Sunday, September 13, 2015

Summary and some thoughts on the September 9 2015 Apple Event

The feedback from many pundits after the event has been that the event was underwhelming.  This has been common feedback after many events in the last few years.  Looking at all of the new technology and renewed partnerships, this seems crazy.  I think our ability to absorb and comprehend, or even guess, at the impact of the outcomes from this announcement, is reduced by just how huge the announcements are.

Apple has continued to come out with products that are superior to all existing solutions in the space - I'm thinking of the Apple Pencil.

Apple continues to focus on various applications related to healthcare, giving people greater access to their health data and giving medical professionals access to that data as well.

Apple Watch:

  • What I am hoping for but have been unable to confirm is in Watch OS2:
    • more reliable connectivity to the iPhone
  • Partnership with Hermes for bands and a watch face
  • Gold and Rose Gold - anodized aluminum sport models
  • Stainless Steel Product Red
  • New vibrant hues and neutral hues
  • New models and bands available immediately
  • Watch OS 2 - September 16
What I am hoping for in iOS9 on new hardware and old:
    • audiobooks in ibooks that work - remembering location, allowing scrubbing
    • better navigation in music - more like what we used to have, with easy access to playlists.
    • reliable use of and better navigation of my large on-network iTunes library
iPad:

  • The all-all new iPad Pro:
    • 12.9" retina screen - 2732x2048
      • Large enough to require a custom timing controller, also uses a variable refresh rate for energy efficiency
      • New technology to make the screen bright, sharp, with excellent contrast and uniformity
      • greater touch and multi-touch accuracy
    • 1.57 lbs
    • 12"x8.68"x0.27" (thinner than the original iPad Air)
    • 4 new speakers with more sound chamber space on the interior of the iPad Pro to enhance frequency range for excellent sound in any orientation
    • A smart connector for accessories, such as the smart keyboard, for powering the accessory and for communications
    • A9X CPU
      • 1.8x the CPU performance of the A8X
      • 2x the GPU performance of the A8X
      • vastly faster storage controller
      • Like the A9, has a built-in M9 always-on motion co-processor
      • Adobe says it has 4GB RAM
    • 10 hour battery life
    • 802.11ac with MIMO - similar to wired 1Gb connectivity
    • The same facetime (front) and iSight (back) cameras as the iPad Air 2
    • Cellular:
      • 20 LTE bands, up to 150Mbps via LTE, and uses Apple SIM
    • Apple Pencil
      • It is pressure sensitive, and angle-sensitive
      • It is engineered to work with iPad pro for highly sensitive high resolution and lag-free use.
      • 12 hours of battery life, 30 minutes more from 15 seconds of charging via lightning to iPad Pro
      • $100
    • Smart Keyboard
      • Built for iPad Pro, uses the new smart connector
      • Has what you need for keyboard shortcuts
      • $169
    • Coming in November
      • 32GB $799
      • 128GB $949
      • 128GB with cellular $1079
    • Developer support
      • Microsoft with the office suite of productivity apps - core initial support for iPad Pro - Microsoft is back making software for the best platforms!
      • Adobe - is back with core support for this new Apple platform!
  • iPad Mini 4:
    • Most the power of the iPad Air 2 in a small package, but with the A8 instead of the A8X.
iPhones:
  • Updated iPhones - for both new phones: 
    • also comes in rose gold (keeping silver, gold, space gray)
    • new glass - dual ion exchange - like the Apple Watch
    • 3D Touch
      • not just tap/swipe/pinch
      • force is recognized - peek and pop
      • allows shortcuts on the home screen and fully in Apple apps some other apps (facebook, instagram
        • light = peek at data
        • heavy = pop into app
    • tactile feedback - taptic engine
    • uses capacitive sensors 
