Apple News
Apple mulls Apple TV with a built-in FaceTime camera and gesture-based controls
Apple may be focusing a bit more on the smart home segment, including mulling the release of Apple TV hardware with a built-in FaceTime camera and gesture-based controls.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The Vision Pro headset ushered Apple into the mixed-reality category, which the company refers to as spatial computing. But its greatest potential may be replacing the Mac and iPad, rather than becoming an entirely new revenue source. And for the device to make any meaningful headway, the company will have to develop a cheaper model and ideally bring it to market within the next two years.
Then there’s the smart home segment, where Apple still has grand ambitions. It has discussed automating household functions and offering a revamped Apple TV set-top box with a built-in camera for FaceTime videoconferencing and gesture-based controls. And the technology will all work seamlessly with both the iPhone and Vision Pro.
One piece of the strategy is a lightweight smart display — something akin to a low-end iPad. Such a device could be shuttled from room to room as needed and hooked into charging hubs stationed around the house. Apple has started small-scale test production of the screens for this product, but hasn’t made a decision on whether to move forward.
Creating a unified smart home strategy remains an Apple goal, but the vision has been hard to fulfill. The need to finish up the Vision Pro got in the way, I’m told, diverting resources away from the smart home efforts.
But now that the Vision Pro has shipped and the electric car has been canceled, Apple has more bandwidth to refocus on the home.
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MacDailyNews Take: A company the size of Apple has some severe structural bottlenecks if some projects take away from others. A properly managed company the size of Apple should be able to work on Vision Pro and smart home products alongside an untold number of other major initiatives concurrently without causing delays.
Regardless, an Apple TV with a built-in FaceTime camera would sell.
A camera for FaceTime (and Zoom, etc.) should have been built into Apple TV units years ago. Hopefully, HomePod TV will sometime see the light of day! _ MacDailyNews, April 13, 2021
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Some Apple Vision Pro users suffer black eyes, headaches, and neck pain
Several early adopters of Apple’s mixed-reality headset tell MarketWatch that the fit and weight of the devices has been a “pain point” — but they still like Apple’s spatial computer nonetheless.
Emily Olman got her $3,500 device in February and told MarketWatch that it gave her two black eyes after she wore it for the first time for about an hour.
“I wasn’t able to use it very much the first few weeks because the fit was just off,” said Olman, chief media officer at Hopscotch Interactive, who is based in Kensington, Calif. Olman creates videos with the device for commercial and residential real-estate clients.
She added that she had “like, superdark black eyes,” after wearing the Apple Vision Pro, which, she said, “clearly [placed] too much weight on my cheeks.”
“You are wearing a computer strapped to your face,” said Jeremy Bailenson, who studies virtual reality at Stanford University and recently published research concerning the psychological effects of passthrough video usage in mixed reality… Overuse of any headset, including Apple’s, could lead to temporary general discomfort, distraction from the real world and “simulator sickness,” which is akin to motion sickness, according to Bailenson.
Dr. Zuhaib Ibrahim, a New Jersey plastic surgeon, said he experiences headaches after more than two hours on AR/VR headsets during procedures in the operating room. “You need to take a break,” he said.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple Vision Pro is a DevKit and should have been released as such, but something had to be released ahead of the looming Project Titan cancelation void — something else to point at and talk about other than failure, including the major issue of Apple’s “leadership” being blindsided by GenAI (which will take years from which to recover) — hence the release of the Vision Pro into the mass consumer market ahead of its time. (Just imagine this year so far if the Vision Pro didn’t hit the market in February!)
Regular people who want to use an Apple spatial computer should wait for subsequent versions which will be lighter and more affordable. If you cannot wait: get your Vision Pro properly fitted, lie on your back with your head supported to watch movies, etc.!
See also: Apple’s Vision Pro is a Mac on your face – June 6, 2023
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Google copies Apple yet again with Find My Device network for Android
Google this week revealed its Find My Device network for Android devices, copying Apple’s Find My network which is used to locate Apple devices with precision and launched on September 19, 2019.
Like Apple Find My, the Android Find My Device network is able to use the millions of Android devices (running Android 9 or later) out in the wild to track down lost, stolen, and missing Android products. A lost Android smartphone is able to ping nearby Android devices using Bluetooth, relaying location information back to the owner.
Because the network uses Bluetooth, it works even when Android devices are offline and do not have a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. Some devices, such as the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, will be locatable even when powered off or when the battery is dead. Find My offers the same feature set for iPhones.
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MacDailyNews Take: After knocking off Apple’s iPhone itself, derivative Google launching a wannabe Find My is small potatoes.
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Wedbush maintains ‘outperform’ rating on Apple stock with a $250 price target
Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives says that despite the facts that Apple clearly missed GenAI and is in catch-up mode, is having iPhone sales issues in China, has been hit with a U.S. DOJ antitrust lawsuit, and more negatives causing the company and its stock price to struggle for months, there are plenty of reasons to remain bullish on Apple in the near-term.
Ian Krietzberg
for TheStreet:
His case for a persistently bullish Apple outlook is based on a few factors, one of which is that he believes current full-year iPhone sales estimates are still “hittable.”
