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News
Teens choose AirPods for the Holidays
It used to be iPods, now it's AirPods.
Piper Jaffray surveyed 1,000 US consumers on what topped their wishlists this holiday season and Airpods topped the list especially for teens
According to Counterpoint Research AirPods continue to be the most popular truly wireless earphones on the market but they are starting to lose some ground to the competition.
33 million true wireless headphones were sold by the third quarter of 2019
Apple had 45 percent of that market which was down from 53 percent at the same time last year
The Chinese brand Xiaomi is in second place, but with just 9 percent of the market they have a way to go to catch Apple. Samsung was in third with a 6 percent share.
Interestingly Apple's Beats brand was 5th on the list
The report also covers the period before the release of AirPods Pro, so Apple's share could likely increase in the 4th quarter
Bloomberg says shipments of AirPods are expected to double to 60 million units during 2019 compared to last year.
The report claims the uptick is being largely driven by “much higher than expected demand” for AirPods Pro
AirPods Pro shipments are already backed up well into mid-December and should soon slip past the Holiday buying season.
New keyboard coming to 13-inch MacBook Pro
In the first half of 2020 according to DigiTimes
Would also mean a physical ESC key and inverted-T arrow keys
The report claims the screen size will likely remain 13.3 inches, but doesn't completely rule out a bump to 14-inches
Ming-Chi Kuo believed the entire MacBook line would make the transition in 2020, but it's still not clear if the new MacBook Pro "Magic Keyboard" designs will filter down to the lower cost MacBook Air
iFixit did the teardown of the new 16-inch MacBook Pro and shared details
It has the new larger 16-inch display, the new scissor switch Magic Keyboard, a new thermal architecture, and other updates
They noted that the scissor mechanisms look identical to ones used by Apple in the past though they are slightly thinner
There is no membrane and more space, so seems Apple is confident this design won't encounter debris issues.
There is a new speaker system with a longer speaker enclosure containing opposed woofers on the top and bottom to minimize vibration
Also has three microphones. Apple claims good enough to record a podcast on the built-in mics (I doubt it)
Batteries are 0.8mm thicker
New fans and noticeably larger exhaust holes. Likely to address complaints of thermal throttling under sustained loads on older models.
iFixit says they push 28 percent more air through the system
WWDC app goes to 12 (months)
Apple has updated the name of it's WWDC app for developer to just "Apple Developer"
It now will have year round updates including developer news, videos, WWDC content, and more.
US developers can now also sign-up for the developer program with an auto-renewing subscription in the App.
Apple has plans to roll this feature out to additional locations in the future
The App will also still serve as the place for WWDC keynotes, videos, announcements, etc.
Is Apple bringing Media Apps to Windows?
Apple dumped iTunes in favor of separate Media apps on the Mad in MacOS Catalina
But iTunes is still your go to it for your media if you're on Windows though recent Apple job listing show that may change soon.
Apple is looking for software engineers to build "the next generation of media apps for Windows"
The listing also mentions that experience with Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a "big plus".
Could mean that Apple is looking to also support Windows non-desktop platforms like Xbox One and Windows 10 mobile devices
This is really what Apple needs if they want to grow their services to the next level.
They should really do Music, Podcasts, News, Arcade (this may be tricky), Apple TV+, and iCloud on ALL platforms
Apple is also launching Apple Music for Business via a partnership with PlayNetwork
Allows businesses to get licensed music to play in their retail locations
Apple will provide human-curated playlists and even custom recommendations matched to the individual store brand.
Businesses will be able to control the tunes through a special iPhone or iPad App.
The Wall Street Journal says Apple had been piloting the program for a while and is now expanding to more retailers.
Apple builds new Texas campus
Apple has broken ground on its new $1 billion, 3-million-square-foot campus. The campus will initially house 5,000 employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000, and is expected to open in 2022.
To continue it's environmental efforts Apple says the campus will feature thousands of trees, plus a publicly-accessible 50-acre nature and wildlife area.
Of course it will also be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.
Apple also began manufacturing of the new Mac Pro at the same Austin facility where they began assembling the 2013 Mac Pro
Apple and it's partners invested $200 million into the facility and created a thousand foot long assembly line for the Mac Pro.
In total the plant is 244,000-square-foot in size, and employs more than 500 people
In total Apple employs around 7,000 people in Austin which is an increase of over 50 percent over the past 5 years
Apple doesn't' profit from repairs
Apple is in the middle of an antitrust probe and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has questions
They want to know about Apple's search relationship with Google, they're Webkit lock on browsers in iOS, and about their control over when and how customers get device repairs.