  • Apple custom alloy of 7000 series Aluminum - like the Apple Watch
  • A9
    • 70% faster than A8 for CPU (iPhone 6)
    • 90% faster for graphics than A8
    • built-in motion co-processor M9 - always on with this integration
    • hey siri can be always on too
  • 2nd gen touchID sensor
    • 2x faster
  • Camera
    • Back:
      • 12MP iSight
      • 50% more pixels, 50% more focus pixels
      • deep trench isolation - separates photo diodes for better color with more pixels
        • low noise
      • thus bigger panoramas - 63MPixel, for example
      • 4K video - 8 million pixels/frame
      • (edit 4K video too!)
    • Front: 
      • 5MP facetime camera (front)
      • screen is the flash!
  • live photos - include a mini-video - 3 seconds - with every video, taking almost no additional space
    • developer apis for live photos - facebook will support them this year
  • Wireless
    • LTE Advanced - 2x faster
    • 23 bands - best for roaming
    • 2x faster wifi
  • iOS9 - Sept 16
  • new charging docs
  • new phone covers/cases
  • pre-order Sept 12
  • available Sept 25
iPhone upgrade program
  • This is an warranty and replacement agreement
  • Different prices for different models$32.41-$44.91/mo
  • Is a 24-month installment for $777.84-$1077.84
  • you can upgrade every year, or keep a phone free and clear after 24 months
  • these unlocked phones able to connect to any provider
  • Yahoo! summarized the program well: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/apples-iphone-upgrade-program-know-120005936.html
iCloud storage - 1/2 price, I believe by Sept 16:
  • 50Gb $0.99/mo
  • 200Gb $2.99/mo
  • 1TB $9.99/mo
  • no more 500Gb plan
Apple TV
  • What I am hoping for once units are more fully tested:
    • Stability for Netflix:
      • not getting kicked out of watching when I pause
      • not having issues just watching content several times per week (that I do not see with other devices)
    • Much better navigation:
      • Something like bookmarks so I can switch between content I'm watching in a way that is like switching apps on an iPhone - just an easy 1-2 steps back and forth
      • Much better navigation within Netflix so there are not as many steps
      • Much better navigation within iTunes content so that I do not have so many many many steps
  • Why is it a big deal?
    • the new remote:
      • Siri integration:
        • Search across your iTunes library, Netflix, HBO, and Showtime
        • filter/narrow your search once you start to look for content
      • Touch - allows single-finger gestures to greatly enhance navigation
      • frankly it acts like a Wii remote for the games and apps as well with accelerometer and gyroscope
      • Bluetooth connection to Apple TV
      • IR to control the volume on your TV
    • App store
      • Games!
      • TV channels are real apps with much more depth in how they can behave, and with the new remote, input options are hugely expanded.
      • iPod touch and iPhone can act as a remote, for up to four players.
    • Overall - you can get more information about your TV shows and movies as you watch, or get other information as integrated with Siri (like sports scores and weather information).
  • It's a bit taller - 1.4"
  • 32GB and 64GB storage models - for applications
  • A8 processor (same as iPhone 6)
  • Ports:
  • all-new Siri remote
    • glass touch surface
    • bluetooth 4.0 (to talk to the Apple TV without infrared)
    • Accelerometer
    • Gyroscope
    • dual microphones
    • IR transmitter (to control other devices)
  • available late October
  • There is no 4K support with this model.
  • You will need an HDMI cable - C|Net has a good article about them: http://www.cnet.com/news/hdmi-cable-buying-guide/

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Some thoughts on ios9 and OS X El Capitan from a non-user

I have not used iOS9 or OS X El Capitan, so these thoughts are based on Apple's announcements and observations from the Apple reporting community.  These releases are in public beta, and are available for normal release this fall.

