US Senate Votes on Big Tech Likely Pushed Past August Recess
28 JULY 2022 - The US Senate will not vote on big-tech reform before skipping town in August. “Last week,” says a piece from The Mac Observer, “a Democratic caucus from the House of Representatives called on the Senate to vote on two Big Tech antitrust bills before it recesses for August.” This week - not gonna happen.
The two pieces of legislation in question are the Open App Markets Act and the American Choice and Innovation Online Act. TMO says the first would require Apple “to allow third-party software marketplaces” for iPhone and iPad. The piece says the second “would stop tech companies from favoring their own apps over third-party choices…”
Though he calls both pieces of legislation “high priority,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is said to have told constituents Tuesday night that he does not think he has the 60-votes needed to pass the American Choice and Innovation Online Act. The Senate goes on recess next Friday 5 August. It’ll reconvene the day after Labor Day - Tuesday 6 September, when we’ll be humming a tune.
Apple and Google Sued in Portugal for “Overcharging” App Store Customers
28 JULY 2022 - While lawmakers may be off for a month, lawyers never rest. Apple Insider brings news of a new lawsuit against Apple in Portugal. Actually, the piece says both Apple and Google:
…have been hit by class action complaints in Portugal alleging that their 30% app marketplace commission rates are "anticompetitive and excessive.”
Interestingly, the suit - brought by a law professor - argues not on behalf of developers, but on behalf of consumers. The piece says “the complaints allege that Apple and Google have ‘systematically acted in contravention of competition law’ by overcharging Portuguese customers.” If that sounds familiar, there are a few good reasons. The piece points out that, “Apple is facing similar pending lawsuits in the U.S., U.K., Netherlands, and Australia.” Apple Insider says
The suit is seeking compensation for any person who purchased an app or piece of in-app content in the Portuguese versions of the App Store and Google Play Store.
If the suit is successful, the report says Apple could be on the hook for “up to 100 million euros.”
Round Four of Developer Betas Brings Changes to “Unsend” and Edit in iMessage
28 JULY 2022 - The fourth betas of iOS/iPadOS/tvOS 16, macOS 13, and watchOS 9 are out to developers. The Mac Observer says the latest seeds come three-weeks after the previous builds - the longest wait between such builds since iOS 7 in 2013.
That said, there is a pretty sizable change in the fourth-betas around iMessage. At WWDC, Apple announced a couple of new features for its messaging service: The ability to edit messages, as well as the ability to “unsend” messages up to 15-minutes after the initial send. Within days, advocates for victims of domestic violence argued that both new features as announced could be detrimental to such victims. Now, a piece from 9 to 5 Mac says the fourth betas shorten the length of time a message can be unsent from 15-minutes to two-minutes. They also limit the number of times a message can be edited to five, and - perhaps most importantly - 9 to 5 Mac says “each of the edits is logged and visible to both the sender and the receiver of the iMessage.”
While “Apple has not directly addressed that topic,” the report says the “changes are clearly targeted at those concerns.”
Bidding on Busted Apple-1 Prototype Passes $407,000
Image via RR Auction
28 JULY 2022 - It took a few days, but there’s movement again on that pre-Apple 1 Apple 1 computer that’s up for auction. This is the busted demo unit that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs used to interest The Byte Shop in the machine, sealing a deal that would start Apple’s trip to the stratosphere.
Last weekend, bidding moved from just under $130,000 to just over $278,000. After 48-hours of inactivity, it’s made another jump. Bidding now stands at just over $407,000. The auction ends on 18 August.
You thinkin’ a million? I’m thinking maybe a million.
