hits New Intraday and Closing Highs (Again)
Last week’s rally for Apple shares was driven by indications that a phase-one trade deal between the US and China was likely. Monday’s rally was likely driven by news that that had happened. Apple shares hit new intraday and closing highs on Monday. Shares Monday hit as high as $280.79 before closing close to a dollar under that. Apple’s official closing price was $279.86 - nearly five-dollars higher than Friday’s close of $275.15.
Thoughts on the Streaming Wars
I want to put in my guess for the winner of the streaming wars.
There won’t be one.
Oh, if I were feeling optimistic, I’d say something like, “the real winner will be the viewer!” Two things on that front, though: First, I’m not sure that more stuff that keeps people (and by people I mean me) from going outside is a win. And second, I actually meant streaming services, as you likely guessed.
My guess for the winner of the streaming wars is no one. There will be no one winner. At least, no time soon. Perhaps a more positive way top put that: Everyone will win. Or, big players will win for a few reasons. Disney+ will do well because of good content, massive amounts of content, a low price, Marvel, and Star Wars. Amazon Prime Video will do well because of good content, massive amounts of content, and bundling. Netlfix will do well because of good content, massive amounts of content, and habit. And Apple TV+ will do well because of good content, a steadily growing list of titles, low price, and a one-year free subscription for millions of viewers to build buzz and habit.
Daily I come across articles with headlines like, “What Apple and Disney have to do to take down Netflix.” Seems likely they can do what Apple tends to do: Be Apple. Make a good product. If it goes as well as many Apple products have in the past, people will be drawn to it. If not, iPod hi-fi and iPod socks didn’t kill the Cupertino-company. See also Ping and MobileMe.
Tim Cook Marks Veterans Day on Twitter
Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter to mark Veterans Day on Monday. Actually, he did that to end the week last week and to start this one. Last Friday 8 November, Cook posted a picture of himself with a bunch of Apple employees who have also served in the military. The picture was accompanied by the message:
It was an honor to celebrate the Veterans in our Apple family today — it’s a privilege to call you coworkers. Special thank you to General Tony Thomas for spending the day with us and for sharing your wisdom. Thank you for your service.
As for the day itself, Cook hit Twitter on Monday with the Winston Churchill quote, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.” To that, Cook added, “To the Veterans in my family, at Apple, and all around the world — we appreciate your service and sacrifice.”
Apple TV+ and the Early Cancellation
While double-checking whether the $49.99 option was available to anyone, I noticed something I’d seen mentioned online, though apparently immediately forgot: Apple TV+ cancellation is effective immediately.
Often, you can start a free trial of a service, cancel it immediately, then use the unused portion of the free trial until the trial ends. I’m not sure I’m explaining that clearly. Let’s say a service has a one-week free trial. I want to try it, but I’m horrible about remembering to cancel things before I’m charged. A lot of times, I’d be able to start a free trial, then cancel it right away. Despite my cancellation, the reminder of the free trial would still be available to try. Come the seventh day, the service would stop working (boo), but I wouldn’t be charged (yay).
Yeah, not Apple TV+. The subscription management tab for Apple TV+ (the same one that has the two pricing options) has a big, obvious button that says “Cancel Free Trail.” It also has a sort of disclaimer under the button, saying:
If you cancel, you and your family members will immediately lose access to Apple TV+ and the remainder of your 1 year free trial. You can’t reactivate this trial.
It’s $4.99. Chances are being accidentally charged $4.99 a year from now won’t wreck you. Still, if you’ve started the trial and intend to cancel before being charged, probably better to ask Siri to set a reminder for mid-October 2020.
Apple Pulls Nearly 20 Apps from App Store Over Adware Violations
Apple has kicked nearly 20 apps out of the App Store. Business Insider says the Cupertino-company put the kibosh on the apps for violating its adware policies. The security company Wandera found that apps from India’s AppAspect Technologies Pvt. Ltd. were pulling some shady stuff in the background. According to the report:
Wandera researchers found that the apps contained trojan-clicker malware, meaning that the apps could open links or webpages in the background and click them without the user's knowledge, which can artificially inflate traffic and generate ad revenue for the owner. Known as adware, it isn't necessarily as dangerous as other forms of malware, but it can drain a device's battery life.
