Let’s Talk Apple — Ep. 56 (April 2018)

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
• Kelly Guimont from App Camp for Girls – @verso
• Adam Christianson from The Mac Cast – @maccast
• Victor Cajiao – @victorcajiao
• Nick Riley – @spligosh

The show starts with a few notable numbers and hires that made the news in April before moving on to the five main stories — Bloomberg’s report that Apple will switch the Mac to their own ARM processors, Apple’s continued Environmental push, the end of the line for the AirPort, the Q2 2018 earnings call, and the iMac turning 20. The show finishes with a quick rundown of a few other Apple related 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!

Notable Numbers

• Apple Music Tops 40 Million Subscribers, Gets a Vice President — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Related: Apple is Giving Apple Music Trial Subscribers an Extra Free Month — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Related: Spotify beefs up its free tier — social.techcrunch.com/…
• US Insurance firm EverQuote found that 80% of users of it’s EverDrive app tried iOS’s new DND while Driving feature, and 70% continued to use it — tidbits.com/… & www.everquote.com/…

Notable Comings & Goings

• Apple has hired John Giannandrea, former chief of search & AI at Google. Tim Cook makes a point of emphasising that John shares Apple’s values, including their commitment to privacy — www.imore.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple has reportedly hired Jon McCormack away from Amazon where he was Chief Technology Officer of their devices group. He’s also been chief of software operations at HP, VP of software for Kindle at Amazon, and was with Google’s Advanced Technology & Products Group — www.macobserver.com/…

Main Stories

1. Bloomberg reports that Apple is going to switch to its own processors for Macs — www.bloomberg.com/…
   • Why the next Mac processor transition won’t be like the last two — www.macworld.com/…
   • ARM Mac: Piece of Cake Or Gas Refinery? — mondaynote.com/…
   • The Fifth Age Of Macintosh: What Happens If Apple Dumps Intel? — www.fastcompany.com/…
2. Apple continues it’s environmental push:
   • Apple reaches it’s goal of 100% renewable energy — www.fastcompany.com/…, www.macobserver.com/… & www.apple.com/…
   • For earth day Apple unveiled Daisy, a new and better robot for recycling iPhones (replacing Liam), and started to make donations when ever Apple products are recycled using their GiveBack program — www.macobserver.com/… & www.imore.com/…
   • Green Peace still find a way to criticise Apple — www.macobserver.com/…
3. It’s official, Apple exits the router business with the discontinuation of their AirPort line — tidbits.com/…
   • Apple provides advice for choosing a router to its support pages — support.apple.com/…
   • How to keep using Time Machine when the AirPort Time Capsule is discontinued — www.imore.com/…
4. Apple’s Q2 2018 Earnings Call — www.apple.com/…
   • Contrary to what Analysts thought, iPhone X is doing well
     • iPhone X Alone Generated 35% of the Total Handset Industry Profits in Q4 2017 — www.counterpointresearch.com/… (research published two weeks before the earnings call!)
     • Techpinions found 97% customer satisfaction for iPhone X with 85% very satisfied — techpinions.com/… (research released a week before the earnings call)
     • iPhone X was the best-selling iPhone model each and every week over the quarter, and the best selling iPhone model in China — www.imore.com/…
     • Sounds Like It’s Samsung’s Flexible OLED Phones Whose Sales Are Weak — daringfireball.net/…
     • Warren Buffett: Obsessing over iPhone X sales in the near term ‘totally misses the point’ on Apple’s stock — www.loopinsight.com/…
     • Apple Valued at $901 Billion on Record High, Warren Buffet Buys Even More Shares — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple Watch now the size of a Fortune 300 company — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple Pay will soon be in 24 markets and accounts for 90% of mobile payments — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple announced a $100bn share re-purchase authorisation as well as a 16% increase in the quarterly dividend — www.imore.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
   • Tim Cook called privacy a ‘fundamental human right’ — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Transcript: Apple CEO Tim Cook on the company’s 2018 Q2 earnings — www.imore.com/…
5. The iMac Turns 20!
   • 20 years of iMac: A story of relentless design iteration — 9to5mac.com/…
   • 20 Years of the iMac — tidbits.com/…

Quick Stories

• The new MacPro will not be ready until 2019, and it will be ‘modular’ — tidbits.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
• In a Leaked Memo, Apple Warns Employees to Stop Leaking Information — www.bloomberg.com/…
• Apple reveals special edition Product Red iPhone 8 and 8 Plus smartphones — arstechnica.com/… (there is no Product Red iPhone X, and the Product Red versions of the iPhone 7 & iPhone 7S have been discontinued — www.imore.com/…)
• Apple have launched a battery replacement program for non-touch-bar 13-inch MacBook Pros — www.imore.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple Acknowledges Microphone Issue With Some iPhone 7 and 7 Plus Models on iOS 11.3 and Later — www.macrumors.com/…
• In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald Tim Cook made it clear iOS and macOS are not merging — www.smh.com.au/…
• iTunes has finally made it into the Windows store (important for Windows S users who can only run apps from the app store) — arstechnica.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple shutting down Texture’s Windows magazine app after acquisition — www.theverge.com/…