Lamborghini R&D’s Taraborrelli Now Working on Apple Car
Image via LinkedIn
28 JULY 2022 - A star from the car world is punching the clock in Cupertino. 9 to 5 Mac says “Apple has hired Luigi Taraborrelli, a 20-year veteran of the Italian car company Lamborghini.” It’s a hire that may get people off the idea that all Apple’s working on is software. Having served most recently as Lamborghini’s head of chassis and vehicle dynamics, the piece says his responsibilities included:
Chassis Concept Development, Car Characteristic, Overall vehicle laptime performances, Vehicle Dynamics targets, Handling & ride Characteristic, Suspension elasto-kinematics, Car Objectivation, Virtual simulation, Software coding and in-vehicle Software parametrization and calibration activities, Functional safety, Product liability
You know, the percentage of terms I understood in that list is kind of exciting!
The piece says Taraborrelli will be “one of the most senior managers” on Apple’s car project. “He is expected to help lead the design of Apple Car,” according to the report.
Apple Buys 67-Acre Campus in San Diego
28 JULY 2022 - Apple’s picked up a sizable piece of real estate in San Diego. Cult of Mac says the Cupertino-company has bought a 67-acre corporate center in the city for a new campus.
What’s the plan? The Cult thinks it might involve Apple’s wireless modem push. The piece points out that chip-maker “Qualcomm is headquartered in San Diego.” Poaching a person or two might not be off the table.
The 800,000+ square-foot complex reportedly cost the company $445 million. Whatever the plan, Apple’s not tipping its hand. The report has the company saying simply:
We’ve been part of the community in San Diego for more than two decades, and are thrilled to continue investing here as we expand our world-class teams…
Apple TV+ Outs First Trailer for “Bad Sisters”
28 JULY 2022 - Apple TV+ is ramping up the PR machine for a decidedly dark comedy. How dark? So dark that I wouldn’t know to call it a comedy if the latest press release didn’t say so. That release teases “Bad Sisters,” the first title for Apple from Emmy Award nominee and BAFTA Award-winning creator and star Sharon Horgan. Describing the show, Apple says:
The tight-knit Garvey sisters have always looked out for each other. When their brother-in-law winds up dead, his life insurers launch an investigation to prove malicious intent — and set their sights on the sisters, all of whom had ample reason to kill him.
Emphasis, it seems, on dark comedy. The first two episodes hit Apple TV+ on Friday 19 August. They’ll run one per week after that through Friday 14 October. If you want to get a feel for the show, you can catch the first “Bad Sisters” trailer below.
CMR Notes June-Quarter Growth for iPhone and iPad in India
27 JULY 2022 - Apple’s next bright spot may be the subcontinent. Business Standard has word of explosive growth for iPhone in India. The piece has CyberMedia Research (CMR) saying Apple sold an estimated 1.2-million iPhones in India in the June-quarter - one-million of which were made domestically. Not a huge number by iPhone standards. Not a huge number compared to India’s population of 1.3-billion. And yet - if accurate, it represents growth of 94% year-on-year. “Through the course of the second quarter,” says the Business Standard article:
…Apple continued its India market momentum with a stupendous YoY growth, driven by increased local iPhone manufacturing. The iPhone 12 series, along with the iPhone 13 series, accounted for the most iPhones shipped into the market…
And there is plenty of room to grow. CMR puts iPhone’s current share of the smartphone market at 4%.
Also seeing a bit of growth last quarter was iPad. CMR has sales of Apple’s tablet in India coming in at a tiny sounding ~200,000 units. Small to be sure, but it was still up 34% versus the same quarter a year ago. It’s also said by CMR to account for 20% of India’s tablet market.
MacBook Air Continues Intel Eviction
27 JULY 2022 - There’s no more Intel inside the MacBook Air. MacRumors says Apple has replaced the Intel-made controller for the USB and Thunderbolt ports, replacing it with something custom-made. Maybe custom-made by Apple. Maybe custom-made for Apple. Whatever the case, Apple’s one step closer to completing its transition away from the processor giant.
There’s still one sizable step to take, though. Apple’s beefiest machine, the Mac Pro, still sports Intel inside. That machine and its lack of transition made a bit of news on Tuesday. A piece from Apple Insider had Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman saying on the Max Tech YouTube channel that there will not be an M1 powered Mac Pro, though there could have been. Gurman says the Cupertino-company had one ready, but apparently decided to hold off on that move - opting instead to transition Mac Pro with something in an M2 processor.
