LTA 100: December 2021 1

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
• Allison Sheridan from the NosillaCast Podcast – @podfeet

The show starts with some reflections on making it to 100 shows. With the navel-gazing out of the way the show moves on to the usual followups and updates on long-running stories. That’s followed by some some Apple-related legal news, quite a bit of Apple HR news, and some highlights from Apple’s original content and subscription services. The three main stories are Apple’s secret deal with China in 2016, the problems in Apple’s Indian factory, and the new features in Apple’s latest OS updates. The show ends with a quick rundown of some smaller Apple-related stories that made the news in December.

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.

• COVID is causing fresh problems for Apple:
  • 🇺🇸 COVID–19 outbreak closes Apple Store in Texas — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 Apple covers up again as mask requirements return in US stores — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Apple closes three retail stores in U.S. and Canada due to COVID–19 — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Seven more Apple Stores close due to COVID–19 outbreaks — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 Apple closes more stores in NYC, offering curbside pickup for online orders — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple delays employee return to office again, new date ‘yet to be determined’ — 9to5mac.com/…
• Regulatory pressure continues to mount on Apple:
  • 🇬🇧 The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) published a report strongly critical of Apple & Google’s ‘duopoly’, but recommend no action be taken, at least for now — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇵🇱 Poland opens investigation into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇳🇱 Apple Must Let Dating Apps Offer Alternative Payment Options in the App Store, Dutch Regulator Says — gizmodo.com/… (Apple have 2 months to comply)
  • 🇮🇳 The India Competition Commission launching probe into Apple’s App Store payment system — www.imore.com/…
• Fallout continues from the #AppleToo movement:
  • 🇺🇸 SEC rejects Apple’s bid to block three shareholder proposals — arstechnica.com & SEC blocks Apple’s bid to stop shareholders’ radical NDA proposal — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple shareholders seek civil-rights audit following employee controversies — www.imore.com/… (not one of the proposals covered by the SEC ruling)
  • 🇺🇸 #AppleToo organizer Cher Scarlett is no longer withdrawing her National Labor Relations Board complaint against the company — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 The US Department of Labour has opened an investigation into Apple, officially they have not said what they’re investigating, but reports say it’s related to potential retaliation against former employee Ashley Gjovik who was fired by Apple in September — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 Apple employee group plans walkout on Christmas Eve — www.imore.com/…
    • As best as I can tell this was a bit of a damp squib with just 50 workers actually walking out: www.huffpost.com/…
• Some more developments related to repairing Apple products:
  • iOS 15.2 Adds ‘Parts and Service History’ Feature to iPhone — www.macrumors.com/…
  • Apple Giving Customers a Second Chance to Buy AppleCare+ After Their iPhone or Mac is Repaired — www.macrumors.com/…
• NSO Group/Pegasus:
  • Pegasus spyware maker NSO is burning cash and considering closure — www.imore.com/…
  • The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse — arstechnica.com/…

Legal Latest

• 🇺🇸 Apple -v- Epic: Apple won a last-minute stay on the injunction ordering them to allow 3rd-party in-app payments by 9 December, the injunction lasts until Apple’s appeal is resolved — arstechnica.com/…
• 🇷🇺 Apple are suing Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service to overturn a ruling issued against it in August regarding anti-steering rules in the App Store — www.imore.com/…

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• The Apple Car project has lost three more engineers — www.imore.com/…
  • Eric Rogers (chief engineer for radar systems) has moved to flying-taxi startup Joby Aviation Inc.
  • Alex Clarabut (battery team manager) & Stephen Spiteri (a hardware engineering team manager) have moved to Archer Aviation Inc, another flying-taxi startup.
• Apple University dean Joel Podolny leaves company for startup — www.imore.com/…
• Nick Law, Apple advertising VP, is leaving for pastures new — www.imore.com/…
• Apple is building a new team to bring its wireless chip design in-house — www.imore.com/…
• Related: Meta have reportedly been succeeding in hiring away about 100 Apple engineers in recent months, and Bloomberg now report Apple are responding by offering rare bonuses of up to $180k to senior engineers to keep them at Apple — www.bloomberg.com/…

