More Nominations and a Couple of Awards for Apple TV+
Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay
“In the future,” said Andy Warhol, “everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” And I’ll say, it’s starting to look like they’ll get an award for it, too.
News of more nominations for Apple TV+, today. iMore says the Cupertino-streamer has been nominated for five awards by the American Society of Cinematographers, and four awards by the Cinema Audio Society.
Never heard of them.
Nominations from the cinematographers include single episodes of “Foundation,” “Servant,” “Mythic Quest,” and “Physical,” - with those last three competing against each other in the Episode of a Half-Hour Series Television category. Also nominated for Feature Film, Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy of Macbeth.
On the sound side, the Cinema Audio Society has nominated single episodes of “The Morning Show” and “Ted Lasso” for an award. The Velvet Underground has been nominated in the category Motion Picture Documentary. And Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry has been nominated in the category Television Non-Fiction, Variety or Music Series or Specials.
And congrats go out for a couple of awards as well. The same iMore piece says the Music City Film Critics' Association has honored Bruno Delbonnel with a Best Cinematography nod for The Tragedy of Macbeth. They’ve also recognized Emilia Jones with a Best Young Actress honor for her work in the Apple TV+ film CODA.
Murray Bartlett Joins Apple TV+ Series “Physical”
Murray Bartlett pic via IMDB - “Physical” art via Apple
Another star is getting “Physical” on Apple TV+. That is to say, the Apple TV+ series “Physical” is getting another star. Apple Insider says “White Lotus” actor Murray Bartlett is joining the Rose Byrne series in season-two. If you’ve not seen it, the piece says:
The show follows Sheila (Byrne) as a “quietly tormented housewife” in 1980's San Diego, who takes a journey of empowerment and towards success after discovering a love of aerobics.
The piece says Bartlett “will be playing Vincent ‘Vinnie’ Green, a fitness instructor and weight-loss guru, as well as a late-night informercial pioneer…”
The full, first season of “Physical” is available to stream now on Apple TV+. No word on when season-two hits the service.
Lunar New Year and Unity Apple Watch Activity Challenges on Tap for February
If you’re an Apple Watch owner, Apple’s got a couple of activity challenges coming up in February. MacRumors writes up next month’s Lunar New Year challenge and this year’s Unity challenge, the prizes for which include virtual medallions and virtual stickers to stick in Messages.
The Lunar New Year challenge sounds like a gimme. The piece says it asks participants “to do any workout for at least 20 minutes between February 1 and February 15 to win the award.” It’s unclear whether that’s 20 minutes every day for those 15 days, which seems excessive, or once in those 15 days, which seems too easy. Then again, the Veterans Day challenge tends to be 11 minutes of activity on the day, so… okay. Also unclear - whether this challenge is global or regional. Regional is my guess, though I’m hoping global, because I really want the virtual Year of the Tiger sticker.
As for the Unity challenge… well, unity is a bit more challenging. MacRumors says Apple Watch users can win that one by closing their Move ring for seven consecutive days in the month of February. Again, it’s unclear whether that one is global or regional. Watch your watch for more.
Apple Launches Macro Challenge for iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max Shooters
Image via Apple
Apple’s launching a new contest for iPhone toting shutterbugs - specifically those that shoot things as small as bugs. The Mac Observer says the Cupertino-crew has announced the iPhone Macro Challenge. Specifically for iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max users, it encourages participants to share their “best macro photos on Instagram and Twitter with hashtags #ShotoniPhone and #iPhonemacrochallenge.”
Apparently open to the planet, the submissions started yesterday (25 January) at 6:01 a.m. PST. Submissions close 16 February at 11:59 p.m. PST. Must be 18 years of age or older to win. Ten winners will be chosen by a “panel of expert judges from the industry,” by which they of course mean “the business.” Winners will get paid. Additionally, the piece says:
The winning photos will be displayed in a gallery on Apple Newsroom, apple.com, Apple Instagram (@apple), and other official Apple accounts. They may also appear in digital campaigns, Apple Store locations, billboards, or in a public photo exhibition.
Best of luck. Happy shooting.
