Let’s Talk Apple – Ep. 26 (October 2015) 1

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
• Nick Riley – @spligosh
• Gazmaz from the My Mac Podcast – @gazmaz
• Chuck Joiner from MacVoices – @chuckjoiner

The show starts with a quick look at some interesting numbers and a quick review of the month’s legal news before getting stuck into the five main stories of the month: ‘chip gate’, Apple’s Q4 earnings call, new desktop hardware from Apple (iMacs, keyboards, trackpads & mice), the new Apple TV, and a collection of security-related stories. The show finishes with a quick rundown of some other shorter stories that made the news in October.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

Notable Numbers

• Android Development 30% more expensive than iOS development – infinum.co/…
• Only 5% of Mac users at IBM required technical support, compared to 40% of Windows users – appleinsider.com/…
• Every PC swapped for a Mac saves IBM $270 – www.zdnet.com/…

Legal Latest

• As requested by the DOJ, Judge Cote did not expand the term for Apple's Anti-Trust monitor beyond the originally decreed two years, so his time at Apple is done – www.macobserver.com/…
• As expected, Apple asked the US Supreme Court to review the eBook Price Fixing case – www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple loses paint law suit to University of Wisconsin – daringfireball.net/…
• Apple & GT Advanced reach a deal – ending their long-running dispute – www.imore.com/…

Main Stories

1. 'chip gate'
   • Apple have two suppliers for their A9 chips – Samsung & TSMC. Both manufacturers chips are a little different, even in physical size.
   • researchers found that in certain very specific situations, the Samsung chips have 10% lower battery life
   • Apple, and independent researchers say that in realistic tests, the difference is much smaller, 2 to 3%, which is entirely within industry norms – arstechnica.com/… & www.consumerreports.org/…
2. Apple's Q4 earnings call – another record quarter to wrap up a record year – www.macobserver.com/…, www.imore.com/… & www.apple.com/…
   • The numbers:
     • Q4 revenue of $51.5Bn (up from $42.1Bn YAQ)
     • Q4 earnings of $11.1Bn, or $1.96 per diluted share (up from $8.5Bn, or $1.42 YAQ)
     • Annual revenue of $234Bn (up 28% YOY)
     • Apple will pay a $0.52 dividend on Nov12 2015
     • Apple sold 48M iPhones in Q4 (up 36% 39.2M YAQ)
     • Apple sold 9.9M iPads in Q4 (down 20% from 12.3M YAQ)
     • apple sold 5.7M Macs in Q4 (down 4% from 5.5M YAQ)
   • During call, Tim Cook mentions that Apple have a $25Bn enterprise business – www.macobserver.com/…
   • Tim also said that 30% of customers replacing a smart phone with an iPhone in the quarter were replacing an Android with an iPhone – www.macobserver.com/…
   • A transcript of all Tim's comments on the call – www.imore.com/…
   • Venture Beat highlight 11 interesting detail in Apple's SEC filing – venturebeat.com/…
3. New Apple Desktop Hardware
   • Apple refreshes the iMac lineup with an updated 5K model, and a new 4K model – www.imore.com/…
   • Apple releases new Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad 2, and Magic Mouse 2 – www.imore.com/…
4. New Apple TVs ship
   • Hands-on review by Jim Dalrymple – www.loopinsight.com/…
   • Plex app arrives in ATV App Store – www.macobserver.com/…
   • BBC iPlayer coming to ATV – www.macobserver.com/…
5. Apple, Security & Privacy:
   • Tim Cook tackles the importance of encryption in NPR interview – www.imore.com/…
   • Apple comes out against the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) in the US – www.imore.com/…
   • Tim Cook blasts encryption back doors at WSJDLive – arstechnica.com/…
   • RELATED – "Apple can't Decrypt your iPhone: Why it Matters" – www.macworld.com/…
   • A new security exploit brokerage company offers a million dollars for an iOS hack, and pays out. They will now sell the attack to world governments and other trusted customers, but not share it with Apple, because they want iOS to remain insecure for as long as possible – tidbits.com/…

Quick Stories

• Apple offers Restricted Stock Units to all Apple employees – 9to5mac.com/…
• Apple Music now has 6.5M paying customers – arstechnica.com/…
• iWork apps get updated, and iWork for iCloud exits beta – www.imore.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
• Apple acknowledges MBP anti-reflective coating issue – www.imore.com/…
• The Steve Jobs movie is out, but there was too much real news to dedicate time to it.