That kind of makes sense, I guess. But - isn’t this always going to be an issue? I mean, isn’t there always going to be a better processor on the horizon?
Anyway - you can hear what Gurman had to say and scope the rest of the interview below.
Apple Adds 2FA Code Generation to iCloud Utility for Windows
27 JULY 2022 - Apple’s 2FA code generator for iCloud has made its way to the Windows world. “For those unfamiliar,” says a piece from 9 to 5 Mac:
…a two-factor authentication code is an additional layer of security that can be requested when logging in to a website or app. These codes can be generated by password managers such as 1Password, LastPass, and iCloud Keychain.
That’s what it is, though not why. Basically, while bad guys getting your username/password combo may not be easy, if they do - they’ve got access to your shiz. Requiring a second factor to authenticate makes accessing your info a harder thing for bad guys to do. I’ve talked about this a lot on The Checklist by SecureMac - worth checking out if you’d like to learn more.
9 to 5 Mac says “2FA support was first added to iCloud Keychain with iOS 15 and macOS Monterey…” Apple also “updated its iCloud Utility for Windows with a password manager” last year, and yet there was no love from Apple for 2FA codes on the Windows side. But there is now. “As noted by users on Reddit,” notes 9 to 5 Mac:
…the latest version of iCloud Passwords for Windows (which comes as part of the iCloud Utility for Windows) now works with two-factor authentication codes…
Crossroads in the Metaverse
Meta CEO Talks Apple’s Opposing AR/VR Philosophy
27 JULY 2022 - The future of the metaverse took a couple of interesting turns on Tuesday - one rhetorical, the other dealing with economics. On the rhetorical side, a piece from The Verge had Facebook/Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg participating in a question and answer session about the future of the metaverse. Last month, a number of tech companies including Microsoft and Meta and not including Roblox and Apple founded an open standards group, meant to increase platform interoperability for realities augmented and virtual. Writing of the new organization in June, another piece from The Verge said:
The Metaverse Standards Forum is supposed to foster open, interoperable standards for augmented and virtual reality, geospatial, and 3D tech.
Apple’s absence from the org raised a question Tuesday from one of Zuckerberg’s employees: “How does that affect Oculus and our ecosystem?”
The CEO began his answer saying, “I think it’s pretty clear that Apple is going to be a competitor for us, not just as a product but philosophically.” The philosophical difference - the open approach being taken by Facebook and the Standards Forum versus the closed approach Apple is practically bound to take. According to Zuckerberg:
This is a competition of philosophies and ideas, where they believe that by doing everything themselves and tightly integrating that they build a better consumer experience. And we believe that there is a lot to be done in specialization across different companies, and [that] will allow a much larger ecosystem to exist.
I will say, if we believe what we’ve heard about Apple’s AR/VR philosophy, a closed system makes sense. Early in 2022, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said he’d been told that:
…the idea of a completely virtual world where users can escape to — like they can in Meta Platforms/Facebook’s vision of the future — is off limits from Apple.
Apple was said to be targeting “bursts of gaming, communication, and content consumption,” not “an all-day device.” If the play is not for a metaverse, interoperability may not be as big a deal.
The other interesting thing about Zuckerberg’s answer - while he obviously thinks his approach is the right one, he can’t say so for sure. Two lines stick out on that: “…it’s not really clear upfront whether an open or closed ecosystem is going to be better,” and, “…I just don’t think that the future is written here yet for the metaverse.”
Making a Harder Time for VR Hardware
On the same day Zuckerberg wonders over the meta-future, his company may have done something to mess up its chances. Meta announced higher prices on the way for it Oculus hardware on Tuesday. In a statement on Twitter, the company said:
In order to continue investing in moving the VR industry forward for the long term, we are adjusting the price of Meta Quest 2 headsets to $399.99 (128GB) and $499.99 (256GB) starting on 8/1/22.
