Let’s Talk Apple — Ep. 95 (July 2021)

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
• Nick Riley from the Essential Apple Podcast – @spligosh
• Simon Parnell from the Essential Apple Podcast – @serenak
• Chuck Joiner from MacVoices – @chuckjoiner

The show starts with the usual followups and updates on long-running stories. That’s followed by some Apple-related legal news, some Apple HR news, and some highlights from Apple’s subscription services. The four main stories are Apple’s Q3 earnings call, the NSO Group and their Pegasus spyware, Apple’s new MagSafe battery pack, and Windows365 and the future of Window on the Mac. 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 Update:
  • Apple Watch and other wearables can detect long-term effects of COVID–19, early research suggests — 9to5mac.com/…
  • Masks will once again be required at the majority of U.S. Apple Stores — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple reportedly postpones return to office until October — www.cnbc.com/…
    • Related: Some Apple employees are being asked their COVID–19 vaccination status — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇬🇧 NHS app brings COVID Pass to Apple Wallet — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇦🇺 Australians can now put their COVID–19 vaccination certificates into Apple Wallet — www.imore.com/…
• App Tracking Transparency
  • Apple blocks Chinese apps’ attempt to work around App Tracking Transparency rules — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple’s App Tracking Transparency rules are pushing advertisers to Android — www.imore.com/…
  • App Tracking Transparency is decreasing ad revenue by as much as 20% — www.imore.com/…
  • Advertisers ‘panicking’ as 75% of iOS users refuse to be tracked — www.imore.com/…
  • Twitter: Impact of iOS 14 tracking changes ‘lower than expected’ — www.imore.com/…
  • Despite Apple’s privacy changes, Facebook posts record ad revenue — www.imore.com/… & Forget “App Tracking Transparency”: Facebook is enjoying more ad revenue than ever — arstechnica.com
• Regulation
  • 🇺🇸 President Biden to sign sweeping new anticompetitive orders — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 Biden to direct FTC to introduce new ‘Right to Repair’ rules in the U.S. — www.imore.com/…
    • Related: Steve Wozniak says there would be no Apple without open source tech, supports Right to Repair — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 FTC Votes Unanimously in Favor of Right to Repair — tidbits.com/…
  • 🇬🇧 Apple, YouTube, Spotify, Face The Music – UK Lawmakers Called for ‘Complete Reset’ of Streaming — www.macobserver.com/…
  • 🇬🇧 UK government announces plans to shake up competition in Big Tech — www.imore.com/…
  • 🇦🇺 Australian court asks if Apple stifles competition with lack of NFC access on iPhone — www.imore.com/… & Apple defends Apple Pay from outrageous questions in Australia — www.imore.com/…
• Apple have been paying attention to the criticism of their Safari re-design and have significantly tweaked it in the latest betas — www.imore.com/…, www.imore.com/… & www.imore.com/…
• Apple says it has deployed $1 billion in affordable housing commitment in California — www.imore.com/…
  • Related: Report says a large homeless encampment is growing on land owned by Apple — www.imore.com/…
• 🇮🇳 Apple in India:
  • Indian government withdraws letter over iMessage compliance with new government rules — www.imore.com/…
  • Indian Apple Music fans can now enjoy lossless and spatial audio support — www.imore.com/…
  • Indian App Store now supports UPI, Rupay Cards, and Net Banking payments — www.imore.com/…

Legal Latest

• Apple -v- Epic Rumbles on (no dramatic developments):
  • 🇦🇺 A judge has ruled that Epic’s case against Apple can proceed in Australia — www.imore.com/…
  • Apple calls on judge to consider FTC vs Facebook in Epic Games decision — www.imore.com/…
  • Related: The Coalition for App Fairness is fighting three Subpoenas from Apple demanding access to internal documents — www.imore.com/…
  • Related: You can now play Facebook cloud games in Safari on iPhones and iPads — www.imore.com/…
• 🇺🇸 A Delaware judge has granted Apple’s motion to dismiss a case alleging Sign in with Apple harms competition brought by a member of the Coalition or App Fairness with a previous history of filing and losing cases against Apple — www.imore.com/…
• 🇺🇸 Court Rules ‘Memoji’ Trademark Owner Created App to Sue Apple — www.macobserver.com/…
• 🇬🇧 Apple threatens to leave the UK over ‘commercially unacceptable’ patent fee — www.imore.com/…

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Apple Watch lead Kevin Lynch shifts focus to car development — arstechnica.com
• Apple formally adds Stella Low to the Apple Leadership website — www.imore.com/… (Vice President of Communications)
• Netflix have poached Head of Content at Apple Podcasts N’Jeri Eaton — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple Services & Original Contents Highlights