The Curious Case of the AirTag and the Secret Government Agency
If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you might try uncovering a secret government agency for $50 or less. A woman in Germany did - with an AirTag. iMore highlights an Apple Insider post, which highlights a Medium post, which I’m sure we could find a way to trace back to Kevin Bacon. According to the write-up of the write-up of the write-up, “Lilith Wittmann spotted references to a Federal Telecommunications Service on a website” in Germany. She did not know what that was. After asking around, nobody knew what it was. So… she mailed an AirTag to it - like you do. “As it turned out,” the piece says:
…it was delivered nowhere near where it should have been and instead landed in a building used by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Cologne. Again, nobody seems to know why. The obvious question is why is mail addressed to a telecoms branch of the government finding its way to one that's designed for the “protection of the constitution” and for what purpose?
Now, a bit of added fun: iMore says the official line from the Bundesrepublik is that the Federal Telecommunications Service “does not exist in the business area of the Federal Government…” Maybe mail to the non-existent organization is like letters to Santa - it’s gotta be delivered somewhere. Why is it on a website though?
You know - they may wanna look into Apple’s Personal Safety User Guide.
Mac OS Ken: A Podcast Looks at 16
I remember where I was 16 years ago today. Do you? Having considered a podcast since late 2004 and worked on “Inside Mac” for about a year… Macworld 2006 was the first time I thought of doing daily Apple news on my own - mad props to Frank Petrie, Daniel East, and Laura Burstein for the support. About three weeks later, on 26 January 2006, an angel of the lord announced this podcast that I thought would last… maybe six months.
Since then, we’ve seen the introduction and rise of iPhone, the slow fade of iPod, the introduction of the App Store, iPhone adding 3G, then 4G, then 5G - what’ll they think of next? iPad followed iPad after iPad - Apple said goodbye to Macworld, then we all had to say goodbye. We saw the passing of Steve Jobs, the rise of Tim Cook… the Mothership built a space ship from which design king Jony Ive disembarked… Apple Retail remade retail, then got remade itself under Angela Ahrendts.
Apple killed the wristwatch with iPhone, then brought it back with Apple Watch. The company spent billions on Beats, which led to Apple Music. And now look at ‘em. They’re making TV shows and movies, including a surprise hit about a soccer coach based on commercial made years earlier. I’m sure making “Ted Lasso” is exactly what Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne had in mind in that garage 45 years earlier.
COVID-19 - that’s been a bummer. More lawsuits for Apple than I care to count, and more podcasts for me than I care to remember. Technocracy Radio, Mac OS Ken: Day 6, Mac OS Ken: Live, EYE Chart Radio, Mission Log, Mission Log Live, The Checklist by SecureMac, In a Few Minutes (Currently on some sort of hiatus) Mac OS Ken: Live (again)… Feels like I might be forgetting one or two…
Some of you followed me from “Inside Mac,” which is humbling. I know almost none of you, but I’m grateful for every one of you. For the emails… for the voicemails… for the Patreon support, the shout-outs on Twitter, for supporting the sponsors that support this show… If I think too much about everything we’ve seen and talked about and everything you’ve helped me do, it kind of makes me teary.
And so we go into year 17. Because… why the bleep not.
Wedbush Analyst Gets in His Q4FY21 Guesses
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives is getting in his guesses for this week’s Apple earnings. Well, reported this week. We’re actually talking about earnings for the first-quarter of FY22, aka the holiday-quarter. Numbers from that will hit on Thursday.
Apple 3.0 ran part of a note Ives wrote, wherein he called for Apple to report revenue of $118.3 billion and earnings per share of $1.88. He figures “iPhone 13 sales were robust globally during a strong holiday season,” which you can expect to hear Apple say. He also says how many of those he thinks Apple sold - wherefore I know not since that is something Apple will not say. The company stopped reporting unit sales in the first quarter of FY19.
Mr. Ives has an “Outperform” rating on Apple shares. He’s set the Wedbush price target on the shares at $200.
“Got Time for a Call?”
