Beyond Devices Podcast

This week, we once again did our brief news roundup on several topic items, but then we spent the bulk of the time on Apple's fiscal Q1 2016 earnings, which came out earlier this week (and skipped our Question of the Week and Weekly Pick features). Our news roundup covered three items: the FCC's move to open up the cable set-top box market, the disclosure of what are purported to be Google's revenues from Android as part of the Oracle-Google court case, and insights from the earnings of the US wireless carriers. In our discussion of Apple's earnings, we covered the iPhone and guidance for the March quarter, what's going on with iPhone growth and when it's likely to turn around again. We talked about the significant foreign exchange impact Apple has been facing, and the fact that it's been forced to talk about it now that its growth has slowed dramatically. We discussed Apple Watch sales briefly, talked about China and India specifically, and also discussed the iPad, Mac, and the potential for new products in 2017. Lastly, we also covered Apple's new emphasis on its Services business and the power of its installed base (something Jan wrote about this week on the Beyond Devices blog). As ever, you'll find links to related content and more on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

This week, we again kick off with a quick roundup of a few news items, and we're feeling like this is probably how we'll start all our episodes going forward. One side effect is that many of our episodes will end up being a little shorter than before – closer to 45 minutes than an hour. This week, the three news topics we discussed up front were Netflix's earnings, reports that Apple is applying to open its own stores in India, and the launch on Wednesday morning of an updated GarageBand app for iOS as well as a new Music Memos app. We discuss each of these items briefly and highlight what we think are the most significant aspects. Our Question of the Week this week is about M&A activity in the video content world, and specifically whether big tech companies should expect to be able to fix their streaming video rights issues by acquiring media companies. The context here is the continuing reports that Time Warner might be for sale, and that big tech companies like Apple or Amazon might be buyers. Aaron dives deep for us on which assets are actually for sale, why someone might want them, and what else they'd get by buying one of these companies, as well as the potential downsides. Our last topic is a preview of Apple's earnings next week. We run through both what to expect and what to look for as Apple reports iPhone and iPad sales, highlights Apple Watch performance, and provides other tidbits for observers and analysts. As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, and this week Jan recommends a couple of game apps for iOS. As usual, you'll find links to related content and other useful stuff on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

We kick this week's episode off with a new format, which is a rapid-fire review of three news items from this week: IDC's new PC sales numbers for Q4, Buzzfeed's article about Apple removing itself as the sales middleman for iAd, and rumors that Time Warner is up for sale and both Amazon and Apple might be buyers. We've dropped our Question of the Week item for the past two episodes because we had so much else to talk about, but it's back this week with a review of Fitbit and why its share price has taken such a dive lately. Our final topic is the beta versions of updates to all of Apple's major software platforms this week, some of which involved fairly major updates somewhat uncharacteristic of Apple's point software releases. As ever, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this time around is a card game recommendation from Aaron. Links to many of the items we discussed along with Aaron's Weekly Pick and some other stuff are available on our website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

For our first episode of 2016, we focus mostly on CES and the announcements made there. Jan was there in person, while Aaron followed the news remotely. We discuss the following trends and products, among others: * The rise of USB-C * Cars, technology, and autonomous vehicles * Fitness and wearables – Fitbit Blaze and Withings Thermo * Drones * Virtual and augmented reality * Headphones, including Apple's reported moves here * 4K and Ultra High Definition plus HDR in TV sets. We also spend a few minutes specifically discussing Netflix's big international expansion news from CES, including Jan's post from this week about the possible financial implications. Lastly, we discuss the new App Store numbers Apple released this week and what they might mean. And, as always, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, a product recommendation. As usual, lots of relevant links and other information are available on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

For our final episode of the year, we decided to focus on our predictions for 2016. We kick off the episode with a review of three news items from the past few days: the Apple management changes announced on Thursday, December 17th; the recent Morgan Stanley report calling for lower iPhone sales; and the open-sourcing of Swift and the related interview of Craig Federighi by John Gruber. Following a roughly 15-minute roundup of these news items, we spend the rest of the time discussing our predictions for 2016, starting with our predictions for Apple's various product lines, and then broadening out to cover other industry trends and companies, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft. We hope you enjoy this last episode of 2015 – we'll be taking a break for the weeks of Christmas and the New Year, and will be back the week of CES, which Jan will be attending January 4-7. Enjoy the holidays and we'll see you in January! As ever, you can find related links and links to other formats for the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Our first topic this week is the reviews for Google's new Pixel C tablet, and what they signify about the state of Android. We also talk about the overall state of the tablet market and (the lack of) tablet-optimized operating systems. Our second topic is the decision by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan to give the bulk of their wealth to causes they care about, which is the subject of our Question of the Week, "Is the Zuckerberg announcement really philanthropic?" We tap into Aaron's expertise in the field of philanthropy and non-profit work to discuss the basics of various organizational structures and their tax implications, the pros and cons of the LLC structure the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has adopted, and whether the gift is likely to be beneficial to society. Our last topic is the reporting in the last 24 hours or so before we recorded to the effect that Apple may be shelving its TV service plans for the time being. As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a game recommendation from Aaron. As ever, you'll find links to things we discussed in this episode as well as other formats for the podcast itself on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

We kick off the discussion this week with a conversation about Clayton Christensen and his theory of disruptive innovation. Specifically, we talk about the recent controversy about whether his theory has a monopoly on the use and definition of the term disruption and its application in the technology market, and whether it even works and applies in the consumer technology market specifically. Our second topic is our Question of the Week, in which we discuss Apple's changing relationship with its resellers. Specifically, Aaron runs us through some of the differences this Thanksgiving shopping season compared with last year. The final topic is the change in leadership at Samsung's mobile division this past week, and what it might signify for the future of the business. As ever, we finish with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a handful of applications for the new Apple TV. As ever, relevant links and other information can be found on our website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

This week, we kick off our discussion with a review of what's happened over the last week or so with the Mac App Store, which suffered from a certificate-related bug that broke a number of apps previously downloaded from the store. We also use this as a jumping-off point for a broader discussion about the Mac App Store and the various other issues developers have been complaining about for some time now. Our second topic is our Question of the Week, which is about why Facebook has so many apps beyond the main Facebook app. This ties into a post Jan wrote on Techpinions last week (link in the show notes). Our third topic is the new dock Apple has just released for the Apple Watch in somewhat under-the-radar fashion, and again we broaden the discussion to cover Apple's strange history with docks for its products.

