Let’s Talk Apple — Ep. 83 (July 2020)

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
• Lynda Gousha from the Silicon Valley MUG – @llg4cdg
• Gazmaz from the My Mac Podcast – @gazmaz

The show starts with a few followup stories (including the virus-shaped elephant in every room these days), one acquisition, and a quick overview of news related to Apple’s original content. The five main stories are Apple’s Q3 earnings, Apple’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2030, the ECJ tax judgement in favour of Apple and Ireland, antitrust pressure on Apple, and Apple TV+ at the Emmys. The show ends with a quick rundown of some smaller 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!

Followup

• COVID-Related News:
  • Store Changes:
    • 🇬🇧 Today at Apple is coming back to London with ‘Made in LDN’ sessions — www.imore.com/…
    • 🇦🇺 Victoria Apple stores reclose following COVID–19 spike — www.imore.com/…
    • Apple Stores are now offering ‘Shop with a Specialist’ appointments — www.imore.com/…
    • 🇺🇸 11 More Apple stores reclose in the U.S. from July 10 — www.imore.com/…
    • 🇺🇸 Apple recloses more U.S. stores, returning six to curbside service in California — www.imore.com/…
    • 🇬🇧 Apple Highcross joins other UK Apple Stores in reopening following COVID–19 — www.imore.com/…
    • Apple Store Field Trips retired, new education events coming soon — www.imore.com/…
    • Related: 🎦 WSJ reveals how Apple store closures tracked COVID–19 in the U.S. — www.imore.com/…
  • Exposure Notification/Contact Tracing App Developments:
    • 🇮🇪 Ireland successfully launches an app based on the Google/Apple API — www.imore.com/…, www.theguardian.com/… & www.imore.com/…
    • 🇺🇸 APHL to build national COVID–19 server using Apple and Google’s API, hosted by Microsoft — www.imore.com/…
    • 🇺🇸 Only four states plan to use Apple/Google coronavirus API; none yet in use — 9to5mac.com/…
    • 🇦🇺 Australian Government Blaming Apple for COVID–19 Contact Tracing App Flaws — www.macobserver.com/…
    • 🇨🇦 Canada’s ‘COVID Alert’ App Using Apple’s Exposure Notification API Now Available — www.macrumors.com/…
  • Other COVID-related News
    • Apple says its offices in the US will not fully reopen until at least 2021 — www.imore.com/…
    • Apple updates its education programs for coding — www.imore.com/…
    • iOS 13.6 has added symptom tracking to the Health app — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Apple Card payment deferment program extended through August — www.imore.com/…
    • 🇺🇸 Apple adds COVID–19 travel warning to Maps — www.imore.com/…
    • Related Analysis: Apple Only Fortune 50 Firm to Foresee COVID–19 Pandemic Risk And Insure Itself Properly — www.macobserver.com/…
• BLM-related News:
  • Apple Expands Partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities — tidbits.com/…
  • Apple updates coding terminology to remove non-inclusive language — www.imore.com/…
  • Representative John Lewis: Apple Uses Homepage to Pay Tribute — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Apple to donate proceeds from John Lewis documentary to museums — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple launches resources for parents, educators to help spark racial injustice discussion — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Services Evolutions:
  • 🇺🇸 Apple Card gets limited integration for budgeting service Mint — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 Apple Card starts credit file reporting to Experian — appleinsider.com/…
  • 🇪🇺 🇨🇦 Apple expands Independent Repair Provider Program to Europe and Canada — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇦🇺 🇨🇦 🇯🇵 Apple expands monthly AppleCare+ payments to Canada, Australia and Japan — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇫🇮 🇳🇴 🇸🇪 Apple deploys in Finland, Norway, and Sweden to collect Apple Maps data — www.imore.com/…
• 🇺🇸 Affected US customers can now file to claim their $25 Battery Gate settlement — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple’s ‘batterygate’ settlement: Why getting your refund could prove difficult — www.imore.com/…
  • Related: 6 ways to find your old iPhone’s serial number and claim your $25 settlement — www.macworld.com/…
• Apple Opens Public Betas for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14 — tidbits.com/…
• Apple has started providing security researchers with rooted iPhones as announced at last year’s Black Hat security conference — www.imore.com/… & tidbits.com/…
  • Related Arizona launching a multi-state investigation into iPhone slowdowns — www.imore.com/…
• 🇺🇸 Apple has started to follow through on its promise to spend $2.5Bn to help with the housing crisis in CA: Apple allocates $400 million to build affordable housing in the Bay Area — www.imore.com/…

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Apple Acquires Mobeewave to Create iPhone Payment Terminals — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple Original Content Update

• Apple is bringing ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ to Apple TV+ in new series — www.imore.com/…
• Apple TV+ lands graphic novel adaptation ‘Snow Blind’ starring Jake Gyllenhaal — www.imore.com/…
• ‘Greyhound’, ‘Little Voice’, and ‘Greatness Code’ arrive on Apple TV+ — www.imore.com/…
• Apple signs first-look film and television deal with Idris Elba — www.imore.com/…
• Apple drops new trailer for ‘Ted Lasso’, coming to TV+ August 14 — www.imore.com/…
• Apple TV+ lands original film ‘Palmer’ starring Justin Timberlake — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Orders Action-Thriller ‘Echo 3’ for Apple TV+ — www.macobserver.com/…
• Grace Kaufman will lead Apple TV+ movie ‘The Sky Is Everywhere’ — www.imore.com/…
• Noggin is now available via Apple TV Channels in Latin America — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Orders Thriller Series ‘Shining Girls’ Starring Elisabeth Moss — www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple Partners With Werner Herzog on ‘Fireball” Documentary — www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple TV+ to start streaming ‘The Oprah Conversation’ on July 30 — www.imore.com/…
• Season two of “The Morning Show” is getting rewritten to cover the pandemic — www.imore.com/…

