LTA 104: April 2022

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
• Elaine Giles from MacBites – @elainegiles
• Scott Willsey from the Friends with Beer Podcast – @scottaw

The show starts with the usual followups and updates on long-running stories. That’s followed by two short Apple-related legal stories, one Apple hire, and some highlights from Apple’s services. The four main stories are continued crankiness in Apple’s work force resulting in an open letter and three unionisation drives, some crankiness from video pros expressed in another open letter, Apple’s Q2 2022 earnings call, and the limited launch of Apple’s Self Service Repair program in the US. The show ends with a quick rundown of some 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!

Updates & Followup

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

• 🇷🇺 Russia Legalizes Shady ‘Gray Market’ For Tech Products In Effort To Skirt Sanctions — www.macobserver.com/…
• Adyen joins Stripe to become the second official partner for iOS’s up-coming Tap-to-Pay functionality — www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple Commits to Shareholder-Requested Civil Rights Audit — www.macobserver.com/…
• Developers can apply for the Apple Park WWDC shindig starting May 9 — www.imore.com/…
• Apple have released a firmware update for AirTags to make their unknown tracker noise easier to locate — www.imore.com/…
• 🇪🇺 Implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) postponed until early 2023 — www.macobserver.com/…
• Xbox Cloud Gaming Brings Fortnite Back to iOS With No Subscription Needed — www.macobserver.com/…
• 🇪🇸 It’s emerged that both Catalan independence leaders and the Spanish government were targeted by the Pegasus malware last year — www.imore.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple’s tussles with regulators continue:
  • 🇪🇺 The EU’s long-running investigation into Apple’s restrictions of NFC have made it as far as an official Statement of Objections, the ball us now in Apple’s court to reply — arstechnica.com/… & www.imore.com/…
  • 🇳🇱 Apple’s moves to appease Dutch App Store watchdog declared ‘insufficient’ ahead of new penalty — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇯🇵 Apple disagrees with Japanese claims that built-in apps harm competition — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 Sideloading and Web App Restrictions On iOS Under Investigation by U.S. Government — www.macobserver.com/…
• 🇨🇳 China’s COVID policy brings and unwelcome return of uncertainty to Apple:
  • New COVID–19 Lockdowns in China Further Impact iPhone and iPad Production — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Latest China COVID Lockdown May Have Limited Effect on Apple iPhone Production, Thanks to Foxconn — www.macobserver.com/…
  • iPhone supply warning issued as major factories hit by COVID lockdowns in China — www.imore.com/…
  • Delay in Shipment of High-End MacBook Pro Could Be Due to COVID–19 Lockdowns in China — www.macobserver.com/…
  • World’s largest iPhone factory brings back mandatory COVID tests — www.imore.com/…
  • COVID–19 Lockdowns in China Decrease iPhone Supply — www.macobserver.com/…
  • World’s largest iPhone factory operational despite COVID lockdowns — www.imore.com/…
  • Half of Apple’s suppliers at risk in China COVID lockdown areas — www.imore.com/…
  • Foxconn Halts New Hiring Blitz at Zhengzhou Factory Amid COVID–19 and iPhone 14 Delay Concerns — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Workers Riot At Quanta Factory Due To Strict COVID–19 Lockdowns — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Related: Apple Experiencing Delays On Custom Mac Studio and MacBook Pros, Delivery May Take Months — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Related: 🇮🇳 Apple secures Foxconn expansion in India to cope with iPhone demand — www.imore.com/…
  • Related: 🇧🇷 Apple Starts Assembling iPhone 13 in Brazil — www.macobserver.com/…
• 🇮🇳 New regulations cause headaches for Apple as they’e forced to stop accepting credit and debit cards for subscriptions — www.imore.com/…

Legal Latest

• 🇺🇸 Apple Reaches Settlement in iPhone 4S Class-Action Suit, Will Pay $15 to Impacted Users — www.macobserver.com/…
• 🇧🇷 Brazil Orders Apple to Pay iPhone Buyer $1,000 For Not Including Charger — www.macobserver.com/… (🏆 Bart’s Award for the Dumbest Judgement of the Month 😉)

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Apple have hired former Ford exec Desi Ujkashevic, her most recent role at Ford was Global Director of Safety Engineering, but she also has experience the with electric cars — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• Apple Maps:
  • 🇺🇸 Apple Maps adds cycling directions to Chicago, Detroit, more — www.imore.com/… (Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Charleston)
  • 🇸🇬 🇩🇪 Apple rolls out all-new maps to Singapore, Germany — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Music: Starting Today Apple Music Now Available on Roku — www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple TV+:
  • More Apple TV+ Awards:
    • Apple TV+ bags its first BAFTA TV Awards for two documentaries — www.imore.com/… (Editing for 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room & Sound for 1971: The Year Music Changed Everything)
    • Apple TV+ host John Stewart wins a prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor — www.imore.com/…
    • Adam Scott wins a Webby Best Actor award for his role in ‘Severance’ on Apple TV+ — www.imore.com/…
    • ‘The Year Earth Changed’ is the recipient of the Television Academy Honors — www.imore.com/…
    • Apple TV+ wins a GLAAD Media Award for a special episode of ‘The Oprah Conversation’ — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple TV+ branches out with Run, Bambi, Run, a true-crime podcast — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 Subscribers say Apple TV+ is worth $6.90 per month — it costs just $4.99 — www.imore.com/…

