LTA 142: June 2025

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bartb.ie

The show starts with a few quick followups from recent shows, a few regulatory & legal stories, and some highlights from Apple’s services & original content before getting stuck into just two main stories. We start with another bad month for Apple’s app store practices on both sides of the Atlantic, and then we dive into the fun stuff, this year’s bumper WWDC! The show finishes with a few quick rundown of some smaller Apple-related stories that made the news in June 2025.

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!

Tribute to Tim Robertson

Peter Cohen shared sad news on Mastodon, MyMac founder Tim Robertson has died following an illness — mastodon.social/…

I'm very proud of the fact that the Let's Talk podcasts are now entirely independently produced under my own Bartificer Creations brand, but the simple fact is that they would not exist at all today if Tim hadn't provided a nurturing home for them to be born into and to grow up in. Listeners will have heard the "you're listening to a podcast from the MyMac podcasting network" jingle at the end of both shows for many years. Tim was one of those great people that makes the Apple community somewhere I'm proud to belong, his absence will be sorely felt by many, but especially Guy and Gaz from the MyMac podcast who were regular panelists on this very show before I changed the format. Thanks Tim, and fare well.

Updates & Followup

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

• A quick Trump Chaos Update:

  • TikTok ban enforcement delayed another 90 days to September 17 — appleinsider.com/…

    • Related: There remains zero legal basis for any of this, and it's not just me who thing so, a Google shareholder has sued the company for endangering their investment with by taking on this massive legal exposure — www.macobserver.com/…

  • A US-China trade deal has apparently been signed, but not published, we don't know for sure what's in it, and it's not clear when it will go into effect, but apparently the US will ease tech tariffs on imports from China in exchange for the Chinese removing their ban on exporting rare earth elements to the US — appleinsider.com/…

  • New Vietnam trade deal means Apple will pay at least five times more in tariffs — appleinsider.com/…

• Apple get an unlikely ally in their fight with the UK government over Advanced iCloud Encryption, WhatsApp have filed a formal request to submit evidence in Apple's support — www.bbc.com/…

Regulatory Rundown

• The EU's right to repair legislation came into effect on June 20th

  • Apple devices in EU getting repair scores & battery life labels — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple appears to be in good shape — appleinsider.com/… (Nice summary of the facts and some good analysis)

• DOJ -v- Apple: Apple Must Answer DOJ’s Monopoly Allegations After Judge Rejects Dismissal Bid — www.macobserver.com/…

Legal Latest

• Apple has lost it's attempts to over-turn one of its earliest App Store losses in Europe (dating apps in the Netherlands): Apple stuck with $58M fine after Dutch court rules it broke antitrust law — appleinsider.com/…

• A class action case over iCloud comes back to life: Judge Says Apple Must Answer for iCloud Restrictions — www.macobserver.com/…

• TOT Power Control -v- Apple: Apple hit with $110M damages after losing 3G wireless patents lawsuit — appleinsider.com/…

• Opits -v- Apple: Apple Beats Back $300 Million LTE Patent Ruling — www.macobserver.com/…

  "… the case returns to a Texas court for a full do-over—meaning another trial, another jury, and potentially another shot for Optis to claim damages …"

• Apple & Qualcomm Lose Bid to Shift Patent Case — www.macobserver.com/… (Stays in Texas, case by Patent Troll also suing Samsung)

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• 'Angry Birds', 'Kingdom Rush', and more come to Apple Arcade in July — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple PR)

• Apple celebrates 20 years of podcasts with a list of fan favorites — appleinsider.com/…

• Apple Maps: JetBlue will use Find My's Share Item Location to track down your lost luggage — appleinsider.com/…

• Apple TV+:

  • Apple and Major League Baseball announce July “Friday Night Baseball” schedule — www.apple.com/…

  • Apple's PR Blitz for their F1 movie yields results: 'F1' is Apple's biggest hit with $55M+ opening weekend — appleinsider.com/…

    • You can literally feel Apple’s new trailer for the ‘F1’ movie starring Brad Pitt — www.fastcompany.com/… (Haptic feedback when trailer played on iPhones)

    • 'F1' immersive video takes you around the track with Brad Pitt on Apple Vision Pro — appleinsider.com/…

    • Apple Wallet Sends Push Notification Ad Pushing 'F1 The Movie' — daringfireball.net/…

      • Opinion: John Gruber's key insight — daringfireball.net/… (sums up my take pretty well, I'm very worried by this violation of trust driven by Cook's services fixation)

        "It’s a fact that no company can inject an ad into your physical wallet. It just can’t happen. So if Apple’s message to users is that they should trust Apple Wallet, and move more of their “shit that goes in your wallet” life from their traditional analog wallet into their digital Apple Wallet, that’s the bar. No ads, ever. They’re competing against the privacy and intimacy of one of the most personal things people carry with them."