Hard to blame them #InThisEconomy. But one industry watcher thinks the move could screw them up. Responding to the announcement, TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo hit Twitter, saying:
The more-affordable price had been a critical competitive advantage for the Quest 2 vs. competitors. Since Meta's VR ecosystem is still insufficient to attract users, the price hike of Quest may hurt the demand and its hardware supply chain shipments.
Apple Offers Preview of Brompton Road Store Ahead of Thursday Opening
Apple Brompton Road, Apple’s newest store in London, opens Thursday, July 28, in the city’s Knightsbridge neighborhood.
27 JULY 2022 - Something old, something new for Apple’s latest London store. The Cupertino-company has run an online preview for its Brompton Road store, which opens its doors tomorrow - Thursday 28 July.
What’s old is the location itself. Apple’s release says visitors enter the store “through the central arcade, which mirrors the dimensions of the original Brompton Arcade built on the same precise location in 1903.”
What’s new is the dedicated pickup area. Inspired, perhaps, by the pandemic - maybe inspired by the cluster-thing pickup at other Apple Stores can be, the preview says the dedicated Apple Pickup area is the first for a UK Apple Store, making it “more convenient for customers to pick up products ordered online.”
So, I guess it was the cluster-thing thing.
For folks in the area, the Brompton Road location has special events planned for opening weekend. Those include talks, musical performances, and a Q&A with a few Fitness+ trainers and Apple VP of Fitness Technologies Jay Blahnik. That’ll be capped “by a 3-kilometer walk and 5-kilometer run in Hyde Park.” Because nothing says “come to our store” like “please run away from our store.”
Deadline and “The Dish”
27 JULY 2022 - A couple of interesting Deadline stories tied to Apple Originals. They come with a bit of a caveat though. The stories, about two of Apple’s biggest and most anticipated films, are part of a new Deadline column called “The Dish.” The column is meant to let Deadline journalists “plant their flag in deals, hires and firings and industry developments before they’re fully baked.” Makes it sound shakier than “secret sources say,” but… away we go.
Apple’s “Flower Moon” May Not Rise Until 2023
We may have several seasons to wait before Killers of the Flower Moon is out. The Deadline column says the Martin Scorsese-directed film starring Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio may be held until 2023. Nothing negative. The powers that be are simply looking for the splashiest road to an Oscar, rather than the fastest. The film-watching world had expected a late 2022 release, targeting the 2023 Academy Awards. Now, folks behind the film are said to be considering a premier at Cannes 2023. That would be followed by a traditional theatrical release on many-many screens before finally settling into streaming. True of False? Time will tell.
Troubled Apple Original “Emancipation" May Make Next Oscar Season
And finally today, signs of life for one of Apple’s most troubling titles. The same Deadline/Dish piece says the Antoine Fuqua-directed film Emancipation may see a premier this year.
Set in the mid-1800s and based on an actual person, Emancipation tells the story of Peter, “an enslaved man” who escapes to the North, then joins the Union Army. Dramatic as that story is, it was photographs of Peter’s back - scarred from “a near fatal beating” - that made him famous, and gave the world what Deadline calls “a gruesome testament to the barbarity and cruelty of slavery in the antebellum South.”
The film is said to be Fuqua’s bets since 2001s Training Day. It stars Will Smith - and there’s the trouble. He’s kind of Hollywood kryptonite since walking up on stage and punching Chris Rock at this year’s Oscars. But, Deadline says, the film is done, “sources said it has been tested numerous times and gotten very high scores.” It could still be out in time for next year’s Oscars, according to people said to know people said to know something about something.
Apple offered Deadline no comment on either story.
JP Morgan Analyst Still a Fan of Apple Shares
26 JULY 2022 - Another positive note on Apple headed into this week’s June-quarter earnings call. Acknowledging life #InThisEconomy, a piece from Apple Insider has JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee arguing that Apple shares are the place to be.
