Apple

Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. is readying a series of bundles that will let customers subscribe to several of the company’s digital services at a lower monthly price, according to people with knowledge of the effort.

The bundles, dubbed “Apple One” inside the Cupertino, California-based technology giant, are planned to launch as early as October alongside the next iPhone line, the people said. The bundles are designed to encourage customers to subscribe to more Apple services, which will generate more recurring revenue.

Follow the headline link for details, but this has been long-rumored, and definitely seems believable.

I think it would bring in people who like one particular service and are willing to bump their monthly payout to get other services at a discount. Same with people on the fence about subscribing to any one service.

I love this idea, hope it’s true, can’t wait for the October event.

New York Post:

News Corp. will continue to allow tech giant Apple to disseminate its news articles through the Apple News platform because the arrangement is helping introduce new readers to The Wall Street Journal, CEO Robert Thomson said.

Thomson said Apple News is connecting new readers to WSJ, ­including women and young people who might not otherwise be aware of its breadth of news coverage ­beyond business news.

That goes to the core of Apple’s argument for News+, that it will bring new awareness and a new audience to a news publisher.

As to the makeup of that audience, CEO Thomson continues:

It is a genuinely different audience. It’s actually, of late, more women than men. For The Wall Street Journal ­itself, it’s more men than women.

Certainly good news for Apple News+. Turning point? At the very least, validation of their model.

From the iOS 13.6.1 update that just dropped:

Addresses an issue where unneeded system data files might not be automatically deleted when available storage is low.

If memory is an issue for you, this is a much needed fix. See also, this related Apple support article on solving the chicken and egg problem where you don’t have enough space to download the update that solves the you don’t have enough space problem.

In a nutshell, the idea is to add an alternate appearance to Face ID taken with your mask folded in half, covering one side of your face.

Have not had the chance to test this yet, so I’m taking this with a grain of salt. But worth a try.

AP:

In a letter to CEO Tim Cook obtained by The Associated Press, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Patrick Foye said riders have been seen removing their masks to unlock their phones using face-recognition technology, despite a recent update by Apple that simplifies the unlock process for people wearing masks.

And:

“We understand Apple is working to address the issue and know that Apple has a range of technologies at its disposal as a global leader among tech companies,” Foye wrote in the letter sent Sunday. “We urge Apple to accelerate the deployment of new technologies and solutions that further protect customers in the era of COVID-19.”

I’d love a version of Face ID that could recognize me with a mask on. I’d also be OK with a delayed locking scheme that stayed unlocked as long as, say, I continued holding my iPhone in my hand. So if I put my iPhone in my pocket (or let go in any way), it would lock. But if I kept my iPhone in my hand, it’d stay unlocked. Effective for grocery runs, though not perfect.

Om Malik:

It is easy to find a replacement for TikTok. We don’t use Huawei and WeChat as ordinary Americans. But when the blowback comes, it is going to be against a company whose influence in our lives goes beyond its products.

And that company is iPhone maker, Apple.

It is not hard to imagine China retaliating against Apple as a move in the US/China trade wars. Moving on:

Barry Ritholtz, recently noted that “Four industry groups — internet content, software infrastructure, consumer electronics, and internet retailers — account for more than $8 trillion in market value, about a third of the S&P500 and a quarter of total U.S. stock market value of about $35 trillion.” Apple’s market capitalization, which was just shy of $2 trillion last week, is roughly a quarter of that $8 trillion in market value.

Fantastic for Apple, fans of Apple, and Apple shareholders. Moving on:

Google, Facebook, and Netflix, three of the most significant tech stocks don’t have that much China exposure. Apple is the one with the highest China-risk.

And:

Any disruption in Apple’s operations is going to have an impact on its market capitalization. And very quickly, Apple’s misfortunes are going to become America’s misfortunes.

And there’s the Achilles heel. Interesting read.

Bloomberg:

Apple’s share price rose almost 5% last week, leaving the company Jobs co-founded 44 years ago in his parents’ California home on the cusp of stock-market milestone: a market value of nearly $2 trillion.

And:

It was valued at about $350 billion when Jobs died. Cook, meantime, has joined one of the most elite clubs for CEOs who didn’t actually found the companies they run: his net worth has eclipsed $1 billion, according to calculations by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Reminds me of this: Name a billionaire who worked for another billionaire while both were billionaires. If you want to guess, reply to this tweet.

Tomorrow is Woz’s 70th birthday, and there’s a massive on-line bash being planned.

Check out the official event page, check out that amazing guest list.

The party starts tomorrow at 5p PT, 8p ET.

Nice explainer from iDownloadBlog on using the iOS 14 compact Siri. I love this change to the Siri interface.

If nothing else, it lets me maintain whatever context I was in when I brought Siri to bear, lets me keep my train of thought.

Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

A report earlier today cited a potentially huge WeChat threat to the future of the iPhone in China. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is concerned that the Trump administration could force Apple to remove the WeChat app not just from the US App Store, but globally.

Kuo warned that this could see a massive 30% reduction in global iPhone sales, and if that sounds hyperbolic, it’s likely not.

The linked post is worth reading both because of Ben’s op-ed take, but also because of all the background on WeChat. Very informative.

Prepear:

Recently @apple yes, The trillion dollar Apple, has decided to oppose and go after our small business’ trademark saying our pear logo is too close to their apple logo and supposedly hurts their brand?

This is a big blow to us at Prepear. To fight this it will cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Follow the headline link for a side-by-side of the Prepear logo next to Apple’s. Also, check out this comparison posted by John Gruber.

The core of this issue is the cost to a mom and pop to defend their logo. It’s just not a winnable battle, given the almost infinite size of Apple’s pocketbook.

That said, I wonder if Apple’s legal team ever talks with the Apple brand marketing team. I can’t help but think this situation will bruise Apple’s brand, even if the legal team is absolutely correct in their analysis, seeing the potential harm in allowing a trademark that structurally follows the form of the Apple logo.

Why not avoid all this and offer a licensing deal to the Prepear folks, one that protects the Apple logo and still lets Prepear have their preferred logo? It’d be a better look for the Apple brand.

Tim Hardwick, MacRumors:

In iOS 14, Apple introduced a Translate app that can translate several different languages in real-time, and Safari picked up new translation capabilities, too.

Thanks to the new webpage Translation feature, Safari will automatically detect if it can translate a foreign webpage you visit based on your Preferred Languages list. Keep reading to learn how it all works.

At the time of writing, supported languages include English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Follow the headline link for the details. Interesting that this works on iPad, yet the new Translate app is iPhone only.

Some amazing work by map master Justin O’Beirne, laying out some easy to follow before-and-afters on changes to Apple Maps in Japan, including an interesting data source detail.

That last led me down a tiny bit of a rabbit hole to this, a page describing all the data sources for Apple Maps.