LTA 134: October 2024

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots

The show starts with some quick followup on a few recently covered and long-running stories before diving into a pair of regulatory stories, one legal story, quite a lot of HR & acquisition news, and some highlights from Apple’s services and original content. The four main stories are the refreshed iPad mini, the launch of Apple Intelligence, the new M4 Macs, and Apple’s Q4 2024 earnings. The show finishes with a rundown of a few other quick Apple-related stories that made the news in October.

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.

• New AirPods Pro 2 firmware has been released enabling the promised hearing test and hearing aid features in some countries — appleinsider.com/…

  • Related: Apple shares a look inside it's advanced audio labs — www.cultofmac.com/… & Apple PR
  • Review: What It's Like to Hear Better with AirPods Pro 2 — www.macstories.net/…
  • Review: Taking the AirPods Pro hearing test — sixcolors.com/…

• The first, and probably most important, company adds support for Apple Wallet's new Enhanced Tickets feature in iOS 18: Ticketmaster — www.macobserver.com/…

• The slow rollout of the Vision Pro continues: Apple Vision Pro to launch in South Korea and UAE this November — www.cultofmac.com/…

  • Related: Apple Releases Immersive Short Film Submerged and Announces Upcoming Immersive Content — www.macstories.net/…
  • Related: Cisco brings Spatial Meetings to Apple Vision Pro with native Webex app — appleinsider.com/…

• China remains complicated for Apple:

  • Tensions escalate as China arrests Foxconn staff at key Apple factory — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple's largest research lab outside the US opens in China — appleinsider.com/…

• Apple's growth in India continues: Apple Stores in Apple’s Fastest Growing Market to Get Triple Next Year — www.macobserver.com/… (3 new stores)

Regulatory Rundown

• Apple Cannot Sell iPhone 16 in Indonesia As Investment Targets Missed by $15M — www.macobserver.com/…

  • Related: Indonesia bans sales of Google phones days after blocking Apple's iPhone 16 — www.reuters.com/…
  • Related: Indonesia requests Apple block Temu from the App Store — appleinsider.com/…

• Apple and Goldman Sachs hit with $90 million penalty over Apple Card — appleinsider.com/…

Legal Latest

• Apple -v- Masimo: Apple technically get a win as a jury finds that old Masimo watches violate Apple patents, award Apple the minimum possible in damages, $250 — appleinsider.com/…, www.macobserver.com/… & daringfireball.net/…

  • The jury also found that current Masimo watches do not violate Apple's patents
  • Opinion: this is a Pyrrhic victory, because Apple lost the actually important part of the case, the current devices. Had Masimo's current devices been found to violate Apple patents then Apple could have used that as leverage to resolve the import ban blocking blood oxygen features in US Apple Watches.

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Apple's global chief of procurement to retire after 24 years — appleinsider.com/… (Dan Rosckes)

• Apple's former hardware chief and current Apple Vision Pro lead is retiring — appleinsider.com/… (Dan Riccio)

• Chief People Officer leaves Apple after short 20 month tenure — appleinsider.com/… (Carol Surface, Deirdre O'Brien resuming her old responsibilities again)

  • Related: Apple's relationship with its American workers remains turbulent:

    • Maryland Apple Store staff file for union election — appleinsider.com/…
    • NLRB accuses Apple of illegally restricting workers' social media use — appleinsider.com/… (National Labour Relations Board)
    • Apple still suppresses employees discussing pay equity, says Labor Board — appleinsider.com/… (a second NLRB investigation this month!)

  • Related: Apple HR exodus continues with recruitment exec departure — appleinsider.com/… (VP Sjoerd Gehring)

• Apple acquires brilliant image-editing app Pixelmator. What now? — www.cultofmac.com/…

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• Apple TV+:

  • Apple TV+ comes to Amazon Prime Video — sixcolors.com/…
  • Lionel Messi’s historic MLS Cup Playoffs debut to stream free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV — Apple PR
  • Related: You can no longer subscribe to Disney+ and Hulu through Apple — www.cultofmac.com/… (to avoid the Apple Tax)

• Apple Music: Bands can turn concert set lists into Apple Music playlists — appleinsider.com/…

• Apple Pay: (the service turned 10 this month!)