What is new in El Capitan?  Here is a quick summary based mostly on Apple's announcement page: http://www.apple.com/osx/elcapitan-preview/

  • Split Screen to look at two apps in full screen view.
  • advanced Mission Control to organize your windows.
  • cursor finding capabilities - it can get big with a shake
  • updated spotlight - you can move and size the spotlight window,  search many other kinds of content (from the internet) including transit information, and use natural language for queries.
  • mail has many updated features:
    • full screen features enabling cut and paste across multiple threads
    • just like in iOS, we can now swipe to delete messages
    • more context sensitivity for adding contacts and events based on email messages
  • Notes is a much more fully featured app that some say will be able to compete with Evernote.  Images fit right in to notes, and there is an attachments browser.
  • Photos
    • 3rd party filters
    • 3rd party plugins for photo editing
    • location editing for a photo or an event is now possible (again)
  • Safari
    • Pinned sites for favorite websites
    • Air Play for web video (without sharing your whole screen)
    • The ability to mute all or other tabs
  • Maps
    • Public Transit information
    • time-based planning for a future trip
  • Better language support (for non-English languages)
  • Performance
    • Metal graphics performance comes to OS X
What is new in iOS 9?  https://www.apple.com/ios/ios9-preview/
  • A news app
  • An update to the Notes app (which matches new features in OS X Notes) including an attachments browser, checklists, and sketches
  • Maps
    • Transit, matching OS X features
    • A new nearby feature to find shopping and restaurants
  • Passbook becomes Wallet
    • your rewards/loyalty cards can in many cases will be part of Wallet.
    • A double-click to  the home button activates Apple Pay.
  • Carplay - major updates enabling using car knobs and applications from automakers.
  • Features for new iPads
    • Slide-over to have a 2nd app on the right 3rd of the screen.
    • Split view to have two apps shown 50/50
    • Picture in Picture - watch a video while using another application!
    • Quicktype:
      • Shortcut bar - Icons for cut, copy, paste, and fonts
      • Easy text selection - using multi-touch gestures on the on-screen keyboard to do text selection
      • Keyboard shortcuts - for external hardware keyboards
  • Siri - is supposed to be much more intelligent
    • context aware regarding photo and video information
    • can create context-aware reminders, based on what application you are currently using.
    • Deep search within apps
    • guesses for caller ID for unidentified callers?!?
  • Performance
    • power-savings across built-in iOS9 apps will enable longer battery life - 1 hour is claimed
    • built-in iOS9 apps use metal for faster performance
    • iOS updates stream and require much less free space to enable updates
  • 2-factor authentication for your AppleID means your old 
  • Android migration
    • Migrates much of your content automatically
    • Helps you re-download (or buy) applications on your Android device.

Frustrated with Music and iBooks on iOS

I am frustrated with Music and iBooks on iOS 8.  There have quietly been some fixes in iOS 8.4.1. Note:  I am not using Apple's new Apple Music service.  I do, however, happen to have and use iTunes Match.

I'll start with iBooks:

  • Peeve 1:  Until the recent fix, my iTunes server on OS X 10.7.5 was recently changed by Apple to no-longer know about Audiobooks.  It would import them, and then hide them.  No syncing of new audiobooks for users to iOS devices.  Thankfully, that has been fixed!
  • Peeve 2: iBooks does not remember my place in audiobooks reliably at all.  I am not the only one experiencing this problem.  Often iBooks puts me back at the start of a book.  
  • Peeve 3: iBooks often does not allow me to scan through to a point in a chapter - instead always showing that I am at 0.00 until the next chapter starts.  This is very frustrating.
Now on to Music:
  • The horizontal view in music went from cover flow (a while ago) to some other cover view, which was not at all useful, to no longer having a horizontal view.  Where did the horizontal view go?  Why can I not have a useful horizontal view?
  •  I never know what I'm going to get when I open the music app.  For example, I'm listening to a music playlist, and my iPhone was locked.  I unlocked and opened the music app, and the Radio choice is showing.  Why is Radio showing?  I'm not using radio at this time.
  • How do I see what I am listening to - i.e. a playlist I previously selected?  There is a tiny three-dots "button" to the right of the tiny line near the bottom that... doesn't get me back to the playlist.  It lets me "Start Station" - a radio station based on the current song.  Miracle of miracles, this time, when I clicked on My Music, I am back in my playlist.  I wonder if there was a fix in 8.4.1?  Usually I'm back in my music somewhere and have to re-select playlists and then reselect the playlist as the only way to get back to it.
  • How do I play the playlist over and over?  I see no controls for this in music any longer!  The controls are available when selecting the current playing song only, as a tiny icon in 2nd from the right.  It has the same 3 options as it always had - it just isn't available on the playlist screen any longer
  • Is it on my iPhone or not?  I'm getting on a plane... Ah a fix with 8.4.1 - I can see with a tiny icon on the right next to the song now. 