We might characterize his note not as good news/bad news, but kind of good news against maybe not terrible news. Near term, he’s raised his expectations a tiny bit. Quoting his note:
The modest changes to our forecasts is primarily led by an increase to iPhone revenues… Recent acceleration of momentum in China in particular for iPhone demand [leads] us to raise our full-year FY22 volume forecast from 247 [million] to 252 [million] units, despite the headwinds from the Russia exit.
Past that is where things get muddy. While there are new iPhones coming pretty soon, foreign exchange headwinds may mute sales of the new units. Past that though, the piece says:
…the analyst still believes that Apple will be able to offset those medium-term risks because of relatively weak competition from 5G device rivals, as well as iPad and Mac market share increases.
According to Apple Insider:
Chatterjee still believes Apple is a safe haven stock for investors, given the resilience of the earnings estimates against the backdrop of macroeconomic deterioration. Although there's a chance for downside to Apple's current valuation, he expects the downside to be fairly limited.
That’s similar sounding to the recent Canaccord Genuity note, which argued that Apple’s current “share price is compelling for longer-term investors.” Mr. Chatterjee has a positive rating on Apple shares. He’s set JP Morgan’s price target on the shares at $200.
Shenzhen Factories Go “Closed Loop” as COVID Cases Rise
26 JULY 2022 - Less than exciting news from Bloomberg (via Business Standard): A number of factories in Shenzhen, China - including Foxconn - are once again operating under “closed loop” restrictions. That basically has workers working, going back to their factory dorms, not leaving campus, and not doing much else. As of now, the piece says the loop will be closed for seven days, as Shenzhen “battles its latest Covid outbreak.”
With the launch of iPhone 14 expected in about two-months, Bloomberg checked in on what the new restrictions mean for Foxconn and Apple. Right now, things seem fine. “A Foxconn spokesperson said operations at its Shenzhen sites ‘remained normal,’” according to the report. Additionally, Bloomberg pointed out that the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou “is a far bigger iPhone-making hub.”
Apple Discounts Some Hardware in China in Four-Day Sale
26 JULY 2022 - News of a sale on Apple products in China, being run by Apple. A piece from Bloomberg (via Taipei Times) says the company announced the move on Monday, “offering four days of discounts” on iPhone 13 Pro, as well as “[c]ertain AirPods and Apple Watch models.”
Bloomberg’s assumption is that Apple is sitting on inventory the company would like to be rid of ahead of new product coming this fall. While iPhone did better than domestic smartphones in China last month, the piece says “the discounts suggest even it has surplus inventory heading into the latter half of the year.”
It sounds like a safe assumption, though there’s one thing that makes me wonder. According to the report, buyers are required to use “one of a select number of payment platforms, such as (…) Alipay” to be eligible for the discounts. If Apple simply wanted to move product, would Apple care what payment method people used? I’m not inside so I don’t know, but couldn’t this be some sort of promotion for those payment methods? It doesn’t seem like Alipay needs promotion. Then again you could say the same for Apple, which does keep spending on advertising and PR. Really all we know for sure is Apple’s discounted some of it’s products in China for four days. So - you know - if you’re in the neighborhood…
Apple Promotes Sales Tax Holidays in Select States
26 JULY 2022 - Apple is promoting lower costs on its hardware in select parts of the US, though Apple has nothing to do with the discounts. A report from MacRumors says the Cupertino-company is promoting sales tax holidays in certain states, highlighting a potential buyer’s potential savings. According to the report:
Sales tax holidays provide a limited-time opportunity to purchase select Apple products online or in store without paying sales tax. Eligible products and price limits vary from state to state, with complete details outlined on Apple's website.
States listed by Apple with upcoming sales tax holidays include Arkansas, Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Some are as long as two-weeks while others are as short as two days. Some only cover Macs and things associated with them while others cover a wider range products. The best way to find out what’s eligible is checking the sales tax holiday info on Apple’s site.
Apple and Koss Settle Patent Suit
Image via Koss
26 JULY 2022 - A seemingly forgotten Apple lawsuit has been settled. 9 to 5 Mac says the Cupertino-company and headphone-maker Koss have buried the legal hatchet.
