Company / division: Apple
Behind Apple’s new campaign: One Night on iPhone 7 – Apple (Jan 30, 2017)
It really feels like Apple is doubling down on the iPhone as camera marketing strategy – its recent ad “Take Mine” was very effective, and it’s been working with lots of publishers and independent photographers to showcase the iPhone 7’s photo-taking skills. It looks like it did a project back in November 2016 in which it invited lots of photographers to take pictures with the iPhone 7 on the same day, and then combined these into a campaign around its “Shot on iPhone” theme. The camera is definitely one of the standout points of the new iPhone (as I said both in my main review and my subsequent mini-review of Portrait Mode), so this is a smart strategy by Apple. But other device makers are producing really compelling cameras and camera features now too, with the Pixel also majoring on its camera among other things, and producing very good results in the process. Apple can’t just focus on the camera, and that’s why you’re seeing AirPods ads and ads starring other features too – it’s always been about the complete package with the iPhone, and that’s the argument Apple is making here: this is a phenomenal camera on a phone that also does lots more besides.
via Apple
Silicon Valley’s responses to Trump’s immigration executive orders, from strongest to weakest – The Verge (Jan 28, 2017)
This is a good summary of the responses from the tech industry so far to President Trump’s executive orders on immigration from Friday. It also does a nice job sorting the responses by strength – there’s quite a range in the responses, from those focusing narrowly on the practical impacts on employees of each company to those issuing broader moral condemnations of the policy. This certainly won’t be the last we hear on this topic. It’s notable that as of right now Amazon is one of the major holdouts among the big consumer tech companies.
via The Verge
For Apple’s iPhone Sales, Size Matters – WSJ (Jan 28, 2017)
This article is a good counterpoint to another I commented on recently, which suggested a shift to older devices and therefore lower average selling prices for the iPhone last quarter. As I said with regard to that piece, I’m seeing little evidence of the trend mentioned, and in fact I’d expect a shift to larger devices to push ASPs up, if anything, This WSJ piece quotes some data to that effect, and has some good numbers around the mix between the base and Plus models and how it’s shifted over time. Apple clearly does sell older devices too, so this mix shift among the 7 variants isn’t the only factor, but I still think ASPs should be pretty healthy when Apple reports its results for last quarter.
via WSJ
China Smartphone Shipments Reached an All-Time High in 2016 – Counterpoint (Jan 27, 2017)
I cited some Counterpoint data on India the other day, and in that context said that they do a good job with these non-Western markets – these numbers are solid, although it’s interesting to see these results for China come out before Apple and several other companies have reported their results for the fourth quarter. Unlike India, China is a major contributor to Apple’s overall results, and there’s usually lots of commentary about the rate of growth there, so it’ll be interesting to compere these numbers with what Apple releases next week. In the meantime, there’s lot of interesting stuff here – over the full year, Xiaomi and Apple fared poorly out of the major vendors, though Apple’s Q4 sales held up a lot better than in Q1-Q3. Lenovo’s year in China was a disaster, and it will be very grateful once again that it has Motorola in the rest of the world to buoy things up a bit. The big story is Oppo and Vivo, which have broken into the top rankings globally off the back of a strong showing in China, but Huawei also did very well. It’s also interesting to look at the data in here on individual models, where the two iPhone 6s variants both score in the top 10, and two Oppo phones are in the top 5, including the number 1 slot. The whole post is well worth a read if you’re interested in the Chinese market.
via Counterpoint
Apple’s international iTunes business moves to Ireland on Feb. 5 – Apple Insider (Jan 27, 2017)
Interesting to see this move go ahead in the wake of the recent EU Ireland tax action. Ireland is obviously a big base for Apple in Europe, and this is mostly about moving the legal home of the iTunes business in Europe, rather than a big physical move. But it’s intriguing to see Apple double down on its presence – legal and physical – in Ireland with all the uncertainty over its tax status there. Apple is, of course, fighting the EU’s ruling with the help of the Irish government, but there’s obviously still a decent chance that things don’t go Apple’s way here.
via Apple’s international iTunes business moves to Ireland on Feb. 5
Apple Officially Joins Partnership on AI (Jan 27, 2017)
I commented on the reports that Apple was about to join the Partnership on AI yesterday, so I won’t revisit all of this today. Two notable things from today’s announcement, though: Apple’s representative will be Tom Gruber, who runs Siri at Apple, and that may be indicative of where Apple sees ownership of AI residing within the company (it has no formal head of AI); secondly, Apple has been involved with the Partnership from the outset, but hadn’t formalized its membership until today. That might signify that there were some details of Apple’s membership which needed to be worked out before it felt comfortable joining -I’d love to know what those were. Separately from Apple’s involvement, it’s worth noting that the board now has representatives from a number of other organizations beyond tech companies including several universities. So the Partnership won’t just be about driving the agenda of the tech industry here.