Bonus peeve: outages in the Apple Store - I tried to redeem a free song on a Starbucks card from Apple - but I cannot as the store is unavailable.  Adding insult to injury, I had to retype my AppleID password to check every time.  Not fun Apple.

I have been known by some for watching news about Apple and information from Apple with a large amount of attention.  Apple feels much less transparent about these kinds of problems and changes now.  That greatly disappoints me.  It feels more like what I hear from Android users, frankly.

I reveled in being able to get an elderly relative to use an iPhone when not familiar with using the internet.  Now these items are getting less self-explanatory, quietly having new major feature problems, and videos and manuals are needed to know how to use them.  It is not what I expect.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

So I tried an Apple watch

I was able to borrow an Apple Watch sport for a week.  I had the black strap.  My experiences had good and bad in them:

The good:

  • Setup was a breeze.
  • Setup of Apple Pay was easy as well.
  • Notifications on the watch were convenient compared to pulling out my iPhone
  • Siri voice recognition seemed superior to the iPhone experience.  Not having it talk back worked.
  • I had fun turing the playing app (I used Apple Music and iBooks for audiobooks) off and on with the watch.  It made it much easier to use non-Apple earbuds without controls.
  • Resetting the Apple Watch to factory resets (erasing it) was a breeze and I was helpfully notified that Apple Pay was then un-configured.
The bad:
  • I wear long sleeved dress shirts often.  It is one thing to pull up a cuff to see a watch face.  It is another thing to to do so to interact.  It is not a good experience.  Roll up that cuff or the Apple Watch is much less useful.
  • You do have to read the instructions and study.
    • I had luck and my first Apple Pay use worked flawlessly.  My 2nd and 3rd failed miserably and I gave up.  I then watched the video that said you had to press the 2nd button twice.  That is not an intuitive behavior.  It is learnable - but it is indicative of the approach.
    • I had some random few photos on my watch.  I'm not sure which ones, and I did not watch any videos to find out what was going on - it was a strange not useful experience.

  • Connectivity between my Apple Watch and my iPhone was spotty.  This caused bad behavior:
    • I did not get some imessage alerts.  My phone did not vibrate, I assume, because I had the watch on.  But the watch did not sometimes get the alerts so, no alerts.  Thus message alerts became less reliable.  For a while, I wondered if I just did not feel the wrist vibrate.  It took testing to verify that this was the problem.
    • I use Duo Mobile for 2-factor authentication.  When it worked, it was brilliant.  Sometimes the 2--factor message did not get back and authentication did not happen.
  • iOS 8.4 iBooks audiobooks has bugs.  Sometimes I was unable to properly navigate within sections/chapters.  Usually I can move to the middle of the chapter on my iPhone screen.  This works most of the time with Apple Watch unpaired, but does fail sometimes.  It worked none of the time with Apple Watch paired for me.  
  • The sport band was very uncomfortable for me.  It was hard to make it tight enough so that heart rate information could be gathered.  Making it tight and then also slipping the end of the band inside (making it tighter) made it more uncomfortable.  For me, it felt cheap.  
  • The back of the Apple Watch was uncomfortable to me as well.
Other... annoyances to me;
  • My watch is fully waterproof to 100 meters, and warrantied to that effect.  That happens to be a feature I want.  Apple seems to be playing games with the water proofing rating.  It is listed as water resistant but I should hold it under water to make the bezel spin freely?  Why not go farther and make it clear that using it in a pool does not break the warranty?
  • For just using a watch, I prefer my watch.  It is easier to read.
  • I had hoped the Apple Watch could help wake me up without even a phone vibrate (I can recharge it during the day to keep it on at night).  The wrist tap was less reliable than a phone vibrate.
This version is clearly not my cup of tea.

