Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive and chairman, has resigned from the board of Apple, whose growing Hollywood operation would have made it harder for him to fully engage as one of its directors.
Mr. Iger, 68, resigned on Tuesday, according to an Apple filing on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Apple called Mr. Iger an “exemplary” board member, one of Apple’s “most trusted business partners” and “a role model for an entire generation” of leaders. “More than anything, Bob is our friend,” Apple continued.
Everyone will read this as being due to to the competition between Apple TV+ and Disney+ but as Tim Bajarin said on Twitter, “Iger resigning is to avoid any possible conflict of interest since they both now have streaming services. They actually co-exist well but this takes any potential threat from Wall Street over conflict of interest out of the picture.”
Dave and I took a few minutes to talk about the behavior of The New York Times reporter on Twitter, but quickly moved on to discussing all of the products Apple introduced at its event this week.
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Apple disputed the negative call by Goldman Sachs on Friday, which hit the stock, taking issue with the firm’s negative characterization on how Apple would account for its new TV+ service.
Goldman said that the one-year free trial of the TV+ service would have a “material negative impact” on earnings by showing lower hardware profit margins. Goldman believes that this issue will send the stock significantly lower, so the firm cut its 12-month price target.
“We do not expect the introduction of Apple TV+, including the accounting treatment for the service, to have a material impact on our financial results,” the company said in a statement to CNBC.
Interesting that Apple felt the need to respond to the Goldman Sachs call.
After a nearly year-long courting process that saw J.J. Abrams and his wife and Bad Robot partner Katie McGrath take meetings with tech giants and traditional studios, the duo ultimately opted to take less money than they could have earned to stay with WarnerMedia.
Sources say the tech powerhouse came close to paying more than $500 million for Abrams’ Bad Robot production company, which wound up taking less money from its eventual home.
I can’t even imagine being in a position where I could turn down half a billion dollars but given the details in the article, you can kind of understand why Abrams did it.
I live about 15 minutes away and once I was home, I slid open the plastic seal, lift the box and immediately had a moment of shock. I’ve purchased many iPhones before so am quite familiar with Apple’s packaging and what not. There was a phone in the box that resembled the size and shape of an actual XS Max and had a decent weight to it. However, I immediately noticed something was wrong.
Grain of salt here. Personally, I’ve never bought an iPhone from an Apple Store and not opened it at the Apple Store.
That said, it could be true. If so, a pretty shocking experience.
UPDATE: Since this was originally posted, the Reddit post on this topic has been deleted.
It’s a sad reality, but if Apple made the Watch compatible with Android, it would be bar-none the best smartwatch for Android phones. It already is the fastest, most useful, and most technically impressive wearable you can buy.
And:
As it is, Android users are limited to Samsung’s Tizen-running watches (arguably the best Apple Watch alternatives) and the countless Wear OS options from Fossil Group, Mobvoi, and others.
It’d be interesting if Apple could find a way to integrate Apple Watch with Android just enough to whet the Android user’s appetites, just enough to get them to give an iPhone a try.
I love the new camera systems that ship with the iPhone 11 and iPhone Pro series. The most impressive thing to me is the seamless transition as you switch between cameras, both in still model and when shooting video.
Something strange happened at Apple’s iPhone 11 event on Tuesday: the Apple Watch stole the show.
And:
Before the Apple Watch first came out, I spent a couple of years wearing the Pebble, a proto-smartwatch. When people asked me how it was to use, I always responded by saying, “it tells the time.” Yes, that was me poking fun at the tiny feature set of the Pebble, but it was also highlighting what is fundamentally the most important part of a watch — displaying the current time on its face.
And:
Thanks to some clever redesigned display technology and a bunch of other upgrades, the Apple Watch Series 5 will show the current time on its face, no jiggling required.
I do get Jason’s point, and the always-on display is a welcome add-on, no doubt. But star of the show? For me, it was the camera.
Grain of salt, but from a reasonably reliable source:
Reliable sources are saying iPhone 11 and 11 Pro do include the hardware for bilateral charging, but that it is software disabled. Uncertain whether this was removed prior to final production run.
This is the number one thing I will look for in the forthcoming iFixit teardown. Second is the battery size, as compared to the last generation models.
Apple today announced a new billing grace period for subscriptions, which will let subscribers who experience unsuccessful auto-renewals continue to use an app’s paid content while Apple attempts to collect payment.
This will be a useful feature for developers as customers who do not immediately update their billing when a subscription fee becomes due can currently lose access to premium features right away.
Here’s an in-depth look at some of the 100+ games coming to Apple Arcade this fall. Find it on the App Store.
