Let’s Talk Apple — Ep. 59 (July 2018)

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
• Adam Christianson from The Mac Cast – @maccast
• Lynda Gousha from the Silicon Valley MUG – @llg4cdg
• Nick Riley – @spligosh

The show starts with some followup on Google Duplex, before moving on to look at just one legal story for the month — the EU fining Google over Android. Next up are two staffing changes at Apple, and then come the three main stories for July — the new MacBook Pros, Apple’s Q3 2018 earnings call, and Apple’s market capitalisation crossing the $1Bn milestone. The show finishes with a quick look at some other Apple-related stories that made the news in July.

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!

Followup

• Google provided an actual live demo of their Duplex concept to reporters. The AI worked as advertised, and, clearly identified itself as an AI, and stated that it would be recording the call — daringfireball.net/…

Legal Latest

• Google hit with $5.1b fine in EU’s Android antitrust case — nakedsecurity.sophos.com/…

Apple Staffing Changes

• Apple have promoted John Giannandrea, the recently hired former Google AI chief, to head up a new combined group working on Siri & Machine Learning — www.macobserver.com/… & daringfireball.net/…
• Apple have hired Sterling Crispin, the developer of popular VR painting app Cyber Paint — variety.com/…

Main Stories

1. New MBPs released — Apple Updates MacBook Pros with Faster CPUs, Higher RAM Ceiling, True Tone Display, and T2 Chip — tidbits.com/…
   • This new MBP replaces the much-loved older 2015 13" MBP (AKA the MacBook Escape) with the old fashioned keys and magsafe connect
   • The new MPBs come with an updated butterfly keyboard that has a new membrane under the keys. Officially it’s there to reduce noise, but it seems just as likely it’s there to address the dust issues with the previous generation of butterfly keyboard — www.macobserver.com/… & www.imore.com/…
   • MacBook Pro (2018): What’s changed and what matters most — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple quickly fixed a firmware bug that was causing the new machines to throttle their CPUs excessively — tidbits.com/…
   • 2018 Touch Bar MacBook Pro Keyboard Gets Potentially Dust-proof Barrier — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple Unveils Blackmagic eGPU for MacBook Pro — www.macobserver.com/…
2. Apple’s Q3 2018 Earnings Call — www.apple.com/…
   • Jason Snell’s traditional overview with lots of graphs for longer-term context — sixcolors.com/…
   • A transcript of what Tim Cook said on the call — www.imore.com/…
   • Q3 Mac sales are down 13% year-on-year to their lowest absolute level since 2010, analysts point to differences in release dates, and the fact that so many Macs are ‘outdated’ — www.macobserver.com/… & www.macrumors.com/…
   • Apple’s App Store Revenue Twice as Much as Google Play Store — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple’s Wearables Revenue Up 60% in Q3 2018 — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple Pay Transactions Top 1 Billion in Q3 2018 — www.macobserver.com/… & Apple Pay to Make Up Half of All Contactless Payments by 2020 — www.macobserver.com/…
     • Related: Apple Pay in Germany, CVS, 7–11 Coming This Fall — www.macobserver.com/…
     • Related: Chase ATM Apple Pay Support Available at 16,000 Terminals — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Tim Cook spoke against President Trump’s trade-wars, but said that for now, Apple’s products are not caught up in the tariffs www.macobserver.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
3. Buoyed by a good quarterly report, Apple becomes the first publicly traded US company with a trillion dollar market value — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Tim Cook marks the milestone with a letter to employees: www.macrumors.com/…
   • BusinessWeek Notes Apple’s $1 Trillion Market Cap Milestone — www.macobserver.com/…

Quick Stories

• USB Restricted Mode included in iOS 11.4.1 update — www.theverge.com/…
  • How to use USB Restricted Mode on your iPhone or iPad — www.imore.com/…
  • USB Restricted Mode FUD and how to avoid it — www.imore.com/…
• Apple angers many industry insiders by ending their affiliate program for apps and in-app purchases (it continues for media like music, books & movies) — arstechnica.com & tidbits.com/…
• Apple discontinues its photo printing service, points users towards third-party apps — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Drops Texture Monthly Subscription Price to $9.99 — www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple Redesigns Apple Store App with New Search Features — www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple Expands Business Chat — tidbits.com/…
  • Apple Business Chat: Complete list of companies you can iMessage — www.imore.com/…
• The Daughter of Steve Jobs is Publishing a Book — www.macobserver.com/…
• Adobe bringing the full power of Photoshop to the iPad in 2019 — www.imore.com/…