Monday, April 27, 2015

More articles about Apple's Q2 2015 than you can shake a stick at

Perhaps you are better at shaking a stick than I.  This is more articles abut Apple's Q2 2015 than I am able to shake a stick at:

I have just a few of comments:
  • China is bigger than the US for iPhone!  Wow. Huge growth!  BRIC up 64% YoY.
  • iPad sales - I think they are mostly not growing due to iPhone 6 plus sales.
  • iPhone 6 sales may be driving mac sales and vice versa.  Next quarter Apple Watch will do the same.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

State of Apple April 2015

The pundits and counter-pundits are working on Apple big time.  I believe in Apple's bright financial future at this moment.  Why?  Below I summarize, prognosticate, I express my opinion.


  1. Computers:
    • The Apple Macbook Air 13" and Apple Macbook Pro 13" are both high performance powerhouses that have had important internals updated.
      • The newer faster storage is, for some, an easing of a pain point.
      • The force-touch trackpad is a welcome technology update.  Those who like Apple's work with additional gestures welcome another gesture - force touch.
    • The Apple Macbook 12" is new, interesting, something folks are talking about and trying out, and reminds many of the first Macbook Air.  It is very much different than other products on the market.  While I do not want one now, I foresee that there could be one in my future at some point:
      • A new standard in portability
      • Thinner and lighter
      • Somehow fitting in a retina display
      • Minuscule power use
      • Also with the force-touch trackpad
      • Colors to go with other devices such as iPhone and iPad
      • With a new thinner keyboard that some love, some do not like
      • With no more magsafe power, but with only one physical port (aside from a jack for headphones) - the USB-C port.  No one seems to know how to usefully use this port, yet, for anything other than power.
      • Battery life is not the best.  Some call it a netbook.  The port situation is not what many want - they want magsafe, and ports they can readily use, or more ports than just the one.  There will, however, be a group of users who buy and love the features.  If you don't want it, don't buy it.  I will not be among buyers this round, but this kind of feature diversity is great.  I do not at all equate this system with a netbook, or even the underpowered original macbook air.
  2. Apple Watch:
    • I am not getting one, at least not at this time.  However, I think Apple is operating in a very smart way to push farther into fashion than they already were with their well designed sleek devices.  I want sleep tracking, and I can get that with other devices if I so choose.  
    • There are already watch bands in the wild from Apple that are not for sale.  There will be more watch bands from Apple, and more from competitors.  This accessory market will be large and could more than double Apple's sales value from the product.
    • I still strongly believe Apple will "frequently" update Apple watch with new designs.  There will be Apple Watch 2015, and Apple Watch 2016 (or 2017).  Some will buy for design updates, and some will collect.  All of this will make people happy and make Apple money.  There will also be new bands at all price ranges.
  3. Other product updates coming:
    • Apple TV - I am waiting to see an app store and a newer better experience with all the crazy channels avaialble.
    • iPod - a touch based on updated internals would be welcome, including force touch
    • iMac - 8K
    • Mac Pro - for real pro users, this is getting long in the tooth.  The CPU line at least is aging.  Update the CPUs, put in newer faster memory, and put in the newer faster flash storage too.
    • iPhone/iPad - Force touch should be coming...
  4. iCloud, iTunes, and Apple Pay
    • People have barely started to use the Photos app for mac, and thus have barely started to use iCloud storage.  This could be an area of reasonable growth for Apple.
    • iTunes - if we could store more media that we own in the cloud, it could be another revolution - I'm talking about audiobooks and movies not purchased from Apple.  If iTunes content could all just be in the cloud, the world would be a different place.
    • Apple Pay - it does keep on rolling out and getting expanded use.   Plans are starting to come together for some international use as well.
  5. Other stuff - "kits" and OS X
    • HealthKit and ResearchKit - we have barely started to scratch the surface with what these can do for us.
    • HomeKit - I still cannot control the temperature of my house with my Apple TV - this has barely started to be used as well.
    • CarPlay - pretty much all car manufacturers have announced that support will be coming.
    • OS X advantages
      • It remains, contrary to some comments, more secure than most OSs.
      • Vastly easier for backup and recovery, as well as for migration to a new machine.
      • Integration with hardware, enabling software like Safari to be extremely power efficient.
      • Continuity - I like texting from my computer.
  6. The doing good thing:
    • Apple keeps up doing more for preventing environmental damage.  Apple just bought a forest.  This is to offset paper usage, and the plan is for sustainable management.
    • Apple continues to eliminate chemicals someone deems harmful from its products - in the last year, this included beryllium.  This would likely be to make workplaces that previously used beryllium safer.
    • Apple bought solar energy for domestic energy offsets and use for the next 25 years for nearly $1B.  Apple says they are using 100% renewable energy for all domestic uses, including their data centers.
    • Apple works hard to be non-discriminatory.  Apple admits to needing to do more for women and minorities and pledged $50 million to the effort.
Apple has expanded its product lines.  It has given people new ways and reasons to use its products and use multiple products together (for example, Apple Pay and Continuity).  It now has a fashion-forward accessory line (Apple Watch) for those who want it.  And Apple is doing a better job than any other large company to be a good corporate citizen - one that is an example for the rest.  Apple has its problems, but making money is not going to be one of them.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Summary and Thoughts on the Apple Spring Forward Announcement 3/9/15


