LTA 131: July 2024

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots

This unusual solo show starts with a few followups from last month before diving into just a few regulatory legal stories, one piece of HR news, and a few highlights (and a lowlight) from Apple’s services and original content. Because it’s the so-called ‘silly season’, there’s just one main story, Apple’s Q3 2024 earnings call. The show finishes with a rundown of a few other quick Apple-related stories that made the news in July.

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 offers the first public betas of iOS 18 and the other fall operating systems — appleinsider.com/…

• As expected, Apple's Back to School promo has rolled out to more countries beyond just the US: Apple’s Back to School Promo Comes to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East — www.macobserver.com/…

• Apple Intelligence Developments:

  • Apple iOS 18.1 Beta previews Apple Intelligence for the first time — www.bleepingcomputer.com/…

  • Apple Will “Share the Results of AI Tests” With Public and Govt — www.macobserver.com/…

  • Apple in talks with the EU and China for Apple Intelligence rollout — www.cultofmac.com/…

  • Early reviews are trickling in, but it's too early in the beta process to draw any meaningful conclusions:

    • Hands on: Siri starts to get better thanks to Apple Intelligence — appleinsider.com/…

      • Apple Intelligence vs Grammarly — AI powered text tool showdown — appleinsider.com/…

• Apple Vision Pro Developments:

  • Apple Revamps Vision Pro Demos with Personalized Content and New Features — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Apple Unveils New Shows for Apple Immersive Video — www.macobserver.com/…

• PC Gaming Emulators on iOS:

  • Apple changed it's mind on UTM SE: Apple permits first PC emulator for iOS into the App Store — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple clarifies its stance on emulating PC games: PC emulators are now explicitly allowed on the iPhone and iPad — appleinsider.com/…
  • Related:
    * How to run Linux and Windows on iPhone and iPad — www.cultofmac.com/…
    * How To Download and Install UTM on iPhone & iPad: 3 Methods — www.macobserver.com/…

• After some initial Hiccoughs, Epic Games returns to iOS in Europe:

  • Apple green lights Epic Games Store in rapid reversal — appleinsider.com/… (not launched yet, but now coming soon)
  • Fortnite heads for iPhone via Europe’s AltStore — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Related: The AltStore PAL Marketplace is adding Torrent Clients and Other Third-Party Apps. — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Related: Vision Pro’s App Store gains support for alternative payment methods in EU — www.cultofmac.com/…

Regulatory Rundown

• Apple settles EU probe by opening up its mobile payments system — arstechnica.com

• India's antitrust regulator has decided that Apple abuses its market dominance — appleinsider.com/… (not clear what this will mean yet)

• Spain launches antitrust investigation over Apple's App Store practices — appleinsider.com/…

  • Related: Apple Threatens Tencent and ByteDance with App Store Removal Over Payment Loopholes — www.macobserver.com/…

• UK opens probe into risks of using Apple Wallet and rivals — appleinsider.com/…

Legal Latest

• DOJ -v- Apple: Apple defends business practices in motion to dismiss DOJ lawsuit — appleinsider.com/…
• AliveCor -v- Apple: AliveCor suffers another loss in Apple Watch ECG patent battle — appleinsider.com/… (US CBP finds Apple's re-designed ECG does not violate AliveCor patents)
• Apple beats lawsuit over forcing developers to use its closed ecosystem — appleinsider.com/… (potential class action suit in CA tossed)

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Former Apple hardware engineer joins Rivian — appleinsider.com/… (Jeff Alves, was Apple's Director of Hardware Engineering and was with Apple for 11 years, now Rivian's Senior Director of Battery Engineering)

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• Apple TV+:

  • Apple TV+ gifts PlayStation owners a three-month trial offer — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple TV+ earns a whopping 72 Emmy nominations — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Leagues Cup returns to MLS Season Pass on Apple TV on July 26 — www.apple.com/…
  • Apple and Major League Baseball announce August “Friday Night Baseball” schedule — www.apple.com/…
  • Related: Apple TV+ is Now 6th Biggest Streaming Service in the US — www.macobserver.com/…

• Apple Arcade:

  • Temple Run: Legends and 2 more exciting games race onto Apple Arcade — www.cultofmac.com/… ( Apple Press release)
  • Related: an in-depth investigation of how developers are faring with Apple Arcade reveals a decidedly mixed bag — mobilegamer.biz/…
    * From: "We were able to sign a good deal for our titles which covered our whole development budget" & "Whatever anyone else says, the advances were fantastic. They were off the charts compared to what we’re used to being paid. And you got royalties on top of that"
    * To: a five-month payment back-log, "We can go weeks without hearing from Apple at all and their general response time to emails is three weeks, if they reply at all", "We’re supposed to be able to ask product, technical and commercial questions, but often half the Apple team won’t turn up and when they do they have no idea what’s going on and can’t answer our questions, either because they don’t have any knowledge on how to answer it, or are not able to share that info for confidentiality reasons", and even some describing working with Apple as like being in "an abusive relationship"

• Apple Maps on the web launches in beta — www.apple.com/…

• iPhone Emergency SOS via satellite feature expands to Japan — www.cultofmac.com/…

Main Story: Apple's Q3 2024 Earnings Call — www.apple.com/…

• This is Tim: Complete Q3 2024 analyst call transcript — sixcolors.com/…

• Sample of headline takes:

  • Apple reports record revenues despite stagnant iPhone sales — arstechnica.com
  • Apple results: Quarterly record, all-time high in Services — sixcolors.com/…
  • Apple's third quarter 2024 results show return to growth, with Wall Street beat — appleinsider.com/…
  • Strong iPad sales help return Apple to revenue growth — www.cultofmac.com/…

• Excellent Analysis:

  • How Apple's quietest quarter shouted back at Wall Street — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple’s Q3 2024 Record Revenues Surprise Tim Cook — tidbits.com/…

• Noteworthy Opinion: Existential thoughts about Apple’s reliance on Services revenue — sixcolors.com/…

• A Related Number from CIRP: Apple Users Are Holding Onto Their Devices for Longer Than Ever — www.macobserver.com/…

  "The data reveals a big increase in the number of users keeping their iPhones, iPads, and Macs for more than two years. For iPhones, 71% of recent buyers had a previous phone older than two years, up from 63% in 2020. Similarly, 68% of new Mac owners had a previous computer older than two years, compared to 59% just four years ago."

Quick Stories

• Minor Apple Hardware Releases:

  • Apple's Beats releases a re-vamped version of the iconic Beats Pill speaker — www.macrumors.com/…

    • Related: The new Beats Pill: exclusive interview with Apple’s Oliver Schusser — www.wallpaper.com/…

  • Beats Launches Solo 4 Headphones in a Limited “Minecraft” Edition — www.macobserver.com/…

  • HomePod mini ditches space gray in favor of new midnight color — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple Press Release)

• This month's Apple OS updates bring dual external display support to the M3 MacBook — www.cultofmac.com/…

• Apple Refreshes the Apple Store App, Brings New “Go Further” Tab — www.macobserver.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.