Main Stories

1. Return to the Office & Unionisation Efforts:
   • Apple’s return to the office has begun, but not without some pushback:
     • Apple Employees Show Mixed Emotions Over Apple’s Return to Office Decision — www.macobserver.com/…
     • Apple corporate employees head back to the office — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple slammed over working from home policy in employee open letter — www.imore.com/…
   • 🇺🇸 For the first time ever in the US, Apple retail employees are attempting to unionise:
     • Grand Central Apple workers demand $30 an hour as part of unionizing effort — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple Store Workers in Atlanta File First Ever Petition for Union Election — www.macobserver.com/… & First Apple Store in the U.S. to hold union election on June 2 — www.imore.com/… (Cumberland Mall in Atlanta)
     • Third Apple store launches bid to create union — www.imore.com/… (Towson Town Center store in Maryland)
     • Apple Hires Anti-Union Lawyers to Bust Retail Store Workers’ Unionization Efforts — www.macobserver.com/…
     • Related: Apple reportedly cutting Genius Bar headcount at some stores — www.imore.com/…
2. Video Pros are not Happy with Apple Despite the recent rejuvenation in Pro hardware:
   • Filmmakers write open letter to Tim Cook begging for Final Cut Pro commitment — www.imore.com/…
   • Related: Apple releases second beta for Studio Display 15.5 firmware — www.imore.com/…
   • Related: Apple release incremental updates for their video apps:
     • New Final Cut Pro update adds enhanced support for Mac Studio and more — www.imore.com/…
     • iMovie for iPhone & iPad updated with new Storyboards and Magic Movie features — www.imore.com/…
   • Related: Apple PR focuses on video pros:
     • Apple shows how the people behind Star Wars create iconic sounds using Macs — www.imore.com/… & 🎦 Behind the Mac Film: Skywalker Sound Available Now on YouTube — www.macobserver.com/…
     • Apple gifts ‘Dream Studio Makeover’ to aspiring documentary filmmaker — www.imore.com/…
3. Apple’s Q2 2022 Earnings Call — www.apple.com/…
   • Apple reports another record quarter with revenue record of $97.3 billion — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple services reaches new record of 825 million subscribers — www.imore.com/… & Apple’s Services Revenue Exceeds Mac and iPad Sales Combined — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple has made nearly $100 billion so far this year — arstechnica.com
   • Tim Cook says more iPhone buyers switched from Android last quarter — www.imore.com/…
   • Related: Estimates of the Numbers Apple don’t give us (anymore):
     • The PC mark appears to be shrinking, but the Mac market continues to grow — www.imore.com/…, www.imore.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
     • Gartner: PC market 🔻–7.3%🌎 & 🔻16.5%🇺🇸, Mac ⬆️ 500K units🌎
     • Counterpoint: PC shipments 🔻–4%🌎 & Mac shipments ⬆️8%🌎
     • Strategy Analytics: Notebook market 🔻–7%, Macs ⬆️4%
   • Canalys: Apple leads tablet market with 38.6% Q1 share — www.imore.com/…
   • Numbers for iPhone looks good too:
     • Smartphone Shipments of Top Brands Decline in 1Q22, Except the iPhone — www.macobserver.com/… (Strategy Analytics, Canalys & ICS: Smartphone market 🔻–11.3%🌎, iPhone ⬆️8%🌎)
     • Apple’s iPhone 13 Models Sell Well Except for the Mini in Q1 2022 — www.macobserver.com/… (CIRP: 🇺🇸 71% market share, mini 3%)
     • 🇮🇳 Apple shipped almost one million ‘Made in India’ iPhones in Q1 2022 — www.imore.com/… (Business Standard)
     • 🇮🇳 India Sees 50% Increase In iPhone Production as Apple Brings in iPhone 13 — www.macobserver.com/… (CyberMedia Research)
4. 🇺🇸 Apple’s promised Self-Service Repair portal goes live — www.macobserver.com/… & arstechnica.com/… (limited initial launch)
   • US-only
   • Modern iPhones only for now (3rd-gen iPhone SE, iPhone 12 & iPhone 13)
   • Includes commonly needed repairs like screen & battery replacement
   • Requires serial number for part-pairing
   • Needed tools can be bought out-right or rented for 7 days
   • Repair manuals published freely on the website
   • Next-step will be M1-based Macs

Quick Stories

• On World Password Day the FIDO Alliance announced that Apple, Microsoft & Google will be implementing a new cross-platform standard developed in conjunction with the W3C to allow password-less authentication and support for website auth over bluetooth — arstechnica.com/… & fidoalliance.org/…
• Earth Day 2022:
  • Apple donated $1 from each Apple Pay transaction on an Apple store/site for the week running up to Earth Day — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple suppliers avoided almost 14 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2021 — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple reveals 20 percent of materials used in products in 2021 recycled — www.imore.com/…
    • Related: 🎦 When Dietschy met Daisy — Apple’s iPhone-recycling robot makes it to YouTube — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple celebrates grant protecting mangroves in India on Earth Day — www.imore.com/…
  • Foxconn improved its emissions reduction pledge, now promising to reduce emissions by 21% by 2025, a further 63% by 2035, and continued reductions to reach net-zero by 2050 — www.imore.com/…
• The Beats Studio Buds are now available in three gorgeous new colors — www.imore.com/…
• Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack can now charge at 7.5W speeds — www.imore.com/…
• Apple expands fraud protection features to more than just Apple Card — www.imore.com/…
• 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 Apple bringing its child safety features in iMessage to UK and Canada — www.imore.com/… (just the un-controversial parental controls, not the postponed CSAM scanning)

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.