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• Apple TV+
  • Yet more nominations & awards:
    • Apple TV+ Earns Nine Critics Choice Awards Television Nominations — www.macobserver.com/…
      • Best Drama Series – For All Mankind
      • Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series – Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
      • Best Comedy Series – Ted Lasso
      • Best Actor in a Comedy Series – Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso)
      • Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series – Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent in Ted Lasso)
      • Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Kristin Chenoweth (Schmigadoon!)
      • Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso)
      • Best Movie Made for Television – Come From Away
      • Best Foreign Language Series – Acapulco
    • Apple TV+ earns Six Critics Choice Film Awards nominations — www.imore.com/…
      • CODA nominated for: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay & Best Young Actor/Actress
      • The Tragedy of Macbeth nominated for: Best Actor & Best Cinematography
    • Apple TV+ won 4 American Film Institute Awards — www.afi.com/…
      • CODA & The Tragedy of Macbeth were listed in the top 10 films of 2021
      • Ted Lasso & Schmigadoon! were listed in the top 10 TV shows of 2021
    • Related: A ‘Ted Lasso’ Animated Short Holiday Special Just Dropped — www.macobserver.com/…
  • 🇫🇷 Apple TV+, Netflix, Disney+, more agree to pump $330m into French content — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Maps:
  • Apple rolls out its new 3D map in Philadelphia — www.imore.com/…

Main Stories

1. 🇨🇳 Apple in China
   • The Information have revealed details of a deal Apple struck with China in 2016: Inside Tim Cook’s Secret $275 Billion Deal with Chinese Authorities — www.theinformation.com/…
     • Good summary and analysis from John Gruber — daringfireball.net/… & daringfireball.net/…
   • Related: Apple became the dominant phone brand in China in October of 2021 — www.imore.com/…
2. 🇮🇳 Trouble in India: Worker protests, mass illness lead Apple to put iPhone plant on probation — arstechnica.com (the plant in question is run by Foxconn)
   • Living and Working Conditions at India iPhone Plant Truly Reprehensible — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Women force change at Indian iPhone plant, sick from bad food, crowded dorms — www.reuters.com/…
3. Significant OS Feature updates — arstechnica.com/…, www.macobserver.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
   • SharePlay arrives on the Mac: How to Use FaceTime Screen Sharing and SharePlay — tidbits.com/…
     • Related: Disney+ adds support for SharePlay on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple’s voice-only Apple Music subscription goes live: How to use the Apple Music Voice Plan — www.imore.com/…
     • Related: 21+ things you can ask Siri to do in Apple Music Voice Plan — www.applemust.com/…
   • iOS/iPadOS get the promised App Privacy Report feature: Understanding iOS and iPadOS App Privacy Report – The Mac Security Blog — www.intego.com/…
   • iOS get support for Digital Legacy (Legacy Contacts can restore your iCloud backup to an iOS device of theirs when they provide Apple a death certificate): How to set up a Legacy Contact on iPhone and iPad — www.imore.com/… & Apple Digital Legacy: Everything you need to know! — www.imore.com/…
   • The non-controversial Child Protection features go live (Siri answers & parental control for nudity warnings in Messages)
     • Related: Apple Updates ‘Child Safety’ Webpage to Remove Mention of CSAM Fingerprint Matching, But Feature May Still Be Forthcoming — daringfireball.net/… & Apple scrubs controversial CSAM detection feature from webpage but says plans haven’t changed — www.theverge.com/…
   • You can enable a toggle for macro mode on iOS on supported iPhones 13.
   • Related: Apple officially delays macOS Monterey’s Universal Control until spring ’22 — www.imore.com/…

Quick Stories

• Apple celebrates 10th anniversary of Employee Giving, $725 million raised — www.imore.com/…
• Apple joins Boys & Girls Clubs of America to ‘bring new coding opportunities’ to kids — www.imore.com/…
• Apple launches new open source website for developers — 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.