Ives also noted Apple’s massive installed base — consisting of 2.2 billion IOS devices — saying that demand around a coming upgrade cycle could “exceed 270 million iPhones” heading into the release of Apple’s newest iPhone.
Ives additionally remains confident that Apple’s June unveiling of its work in artificial intelligence will supercharge the company’s performance.
“While some patience is required to navigate this China weakness, we believe the seeds for an Apple growth turnaround are being planted in the field,” he said.
Ives maintained an “outperform” rating and a $250 price target, which remains the highest Apple price target out there.
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MacDailyNews Take: The average Apple price target is $202, as per TipRanks, but AAPL won’t get there anytime soon without some positive catalyst(s).
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Apple pushes Vision Pro spatial computing to businesses
For decades, Apple has worked to provide innovative products and services for businesses. Today, Apple products are used by all of the Fortune 500 companies in every industry around the world — iPhone and iPad are indispensable for businesses of all sizes, and Mac is preferred by employees when given the choice at work. Apple’s unique combination of hardware, software, services, and built-in support for IT makes it incredibly easy to manage and secure devices at scale. With the introduction of Apple Vision Pro, spatial computing enables enterprises to build experiences that previously were not possible.
“There’s tremendous opportunity for businesses to reimagine what’s possible using Apple Vision Pro at work,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Enterprise Marketing, in a statement. “We’re thrilled to see the innovative ways organizations are already using Apple Vision Pro, from planning fire response operations to iterating on the most intricate details of an engine design — and this is just the beginning. Combined with enterprise-grade capabilities like mobile device management built into visionOS, we believe spatial computing has the potential to revolutionize industries around the world.”
With visionOS built on the foundation of decades of engineering innovation in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, enterprise developers can create powerful spatial experiences controlled by the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — a user’s eyes, hands, and voice. The breakthrough design of Apple Vision Pro features an ultra-high-resolution display system and custom Apple silicon in a unique dual-chip design to deliver experiences in real time. Vision Pro uses a wide range of advanced machine learning and AI models to enable foundational capabilities such as hand tracking, room mapping, Personas, and more. All of this is accelerated by the Neural Engine in the M2 chip, which ensures spatial computing is the most powerful way for a business to leverage AI.
Developers have been building apps for Apple Vision Pro across numerous enterprise categories, from business productivity and product design, to immersive training and guided work.
Customized Workspaces for Productivity
Spatial computing blends digital content with the physical world, providing an infinite canvas that enables businesses to reinvent workspaces and enhance everyday productivity. With visionOS, apps are freed from the boundaries of a display, so they can appear side by side at any scale. With support for Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, users can set up the perfect workspace and bring the powerful capabilities of their Mac into Apple Vision Pro wirelessly, creating an enormous, private, and portable 4K display with incredibly crisp text. The most-loved productivity apps for business are now available on Vision Pro.
SAP Analytics Cloud helps streamline the process of gathering, integrating, analyzing, and presenting data-driven insights to enhance business decision-making. On Apple Vision Pro, the app enables employees and executives to immediately access their data dashboard and arrange their most critical business workflows, apps, and cards beautifully in their space. They can also drill down into the data with contextual 3D maps and graphics to gain new insights. With the latest SDK release for developers, the SAP Business Technology Platform fully supports Apple Vision Pro. Customers and partners can now deploy their SAP apps to Vision Pro, alongside iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
“Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary device, and we are thrilled to leverage the capabilities of spatial computing with SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Mobile Start,” said Philipp Herzig, chief AI officer, SAP SE, in a statement. “Going forward, we see the power of visionOS combined with generative AI being a force multiplier for enterprises. SAP Analytics Cloud running on Apple Vision Pro will help our customers discover all-new insights from complex data with powerful and intuitive processes that supercharge their business planning. And with SAP Mobile Start, we provide access to all of SAP’s business applications and workflows in unimaginable ways.”
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SAP Analytics Cloud on Apple Vision Pro lets users arrange their most critical business workflows and apps in their physical space while using contextual 3D maps and graphics to gain new insights.
Microsoft 365 productivity apps and AI companion Copilot built for Apple Vision Pro can help users get more done in powerful new ways. Focus mode in Word allows users to write without distraction; graph, manipulate, and visualize data in sharp, crisp detail in Excel; and immerse themselves in a slideshow with PowerPoint. Switching between meetings, chats, and shared content is easy in Teams — along with accessing the assistance of Copilot — with life-size windows that can be arranged in the user’s space.
“Spatial computing has enabled us to rethink how professionals can be productive and work intelligently with the power of AI,” said Nicole Herskowitz, vice president, Microsoft 365 and Teams, in a statement. “With Microsoft 365 and Teams on Apple Vision Pro, your office moves with you, allowing users to view apps side by side on an infinite canvas with spatial computing for incredible multitasking and collaboration.”
Multitasking between Microsoft 365 productivity apps is a breeze with life-size windows that can take advantage of the infinite canvas of Apple Vision Pro.
