This blast from the past surfaced to the top of Reddit’s Apple forum yesterday. Note that the letter appeared in all the major Apple news sources of the day, published as written.

The letter was posted on September 6, 2007. The iPhone was officially released on June 29, 2007.

Not making a particular point here, just found this fascinating.

To all iPhone customers:

I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.

First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to ‘go for it’ this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone ‘tent’. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.

Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple’s website next week. Stay tuned.

We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.

Steve Jobs Apple CEO

Ignore the opening paragraph, which is a rant on “armchair CEOS” and “doom and gloom”, read the list itself. Some thoughtful points.

For me, this point stands out:

Installed base of active devices grew by more than 100 million units.

This demonstrates how Apple’s brand tends to keep users within the ecosystem, rather than losing more of them to competitors. Year over year growth for Apple’s services are largely dependent on increasing the overall active installed user base, so this bodes extremely well for Apple’s services sector going forward.

My 2 cents, perhaps uninformed, but it’s what I got:

The smartphone market is, like the PC market years before, growing saturated. The big win features for smartphones have arrived, new features are incremental, not revolutionary. Most people have what they need.

As has been pointed out by many biz bloggers, Apple is shifting their focus to Services. And this new business model grows relative to the installed base of active devices.

Short term, pricing issues and trade wars are bringing the pain. But as long as Apple continues to grow its installed base, I think they’ll turn this giant ship in that new business direction and the business model will find a new point of stability.

Patently Apple:

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to the field of wearable electronic devices including a wrist biometric sensor. While options for a biometric authentication system for Apple Watch could include Face ID or Touch ID in the future, Apple’s latest patent application on this subject matter actually points to an all new form of biometric authentication using a wrist biometric sensor located on the inside portion of a watch band that reads skin texture patterns.

Imagine if your Apple Watch “knew” your wrist, used its skin texture patterns to authenticate. No iPhone required, no passcode either. My guess is, there’d be some training required the first time you put on your new Apple Watch, in the same way as you trained your face for Face ID or fingers for Touch ID.

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Charter Spectrum’s long-promised app for the Apple TV launched today and can now be downloaded via the Apple TV App Store. The app is designed to give Spectrum TV users access to live channels and on demand titles right on the Apple TV.

The app works with the new Zero Sign-on feature, which means Charter Spectrum users will not need to sign in to use it when connected to accompanying Charter Spectrum internet services.

My dream here is for the Apple TV and tvOS to become a true, on demand, DVR front end for any and all cable/satellite services.

Specifically, I’d love to fire up my Apple TV and search across all available programming, pick shows to “record” to watch later, even if I was on the road.

Netflix comes close to this model, limited to Netflix content. I can download many shows/movies on device for later consumption, even if I have spotty internet service.

As is, Apple TV is a collection of services, with no DVR capability. Downloads are limited to what I rent. No download from services I’ve already paid for.

Ebro Darden has been known to New Yorkers for years as the self-proclaimed “King Troll” of hip-hop radio. Currently the host of Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning with Laura Stylez & Rosenberg show, the 43-year-old has also expanded into other arenas in recent years. Most notably, Darden has been playing an increasingly large role with Apple Music since joining Beats 1 Radio as an anchor in 2015.

Now, he’s journeying further into the Apple universe with a new job as global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B for Apple Music. The new gig will find Darden, the company says, “manag[ing] a team of hip-hop and R&B editors as they build out editorial plans for artists, albums and song releases.”

This is a good interview, but one thing struck me in particular. Take his title “global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B for Apple Music,” and change hip-hop and R&B to any music genre. I would love to see Apple doing the things outlined in this interview for all music genres.

(This is probably the worst site I’ve ever seen for ads. You’ve been warned.)

Apple today announced that App Store customers worldwide set new spending records over the holidays, wrapping up a record-breaking year. App Store spending topped $1.22 billion between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Customers also spent over $322 million on New Year’s Day 2019 alone, setting a new single-day record.

