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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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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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Switching from an iPhone to an Android phone doesn’t last long
The New York Times‘ Brian X. Chen switched from an iPhone to an Android phone last week to see how things would go. By Day 6 he was back to his trusty iPhone.
Brian X. Chen for The New York Times:
At first, I was happy with my choice — I had upgraded to a fancy Google Pixel phone. But by Day 6, I was ready to switch back.
A bunch of annoyances added up. Even though I could still use most of my Apple products, I started missing my Apple Watch, which requires an iPhone to fully work. For software, I was able to find Android alternatives for all my favorite apps — except for Notes. While switching phones wasn’t technically hard, Apple’s hooks were still in me…
My experience isn’t universal. Some people would care more than others about how certain Apple products would change if they switched phones. Younger people would probably care a lot about lacking iMessage in schools, where a green bubble has been known to be an invitation for mockery and exclusion, according to education experts. Parents who use AirTags to track their children would view losing access to those as a deal breaker.
The upshot from this experiment is that while it’s not technically hard to switch to a different phone, there are plenty of things that could make you regret it.
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MacDailyNews Take: If it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone.
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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Apple CEO Cook sells 196,410 AAPL shares at $169.33
According to a recent SEC filing, Apple CEO Tim Cook sold 196,410 shares of Apple (AAPL) on April 2, 2024 at the share price of $169.33, resulting in a total sale of $33,253,045.30.
Following this transaction, Timothy Cook’s total sales over the past year amount to 436,979 shares, with no recorded purchases in the same period.
The insider transaction history for Apple Inc indicates a trend of insider sells, with 17 recorded over the past year and no insider buys in the same timeframe. On the valuation front, Apple Inc’s shares were trading at $169.33 on the day of the insider’s recent sell, giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $2,619,869.53 billion. The price-earnings ratio stands at 26.43, which is above both the industry median of 23.7 and the company’s historical median price-earnings ratio.
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MacDailyNews Note: Cook’s Form 4 SEC filing is here.
Apple Senior VPs Deirdre O’Brien, Jeff Williams, Katherine Adams, and Luca Maestri each also sold 113,309 shares apiece on April 3rd.
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Disney+ and Hulu to crack down on password sharing
Disney+ and Hulu plan to follow Netflix’s lead by cracking down on password sharing starting in June with a wide rollout by September, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
CNBC:
CNBC Transcript: Disney CEO Bob Iger Speaks with CNBC’s David Faber on “Squawk on the Street” Today:
IGER: We just launched, which is a very compelling product, which is Hulu on Disney+ that came out of beta last Friday, actually, and I can tell you that it is doing extremely well. We’ll have more to say about that in our next earnings call. But we feel great about the engagement of those Disney subs who are not getting Hulu who are now watching more programs that were on Hulu including Shogun as a for instance, which is which is a great hit. So we have to increase engagement. We need the technological tools to lower churn, create more stickiness. It’s things like recommendation engines, getting to know our customers better. We need to reduce the cost of marketing, we need to reduce the cost of customer acquisition to get the margins up obviously. I think we have to program more smartly, particularly outside the United States, which is to pick the markets where we could really move the needle and program with really strong local programming. We’ve had some success there. We need more success. Password sharing is something else. In June we’ll be launching our first real foray into password sharing.
FABER: You will?
IGER: Just a few countries in a few markets, but then it will grow significantly with a full rollout in September.
FABER: Cracking down on password sharing, essentially.
IGER: Yes. And all of that, obviously, all the things that I mentioned are components of what will turn this business into a business that we feel really good about.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple TV+ offers higher quality streaming TV than either Disney+ or Hulu.
Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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Apple Silicon supplier TSMC resumes work at production sites after earthquake pause
Apple Silicon supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) resumed work at its production sites in the earthquake-hit country after pausing it for a day for inspections, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Reuters:
The quake had raised fears of disruptions to chip supply as TSMC produces a big share of the most advanced semiconductors, and its customers include Apple and AI chip leader Nvidia.
TSMC said its initial checks showed that safety systems at its Taiwan-based chip fabs were operating normally. Some fabs were evacuated but all personnel were safe and had returned to their workplace shortly after the quake, it said.
Operations were partially impacted by the damage caused to a small number of tools at certain facilities, the company said, adding that those did not include critical chip-making tools such as its extreme ultraviolet lithography tools.
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MacDailyNews Take: Good news!
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Apple releases first public betas of macOS 14.5, iOS 17.5, tvOS 17.5, visionOS 1.2, and more
Apple on Thursday released the first public betas of macOS Sonoma 14.5, iOS 17.5, tvOS 17.5, visionOS 1.2, watchOS 10.5, and HomePod 17.5.
macOS Sonoma 14.5 focuses on bug fixes with no new features identified by Apple.
iOS 17.5 is mainly focused on complying with the European Unions Digital Markets Act, allowing app developers in the EU to offer apps via their websites, so that users can bypass Apple’s App Store to download third-party apps.
tvOS 17.5 and HomePod 17.5 add absolutely nothing (we’re joking! They come with bug fixes, if we had to guess).
MacDailyNews Take: Happy beta testing, public beta testers!
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Apple shareholders worry about ‘lack of innovation’
Apple shares are underperforming the market so far this year as shareholders’ concern mounts over the company’s lack of innovation under CEO Tim Cook.