Apple iPhone Price Under Pressure as Buyers Seek Cheaper Devices – Bloomberg (Jan 26, 2017)
This piece suggests falling ASPs due to iPhone buyers plumping for older models like the 6S rather than the new iPhone 7 models, but only quotes one analyst at Barclays to back up the claim. We’ll know soon enough what the ASP numbers for the December quarter look like, but they did fall this past year relative to the year earlier, in part because of the iPhone SE launch. It’s certainly also true that people are hanging onto phones longer, because they’re more capable, and that new installment plans from US carriers make the price of phones more transparent than the old subsidy model, and reduce the monthly cost once a phone is paid off. For all these reasons, I’m definitely seeing longer upgrade cycles for smartphones, but I see very little evidence that people are buying older phones new – in fact, all my conversations with carriers suggest the opposite – moving from an upfront cost to a monthly cost is driving people to higher-priced phones. In addition, the mix between the 7 and 7 Plus looks to have moved in favor of the larger device relative to earlier models, and that and interest in the jet black finish will also drive up ASPs. Color me skeptical at this point.
via Bloomberg
Apple Set to Join Amazon, Google, Facebook in AI Research Group – Bloomberg (Jan 26, 2017)
This would be a fascinating development – Apple has very rarely been part of such groups in the past, often a holdout among major tech companies. But it does seem to be taking AI very seriously at this point, and seems also to be taking steps to help current and potential employees feel they can continue to contribute in the industry beyond Apple’s walls, including allowing employees to publish research and potentially now joining this group. It’s also worth noting that AI, perhaps more than any other major technology currently being developed, has massive ethics implications, and ethics and related issues are a major focus of the group. Apple may feel that it needs to be both contributing to and learning from others in the field when it comes to these non-technical issues.
via Bloomberg (more on Techmeme)
This is the Samsung Galaxy S8, launching March 29 – VentureBeat (Jan 26, 2017)
Evan Blass, who used to publish leaks anonymously under the pseudonym Evleaks and has a great track record of accurate reporting, claims these are pictures of the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S8. The main changes are a full screen front, with the fingerprint sensor moved to the back, while charging switches from micro USB to USB-C, and Samsung retains the headphone jack. The smaller bezel approach has been widely rumored for the next iPhone this fall, and I think what we’re seeing here to some extent is the same rush into smartwatches in the year or two before the Apple Watch emerged, driven by rumors of where Apple was going. In the smartwatch category, we saw a variety of failed attempts to create something compelling only for the Apple Watch to dominate the market when it launched, and you always have to wonder with this pre-emptive following whether competitors will really be able to crack the concept in a way that’s as compelling as whatever Apple releases. Xiaomi already has an essentially bezel-less phone, LG is reported to be moving in that direction, and now Samsung supposedly is too. It’ll be very interesting to see how this space looks at the end of the year once all these phones (including a new iPhone) are on the market.
via VentureBeat
NV Energy Announces Solar Agreement with Apple – Press Release (Jan 25, 2017)
One of the defining characteristics of Tim Cook’s leadership at Apple has been the company’s far greater commitment to corporate social responsibility initiatives, and especially environmental responsibility. Lisa P Jackson leads this effort for Apple, and has been the spokesperson for a lot of its public outreach on the topic. Renewable energy and recycling are two big facets of Apple’s environmental commitment, and this Nevada deal is focused on the former, under which Apple is moving rapidly towards 100% renewable energy use. This kind of stuff doesn’t make a huge difference to most customers, but it’s certainly part of Tim Cook’s apparent commitment to Apple being a force for good beyond just the products it puts into the world (which was always Steve Jobs’ main focus).
