Opinion pieces & commentary

I’ve commented before on Apple’s rather messy iPhone lineup. The company currently sells the iPhone SE, the iPhone 6s, the iPhone 7, the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X. Given the Plus model variations, and ignoring colors and storage capacities, that’s eight different phones across four different sizes.

If we ignore the relatively minor form factor differences between the iPhone 6s, 7 and 8, that’s also three different designs.

But KGI’s predictions of what we can expect this fall, reiterated today, would make for a much more sensible lineup …

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One of the biggest shake-ups to the way that consumers manage their finances launched in the UK this weekend. Known as Open Banking, it means that you’ll no longer be limited to using whatever apps your bank chooses to make available, but can instead manage your accounts from a wide variety of third-party apps.

It’s been possible for some time to use third-party apps to analyse your spending, and even perform some financial transactions, but right now in the USA, anything with access to your accounts relies on partnerships agreed by your bank. You can use the apps your bank wants you to, but not others. For example, Chase partners with Intuit and Wells Fargo with Xero and Finicity, but the choice of app is up to your bank, rather than you.

That’s what Open Banking changes …

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One of the largest Internet advertising companies yesterday told the Guardian that Apple’s implementation of Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) in Safari would result in a loss of revenue amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

ITP doesn’t block ads, but instead blocks cross-site tracking – a method used by advertisers to serve ads based on your interests by gearing them to the types of website you visit. The ad industry argues that this enables ads to be more relevant to consumers, while Apple argues that it represents an intrusion into the browsing privacy of its customers …

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Apple’s HomePod is set to arrive sometime in ‘early 2018’ after missing its promised December ship date. Based on Apple’s definition of ‘early’ in the year, we can expect HomePod to go on sale any day between now and the end of April.

The smart speaker landscape has changed dramatically since HomePod’s unveil last June however. Missing the holiday quarter certainly wasn’t ideal for Apple, but the real shift is new competition from products that offer similar solutions to HomePod.

The market for HomePod with its premium price and limited skill set would be a challenge for Apple with just one of those factors, but combine the delay with new competitors and the challenge is only amplified: lower prices, wider compatibility, and a late entry to the market will make the $349 Siri-enabled speaker a tougher sell for Apple without a refocused pitch.

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This time last year, I gave my end-of-year report card for Apple’s 2016 performance – and it’s time now for the 2017 version.

Last year, there were some controversial decisions, with two key products getting more attention for what they omitted rather than what they offered: the loss of the headphone socket in the iPhone 7, and most ports in the MacBook Pro. Both now feel like very old news. As I wrote at the time, while there may be much discussion at the time, people do quickly get used to changing standards.

2017 has been an interesting year …

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Apple caused a furore yesterday when it admitted that it deliberately slows down older iPhones.

The issue first came to the fore with a Reddit thread, which showed a significant difference in performance on the same device when fitted with old and new batteries. Geekbench founder, John Poole, confirmed the phenomenon, and developer Guilherme Rambo subsequently identified the code that controlled it.

Apple then confirmed the facts, and explained its reasons …

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There have long been rumors that Apple plans to eventually converge Macs and iOS devices into a single product line running the same operating system. I expressed my own concerns about this way back in 2013, though also listed some things from which we could draw reassurance.

Apple has consistently denied the rumors, Tim Cook doing so with a particularly striking phrase back in 2012.

You can converge a toaster and refrigerator, but these things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.

But yesterday’s news that Apple plans to support cross-platform apps that run on iPhone, iPad and Mac does raise a variation on this concern …

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When Apple finally put its iMac Pro on sale yesterday, there was a lot of discussion about the concept of a non-upgradable pro machine.

While the iMac Pro looks lovely, it’s hard to justify £5k+ on a non-upgradable machine.

iMac Pro looks neat, but I don’t fancy the idea of spending a kajillion dollars on a non-upgradable machine.

Apple releases their first VR capable, *non-upgradable*, computer *starting* at $4999 […] Who is this machine for?

I’m predisposed to share this view …

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In the entire history of operating system bugs, I don’t think there have been many bigger than the one reported this week. Allowing anyone with physical access to a Mac to login to it without a password is inexcusable; letting them in as root, so they have complete control of the machine and all accounts on it, is simply mind-boggling in its incompetence. Especially when the bug turns out to have been known for at least a couple of weeks.

We can at least take comfort in the fact that this bug wasn’t there for long, at least in the official release. But there have been smaller bugs and glitches that have literally lasted for years without being fixed.

I think it’s time for another Snow Leopard: a macOS update where the core focus is on security, stability and bug fixes rather than shiny new toys …

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Now that Apple has released the iPhone X, there are currently eight different iPhone models in the lineup. These include the SE, 6s and 6s Plus, 7 and 7 Plus, 8 and 8 Plus, and now the iPhone X. How does Apple intend to make sense of this if there are another three, possibly four, iPhones coming out next year? Here’s my proposal.

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We learned yesterday that the HomePod project has something of an interesting history. In particular, it appears to have been originally envisaged less as a gadget and more as HiFi.

The HomePod was originally a side project cooked up about five years ago by a group of Mac audio engineers, who wanted to create a speaker that sounded better than the ones sold by the likes of Bose, JBL and Harman Kardon […]

The engineers wanted a product that would past muster with audiophiles. Several members of the impromptu team hailed from big-name speaker makers

Reading this, I found myself wishing for what HomePod might have been rather than what it actually appears to be …

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One thing really jumped out at me yesterday reading Mashable’s early review of the iPhone X, and that was Apple’s response to a query by Lance Unlanoff.

One important limitation of Face ID: It only lets you register one face. That may strike many as unnecessarily limiting since Touch ID lets users register up to 10 [sic] fingerprints, but Apple says it found the number of people who register more than one person’s fingerprints is miniscule.

The idea that hardly anyone registers more than one person’s fingerprint didn’t ring true to me, and our poll shows that it’s not true for 9to5Mac users at least …

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They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and it looks to me like Apple may be doing just that with the delayed launch of the iPhone X. The company appears to be taking a new approach to marketing this year’s flagship phone.

Apple normally has a very regimented approach to the way they the press – and hence the public – get exposed to a new iPhone, with two distinct phases …

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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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