Panel:
- Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
- Mikah Sargent from the Clockwise Podcast and TWiT Network – @mikahsargent
- Simon Parnell from the Essential Apple Podcast – @serenak
The show starts with a few followup stories, updates on some Apple-related legal cases, one acquisition, and a quick(ish) overview of news related to Apple’s original content. The three main stories are Apple’s Q4 2020 earnings call, the on-going anti-trust kerfuffle, and Apple’s ‘Hi, Speed’ event. The show ends with a quick rundown of some smaller Apple-related stories that made the news in October.
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 & Long-running Stories
- Apple One is now available – here’s how to get it — www.imore.com/…
- COVID Updates:
- Apple expanding ‘Express’ retail format for the holidays — www.imore.com/…
- 🇮🇹 Seven Italian Apple stores to close on iPhone 12 launch weekend — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple updates COVID–19 app with new questions and recommendations — www.imore.com/…
- 🇪🇺 Connecting COVID–19 Contact Tracing Apps Across Europe is Starting to Work — www.macobserver.com/…
- 🇫🇷 Apple closes its stores in France to prepare for a national lockdown — www.imore.com/…
- 🇬🇧 🏴 England Apple stores expected to close as second lockdown looms — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Services Updates:
- 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 Apple expands Health Records to UK and Canada — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple Maps ‘Look Around’ Feature Now Available in Phoenix, Arizona — www.macobserver.com/…
- 🇨🇦 Apple begins testing its improved Maps layout across Canada — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Chicago gets in on Apple Pay Express Transit via Ventra Card — www.imore.com/…
- 🇮🇹 Apple have added transit directions for multiple Italian cities: Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo, Genoa, Florence, and Venice (it was just Rome until now) — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Continues to Roll Out Improved Tools for Developers:
- Apple updates App Store Connect app with TestFlight integration, new icon — www.imore.com/…
- Swift, Apple’s open source programming language, announces Swift Algorithms — www.imore.com/…
- Developers can now offer their apps for pre-order up to 180 days — www.imore.com/…
- Apple gives developers new tools relating to users and subscription renewals — www.imore.com/…
- Related: Apps are getting more expensive in Brazil, Russia, India, and more — www.imore.com/…
- 🇮🇳 Apple’s Expansion into India
- The Indian government has approved key Apple suppliers Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron for manufacturing incentives — www.imore.com/…
- Indian iPhone 11 buyers can grab a free pair of AirPods during Diwali — www.imore.com/…
- Apple adds engraving for AirPods, Apple Pencil, iPad, iPod touch in India — www.imore.com/…
- Apple sold 800,000 iPhones in India in Q2, says research firm — www.imore.com/…
- iPhone 12, 12 Pro breaks pre-order records in India — www.imore.com/…
Legal Latest
- 🇷🇺 Apple sued in Russia over music piracy apps by major labels — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple -v- VirnetX: A jury has set the damages Apple owes at $503M (VirnetX had asked for $700M, Apple had argued for $113M), Apple will appeal — www.imore.com/…
Apple HR & Acquisition News
- Apple has acquired Spanish AI firm Vilynx who specialise in making video more searchable — www.imore.com/…
Apple Original Content Update
- Apple is extending its free year of Apple TV+ for another three months — www.imore.com/…
- In Development
- Apple Orders Fashion Documentary ‘The Supermodels’ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Natural History Series ‘Earthsound Coming to Apple TV+ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple TV+ show ‘Masters of the Air’ picks up Cary Fukunaga to direct three episodes — www.imore.com/…
- Keira Knightley Exits ‘The Essex Serpent’ on Apple TV+ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Kate Hudson to Co-Star in Season 2 of ‘Truth be Told’ on Apple TV+ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple TV+ is getting new ‘Peanuts’ specials and holiday episodes — www.imore.com/…
- Confirmed: ‘Ted Lasso’ Will Return for Third Season — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple lands “The Velvet Underground” from Oscar-nominated Todd Haynes — www.imore.com/…
- Scarlett Johansson to produce and star in ‘Bride’ from Apple and A24 — www.imore.com/…
- Cast and production start date set for Apple TV+ drama ‘Pachinko’ — www.imore.com/…
- Comedy ‘Platonic,’ Starring Rose Byrne And Seth Rogen, Coming to Apple TV+ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Jon Stewart is Returning. He’s Doing it on Apple TV+. And It’s a Big Deal. — www.macobserver.com/…
- Taika Waititi To Co-Write & Direct ‘Time Bandits’ Series — deadline.com/…
- John Turturro Joins Adam Scott in Apple Thriller ‘Severance’ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Upcoming Releases