“The App Store had a record-breaking holiday week and New Year’s Day. The holiday week was our biggest week ever with more than $1.22 billion spent on apps and games, and New Year’s Day set a new single-day record at more than $322 million,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Thanks to the inspiring work of our talented developers and the support of our incredible customers around the world, the App Store finished off an outstanding 2018 and kicked off 2019 with a bang.”

Damn, that’s a lot of money!

Given the huge news from yesterday (Apple’s market-shaking earnings revision), I was particularly interested in this Tim Cook CNBC interview (embedded below).

I encountered the interview in the linked article, tantalizingly titled, “Tim Cook says he isn’t worried about traveling to China after the Huawei CFO’s arrest.”

John Gruber deconstructs Tim Cook’s “revising our guidance” announcement that is shaking the markets today (here’s a link if you want to check Apple’s current stock price, or just type AAPL into Google).

iPhone sales have effectively peaked for two reasons. First, Apple ran out of new markets to conquer years ago. The iPhone is effectively available worldwide.

And:

But there’s a limit on the number of people in the world who (a) want an iPhone and (b) can afford one, and the iPhone reached that 3-4 years ago. A bad economy in China significantly shrinks the number of people worldwide who can afford one. They’re much in the position Microsoft got to with Windows and PCs — they’re no longer an upstart growth company and are now a massively profitable blue chip.

Apple is making that shift from dependence on iPhone growth to services growth. The good news is that Apple’s services are, indeed, booming. This bad news is a bitter pill, but Apple will certainly get past this.

In an interview with CNBC yesterday (I’ll post that next), Tim highlights a number of services growth stories, including record numbers for Apple’s Chinese App Store.

That said, Apple’s services growth is dependent on ecosystem lock-in. That’s good business for Apple, but is it the best experience for consumers? Does that lock-in mean our photos, music, and message threads are captives of Apple’s iCloud subscription?

Gruber’s take is a fascinating read. And don’t miss his look back at Steve Jobs and Apple’s Last Previous Earnings Warning.

Rachel England, Engadget, on the newly announced USB Type-C Authentication Program:

The program defines the optimal cryptographic-based authentication for USB-C devices and chargers. Any host system using this protocol will be able to confirm the authenticity of a device or charger, including descriptors and capabilities, right at the moment a connection is made. So say, for example, you’re concerned about charging your phone at a public terminal. Your phone could implement a policy only allowing a charge from certified chargers. A company, meanwhile, could set a policy for its PCs, giving them access only to verified USB storage devices.

The concept would allow a setting in iOS, say, that required a cryptographic handshake before your connected device was allowed to communicated with a charger, for example.

Here’s a link to the official USB.org press release.

Reuters:

The Chang’e-4 lunar probe, launched in December, made the “soft landing” at 0226 GMT and transmitted the first-ever “close range” image of the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration said.

The moon is tidally locked to Earth, rotating at the same rate as it orbits our planet, so most of the far side – or “dark side” – is never visible to us. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side, but none has landed on it.

And:

As soon as 2022, NASA expects to begin building a new space station laboratory to orbit the moon, as a pit stop for missions to distant parts of the solar system.

A return to the space race, with the moon as a pitstop for the journey to Mars.

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch:

Earlier this year, Netflix was seen testing a bypass of iTunes billing across dozens of markets worldwide. As 2018 draws to a close, Netflix — the App Store’s top grossing app — has ditched the ability for new users to sign up and subscribe to the streaming service within its iOS app across all global markets. The change means Apple will miss out on hundreds of millions in App Store revenue per year — money it would have otherwise received by way of its standard cut of in-app transactions.

And:

Before the change, Netflix on iOS was grossing an average of $2.4 million per day in 2018 — meaning Apple was making around $700,000 by doing nothing other than allowing Netflix to offer subscriptions in its app.

Interesting power dynamics at work here. Netflix seems to hold all the cards here. Not sure there’s anything Apple can do to bring that revenue back.

Apple:

Apple’s conference call to discuss final first fiscal quarter results is scheduled for Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET.

