From the Nike press release:
The Company also announced today that Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has been appointed lead independent director of the Board, effective immediately. Cook has been a Nike director since 2005, is chair of the Board’s Compensation Committee and serves as a member of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee.
The changes to the board came as a result of Board Chairman Phil Knight’s retirement.
Spotify is the big dog in this game, but Apple has significant resources from which to draw. One way Apple can up their game is by focusing on ways to improve both iTunes and the Apple Music app. Lots of room for improvement, and small changes there will leverage far more than any single exclusive content deal.
The forced update is a terrible strategy on Microsoft’s part. And now there’s a precedent for a potential wave of lawsuits.
Great read from Neil Cybart. He walks through three distinct business models, from the Mac as digital hub, to the no central hub model (with iPad, iPhone, Mac, and iPod being equals), to the iPhone as hub model.
Very interesting, all with some numbers to back up the logic and a peek at the Neil’s take on the post-iPhone future.
No.
The Mac is an incredibly valuable part of Apple’s ecosystem. If people were, en masse, leaving the Mac for iOS, that might make some (albeit small) amount of sense. But the Mac is an integral part of Apple’s big picture strategy.
Spin off the Mac? I don’t think so.
MIT Technology Review:
Some security experts who inspected that new version of iOS got a big surprise.
They found that Apple had not obscured the workings of the heart of its operating system using encryption as the company has done before. Crucial pieces of the code destined to power millions of iPhones and iPads were laid bare for all to see.
Hayley Tsukayama, writing for The Washington Post:
[Apple] is arguably in a unique position among tech companies to take big political stands. Not only does its size insulate it against some backlash, but it is also protected because expressing political opinions does little damage to the reputation of its products.
That’s not true for many other tech titans.
Read the main post for the details. Interesting.
Howard Yu, writing for Fortune:
Just four months ago, Intel disclosed in a regulatory filing that it is slowing the pace in launching new chips. Its latest transistor is down to only about 100 atoms wide. The fewer atoms composing a transistor, the harder it is to manipulate. Following the existing trajectory, by early 2020, transistors should have just 10 atoms. At that scale, electronic properties will be messed up by quantum uncertainties, making any devices hopelessly unreliable. In other words, engineers and scientists are hitting the fundamental limit of physics.
Intel just announced that they will be providing chips for some of the next generation of iPhones.
Wall Street Journal:
Three months ago, Steven Howse struggled to pay rent. Now, the 32-year-old developer is trying to keep his hit videogame running smoothly as it pulls in more than $100,000 in revenue daily.
This is a pretty impressive story. The game is as simple as can be, and is free.
Times of India:
It seems Apple CEO Tim Cook’s India visit didn’t go in vain. Decks have cleared for the setting up of Apple stores in India with the government announcing sweeping reforms to rules on foreign direct investment.
Apple is expected to be a beneficiary of a three-year relaxation India is introducing on local sourcing norms with an extension of up to five years possible if it can be proven that products are “state of the art”.
Solid news for Apple.
Good follow up on this morning’s post
A bizarre twist, Apple infringing on a Chinese patent, but that’s what’s being reported. Important to note that Apple has the right to appeal (can’t imagine they won’t) and that this ruling applies to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and not the current models.
They’ve been after this guy for decades. Read his Wikipedia page to get a sense of how long this was in coming.
Sarah Perez, writing for Tech Crunch:
Apple today has made a big change to its suite of native applications for iOS devices, like Mail, Stocks, Compass, Calculator, Watch, Weather and others: it’s now making these available as standalone downloads in the iTunes App Store. What that means for end users of iOS devices is that the majority of the stock apps that come pre-installed can be removed. This puts users in more control of their devices.
Yes: you can now remove the Stocks app from your iPhone, among others.
Walt Mossberg, writing for The Verge, on Apple’s push for AI with privacy and their continued role as a hardware-first company.
This is the new Apple, Tim Cook’s Apple. The keynote was jam packed, but not overstuffed. The presenters were polished, without the unnecessary fluff and with hardly a stutter. The machine felt oiled and hummed along nicely.
Key to it all? Two standout performances.
iMessage to Android? I would welcome that development.
Let developers use the subscription model as they see fit. If the pricing is poorly done, people will not buy in.
Nilay Patel, writing for The Verge:
“Tony at Alphabet was paying Google employees at Google rates with Google benefits. He was paying Google rents. This is not what a startup does”
An early look at Jobs’ and Apple’s interest in pursuing their own car project.
Still trying to wrap my head around the logic of waiting 12 months before the 85/15 split locks in.
Some good thoughts from the team at Six Colors.
John Gruber on subscription pricing for apps. Lots of good stuff to read here, but mostly, Apple needs to be a bit more specific on the rules for developers.
Peter Kafka, writing for Recode:
If you are an independent app developer or publisher, you have probably known this for a while, because you have found it very difficult to get people to download your app — the average American smartphone user downloads zero apps per month.
NY Times:
With Silicon Valley just a short Tesla drive away from Oracle Arena, Mr. Cue is far from the only techie losing his mind over the Warriors. The team is owned by a coalition of tech investors, and on any given night, you will find a passel of executives, venture capitalists and other assorted billionaires cheering from the sidelines.
A very valley problem.
Since its inception, podcasting has largely been an indie game. Though there are larger players in this space, almost all are independent companies. Ben Thompson digs into the current model, and the difficulties of making money with this model. He details a major threat to the independent podcast universe and offers some thoughts on alternatives.
Good read.
This is a pretty interesting read. I think the story would make a great movie.
Times of India:
The government is expected to allow Apple to open its own retail outlets in the country without any sourcing requirement for two-to-three years
Think this price cut is purely a Best Buy loss leader, or is this a sign of new Apple Watch hardware in the short term?
A top 25 list of conversational bots, including Siri and Alexa. Lots to read, almost every example with a link so you can learn more or, in some cases, give the bot a try.