Opinion pieces & commentary

The idea that ‘Apple is doomed’ has been a constant refrain from some quarters throughout the decades, and has been given something of a boost during the coronavirus crisis.

First, there was the opening quarter of the year – Apple’s fiscal Q2. There was a dramatic difference between Apple’s original guidance and the actual numbers …

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Apple famously says no a thousand times for every time it says yes, and if there’s one thing the company has been saying “no” to more often than anything else, it’s a touchscreen Mac.

But some are suggesting that the new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro — which setup Apple describes as “a computer” — amounts to the company tacitly endorsing the idea of a touchscreen laptop…

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Apple’s HomePod has faced two consistent criticisms right from the start.

First, people said, it’s the dumbest of the smart speakers — that both Amazon Echo and Google Home speakers can do more.

Second, it was said to be way too expensive. If you want a smart speaker, the thinking went, you could get an Amazon Echo Dot for $50, and sometimes as little as half that during promotions. Why pay Apple $349 then (and $299 now)?

Hearing both criticisms repeated recently, I couldn’t let it pass…

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Apple yesterday announced what it calls the new iPhone SE. The latest budget iPhone is many things. It’s a great upgrade for owners of the iPhone 6. It’s a lot of phone for an affordable price. It’s an efficient way for Apple to offer a ‘new’ phone with minimal retooling. It’s a smart business move in an uncertain economy.

What it is not, however, is an iPhone SE …

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If there’s one thing that’s become abundantly clear since Apple and Google’s API partnership, it’s that the coronavirus contact tracing privacy protections need to be spelled out in terms that non-technical people (even POTUS) can understand.

The two companies have gone to pains to explain that privacy was top priority in the design of the application programming interface, but mainstream media reports and conversations with non-techy friends have made it obvious that many don’t understand why apps that use this can be trusted …

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I should start by making it absolutely clear that I am of course not suggesting in this piece that the coronavirus outbreak was a good thing. It was a terrible thing. Many have died, many more have suffered extremely unpleasant illnesses, many have lost loved ones. If I could wave a magic wand and erase it from history, I’d do that in a heartbeat.

Nor am I suggesting that there is any equivalence between the terrible harm done and the possible good that may emerge. Nothing can come anywhere close to the pain of losing a loved one; any positive effects pale in comparison.

But with that made clear, we may see some silver linings …

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Various people have suggested in the past that Apple should allow FaceTime for Android and Windows, in an attempt to make it the default standard for consumer video calls. That idea gained new impetus when Apple launched the Group FaceTime function for calls between up to 32 people.

But the coronavirus outbreak has taken consumer group videoconferencing to a whole new level. Back in February, most non-techies had never done it in their lives. Fast-forward to now, and Zoom conferences are a completely normal thing for everyone …

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In February, as the coronavirus pandemic spread further and faster it became clear that Apple was likely going to have to cancel its traditional WWDC plans. That did happen with Apple offering a positive spin last week for an all-new “online experience” that more developers than ever could participate in.

However, just a week later with the pandemic growing, Google has fully called off its I/O developer conference that was also pivoting to an online model and scheduled for May as the state of California has moved to a shelter in place order. So the next question is inevitable, is it feasible for Apple to pull off a web-based WWDC even though it’s not until June?

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There had been much speculation about whether or not we’d see a March event. As it turns out, the coronavirus would have put paid to that anyway, but the new MacBook Air and iPad Pro Magic Keyboard announced today would absolutely have justified one.

Life used to be very simple when friends asked me for recommendations on which laptop to buy…

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The ongoing discussion about the increasing convergence of iPads and Macs got a boost this week when we exclusively revealed dramatically improved mouse support in iOS 14/iPadOS 14.

According to code seen by 9to5Mac, Apple is set to roll out rich system-wide support for mouse cursors with iOS 14. Apple added rudimentary compatibility with external mice in iOS 13 Accessibility settings, but iOS 14 (iPadOS 14) will make it mainstream […]

The changes coming to the software will bring most of the cursor features you recognize from a Mac desktop experience to iOS…

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Apple’s reliance (some would say over-reliance) on China has been a hotly-debated topic for some time. The company’s efforts to boost Apple production outside China have never been of greater interest than now, however, when the coronavirus outbreak is having a substantial impact inside the country.

