Let’s Talk Apple – Ep. 29 (January 2016)


Let's Talk Apple Logo

Panel:

The show starts with a quick look at some interesting Apple-related numbers released in January before moving on to a quick review of the month’s legal news. The six main stories for the month were: Apple’s Q1 2016 earnings call, the rumoured demise of the 3.5mm jack, Donald Trump’s comments on Apple, developments in the on-going encryption/privacy war, the partial demise of iAd, and Amnesty International’s report on child labour in Apple, Samsung & Sony’s supply chain. The show finishes with a quick rundown of some other shorter stories that made the news in January.

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!

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Notable Numbers
  • Research by Juniper finds that the Apple Watch has captured 52% of the smartwatch market – www.imore.com/…
  • Numbers from Custora show that 77% of mobile online shopping was done from iOS, with only 23% from Android – www.macobserver.com/…
  • Apple Store has biggest holiday ever with record $1.1Bn in revenue – www.macobserver.com/… & www.apple.com/…
  • Court documents from Oracle's case against Google over Android's uses of Java reveals that Google paid Apple $1Bn to be the default search engine on iOS for 2014 – www.imore.com/…
Legal Latest
Main Stories
  1. Apple's Q1 2016 Earnings Call – www.apple.com/…
    • Transcript of the call – www.imore.com/…
    • The Numbers
      • Revenue: $75.9Bn up 2% from YAQ (at constant currency would have had an extra $5Bn so would have been up 8%) – international sales accounted for 66% of revenue
      • Net Income (Profit): $18.4Bn (about same as YAQ)
      • Gross Margin: 40.1% (was 39.9% YAQ)
      • Earnings per diluted share: $3.28 (up from $3.06 YAQ) – Apple will pay a dividend of $0.58 per share
      • iPhone Unit Sales: 74.8M (about same as YAQ) – that's over 34,000 iPhones an hour!
      • iPad Unit Sales: 16.1M (down 25% YAQ)
      • Mac Unit Sales: 5.3M (down 4% YAQ)
      • Other Products (includes Apple Watch): $4.5Bn revenue (up 62% YAQ)
    • There are now a billion iOS devices in use (including Apple TVs) – www.macobserver.com/…
    • Apple's Guidance for Q2:
      • Revenue between $50Bn and $53Bn (was $58Bn last year)
      • Gross Margins between 39% and 39.5%
    • Tim Cook expects iPhone unit to decline in Q2 – www.macobserver.com/…
    • Tim Cook reiterated Apple's policy of investing during downturns – www.macobserver.com/…
    • iPhones sales in India up 76% – www.imore.com/…
  2. The rumour mill is awash with rumours that the next iPhone will not have a 3.5mm jack – www.imore.com/…
    • Vague Statements in the Cirrus Logic earnings call are being interpreted as hints that the earbuds in the iPhone 7 will be noise-cancelling – www.imore.com/…
  3. Donald Trump says he will get Apple to build their 'damn computers and things' in America, and impose a 35% tariff on companies manufacturing outside the US – www.macobserver.com/…
    • 'How Donald Trump Got Everything Wrong About Apple in One Sentence' – recode.net/…
    • Gruber on why Apple (and indeed all the tech giants) manufacture in China – daringfireball.net/…
    • Gruber explains why the one computer Apple do manufacture in America is the exception not the rule – daringfireball.net/…
    • Brazil tried what the Donald is presumably proposing (as usual, he's big on what, but small on how) – daringfireball.net/…
  4. The Encryption Wars Continue
    • Tim Cook reportedly berates White House officials for being 'wishy-washy' on encryption at a private meeting in the White House – theintercept.com/…
    • New York Law Maker proposes bill to ban sale of backdoor-free smartphones – nakedsecurity.sophos.com/…
    • A Californian law maker proposes a similar bill – arstechnica.com/…
    • The Dutch government rule out mandating back doors – nakedsecurity.sophos.com/…
    • France follows suit – nakedsecurity.sophos.com/…
    • Former NSA boss General Michael Hayden says FBI is wrong on encryption – money.cnn.com/…
    • Current NSA chief Admiral Mike Rogers takes a pro-encryption stance "encryption is foundational to the future" – theintercept.com/…
    • The Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars is developing a Congressional Cybersecurity Lab to help educate US law makers and their staff on all things cybersecurity – www.macobserver.com/…
    • AT&T CEO won't join Apple in the fight for cryptography – arstechnica.com/…
    • A great article by Rich Mogull on TidBITS explaining why this debate matters, and why Apple is front-and-centre in it – tidbits.com/…
  5. Apple Cutting back iAds
  6. Amnesty International expose the long and convoluted path through which Cobalt mined by children makes it's way into batteries used by companies like Apple, Samsung and Sony – www.bbc.com/… & www.amnesty.org/…
Quick Stories
  • Apple ends it's ad-supported iTunes Radio offering – Apple Music Radio, Beats One, or bust! – www.imore.com/…
  • Apple is recalling some European power adaptors (included in their world travel kit too) because in rare cases they can break and pose a shock hazard – www.macobserver.com/…
  • tvOS 9.1.1 brings Podcasts back to the Apple TV – tidbits.com/…
  • Steve Jobs movie does well at awards:

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