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News
Apple reports it’s best quarter ever
Just when you thought the days of “peak iPhone” were long gone Apple holds it’s fourth quarter 2019 financial results call and blows us, and the skeptical analysts, away.
Apple announced a whopping revenue result of $91.8 billion and net proficiency of $22.2 billion
It happened to be the best quarter in Apple’s history.
Breaking down the net sales by category
iPhone - $56B in revenue (61%)
The second highest iPhone revenue in Apple history
Services - $12.7 Billion (14%)
Up 17% and a new record.
Apple news has over 100M monthly users (didn’t comment on “subscribers”)
Apple Pay revenue and transactions doubled year over year.
Wearables, Home, and Accessories - $10B in revenue (11%)
Passing Mac revenue for the first time ever
Apple Watch set a new revenue record and 75 percent of Apple Watch purchases were from people who were new to the product
Apple still can’t meet demand for AirPods Pro
Macs - $7.2 Billion (8%)
iPad - $6.0 Billion (7%)
The turn around in iPhone revenue seems to be lead by the success of the iPhone 11
iPhone 11 was the top selling model every week in the December quarter
Apple discussed buying MGM
CNBC cited sources familiar with the matter claiming that Apple considered a possible acquisition of MGM as a way to build fill out additional content for their Apple TV+ streaming service
This is the second time we have discussed a deal between Apple and MGM.
That report from the Wall Street Journal back in December mentioned a possible content deal vs. a full buyout.
Right now the talks seem to be preliminary to “gauge interest” in a possible buyout and it’s unclear if any additional discussion or progress is ongoing.
This is also not the only time we have heard that Apple has had a possible interest in purchasing traditional media companies or production studios
There were reports that they lost out to WarnerMedia in purchasing J.J. Abrams studio Bad Robot
And Apple was also reportedly exploring acquiring the film studio A24
Buying up MGM’s catalog, reportedly worth more than $10B, with rich properties like James Bond is interesting.
Still, I’m not sure at this point Apple is looking to build out a large back-catalog of shows.
As traditional studios and media companies begin to silo their content behind their own streaming efforts it seems like new streaming services like Apple, Netflix, and Amazon are more interested in producing and purchasing new and original content.
What I imaging a better place to spend money would be in acquiring and licensing rights to characters and franchises to produce the next generation of shows exclusive to the platform.
Apple tends to look froward and not backward and I’m not sure the future is in back catalog.
That may draw in subscribers up front, but it’s not likely what is going to keep people sticking around.
I think it’s also a good reminder that I don’t think Apple sees Apple TV+ as something that they feel needs to complete with the larger streaming plays.
Still I also see Apple TV+, like Apple Music, having a slow grow until it’s a significant player.
Something that Apple tends to be really good at.
In fact, recent data from Parrot Analytics reported by Business Insider claims that 6 of the 10 top streamed shows in Q4 of 2019 came from Apple TV+.
Truth Be Told, Servant, See, For All mankind, Dickinson, and the Morning Show we’re all in the list.
The top three were The Witcher (Netflix), The Mandalorian (Disney+), and Harley Quinn (DC)
Apple has reportedly picked up former Netflix network engineer Ruslan Meshenberg to build out their technical team for Apple TV+
This is according to a Wall Street Journal report
Meshenberg helped build out Netflix’s streaming network and was involved in projects to create a faster and more consistent service.
In his LinkedIn profile he’s listed as an Engineering Leader for Apple.
Apple has also inked another exclusive deal with a former HBO executive
According to Deadline Apple made a deal with Carmi Zlotnik a former Starz and HBO programming executive.
While at Starz and HBO Zlotnik oversaw the production of hits like "Band of Brothers," "The Sopranos," "American Gods," "Outlander"
Report claim that Apple’s upcoming adaptation of the Isaac Asimov "Foundation" novels for Apple TV+ will be Ireland’s largest single production ever made.
Screen Ireland claims the production will be filmed at Troy Studios in Limerick in Southern Ireland and employ over 500 people.
“Foundation" is a 10 episode series developed by Skydance Television and is being written by Josh Friedman and David S. Goyer. It will star Jared Harris from “Chernobyl” and Lee Pace from "Halt and Catch Fire."
iPhone 9 could see production delays
Many analysts feel the recent outbreak of Coronavirus in China will have an impact on the supply chain for technology in the region
Because Apple is very dependent on that supply China is seems reasonable to assume that it will have an impact on Apple as well.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman thinks at the very least that could put Apple’s chances of launching a new low-cost iPhone in the first half of the year “at risk”
The Nikkei Asian Review has said that Apple set up orders for up to 19 million “iPhone 9” devices to start production in the third week of February.