Additional apps in business productivity include:
• Webex by Cisco brings an immersive and intuitive meeting experience that fills the space and utilizes Personas and Spatial Audio for a more natural video conferencing experience.
• Zoom provides an experience built for Apple Vision Pro with exceptional audio and video quality, giving users the ability to easily collaborate and schedule meetings.
• Box makes it easy for users to collaborate and securely manage files and content, including 3D objects, allowing them to intuitively bring this content into the world around them.
Design and Collaboration
The display system on Apple Vision Pro packs 23 million pixels across two displays — or more than 4K resolution for each eye — which makes videos, images, and documents crystal clear from any angle. With crisp visualization of 3D content, spatial computing opens up opportunities for product design, retail planning, and construction modeling, and enables new experiences for customers to engage with products and services.
The Porsche Race Engineer app provides an entirely new way for the Porsche team to collaborate. Race engineers are constantly making real-time decisions about everything from the performance of the car to the driver’s vitals. Apple Vision Pro helps engineers visualize car data in real time, bringing critical metrics like speed and braking alongside track conditions and car positioning, combined with live video from the car’s dashboard. In February, Porsche broke the U.S. record for electric vehicles at Laguna Seca with the new Porsche Taycan Turbo GT, while the engineers tracked along using Vision Pro. This can also expand track experiences for fans around the world.
“At Porsche, we’ve always been driven by dreams, and Apple Vision Pro has enabled us to reimagine track experiences,” said Oliver Blume, Porsche’s CEO, in a statement. “The new Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is the ultimate all-electric performance car, and, fittingly, we were thrilled to bring the best of German engineering and Apple’s inspiring product innovation together with the Race Engineer app. This is the perfect example of our team delivering on our goal to bring the best user experience to our employees and customers.”
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Apple Vision Pro provides an entirely new way for Porsche engineers to collaborate remotely with real-time data, bringing critical metrics like speed and braking alongside track conditions and a live video from the car’s dashboard.
Design and manufacturing processes are complex and involve large amounts of data from various sources. NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs let developers stream massive 3D engineering and simulation data sets from the cloud to Apple Vision Pro. The high-resolution displays and powerful sensors built into Vision Pro enable developers and designers to create detailed, immersive renderings and visuals that can be viewed and manipulated in real time.
“The world’s industries are racing to build digital twins of products, facilities, and processes to better test and optimize designs well before constructing them in the physical world,” said Rev Lebaredian, NVIDIA’s vice president of Omniverse and Simulation Technology, in a statement. “Enterprises can now combine the power and capabilities of Apple Vision Pro and the physically accurate renderings of OpenUSD content with NVIDIA accelerated computing to power the next generation of immersive digital experiences.”
NVIDIA’s new Omniverse Cloud APIs let developers stream complex 3D assets from the cloud to Apple Vision Pro.
Additional apps in design and collaboration include:
• Lowe’s Style Studio leverages the unique capabilities of spatial computing to help customers visualize and design their dream kitchen, making home improvement easier than ever.
• JigSpace brings intuitive, hands-on inspection and effortless collaboration to help users communicate complex ideas, products, and processes with spatial context.
• EnBW (Energie Baden-Württemberg AG) enables visualization of renewable energy infrastructure projects, allowing collaborators to see and assess designs of vehicle charging stations, wind turbines, and solar farms.
Training and Simulation
From preparing technicians to install equipment, to teaching complex tasks requiring hundreds of hours of hands-on work, making training procedures more interactive and impactful is critical to employee success.
When it comes to aircraft maintenance, taking a plane offline for training can be costly and cause delays throughout the system. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will dramatically improve technical maintenance and airline operations with spatial computing on Apple Vision Pro. The Engine Shop app enables technicians to train on the latest engine models in full fidelity in their own space. With this app, a technician can instantly see the entire task they need to perform step by step, with detailed repair instructions overlayed on a 3D model of the exact engine. This reduces errors and increases employee job satisfaction while saving valuable time and ultimately speeding up plane turnaround times.
“We see Apple Vision Pro as a tremendous value-add that will improve our fleet availability and operations,” said Bob Tulleken, KLM’s vice president of Operations Decision Support, in a statement. “Training our employees with spatial computing will lead to fewer costly errors because the most current information they need to do their job is there in front of them as they perform the task. This means we not only get vastly more efficient in our work, but also provide a better work environment for our employees to succeed.”
Additional apps in training and simulation include:
• Taqtile Manifest makes digital work instructions actionable with a simple glance or hand gesture.
• PTC enables designers and engineers to review and approve complex 3D models of a new production line within a space before manufacturing begins.
Guided Work
Guided work requires the context of a person’s surroundings, such as a utility service technician who needs access to work orders or schematics. Resolve has reimagined how building engineers can plan for and access information they need to make decisions about systems behind walls, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and fire sprinkler lines. Rather than use static paper plans, users can review high-detail plans and 3D models on Apple Vision Pro, enabling architects, builders, and maintenance workers to see, fix, and comment, enhancing the entire life cycle of a construction project.
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Resolve has reimagined how building engineers can access information they need to make decisions about systems behind walls.