We kick off this week's episode with a discussion of the iPad Pro reviews that came out on Wednesday. We talk through the common themes – both the consistent gripes and the things that were consistently praised – as well as some of the unique things particular reviews picked up on. Our second topic is our Question of the Week, in which we pick up on a conversation we started last week around the Apple Watch and Apple TV and the prospects for these two devices. In particular, we talk about the total addressable market, the developer-related challenges each device faces, and the other constraints holding each device back, as well as the ultimate potential of each device. Lastly, we discuss cord-cutting, in the light of a post Jan wrote this week, and whether it's likely to accelerate. We also talk some more about Apple's potential TV service and how that might factor into all this.

On this week's episode, we kick off the discussion with Jan's thoughts on the new Apple TV, which he's been using for five days now, and broaden the conversation into a review of where it might go from here. Our second topic (starting at 25:35) is our Question of the Week, which is all about how the payments industry works, who the players are, where the money goes, and how new players such as Square, Apple, Google, and Samsung fit in. And our final topic (starting at 47:00) is Twitter's change this week to its Favorites feature, and what it says about Twitter's broader challenge of attracting new users while retain its existing ones. As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a movie recommendation from Jan.

This episode is devoted almost entirely to Apple's September quarter earnings (Apple's Fiscal 2015 fourth quarter, and calendar quarter Q3 2015). Following up on last week's preview episode, we discuss the guidance for next quarter and what it signifies, but also individual results for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch (such as we can glean them), and so on. We also discuss Tim Cook's remarks on China and Apple's rapidly-growing enterprise business. We wrap up the episode with a discussion of Mashable's excellent article on Apple's design process, based on interviews with Phil Schiller and VP of Mac and iPad engineering John Ternus. And of course there's our Weekly Pick as usual, with Jan recommending an album he's discovered recently. As ever, all the related links are on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

This week, we kick things off with a discussion of Apple's new iMacs and associated peripherals – Aaron has been using the new Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad and talks about his experience with them. We also discuss the surprisingly basic hard drives which ship with the new iMacs, and what this signifies about Apple's strategy for its lowest-tier products. Our Question of the Week is, "What should we be expecting from Apple's earnings next week?" and we discuss expectations for the iPhone, Apple Watch and other products, and what Tim Cook is likely to say about China. And our final topic is a quick run-through of the reviews of the new Microsoft Surface Book, which we discussed in some depth two weeks ago in Episode 18. As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, in which Aaron recommends a Bluetooth speakerphone he uses with his iPhone for conference calls.

Our Question of the Week this week concerns Elon Musk's recent comments on Apple's car efforts. In an interview with a German newspaper, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said (among other things), "You can't just go to a supplier like Foxconn and say: Build me a car." Our Question of the Week is to what extent Elon Musk's comment was justified. Around that middle topic, we have two others: we kick of the episode with a review of some of the findings of Jan's recent music consumption surveys and what they tell us about Apple Music usage and subscribership. And our third and final topic is Marco Arment's new Overcast app and its unique patronage-based business model, the controversy it's caused, and what it says about the state of the iOS app market. And we wrap up, as always, with our Weekly Pick.

This week, we follow up last week's coverage of Google's event with discussion of Microsoft's big Windows 10 event, which had a very different feel to it. We evaluate the big announcements, but we also talk about the presentations and demos and the overall tone of the event, which felt much more energetic and compelling than previous Microsoft events. Our Question of the Week this week is "What's going on in the US wireless market, and who's winning?" Jan provides some context by discussing each of the major US wireless providers and their background, and then talks through some different definitions for measuring which of them is "winning". We also talk about what's next for the US wireless market. Our final topic is Steve Jobs – both the man and the movie that's coming out soon, along with the controversy over the movie, and the reaction from both Steve Jobs' widow and from Apple executives. And Aaron has our Weekly Pick for this episode, which is a book recommendation. As ever, there are quite a few links to blog posts and other things we discussed in the episode on our website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

We kick off this week's episode with a discussion of Google's event on Tuesday. We discuss the new Nexus phones and the history of Google's Nexus programs, the new Chromecast devices, and Google's strategy for the TV. Our Question of the Week is about Apple's A-Series Chips, and Aaron's been doing some research into how Apple has managed both to make such rapid advances and to compete so effectively against other approaches. Aaron explains the differences and relationships between fabless manufacturers, foundries, and Integrated Device Manufacturers, the role of Apple's PA Semi acquisition, the importance of the ARM architecture, and more. Our final topic is a discussion of our personal experiences with Apple's new iPhones, as well as our conflicting responses to Apple Music (Jan has just allowed his trial to roll over into a paid subscription, while Aaron has cancelled). And Jan's Weekly Pick is the Launch Center Pro app, which in its latest version makes interesting use of Apple's new 3D Touch Quick Actions. Relevant links and more are on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.