• Apple Music Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary with a New Campus, Radio Events, and a Special Playlist — www.macstories.net/…

Main Stories

1. Yet another bad month for Apple's App Store business model

   1. Developments in the Epic -v- Apple anti-steering injunction

      • Note: the original case was one of those forever stories that finally looked like it had ended until Apple failed to abide by the ruling on the one point out of 11 they lost, and did so so spectacularly that the judge basically went “Ok, fine, you can’t charge anything for third-party app store purchases!” (Allison Sheridan's pithy summary). This resulting injunction is very likely to be the next forever story I get more than a little fed up having to talk about over, and over, and over again, or as Ken Ray put it so well "like the blobs in a lava lamp, look for this story to light up, bubble up, settle down, and do it all over again forever."
      • Apple Wants New Judge, Says Court Overstepped in Epic Case Over App Store Rules — www.macobserver.com/… (Appeal to 9th US Circuit Court of Appeal)

      • A trade group Apple is a member of has filed an amicus brief supporting Apple: Epic antisteering court order is 'constitutionally offensive' to Apple's free speech rights — appleinsider.com/…

      • Apple's appeal to pause the injunction forcing them to allow direct linking to alternative payment methods in apps in the US has failed — www.macstories.net/…

        • Analysis: Good overview of the judgement itself and his expectations from John Gruber — daringfireball.net/…

          "The earliest this might get overturned, it seems to me, is the end of this year, but I get the feeling this injunction is here to stay."

      • Related Stories:

        • Apple shareholders join the party, also filing class action suit over delayed Siri enhancements — appleinsider.com/…
        • Paddle & RevenueCat join forces to offer US developers an alternative to Apple's In-App-Purchase APIs — www.macobserver.com/…

   2. Developments in Apple's Digital Markets Act compliance efforts

      • Apple started the month lodging their formal an appeal against the interoperability requirements published in March (not app store) — Apple Appeals EU’s March Ruling on ‘Interoperability’ Requirements Under the DMA — daringfireball.net/…

        • I agree with Gruber's analysis that if Apple fail they are likely going to pull and/or withhold even more features in Europe

        • Related: Gruber's analysis is bolstered by two pieces of news that broke later in the month:

          • During WWDC Apple told journalists that iPhone mirroring and Mac live activities are not coming to Europe in the foreseeable future because of DMA concerns — appleinsider.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
          • Apple Delays iOS 26 Features in EU Over Regulatory Pressures — www.macobserver.com/…

      • Early in the month well sourced reports emerged claiming the EU had softened it's stance against Apple a little, reportedly not imposing any more fines until it has engaged with Apple on it's App Store DMA compliance issues — www.macobserver.com/…

      • Near the end of the month Apple announced major changes to the EU app store rules in their latest attempt to comply with the law — sixcolors.com/…

        Here’s the gist:

        • Tiered App Store fees: For today’s full-service App Store, developers will now pay 13% on sales, reduced to 10% for Small Business Program members. Or developers can opt into “Tier One”, which comes with a 5% fee but does not support a raft of App Store features we’ve come to expect, like automatic app updates, App Store promotions, placement in search suggestions, ratings and reviews on product listings(!), and more.
        • Core Technology Commission: Apple is going to move all developers over to a new tax called the Core Technology Commission, in which developers who opt to sell apps outside the App Store will pay 5% of sales made through in-app promotions. The €0.50-per-install Core Technology Fee will be dropped as of January 1.
        • Free linking: Developers can promote offers broadly, are no longer limited to a single static URL without tracking parameters, and can freely design the interfaces for those links and promotions.
        • New business terms: Developers have to pay a 2% fee for digital goods and services purchased by new users for the first six months after a user first downloads an app; members of the Small Business Program don’t have to pay this fee."