In emergency response scenarios, incident management software combines real-time and historical information with geospatial data to help first responders manage their people and fleet resources. The FireOps app, developed by About Objects and DigitalCM, marks a turning point in emergency response management. FireOps leverages the infinite canvas with visionOS to provide a unified operational view of incident action plans, dramatically streamlining over a dozen procedures. This enhances coordination and decision-making among all participants, and ensures that first responders are more connected, informed, and prepared than ever before.
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The FireOps app from About Objects and DigitalCM utilizes the infinite canvas with visionOS to provide a unified operational view of incident action plans.
Additional apps in guided work include:
• TeamViewer Spatial Support enables remote experts and service technicians on the ground to troubleshoot repair and maintenance processes with unparalleled fidelity, enabling faster response and reduced downtime.
• BILT supports 3D interactive instructions with voice, text, and animated guidance for thousands of products to enable a wide range of workflows.
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple offers developers a variety of resources, including powerful APIs, rich documentation, global developer labs, Develop in Swift tutorials, and the visionOS simulator to help companies bring game-changing Apple Vision Pro experiences to life. To further support developers, today Apple is announcing the Enterprise Spatial Design Lab, providing hands-on support from Apple to help enterprises bring apps from concept to reality. The immersive sessions will be available beginning this summer at developer.apple.com. In addition, Deloitte announced today it is expanding its Apple practice to include a new Academy for Apple Vision Pro. The practice includes more than 100 practitioners trained to deliver visionOS solutions to clients, with a series of one-week, instructor-led courses to help engineers, product managers, and business leaders prepare for the new era of spatial computing.
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Apple asks US appeals court to reverse Apple Watch import ban
Apple asked a U.S. appeals court this month to overturn a U.S. trade tribunal’s decision to ban imports of some Apple Watches in a patent dispute with medical-monitoring technology company Masimo.
Apple told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the U.S. International Trade Commission’s decision was based on a “series of substantively defective patent rulings,” and that Masimo failed to show it had invested in making competing U.S. products that would justify the order.
Irvine, California-based Masimo has accused Apple of hiring away its employees and stealing its pulse oximetry technology after discussing a potential collaboration. Apple first introduced pulse oximetry to its Series 6 Apple Watches in 2020.
Masimo convinced the ITC on Dec. 26 to block imports of Apple’s latest-edition Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches after finding that their technology for reading blood-oxygen levels infringed Masimo’s patents.
Apple told the Federal Circuit on Friday that the ban could not stand because a Masimo wearable covered by the patents was “purely hypothetical” when it filed its ITC complaint in 2021.
The tech giant also argued that Masimo’s patents were invalid and that its watches did not infringe them.
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MacDailyNews Take: A “series of substantively defective patent rulings.” Apple’s legal team is telling it like it is.
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Tesla settles case over Apple engineer’s fatal ‘Autopilot’ crash
Tesla has settled a lawsuit over a 2018 car crash that killed an Apple engineer after his Model X, operating on Autopilot, swerved off a highway near San Francisco, court documents showed on Monday.
Reuters:
The settlement was made on the eve of the trial over the high-profile accident involving Tesla’s driver-assistant technology. Tesla faces a series of lawsuits over crashes related to the alleged use of Autopilot, putting the automaker at risk of large monetary judgments and reputational damage.
The 2018 accident killed 38-year-old Walter Huang. His family had alleged that Autopilot steered his 2017 Model X into a highway barrier. Plaintiffs’ lawyers asked a Tesla witness whether the company knew drivers would not watch the road when using its driver-assistance system, Reuters reported last month citing deposition transcripts.
Tesla had contended that Huang misused the Autopilot system because he was playing a video game just before the accident.
The crash that killed Huang is among hundreds of U.S. accidents in which Autopilot was a suspected factor in reports to auto safety regulators… The case follows two previous California trials over Autopilot that Tesla won by arguing the drivers involved had not heeded its instructions to maintain attention while using the system.
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MacDailyNews Take: As per Tesla support:
The currently enabled Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous… While using Autopilot, it is your responsibility to stay alert, keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times and maintain control of your vehicle… Before enabling Autopilot, the driver first needs to agree to “keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times” and to always “maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle.” Subsequently, every time the driver engages Autopilot, they are shown a visual reminder to “keep your hands on the wheel.”
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Is Apple stock a buy again?
Apple faces a litany of challenges that have weighed on Apple stock, including missing the GenAI revolution, an antitrust lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice, CCP-controlled China, and more. Still, after being knocked down below $170, some investors might be wondering if AAPL is a buy right now.
Patrick Seitz for Investor’s Business Daily:
Wall Street analysts said the [DOJ’s antitrust] case will be a headline risk for Apple, which has a good chance of beat the rap. But the lawsuit could take three or four years to wind its way through the legal system.
Other issues weighing on Apple stock include weak iPhone sales in China and legal problems over its App Store policies in Europe. Investors also are concerned about Apple lacking a strategy for artificial intelligence. With the iPhone business maturing, investors are wondering what the next big growth driver will be for Apple stock.