But Gurman also points out that Apple often lines up multiple sources for component to minimize the impact of any disruption of a single source or supplier.
Still if the second supplier cannot ramp up quickly to pick up the slack it’s logical to think that production delays might occur.
Kuo predicts new 2020 products
iPhone SE 2
The iPhone 9 we’ve bee discussing
4.7-inch LCD and TouchID
A13 chip and 3GB RAM
USD $399 starting price
New iPad Pro
Triple-lens camera with 3D sensing support
New MacBooks with scissor switch keyboards
A “smaller” wireless charging mat
Not sure what he means by this.
Ultra Wideband “tags” (AirTags)
Easier to locate tags as UWB has angle detection and more accuracy than Bluetooth.
We’ve already seen hints of support in betas of iOS
High-end Bluetooth headphone
The thought is these would be Apple branded over the ear headphones
Offer a lot of the tech that is found in AirPods
Also warns about the possible impact of the Coronavirus on the release of the new products.
Now US Apple Maps is rolled out
Apple has now made the official announcement that all users in the United States have access to a redesigned Maps
Next they say they will be targeting Europe to get the updates.
The updates bring better road coverage, more accurate pedestrian data, more precise addresses, and more detailed views of roads, parks, buildings, airports, and more
Apple also mentioned new features like Look Around (offered in limited cities) and Collections to create lists of your favorite places.
New Maps features also let your Share ETA, flight status info and have indoor maps for malls and airports.
They also say Siri offers natural language guidance for directions that are easier to follow and you can get real-time transit information in cities like San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
What you’d like in a future iMac
I asked the question Doug answered
“I think it would be nice to have an iMac that would have a touch screen and the ability to be swiveled down to various angles even to horizontal…”
This is a lot like the system Microsoft developed a few year ago.
He also mentions macOS becoming more touch friendly or for it to be able to do iOS emulation
Not sure I’m on-board with this.
In a way Mac Catalyst is iOS emulation, or at least an easy way for developers to bring their iOS apps to the Mac.
I think not as much touch support, but Apple Pencil support for a convertible iMac
Disable “always on” iPhone 11 tracking
You might remember that a couple months ago there was a small controversy surrounding the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro and background location tracking.
Users were noticing that even when location services were turned off on their device there was still some location pings happening.
The issue turned out to be related to the new Ultra Wide Band U1 chip in the devices.
In some countries the use of UWB technology is prohibited and therefore the device would collect location data so that it could automatically disable the UWB chip.
After the reports Apple promised an update to allow users to disable the tracking completely and with the release of iOS 13.3.1 you can now do that.
Open Settings
Scroll down to Privacy
Tap Location Services
Choose System Services from the list
Look for the “Networking & Wireless” option and disable it.
You will be asked to confirm that you want to disable Network & Wireless location data.
Disabling this feature also means that your iPhone will not be able to use location services to enhance Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections.
You can always re-enable the feature when you wish.
How does Photos “Optimize Storage” work
Robert asks because he currently uses the “Keep Originals” option on his 256GB iPhone, but wonders what will happen if he switches to “Optimize”
How does it replace the photos with smaller versions? When does it do that?
Is there any way to control it?
Nice to have an option in Photos Settings to keep originals for one month.
First off, this is a feature of iCloud Photo Library
Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
Tap Photos.
Choose Optimize [device] Storage.
Once turned on smaller, space-saving photos and videos are kept on your device while all of your original, full-resolution versions are stored in iCloud.
If you still download or access the full sized version on your device and that version will stay on the device unless you need space.
When optimizing space iOS starts my removing the high resolution versions of the photos and videos you access least.
Robert also asked about uploading originals to Google Photos and OneDrive.
I’m not 100% sure, but I think these apps on iOS work out of the Camera Roll, syncing any images you take with the Camera and uploading them to their service. I don’t think that feature would be impacted.
Even more though I generally would recommend that you set-up and use a Mac as the “Keep Originals” Library
This will give you more storage that is more easily expandable
Plus it’s on a more reliable network that it has constant access to for syncing
You can backup to many services like Google Photos and One Drive or backup services like Backblaze.
Thing of the Moment: Wrap-It Storage
This weeks TOTM comes from a listener Brian
“I like keeping my device cables and chargers neatly wrapped and stored while not in use. I recently bought a Wrap-It Storage zipper case at Staples for my iPad’s charger. I also have a need for larger cases, so I checked out Wrap-It’s website, and low and behold, I was a kid in a candy store!”