- ‘Doug Unplugs’ Kids Series Coming to Apple TV+ November 13 — www.macobserver.com/…
- ‘Dickinson’ season 2 will land on Apple TV+ on January 8, 2021 — www.imore.com/…
- Werner Herzog’s ‘Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds’ has an Apple TV+ trailer — www.imore.com/…
- ‘Servant’ Season 2 coming to Apple TV+ January 15 — www.imore.com/…
- ‘Becoming You’ Airing November 13 on Apple TV+ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple have released a trailer for Wolf Walkers which is due to be released on December 11th — www.imore.com/…
- Released
- Gorillaz Apple Music Show Launches October 19 — www.macobserver.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple Music TV is all music, all the time, and free for all — www.imore.com/…
- Bruce Springsteen documentary debuts ahead of schedule on Apple TV+ — www.imore.com/…
- ‘On the Rocks’ starring Bill Murray, Rashida Jones, now on Apple TV+ — www.imore.com/…
- Apple picks up an Engineering Emmy Award for its Apple ProRes video codec — www.imore.com/…
- Apple giving away three months of Apple Arcade with purchase of new device — www.imore.com/…
- Disney announces new Apple Music playlists, radio stations, and more — www.imore.com/…
- 🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇮🇪 Apple Podcasts comes to Amazon Echo and Fire TV Devices in Germany, the UK, and Ireland www.macobserver.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple TV+ joins ACE, the entertainment industry’s anti-piracy group — www.imore.com/…
- PS5 supports Disney Plus, Apple TV, Netflix, and more at launch — www.imore.com/…
- Sony officially launches the Apple TV app on some of its latest 4K TVs — www.imore.com/…
- Related: Disney finally makes its movies available in 4K HDR on iTunes — www.imore.com/…
Main Stories
- Apple’s Q4 2020 Earnings Call
- 📊 Apple’s Q4 2020 Marks Record Revenues but Lower Profits as Mac and iPad Boom — tidbits.com/…
- Apple Q4 2020: Apple reports $64.7 billion in revenue on Mac, iPad, and services growth — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Beats Estimates with Q4 Results of $64.7B in Revenues and $0.73 EPS — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple reports record September quarter revenue of $64.7 billion — www.loopinsight.com/…
- Apple Earnings Call Transcripts: Apple CEO Tim Cook on the company’s 2020 Q4 earnings — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Sets Huge Mac Sales Record — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple working ‘really, really hard’ to fix supply problems on product line — www.imore.com/…
- We ‘will never go back’ to a world without contactless payments, says Cook — www.imore.com/…
- Antitrust Kerfuffle Update
- Apple -v- Epic Games:
- In her most recent finding Judge Gonzalez Rogers has re-affirmed her previous decision, Fortnite remains banned from the App store — www.imore.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
> “In short, Epic Games cannot simply exclaim ‘monopoly’ to rewrite agreements giving itself unilateral benefit” - Epic wants the emails of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook as part of its spat with Apple — www.imore.com/…
- In her most recent finding Judge Gonzalez Rogers has re-affirmed her previous decision, Fortnite remains banned from the App store — www.imore.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
- Subscription Gaming Services Developments:
- Apple has removed a 3rd-party app that let users play Google Stadia games on the iPhone because it was connecting WebKit to Bluetooth in a way Apple does not approve of — www.imore.com/…
- The newly designed Xbox app is officially available for iOS, adds Xbox remote play — www.imore.com/…
- Amazon has started sending out early access invitations for its Luna cloud gaming service. iOS users can play the games, but via a web app rather than a native app — www.imore.com/…
- Facebook Cloud Games Launch, But Not on iOS — www.macobserver.com/…
- Related: Updated PlayStation app launches on Android and iOS, adds native PS Store integration — www.imore.com/… (lets you manage your account, chat, and a few other things, but doesn’t let you play games)
- Anti-trust Investigations Continue:
- 🇺🇸 A report by Democratic congressional staff based on a 16 month investigation finds that Amazon, Facebook, Apple & Google have monopoly power, and should be broken up and/or regulated more heavily. Apple’s App Store policies were specifically cited. — www.imore.com/…, arstechnica.com/… & tidbits.com/…
- Apple Rejects Findings of Democrat Staff Antitrust Report — www.macobserver.com/…
- Related: More research confirms bumper Q3 for Apple’s App Store to the tune of $18B — www.imore.com/…
- Related: An a filing with the US FTC, Apple has warned that if it were forced to reduce its app store fees, it would ‘materially’ impact financial results — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple is tangentially involved in the US DOJ anti-trust suit against Google. One of the complaints in the suit centres on the fees Google pays companies, including Apple, for making Google the default search engines on their platforms. The suit alleges Google pay Apple $12Bn per year — tidbits.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
