LTA 108: August 2022

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots

For the first time in the show’s long history, there is no panel — it’s just Bart sharing his take on the news while all the regulars are off enjoying the last few days of summer. The new Gods also seem to have gone to the beach because there were only two main stories — troubling reports of poorly handled HR complaints, and a potentially problematic move to add more ads into iOS. There are also the usual followups on long-running stories, some legal news, some Apple HR and acquisition news, an update on some of Apple’s services, and a few quick stories to round out the show.

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.

• Studio Display Speaker Issue Fixed by Latest Firmware Update — www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple Adds M1 MacBooks to Self Service Repair — tidbits.com/…
• First public iPadOS 16 release will actually be iOS 16.1, in October — appleinsider.com/…
• Xcode Cloud subscriptions now available for developers — appleinsider.com/…
• The NSO Group (makers of the Pegasus Spyware that infected some Apple devices) appears to be preparing to be acquired, they’re laying off 100 workers and their CEO is stepping down — appleinsider.com/…
• Continuing Anti-trust developments:
  • 🇯🇵 Thanks to Apple’s settlement with Japan: Netflix’s iOS App Now Has an External Subscription Button — daringfireball.net/…
  • 🇰🇷 South Korea suspects Apple, Google of violating in-app payment law — appleinsider.com/…
  • 🇫🇷 French Publishers Seek Injunction Against Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Program — www.macobserver.com/…
  • 🇮🇳 Tinder-owner Match ups antitrust pressure on Apple in India with new case — www.reuters.com/…
• Epic Games versus Apple appeals to be heard on October 21 — appleinsider.com/…
• 🇮🇳 India the latest country that may require Apple to shift to USB-C for the iPhone — appleinsider.com/…
• Continuing Supply Chain Issues:
  • 🇨🇳 Apple experience a whole new problem in China, factory closures due to droughts — www.macobserver.com/… & appleinsider.com/…
  • Related: 🇻🇳 Apple Plans to Move Manufacturing of Apple Watch and MacBooks to Vietnam — www.macobserver.com/…

Legal Latest

• 🇪🇺 Europe’s General Court Rules Qualcomm Won’t Have to Pay $1 Billion Fine for Paying Apple to Use Its Chips Exclusively — www.macobserver.com/… (Case closed, the Commission will not be appealing)
• 🇺🇸 Apple settles lawsuit with developer over App Store scam apps — appleinsider.com/… (FlickType)

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Apple radically cuts down on acquiring firms for technology and talent — appleinsider.com/…

Apple bought seven times more firms in 2020 than it now has across both 2021 and 2022 so far

• 🇨🇳 Apple quits board of Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi — appleinsider.com/…
• Chief Privacy Officer Jane Horvath to Leave Apple to Work at a Private Law Firm — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• 🇺🇸 Apple Card

• Goldman Sachs credit card practices under investigation by US watchdog — appleinsider.com/…
  * Popularity of Apple Card Blamed for Goldman Sachs Woes — www.macobserver.com/…

• Apple Card issuer Goldman Sachs ranks first in credit card satisfaction survey — appleinsider.com/…

• AppleCare+
  • 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 Loss and theft coverage now available in France, Italy & Spain — appleinsider.com/…
  • 🇦🇺 🇨🇦 🇯🇵 Apple has expanded the annual AppleCare+ feature to Australia, Canada & Japan— appleinsider.com/…

• Apple Pay: 🇲🇾 Apple Pay Now Available in Malaysia in Partnership in MayBank, AmBank and Standard Chartered Bank — www.macobserver.com/…

• Maps: 🇺🇸 Apple Maps extends cycling directions to all 50 states — www.cultofmac.com/…

• Podcasts: Apple Signs Deal with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Production Company to Beef Up Its Original Podcast Content — www.macobserver.com/… (Futuro Studios)
  • Related: Apple Podcasts Marketing Tool for Social Media Released – MacStories — www.macstories.net/…
  • Related: Paid Apple Podcast subscriptions grow by 300% in a year — appleinsider.com/…
• AppleTV+

  • 🇨🇴 🇩🇴 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 Apple TV+ Announces September ‘Friday Night Baseball’ Schedule, Availability in New Countries — www.macobserver.com/… (Colombia, Dominican Republic, Germany & Italy)

  • Apple TV+ Announces a Wealth of Family and Kid-Friendly Content Arriving This Fall — www.macobserver.com/…

  • Awards Season Again!
    • ‘Severance’ and ‘Ted Lasso’ clean up at the Hollywood Critics awards — appleinsider.com/… (53 nominations → 7 awards)

    “Apple TV+ today was recognized as the most-winning streaming service by the Hollywood Critics Association Streaming TV Awards,” announced Apple, “scoring seven wins including Best Drama ‘Severance’ and Best Comedy ‘Ted Lasso.’”

    • Apple TV+ wins first Edinburgh Television Festival award with ‘Pachinko’ — appleinsider.com/…

Main Stories

1. More HR Strife at Apple
   • Apple under fire for how HR handles women who complain about abuse — appleinsider.com/… & Female Employees Call Out Apple’s Handling of Complaints on Misconduct — www.macobserver.com/…
     • 💵 The (paywalled) original report: The women calling out Apple’s handling of misconduct claims — www.ft.com/…
   • Other Apple HR News:
     • Apple lays off 100 recruiters as hiring becomes more ‘deliberate’ — appleinsider.com/…
     • Once again, Apple calls workers back to the office—once again, workers fight back — arstechnica.com
     • As Big Tech grapples with caste-based discrimination, Apple explicitly bans it — arstechnica.com
   • Unionisation rumbles on:
     • 🇺🇸 Apple Store union distributes job surveys in preparation for negotiations — appleinsider.com/…
     • 🇦🇺 Apple Together Australia Invites Workers to Attend the Apple Store Unionization Briefing — www.macobserver.com/…
2. Apple apparently preparing to sell more Ads
   • Apple ad exec wants to more than double ad revenue with new ads across iOS — arstechnica.com

   Gurman wrote in his email newsletter this week that Apple advertising VP Todd Teresi began reporting directly to Apple services head Eddie Cue a few months back. He also wrote that Teresi plans to increase Apple’s advertising revenue from $4 billion annually to billions in the double digits.

   • Opinion: Apple has never been against advertising — it’s against invasive data collection — appleinsider.com/…

Quick Stories

• Beats partners with Kim Kardashian on new neutral Beats Fit Pro colors — appleinsider.com/…& Kim Kardashian Beats edition sells out in US, most countries — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple launches Education Community in beta with free teaching resources — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple extends repair program for iPhone 12 models affected with ‘no sound issue’ — appleinsider.com/…
• USB4 2.0 jumps past Thunderbolt to an amazing 80 Gbps — www.cultofmac.com/…
• 🇪🇺 A draft Commission proposal that’s part of the EU’s on-going e-Waste initiative would require smartphone makers to keep providing spare parts for 5 years and make batteries last for 500 charge cycles — appleinsider.com/…
• 📌 Apple Schedules Media Event for September 7, 2022 — www.macstories.net/… (‘Far Out’)

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.