There are some very interesting titles included in this video. Definitely looks like it will be worth the $5 a month. Here’s more info about each game.
There’s been a lot of discussion about Apple being late to the 5G game. I get it, 5G is incredibly fast compared to both LTE and even your home WiFi. And Samsung has it now.
But.
From the headline linked PC Mag article:
On a hot Las Vegas morning, my two Galaxy S10 5G phones kept overheating and dropping to 4G. This behavior is happening with all of the millimeter-wave, first-generation, Qualcomm X50-based phones when temperatures hit or exceed 85 degrees. We saw it with T-Mobile in New York, with Verizon in Providence, and now with AT&T in Las Vegas. It’s happened on Samsung and LG phones, with Samsung, Ericsson, and Nokia network hardware.
AT&T and T-Mobile both said they’ll have phones with Qualcomm’s second-generation 5G modem, the X55, later this year. This persistent overheating behavior just makes me more confident in recommending that consumers wait to buy a 5G phone.
If you’re interested in 5G, read the entire article. But one takeaway is that 5G and the rollout of the equipment that makes 5G possible is just not ready for prime time. It’s not nearly in enough places, and the first generation modems are prone to overheating.
Apple has long had a strategy of entering a market only when they could deliver brilliant performance. If Apple rolled out a 5G phone now, they’d have to raise the cost of their phones, and deliver a less than stellar experience to their customers. Lose-lose.
Will 5G be ready for Apple by September 2020? Only one way to tell. Watch next years keynote.
Follow the headline link, hit play to get the video loaded. Hit pause again if you’d like.
Notice the tiny vertical lines in the scrub bar. Each one marks one of the key announcements in the video. Hover over a line to see a bit of text appear with details of that announcement.
“Hey Siri, we lost Spot the dog, do you know where he is?”
Siri:”Spot is located 87 feet forward and down 2 feet from the height of the iPhone. Please hold up your phone and follow the Balloon to Spot’s location”
It’s all about spatial awareness.
The “U” in the U1 chip relates to the Ultra-Wide Band Radio Technology (UWB) [1] technology it uses. UWB can be used for many application and use cases. One use case that will become very large for Apple as they move to AR/MR technology and Apple Glasses is to be able to track spacial relationships of objects. One way to do this is using lasers and IR systems, and Apple is already doing this to some degree with FaceID and Animoji. The other way to do this is via the radio spectrum.
Lots of detail here on a chip that is an important addition to Apple’s custom chip arsenal.
Glad to see the 3% Daily Cash list growing for Apple Card.
As this list grows, it’d be nice to have some signal that a merchant I’m about to pay is part of the 3% club. That will definitely get me to use my Apple Card, instead of my default card that offers better benefits, at least for me.
My rule of thumb:
3%: Apple, Uber, Uber Eats, Walgreens, Duane Reed
2%: Any Apple Pay purchase
1%: Everywhere else
And it’s that last category that has me reach for my default credit card. 3% is compelling to me. As the list grows, I might be tempted to promote my Apple Card to the top spot in my Wallet.
Apple events are interesting in many ways. We get to see the new products from Apple, obviously, but we also talk with other reporters and analysts about where the various markets are heading. For one New York Times reporter, Jack Nicas, it’s an opportunity to shame other people.
Here is Jack talking about the event on Twitter:
I don't see a problem with a tech company hosting a product launch. Most do it.
What's strange about Apple events: Many Apple bloggers act as fans, not journalists. One person in the media section literally gave Tim Cook a standing ovation; another cried during an Apple Watch ad https://t.co/bFbJ5QCmTE
Jack, I’m not a fan. I’m a blogger/journalist and have been covering Apple since 1994. I’m harsh on Apple when they deserve it and I speak out against bias bullshit when it’s needed. That’s not being a fan, that’s being truthful to your readers.
I didn’t see the person standing, so I’m not sure if it was a person from the media or perhaps an Apple employee. It could even have been someone from one of the companies that were demoing their products on stage and was really excited.
Contrary to what Jack says, there really is no “media” section in Steve Jobs Theater. There is the front where all of the VIPs sit, and there is the rest of the theater.
So maybe Jack isn’t being a complete asshole about the guy standing. However, his next remark proves what a complete dick Jack can be.
Apple showed a heart-wrenching Apple Watch ad that caused one reporter to cry. What does Jack do when he sees this?
Offer comfort? No, he takes to Twitter to shame her. Class act, that Jack.
