Opinion pieces & commentary

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A report on Friday on the 2018 iPad Pro models made three claims about the new slim-bezel models we’re expecting to see. First, it said, Apple will drop the headphone socket. Second, it will move the Smart Connector to a short-edge rather than long edge. Third, that Face ID will work only when the iPad is in the vertical orientation.

I have absolutely no difficulty believing the first of these claims, but the other two make no sense to me …

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My colleague Bradley Chambers recently wrote that his single biggest disappointment with WWDC was that Apple made no move to announce an upgrade to the 5GB free iCloud tier.

One of our readers, Sahil Malik, made a wry comment on the $6,699 maximum cost of the new MacBook Pro:

I hope it still includes the free 5gb iCloud thing.

As his comment implies, the 5GB free tier is now nothing less than an embarrassment …

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Update: It’s now been confirmed that the change made to the keyboard design appears primarily intended to improve reliability, with quieter typing a side-effect. An Apple internal document provides definitive confirmation.

One of the things Apple mentioned almost in passing in yesterday’s 2018 MacBook Pro announcement is that it had an improved keyboard. Apple had only seven words to say about it:

improved third-generation keyboard for quieter typing

But two things seem obvious …

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A Counterpoint blog post today questions whether the planned ‘massive overhaul’ of Apple Maps is too little, too late.

This brings me to my key point — that map making, map data collection and keeping maps up-to-date, is an expensive and unending task […]

Apple will have to pour in hundreds of millions of dollars every year to collect, parse and integrate maps, transit and traffic data. Further, having Apple Maps cars equipped with expensive LiDAR, 360 cameras gear and drive hundreds of thousands of miles globally will still take Apple years to perfect the maps at a global scale […]

In summary, it could be a little too late for Apple to build maps content from the ground-up.

For a company which boasts of saying no a thousand times for every time it says yes, Apple Maps always seemed like a strange project to green-light, but I think there were a couple of reasons for it …

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I said back in February that my experience of HomePod had made me feel optimistic about a report that Apple was working on ‘studio quality’ over-ear headphones.

Apple hasn’t exactly made a name for itself for headphone quality, either through its own-brand EarPods and AirPods, or through the Beats-branded products it has promoted since buying the company […]

But my experience of HomePod gives me a very different perspective on this. Sure, I’m still not expecting the audio quality of any Apple headphones to rival that of my favorite B&W P5 Wireless, but the company has demonstrated itself capable of dramatically stepping up its audio game.

And today’s report increases that feeling of optimism …

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Looking at Apple’s recent history of new product launches, it seems that delays are the norm rather than the exception.

AirPods were originally promised for late October 2016, and actually went on sale in mid-December. HomePod was announced in June 2017, promised for December 2017, and wasn’t actually available until February 2018. In both cases, Apple missed the all-important holiday gift season, which undoubtedly hurt launch sales.

The Mac Pro isn’t technically late, as the company said only that it would go on sale ‘after 2017,’ but it was announced in April 2017 and a year later Apple said it would be sometime in 2019 – which is a lengthy wait by anyone’s standards.

Then there’s AirPower …

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One of the changes Apple has made in iOS 12 is much tighter protection against devices designed to brute-force iPhone passcodes. Unless the device has been unlocked within the past hour, the USB port will be restricted to charging, requiring the phone to be unlocked before it will permit data access.

From much of the reporting on this, you could easily get the impression that Apple’s aim here is to thwart law enforcement investigations – and that simply isn’t the case …

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CNET has a piece today listing five things it thinks Apple needs to do with the Mac line-up this year. Alongside sorting out the butterfly keyboard issues, allowing a sneak-peek at the Mac Pro, updating the MacBook Air and offering one non-USB-C port on MacBooks, Dan Ackerman asks for … one more thing.

Make the Touch Bar truly optional. It’s not a universally adopted control interface, and plenty of Mac users either don’t care for it or don’t feel they need it.

The least expensive 13-inch MacBook Pro without the Touch Bar is a full $500 less than the least expensive 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar (yes, there are CPU and storage differences as well). The 15-inch MacBook Pro, however, is only available with the Touch Bar. I’d wager that many potential shoppers would jump at a chance to shave a few hundred dollars off a 15-inch Pro that skipped the high-concept Touch Bar …

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A report back in early April suggested that Apple was working on a triple-lens iPhone for release in 2019. Taiwan’s Economic Daily News reported that the third lens would provide additional zoom capability of up to 5x optical magnification.

That rumor is back, this time thanks to a Deutsche Securities analyst …

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Europe’s tough new privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), came into force today. It provides the strongest protections the world has ever seen for customer and user data.

Even Apple – a company famed for its respect for customer privacy – had to strengthen its safeguards in order to meet the extremely high standards set by GDPR. But while the law only applies to European Union citizens, Apple and some other companies have said that they plan to roll out the same privacy standards worldwide …

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I’m with Tim Cook in thinking that augmented reality (AR) is far more exciting and relevant than virtual reality (VR).

