Let’s Talk Apple — Ep. 96 (August 2021) 1

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
• Tom Merritt from DTNS – @acedtect

The show starts with the usual followups and updates on long-running stories. That’s followed by some notable numbers, some Apple-related legal news, and some highlights from Apple’s original content and subscription services. The three main stories are Apple’s new child protection features, continuing pressure on the App Stores, and open discontent among Apple employees. The show ends with a quick rundown of some smaller Apple-related stories that made the news in August.

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!

Updates & Followup

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

• Apple continued to address issues with its new Safari design throughout August, and people now seem much happier with where the design has ended up:
  • iOS 15 Developer Beta 6 is Out with Another Safari Redesign — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Apple has made its controversial Safari redesign optional in the latest betas of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 — www.imore.com/…
  • Our Long National iOS 15 Safari Beta Nightmare Is Over — daringfireball.net/…
• iCloud Private Relay will only be available as a beta feature when iOS 15 launches this fall — www.imore.com/…
• Microsoft have released Windows 365 (Windows 10 & later 11 in the cloud, accessible from Macs & iPads) — pricing starts at $20 per month (1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 64GB storage & 12GB out-bound data) — www.imore.com/…
• Apple to spend ‘millions’ helping homeless encampment residents — www.imore.com/…
• Apple-backed smart home standard ‘Matter’ delayed until 2022 — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Pulls SharePlay from Initial iOS 15 Release this Fall — www.macobserver.com/…
• The Chipolo One (the one that uses Apple’s Find My Network) has started shipping — tidbits.com/…
• On a recent show Kelly Guimont noted how she was looking forward to learning lots of juicy new details thanks to the discovery process in Apple’s many law suites, the Verge have assembled an excellent collection of 107 such nuggets: www.theverge.com/…

Notable Numbers

• Apple Pay accounted for 92% of 2 billion U.S. mobile wallet purchases last year — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Card ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction by J.D. Power — www.imore.com/…

Legal Latest

• 🇺🇸 Apple’s attempt to have a patent case regarding it’s heart-rate detection in AppleWatch dismissed on a technicality has failed, the case will now go forward — www.imore.com/…
• 🇺🇸 A Texas jury has found against Apple and ordered it to pay $300M to Optis Technology over alleged wireless patent infringements, Apple will appeal — www.imore.com/…
• Apple -v- Corellium (security company selling virtual iOS devices for use by security researchers)
  • Apple Reaches Settlement With Corellium, Dropping its Lawsuit — www.macobserver.com/… (Details secret but Corellium’s virtual iOS devices remain on sale)
  • Apple has appealed its lawsuit against Corellium — www.imore.com/…
• 🇺🇸 DRM Patent Claim Against Deemed Unenforceable, in Major Legal Win For Apple — www.macobserver.com/…
• 🇦🇺 Apple vs Epic trial to go ahead in Australia in November 2022 — www.imore.com/…

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• Maps continues to improve:
  • 🇺🇸 Apple Maps has expanded its built-in ratings and photos feature to the United States — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇳🇱 Apple Maps gets accident reporting in the Netherlands — www.imore.com/…
• ApplePay continues to roll out internationally
  • 🇿🇦 South African bank FNB adds support for Apple Pay — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇧🇪 ING Belgium adds Apple Pay support to 1.4 million cards — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇶🇦 Qatari bank QNB adds support for Apple Pay via iPhone and Apple Watch — www.imore.com/…
• New Apple News benefit gives publishers more cash on in-app purchases — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Arcade Continues to release titles: There are now 200 games on Apple Arcade — www.imore.com/…
  • Monster Hunter Stories is now available for free as part of Apple Arcade — www.imore.com/…
  • One-button platformer Super Leap Day is now playable in Apple Arcade — www.imore.com/…
  • The excellent Super Stickman Golf 3 is now in Apple Arcade — www.imore.com/…
  • Musical Puzzle Game ‘Tetris Beat’ Arrives on Apple Arcade — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Smash Hit Asphalt 8: Airborne Racing to Apple Arcade — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Zelda-like adventurer Baldo is now available in Apple Arcade for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Music
  • Apple Music artists can now share their ‘Milestones’ with fans — www.imore.com/…
  • After three rather Apple Music live events in the lead up to the album’s release, Kanye West’s Donda was streaked over 60M times in the US within its first 24 hours of release — 9to5mac.com/…
  • Apple acquires Primephonic, plans to incorporate its classical music into Apple Music and launch new app — www.imore.com/…
    • Apple’s Press Release — www.apple.com/…
• Apple TV+
  • Yet more nominations and awards
    • Apple TV+ nabs eight Imagen Award nominations across five Apple Originals — www.imore.com/… (for The Mosquito Coast, Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, Ted Lasso, Little Voice & Ghostwriter)
    • Apple TV+ originals ‘For All Mankind’ and ‘Calls’ take home awards at the 73rd Emmys — www.imore.com/…
    • ‘Ted Lasso’ wins big as Apple TV+ picks up five HCA TV Awards — www.imore.com/… (Hollywood Critics Association)
    • Related: ‘Ted Lasso’ most-watched show on all streaming platforms, says Reelgood — www.imore.com/…
  • The Sundance-award-winning movie CODA has been released on Apple TV+ (and in select theatres) — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Apple debuts 9/11 documentary on TV+, features exclusive George Bush testimony — www.imore.com/…