Other announcements:
  • Moving to 40 stores in China
  • Apple Pay
    • Triple the participants since the last announcement
    • Vending machines are starting to take Apple Pay
  • CarPlay - more...
  • HomeKit - more...
  • ResearchKit: NEW
    • For Medical Research
    • Lets researchers work with many people in many places, who have information and apps to work with (iPhones and perhaps Apple Watch)
    • Open Source - to encourage involvement and adoption (and possible future cross platform involvement?)
    • Enabling two-way communication, integration with Health Kit
    • Apps:
      • mPower - Parkinson's research with the University of Rochester
      • GlucoSuccess - Massachusetts General
      • MyHeart Counts - Stanford Medicine and the University of Oxford
      • Asthma Health - Mount Sinai Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College
      • Share The Journey - Breast Cancer research with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, UCLA School of Public Health, Penn Medicine, and Sage Bionetworks


Product announcements:
  • Apple TV - price down to $69 (from $99) but otherwise unchanged
  • HBO Now - HBO streaming, without cable - $14.99/mo available starting in April, exclusive to Apple.
  • Macbook 12"
    • 2 lbs!
    • 13.1mm thick at the thickest point (down from 17.1mm for macbook air)
    • New keyboard
      • Edge to edge of the laptop
      • with all new stable butterfly mechanism with shorter travel
      • led per key
      • thinner
    • 12" retina display - 2304x1440 - thinnest ever
    • trackpad - force touch trackpad
      • force sensors
      • taptic engine (instead of clicks, feedback)
      • new force click gesture
    • TIny new logic board - no fan!
      • 5 watts!  max 1.3Ghz new-generation Intel
    • USB-C (USB 3 speed)
    • Starts at $1299
    • Silver, Space Grey, Gold
  • Updated Macbook Air
    • Updated CPUs
    • Thunderbolt 2
    • 13" has double-speed flash storage
  • Updated 13" Macbook Pro
    • force-touch trackpad
    • double-speed flash storage
    • updated CPUs
    • more battery life
  • Apple Watch - what is new news?
    • We now know prices - smaller is cheaper, larger is more expensive
      • Apple Watch Sport - $349 for 38mm and $50 more for 42mm
      • Apple Watch - $549- $1049 for 38mm, and $50 more for 42mm
      • Apple Watch Edition - $10,000-$17,000 (prices different not necessarily by size)
      • So the total range is $349-$17,000
    • Pre-order on 4/10/15
    • Arriving 4/24/15
    • Apple communicated anew and in a more focused way about the 3 areas of value and focus for use:
      • Time keeping
        • Select different faces
        • Not sure I saw something new
      • Communication
        • Can do the Dick Tracy thing and answer calls on your wrist
        • Listen to music with bluetooth headphones, without your iPhone
        • Any notification on your iPhone can make it to your watch
        • Nice Uber integration app
      • Fitness
        • Great but I'm not sure I saw something new
    • Rumors and/or facts after the fact:
      • 9to5Mac says that, "
        Apple Watch includes 8 GB of storage, allows 2 GB of music and 75 MB of photo"
      • Apple Insider says that the Apple Watch is rated to the IPX7 standard, which means, "the Apple Watch will be able to withstand immersion in water up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes" - good for a shower, but not a swim, they say.
      • TechCrunch says the Apple Watch battery is replaceable, and may have a roughly 3 year lifespan.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Apple's attempt to do good

