It feels like cracks are forming at Apple’s edges. The company is straining to push out hardware updates. Supply issues are getting worse. Apple is reportedly moving away from selling beloved products like stand-alone displays and wireless routers. Meanwhile, Microsoft, Amazon, and Snap are gaining buzz with new niche hardware while Apple appears to be hanging back and resting on its laurels.
Something feels off with Apple, and the blame is increasingly pointed at Tim Cook. I suspect these feelings are a result of Cook betting now is the time to milk the iPhone. Apple is doubling down on the iPhone to build one of the world’s most formidable tech ecosystems, and few are taking notice.
Not sure I agree with the title here. The term “milking” gives a sense that Apple is spinning its wheels, doing nothing but sucking every bit of juice it can get out of the iPhone line. But if you read the rest of the article, it’s clear that this is all about expanding and fortifying the iPhone ecosystem, something Tim Cook has done spectacularly well.
As we launch more than 1,000 hours of original content next year, we know we have less than 90 seconds to capture someone’s attention and get them excited about a title — that’s why we’re introducing video previews into the TV browsing experience.
What’s a video preview? For starters, video previews aren’t teasers or traditional trailers. They are specially designed video synopses that help members make faster and more confident decisions by quickly highlighting the story, characters and tone of a title. In developing this experience, our testing showed that people watched more of a story, demonstrating these previews helped them browse less and watch more.
I like the experience, I do see value in seeing curated video clips instead of a box shot or still frame.
That said, I think more data would be even more helpful. For example, I’d love a Rotten Tomatoes/Metacritic/IMDb score for each movie (in addition to the Netflix score, which I rarely agree with).
As I’m making my way through Netflix’s lists, I inevitably make my way over to IMDb, etc. to get a sense of how the movie is received by others. A low score won’t necessarily stop me from exploring a movie, but an extremely high score will keep me in the game, keep me from missing a little known but highly praised niche project.
In an interview with Billboard today, Apple’s Eddy Cue revealed that Apple Music has surpassed 20 million paid subscribers. There are a few other tidbits of info in the article as well.
And despite a mandate from Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge, exclusives will continue in the near future “where appropriate,” adds Cue. “They work really well for everybody concerned — they’re great for the label, they work for the artist and for us.”
Exclusives drive numbers and a subscription service is all about churning people, hopefully adding more in the top than those falling out the bottom. Apple is perfecting it.
“We’ve always thought that hip-hop was underrepresented both in iTunes and in the streaming chart. And more people listen to hip-hop now than ever before so we’ve done a lot of work in that area.”
I’ve said this since the launch of Apple Music, but it seems very clear now. “Music” is no longer in Apple’s DNA—hip-hop is what’s important to Apple. Again, it’s a numbers game. More people are listening to that genre than ever before, so Apple can leave the Rock/Blues/Metal acts to another service and still add subscribers using hip-hop exclusives. It’s actually refreshing to see Apple finally admit it.
People like me with an existing music library that rely on the often non-working iTunes Match are no longer Apple’s market. I even opened up a second Apple Music account to see if iTunes Match would work—it didn’t.
In a lot of ways it makes perfect sense that Apple is building a music service that doesn’t require a music library—there’s less hassle and they don’t have to rely on services like iTunes Match to please those customers. Apple is catering to those customers very well. However, it’s a shame they don’t care about the rest of us any more.
What Apple will recognize is that the people they attract with exclusives will go to the next music service that has an exclusive without blinking an eye or without any loyalty to Apple. By that time, the base of users that they’ve relied on for years will also be gone.
And the churn continues.
Update:
I feel compelled to write an update because there seems to be some confusion over what I wrote last night.
I’m not saying that Hip-Hop is not music or isn’t an important genre of music—it is. In fact, it’s probably the largest music genre in the business today. What I’m saying is that Apple is focusing its entire service on that one genre.
If I go to the “Browse” section of Apple Music on any given day, the majority of what I see is only Hip-Hop. That’s not Apple having music in its DNA, that’s focusing on the churn of music subscribers—that’s a totally different thing than loving all types of music.
More importantly, pieces of Apple Music still don’t work like Apple said they would. One of the great promises of Apple Music was being able to bring your existing music library to the service and it would know what songs you have. When I look at an album on Apple Music that I already own, it often says that I don’t have it—how can that happen if iTunes Match is working the way it should?
How is it that I can play a radio station, rate a song that’s it’s playing from my library and the rating disappears immediately?
How can I tap play on an Apple Music song and it plays a completely different version of the song?
Why doesn’t my iCloud Music Library on my Mac update every day with the songs I played in the last 24 hours when it’s supposed to?
When the iCloud Music Library does update, why doesn’t it include songs from radio stations that I played, even though those songs are in my library?
How can I dislike songs and albums and they continue to show up in my For You section?
