Opinion pieces & commentary

The $64,000 question of the moment seems to be: How well (or badly) is the iPhone 8 selling?

We’ve been hearing conflicting answers. A KGI report stated that the iPhone 8 Plus, at least, was selling better than expected. Foxconn financials also seemed to support that idea.

But there have been more negative reports than positive ones. AT&T said that it had seen almost 1M fewer upgrades this year. A carrier store survey suggested more people were buying last year’s iPhone 7 than the iPhone 8. A major Canadian carrier said iPhone 8 sales have been anemic. And a supply chain source claims that Apple has ordered its iPhone 8 suppliers to cut production in half.

I tend to side with those who think the iPhone 8 is selling poorly. But far from considering that bad news, I think it’s a clear indication that iPhone X sales are going to be far better than expected …

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It’s well known that Apple puts a lot of energy and focus into creating an amazing user experience with its products and services, and this can be seen in many ways across Apple’s ecosystem of hardware and software. However, one area where Apple has continued to offer a sub par experience is the charging solution it includes with its iPhones.

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Music has been part of Apple’s soul since the launch of the iPod almost 16 years ago. Launched with the slogan ‘a thousand songs in your pocket,’ it’s no exaggeration to say that the device transformed the way we listen to music. It also transformed Apple into a major mobile device manufacturer, and laid the ground work for the iPhone.

Fast-forward to today, and Apple still places a huge emphasis on music. Its largest ever acquisition was the $3B it paid to buy Beats in 2014. The Beats Music service became Apple Music, a streaming service which has grown to 30M paid subscribers.

Apple’s move into exclusive video content also has a strong emphasis on music documentaries.

But there’s still one odd omission from the company’s music offerings …

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One of the things I like about Apple is the company’s strong commitment to privacy. By making its money from hardware and chargeable services, it doesn’t need to rely much on advertising, and it can therefore afford to take a strong stand on the issue.

Indeed, the legal tussle with the FBI over the San Bernardino shooting was probably one of the best pieces of PR for the company. It demonstrated that Apple felt so strongly about protecting the privacy of its customers that it was willing to take on the might of the U.S. government.

Taking on the advertising industry is likely even better PR, but while I generally applaud Apple’s attitude, I think in one particular case, it is actually taking things too far: Intelligent Tracking Prevention in High Sierra …

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When the Apple Watch Series 3 was unveiled on Tuesday, all the attention was on the new LTE connectivity added to the latest model. But to my mind the far more significant announcement was something which will shortly be available on all Apple Watch models: the new heart-rate monitoring coming with watchOS 4.

There were four elements to this development, and I fully expect more to follow further down the line …

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Update: While some suggested this might just be a demo mode thing, that approves anything vaguely resembling a face, CNET confirmed on its review unit that the device is indeed fooled by photos.

We tried it on our own Note 8, and sure enough, it’s still possible to fool it with a flat photo. A Samsung rep tells CNET that the company’s guidance remains the same: You’ll want to use the fingerprint sensor or iris scanner for security, and should view facial recognition as a convenient alternative to the simple swipe-to-unlock gesture.

While Apple’s detractors often criticise Apple for hyping features already seen in competitor devices, the Cupertino company doesn’t just follow the market. In particular, it tends to assess which features do and don’t make sense, and then aim to make the best possible version of the ones that do.

The sense of this approach appears to have again been illustrated by not just one but two Samsung devices …

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A report yesterday suggested that the wireless charging capability expected to be included in the iPhone 8 will be limited to 7.5W, compared to the maximum 15W supported by the latest Qi 1.2 standards. This would mean that the device would charge half as fast as the latest tech would allow.

It’s also said that Apple’s system, though based on Qi, will be tweaked so that only Apple-approved charging pads can be used.

Although that’s not ideal – standards compatibility is generally (but not always) a good thing, and faster charging is obviously better than slow – I wouldn’t find it surprising if it were true, nor do I think it’ll prove to be a big deal …

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The decision of the popular writing app Ulysses to switch from a one-off purchase to a monthly or annual subscription has attracted a great deal of criticism. Here’s a sprinkling of views from the comments.

Subscribe to a text editor? I’m out.

I bought this on iOS last week. As far as I’m concerned, that was a total waste of money now they’re moving to this subscription model.

This “rent your software” crap needs to stop, and people need to stop defending it.

Ulysses is a great app and I wish the developers all the best, but I’m out, looking for alternatives.

Read: “Popular iOS and Mac writing app Ulysses Digs Its Own Grave and Gets In”

The company, of course, has its own rationale …

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The iPhone 8 dummy model industry is hitting its peak production a month or so ahead of the real thing. We’re seeing a rapidly-growing number of photos and videos of these impressively-detailed dummy devices to go along with the renders and mockups of the screen.

Let me start by admitting I’m biased where bezels are concerned …

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Bloomberg last week reported that Apple is planning to launch an LTE version of the Apple Watch last year. John Gruber then suggested that a new form factor was also in the works – though he later added a sentence somewhat walking back the idea.

That tidbit came from an unconfirmed little birdie, though, so I wouldn’t bet the house on it.