Apple has made pledges and commitments in many areas.
I knew Tim Cook had pledged support for working conditions.  I did not know Jeff Williams had expressed support so strongly.  2014 Techcrunch Apple BBC response - Mr. Williams made the statement that if Apple stops using problematic tin sources, other companies will just snap up the sources and nothing will change.  It takes conviction to take a harder road, take the heat, and change things and stay involved.

For me this rings very true to how Apple operates.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Some thoughts on Apple Watch and expected profitability

I'm thinking about what I'm hearing about Apple, Apple Watch, and fashion.  Apple has the people and product to get into and stay profitably in fashion, and the strategy to protect and enhance the brand.

HBR had an article in October: Apple: Luxury Brand or Mass Marketer?  Cult of Mac had one just a couple of days ago: Why Apple Watch will wrap up luxury market in China.  What I am hearing and reading is that people are saving up to buy Apple products.  Apple sales are not fitting historical stereotypes for consumer electronics, and thus the idea that Apple must make a cheaper product at this time has been proven wrong.

We also know that Apple has hired many fashion executives - from my blog post last September, What is going on with Apple hires and acquihires in 2014? I see that Apple hired:

  • Angela Ahrendts - former CEO of Burberry
  • Paul Devenve - former CEO of Yves Saint Laurent
  • Catherine Monier - former European President, head of retail, Yves Saint Laurent
  • Patrick Pruniaux - former VP Sales, Tag Heuer
  • Marc Newson - famed designer
Apple is clearly pushing into fashion.

On thoughts of price and revenues...  At $350 to start, it takes nearly 3 million to bring in 1 billion.  It has been rumored (at Apple Insider) that the high end gold model could be priced at $5,000.  Only 200,000 units would bring in 1 billion at that price.  Apple has proven time and again that they can manufacture, deliver, and sell mass quantities of product.  To my way of thinking, $1B+ of sales the first year is well within the realm of possibility.  I also suspect that the profit margin on the Apple Watch may be higher than Apple's general product.  If it were to be, say, 50%, then that would mean another $0.5B+ of profits.  It might not be a massive profit-changer for a profitability juggernaut like Apple, but it is certainly substantial in an absolute sense.

Some people who have disposable income will buy an expensive model as a gift for someone.  Apple makes attractive watch bands and some people will buy two or three, and they can also be expensive.  With a fashion product, Apple will adjust the look over time both of the watch and of the bands.  People may collect Apple Watch, and various watch bands.  Complete-ist collectors will attempt to have one of each band and watch; there are some of them out there.  I can imagine that one or more may make the news some time after Apple Watch is rolled out.

Assuming Apple Watch makes it into fashion stores, Apple brand exposure and value should increase nicely.  You can also bet that any such stores will support Apple Pay.

I have an original black Starbucks card.  People have greatly surprised me by oooh-ing over it many times.  "I had never seen one of those before." is something I hear.  That is something that will be happening years from now with Apple Watch.

There are some folks, as in an article last September in John Gruber's Daring Fireball, thinking about the upgradeability of the electronic components inside Apple Watch.  If indeed this were to be made possible, I think it is quite clear that Apple's product would be in a category all its own pretty much across the history of electronics.