Main Stories

1. Apple’s Q3 2020 Earnings — www.apple.com/…
   • Apple Earnings Call Transcripts: Apple CEO Tim Cook on the company’s 2020 Q3 earnings — www.imore.com/…
   • 📊 Jason Snell’s traditional collection of superb charts: Apple Q3 2020 results: Everything up – Six Colors — sixcolors.com/…
   • Apple Q3 2020 Breaks Records While the World Burns, Next iPhone to Be Fashionably Late — tidbits.com/…
   • Apple announces 4-for–1 stock split following strong Q3 results — www.imore.com/…
   • The new iPhone won’t ship until October — sixcolors.com/…
   • AAPL has hit a new all-time high following impressive quarterly results — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple says losing money to donate to causes ‘the right thing to do’ — www.imore.com/…
   • Related News:
     • It’s not just Apple doing well during the pandemic: The Economy Is in Record Decline, but Not for the Tech Giants – The New York Times — www.nytimes.com/…
     • Numbers from Gartner show the Mac doing well: Mac shipments outpaced overall PC growth in the second quarter of 2020 — www.imore.com/…
     • Numbers from Sensor Tower indicate high smartphone usage during the pandemic: App Store clocks over 9 billion app installs in biggest-ever quarter — www.imore.com/…
     • Numbers from Counterpoint Research paint a very rosy picture for the iPhone:
       • 🇨🇳 China iPhone sales grow 225% on Q1, up 32% from last year — www.imore.com/…
       • iPhone SE Winning Android Users And Unlikely to Cannibalize 5G iPhone Sales — www.macobserver.com/…
     • 🇺🇸 Apple doubles trade-in value of select Android devices in limited time offer — www.imore.com/…
2. Apple Reveals plan for Carbon Neutrality by 2030 — www.imore.com/…
   • A superb analysis of the plan: Unpacking Apple’s mammoth carbon neutral commitment and its new environmental vision — www.imore.com/…
   • Related: Apple announced that the 16" MBP will be the first Apple computer to make use of zero-carbon aluminium — www.imore.com/…
3. The ECJ has Over-turned the €13Bn Tax Bill Imposed on Apple by the European Commission — www.imore.com/…
   • Related: New EU Tax package includes targeted digital platform measures — www.imore.com/…
4. Antitrust Pressure on Apple mounts on both sides of the Atlantic:
   • 🇪🇺 EU:
     • 🇮🇹 Italy launches investigation into Apple and Amazon over sales tactics — www.imore.com/…
     • Telegram files EU antitrust complaint against Apple — www.imore.com/…

     • Related: New EU regulations target App Store, empowering developers — www.imore.com/…

       As Steve Troughton-Smith notes, these new regulations will have ramifications in the EU App Store, not only regarding 30 days notice and disclosure of preferential treatment, but also the fact that disputes that can’t be resolved by Apple’s App Review will have to be settled by an external mediator.

   • 🇺🇸 US:
     • Tim Cook & other tech CEOs Testify to a congressional hearing on anti-trust — arstechnica.com/…, www.imore.com/… & tidbits.com/…
       • Apple study defends App Store fees ahead of next week’s antitrust hearing — www.imore.com/…
       • 🎦 Watch Tim Cook’s opening statement, response to congressional Q&A — www.loopinsight.com/…
       • Five Key Tim Cook Quotes From Big Tech’s Big Hearing — www.macobserver.com/…
       • Emails reveal details of Apple’s revenue deal with Amazon — www.imore.com/…
       • Tim Cook says Apple doesn’t acquire to stifle competition in new interview — www.imore.com/…
       • Phil Schiller says the goal of the App Store was to treat everybody the same — www.imore.com/…
       • Analysis: Parsing Tim Cook’s Opening Statement From Today’s Congressional Antitrust Hearing — daringfireball.net/…
       • 🎧 An excellent summary of all the testimony (starting at 00:36:19): NC #795: Taming the Terminal is a Published Book, 100 Years Ago Podmom, House Committee on Tech Giants — overcast.fm/…
     • Apple facing multi-state investigation for deceptive business practices — www.imore.com/…
   • Related Stories:
     • ClassPass, Airbnb Clash With Apple Over App Store Fee — www.macobserver.com/…
     • CEO of Epic Games says App Store is an ‘absolute monopoly’ — www.imore.com/…
5. A good month for Apple Original Content
   • ‘Greyhound’ reportedly sets opening-weekend record for Apple TV+ — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple did well at the Emmy Awards:
     • Apple TV+ picks up two Emmys for ‘Ghostwriter’ & ‘Peanuts in Space’ — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple TV+ Earns Over a Dozen Emmy Nominations for ‘The Morning Show,’ ‘Defending Jacob,’ and More — www.macrumors.com/…
   • Nice list of all the nominations — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Jennifer Aniston picks up her first dramatic Emmy nomination for ‘The Morning Show’ — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple TV+ becomes first streaming service to earn Daytime Emmy Awards in first year of launch — www.loopinsight.com/…
   • New Universal movies to hit iTunes just 17 days after theatrical release — www.imore.com/…

Quick Stories

• Apple’s new gift cards now work in Apple Stores and in the App Store — www.imore.com/…
• Apple launches audio stories, Apple News Today show for Apple News — www.imore.com/…
• Function101 is selling an Apple TV remote that (hopefully) doesn’t suck — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Music’s real-time lyrics are now available on some Samsung TVs — 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.