Now that it has pulled the plug on its car project, management needs to choose the next big new product category carefully.
ven given concern that the iPhone maker is falling behind on artificial-intelligence technology compared with Big Tech rivals, that is a notable underperformance. It suggests a greater fear, that Apple doesn’t have a plan to reignite growth after a fall in sales last year.
“[It] feels like people are really getting frustrated with the lack of innovation over there and [their] nonexistent AI presence,” wrote Mizuho Securities’ Daniel O’Regan.
“We believe a key risk is that Apple’s management may need to devote considerable time and resources defending its businesses in multiple jurisdictions while new technologies continue to evolve,” wrote Moody’s analysts Raj Josh and Lenny Ajzenman in a research note this week.
Ever since the loss of Steve Jobs in 2011, the question hanging over Apple has been whether it can keep innovating at the same pace. The question looms larger now than at any time in recent years.
See also:
• Work on Apple Vision Pro began under Steve Jobs – August 23, 2023
• Contrary to popular belief, Steve Jobs knew about Apple Watch – February 13, 2023
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MacDailyNews Take: Clearly, even to the most casual of observers, Apple is not as innovative as it was under Steve Jobs (the company’s work on even the Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro began under Jobs), but Apple — thanks to Jobs and Cook’s subsequent management of iterations of products, continuing the retail store buildout, and expanding services conceived during Jobs’ tenure — now has more than enough money to make up for Cook’s lack of vision.
Tim’s not a product person, per se. – Steve Jobs
Until it gets another visionary leader (fingers crossed; Apple’s history has shown – cough, Sculley, Spindler, cough – that the next CEO could be far, far worse than the very competent caretaker Cook), Apple can afford to miss things like generative AI – which they clearly did – and then use its huge war chest to catch up – which they’re doing right now (fun times and 80-hour weeks inside Apple Park!) – and, hopefully, surpass rivals (or at least be as good). Apple will very likely unveil their catch-up work within months (this June at WWDC 2024) in iPhones (and iPads, Apple Watches, etc.) with, sadly, partnerships with rivals like Google, and, hopefully, at least some built-in on-device generative AI and other new AI-driven features.
See also:
• Baidu reportedly set to become Apple’s generative AI model provider in China – March 25, 2024
• Apple looks to license Google Gemini for iPhone, generative AI tools – March 18, 2024
• Apple acquired 32 AI startups in 2023, the most among major tech companies – February 8, 2024
• Gene Munster: Apple stock likely to get a boost when ‘good enough’ generative AI arrives later this year – January 9, 2024
• Apple caught flat-footed on generative AI; company preps AI features for devices, software – October 23, 2023
• Apple posts number of job listings seeking generative AI talent – May 22, 2023
• Apple reportedly to ‘re-examine’ Artificial Intelligence development – March 8, 2023
The glaring lack of a visionary who is immersed and invested in product design who is a single point of approval – Steve Jobs – means that early adopters have to take Jobs’ place en masse to perform similar functions – albeit over a significantly longer period of time – à la Apple Watch. – MacDailyNews, March 28, 2023
The Apple Watch certainly found its way – we, the users, were the Apple Watch alpha and beta testers, collectively standing in for Steve Jobs, doing much of what the singular genius would have done before release by brute force and sheer numbers after release. It took four generations of Apple Watch, but we’re here now and we wouldn’t trade the experience for anything! The same goes for Apple Glasses! — MacDailyNews, January 31, 2020
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Apple’s Shortcuts app just might be your most useful app
Apple’s Shortcuts app for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS just might be the most useful app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.
A shortcut is a quick way to get one or more tasks done with your apps. The Shortcuts app lets you create your own shortcuts with multiple steps. For example, build a “Surf Time” shortcut that grabs the surf report, gives an ETA to the beach, and launches your surf music playlist.
Justin Pot for The Wall Street Journal:
Don’t relegate the Apple Shortcuts app to the same hidden folder as Compass and Keynote — it might be the most useful app you have.
The main limit to what you can build is your imagination. But even without any, you can search through the “Gallery” in the app to find pre-built shortcuts.
My favorite, called “Directions To Event,” lists every event in my calendar that has an address attached. Tap the appointment, and you’ll immediately get Apple Maps directions.
Things get really exciting when you start adding multiple actions to a single shortcut. I made a shortcut that can translate Spanish, Japanese and other non-English text I encounter and speak it out loud in English. I started with the “Take Photo” action, then added the “Extract Text” option, which recognizes any text in a photo you take. Then I added the “Translate Text” option, then “Speak Text.” The complete chain of action helps a ton when I’m traveling.
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MacDailyNews Take: Hey, both Compass and Keynote are just fine!
As for Shortcuts, if you’re new to the app, this article from Wired is a good, concise primer for starting off with Shortcuts.
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Niantic brings 8th Wall Metaversal Deployment support to Apple Vision Pro
Niantic announced this week that it’s rolling out support for its 8th Wall Metaversal Deployment to the Apple Vision Pro spatial computer, allowing mixed reality app developers to deploy them more easily to the Vision Pro without having to do as much extra coding.
Rachel Kaser for VentureBeat:
Metaversal Deployment is Niantic’s solution for distribution of mixed reality experiences via WebAR. It allows developers to deploy spatial computing across multiple platforms.
According to Niantic, the Apple Vision Pro offers unique opportunities for 8th Wall developers despite a lack of camera access to the browser. Developers instead can use the Vision Pro’s advanced VR capabilities to create an asymmetrical experience across multiple platforms.
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MacDailyNews Take: The more developer tools and support for Apple Vision pro, the better!
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