However, the person that was brought to tears by the watch ad came forward. It was Ellen Cushing, a senior editor at The Atlantic. What’s that, it’s not just Apple bloggers that have feelings at Apple events!
i was the crying reporter sitting next to Jack. I was crying because it’s a video about people with disabilities overcoming challenges and also sometimes my face makes water whether I want it to or not?? https://t.co/RSNO4PPLWE
Jack, being the hard-nosed guy he is, stuck to his guns. Joking, when he found out it was a reporter from another large news organization he folded so quick it would make your head spin.
I did not know that was you, Ellen! Apologies for any offense. As I noted later, it was an emotional ad and there's nothing wrong with crying!
And you are not an Apple blogger, so my tweet is wrong. And also: There is nothing wrong with being an Apple blogger.
Hey Jack, here’s a piece of advice for you. Before you call people down for, you know, being compassionate human beings (and bloggers), maybe you should take a look in the mirror and decide how you can be less of a complete total fuckhead.
My friends and I visited and recreated every default Apple wallpaper on a one week road trip. Starting with MacOS Mojave in Death Valley National Park, we traveled to each of Apple’s California Locations to try and make an identical photo to their wallpapers that come installed with every new Mac computer.
Pretty impressive. Thanks to Matt Corkum for the link.
Last year, Apple rolled out the option to pay monthly for some of its two (in some cases three) year AppleCare+ plans for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Today, Apple quietly changed how it works so customers can buy an indefinite monthly AppleCare+ subscription.
The change to AppleCare+ monthly plans almost went under the radar after Apple’s busy iPhone event. But an eagle-eyed 9to5Mac reader spotted the new AppleCare+ legal document that was updated today. Under “Plan Term and Renewal,” Apple describes how the monthly plans work now.
It’s often hard to justify the cost of AppleCare+ but this will help a great deal.
Located at Liseberg in Gothenburg, Sweden, the Helix is a 1,381-metre-long rollercoaster that features a nauseating mix of corkscrews, pretzel knots, a zero-g roll, and a Norwegian loop. To experience the ride passport-free, drone racing pilot Viggo Koch chases the coaster during a run to give an authentic POV experience.
I’ve flown a drone in the past but even in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t imagine flying one this well.
The iPhone 11’s camera was the main focus of the most prominent product images in Apple’s iPhone event Tuesday, and consumed the most overall time on stage. The iPhone 11 features major upgrades to the iPhone camera system across the product line, which is good, because the perception among smartphone-market watchers is that Apple’s photography game had fallen behind competitors like Google, Samsung, and Huawei.
After the event I got to spend some time with an iPhone 11 Pro and its Camera and Photos apps, both of which have been modified to support the new features of the iPhone 11 line. Here’s a look at what’s new and how it all fits together.
I usually hate these “hands on” pieces because they are so limited but Snell has uncovered several details not shown on stage that make me even more excited about the new iPhones from a photography point of view.
One of the understated components of Apple’s iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro is the new U1 chip. It didn’t get a prominent callout onstage at today’s announcement event, but it will underpin what Apple says are “amazing new capabilities” coming to iOS devices in the future, including a more accurate, directional version of AirDrop coming with iOS 13.
The “U” in U1 stands for “ultra-wideband,” which is the technology Apple is using to power new location tracking features for its smartphones and, hopefully soon, other accessories, too. The U1 chip effectively lets the newest iPhone locate and communicate with other U1 devices in a more accurate and speedy fashion.
And it will do so much more. This is why the rumors of “Apple Tags” ran rampant.
This year, amid the flurry of new features and performance claims, Apple made a pretty interesting technical announcement. No, there’s no support for 5G with any of the new models (we expect that’ll come in 2020), but that doesn’t mean there won’t be speed. All three of them — the iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max — include support for Wi-Fi 6.
Basically, it’s “future proofing” your iPhone 11 devices.
We posted the video yesterday, but turns out there’s a secret message embedded in six frames, at about 1:24 in the video.
Follow the headline link to the video, pause, then drag the slider to about 1:23 in. Now press period (“.”) to advance one frame at a time until the Easter egg comes into view. Have patience, might take a good number of frames to get there, but it’s there, I swear.
Marques Brownlee offers up a terrific overview of the iPhone 11 Pro, all from the hands-on area of yesterday’s Apple event.
Most of the video is tightly focused, so check out this video from Rajiv Makhni, which gives a much broader view of the chaos (or at least the aftermath).
This according to the SpeedSmart Speed Test app. Grain of salt, but if true, that’s a pretty big speed increase.
Reminds me of the huge battery gains in the iPhone 11 Pro, all without a major increase in the battery size. This all due to efficiency gains in the A13 bionic chip?