For the current quarter, Apple guided to sales of about $90 billion, down 5% from the same period last year. Analysts had been modeling $95.6 billion for the fiscal second quarter.
Is Apple stock a buy right now? No, Apple stock is not a buy right now.
It needs to form a new base in the right market conditions before setting a potential buy point.
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple is scheduled to report second fiscal quarter results and, with history as our guide, dividend and buyback plan updates, right after market close on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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Apple’s Mac takes 8.1% global market share as personal computer sales return to growth – IDC
After two years of decline, the worldwide traditional PC market returned to growth during the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24) with 59.8 million shipments, growing 1.5% year over year, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Growth was largely achieved due to easy year-over-year comparisons as the market declined 28.7% during the first quarter of 2023, which was the lowest point in PC history. In addition, global PC shipments finally returned to pre-pandemic levels as 1Q24 volumes rivaled those seen in 1Q19 when 60.5 million units were shipped.
With inflation numbers trending down, PC shipments have begun to recover in most regions, leading to growth in the Americas as well as Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). However, the deflationary pressures in China directly impacted the global PC market. As the largest consumer of desktop PCs, weak demand in China led to yet another quarter of declines for global desktop shipments, which already faced pressure from notebooks as the preferred form factor.
“Despite China’s struggles, the recovery is expected to continue in 2024 as newer AI PCs hit shelves later this year and as commercial buyers begin refreshing the PCs that were purchased during the pandemic,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, in a statement. “Along with growth in shipments, AI PCs are also expected to carry higher price tags, providing further opportunity for PC and component makers.”
Among the top 5 companies, Lenovo once again held the top spot and outgrew the market largely due to the steep decline in shipments experienced in 1Q23. Apple Mac’s strong growth was also due to an outsized decline in the prior year.
Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Traditional PC Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q1 2024
(Preliminary results, shipments are in millions of units)
Source: IDC Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, April 8, 2024
Notes:
* IDC declares a statistical tie in the Personal Computing Device market when there is a difference of one tenth of one percent (0.1%) or less in the shipment shares among two or more vendors.
• Traditional PCs include Desktops, Notebooks, and Workstations and do not include Tablets or x86 Servers. • Detachable Tablets and Slate Tablets are part of the Personal Computing Device Tracker but are not addressed in this statement.
• Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the company/brand under which they are sold.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s global Q1 Mac shipments clear a low YoY bar, but growth is certainly better than the alternative!
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Apple TV+ reveals ‘Fly Me to The Moon’ trailer starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum
Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum star as a 1960s ad shark and a by-the-book launch director on a mission set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic moon landing.
Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, “Fly Me to the Moon” is a sharp, stylish comedy-drama set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing.
Sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones (Johansson), brought in to fix NASA’s public image, wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis’ (Tatum) already difficult task.
When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, Jones is directed to stage a fake moon landing as backup, and the countdown truly begins.
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MacDailyNews Take: Coming to theaters this July 12th and then to Apple TV+.
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Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.Apple TV+ premieres first ‘Fly Me to The Moon’ trailer starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum
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Pegatron in talks with Tata to sell its only iPhone plant in India
Marking Taiwanese Pegatron’s latest scale back of its Apple partnership, the company is in advanced talks to hand over control of its only iPhone manufacturing facility in India to the Tata Group, Reuters reports citing “two sources with direct knowledge.”
Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra for Reuters:
Under the deal, which has received the backing of Apple, Tata plans to hold at least a 65% stake in a joint venture that will operate the Pegatron plant near Chennai city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with the Taiwanese firm providing technical support and holding the rest, one of the sources said.
Tata, one the largest conglomerates in India, will operate the joint venture through its Tata Electronics unit, the second source said.
The Pegatron India factory has around 10,000 employees and makes 5 million iPhones annually. It is the last such facility operated by the firm after it forfeited control of an iPhone plant in China last year to rival Luxshare in a $290 million deal.
Pegatron has for months also been building another iPhone factory at its Chennai campus, and the Tata deal talks include taking over that facility as well, the first source said.
The reasons for Pegatron’s gradual withdrawal from its Apple business, including in India, were not known. Last year, Pegatron said the China plant deal was done to raise capital to “optimise its business”.
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MacDailyNews Take: Aw, Pegatron, the (increasingly antiquated, circa 2010) memories:
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Apple said to release new iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad accessories in early May
If you’ve been waiting for new iPads, Apple’s new iPad Pro, iPad Air, Magic Keyboard, and an Apple Pencil are on schedule for early May, according to Bloomberg News.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Altogether, this launch is shaping up to be one of the biggest updates to the Apple tablet in a single day. And it’s a long time coming, especially for the iPad Pro. That model hasn’t had a meaningful refresh since 2018.
For those looking for more specific timing, I’m told the launch will probably happen the week of May 6…
the new lineup should bring a sales boost, but I’m not sure it will solve the iPad’s broader challenges. As someone who often uses a Mac and iPhone — and now a Vision Pro for watching videos — I find the iPad increasingly pointless. The device isn’t good enough to entirely replace a Mac for day-to-day work, and its software still leaves a lot to be desired. Here’s hoping that iPadOS 18 is a big improvement and the device can become a true Mac alternative.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s good to have hopes and dreams, but those who value life shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for Tim Cook’s Apple to magically fix what ails iPad in its 18th OS version.