But assuming there is actually a new form factor on the way, the natural assumption would be that it would be that we’re discussing the same model. A new top-of-the-range Watch with both LTE functionality and a new design. That is the most likely bet, but I could see a second possibility here …

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If there’s one certainty in life where Apple is concerned, it’s that it targets the premium end of the market. Apple would tell you that it aims to make the best products, and that these cost money to make. A more cynical observer might say that Apple aims to make the highest margins and makes the products (and adds the marketing) it takes to achieve this.

But either way, the company has always targeted those customers willing to pay the big bucks for premium products. That approach has meant that while Samsung sells almost twice as many smartphones as Apple, it’s the Cupertino company that hoovers up almost 80% of the total profits in the industry.

But there are signs that Apple may be broadening its horizons …

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I wrote yesterday that Apple’s Q4 guidance would give a big clue about iPhone 8 timing, but that it might not be easy to decode.

I said that one of the three possible scenarios would give the clearest steer: a guidance range significantly higher than normal for a ‘tock’ year. In that event, it would send a clear message that the iPhone 8 will go on sale in September, with at least enough availability to show up in the financials.

And that’s where I think we’re at, even if the numbers are not high enough to absolutely guarantee it …

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President Trump claimed in a WSJ interview that Tim Cook has promised to build three large manufacturing plants in the U.S. – without specifying when this might happen, where they might be located or what they might make.

“I spoke to [Mr. Cook], he’s promised me three big plants—big, big, big,” Mr. Trump said as part of a discussion about business-tax reform and business investment. “I said you know, Tim, unless you start building your plants in this country, I won’t consider my administration an economic success. He called me, and he said they are going forward.”

But there is every reason to doubt this, no persuasive reason to believe it – and little basis for believing it would matter much even if it were true …

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We’ve been hearing all kinds of speculation about when the iPhone 8 might go on sale. I think we’ve now had at least one guesstimate for every month from October through to January of next year.

But JP Morgan yesterday suggested that the iPhone 8 (or iPhone Pro, as they dub it) will appear on time in September, just in constrained volumes. Specifically, JP Morgan predicts that around 2M units will be available in September.

To me, this seems the most credible of all the reports to date …

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The Clips app that Apple announced back in March and launched in April doesn’t exactly seem to have set the world on fire.

Apple’s description made it seem simple and fun to use:

Clips is a new app for making fun videos to share with friends, family, and the world. With a few taps you can create and send a video message or tell a quick story with animated text, graphics and emoji, music, and more.

The reviews, however, disagreed …

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John Gruber has succinctly summarised my own doubts about claims that Apple is still in the process of making hardware decisions about the iPhone 8 at this late stage. In particular, that no final decision has yet been made about whether or not to include Touch ID, or replace it altogether with face-recognition.

I think it’s bonkers to think that Apple is still working on hardware decisions like this in the middle of July […] Hardware doesn’t work like that. Many of the decisions related to the hardware on this year’s new iPhones were made two years ago …

Although there have been multiple rumors of a delayed launch for the iPhone 8, these have been in the order of weeks or – at worst – a month or two …

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There’s been much speculation about the price of the iPhone 8. There have long been reports that the price may exceed $1000 – and even those who think it won’t quite reach this level do expect it to be very close.

When we wondered whether a thousand dollars might be a psychological barrier, there were mixed views. Fewer than 15% of you said you’d ‘happily’ pay a 4-figure sum. Around 30% of you said you’d reluctantly pay it, and almost half said that was just too much.

But John Gruber has been stirring up speculation that the price may be even higher …

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There’s an old maxim that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, meaning that anything which appears to be free will have a hidden cost somewhere.

In the tech sector, ‘free’ services generally operate using one of two different business models. The first is ad-funded, where – as the more recently-coined saying has it – you’re the product, not the customer. Some cheat the system by using ad-blockers, but most of us recognize that someone has to pay the bills, and accept exposure to ads as fair exchange for the benefit we receive.

The other model is the upsell, where you get a basic service free of charge but the company hopes to persuade you to pay for access to more features or storage. This again can be fair enough, but one company has just taken a particularly underhand approach to this …

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The debate as to whether an iPad could be a viable laptop replacement continues, with a Twitter thread today a good example. The Outline’s Joshua Topolsky is a strong nay-sayer.

Couple of tweets about the new iPad and iOS 11. It is inferior to a laptop in almost every way, unless you like to draw. If you think you can replace you laptop with this setup: you cannot. Imagine a computer, but everything works worse than you expect. That is the new iPad […]

This doesn’t come close to replacing your laptop, even for simple things you do, like email. And one other thing. Apple’s keyboard cover is a [retracted] atrocity.

He acknowledges that iOS 11 is a step in the right direction, but suggests it’s a small step …

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In a Computer History Museum interview this week, Scott Forstall was unapologetic about the skeuomorphic designs used in early iOS versions – the famous leather, paper and metal textures used to make on-screen elements look like real-world objects.

Disagreements between Forstall and design head Jony Ive on the look of iOS were believed to have been one of the reasons for him leaving the company back in 2012 …

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Apple has now implemented a controversial change to the way it handles cash ‘tips’ sent to content providers through social media apps in China. It is treating them as in-app purchases, and taking a 30% cut.

Apple’s point of view makes perfect sense in the USA. It argues that a donation from a user to a content creator is no different to an in-app purchase. Indeed, in the original news piece, many commenters took issue with the use of the word ‘donation,’ saying that this is suggestive of a contribution to a charitable cause rather than to an individual.

But it is this which highlights the cultural gulf between the two countries …

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