Logos for removed apps via Wandera
Interestingly, the Business Insider report had Apple confirming the removal of 18-apps. While it looked like 18, Wandera says it was 17-apps, with one app served in two regions with distinct metadata but the same codebase, splitting the hairs of angels dancing on the heads of pins. The apps span a number of categories from financial apps to cricket scores to a couple that look like religious news. They include:
RTO Vehicle Information
EMI Calculator & Loan Planner
File Manager – Documents
Smart GPS Speedometer
CrickOne – Live Cricket Scores
Daily Fitness – Yoga Poses
FM Radio – Internet Radio
My Train Info – IRCTC & PNR
Around Me Place Finder
Easy Contacts Backup Manager
Ramadan Times 2019
Restaurant Finder – Find Food
BMI Calculator – BMR Calc
Dual Accounts
Video Editor – Mute Video
Islamic World – Qibla
Smart Video Compressor
Scenes from 2019's iPhone Launch
I mentioned on Friday 20 September - new iPhone day - how great tit would be to get pics from people who braved lines for a new communicator. People did not disappoint.
Jacobi (@JACOBI_XYZ on Twitter)
Jacobi sent a few pics from Houston’s remodeled Highland Village location. He wasn’t sure he’d make the store’s re-opening, due to the storms hitting the area last week. On Friday, we wrote in, saying:
I live about 2 miles from the Apple Store, and made it there around 7 AM where there was a line... even a guy with a sleeping bag (still figuring out when he got there as we just had a major storm ). Anyway, it was to see all my friends that work for Apple who had disbursed to other stores during the remodel — and had a great time basking in the glow of the new store — and even got to chat with the crew that supply and maintain the trees at the stores! I stayed a couple hours, sitting through a few Today At Apple sessions (which were all basically about the iPhone 11 camera), went back home before the rain started up again… All-in-all, it was a good day.
Jacobi (@JACOBI_XYZ on Twitter)
A look at the inside of Jacobi’s re-opened, Houston Apple Store.
Jacobi (@JACOBI_XYZ on Twitter)
Merf was traveling in Berlin when he snapped this iPhone 11 day line. He wrote:
We happened upon it as we were walking to get breakfast Friday morning. Took me a second to understand what all the crowds were about since we’ve been in Europe for a week and I am behind my MacOSKen podcasts. Didn’t realize it was iPhone 11 launch day since I was sitting this year out (fingers crossed for USB-C next year).
Scott (@macsupport on Twitter)
Scott hit me on Twitter to say, “Apple Topanga, Apple Northridge and Apple Sherman Oaks Fashion Square all have lines.” Not sure which one this was, but thanks for the pic!
Gary sent a shot from New Orleans (above), saying, “730 at night still a very decent line outside the Apple Store in New Orleans Louisiana.”
@margarth on Twitter
Twitter's @margarth checked in from Bridgewater, NJ.
Don C.
Don C. was in NYC. He sent several shots from Apple’s newly re-opened Glass Tabernacle, including video of Apple CEO Tim Cook (screenshot below).
Don C.
Don’s POV:
Here is a glimpse of the scene, right at 8 am for the Apple Fifth re-opening... amazing after all these years, Apple still draws crowds with passion, love and eager wallets....
Screen grab of Don C.’s Tim Cook video.
Richard W. (@rbwaia on Twitter)
Richard W. (@rbwaia on Twitter) hit me with this pic, saying, “I was in NY for business... decided to go ahead and burn thru my stand goal on the watch ... and get an iPhone 11 Pro while I was at it ;-)”
Tremendous pic, Richard! Thanks!
2019 Earth Day Sticker Shock
Duplicates on the top row are not what they appear.