Software aside, the hardware upgrades to the new iPads represent some of the biggest changes in the product’s history. For the first time, Apple will be moving its tablet screens over to OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, a standard that the iPhone already uses. The technology apparently looks amazing on such large displays — taking what iPhone users have experienced since 2017 to a whole new level. One drawback to the shift: The new models will likely come at higher price points, I’m told. Today’s iPad Pro starts at $799.
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MacDailyNews Take: Are you waiting for new iPads?
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Apple in deal with Shutterstock to use hundreds of millions of images, videos, and music files for GenAI training
After ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, Apple struck an agreement with stock image provider Shutterstock to use hundreds of millions of images, videos, and music files in its library for training, Reuters reports citing “a person familiar with the arrangements.”
Katie Paul and Anna Tong for Reuters:
Reuters spoke to more than 30 people with knowledge of AI data deals, including current and former executives at companies involved, lawyers and consultants, to provide the first in-depth exploration of this fledgling market – detailing the types of content being bought, the prices materializing, plus emerging concerns about the risk of personal data making its way into AI models without people’s knowledge or explicit consent.
The data land grab comes as makers of big generative AI “foundation” models face increasing pressure to account for the massive amounts of content they feed into their systems, a process known as “training” that requires intensive computing power and often takes months to complete.
AI model makers have started hedging risks and securing data-supply chains, both through deals with content owners and via a burgeoning industry of data brokers that has popped up to satisfy demand.
In the months after ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, for instance, companies including Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple all struck agreements with stock image provider Shutterstock to use hundreds of millions of images, videos and music files in its library for training, according to a person familiar with the arrangements.
The deals with Big Tech firms initially ranged from $25 million to $50 million each, though most were later expanded, Shutterstock’s Chief Financial Officer Jarrod Yahes told Reuters… Yahes declined to comment on individual contracts. The Apple agreement, and the size of the other deals, haven’t previously been made public.
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MacDailyNews Take: Deals for training data are one piece of the puzzle that Apple is years behind assembling.
Generative AI chatbots require large, dedicated data centers which will take Apple time (years) to build out, if they are planning on owning this technology instead of just farming it out. – MacDailyNews, March 26, 2024
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Apple Silicon supplier TSMC wins $6.6 billion U.S. subsidy for Arizona chip production
Apple Silicon supplier TSMC has been awarded a $6.6 billion U.S. subsidy and up to $5 billion in low-cost government loans for Arizona chip production.
David Shepardson and Stephanie Kelly:
The U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday it would award Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s U.S. unit a $6.6 billion subsidy for advanced semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona and up to $5 billion in low-cost government loans.
TSMC agreed to expand its planned investment by $25 billion to $65 billion and to add a third Arizona fab by 2030, Commerce said in announcing the preliminary award. The Taiwanese company will produce the world’s most advanced 2 nanometer technology at its second Arizona fab expected to begin production in 2028, the department said.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia, had previously announced plans to invest $40 billion in Arizona. TSMC expects to begin high-volume production in its first U.S. fab there by the first half of 2025, Commerce said.
Congress in 2022 approved the Chips and Science Act to boost domestic semiconductor output with $52.7 billion in research and manufacturing subsidies. Lawmakers also approved $75 billion in government loan authority.
TSMC Arizona has also committed to support the development of advanced packaging capabilities through partners in the U.S. to allow customers to purchase advanced chips that are made entirely on U.S. soil, the department said, adding 70% of TSMC customers were U.S. companies.
At full capacity, TSMC’s three fabs in Arizona will manufacture tens of millions of leading-edge chips in 5G/6G smartphones, autonomous vehicles, and AI data center servers, the department said.
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MacDailyNews Take: We imagine a cartoon where aliens are viewing Earth from their ship’s bridge and laughing, “They put all of their advanced chip-making on a tiny island atop a major fault line under threat from a huge communist – ‘remember when we consigned that wretched, failed system to history’s dustbin eons ago?’ – authoritarian state that thinks it owns it! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
Whatever it takes to bring some real diversification to advanced chip-making for the U.S. and the world.
See also:
• U.S. Senate considers $30 billion in funding to boost domestic chipmaking – March 5, 2021
• Apple supplier TSMC to build multibillion-dollar chip plant in Arizona with Trump admin backing – May 14, 2020
• TSMC expands U.S. manufacturing with $12 billion chip fabrication plant – May 17, 2020
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Apple Watch chief Kevin Lynch moved into company’s AI group
Apple has recently moved Apple Watch project head Kevin Lynch into, and nearly atop, the company’s AI group.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
One of the “palace intrigue” stories that got overshadowed by the Apple car cancellation is the shifting role of Kevin Lynch, who oversaw the project during the last few years.
For about a decade, Lynch reported to Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams. In addition to handling the car duties, he has run software engineering for the Apple Watch under Williams.
