Opinion pieces & commentary

For years now, Google hasn’t seemed particularly interested in the tablet market, but yesterday the company announced that it’s working on what might be the company’s first real iPad alternative – a new Pixel tablet due for launch sometime next year.

Apple getting some serious iPad competition could be just the thing we need to finally spur the company into taking iPadOS more seriously, and having the software catch up with the hardware …

We’ve been seeing growing interest in the formation of Apple Store unions by retail staff, frustrated by stagnant wages at a time of rising inflation, or other working conditions issues.

The prospect of unionization is one which often fills management with fear. This isn’t surprising given the confrontational nature of most management-union relationships. But there is a much more cooperative model out there, and Apple currently has a golden opportunity to adopt it …

Apple’s antitrust mess keeps getting worse, with today’s Apple Pay announcement as the latest example. The company is now under fire on so many flanks in so many countries that it spends half its PR life trying to defend its stance – and legislation is ultimately going to force it to change anyway.

To me, the most baffling thing about the company’s stubbornness on this issue is that the mess could so easily be resolved, and my bet is that it wouldn’t even cost the company much money.

Studio Display webcam complaints were one of the standout things from early product reviews. The WSJ’s Joanna Stern took the turn-of-phrase prize for her description of the image quality, describing it as reminiscent of the camera on a BlackBerry.

The complaints were allayed for a time, when it appeared that the issue could be fixed in software, but are back with a vengeance now that we know that’s not the case …

A rumored new MacBook Air design looks set to see the biggest shakeup to the look of Apple’s cutest laptop since it was launched in 2008.

If the reports are true, it strikes me as a doubly clever move by Apple: a new look that will appeal to many, and encourage them to update, while being actively off-putting to others, effectively pushing them to buy a MacBook Pro even if they don’t need the power …

Messaging interoperability – in which it would be possible to send a message to someone without knowing or caring which chat service they use – finally made it into the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.

It was one of the most controversial elements of the upcoming legislation, with some arguing that it would be a technological nightmare to implement, and others that it would benefit both startups and consumers …

A new report yesterday said that Apple is working on a new 15-inch MacBook Air, for potential release in 2023.

There are no further details at this stage, but to me such a machine makes a huge amount of sense, and could be the perfect MacBook model for many users …

The Ukraine crisis has cast a new spotlight on an issue I’ve been raising for several years now: Apple’s unsustainable dependence on China.

With Russia, Apple can afford to take a stand against the country, and it is doing so. It has suspended sales in the country; stopped all exports to Russia; blocked access to state media apps from outside the country; disabled live info in Apple Maps; is donating to humanitarian work; and is effectively tripling employee donations …

The Apple system status page is best known not for displaying the actual status of Apple services, but rather a pageful of green indicators that only change once a problem is so widespread and severe that the company can no longer hide it.

I mean, I get it. There will always be minor and temporary glitches affecting a tiny number of people, and it’s not realistic for Apple to update the page to reflect each one of these. But I think there’s no denying the fact that the page currently has its own reality distortion field …

On Thursday, CNBC reported that fitness unicorn Peloton was in dire straits. The company saw its value plummet on the news that they were “temporarily halting production of its connected fitness products as consumer demand wanes.” As the pandemic starts to move to the back of many minds, there’s been a significant drop in the number of people looking to buy expensive home workout equipment. Because of this, the idea of Apple purchasing Peloton has come back up. It has lingered for awhile, but now the idea is gaining more traction in the press. I think everyone needs to cool their jets.

We noted yesterday that the abandonment of Apple Watch apps continues.

We can officially add Uber to the long list of major brands that have abandoned their Apple Watch apps. The ride-sharing company has quietly discontinued its watchOS app, displaying a brief message to users who try to launch it. Uber joins Twitter, Instagram, Target, Trello, Slack, Hulu, Evernote, and many other companies that have sunset their Apple Watch apps.

It’s a trend that doesn’t surprise me, because I think too many companies based their apps on an unrealistic idea of how most people use their Watch …

Folding phones have been one of the first significant form factor changes to smartphones for some time – but Apple has so far resisted the temptation to join the party.

That’s no surprise: the company’s modus operandi with new developments is to wait and watch as other companies launch their versions, then aim to leapfrog them with a version that does it right …

Apple’s ecosystem is perhaps the most valuable asset the company possesses, after its brand, so eyebrows were raised when Google yesterday announced plans to replicate many of the key elements of that ecosystem.

While some Apple fans were outraged at what they saw as blatant copying of Apple features, my view is that this is good news for Android and iPhone users alike …

A new Kuo report yesterday suggested that we can expect new AirPods with lossless audio support – more specifically, an AirPods Pro 2 model that allows users to listen to ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec).

This was given additional weight by Apple’s AirPods lead hinting to What HiFi that the company may have plans for achieving the wireless bandwidth needed for lossless audio. However, while I do think this is a likely development, I don’t think we should get too excited about it …

Apple hasn’t made an affordable high quality external display since 2016 when they retired the final iteration of the Thunderbolt Display. The company has a long history of offering the best possible mass market monitors for notebooks and desktops, dating back to the late 90s or the early days of the Studio Display. Apple’s made a lot of weird decisions over the past decade and this certainly falls under that category. Now that the company has started to reboot the Mac and meet the needs of clamoring customers, it’s time for them to step up and make the display we actually need.

It’s time for my Apple Report Card 2021 – a personal view of how the company performed this year, taking into account everything from product launches to issues impacting the company’s reputation.

When it comes to new products, it could be argued that 2021 was more of a continuation year rather than one in which we saw anything completely new (beyond AirTag), but I think that doesn’t really do justice to the importance of some of the product developments we did see …

Companies large and small have had to rethink their office-based work plans, with many opting for a remote working compromise. Google recently pushed back its own return-to-office plans, and its own deal is similar to that of Apple, but with a bit more flexibility.

While Apple appears unlikely to have a major rethink about its stance, it did last month offer one additional concession, and it strikes me that extending this could be a win-win for company and employees alike …

When the Wall Street Journal published its post the other day declaring that wired EarPods were back in style, I wasn’t even remotely surprised. In fact, I’ve always thought it was inevitable that once AirPods were fully democratized, younger generations would find them to be uncool. We’ve seen it happen time and time again with other technologies, the most popular reference being to Facebook and its now much older demographic. So yes, wired earbuds are trendy again. But what does that mean for the industry and culture at large?

Today has seen another Apple PR fail as the company has, once again, waited until forced to act – this time over Right to Repair pressure. The company has finally now accepted that consumers should be allowed to repair their own Apple kit, including the very latest and most complex devices.

Apple’s previous resistance has been widely seen as both greedy, and inconsistent with the company’s environmental stance. Many repairs are simply not worth doing at official Apple prices, making it more likely that consumers will simply dispose of broken devices and buy new ones.

If there’s one complaint I’ve heard more than any other this week it’s this: Why is there no MacBook Pro Face ID feature in the notch?

Views on the notch itself have been mixed, but one recurring comment has been that it would have been better justified if it had contained Face ID.

A new report today offers a claimed look at Apple’s 2022 iMac plans, namely to prioritize quality over quantity when it comes to the display. The report says that Apple is sticking to 27 inches for next year’s iMac, but will offer the same display tech used in the just-launched MacBook Pro models.

This contradicts expectations of a 32-inch iMac, which would seem the obvious next step for a couple of reasons …