Koss filed suit against Apple a couple of years ago. It argued that Apple’s AirPods and some Beats headphones infringed patents it held for wireless headphones. According to the complain:
Koss developed prototype in-ear headphones that relied on its chip development efforts, with working prototypes from the mid-2000s looking very much like commonly-known consumer products that flood the market a decade-and-a-half later.
The two companies were supposed to go to trial yesterday, though they’ve reached some sort of settlement. While attorneys from the companies did not respond to 9 to 5 Mac’s request for comment, one assumes the settlement involved Apple hitting Koss with a few bucks. Koss had been seeking “royalties from sales of AirPods and wireless Beats headphones,” according to the report.
Apple Store Time Machine: Michael Steeber Heads Back to Old Haunts
26 JULY 2022 - Would you like to go to four iconic Apple Stores on the day they opened? Well, you can’t. But, there is a neat app for the Mac about which you should know. iDownloadBlog has written up “Apple Store Time Machine,” a free Mac app developed by Apple retail enthusiast and journalist Michael Steeber.
Formerly with 9 to 5 Mac, the iDownloadBlog piece says Steeber “has painstakingly recreated a few of Apple’s iconic retail stores as they looked on their grand opening days.” Or re-opening, in one case. The stores and dates are:
Tysons Corner as it was on May 19, 2001
Stanford Shopping Center on October 16, 2004
Fifth Avenue on May 19, 2006
Apple Infinite Loop on September 19, 2015
I’ve downloaded it, though I’ve had very little time to explore. I will say though - just launching the app is delightful. It takes the user quickly through a sort of Mac time capsule before accessing the time machine. Having spent a bit more time with it, iDownloadBlog says:
In some stores, you can watch Apple’s commercials. In others, you can interact with apps like Photo Booth and GarageBand on computers lined up on desks. The first-ever Apple store (Tysons Corner) recreates the old Genius Bar (Apple’s free tech support service available within stores). Thoughtful details such as a ringing phone at the Genius Bar and boxes of software complete this extraordinary experience.
Labor of love is written all over the project. While it is free, there is also a version for which one can pay. No difference between the two, just - one lets users reward Steeber’s work.
Both the free and paid versions are available on Steeber’s site.
Canaccord Genuity Adjust Apple Expectations Up Ahead of Thursday Earnings
25 JULY 2022 - One Apple watching investment house has decided it was wrong about Apple’s June-quarter before Apple actually tells them how it went. Apple 3.0 ran part of a note from Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley on Friday. While he did not change his rating nor his price target on the company’s shares, he did up his expectations for last quarter, saying that his firm’s previous, below consensus numbers were a little low. Points of note from his note:
He expects to see “improving iPad sales in part due to improving supply”
He says “Apple is well-positioned to continue to benefit from the 5G upgrade cycle”
He says iPhone demand looks to have been “more resilient” than his firm expected
He thinks Apple’s supply headwind of $4B to $8B will come in at the low-end of that range
Going forward, he and his “expect the higher-margin services revenue growth to outpace total company growth and drive gross margin expansion.” Apple’s still got $73B in cash it can use to “invest and support long-term growth.” And Apple customers will stay loyal. Quoting the note:
With the 5G upgrade cycle likely a benefit for the next several years, other hardware categories growing double-digits, and continued mix shift towards high-margin services, we believe the share price is compelling for longer-term investors.
Walkley has a “Buy” rating on Apple shares. His 12-month price target on the shares is $200.
Call Incoming
It’s getting down to crunch-time for notes such as these. Apple earnings for the June-quarter - the third quarter of fiscal year 2022 - are due in this week. Numbers for last quarter will hit Apple’s site after the close of trading at 1:30 Pacific/4:30 Eastern this Thursday 28 July. A bit later - 2PM Pacific/5PM Eastern, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple CFO Luca Maestri, and folk from the financial front will do the conference call thing. You can hear that as it happens on Apple’s Investor site. Apple will make it available as a podcast soon after. And - of course - we will recap the call here on Friday.