Main Stories

1. Apple Announces Three new Child Protection Features — www.apple.com/…
   • Good explanations of what Apple actually announced:
     • FAQ: Apple Child Safety — what is Apple doing and should people be concerned? — www.imore.com/…
     • FAQ about Apple’s Expanded Protections for Children — tidbits.com/…
   • Poorly Executed Announcement puts Apple on the Back-foot:
     • Apple reassures employees over child protection measures in internal memo — www.imore.com/… & Apple employees express privacy concerns with the company’s new child protection features — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple publishes Child Safety FAQ to address CSAM scanning concerns and more — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple shares a security threat review for its new CSAM detection feature — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple says it will refuse gov’t demands to expand photo-scanning beyond CSAM — arstechnica.com
     • Apple confirms CSAM checks will be carried out on photos already in iCloud — www.imore.com/…
     • Interview: Apple’s head of Privacy details child abuse detection and Messages safety features — techcrunch.com/…
     • Apple software chief admits child protection measures have been ‘widely misunderstood’ — www.imore.com/…
     • New CSAM Detection Details Emerge Following Craig Federighi Interview — tidbits.com/…
   • Thanks to documents revealed during discovery in Apple’s lawsuits, we now have a better idea of why Apple chose to tackle this problem: Apple’s fraud chief knew it had a child porn problem, messages reveal — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple photo-scanning plan faces global backlash from 90 rights groups — arstechnica.com
   • A developer found code in iOS 4 that hashes images, reverse-engineered it, and published an implementation of it in Go to GitHub. This hashing code is not suitable for CSAM detection because it’s too prone to collisions, but there was never any reason to assume it was the code Apple would be using, and Apple let it be known that it is not — www.vice.com/…
   • Related: Apple Is Already Scanning iCloud Mail for CSAM — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Opinion: Apple’s New ‘Child Safety’ Initiatives, and the Slippery Slope — daringfireball.net/…
2. Pressure Continues to Mount on the App Store
   • 🇺🇸 Senators target Apple’s App Store exclusivity in new bill — www.theverge.com/…
     • Apple and Google seem spooked by bill requiring more app stores and sideloading — arstechnica.com
     • New App Store bill mistakes ‘great products for market power’, says group — www.imore.com/…
   • 🇺🇸 Apple and developers reach agreement to bring changes to U.S. App Store — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple will finally let devs tell users about non-App Store purchase options — arstechnica.com

     The settlement term would not let developers tell users about non-App Store purchase options within apps themselves, requiring such communication to take place outside the apps

     • The Coalition for App Fairness is unimpressed by Apple’s App Store ‘sham’ settlement — www.imore.com/…
     • Spotify slams Apple’s App Store ‘concessions’ as a distraction — www.imore.com/…
   • 🇰🇷 South Korea passes law that will mandate alternative iOS App Store payments — www.imore.com/…
     • Epic Games and Spotify-backed coalition lobbies against Apple in Korea — www.imore.com/…
     • Epic Games-backed coalition hails new South Korea App Store laws — www.imore.com/…
     • Spotify welcomes South Korea App Store bill targeting ‘abusive’ Apple — www.imore.com/…
     • Opinion: Let’s Consider Some of the Implications of Third-Party Payment Processing for In-App Purchasing on iOS and Android — daringfireball.net/…

   • Related: Big Tech spends €100 million every year lobbying EU — www.brusselstimes.com/…

   • Related: Tim Cook says competition ‘inherently good’ in sweeping new interview — www.imore.com/…

   • Related: 🇺🇸 🇪🇺 EU and U.S. discuss ‘mutual interest’ in antitrust legislation, digital market cases — www.imore.com/…

3. Apple Employee Discontent Seems to be Rising
   • Apple places senior engineering program manager on leave after tweeting about sexism at work — www.imore.com/…
   • An informal employee survey shows a 6% wage gap between men and women at Apple — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple shut down a Slack channel created by employees to discuss pay equity — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple says it pays everyone fairly—employees want receipts — arstechnica.com
   • A group of Apple employees have launched a new organizational effort under the #AppleToo banner — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple employee organizing group #AppleToo says it has received over 500 stories of abuse in the workplace — www.imore.com/…
   • How workers at Apple are building a movement — The people, power and politics of tech — www.protocol.com/…
   • Report details how Slack makes it easier for Apple employees to break ranks — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple cares about privacy, unless you work at Apple — www.theverge.com/…
   • Related: Apple’s Mass Turnover in iCloud, Health, AI Teams — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Related: Apple has delayed its controversial return to office plans again — www.imore.com/…

Quick Stories

• Apple launches ‘no sound issues’ service program for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro — www.imore.com/…
• Apple has released iCloud for Windows 12.5 with a new password manager — www.imore.com/…
• Apple’s Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, Magic Trackpad, more now on sale — www.imore.com/… (M1 Macs only)
• Apple adds very expensive new graphics options to Mac Pro — www.imore.com/…
• Apple launches redesigned online store with dedicated Store tab — www.imore.com/…

Legend

Note: When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by Bart.