My issue is not that Apple is focused on Hip-Hop, it’s that they are only focused on Hip-Hop to the detriment of the other issues. They need to fix the service and focus on their love of all music, not how many subscribers they have.
Apple was always about building the best product and people would come. Apple Music doesn’t seem like that to me.
Makers of the Snuggie blanket and other products sold mainly on TV have sued Amazon.com Inc, accusing the internet retailer of trademark infringement for letting an “astronomical” number of counterfeit products to be sold through its website.
I’m glad to see that someone finally stepped up and is holding Amazon’s feet to the fire. The amount of counterfeit products being sold on Amazon is outrageous and they are doing nothing about it. If this lawsuit is successful, Amazon better watch out because the floodgates will open.
The California Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday said Apple Inc agreed to pay $450,000 to settle state claims that it had mishandled hazardous electronic waste at facilities in Silicon Valley.
I’ll be honest, everything about this story seems so unlike Apple. It’s like the opposite of Apple.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with Samsung in its big-money smartphone patent fight with Apple, throwing out an appeals court ruling that the South Korean company had to pay a $399 million penalty to its American rival for copying key iPhone designs.
The 8-0 ruling, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, held that a patent violator does not always have to fork over its entire profits from the sales of products using stolen designs, if the designs covered only certain components and not the whole thing.
Samsung is still guilty of infringement. The only dispute now is how much they’ll have to fork over to Apple.
In a short time, Portrait mode has become a favorite feature for iPhone 7 Plus users, with people capturing a range of subjects with the stunning depth-of-field effect, bringing them closer to the subjects they love. iPhone is the most popular camera in the world. And its popularity increased among photographers in 2016, according to Flickr. Below are a few photos and tips from photographers who are finding creative ways to use Portrait mode everyday.
The best part of these and other tips is that they aren’t iPhone 7 Plus specific. You can work the tips into your photography no matter what kind of camera you use.
In September 2005, Steve Jobs gave his advertising agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day, an assignment: Come up with a campaign that clearly demonstrates the Mac’s superiority to the PC. There was no deadline.
Seven months, dozens of tense meetings and countless discarded ideas later, the agency produced “Get a Mac.” It would go on to become one of the most succesful and admired ad campaigns in Apple’s history, no small feat when “1984,” “Think Different” and “Silhouette” are the competition. Among those legendary ads, “Get a Mac” stands out as the most overtly comedic and one of the most expansive: The team shot 323 spots over three years just to get the 66 that made it on air.
To mark the 10-year anniversary, Campaign US asked members of the creative team, the crew and the actors to share the untold stories of how the campaign came to life. What follows is their recollections—inconsistencies, errors, biases and all—lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
This campaign was one of the most interesting and divisive Apple has ever produced. I loved the overall feel and message of them.
Apple has been offering a path to custom greeting cards for a long time. Memory serves, Apple’s original iCard service disappeared back in 2013, finding a new home in iPhoto and then Photos.
In the linked article, Lesa Snider, writing for Macworld, walks you through the process. Pass this along.
If you’re using or considering buying one of the new MacBook Pro models with the Touch Bar (see “New MacBook Pros Add Context-sensitive Touch Bar,” 27 October 2016), be aware that some people are seeing their machines shut down repeatedly and unexpectedly. The problem might be with external hard drives connected via Thunderbolt 3’s USB-C ports, which is, of course, the only way to connect them.
I began researching this after I was unable to copy a large number of files from one external USB drive to another using my new MacBook Pro. The copy was going to take a long time regardless, but when I came back to check on its status, my laptop was powered off and I had to start it up again manually. Restarting the copy additional times resulted in similar shutdowns.
In my case, I was presented with an error message telling me about the shutdown, with the messages “CPU Machine Check Architecture Error Dump” and “CATERR detected! No MCA data found” in the highly technical error report that automatically gets sent to Apple.
Hopefully, this issue, as well as the graphics glitching issue reported yesterday, is a sign of early days with a new architecture, and will be resolved either with a software update (best possible solution) or a design fix (with some repair path for early adopters).
Netflix’s decision to introduce an in-app subscription option in its iOS app over a year ago has helped the streaming service steadily gain more subscribers, and surge up the Top Grossing charts in the Apple App Store. Back in November of last year, the app hit the Top Grossing chart for the first time, reaching the No. 9 position. Today, Netflix has reached another milestone, as the app has earned the No. 1 Top Grossing spot on the U.S. iPhone App Store.
Interesting that after all this time, and after two different pivots (from mailing discs to streaming and original content), no other company has been able to duplicate their formula for success. Netflix has the mojo.
Sales of the Apple Watch to consumers set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product, Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters.
Responding to an email from Reuters, Cook said the gadget’s sell-through – a measure of how many units are sold to consumers, rather than simply stocked on retailers’ shelves – reached a new high.
