Panel:
- Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
- Lynda Gousha from the Silicon Valley MUG – @llg4cdg
The show starts with a the usual followups and updates on long-running stories. That’s followed by a few quick updates on some Apple-related legal cases, some Apple HR news, an overview of developments in Apple’s various service offerings, and the highlights from Apple’s push into original content. The four main stories are Apple’s Q1 2021 earnings, the rumoured Apple Car, A privacy push, and a racial equity push. The show ends with a quick rundown of some smaller Apple-related 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!
Followup
- More Anti-trust Rumblings:
- 🇮🇳 Apple’s Continuing Push into India:
- 🇨🇳 Apple’s Continued Complex Relationship with China:
- Apple Now Selling Standalone Ear Cushions for AirPods Max — www.macrumors.com/…
- The HomePod mini finally gets its ultra-wideband handoff feature — www.imore.com/…
Legal Latest
- Epic -v- Apple
- 🇺🇸 After the two companies failed to come to an agreement on a request from Apple for three additional Document Custodians (witnesses), the judge granted Apple’s request — www.imore.com/… & www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Court Orders Tim Cook to Sit for 7-Hour Deposition in Epic Case — gizmodo.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple ordered to produce payment documents in Epic Games case — www.imore.com/…
- 🇬🇧 Epic opened a new front in their fight with Apple by lodging a complaint with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, requesting they force Apple to put Fortnite back into the app store — www.imore.com/…
- Related: Revealed in documents related to this case: Apple execs discussed not ‘leaving money on the table’ when setting Apple TV subscription fees — www.theverge.com/…
- 🇺🇸 VirnetX -v- Apple: The judge has denied Apple’s appeal of last December’s $1Bn judgement against them in the case — www.macobserver.com/…
- 🇮🇹 Apple hit with another European class action over throttled iPhones — techcrunch.com/…
- 🇪🇺 EU Calls $15.8 Billion Apple Tax Ruling Contradictory in Appeal — www.bloomberg.com/… (The appeal will be heard in the ECJ)
Apple HR & Acquisition News
- Apple Exec Shuffle: Dan Riccio Takes Secret Position; John Ternus Now SVP of Hardware — daringfireball.net/…
- College Futures Foundation CEO Monica Lozano joins Apple’s board — www.imore.com/…
- Environmental goals will now determine bonuses for Apple executives — www.imore.com/…
Beginning in 2021, an environmental, social, and governance modifier based on Apple Values and other key community initiatives will be incorporated into our annual cash incentive program.
- Apple TV+ snags former WB Pictures exec JP Richards as movie marketing boss — www.imore.com/…
- Apple’s recent cloud hires hint at major investment in infrastructure — www.imore.com/…
Apple Services News
- iOS 14.4 Introduces ‘Auto Playing Similar Music’ in Apple Music — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple promotes Fitness+ and Apple Music integration with ‘Studio Series’ playlists — 9to5mac.com/…
- Time to Walk audio experiences arrive on Apple Fitness+, Apple Watch — www.imore.com/…
- Apple launches new Podcasts Spotlight, ‘Celebrity Book Club’ first feature — www.imore.com/…
- American Airlines offers customers Oprah’s Book Club access, free ebook — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple have added listings for volunteering services from groups like VolunteerMatch to Apple Maps in some large US cities — www.imore.com/…
- Apple extends Apple TV+ free trials until July 2021 — www.imore.com/…
- Apple TV+ gets first ever UI overhaul — www.imore.com/…
- Sony announces some new 8K and 4K TVs with AirPlay 2 & HomeKit Support — www.imore.com/…
Apple Original Contents News
… up for Best Comedy Series, with Jason Sudeikis nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, and Hannah Waddingham nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy Series
- Apple lands ‘CODA’ for $25 million in record Sundance Film Festival deal — www.imore.com/…
- New Releases:
- Apple TV+ partners with Calm on new meditation sessions for kids — www.imore.com/…
- ‘Dickinson’ season 2 debuts on Apple TV+ — www.imore.com/…
- ‘Servant’ season two debuts on Apple TV+ — www.imore.com/… & Season two of ‘Servant’ is twice as popular as the first season — www.imore.com/…
- Psychological thriller ‘Losing Alice’ debuts on Apple TV+ — www.imore.com/…
- ‘Palmer’ Starring Justin Timberlake Out Now on Apple TV+ — www.macobserver.com/… & ‘Palmer’ leads Apple TV+ to its biggest weekend so far — www.imore.com/…
Main Stories
- Apple’s Q1 2021 Earnings — www.apple.com/…
- Apple’s earnings call in graphs — sixcolors.com/…
- Apple Earnings Call Transcripts: Apple CEO Tim Cook on the company’s Q1 2021 earnings — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Shatters December Records with $111.4 Billion in Revenues, $1.68 EPS — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple reports double-digit sales booms for every product category in Q1 2021 — arstechnica.com/…
- Apple’s Wearables Business Equal to Fortune 120 Company Macy’s — www.macobserver.com/… & Apple’s wearables business grew 30% to a new record of $13 billion — www.imore.com/…
- iPad revenue grows by 41% in Q1 2021, setting a new record in Japan — www.imore.com/…
