LTA 117: May 2023

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots

In this solo show Bart starts by explaining some changes to the show, and then gets stuck into the usual apple news. First, some followups, a few notable numbers, a little regulatory and legal news, some HR news, some highlights from Apple’s services an original content, and then the four main stories. First, it’s still complicated for Apple in India, second, Google & Apple join forces to fight stalking, third, some up-coming accessibility features, and fourth, Apple’s pro apps come to the iPad! Finally, the show finishes with some other quick Apple-related stories that made the news in May.

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!

Updates & Followup

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

• Apple Music Classical gets two enhancements:
  • Apple has updated Shazam to add integration with Apple Music Classical — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple Music Classical lands on Android before iPadOS and Mac — appleinsider.com/…
• Some Apple Savings customers are experiencing delays (2 weeks in some cases) when withdrawing large sums of money from their accounts. Goldman Sachs says it’s not happening to many customers, and that it has to do with processes to protect accounts, and others have implicated anti-money-laundering procedures — Apple Savings customers hit with long delays when withdrawing money — appleinsider.com/…
• Emergency SOS via Satellite lands in Australia and New Zealand — appleinsider.com/…
• Georgia residents can now add a driver’s license to their iPhone — appleinsider.com/…

Notable Numbers

• Apple brags about the App Store, a lot:
  • Small developers on the App Store grew revenue by 64 percent over the past two years — www.apple.com/… (Report commissioned and publicised by Apple)
  • App Store developers generated $1.1 trillion in total billings and sales in the App Store ecosystem in 2022 — www.apple.com/… (world-wide) & Economist Group Concludes Apple’s App Store Ecosystem Is Responsible for Facilitating $1.1 Trillion in Commerce — www.macstories.net/…
  • App Store stopped more than $2 billion in fraudulent transactions in 2022 — www.apple.com/…
  • Apple shares App Store Transparency report, detailing removals & data requests — appleinsider.com/… (for 2022)
    • approved 253,466 apps
    • 1,679,694 app submissions rejected
    • contains detail on government takedowns, including 1,276 games taken down in China because they didn’t have the needed license
• Numbers from Canalys show Apple’s share of the US tablet market growing by more than 20% YoY to reach 50%, while every other vendor declined (market as a whole dropped by 7%, less than PC+Laptop which dropped by 28%) — appleinsider.com/…
  • Related: iPad shipments more than doubled in China for Q1 versus 2022 — appleinsider.com/…

Regulatory Rundown

• Italy’s antitrust agency opens probe into Apple App Store dominance — appleinsider.com/…
• France doesn’t understand why different iPhone models have varying parts — appleinsider.com/…

Legal Latest

• US District Judge Edward Davila has approved the $50M butterfly keyboard class action settlement, deeming it ‘fair & reasonable’, so payments can now start flowing to the registered members of the class — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple’s $13 billion Ireland tax saga lurches back to life after yet another EU appeal — appleinsider.com/… (This appeal is to the highest court, so this really should be the last of it )

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Quite a few high-level departures this month:
  • Apple iCloud lead Mike Abbott, who has been at since 2018 is off to GM to head their new unified software division — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple’s senior director of Video, Sports & Apple TV+ Pete Distad has left, but it’s not know why or where to — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple’s head of Apple Pay business, Eric Hoffman, is leaving Apple after 8 years, and it’s not clear where he’s off to. The roll out of Tap-to-Pay on iOS was one of his big projects — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple is accelerating hiring efforts for generative AI engineers — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• ️‍ Apple Fitness+ debuts new Madonna Artist Spotlight series to celebrate Pride — appleinsider.com/…
• Find live music with new features on Apple Maps and Apple Music — www.cultofmac.com/… & Apple launches new concert discovery features on Apple Maps and Apple Music — www.apple.com/…
• Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone expands to Australia — www.cultofmac.com/…
• Apple TV+:
  • Severance severed: Writers strike starts to affect Apple TV+ production — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Apple TV+ takes top Irish honors for Bad Sisters — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • RELATED: Apple TV+ gains UK subscribers as Netflix, Disney+ dip — appleinsider.com/… (Investment in European shows paying off)
  • Two notable MLS Season Pass Offers:
    • Apple TV+ offers one-month free trial of MLS Season Pass — appleinsider.com/…
    • Apple cut the price of an MLS season pass in half as half the season is now over — www.imore.com/…
    • Related: Apple TV+ launches multiview for ‘Friday Night Baseball’ and MLS Season Pass — appleinsider.com/… & Apple TV 4K now lets you watch 4 sports streams at once — www.cultofmac.com/…

Main Stories

1. Apple & India — It’s Still Complicated
   • The openings of Apple’s first stores in the country we discussed last month seem to have gone well: Apple India’s record-breaking sales revealed thanks to unprecedented leak — appleinsider.com/…
   • Unable to make a profit, Wistron is giving up iPhone assembly in India — appleinsider.com/…
   • Foxconn starts work on building $500 million AirPods plant in India — appleinsider.com/…
   • Apple supplier list shows gradual production shift from China to India — appleinsider.com/…
   • Apple resists India regulator’s order to ban betting apps — appleinsider.com/…
   • Apple petitioned India for slacker labor laws, and unions are fighting back — appleinsider.com/…
2. Google & Apple join forces to develop a standard for detecting and alerting on the abuse of bluetooth LE trackers like AirTags & Tiles — Tracked by hidden tags? Apple and Google unite to propose safety and security standards… — nakedsecurity.sophos.com/…
3. Apple previews up-coming accessibility improvements to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day — www.apple.com/…, www.macstories.net/… & arstechnica.com/…
   • Live Speech (real-time text to speech on voice calls)
   • Personal Voice (personalised privacy-respecting AI voice)
     • Apple created its new voice feature for–and with–people with ALS — www.fastcompany.com/…
   • Point & Speak in Magnifier app
   • Assistive Access (customisable simplified UI)
4. FinalCut Pro & Logic arrive on M1 iPads — www.apple.com/… & appleinsider.com/…
   • Subscription pricing only ($4.99pm or $49pa)
   • Final Cut Pro on iPad can’t open projects from the Mac, but the Mac can open projects from the iPad (unless you get into some serious hackery — appleinsider.com/…
   • Logic Pro projects can move back and forth between the iPad & Mac
   • How Final Cut Pro for iPad differs from Mac version — www.cultofmac.com/…
   • Reviews:
     • Hands-On: Podcast Editing with Logic Pro for iPad — www.macstories.net/…
     • Hands on with Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad – Six Colors — sixcolors.com/…
     • First Impressions: Final Cut Pro for iPad — www.macstories.net/…

Quick Stories

• ️‍ Apple role out a new band, watch face, and iPhone wallpaper to celebrate Pride month — www.apple.com/… & appleinsider.com/…
• Beats Studio Buds+ now available to order with better ANC, transparent option — appleinsider.com/…
  • Review roundup: New Beats Studio Buds+ win with cool clear case and audio upgrades — www.cultofmac.com/…
• Apple’s support app goes to 5.0 with UI tweaks and a new interface for finding local service providers — appleinsider.com/…
• Online Apple Store opens in Vietnam — appleinsider.com/…
• Reminder — 5 ways to watch Apple’s WWDC23 Keynote on Monday — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Apple outlines schedule of main events of WWDC’s first day — appleinsider.com/… (public keynote & state of the platform at the expected times on the first day)
  • Apple recognizes talented student developers in 2023 Swift Student Challenge — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple showcases finalists for 2023 Design Awards — appleinsider.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.