- Related: reporting from the FT suggests Apple is developing its own search engine (seems to be a bit of a stretch) — arstechnica.com/…
- 🇫🇷 Apple’s new privacy measures draw antitrust complaint in France — www.imore.com/…
- 🇩🇪 Germany Investigates Amazon, Apple Over ‘Brandgating’ — www.macobserver.com/…
- 🇪🇺 Related: EU Antitrust Chief Says Breaking up Big Tech ‘Doable’, But Warns Against it — www.macobserver.com/…
- 🇺🇸 A report by Democratic congressional staff based on a 16 month investigation finds that Amazon, Facebook, Apple & Google have monopoly power, and should be broken up and/or regulated more heavily. Apple’s App Store policies were specifically cited. — www.imore.com/…, arstechnica.com/… & tidbits.com/…
- Criticism of Apple continues:
- Phil Shoemaker, a former head of Apple’s App Store, has strongly criticised the company’s ‘Arbitrary’ app store policies, describing them as a ‘weapon against competitors’ — www.imore.com/…
- ProtonMail CEO Compares Apple In-App Purchase Rules to ‘Mafia Extortion’ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Microsoft thumbs its nose at Apple with new “app fairness” policy — arstechnica.com/…
- Apple -v- Epic Games:
- Apple’s Hi, Speed Event
- Here’s how to re-watch Apple’s iPhone 12 announcement video right now — www.imore.com/…
- Videos from yesterday’s Apple event — www.loopinsight.com/…
- All the major announcements from Apple’s iPhone 12 event — www.imore.com/…
- HomePod Mini ($99) — www.imore.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
- Apple announces new iPhone 12 family with 5G and MagSafe — arstechnica.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple’s announced US pricing includes a carrier-specific discount — www.imore.com/…
- 5G — all it’s cracked up to be?
- Apple details iPhone 12 5G settings in new support document — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 The iPhone 12 will only support 5G mmWave in the United States — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 For now, 5G does not work on Google Fi for iPhones 12 — www.imore.com/…
- The iPhone 12 will not support 5G in Dual SIM mode at launch — www.imore.com/… & iPhone 12 Dual SIM 5G to Arrive Later This Year in Update — www.macobserver.com/…
- iPhone 12 ‘a step behind’ Android competition in 5G battery tests — www.imore.com/…
- Battery test has iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro falling behind iPhone 11 Pro — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Opinion: The 5G Hocus Pocus — om.co/…
- The iPhone will no longer include a power adapter or EarPods in the box — www.imore.com/…
- Apple lowers price of accessories no longer included in the iPhone box — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Ties Lack of Power Adapter and Headphones in iPhone 12 Box to Environmental Objectives — www.macobserver.com/…
- 🇫🇷 iPhone 12 in France gets same packaging, bundled inside larger box with headphones — www.imore.com/…
- Apple’s New iPhone 12 Ceramic Shield Explained — www.macobserver.com/…
- Gold iPhone 12 Pro buyers get a special fingerprint-resistant coating — www.imore.com/…
- Apple just brought MagSafe back baby! Attach all your accessories to the back of your iPhone — www.imore.com/…
- MagSafe Charger Only Charges at Full 15W Speeds With Apple’s 20W Power Adapter [Updated] — www.macrumors.com/…
- Here’s the iPhone 12 MagSafe Charger Compatibility List — www.macobserver.com/…
- Magnetic iPhone 12-Compatible PopSockets are Coming — www.macobserver.com/…
- Belkin announces new iPhone 12 MagSafe accessories — www.imore.com/…
- Peak Design launches into mobile with cases and mounting accessories — www.imore.com/…
- iPhone 12’s magnets shouldn’t impact medical devices more than older models — www.imore.com/…
- iPhone 12 Sensor Shift, ProRAW, and Other Impressive Camera Features — www.macobserver.com/…
- iPhone 12 Pro benchmarks show big leap in performance over iPhone 11 Pro — www.imore.com/…
- Teardown video shows iPhone 12 and 12 Pro share the same battery — www.imore.com/…
- iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro: A Roundup of Reviews — tidbits.com/…
- Apple releases cost of AppleCare+ for iPhone 12 and HomePod mini — www.imore.com/…
- Apple keeps the iPhone 11 and the iPhone XR, drops the iPhone 11 Pro — www.imore.com/…
Quick Stories
- Apple launches AirPods Pro Service Program to address sound issues — www.imore.com/…
- Apple announces new Beats Flex wireless headphones for $49 — www.imore.com/…
- Update for Apple Music on Android brings all of iOS 14’s best features — www.imore.com/…
- watchOS 7.0.2 Fixes watchOS 7 Battery Bug Affecting Users — www.macobserver.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple spent $1.5M on lobbying in Q3 of 2020, less than it did in the same quarter last year, and a lot less than other tech companies like Amazon & Facebook spend — 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. |