Dropcam’s Greg Duffy Joins Apple — The Information (Jan 25, 2017)
Amid the recent drumbeat of departures from Apple (I’ve covered Chris Lattner, but there was also Matt Casebolt who also went to Tesla, Yoky Matsuoka who went back to Nest after just a few months at Apple, Musa Tariq who went to Ford for a big step up in responsibility, and others), this is one going the other way. Greg Duffy was an executive at Dropcam before its acquisition by Google, and is now heading to Apple. This week’s Beyond Devices Podcast (which I host with Aaron Miller) covers this recent spate of departures from Apple and whether it signifies anything. This hire is a good reminder that at a company with 116,000 employees as of the most recent 10-K, there will always be people coming and going, and we shouldn’t read too much into individual moves unless there’s clear evidence that the reasons behind the departures are significant for the company.
via The Information (more on Techmeme)
Apple sues Qualcomm in Beijing seeking 1 billion yuan – Reuters (Jan 25, 2017)
The Apple-Qualcomm saga continues. Qualcomm was investigated by the Chinese authorities a couple of years back and although that investigation ended in 2015, Apple appears to be using it in much the same way as it is using the FTC’s action against Qualcomm in the US, as a basis for its own legal action. It’s still almost impossible for any outsider to know how much merit there is on each side of this argument, let alone how individual court systems might ultimately rule, but this fight just keeps getting uglier.
via Reuters
Can Huawei Catch Apple and Samsung? – Fortune (Jan 25, 2017)
This piece somewhat acts as if Huawei came out of nowhere into the number 3 spot behind Samsung and Apple in the global smartphone market, and while it’s risen rapidly to the top in individual markets, its global rise has been happening for much longer. It’s been the number three for the last six quarters (likely seven once Q4 2016 is reported on), and has been in the top ten since at least 2011. It may well have crept up on US observers, many of whom don’t tend to focus on emerging markets as much as the US and Western Europe, but this story has been underway for quite some time. Huawei is the big global success story among the ranks of Chinese smartphone vendors, most of whom have done well in China and some emerging markets but less well elsewhere. But Huawei still hasn’t cracked the US, where the carriers I’ve spoken to seem to be reluctant to put a relatively unknown Chinese brand on shelves next to premium products from Apple and Samsung. I don’t think Huawei needs to succeed in the US to be successful, and perhaps not even to catch Apple in raw market share terms, but it’s obviously never going to match Apple in terms of profits.
via Fortune
SpaceX, Uber Reach New Heights In Lobbying Spending – BuzzFeed (Jan 25, 2017)
These numbers get crunched every year, and are always an insight into the sometimes complex relationship between tech companies and the US government, as well as the very different strategies pursued by the various companies – Apple spends far less than some of its peers (less even than Facebook, which is a fraction of its size), while Google is always a big spender. The other thing I’m always struck by is the relatively tiny size of the spending – even Google’s $15.4m lobbying spending is minuscule in the context of its overall business – Apple’s spend was a fraction of a hundredth of a percent of its revenue for the year. It’s also interesting to see which issues the companies lobbied on: Apple lobbied mostly on technical issues directly related to its business, while Google lobbied more broadly on trade and immigration policy as well as several technical topics. All this will obviously potentially get a lot more complicated under the new administration, which has so far had a much more adversarial tone towards big tech companies than its predecessor.
via BuzzFeed
Apple opens Siri to third-party developers on Apple Watch – Business Insider (Jan 24, 2017)
Apple opened up Siri access to certain categories of developers last year as part of iOS 10, but Siri on the Apple Watch has remained a first-party-only affair. That will change with iOS 10.3, which is rolling out to developers today and offers developers in a subset of four domains the ability to integrate their Apple Watch apps into Siri on the Watch. Apple’s focus in the last year or so has been about putting Siri on essentially every device it sells – a counter to Amazon Echo and Google Home’s single device approach – and making Siri smarter by allowing it to control more third party functionality, albeit in a much more tightly controlled way than Alexa’s Skills approach or even Google’s recent opening up of the Assistant with Actions on Google. These two fronts – third party integrations and the range of devices supported – will be critical as these various companies compete in the voice assistant space, and this small step is part of that much bigger picture.