Following the letter from Tim Cook to Apple investors, “revising our guidance”, Apple has updated their investor relations page with details about their upcoming Q1 2019 analysts call. It promises to be interesting, to say the least.

Tim Cook:

Today we are revising our guidance for Apple’s fiscal 2019 first quarter, which ended on December 29. We now expect the following:

• Revenue of approximately $84 billion
• Gross margin of approximately 38 percent
• Operating expenses of approximately $8.7 billion
• Other income/(expense) of approximately $550 million
• Tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent before discrete items

We expect the number of shares used in computing diluted EPS to be approximately 4.77 billion.

Based on these estimates, our revenue will be lower than our original guidance for the quarter, with other items remaining broadly in line with our guidance.

Share trading was halted today. Follow the headline link to read the rest of the letter. This seems pretty significant news.

TV Guide:

The end of the calendar year is a time for lists. In the world of TV criticism, it’s a time for lists that purport to rattle off the 10 best shows (or more!) of the year. As I tried desperately to remember 10 shows I watched this year that I would classify as being deserving of such accolades, I realized two things. First, I realized that the best show I watched in 2018 was actually Justified, which went off the air three years ago.

Let me tell you: It was liberating to return to the crime-ridden hills and hollers of Harlan, Kentucky, and spend time with U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and outlaw Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins).

I can’t argue with this. My wife hadn’t seen Justified when it originally aired so we watched it together. We were both blown away by how good a TV show (except for the awful fifth season) and wished it had continued.

Lifehacker:

The Apple Watch is packed with health and fitness features—so many that it can be overwhelming. But with a little thought, you can set up your watch so that it helps you to do great workouts and gets you ready for the next one.

I was lucky enough to have a Your Mac Life listener gift me an Apple Watch 3 for Christmas (thanks John Kordyback!) so I’m determined to use it for my New Years Resolution – to lose 30lbs by March 20th, the day before I go to Lisbon for my Starting Point Photography “Photo Tourism” workshop.

Axios:

Even when you’re cautious about sharing, Facebook’s dossier on you will be hefty. Facebook tackles its mission of “bringing the world closer together” by creating a map of humanity, and each of us represents a tiny node on this “social graph”.

Facebook’s privacy policies reinforce the message that “you have control over who sees what you share on Facebook.” But if you use Facebook at all, you don’t have much control over what Facebook itself sees about you.

There’s no doubt Facebook knows more about you than you realize but it also knows a lot about you that you gave Facebook voluntarily.

Ken Segall:

Steve Jobs once quoted Picasso: “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.”

True that. Innovative thinkers invent, observe and assimilate. They merge the old and new to create something fresh.

Apparently, the good and great artists were hard at work on Apple’s latest ad, Color Flood. I quite enjoyed it. But even as I watched it for the first time, I was visited by the Ghosts of Advertising Past.

I wasn’t nearly as enamored of the ad as Segall was but I do agree on the confusing message it sends.

Apple posted on its web site yesterday that 78% of all devices introduced in the last 4 years are using iOS 12, and 75% of all devices are using iOS 12. That’s a substantial numbers of people that are using the latest operating system.

A variety of skins are available for customizing the design of the Apple Pencil, but Reddit user Cedric Chase decided to take the do-it-yourself route with some sandpaper, synthetic fabric dye, and paint, transforming his second-generation Apple Pencil into one that closely resembles a No. 2 graphite pencil.

He did a great job, but there’s no way I take a chance on doing this with my new Apple Pencil.

It was only after they’d sunk $40,000 and nine months of precious nights and weekends that Jordan McDowell and William Bjork realized how hard it is to make a passive income selling things on Amazon.

The couple had hoped to strike it rich—or at least quit their day jobs—buying goods from China and reselling them on the e-commerce site. Instead, they lost all the money in their high yield savings account.

I feel bad for the people that have lost money trying to sell products on Amazon, or any other service, but when people claim to have all the answers to make you successful, it’s usually a scam. Those people never lose money.