In a curious shift, Lynch has now begun to report to John Giannandrea, Apple’s AI chief. Lynch and Williams continue to oversee the Apple Watch, which raises the question: Why was the move necessary?
People close to the matter believe Lynch’s move is meant to bring order to an area that has befuddled Apple: AI.
With AI, it’s no secret Apple has been struggling to create large language models and other tools that can compete with the industry’s best. If Giannandrea ultimately ends up leaving the company, Lynch — who has been due for a promotion to the senior vice president level — could be primed to take his place.
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MacDailyNews Take: Is some accountability for Apple’s current deer-in-the-headlights “we’ll have to license it from Google” situation actually incoming?
Apple pays and has been paying John Giannandrea, Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, millions upon millions of dollars for years. WTF of any import does he really do? WTF of any import has he really delivered? Have you used Siri lately? Yup, it’s still a steaming pile of dogshit.
Where’s Apple’s generative AI, John? “Too hard; too late; look for partners; gimme my paycheck and stock options.” AAPL shareholders need to start asking real questions of these executives, especially those who are supposed in charge of Apple’s “AI Strategy,” when the company clearly has none. How about some accountability for once? – MacDailyNews, March 18, 2024
The consequences of Apple leaderships’ lack of vision will affect the company for years.
Generative AI chatbots require large, dedicated data centers which will take Apple time (years) to build out, if they are planning on owning this technology instead of just farming it out. – MacDailyNews, March 26, 2024
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Apple’s ‘Argylle’ flop premieres globally on Apple TV+ on April 12th
Apple Original Films announced today that the widely panned Matthew Vaughn action-comedy romance feature film flop “Argylle” will make its global streaming debut on Apple TV+ beginning Friday, April 12th.
In the film, Elly Conway, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, is the reclusive cat-loving author of a series of bestselling espionage novels about the impossibly glamorous secret agent Argylle (Henry Cavill), who’s on a mission to unravel a nefarious spy syndicate.
When Elly, with the help of feline-hating real-life spy Aidan (Sam Rockwell), discovers that her story mirrors the actions of an actual spy organization, a dangerous game of cat and mouse ensues. In order to stay one step ahead of the syndicate’s assassins while also working to prevent a global crisis, these two unlikely conspirators — accompanied by Alfie the cat — find themselves in an adventure story of their own.
“Argylle” is directed by Vaughn from a screenplay by Jason Fuchs and features an ensemble cast including Howard, Cavill, Rockwell, John Cena, DeBose, Richard E. Grant, Dua Lipa, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Sofia Boutella, Samuel L. Jackson, and Chip, the real-life cat of supermodel Claudia Vaughn (née Schiffer).
An Apple Studios production in association with MARV, “Argylle” is directed and produced by Matthew Vaughn, and produced by Cloudy Productions and Matthew Vaughn’s regular collaborators Adam Bohling and David Reid, as well as Fuchs. Claudia Vaughn, Carlos Peres, Zygi Kamasa and Adam Fishbach serve as executive producers.
MacDailyNews Take: The eternal fruitless road to recoupment continues.
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Apple assembler Foxconn posts 9% drop in first-quarter revenue
Major Apple assembler Foxconn recorded first-quarter revenue of 1.32 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($41.2 billion), 9.6% lower year over year and 28.58% lower versus the previous (Christmas) quarter.
Ryan Browne and Lim Hui Jie for CNBC:
The first quarter is typically a quiet one for smartphone parts manufacturers, as consumer appetite for handsets tends to wane. In the fourth quarter, tech suppliers often race to supply smartphones, tablets, and other electronics for tech giants like Apple, to satisfy demand over the holiday period.
There is currently no available data for smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2024.
In a March investor update, Foxconn put out a bullish forecast for revenue saying it expects a significant rise boosted by booming demand for AI servers.
The company is expected to hold its next earnings call on May 14.
Last year, Foxconn and chipmaking powerhouse Nvidia said they were teaming up on the development of “AI factories,” which they call a new class of data center that uses Nvidia chips to power a “wide range” of applications, including training autonomous vehicles, robotics platforms and large language models.
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MacDailyNews Note: Foxconn said in a statement that this year’s second quarter “remains a traditional off-peak season, and major products are entering a period of transition between old and new products.” Foxconn also said the outlook for the second quarter would be for growth both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.
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Tesla enlists Apple to prove driver in deadly crash was playing a game on his iPhone
Tesla is relying on technical support from Apple as it seeks to prove that a Model X driver who worked for Apple was playing a video game on his iPhone when he crashed and subsequently died.
Rachel Graf for Bloomberg News:
Lawyers for the family of Walter Huang, an engineer who was killed on his commute to work, say his former employer is “secretly” maneuvering to support Tesla’s attempt to blame distracted driving for the wreck. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation had failed to reach a definitive conclusion about what Huang was doing in the final seconds before impact.
Based on forensic examinations of Huang’s iPhone, Tesla has said he was playing Sega’s Total War: Three Kingdoms at the time of the crash, though the Huang family’s attorneys say Tesla can’t prove that just because the app was open on his screen.