Hey, did you get out and get your Earth Day stickers and medal on Monday? I did. Funny thing: When I went to see the stickers in iMessage, they showed last year’s stickers, not the ones promoted for 2019. Checked again later, and for a split second I saw the 2019 versions before the flipped back to the 2018 editions. So, I tried sending one. Actually, I simply chose one to send.
They’re the 2019 versions, disguising themselves for some reason as last year’s models. It’s good news. Otherwise my 30 minutes of activity, focusing on the world outside, would have been for nothing.
Apple and Twitter and the First Black Hole
And finally today, I’ve been spending a lot less time on Twitter lately. Too much anger on Twitter, which sometimes excites too much anger in me. Then I saw something a friend had re-tweeted:
Your mind is your
internal vision board.
Don't fill it with things
you fear or want to avoid.
Focus on good things.
Nice, right? Not something I was going to mention here, but nice.
Within a couple of minutes of seeing that, I got an email from a friend of mine - Dr. Robert Hurt. He’s a visualization scientist at Caltech/IPAC working with missions like NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
You heard about the black hole, right? According to a piece from the BBC, “Astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy.” And we all got to see that picture on Wednesday. Well, Robert wrote to me, saying:
…I was thinking about you this morning during your podcast and was musing whether there was a way to connect today’s amazing black hole imaging results to Mac news, given a general prevalence of Macs amongst astronomers.
“Then a colleague pointed out this moment-of-discovery tweet,” which Robert then pointed out to me. Tamy Emma Pepin posted:
Congratulations to Katie Bouman to whom we owe the first photograph of a black hole ever. Not seeing her name circulate nearly enough in the press.
Amazing work. And here’s to more women in science (getting their credit and being remembered in history)
That Tweet had a picture of Bouman - looking ecstatic, as she should. According to Heavy.com, she’s “the researcher who led the creation of an algorithm that allowed scientists to capture images of a black hole for the very first time.”
And the picture in the Tweet - of Bouman showing the world what a black hole looks like: I can’t make out the model, but she is most definitely sitting in front of some sort of MacBook.
“There’s a feel-good news story for you that won’t be on MacRumors,” wrote Robert. And there’s focus on a good thing.
I hope your day is wonderful.
Following AAPL and Millennials
Following up on a story brought to you on the Friday 11 January 2019 edition of Mac OS Ken. It was then that I told you of a Markets Insider report that had millennials buying Apple shares big time. That was based on growth on the trading app Robinhood, which counts millennials as a significant portion of its user base.
Turns out, the deck may have been stacked.
Over the weekend, listener Eric became fact checker Eric, for which I am grateful. He wrote to say:
Just listened to Fridays show with the segment about millennials buying Apple stock through Robinhood. While I'm sure there are some, maybe even many, buying Apple stock, it should also be noted that Robinhood had been running a promo since December 1 (that's the earliest I heard anyway) where if you sign up for a new account or refer a new member, you receive an Apple stock for free. I'm guessing that has a lot to do with the growth over the past nine weeks.
Gosh that would have been a neat thing for Markets Insider to note. Thank goodness we have Eric, who does - in fact - rock.
Wedbush Still Wedbullish on Apple
News of note from a note a guy wrote. I got to take a look Monday at a message to clients from Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives. Under the heading, “Taking a bite out of the Apple Bear thesis; seeing the forest through the trees,” Mr. Ives argues that while Apple may have been graceless in saying “no more unit sales,” he doubts they were reckless. Quoting his note:
For a company that carefully plans out images, locations, and themes for launch events a year in advance in excruciating detail this was not a last minute decision taken lightly by management and the Board and we believe this carefully timed move (while appearing flippant) was exactly the opposite and is another major step forward in getting the Street to value and look at Apple as a services driven company for the next decade+ built on the heels of its iconic iPhone product success.
He likes the growth of Apple’s Services business, he likes the gross margins for Apple’s Services business, and he’s still a big Apple fan. He’s way positive on Apple shares. His 12-month price target on them is $310.