And the parade of guesses continues, ahead of the earnings report. Thursday is when Apple will report earnings for the Q1FY2022. Numbers will hit Apple’s site at the close of trading - 1:30 Pacific/4:30 Eastern. Then, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will get on the blower with financial folks. That starts at 2PM Pacific/5PM Easter… Hot Pockets and Hi-C to be served after.
You can stream it as it happens on Apple’s Investor site. The company will make it available as a podcast soon after. It’ll be blogged about. It’ll be tweeted. TikTokers might even… do whatever it is TikTokers do. Lights both high and low will be hit here the day after the call.
Supply Constraints a Likely Topic for Apple Q1FY22 Earnings Call
When analysts start chatting up Apple execs this week, there’s likely to be no shortage of questions about hardware shortages. 9 to 5 Mac lays out some of what it’ll be listening for. While the call will cover the holiday shopping season, the piece says it’ll “also cover the ongoing impacts of the chip shortage that is limiting some products [availability], as well as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Running through a few impacted products, 9 to 5 Mac says:
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro has a delivery date that starts by the end of February, and the 16-inch MacBook Pro can take up to eight weeks to be delivered (via MacRumors).
Despite four-months on the market, the piece says iPhone 13 Pro can still take “up to three to five days” for online delivery. The report says that shows that “manufacturing disruptions” are still affecting Apple, though - in fairness - it could also show robust demand.
Delivery times for the 256GB iPad mini can take as long as six-weeks, according to 9 to 5 Mac. They blame the chip shortage for that.
Sounds sort of dire, though it’s worth noting that Apple was able to deliver on just about everything over the holidays - Polishing Cloths and iPads not included. Additionally, knowing of the headwinds, Apple execs said on the last call that they expected “solid year-over-year revenue growth” for the holiday-quarter.
We’ll see what they have to say on Thursday when Apple reports earnings for the Q1FY2022. Numbers will hit Apple’s site at the close of trading - 1:30 Pacific/4:30 Eastern. Then, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will field questions from financial types. That starts at 2PM Pacific/5PM Easter…
You can stream it as it happens on Apple’s Investor site. The company will make it available as a podcast soon after. We’ll hit highlights here just hours after the call.
Dutch Regulators Fine Apple Over Dating Apps and Third-Party Payments
Things are far from settled for Apple in the Netherlands. You may remember the report from the start of the year that had Dutch regulators saying that Apple would be required to let dating apps in the Netherlands employ payment methods besides Apple’s own in-app payment system. Halfway through the month, Apple said it would comply, though it also planned to appeal the decision. Last week, the Netherlands’ Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) said it would assess whether Apple’s compliance met the requirements that ACM had imposed. It seems they’ve decided it did not. A piece from TechCrunch says:
The Netherlands’ competition authority has fined Apple €5 million (~$5.6 million) for failing to comply with conditions in an order requiring it to allow local dating apps to make [use] of third-party payment technology in their apps.
The biggest problem seems to be that Apple has only proposed solutions and not actually implemented them. The ACM was looking for the third-party payment process to be live by the middle of January, not just for Apple to have a plan.
For what it’s worth, TechCrunch says the ACM’s fines are capped at “a maximum of €50 million in relation to this particular order.” Apple 3.0 had Loup Ventures principal Gene Munster figuring it would take Apple about 30-minutes to make this week’s fine of €5 million, which I guess means five hours for the full €50 million? While TechCrunch also notes how affordable even the full €50 million would be, that’s not Apple’s biggest worry. The piece says the bigger concern is the globe-spanning number of competition complaints against the App Store, including in the EU, the U.K., Asia, the U.S. “In the short term,” says TechCrunch:
…and/or failing a substantial, global competition reform offer by Apple that would make App Store competition complaints go away — a regulatory patchwork looms for iOS app developers as each market/region’s regulators turn their attention to assessing Apple’s small print.
Project Titan’s Joe Bass Leaves Apple for Facebook
Not the Actual Pic from Joe Bass’ LinkedIn Profile
Another member of Team Titan’s out the door. iLounge says:
Joe Bass, head software engineer at Apple Car has recently updated his LinkedIn profile to show he’s now working for Meta [formerly Facebook] and assigned to a new position. Bass has been working since 2015 at Apple’s Autonomous Systems as lead engineering program manager.