  • Apple Pay adds Klarna installments now, PayPal balances later — appleinsider.com/…

  • Tap to Pay on iPhone expands to more European countries — Apple PR (receiving payments directly on iPhone)

    • This is about merchants recieving tap-to-pay payments using just an iPhone as the point-of-sale terminal, not about regular folks using Apple Pay to pay for things!
    • Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Romania, and Sweden

  • Related: Here’s Why Apple Pay Is Still Not Available in Apple’s Fastest-Growing Market: India — www.macobserver.com/… (TL;DR incompatible regulations & privacy concerns)

• Apple Wallet: Iowa rolls out support for driver's licenses, IDs in Wallet app — appleinsider.com/…

• Messages:

  • Apple Business Connect extends to online firms, adds branding features — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple PR)
  • Roadside Assistance via Satellite expands into the UK — appleinsider.com/… (with Green Flag as the partner)
  • Related: Apple makes $1.1 billion commitment to expand satellite messaging — appleinsider.com/… (Apple is paying GlobeStar to expand it's satellite network, and taking a 20% stake in the company)

• Apple Car Key to unlock Volvo, Audi, Polestar vehicles soon — appleinsider.com/…

Main Stories

1. Apple refreshed the iPad Mini — Apple PR

   • The New iPad Mini Is Here With iPhone 15 Pro’s Chip and Apple Intelligence — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Opinion: The new iPad mini’s surprising not-new processor — sixcolors.com/…
   • Review & Opinion: iPad mini Review: The Third Place — www.macstories.net/… (an interesting take — the device has an important niche)
   • Review: Hands-on with the 2024 iPad mini: Spot the differences — arstechnica.com/…
   • Review: iPad mini 7 review roundup: Better in small ways — www.cultofmac.com/…

2. Apple Intelligence Launches — Apple PR

   • Lead-up: Tim Cook reapplies ‘not first, but best’ mantra to Apple Intelligence — www.cultofmac.com/…

   • Apple Intelligence launched in US English

     • On iPhones & iPads with iOS 18.1 — appleinsider.com/…
     • On Macs with macOS Sequoia 15.1 — appleinsider.com/… ( surprise! also in EU!)

   • Apple has shared more of the launch road-map — appleinsider.com/… & www.macstories.net/…

     • After surprisingly getting Apple Intelligence on the Mac in the EU on launch day, the EU will get Apple Intelligence on iOS in April 2025

     • At launch Apple Intelligence is US-English only, but more variants of English are coming in December — Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa & UK

     • In April 2025 more languages will become available — Chinese, English variants for India & Singapore, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese

     • The follow features will be added in December:

       • Custom re-writing styles in writing tools
       • ChatGPT in writing tools
       • Image Playgrounds
       • Genmoji
       • Visual Intelligence (camera-initiated search)

   • Launched Features:

     • Basic new Siri (new animation, and memory between requests) — www.cultofmac.com/…
     • How to use Apple Intelligence writing tools — www.intego.com/…
     • Notification Summaries
     • Image Cleanup
     • Photo Search
     • Photo Memories
     • Suggested replies
     • Phone call transcriptions
     • The Reduce Interruptions focus mode
     • Siri Apple Product Knowledge
     • Type to Siri (without the old accessibility tools trick)

   • As promised, Apple are opening up Private Cloud Compute to security researchers — www.bleepingcomputer.com/…

   • Related: WSJ: Apple’s Craig Federighi Explains Apple Intelligence Delays, Siri’s Future and More — YouTube (Joanna Stern interview)

   • Opinion: Apple's Commitment to AI Is Clear, But Its Execution Is Uneven — www.macstories.net/…

   • Opinion & Review: Apple Intelligence .1 Review: A small start of something big? — sixcolors.com/…

   • Related: Apple's study proves that LLM-based AI models are flawed because they cannot reason — appleinsider.com/…