        • A more detailed summary — www.macobserver.com/…
        • Apple's developer doc outlining the features available to developers are the two different App Store tiers — developer.apple.com/…

   3. Other regulatory and legal pressures continue to build:

      • Senators Revive Open App Markets Act to Dismantle App-Store Gatekeeping — www.macobserver.com/…
      • Swiss company Proton (of Mail & VPN fame) have filed their own suit against Apple over the App Store in CA: Proton lawsuit targets Apple's grip on iPhone apps & payments — appleinsider.com/…
      • Brazil’s Antitrust Authority Moves to Penalize Apple Over iOS Payment Restrictions — www.macobserver.com/… (Not final yet, and Apple continue to engage with the regulator)

2. WWDC 2025

   1. The Big Picture

      • Apple's Pre-conference Media Blitz:

        • Apple Design Awards: Try the best apps and games of 2025 — www.cultofmac.com/… ( Apple PR)

        • Apple tout a study they funded down-playing their take — Apple PR

          "For more than 90 percent of the billings and sales facilitated by the App Store ecosystem, developers did not pay any commission to Apple …"
          …
          "Apple today announced the global App Store ecosystem facilitated $1.3 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2024 …"

          • These numbers include $1Tn from physical goods & $150Bn from ads, so the App Store only accounted for a small minority of the total, hence Apple only taking commission on such an apparently small percentage
          • Opinion by Bart: a great example of how to mislead with facts, or as the old adages goes — "there a lies, damned likes, and then there are statistics"!

      • Watch the event:

        • The keynote — developer.apple.com/…
        • The State of the Platforms (the real keynote for developers) — developer.apple.com/…

      • Apple's Spin — all Apple's Press Releases in order:

        • iPadOS 26 introduces powerful new features that push the capabilities and versatility of iPad even further — Apple PR
        • Apple Intelligence gets even more powerful with new capabilities across Apple devices — Apple PR
        • Apple introduces a delightful and elegant new software design — Apple PR
        • visionOS 26 introduces powerful new spatial experiences for Apple Vision Pro — Apple PR
        • macOS Tahoe 26 makes the Mac more capable, productive, and intelligent than ever — Apple PR
        • Apple TV brings a beautiful redesign and an enhanced entertainment experience to the home — Apple PR
        • watchOS 26 delivers more personalised ways to stay active, healthy, and connected — Apple PR
        • Apple elevates the iPhone experience with iOS 26 — Apple PR
        • Apple supercharges its tools and technologies for developers to foster creativity, innovation, and design — Apple PR
        • AirPods are more versatile than ever with studio-quality audio recording and camera remote — Apple PR
        • Introducing the Apple Games app: A personalised home for games and playing with friends — Apple PR
        • Apple services deliver powerful features and intelligent updates to users this autumn — Apple PR
        • Apple expands tools to help parents protect kids and teens online — Apple PR

      • All the Bento Boxes — www.macstories.net/…

      • Some smaller details from the rest of the conference

        • More car brands will soon let you unlock your car with iPhone — appleinsider.com/… (Personal note — Polestar was already on the list and remains there)
        • iOS 26 adds satellite weather updates for offline iPhone users — appleinsider.com/…
        • MacOS 26 Tahoe Drops Support for Some Intel-Based Macs, and Will Be the Last to Support Intel Macs at All — daringfireball.net/…

      • Apple's Post Conference PR:

        • Apple Launches Global Tour to Showcase WWDC25 Updates — www.macobserver.com/…

        • Apple execs explain Apple's position in the AI race & how it isn't necessarily 'behind' — appleinsider.com/…

        • Craig Federighi says macOS would ruin what makes the iPad special — appleinsider.com/…

          Federighi said the goal is not to merge platforms. Instead, Apple wants to "retain all the simplicity of the iPad" while still giving users space to "push it at their own pace to doing more."

        • Craig Federighi Explains Why iPad Took Years to Get Mac-Like Multitasking — www.macobserver.com/…

          The delay wasn’t just about software decisions. Federighi says the iPad’s touch-first interface demanded immediate responsiveness. Unlike a Mac, where users interact indirectly with a pointer, the iPad needs to respond the instant a user touches the screen. Any delay breaks the experience.

        • Apple’s Craig Federighi on the long road to the iPad’s Mac-like multitasking — arstechnica.com/… (interview with Ars)

          "But we've looked and said, as [the iPad and Mac] come together, where on the iPad the Mac idiom for doing something, like where we put the window close controls and maximize controls, what color are they—we've said why not, where it makes sense, use a converged design for those things so it's familiar and comfortable," Federighi told Ars. "But where it doesn't make sense, iPad's gonna be iPad."

        • Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Craig Federighi and Alan Dye — overcast.fm/…

        • ⭐ Interview: Craig Federighi Opens Up About iPadOS, Its Multitasking Journey, and the iPad’s Essence — www.macstories.net/… (best interview of the lot IMO!)

      • Good Opinion Pieces:

        • Apple gets over its hang-ups, and the iPad enters a new era — sixcolors.com/…
        • At WWDC 2025, Apple played to its strengths — sixcolors.com/…
        • One Week Out, Some Brief Thoughts and Observations on WWDC 2025 — daringfireball.net/…

   2. Liquid Glass

      • Liquid Glass: Apple’s biggest design refresh ever — www.cultofmac.com/…

      • Reminder: this is still the early stages with no public beta yet, and Apple are already iterating quickly with a second developer beta already out — appleinsider.com/…

      • Hands-on videos showing the new interfaces in use:

        • tvOS 26 hands on: Sleek Liquid Glass redesign, new Control Center and more — appleinsider.com/…
        • Hands on with all the new CarPlay features in iOS 26 — appleinsider.com/…
        • Hands-on with iOS 26 and Liquid Glass: The good, the bugs and the ugly — www.cultofmac.com/…
        • AirPods & AirPods Pro in iOS 26 hands on: Camera control, new notifications, and more — appleinsider.com/…

      • Opinion: “Opinionated Design”: Early Reactions to Apple’s Liquid Glass Design Language — www.macstories.net/…

   3. Apple Intelligence

      • Apple Intelligence Expands: Onscreen Visual Intelligence, Shortcuts, Third-Party Apps, and More — www.macstories.net/…

      • Apple Intelligence opened up to all developers with Foundation Models Framework — appleinsider.com/…

      • Hands-On: How Apple’s New Speech APIs Outpace Whisper for Lightning-Fast Transcription — www.macstories.net/…

      • Lots remains unclear: I Have Many Questions About Apple’s Updated Foundation Models and the (Great) ‘Use Model’ Action in Shortcuts — www.macstories.net/…

      • Related: Mixed news for Apple Intelligence in China:

        • The NYT reports that political tensions are slowing down the government approvals Apple needs to roll out Apple Intelligence in China — www.macobserver.com/…
        • Apple Intelligence Nears China Launch as Alibaba Adapts Qwen3 for Apple Devices — www.macobserver.com/…

      • Related: Apple Researchers Publish Paper on the Limits of Reasoning Models (Showing That They're Not Really 'Reasoning' at All) — daringfireball.net/…

        • Excellent detailed description of the work: New Apple study challenges whether AI models truly “reason” through problems — arstechnica.com/…

      • Related: Apple Hardware Chief Says Company Exploring Generative AI for Chip Design — www.macobserver.com/… (At AI awards ceremony in Belgium last month)

      • Opinion: Apple Intelligence shifts gears — sixcolors.com/…

   4. iPad OS

      • iPadOS 26 multitasking is more Mac-like with menubar, better pointer and more — appleinsider.com/…
      • Files on iPadOS 26 doesn't suck anymore — appleinsider.com/…
      • Preview for iPadOS 26 vs macOS Tahoe: Finally a good native PDF tool on iPad — appleinsider.com/…
      • How Local Capture immediately turns iPad into a podcasting studio — appleinsider.com/…

Quick Stories

• Apple Sports app redesign adds personalization, tennis coverage — www.cultofmac.com/…
• Pixelmator Pro gets smarter with Apple Intelligence support — www.cultofmac.com/… (first major feature update since Apple bought the company)
• Apple Camp 2025 Opens Registration for Free Kids Workshops — www.macobserver.com/… (In Apple Stores around the world)
• Apple’s Back to School sale brings free AirPods with Mac or iPad — www.cultofmac.com/…
• Apple Joins Threads, Instantly Gains Nearly 5 Million Followers — www.macobserver.com/…
• M2 Mac mini owners with AC power issues can get repairs for free — appleinsider.com/… (Apple Service Program)
• Logitech Muse VR stylus for Apple Vision Pro allows designers to measure precisely in 3D — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple will announce their 2025 Q3 earnings on the 31st of July — 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.