On that last item specifically they asked Apple, asked to identify the total revenue that it has derived from repair services since 2009.
Apple's response, "the costs of providing repair services has exceeded the revenue generated by repairs"
It's not clear if Apple is ruling out any profits they make from selling AppleCare or figuring the costs of the "free" repairs they do under that program
Critics have not been so kind, calling Apple's statements "absurd" or even "misleading"
I personally don't find it hard to believe that overall Apple's repair programs on the whole don't turn any profit.
On Maps, third party browsers, search engines, etc
Apple pointed out that they require third party web browsers on iOS to use WebKit framework due to user privacy and security considerations
And used a similar argument to defend why you can't change the default web browser
For Maps they pointed out that Google Maps and Waze have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times over the last five years.
And on search engines mentioned that customers can change the default search engine to Yahoo, Bing or DuckDuckGo at any time.
Smart Battery Case for iPhone 11
Apple has released new Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.
They cost USD $129.00 and come in three colors black, white, and pink sand.
Something new in the latest cases is a dedicated camera button that automatically launches the Camera app.
A quick press of the button takes a photo and a longer press captures QuickTake video.
The button also works with the FaceTime camera for taking selfies.
The cases look similar to the prior gen ones with the distinctive battery "bump"
Apple says you can expect up to 50% longer battery life when the Smart Battery Case is fully charged.
The cases are also compatible with Qi wireless chargers as well as being able to be charged via the Lightning port
Apple plans to address 'buggy' releases
According to Bloomberg Craig Federighi had a recent “kickoff” meeting with the company’s software developers to announce changes in how they'll be testing software
Developers will be required to disable unfinished or buggy features by default in "daily builds" that Apple uses internally to test software updates.
They'll have the ability to do this via a new internal process and settings menu dubbed Flags.
The idea is to help early internal iOS versions to be more usable, or “livable,” for testers.
In the past teams would add daily build features that weren't fully tested resulting in builds that were difficult to use
Tester basically aren't able to isolate the possible sources of actual bugs.
The new strategy is being applied to the development of iOS 14, codenamed “Azul”
Apple is also said to be considering reducing some of the new features planned for iOS 14
Apple delays the release of 'The Banker'
One of Apple TV+'s bigger releases the film, "The Banker", has been put on hold due to recent sexual abuse allegations involving a person associated with the film.
The film starring Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson was set to debut at the AFI Fest in LA on Nov. 21st, but that was cancelled by Apple following the allegation and also complaints that the film was historical inaccurate
The film tells the story of Bernard Garrett a black man who recruited a white man to front his growing financial business some six decades ago in a pre-Civil Rights Act America.
Recently sexual abuse allegations came to light against Bernard Garrett Jr. by his two half-sisters.
Garrett's son was a consultant on the film, had a producer credit, and was part of the promotional tour.
He is not depicted in the film itself.
There are also claims that the film's timeline was tweaked in order to leave the girls and their mother out of the story.
The film does feature Bernard Garrett Sr.'s first wife, but he had already divorced her by the time of some of the events depicted in the film.
In light of the allegations Apple cancelled the AFI Fest premiere and have delayed both the Dec. 6 theatrical release and the January debut of the film on Apple TV+
They have also removed Bernard Garrett Jr.'s producer credit from the film and he is no longer listed as a participant at any of the promotional events.
What will happen with the film going forward is up in the air.
Apple said in a statement that they, "purchased The Banker earlier this year as we were moved by the film's entertaining and educational story about social change and financial literacy"
They said they are looking into the matter and need more time to "determine the best next steps."
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Apple TV+ and alternate accounts
So we've had some discussion about getting your free year of Apple TV+
To qualify you need to have purchased a a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac after September 10, 2019, from Apple or an Apple authorized reseller.
The offer is tied to your Apple ID, but what if the Apple ID you purchased your product from is NOT the Apple ID you use for your iCloud account or Apple device registration?
Listener Avner figured out a good trick to make it all work.
Play comment from Avner.
About those old macOS installers
Back in October we discussed old macOS installers and how you can find ones to re-download if you need to make a USB install disk
I mentioned I have USB installers going back to macOS Lion
Turns out now, all of those are worthless. Except for the macOS Catalina one.
All the signing certificates expired on October 24th, 2019
The latest ones do expire in 2029, so mark your calendars.
As i mentioned before the easiest way to get the latest images is via the Apple support article
