Let’s Talk Apple — Ep. 84 (August 2020)

Panel:

Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
Adam Christianson from The Mac Cast – @maccast
Simon Parnell from the Essential Apple Podcast – @serenak

The show starts with a few followup stories (including the virus-shaped elephant in every room these days), a few legal stories, some acquisitions, and a quick overview of news related to Apple’s original content. The four main stories are Phill Schiller’s transition to Apple Fellow, update iMacs, Microsoft’s Surface Duo, and Apple’s App Store problems (there’s much more going on than just the Epic saga!). The show ends with a quick rundown of some smaller Apple-related stories that made the news in August.

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 Updates:
- ExposureNotification/Contact Tracing Apps Continue to Roll Out:
  - Apple & Google have announced the next phase of their API — OS-level support that does not require an app. They’ve named this new option for governments Exposure Notifications Express. OS-level support is coming to Android later in September, but it’s already available on iOS with the release of iOS 13.7 — www.macobserver.com/… & tidbits.com/…
  - 🇺🇸 US States finally start rolling out apps. Apps are out or on the way for the following states: Virginia, North Dakota, Wyoming, Alabama & Pennsylvania — www.imore.com/…, www.imore.com/… & www.imore.com/…
  - 🇬🇧 Coronavirus: England’s contact-tracing app gets green light for trial — www.bbc.com/…
  - 🇦🇺 Australia’s Covidsafe app only working 27% of the time on some iPhones — www.imore.com/…
- Stores Continue to Open & Close Around the World:
- 🇺🇸 Apple Card payment deferment extends up to six months — www.imore.com/…
As promised when Apple bought them, Dark Sky has killed it’s Android app — arstechnica.com/…
🇮🇳 New iPhone SE handsets sold in India are now made there as well — www.imore.com/…
Apple’s announced stock split has happened, and it drove the stock up to new record levels: Apple Worth $2.2 Trillion as Stock Hits Record High Following Stock Split — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple’s value passes entire FTSE 100 — www.imore.com/…
- Even after a bad day (along with the entire tech sector) on 3 Sep the stock still closed with a market cap above the $2T threshold (last month Apple became the first publicly traded company to cross a market cap of $2T) — 9to5mac.com/… & www.cnbc.com/…
🇺🇸 🇨🇳 A new front has opened in the US-China trade war — Social Media, and it could very negatively affect Apple’s iPhone sales in China:

Legal Latest

🇺🇸 Judge tells Apple it took too long to try to recoup the $454 million it paid VirnetX over patents — www.imore.com/…
🇺🇸 Apple settles Powerbeats 2 lawsuit for nearly $10M over defect — www.imore.com/…
🇺🇸 Apple Must Pay $506 million over use of PanOptis LTE patents — www.imore.com/…
🇺🇸 Apple Store employees have won their appeal against a lower court’s ruling that Apple did not owe them for time spent having their bags searched before leaving work. Presumably that means Apple owes a lot of back-pay, but that’s not explicitly stated in the article — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Acquisitions