VR has its uses, of course, but the need to wear a headset is a significant limitation. To me, VR is something you use at a specific time for a specific purpose, whether it’s playing a game or looking around a virtual representation of a building.

AR, in contrast, is something I think could become a much more integrated part of our lives. But it only makes sense if AR transforms the experience. Too many AR apps are, in my view, just gimmicks …

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Case maker Olixar created quite a stir yesterday when it started selling screen covers based on what it believes is the design of the next-generation iPhone SE.

It illustrated this with a render that shows a classic iPhone SE casing updated with a full-screen display and iPhone X style notch. It’s not the first time we’ve seen the concept, of course, but Olixar was sufficiently convinced to throw some money at it …

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Tim Cook yesterday tweeted in celebration of 20 years of iMac.

20 years ago today, Steve introduced the world to iMac. It set Apple on a new course and forever changed the way people look at computers.

Even twenty years later, I still like the design of the original iMac. In fact, despite not being a desktop guy, I love all the various iterations of iMac designs through the years …

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I’ve written on a couple of occasions about how Apple’s approach to Siri differs from the intelligent assistants offered by Amazon and Google.

The tl;dr version is that Apple has gone all-in on privacy, while Google takes the ‘hoover up as much data as possible’ approach, and Amazon has opened up Alexa to, well, anyone who wants to make it do something.

But while Apple’s privacy focus explains some of Siri’s limited abilities, it doesn’t excuse them all. HomePod brought Siri’s limitations into sharp focus, and the upcoming introduction of Siri to two new products will further increase the pressure for a smarter Siri …

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Apple had plenty of good news yesterday. Revenue, profit and iPhone sales were all up. Any doubts about the iPhone X were pretty firmly laid to rest. ‘Other’ products – which includes Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePod – set a new record, at almost $4B sales. Services grew 31% to hit another all-time record.

But when you look at what Apple said about that Other products category, there was one notable omission …

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Back in 2015, I gave my view of how I’d revamp the MacBook line-up. Leaving aside the specific sizes, based on a then-rumor that never panned out, I suggested that it didn’t make sense to retain three categories.

It seemed to me untidy to have a range which ran MacBook Air then MacBook then MacBook Pro. Assuming the reports of this year’s MacBook Air are broadly correct, things could potentially get even messier this year.

Already, the smallest laptop sits in the middle of the price range, but the rumors say this year’s MacBook Air will have a Retina display and a ‘slim design.’ If the new MacBook Air gets slimmer, and it gets a Retina display, then why would anyone pay $1299 for a MacBook rather than $899 for a MacBook Air with a slightly bigger screen … ?

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Apple’s announcement that it is discontinuing its AirPort product line wasn’t exactly a surprise. As we noted earlier, Bloomberg reported back in 2016 that Apple had disbanded the team responsible for its wireless routers, and we first spotted the company selling third-party ones.

But while it isn’t a surprise, I do think it’s the wrong decision – and a particularly ill-timed one …

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Yesterday I finished reading A Higher Loyalty, the book written by former FBI director James Comey.

I did manage to resist the temptation to jump ahead to the juicy bits, and my patience was rewarded: a lot of what he says about his interactions with President Trump and his administration are a lot more meaningful when placed into the context of what comes before. Especially the contrast with his relationship – or lack of it – with the Obama administration.

But it was the brief section dealing with the FBI’s infamous battle with Apple which stood out for me …

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A Bloomberg report suggests that Apple has lowered sales forecasts and reduced orders for the HomePod. The report was based on data from Slice Intelligence indicating that sales were strong at launch but rapidly tailed off.

The headline number in the report did seem to support the contention that the HomePod is selling poorly.

Three weeks after the launch, weekly HomePod sales slipped to about 4 percent of the smart speaker category on average.

But that gives a rather misleading impression, for six reasons …

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Apple yesterday announced a really impressive achievement: its entire global operations are now 100% powered by renewable energy. That encompasses everything from retail stores and local offices through data centers to its Apple Park campus.

Unlike many companies, Apple doesn’t cheat by buying offsets.

“You could go out and buy carbon credits and offsets–nope,” says Jackson firmly. “You could go out and wait for other people to do projects and say ‘Can I have some of that please? How much will you charge me for some of your clean energy?’ No.”

Last time it updated us, the figure was 96%. When you don’t cheat, getting there with that last few percent is a far bigger achievement than it might sound, and I think Apple deserves every credit for this …

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Getting a conventional doctor’s appointment can be one of life’s more annoying experiences. In the UK, at least, you can’t always get one at short notice unless it’s an emergency. You may not be able to get a convenient time-slot. And you’ll often have to take time off work to travel perhaps an hour or more round-trip for a consultation lasting ten minutes.

Video consultations have been available for some time, but it’s only recently – thanks to a trial here in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) – that I got around to trying it for myself. And I’m sold …

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