Let’s Talk Apple – Ep. 32 (April 2016)

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Panel:

The show starts with a quick look at some notable numbers that were released in April. The five main stories for the month are: the on-going encryption wars, Apple’s Q2 2016 earnings call, the update to the 12″ MacBook, Apple’s battles in China and India, and TIME declaring the iPhone the most influential gadget of all time. The show finishes with a quick rundown of some other shorter stories that made the news in April.

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!

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Notable Numbers
  • ID & Gartner numbers agree – the PC market is in decline, but Macs are declining slower than the rest, resulting in a rising market share – now between 7 and 7.5% – www.macobserver.com/… & www.imore.com/…
Main Stories
  1. The Encryption Wars Continue
    • The San Bernardino Case
      • FBI discloses their secret hack to senators – www.imore.com/…
      • FBI Director James Comey says the hack the FBI bought can only attack a 'narrow slice of phones' – iPhone 5S and newer are not affected (editorial from Bart – that strongly implies the secure element protects from the hack) – www.imore.com/…
      • At a security conference in London, FBI director Comey says the FBI paid a lot for the San Bernardino iPhone hack – "More than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years and four months for sure" – Comey's salary is public information, so if you do the math, that gives you a number greater than $1.3M – arstechnica.com/…
      • An anonymous FBI source later contradicted this number, saying the FBI paid less than $1m for the hack – www.imore.com/…
      • New reporting form the Washington Post calls into question earlier reports that it was security firm Cellebrite that hacked the San Bernardino iPhone for the FBI – www.imore.com/… & www.washingtonpost.com/…
      • Law enforcement say they found nothing of value of Syed Farook's iPhone – www.macobserver.com/…
      • The FBI decides not to share the details of the iPhone hack they bought with Apple – www.reuters.com/…
    • The New York Case
      • The US DOJ decided to proceeding with it's appeal – www.imore.com/…
      • The DOJ pulls the plug in the NYC case – they say someone gave them the passcode so they don't need Apple's help anymore – www.imore.com/…
    • The secret Boston case ends with a hollow victory for the FBI – Apple ordered to do what they already do, and not required to create a backdoor into iOS – www.macobserver.com/…
    • The Burr-Feinstein encryption bill is published – described by the tech world as 'Ludicrous, Dangerous, Technically Illiterate' and tech companies express 'deep concerns' – daringfireball.net/… & www.imore.com/…
    • RELATED – The White House will not back the Burr Feinstein bill – www.macobserver.com/…
    • The CA phone decryption bill has been defeated – www.sacbee.com/…
    • Apple & the FBI testify before congress again – http://www.imore.com/apple-fbi-head-back-congress-another-encryption-fight
    • RELATED – In the congressional hearings Apple confirm they were asked for their source code by the Chinese government, but they refused to hand it over – fortune.com/…
  2. Apple's Q2 2016 Earnings Call – www.apple.com/…
    • The Numbers:
      • Revenue: $50.6Bn (down 13% from $58Bn YAQ)
      • Net Income: $10.5Bn, or $1.9 per diluted share (down from $13.6Bn, or $2.33 per diluted share YAQ)
      • Gross Margins: 39.4% (down from 40.8% YAQ)
      • Unit Sales:
        • iPhone: 51.8M (down 16% from 61.2M YAQ)
        • iPad: 10.3M (down 19% from 12.6M YAQ)
        • Mac: 4M (down 12% from 4.6M YAQ)
      • International sales accounted for 67% of revenue
      • $50Bn added to investor return program – more shares will be bought back, and a higher dividend paid – $0.57 per share (up 10%)
      • Guidance for Q3:
        • Revenue between $41Bn and $43Bn
        • Gross Margins between 37.5% and 38%
      • Apple music now has 13M subscribers (up 2M from last earnings call) – www.macobserver.com/…
    • First year-over-year revenue decline in 13 years – tidbits.com/…
    • Apple meets own guidance, but misses Wall St. Expectations – www.macobserver.com/…
    • The results graphed in context – sixcolors.com/…
    • Transcript of Tim's contributions to the call – www.imore.com/…
    • Related:
  3. Apple updates the 12" MacBook – www.imore.com/…
    • The new MacBook includes tamper-evident screws, so Apple know if you've been poking around inside – www.zdnet.com/…
    • RELATED – at the same time Apple released the updated MacBook, they also bumped the standard spec on the 13" MBA to 8GB of RAM – www.imore.com/…
  4. Apple's Battles in China & India
    • Apple denied permission to sell refurbished iPhones in India – www.bloomberg.com/…
    • Indian court rules that Apple cannot use the term 'Split View' in India due to a trademark violation – www.imore.com/…
    • Indian government panel recommends Apple be exempted from 30% sourcing requirements – a step towards Apple stores in India – tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/…
    • Chinese Government shuts down iBooks and iTunes Movies in China – www.macobserver.com/…
    • A Chinese court rules that Apple nolonger has the exclusive rights to the iPhone name in China – a company that makes leather pouches and cases can use the name too – qz.com/…
    • Activist investor and Apple critic Carl Icahn sells his stake in Apple over concerns over Chinese government actions – www.reuters.com/…
  5. TIME puts the iPhone at the top of their list of the 50 most influential gadgets of all time (the Macintosh comes in at 3, the iPod at 9, the iPad at 25, and the iBook at 38) – time.com/…
Quick Stories

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