“Our data shows that Apple Watch is doing great and looks to be one of the most popular holiday gifts this year,” Cook wrote.
While Apple may be straying into Amazon territory here (Amazon famously reports “amazing” sales of the Kindle without actually saying how many they’ve sold), it’s still good news that Apple is very happy with the sales figures of the Apple Watch,
The Fairchild 670 and 660 are the most coveted vintage compressor/limiters in the world, with good reason. These 20-tube tone titans — which now fetch upwards of $50,000 — impart an unmistakable silky warmth heard on hundreds of hit records from the Beatles and Pink Floyd to countless Motown classics.
I love the sound of the Fairchild. The UA emulation of this classic compressor is amazing.
Most boutique hotels are much more than a place to lie your head at night.
But the Literary Man Hotel in Obidos, Portugal—a medieval village that dates back more than 700 years—takes its book collection seriously. In fact, the entire hotel is a bookstore. At every turn, there’s a wall stacked with titles.
The hotel currently boasts more than 45,000 books, according to the owner.
The past 12 months have been an eventful time for news stories, from the unpredictable and tumultuous U.S. presidential election, to continued war and terror in the Middle East and refugees fleeing to Europe, to a historic World Series win for the Chicago Cubs, ongoing protests demanding racial justice in the U.S., the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, and so much more.
As to be expected, these are powerful images but beware, some of them may be disturbing for their graphic nature.
One measure of the desirability of a sports car is whether or not it has teenagers drooling over it before they’re even old enough to drive. Here’s the story of one of the most drool-worthy cars in auto history. (See how long it takes you to guess which car we’re talking about.)
I’ve never been a huge fan of this car (although I did like the earliest versions) but the story of its origins and development is really interesting.
I applaud that Facebook has taken the first step. However, I have doubts that the $20 million it is contributing toward affordable housing in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park is the answer. It is a perfect example of short-term thinking and trying to assuage your internal guilt with a check to charity.
I don’t know what the answer is here, but I do know how real the problem is in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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It’s come to light that Uber and other companies have begun tracking our locations in more circumstances than ever. We’ve always relied on their apps to use our location — to do helpful things like find us a fast and convenient way to get where we want to go.
But this time, they’ve gone too far. They’re now insisting that they provide us our location, when we don’t need them to, or don’t want them to, to use their services.
While I don’t use Uber, I’ve seen this kind of activity from other apps and refuse to use the ones that won’t let me limit the ways and kinds of data they collect.
Today only – Get a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card with a qualifying purchase of 1 year subscription to Dropbox Pro. Dropbox Pro is the one place for all your stuff. Anything you add to Dropbox will automatically show up on all your devices and even the Dropbox website — so you can access your stuff from anywhere. And with 1 TB of space you have plenty of room to keep everything safe. The Amazon.com Gift Card will be delivered approximately 8-15 days by email after qualifying purchase. While supplies last. Restrictions apply, see terms and conditions.
If you are a Dropbox user, this is a great deal but it’s for today only and likely won’t last long.
On Monday, Amazon introduced a new self-checkout technology that — if it works as advertised — could totally transform the retail sector. Called “Amazon Go,” the technology literally allows people to walk into a store, select items they want to purchase, and walk out. There’s no checkout process at all.
Those of us familiar with Apple’s Retail Stores implementation of this will understand how this might be a huge change in the way retail works.
In 1984, the Mac’s software engine, which included an AppleTalk network stack and a LaserWriter driver, ran on a single Motorola 68000 CPU and needed just 32K of ROM and 128K of RAM.
And:
Today, macOS is a fully-grown computer operating system, pleasant, fast, flexible. But it’s also enormous — RAM and disk storage requirements are measured in gigabytes — and it isn’t exactly bug-free. An ex-Apple acquaintance recently told me there are something like 10,000 “open” bugs on an on-going basis. The number that are urgent is, of course, a fraction of the gamut, but like any mature operating system, macOS has become a battlefield of patch upon patch upon patch.
And:
When the Apple smartphone project started, the key decision was the choice of software engine. Should Apple try to make a ‘lite’ version of OS X (as it was then known)? Go in a completely new direction?
[Note that Jean-Louis was the founder and CEO of Be, Inc.]
And:
It appears that a new direction may have been tempting. At the time that Apple’s smartphone project began, an Apple employee and former Be engineer offered Palm Inc. $800K for a BeOS “code dump” — just the code, no support, no royalties. The engineer was highly respected for his skill in mating software to unfamiliar hardware; BeOS was a small, light operating system; draw your own conclusion… Palm, which had purchased Be a few years before that, turned him down. (I learned this when I was asked to become Chairman of PalmSource, Palm’s software spinoff)
Wow. I had not heard this bit before.
I could go on with the excerpts, but you really should read this piece for yourself. Terrific writing from someone who lived at the intersection of Apple and history.