- M1 chip drives the Mac business to new Q1 record of $8.7 billion — www.imore.com/…
- Apple services hit new quarterly record of $15.8 billion — www.imore.com/…
- Related: Canalys: iPhone 12 surge drives Apple to number one in global smartphone market — www.imore.com/… & iPad continues to dominate the tablet market in the 4th quarter of 2020 — www.imore.com/…
- Apple reports a record number of device activations in Q1 2021 — www.imore.com/…
- Christmas saw a record-breaking number of FaceTime calls — www.imore.com/…
- Related: Apple sells $14 billion of bonds to take advantage of low interest rates — www.imore.com/…
- Related Numbers:
- Opinion: (from Lynda) ‘A masterpiece quarter’: Four market analysts on Apple’s Q1 earnings beat — www.cnbc.com/…
- Apple Car Rumours and Buzz Reach New Hights:
- Hyundai confirms it is in talks to produce Apple’s electric car — www.imore.com/…
- Apple’s advertising for a ‘Car Experience SQA Engineer’ as Apple Car rumors swirl — www.imore.com/…
- Exclusive: Apple held talks with EV startup Canoo in 2020 — www.theverge.com/…
- Major Apple supplier [Foxconn] forms partnership to build cars for automakers — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Car handed off to Kia by Hyundai, could be made in US — www.imore.com/…
- Kia says it is working with ‘multiple’ firms following Apple Car reports — www.imore.com/…
- ‘Concerned’ Hyundai executives ‘divided’ over Apple Car partnership — www.imore.com/…
- Hyundai Apple Car Tie Up May be Hampered by Culture Clash — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple Use Data Privacy Day (28 January) to make a big Privacy Push:
- iOS 14 App Tracking Transparency will be a requirement from next beta — www.imore.com/…
- Apple updates its App Store Review Guidelines with new tracking rules — www.imore.com/…
- Related: Dating App Bumble Latest to Warn of Apple’s Privacy — www.macobserver.com/…
- Related: Google avoids iOS privacy pop-up by stopping personalized ads in some apps — www.imore.com/…
- Related: Facebook makes the case for activity tracking to iOS 14 users in new pop-ups — arstechnica.com/…
- Related: Here’s how much data YouTube collects from you on iOS — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Releases Private Click Measuremanent to iOS 14.5 — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple released “A Day in the Life of Your” white paper/short story to illustrate how iOS protects users — www.apple.com/…
- Apple Attended the CPDP 2021 EU data summit:
- Tim Cook slams businesses built on “data exploitation” in speech — www.imore.com/…
- Tim Cook describes privacy as ‘one of the top issues of the century’ — www.imore.com/…
- Apple Privacy Exec Jane Horvath Discusses ‘False Dichotomy’ of Free Services — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple privacy exec asked why Google remains its default search engine — www.imore.com/…
- Every crazy thing that happened in Apple and Facebook’s privacy feud today — arstechnica.com/…
- Related: Spot checks show the App Store’s privacy labels might not be truthful — www.imore.com/…
- iOS 14 App Tracking Transparency will be a requirement from next beta — www.imore.com/…
- In the run-up to Black History Month in the US, Apple focuses on Racial Equality:
These forward-looking and comprehensive efforts include the Propel Center, a first-of-its-kind global innovation and learning hub for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); an Apple Developer Academy to support coding and tech education for students in Detroit; and venture capital funding for Black and Brown entrepreneurs.
- Tim Cook and Lisa Jackson Discuss Apple Racial Equity Initiative on CBS ‘This Morning’ — www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple’s new Racial Equity and Justice Initiative page is now live — www.imore.com/…
- Apple partners with the King Center for second ‘Challenge For Change’ — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Apple has many plans for Black History Month
- A nice summary of Apple’s plans — www.macobserver.com/…
- New Apple Watch ‘Unity Challenge’ will honor of Black History Month — www.imore.com/… & The new Unity Challenge is now available in the Activity app on Apple Watch | iMore — www.imore.com/…
- Limited edition Black Unity Apple Watch and Sport Band are now available — www.imore.com/…
- Apple brings Black Unity to your iPhone, iPad, and Mac via a free wallpaper — www.imore.com/…
- 30 Black photographers capture their hometown, shot on iPhone 12 Pro — www.imore.com/…
- Related: Apple donates mural from Portland location to human rights nonprofit — www.imore.com/…
Quick Stories
- Apple launches iCloud Passwords extension for Chrome on Windows — www.imore.com/…
- New Beats Flex colors now available — www.imore.com/…
- Beats and fragment design launch special edition black-on-black Powerbeats Pro — www.imore.com/…
- BMW announces new Digital Key Plus, uses Ultra Wideband in iPhone — www.imore.com/…
- Hyundai bringing digital car key to iPhone this year — www.imore.com/…
- 🇺🇸 Steve Jobs to be Included in President Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes — www.macobserver.com/… & Steve Jobs to be memorialized in the National Garden of American Heroes — 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. |