The two sides are sparring over whether Tesla can call an Apple engineering manager as a witness for a two-month trial set to start next week in state court in San Jose.
Tesla obtained a sworn statement from an Apple engineering manager, James Harding, who analyzed unencrypted telemetry data on Huang’s phone and said it “suggests possible user interaction, which might be a screen touch or button press.”
The Huang family’s lawyers have countered in a court filing that Tesla purposefully hid its questioning of Harding from them until after pretrial fact-finding deadlines. They are now trying to force Apple to provide more information, and the iPhone maker is pushing back, saying that it shouldn’t have to hand over confidential material.
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MacDailyNews Take: As per Tesla support:
The currently enabled Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous… While using Autopilot, it is your responsibility to stay alert, keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times and maintain control of your vehicle… Before enabling Autopilot, the driver first needs to agree to “keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times” and to always “maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle.” Subsequently, every time the driver engages Autopilot, they are shown a visual reminder to “keep your hands on the wheel.”
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Apple to axe more than 600 employees in California
Apple intends to axe more than 600 employees in California, weeks after pulling the plug its ill-fated electric car and smartwatch display projects.
The tech giant filed a number of notices to the state detailing the planned job cuts, Apple’s first significant layoffs since the pandemic. The workers, based across eight offices in Santa Clara, were told on March 28 and the layoffs are effective from May 27, according to the filings.
While it’s not clear which projects the layoffs relate to, Santa Clara was home to the company’s secretive car project and next-generation screen development, Bloomberg reported.
As other tech companies implemented aggressive job cuts last year, CEO Tim Cook said mass layoffs would be a “last resort.”
Apple stock has had a tough start to 2024, falling 12% this year through Thursday’s close.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
At least 87 of the people worked at an address corresponding to a secret Apple facility for its next-generation screen development, while the others were located at buildings related to the car project.
At the end of February, Apple began to wind down both initiatives, which were seen as major moonshot efforts to advance the company’s technologies or enter sizable new areas. The car project was canceled amid indecision among executives about its direction and cost concerns. The display program was shuttered due to engineering, supplier and cost challenges.
According to the reports, 371 employees were released at Apple’s main car-related office in Santa Clara, California, while dozens more at multiple satellite offices were also impacted.
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MacDailyNews Take: Good luck to all of the affected employees.
This is what happens after a decade plus with a caretaker CEO at the helm after he hits the last page of his iteration playbook, yet attempts to stay in the game for too long. – MacDailyNews, April 1, 2024
The difference between an operations guy following a static playbook — reacting to events instead of determining them — versus a visionary genius becomes ever more apparent with each passing year. – MacDailyNews, March 8, 2023
See also:
• Apple shareholders worry about ‘lack of innovation’ – April 4, 2024
• The Apple Vision Pro is ‘expensive, impractical, and clearly nowhere near ready for the mass market’ – Benedict Evans – March 22, 2024
• How an indecisive Tim Cook blew $1 billion a year on a vehicle Apple never built – March 6, 2024
• Investors impatient as Apple conspicuously lags in generative AI – February 29, 2024
• Apple’s biggest risk: Not innovating like it used to under Steve Jobs – February 14, 2024
• Microsoft, not Tim Cook’s Apple, is now the most valuable company ever – February 9, 2024
• Tim Cook is not the best person to be CEO of Apple – April 2, 2019
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Colin Farrell embodies film noir detective in new Apple TV+ series ‘Sugar’
Apple TV+ in March unveiled the trailer for its new Colin Farrell-led drama “Sugar,” which will make its global debut with the first two episodes of its eight episode season on Friday, April 5, 2024 on Apple TV+, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday.
Starring and executive produced by Farrell, “Sugar” is a contemporary, unique take on one of the most popular and significant genres in literary, motion picture and television history: the private detective story. Academy Award-nominee Farrell stars as John Sugar, an American private investigator on the heels of the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Siegel, the beloved granddaughter of legendary Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel. As Sugar tries to determine what happened to Olivia, he will also unearth Siegel family secrets; some very recent, others long-buried.
Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway for Reuters:
Film noir is back, with a lot of color, starring Colin Farrell in “Sugar,” a new Apple+ series set in contemporary Los Angeles.
“I do love film noir, and I have had a love for it that pre-dates this show, so there were certain tropes that I was well aware of,” Farrell said in an interview.
The noir genre began with crime films in the 1940s and 1950s, featuring sharp shadows, pessimistic characters, smoke and rainy streets in black and white… The series, which premieres on Friday, juxtaposes the colorful landscapes of Los Angeles with scenes that look like vintage Hollywood noir…
Farrell fondly recalled some nights when they were shooting car footage: Cinematographer Cesar Charlone would get in the passenger seat and Farrell would drive them to downtown Los Angeles for 40 minutes.
“There were moments where I was kind of honest-to-God pinching myself, going, ‘this is just unbelievable’ and ‘aren’t we so lucky?'” Farrell said.
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MacDailyNews Take: Check out Apple’s official “Sugar” trailer:
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