India has been one of the countries making a concerted effort to win more of Apple’s manufacturing business, but a couple of reports have highlighted some of the challenges to making this a workable option …

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It’s time for Apple to give us a larger iMac.

The company first launched a 27-inch iMac in 2009. Following on from earlier 17-, 20-, 21.5- and 24-inch models, it seemed huge at the time!

But it’s not 2009 anymore. We now live in a world where 34-inch monitors are commonplace, 40-inch ones are not unusual – and there are even 49-inch models around, from Dell, LG , and Samsung. Alongside these, the iMac display, impressive as it is in terms of resolution, looks cramped …

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A report yesterday indicated that Apple is planning to release a Smart Keyboard with trackpad for the iPad.

Apple is planning to release an iPad keyboard accessory later this year that will include a built-in trackpad, the latest step in its effort to position the tablet device as an alternative to laptop computers, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company will likely release the accessory alongside the next version of the iPad Pro expected later this year, the person added.

Our poll suggests huge interest in the idea …

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A Bloomberg report says Apple is considering allowing iPhone and iPad users to choose third-party default iOS apps for things like email and web-browsing.

Currently, you can use third-party apps, of course, but as we explained earlier, you can’t set them as the defaults.

It is not possible for the user to tell iOS that it prefers the third-party browser over Safari; any tapped links will open in Safari every single time. Similarly, there are many competing email apps in the App Store but shortcuts to composing a new email will only ever show the system Mail compose sheet …

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We learned yesterday that the California Supreme Court ruled against Apple in a bag search case: deciding whether or not the company has to pay retail workers for the time spent for their bags to be checked at the end of their shifts.

Staff had complained that they not only had to remain in the store for the time taken by the search itself but could be waiting around up to 45 minutes in the queue for the search – all of which time was unpaid…

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Apple Pay revenue hasn’t gotten much attention so far. The most valuable role Apple Pay plays for the Cupertino company is further lock-in to the ecosystem.

Once you’ve experienced the convenience of Apple Watch payments in particular, and know the security you get from the use of Apple Pay on any device, it’s not something you’ll want to give up. (Sure, there’s Google Pay and Samsung Pay too, but it still adds friction to switching platforms.)

But a news report yesterday prompted me to do some back-of-an-envelope calculations, and I reckon Apple’s mobile wallet service is rapidly headed toward becoming a multi-billion dollar revenue stream…

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Malwarebytes is out with a new report in which it states that Mac malware is growing faster than that for Windows.

For the first time ever, Macs outpaced Windows PCs in number of threats detected per endpoint […]

In total, we saw approximately 24 million Windows adware detections and 30 million Mac detections.

That’s getting a lot of headlines today, but there are three key things that need to be understood…

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There was an interesting concept last week, exploring possible improvements to multitasking on iPad.

The argument made by Ryan Christoffel was that the multitasking capabilities of an iPad lack discoverability, and are unnecessarily hard to use even once you know how they work.

I think he’s absolutely right, and I like his context menu idea. However, I also think we shouldn’t necessarily be reinventing the wheel when it comes to a multitasking user interface…

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It was reported earlier this week that we might see an Apple wireless charger after all, despite the AirPower debacle.

Some have suggested this isn’t a great idea, simply reminding everyone of Apple’s failure to deliver what it originally promised: a single charging mat that allowed you to charge iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch by laying them anywhere on the device. Compared to that, an ordinary wireless charger would be a massive climbdown – and what’s the point anyway when everyone makes them… ?

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Subscription apps have been one of most controversial developments over the past few years. Developers love the model, because it gives them that most valuable of things: recurring revenue. That not only provides a more secure personal income, but also enables them to fund ongoing development that should see users enjoy regular updates.

But while developers love subscription apps, many users hate them. No matter how much they may like the app and understand the rationale, there’s growing unease at the way the costs add up…

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