3. New Macs — no event, but a week of press releases & videos

   • Watch Apple’s M4 Mac announcements in just 90 seconds — www.cultofmac.com/…

   • The M4 family expands to include the M4 Pro & M4 Max — Apple PR

     • Apple’s M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max compared to past generations, and to each other — arstechnica.com/…
     • M4 Pro and Max benchmarks show M2 Ultra who’s boss — www.cultofmac.com/…

   • Apple updated the MacBook Airs to 16GB baseline RAM — sixcolors.com/…

   • Updated iMacs — Apple PR

     • Notable changes

       • M4 CPU
       • 16GB baseline RAM
       • Updated colours
       • Option for nano-textured glass

     • New 24-inch iMac adds M4 chip, nano-texture glass option — appleinsider.com/…

     • New M4 iMac delivers major speed boost — www.cultofmac.com/…

   • Updated MacBook Pros — Apple PR

     • Key changes:

       • M4, M4 Pro & M4 Max CPUs
       • 16GB baseline RAM
       • Brighter screen (600 → 1K nits)
       • Option for nano-textured glass
       • An extra Thunderbolt port (now has ports on both sides)
       • The M4 Max & Pro have Thunderbolt 5
       • Related: Apple released their first Thunderbolt 5 Cable — www.cultofmac.com/… ($159)

     • Apple refreshes MacBook Pro lineup with M4 chips, introduces the M4 Max — arstechnica.com/…

     • Apple introduces new MacBook Pros with M4 chips, brighter screen — sixcolors.com/…

   • All new MacMinis — Apple PR

     • Apple's Launch Video — YouYube

     • Key changes:

       • New smaller form factor

         • 3 thunderbolt 4 ports, and HDMI port, and Ethernet at the back
         • 2 USB-C ports and the audio jack at the front, but
         • The power button in on the bottom — appleinsider.com/…
         • Related: the internet explodes with hacks to 'fix' the problem — appleinsider.com/…
         • M4, & M4 Pro CPUs
         • 16GB baseline RAM

       • Smaller Mac mini Powered by M4 and M4 Pro Chips — tidbits.com/…

       • M4 Mac mini vs M2 Mac mini compared: Leaner and meaner — appleinsider.com/…

   • Apple updates 'Magic' accessories to USB-C, included with M4 iMac — appleinsider.com/…

     • Related: the charge port remains on the bottom of the Magic Mouse, so that controversy rolls on — appleinsider.com/…

4. Apple’s Q4 2024 Earnings — Apple PR

   • The numbers:

     • Quarterly revenue of $94.9 billion (up 6% YoY)
     • Quarterly diluted earnings per share of $0.97 (would have been $1.64, up 12% YoY were it not for last month’s EU judgement on Irish taxes)

   • Detailed Graphs to put it all in context — sixcolors.com/…

   • The call:

     • This is Tim, that was Luca: Apple’s Q4 results phone call, transcribed — sixcolors.com/…
     • Tim Cook bids farewell to Luca Maestri on his last earnings call — appleinsider.com/…
     • Tim Cook says users are updating to iOS 18.1 at twice the rate of iOS 17.1 — appleinsider.com/… (answer to question about how Apple Intelligence is doing)
     • Apple Reports All-Time High in Active Users Worldwide — www.macobserver.com/…

   • Apple beats Wall Street predictions with record-breaking iPhone sales revenue — appleinsider.com/…

   • Apple Sets Q4 2024 Revenue Record on Services and iPhone Growth — tidbits.com/…

   • Opinion: Apple's fourth quarter earnings were decent, but the holiday quarter will be vital — appleinsider.com/…

Quick Stories

• iCloud.com updated with dark mode, customization options, and tweaked UI— appleinsider.com/…
• AI effects and text captions are coming to Final Cut Pro — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple’s Swift Student Challenge to open in February 2025 — Apple
• Beats partners with Kim Kardashian on new Beats Pill colors — appleinsider.com/…
• New iPhone 14 Plus service program offers free repair for camera problem — www.cultofmac.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.