Petapixel:

The camera superstore B&H Photo Video is the largest non-chain camera store in the United States and one of the (if not the) largest in the world. The store made this 1.5-minute video that tells the story of how the juggernaut of the industry came to be.

B&H was born over 45 years ago, back in 1973, as a “mom and pop” camera store in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

B&H has had its challenges over the years but I always dropped in during the New York Macworld Expos because it was such a cool, old-school kind of store. If you’re ever in New York City, stop by just for the fun of it – and the free candy. And now I know what the “B&H” stands for.

Macworld:

The longevity of indie apps is more extraordinary when you consider the changes Apple put the Mac through from the early 1990s to 2018. Apple switched from Motorola 680×0 processors to PowerPC to Intel chips, from 32-bit to 64-bit code, and among supported coding languages. It revved System 7 to 8 to 9, then to Unix across now 15 major releases (from 10.0 to 10.14). That’s a lot for any individual programmer or small company to cope with.

Bare Bones’s head honcho, Rich Siegel, and the developers behind three other long-running Mac software programs shared with me their insight on development histories for over 25 years, what’s changed the most during that time, and any hidden treasures users haven’t yet found.

To stick around for 25 years is pretty remarkable (says the guy celebrating his 25th anniversary as a “podcaster” this coming March!) and these apps deserve all the accolades.

Forbes:

A 2018 survey from InterNations, the largest global network and information site for people who live and work abroad, has looked at data and comments supplied by almost 13,000 expats from 188 countries and territories to reveal which are the friendliest countries in the world to live.

I’m proud to live in #10 and very happy I’ll be spending a week in #1 this coming March.

Open Culture:

There are myriad New Year’s Eve customs worldwide. In Japan, toshikoshi soba noodles are eaten to bring in the coming year. In North America, finding someone to share a New Year’s Eve kiss with as the clock winds down has become a boon to the romantically-challenged. In Germany, however, a different tradition has taken form: every year on December 31st, TV networks broadcast an 18-minute-long black and white two-hander comedy skit.

It’s a very sweet little bit of comedy.

New York Times:

Celebrations to ring in the new year kicked off around the world on Monday, as people gathered and commemorated with fireworks, music and visual displays of many styles.

Here is a selection of images, updating as the new year spreads across the globe.

My family in Australia has already finished their celebrations and we here in British Columbia are getting prepped and ready. From my family to yours, I hope you have a happy, safe, fun, and joyous New Year’s Eve and 2019!

CNET: >I’ve raved about Etymotic ER4 in-ear headphones many times on this blog, because it’s one of the most neutral and accurate in-ear headphones you can buy without breaking the bank. Up until now, meet the ER4’s even more affordable little brother, the ER3. > >It looks similar to the ER4, and like that headphone the ER3 uses a single balanced armature driver housed in a precision machined metal ear piece.

The main difference between the two ‘phones is the ER4’s drivers are made in the US, while the ER3’s are made in Asia. Etymotic technicians match ER4’s left and right channel drivers to extremely close tolerances, within 1 dB from 100 Hz to 10 kHz., the ER3’s driver tolerances aren’t specified.

I’ve always been a big fan of not only the company Etymotic but also the people I’ve met there.

If you’re looking for a new set of headphones similar to CAD HD100 headphones for your music recording, then check out a helpful site like https://bringinthenoise.com/cad-dh100-we-put-it-through-the-wringer/ for more info!

The Washington Post:

For Christmas this year, my family adopted a young bearded dragon lizard as a pet.

Our dragon, whom we named Holly, eats a lot, and the thing she loves to eat most is crickets (typically about 10 a day, in addition to other things like mealworms and vegetables). From the get-go, I knew that keeping an ample supply of crickets on hand would require some planning. We live in a rural area of northwestern Minnesota. The closest pet shop is an hour away, in North Dakota. Restocking our cricket supply would require a time commitment of at least two hours out and back.

I read this on Twitter earlier today and thought it was the funniest thing I’d read all month.