• Apple Arcade:
  • Doodle God Universe arrives on Apple Arcade on Friday, July 16 — www.imore.com/…
  • Angry Birds Reloaded glides into the App Store today — www.imore.com/…
  • Jetpack Joyride is now available in Apple Arcade and it’s awesome — www.imore.com/…
• Apple Music:
  • Apple Music debuts new ‘This Week in Apple Music’ collection — www.imore.com/…
  • Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio both come to Apple Music on Android — www.imore.com/…
• Apple TV+:
  • Apple TV+ and BBC Combining For Documentary ‘9/11: Inside the President’s War Room’ — www.macobserver.com/…
  • ‘Ted Lasso’ season two breaks Apple TV+ premiere weekend record — www.imore.com/…
  • Sony offering 6 months free Apple TV+ on PS5 just in time for ‘Ted Lasso’ — www.imore.com/…
  • And the Nominations & Awards keep coming:
    • ‘Ted Lasso’ scoops eight Hollywood Critics Association nominations — www.imore.com/…
    • ‘Ted Lasso’ picks up Emmy nominations for outstanding comedy, lead actor — www.imore.com/…
      • ‘Ted Lasso’ passes ‘Glee’ for most freshman Emmy nominations in history — www.imore.com/…
    • Apple’s ads have been nominated for three Outstanding Commercial Emmys — www.imore.com/…
    • Apple TV+ Wins Four Daytime Emmy Awards — www.macobserver.com/… (Stillwater, Here We Are: Notes For Living on Planet Earth, and Helpsters)

Main Stories

1. Apple’s Q3 2021 Earnings — www.apple.com/…
   • Related news before the earnings:
     • Apple stock closes at new record high ahead of July earnings call — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple becomes the first US public company with a market capitalization of $2.5 trillion — www.realmicentral.com/…
   • The Earnings:
     • Apple Earnings Call Transcripts: Apple CEO Tim Cook on the company’s Q3 2021 earnings — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple posts $81B quarterly results: Charts — sixcolors.com/…
     • Apple Q3 2021: Apple sees $81.4 billion in revenue — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple Posts Record June Quarterly Revenues, Blowing Past Wall Street Expectations [Update] — www.macobserver.com/…
     • iPhone sales grow 50% to reach June quarter revenue record of $39.6 billion — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple’s services business hits new revenue record of $17.5 billion — www.imore.com/…
     • Mac sets June quarter record of $8.2 billion with iPad not far behind — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple says nearly 75% of Apple Watch buyers are new to the product — www.imore.com/…
     • Apple expects supply constraints to impact iPhone and iPad production — www.imore.com/…
   • Related news after the Earnings:
     • Apple jumps up to 6th on Fortune’s list of the world’s top 500 companies by revenue — www.imore.com/…
2. Pegasus (spyware for hire by the NSO group):
   • Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide — www.washingtonpost.com/…
   • Gaping iOS 14.6 iMessage security flaw saw journalists’ iPhones infected with spyware — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple says the iMessage flaw NSO’s Pegasus uses is ‘not a threat’ to most — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple may have patched flaw used by Pegasus in iOS 14.7.1 — www.imore.com/…
   • Pegasus spyware maker investigating misuse, halts access for several governments — www.imore.com/…
   • Apple under pressure over iPhone security after NSO spyware claims — arstechnica.com/…
   • Pegasus Spyware — Is your iPhone at risk? — www.imore.com/…
   • Pegasus vendor denies scope of spyware claims, says customers to blame — www.imore.com/…
   • Here’s how to check your phone for Pegasus spyware using Amnesty’s tool — www.theverge.com/…
   • No need to fear iPhone spyware for ‘people that are not criminals’, says CEO of NSO Group — www.imore.com/…
   • Related: Remember When Facebook Wanted to Use NSO Group’s Spyware to Surveil iOS Users? — daringfireball.net/…
3. Apple introduces MagSafe Battery Pack to charge the iPhone 12 on the go — arstechnica.com
   • MagSafe Battery Pack proves iPhone 12 supports reverse wireless charging — www.imore.com/…
   • Yes, you can use the MagSafe Battery Pack to wirelessly charge AirPods — www.imore.com/…
4. The future of Windows on the Mac could be the cloud, and it’s not limited to Macs:
   • Windows 365 Could Offer Apple Silicon Virtualization Alternative — tidbits.com/…
   • Microsoft’s bringing Windows to iPad, but not how you might think — www.imore.com/…

Quick Stories

• Apple releases two new colors for its AirTag Key Ring and Leather Loop — www.imore.com/…
• Apple launches Back to School promotion in Europe, Asia, Middle East — www.imore.com/…
• Apple announces Today at Apple is coming to YouTube, first episode live — www.imore.com/…
• Consortium Finalizes Digital Key Release 3.0 for Devices Like iPhone — www.macobserver.com/…
• Tom’s Guide has awarded the M1 chip their Breakthrough Award — www.tomsguide.com/…
• 🇨🇦 🇦🇺 Apple Gift Card comes to Canada and Australia, combining Apple Store and iTunes credit — 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.