Probably should say “had been.” Of his new role, the piece says “Bass is the mixed reality technology technical program management director at Meta.” Pretty sure that won’t fit on a business card. Ooooh! But in the metaverse…
JustWatch: Apple TV+ Grows U.S. Marketshare to 5%
From the “almost nowhere to go but up” file, good(?) news for Apple TV+. Cult of Mac has new numbers from JustWatch that show the Cupertino-streamer growing its marketshare in the States. According to the report:
Apple TV+ has 5% of the U.S. streaming market, according to [JustWatch]. While that makes it a small player, the service started 2021 with just a 3% share, so the year saw significant growth.
Others faltered, though one could argue they can afford to lose a little. According to the firm, Netflix fell from a ~30% share of the U.S. streaming market at the start of 2021 to under 25% at year’s end. While Amazon Prime Video’s fall was not as pronounced, the piece says it slipped from “over 20% in January ’21” to “under 20% by December.” According to JustWatch, “Netflix and Prime Video continually lost market share as other platforms such as HBO Max, Paramount+, and Discovery+ gained momentum.”
Props to the Cult for one big, pedantic point:
JustWatch didn’t reveal estimates for exact subscriber numbers for any of the streaming services, just the relative popularity of each. So don’t take these figures to automatically mean that Netflix and Amazon are losing subscribers. If Apple and others are growing the streaming market, Netflix’s subscriber base doesn’t have to decline for its share of the market to decline.
“Succession” Star Dominczyk Joins Apple TV+ Series “Hello Tomorrow”
Dagmara Dominczyk - Image via IMDB
“Hello Tomorrow!” is saying hello to a new cast member. Deadline says Dagmara Dominczyk is joining the Apple TV+ series, headlined by Billy Crudup. The piece says:
“Hello Tomorrow!” is set in a retro-future world. It revolves around a group of traveling salesmen hawking lunar timeshares. Crudup, who also executive produces, stars as Jack, a salesman of great talent and ambition whose unshakable faith in a brighter tomorrow inspires his co-workers and revitalizes his desperate customers but threatens to leave him dangerously lost in the very dream that sustains him.
Crudup you know from the films Almost Famous and The Watchmen, as well as the Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show.” Dominczyk you know from the Netflix film The Lost Daughter, and the HBO series “Succession.” Others in the cast include Jackie Weaver, Hank Azaria, Haneefah Wood, Alison Pill, Nick Podany (puh-DON-ee) and Dewshane Williams.
No word on when viewers can say hello to “Hello Tomorrow!”
Apple Nominated for Several Art Directors Guild Awards
Image via adg.org
Still more award nominations for Apple TV+ - this time on looks alone. Apple Insider says the Cupertino-streamer has picked up five nominations for the 26th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards from the Art Directors Guild. The piece says those awards honor art directions in “TV shows, films, music videos, commercials, and animated features.” Titles nominated from Apple TV+ include The Tragedy of Macbeth, “Foundation,” “The Morning Show,” “Schmigadoon!” and “Ted Lasso.”
Those last tow are facing off against each other. Always seems unfair.
Apple actually picked up three other nominations, though these are not tied to the streaming service. The ads and promotional pieces “Saving Simon: Shot on iPhone 13 Pro,” “Introducing iPhone 13 Pro,” and the Apple Music piece “Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever” all seem to be up for the same award.
That seems even less fair than the forced fight between “Ted Lasso” and “Schmigadoon!”
The awards will be handed out on Saturday 5 March.
17 UK Apple Stores Open for Walk-Ins
Image via Apple
We used to read Apple store closures and openings in the time of COIVD-19 as an indications of how things were going. Now, they just read as an indication of how things are today. Today, things are more like the before times in parts of the United Kingdom.
iMore ran a report over the weekend, saying that just under half of the Apple Retail locations in the UK are now open for walk-in customers - no appointment required. “After operating its UK stores by appointment only since the beginning of the year,” iMore says it can confirm that “Apple has now reopened 17 stores to walk-in availability…” The piece has the websites for the 17 stores saying:
We're open and look forward to welcoming you. Shop by walking in, reserve a one-to-one session with a Specialist or buy online and pickup in store. Get support at the Genius Bar in store or by making a reservation.