Apple Original Content Update

Main Stories

Phil Schiller is transitioning to Apple Fellow from SVP for Worldwide Marketing but retaining the lead on the App Store and Apple events. Greg Joswiak is replacing Phil as SVP for Worldwide Marketing:
Apple updated their iMac Line:
Microsoft Announced the Surface Duo a different take on the foldable — two screens running Android:
- Microsoft’s Surface Duo arrives on September 10th for $1,399 — www.theverge.com/…
- Microsoft’s blog post announcing the device — blogs.windows.com/…
- 🎦 The product announcement — youtu.be/…
Apple’s App Store Problem
- What Happened:
  - Microsoft announced that it’s eagerly awaited cloud gaming service xCloud will launch on Android on the 15th of September, but says nothing about iOS. The tech press fill in the blanks and call Apple out for their app store policies. Apple responded saying every game needs to be submitted for individual review. Microsoft then responded publicly, saying Apple’s stance is unworkable leaving ‘no path’ to xCloud on iOS — www.imore.com/… & www.imore.com/…
  - Facebook launched Facebook gaming for iOS, but because if App Store rules, the app doesn’t actually allow users to play any games, merely to watch others play — www.imore.com/…
    - Related: Mark Zuckerberg fires major shots at Apple during company meeting — www.imore.com/…
  - Facebook complains that Apple won’t let it facilitate fee-less paid events (Facebook wants to give all the money to the event organisers) — www.imore.com/…
  - The Epic Saga Begins:
    - Epic released an update for Fortnight for iOS & Android that included code that reached back to their servers so they could change the app’s functionality after it had passed Apple & Google’s review process to add in their own payment method, breaching Apple & Google’s rules. Both companies responded by removing the game from their stores. Epic then filed a lawsuit it had prepared in advance, and released a bunch of ads it had ready and waiting — arstechnica.com/…, www.macobserver.com/…, www.theverge.com/…, www.macobserver.com/… & www.imore.com/…
    - Epic’s case was quickly re-assigned to judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers who’s already overseeing two smaller anti-trust case against Apple — www.imore.com/…
    - Apple invokes the clause in its developer agreement that allows it terminate the agreement in case of rule violation, warning Epic that it will revoke all its developer accounts, hence killing app its apps, and, removing access to Apple’s development tools from developers working on Epic’s Unreal Engine, a software library they sell to game developers — arstechnica.com/… & www.theverge.com/…
    - Epic files for a restraining order requesting the court both force Apple to put Fortnite back in the store as-is, and preventing Apple terminating its developer accounts. Apple files a response saying the emergency Epic is requesting relief from is entirely self-inflicted, and entirely within its own power to resolve — www.macobserver.com/… & techcrunch.com/…
    - Apple release emails showing Epic asked for a special deal — www.imore.com/…
    - Microsoft filed documents in the injunction case in support of protecting the Unreal Engine (but not in support of restoring Fortnite) — arstechnica.com/…
    - The judge in the restraining order case partially sides with Apple, and partially with Epic. Apple argued that Epic created the emergency around the removal of Fornight, and can resolve it without any assistance by simply submitted a version of the app that doesn’t break the rules. The judge agreed, and denied Epic’s request to force Apple to add Fortnight back to the store. However, the judge also found that since the Unreal Engine is produced by a subsidiary company, Apple should not block that company from continuing to develop the engine — www.imore.com/… & www.imore.com/…
    - Apple promoted PUBG, a Fortnite competitor that’s been around longer than Fortnite itself, in its app store editorial content — www.imore.com/…
      - Related: 🇮🇳 Apple & Google removed PUBG from their Indian app stores to comply with the Indian government’s ban on Chinese apps — www.imore.com/…
    - Apple terminated one of Epic’s developer accounts (the one it used to publish its games, not the one it used to develop the Unreal Engine) — www.imore.com/…
    - Epic released its big update, but not in iOS or the Mac, and it wrote a letter to customers blaming Apple — www.imore.com/…
  - While the Epic saga was unfolding Apple briefly blocked WordPress from updating its app until it started to support in-app purchases for its subscriptions. This was a mistake, and Apple reversed its position and apologised to WordPress — arstechnica.com/…
  - Also while the Epic saga was unfolding, Facebook let it be known that it was blocked by both Apple & Google from describing the 30% revenue cut the companies take in the description of one of their apps — www.reuters.com/… & www.imore.com/…
  - While all this was going on Apple’s app store continued to attract anti-trust attention around the world
    - 🇪🇺 The European Commission let it be known that it’s ‘aware’ of Microsoft & Facebook’s issues with Apple — www.imore.com/…
    - 🇷🇺 Russian watchdog rules Apple’s App Store is anticompetitive — www.imore.com/…
    - 🇺🇸 Congressman aims to end tech’s ‘deeply disturbing’ antitrust behaviour — www.imore.com/…
    - 🇰🇷 Korea confirms investigation into Apple and Google’s 30% cut — www.imore.com/…
    - 🇷🇺 Russian lawmaker introduces bill to cap Apple’s App Store fees at 20% — www.imore.com/…
    - 🇩🇪 Germany considering App Store inquiry, watching Epic Games case ‘very closely’ — www.imore.com/…
    - 🇯🇵 As Japanese developers complain about their problems with the app store, Japanese regulators are also taking an interest — www.macobserver.com/…
  - Apple implemented the improvements to the app review process it promised at WWDC, allowing developers to challenge the guidelines as well as Apple’s decisions — arstechnica.com/… & www.imore.com/…
  - Apple released a statement claiming the iOS app economy has created 300,000 jobs since 2019 — www.imore.com/…
  - News Publishers Ask Apple for Better App Store Terms — www.macobserver.com/…
  - Apple announced a new feature to allow developers to create subscription offer codes for their apps — www.imore.com/…
  - After complaints from Facebook, Apple has delayed a key iOS 14 privacy feature – users will not have to agree to being tracked across apps when iOS 14 launches, but the request for permission will become mandatory some time in the future — arstechnica.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
  - Apple has provided guidance to developers for completing the iOS 14 privacy nutrition label questionnaire for their apps — www.macobserver.com/…
  - Related: SetApp was able to launch an iOS companion to their service that abides by the App Store rules — tidbits.com/…
- Related Opinion & Analysis:

Quick Stories

At the request of shareholders, Apple has published a document outlining it’s approach to human rights — www.imore.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
Apple have updated their video software:
- Apple updates Final Cut Pro X with new workflow improvements and more — www.imore.com/… & Final Cut Pro 10.4.9 adds new remote workflows for a COVID–19 world — arstechnica.com/…
- Apple Updates iMovie With Comic, Comic Mono, Ink Filters — www.macobserver.com/…
Apple has expanded its Independent Repair Provider Program to include Macs — www.imore.com/…
- Apple’s Independent Repair Provider Program for Macs has some restrictions — www.imore.com/…
Apple Increases AppleCare+ Subscription Window up to a Year — www.macobserver.com/…
Apple Support app updated with Wallet support for Genius Bar check-in — www.imore.com/…
🇺🇸 UCLA and Apple are partnering together to study depression and anxiety — www.imore.com/…
🇸🇬 The first floating Apple Store is opening at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore — www.imore.com/…
Apple Maps updates:
- 🇯🇵 Apple Maps Look Around feature is coming to more Japanese cities including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya — www.imore.com/…
- 🇳🇱 🇵🇹 Apple Maps rolls out 3D in Amsterdam, transit information in Lisbon — www.imore.com/…
Google Maps re-gains its Apple Watch app, adds CarPlay Dashboard support — 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.

Emoji	Meaning
🎧	A link to audio content, probably a podcast.
flag	The story is particularly relevant to people living in a specific country, or, the organisation the story is about is affiliated with the government of a specific country.
📊	A link to graphical content, probably a chart, graph, or diagram.
💵	A link to an article behind a pay-wall.
📌	A pinned story, i.e. one to keep an eye on that’s likely to develop into something significant in the future.

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