via Business Insider
The Qualcomm ‘Tax’ Rebellion – Bloomberg Gadfly (Jan 24, 2017)
This is a great explanation of exactly what’s going on in the lawsuit between Apple and Qualcomm and the various investigations of Qualcomm by competition authorities in several jurisdictions. At root is the fact that Qualcomm charges a licensing fee based on the total cost of devices, not just on the parts Qualcomm makes, a model that’s increasingly out of whack with where the value is in smartphones. It really is starting to feel like the industry has reached a tipping point at which it will no longer put up with this licensing model, and if things don’t go Qualcomm’s way, that will be extremely damaging to its business. Meanwhile, it keeps selling chips to Apple to use in phones, because to stop would be incredibly damaging too.
via Bloomberg Gadfly
India’s smartphone user base topped 300 million in 2016 – The Economic Times (Jan 24, 2017)
Counterpoint Research has good data on the global smartphone market, and especially in emerging markets like India, so the numbers here are broadly reliable. India is a fascinating market – Apple and others have often compared it to China, but though the size is similar the demographics and wealth are very different, even if you compare India today to China a few years back. I’m not yet convinced that India is going to look like China does today anytime soon from a smartphone perspective, and that makes life very tough for a brand like Apple, which was tenth in the overall market share rankings. It did capture 62% of the premium market in Q4, but the premium segment is only a tiny fraction of the overall Indian market, which continues to be dominated by cheaper handsets, increasingly coming from Chinese vendors. You might be interested in this piece I wrote a few months ago about Apple’s prospects in India.
Apple Pay on the Rise – TXN (Jan 23, 2017)
The headline here is a positive one about Apple Pay, whose adoption does seem to be on the rise, as this data from consumer spending analytics app TXN suggests. However, it’s also worth noting that the actual penetration of Apple Pay within the set of retailers in the data is still very low – no retailer has higher than 4% of their total credit card transactions going through Apple Pay, and that includes those that have iOS apps where it is by far the easiest way to pay (assuming you have Apple Pay set up in the first place). Apple Pay continues to be a fantastic technology where it works, but it still works in relatively few places, and as such most users haven’t been able to develop the habit of trying to use it everywhere. Even where it seems it might work (e.g. my local CVS) it often fails, which causes embarrassment and a barrier to trying again next time. We’re still waiting for the big tipping point for mobile payments like Apple Pay to go truly mainstream – for now it’s mostly still a niche technology.
via Apple Pay on the Rise – TXN
Alphabet Gets Matsuoka Back as Nest CTO, After Her Stint at Apple – Bloomberg (Jan 23, 2017)
Another departure from Apple who now shows up elsewhere, this time Nest, itself the subject of recent executive departures. Matsuoka has a long history at Google/Alphabet, and was only at Apple for a brief time – it sounds like the role there just wasn’t a good fit, and perhaps Tony Fadell’s departure at Nest reassured her that the sometimes toxic culture there is changing for the better. In and of itself, not an enormously significant departure from Apple, but obviously now part of a recent string of departures, something that’s worth watching for any signs there’s anything more going on than the usual turnover of talented people on the hunt for the next challenge.
via Alphabet Gets Matsuoka Back as Nest CTO, After Her Stint at Apple – Bloomberg
Apple-Supplier Foxconn Weighs $7 Billion U.S. Display Plant – Bloomberg (Jan 23, 2017)
There are lots of pieces that come together in this announcement, though the actual details are still very vague, and no final decisions have been made. Firstly, there’s the pressure from President Trump during the campaign (repeated since in a gentler manner) for Apple to produce some of its hardware in the US. Then there’s the recent meeting between the SoftBank and Foxconn CEOs and Trump around bringing jobs to the US. And finally, the suggestion Apple might use Sharp (now owned by Foxconn to make OLED displays for the next iPhones). One scenario is that, as with the Mac Pro, Apple chooses a relatively low-volume, high margin product to manufacture in part in the US, with OLED screens from Sharp for a high-end iPhone 8 model one possibility. Apple has remained entirely silent on the question of manufacturing in the US, and of course doesn’t actually build its own devices anywhere, instead relying on Foxconn to do the assembly, so the ball here is somewhat in Foxconn’s court – without its support, Apple likely can’t do anything.
via Apple-Supplier Foxconn Weighs $7 Billion U.S. Display Plant – Bloomberg