It is worth pointing out, as iMore does, that even “Walk-In Welcome” stores still require face masks, will still have limited store occupancy, are still practicing physical distancing, and still doing the intensive cleaning thing. The site says there’s no discernible pattern to the stores with relaxed regulation versus the more stringent locations. Best to check before you go. The most up-to-date info would likely be on each store’s site.
Apple UK Stores Open for Walk-In Shopping (via iMore):
Basingstoke
Bath
Bentall
Brighton
Brent Cross
Bristol Cribbs Causeway
Kent Bluewater
Kenty Bromley
Lakeside (Essex)
Liverpool
London Covent Garden
London Regent St
Plymouth
Reading
Southampton
Stratford
White City
Apple UK Stores That Still Require Appointments:
Aberdeen
Belfast
Birmingham (both stores)
Bristol Philadelphia St
Cambridge
Cardiff
Edinburgh
Exeter
Glasgow (both stores)
Leeds
Leicester
Manchester Arndale
Manchester Trafford Centre
Metrocentre
Milton Keynes
Newcastle
Norwich
Sheffield
Watford
Wells Fargo Ups Apple Target to $205 on Things to Come
Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers is excited about Apple, and he’s upped his price target on the company to show it. Barron’s (via Apple News) had the analyst issuing a note on Friday, looking for Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri to accentuate the positive on this week’s call with analysts. Quoting Commander Rakers:
We expect a focus on any commentary supportive of a belief that the supply chain is improving, continued confidence in strong end-user demand across the portfolio, as well as services/subscriptions momentum…
Supply chain improvements would certainly be good news near term, though Rakers & Co. are looking a few days past tomorrow. Quoting his note again:
We believe the investment case for Apple has more to do with the company’s monetization of the installed base through an expanded portfolio of products and services (e.g., augmented reality /virtual reality, auto), rather than the near-term setup…
Rakers has a positive rating on Apple shares. He used Friday’s note to raise his price target on Apple shares from $165 to $205.
(Probably) More Where That Came From
Expect a spate of analyst notes this week, headed into Thursday. That’s because Thursday is when Apple will report earnings for the Q1FY2022 - aka the December-quarter. Numbers will hit Apple’s site after the close of trading at 1:30 Pacific/4:30 Eastern. Then the call kicks off at 2PM/5PM… remainder Christmas candy to be served after.
You can stream it as it happens on Apple’s Investor site. The company will make it available as a podcast soon after. Bloggers will Blog. Twitters will tweet. Highlights will be hit here the day after the call.
Foxconn Sees Good First Half of ’22, More Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
Signs of a couple of good quarters for Apple, with a hint of uncertainty to follow. Nikkei ran a piece Sunday with comments from current and former Foxconn leads. At least where Apple is concerned, the world is already expecting a good December-quarter. Now, Apple’s largest manufacturing partner says they’re running full steam ahead through the March-quarter, barely letting the regional new year slow it down. Nikkei has Foxconn Chairman Young Liu saying:
The Lunar New Year is a time for family reunions. But as our performance in the first quarter is likely to outperform [typical years], we will only have two days of holidays at several important facilities… This is a very prosperous situation that we have never seen before.
Humanity side aside, that’s good news. As for the uncertainty, Young Liu went on to say:
We think there will be even more challenges for 2022. However, that will also bring opportunities that we have not seen for decades.
Nikkei had Foxconn founder and former chairman Terry Gou echoing Liu's thinking on the year ahead. The piece says he agreed with the current chairman’s assessment, “that 2022 will still be a year of both ‘turmoil’ and opportunities.”
The next two big trends in Foxconn’s estimation, by the way: electric vehicles and the metaverse.
Bloomberg’s Gurman Expects “Widest Array” of New Stuff from Apple This Fall
Tim Cook from Apple’s “Spring Loaded” 2021 Product Announcements
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has posted a post that may help rev Apple shares headed into the week. According to Gurman, Apple will - this fall - launch “the widest array” of new devices in its history. He says his “back-of-the-envelope list,” includes:
Four new iPhones
A low-end MacBook Pro
An updated iMac
A new Mac Pro
A revamped MacBook Air
An AirPods Pro upgrade
Three Apple Watches
A low-end iPad
Some iPad Pros
To me, that sounds close to same as usual. But, headlines heralding Apple’s “widest array of new hardware products in its history” could give people the tingles. As for whether he’s right, we’ll probably forget to wonder by the fall.
Evercore ISI: Senate Action Against App Stores “Fairly Unlikely”
At least one firm following Apple thinks last week’s theatrics on Capitol Hill may have been just that - theatrics. That it could be sound and fury, eventually coming to naught.
The play in question was the American Innovation and Choice Online Act. According to a piece from The Next Web:
“The act says companies should allow competing businesses the same access to features and operating systems as the platforms’ own apps.” That would, for example, give Spotify the same system-level access as Apple Music on iOS.
Users should be allowed to remove pre-installed apps from their devices. Theoretically, that levels the playing field between third-party developers and soup-to-nuts shops like Apple and Google.
And, the piece says, “The bill also prohibits these firms from taking advantage of non-public data to boost their own products, or making their own products more prominently visible in front of customers.”
The proposed legislation passed out of committee last Thursday, and could now be taken up by the entire Senate. But an analyst with Evercore ISI thinks that may not happen, and - even if it does, odds of its passing are not in the sponsors’ favor. Apple 3.0 ran part of a note from Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani. His note included a quote from Tobin Marcus, Evercore ISI Senior US Policy and Politics Strategist. While talk of the legislation may dominate the current quarter, he thinks the bill’s passage is “fairly unlikely.” Quoting Mr. Marcus:
The 16-6 committee vote overstates the level of support for the bill. Some Democrats, including the 2 Senators from California, voted the bill out of committee in part as a courtesy to [Minnesota Democrat Amy] Klobuchar despite expressing significant reservations, and several other Democrats have concerns and changes they want to make. Some of the Republican support looks soft as well, and getting Senate floor time for this bill before Congress largely shuts down for the midterms will be harder than some commentators appreciate.
Ericsson and Apple Play Suit/Countersuit Over 5G Patents
Apple and Ericsson are at each other’s throats again. Peter Cohen at RCR Wireless wrote up a story last week that had the Swedish telecoms company suing Apple over the Cupertino-company’s continued use of 5G technology in violation of Ericsson patents. Apple used to have rights to use the technology, but those deals expired, it seems. “What’s at issue,” according to the RCR:
…is how much Apple will pay Ericsson for the privilege of using 5G in its devices. Ericsson wants $5 per iPhone. Apple thinks it should pay less, since its marketshare is much greater now than it was in 2015 [when the last patent agreement was set]. What’s more, said Apple, Ericsson’s overall share of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) has decreased.
Anyway, that’s what was at issue, and still is as Ericsson sees it. Since Peter’s story though, Apple has countersued. A piece from Apple Insider has the Cupertino-company arguing that Ericsson suing Apple in different jurisdictions for various amounts indicates that Ericsson does “not want a Court setting fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory ('FRAND') terms for their patents.” Anyway, that seems to be the argument. It looks like Apple is trying to get Ericsson back to the bargaining table. “If Ericsson is not ‘willing to withdraw all of their lawsuits and legal actions,’” the piece says, “Apple wants the court to decide what a fair license fee should be.” Perhaps as added incentive, the iPhone maker has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to block some of Ericsson’s mobile infrastructure products from entering the States. Apple says the products in question violate some of Apple’s patents related mmWave technology.
Apple Posts Valentine’s Day Gift Guide
Image via Apple
MacRumors says Apple has posted a Valentine’s Day Gift Guide. As with every holiday, it seems, Apple thinks the best gift is something made by Apple. No special prices. No special colors or offers. Just… Apple stuff… for the Apple of your eye…