Now about what Apple Watch is for besides fashion:

  • Notifications and communications - don't even pull out your phone.  Intimately communicate with taptic feedback
  • Apple Pay - even simpler to use than an iPhone 6 or 6+!  Not even a finger scan is needed.
  • Health monitoring - It will be with you even when you leave your iPhone somewhere, so step tracking will be better.  Heart rate monitoring is already available with other products, but not with other fashionable products, and some that are out (fitbit) are intentionally not compatible with Apple HealthKit.
  • Other apps - Siri and Maps, again to keep your iPhone in your pocket.
Is this enough?  What will 3rd party applications bring?  We will have to wait until it is released to see.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Daniel Eran Dilger on fire at the start of 2015

Daniel Eran Dilger wrote 18 articles for Apple Insider in January, 2015, presented Apple Insider's first podcast, and was featured on The Tech Night Owl LIVE.  He is on fire!  He're hoping he keeps it up.


January, 2015:

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Why I still like and use OS X with a passion

I am reading some posts from folks who feel quality problems with OS X are forcing them to leave OS X or have great concerns about it:
  • http://wozniak.ca/why-i-quit-os-x
  • http://www.marco.org/2015/01/04/apple-lost-functional-high-ground
While I agree that there are some important bugs, I want to point out how I feel Apple is looking out for its users. 

It reminds me of a discussion of being poor vs rich vs being alive long ago (as a king).  Forgive what is likely to be a not-so-short digression on living long ago vs now:
  • Food: Maybe kings could get spices, food, nutrition, variety, and have a fairly continuous food supply, but not most other people.  Famines were not uncommon.  Spices were for the wealthy.  Sailors got scurvy.  This is not so much like the lives of most of us today.
  • Facilities:  Kings did not have what are common facilities today: refrigerators, microwave ovens, hot/cold indoor plumbing with safe drinking water, indoor bathrooms, heater/air conditioning
  • Health: Medicine 200 years ago was something like leeches and prayers compared to now.  We have vaccines, antibiotics, and a whole system.  Live expectancy was vastly less than it is now, even for kings.
We quickly forget what we did not have not so long ago.  We often stop appreciating what we do have.

For me, OS X is an amazing environment to work in.  This experience is not completely separable from the hardware.
  • I can do my work from a Macbook Air - a tiny portable computer.  Never before the Macbook Air could I use a tiny portable for all of my work; previous machines had not enough compute power or RAM.
  • Apple's work in OS X to save battery life and save RAM is something we should celebrate more.  Compressed memory, the ability to see applications taking battery life, the creation of modes that allow applications to be efficient, and rewriting Apple's apps to use that efficiency are amazing!
  • The security focus and capabilities in OS X are also amazing.  Apple's focus on sandboxing goes beyond other vendors in most cases.  Safari not even running some plugins without permission saves power and keeps things more secure.  Apple is also making judicious security patches that do not take 1+ hours to deploy (ahem - Microsoft).  I have never had malware running on my machine to my knowledge, and I have never had another mac user that I know relay to me that they have had such a problem.  I did have malware of many kinds affect my use of Microsoft over the years.
  • Continuity and handoff - Apple has made the experience of using my other devices with OS X so much more usable.
    • Text Messages:  I had already used messages on my computer in place of typing on my iPhone much of the time.  Does anyone think about text messaging before iPhone?  So many people just used feature phones and the old phone keypad before iPhone, but even those with smartphones before iPhone had a vastly inferior experience.  This just takes it to a much more usable place!
    • Phone calls - I just use my computer instead of pulling out my iPhone.  It is handy.  Or, I can refuse a call and send a text reply.  This is amazing during meetings.
    • Airdrop between OS X and iOS has been really helpful in many instances for me.  iCloud will take that to an even better place as I do not have to even copy files; they are just there.
    • Even before these new features, having my bookmarks reliably sync'ed to my desktop and iPhone was great and helpful!
There are many other things, written about many time by many people, about how great OS X is.  I just think it is worth remembering to be happy about what amazing progress and innovative technology we do get to use every single day.


Sunday, January 4, 2015

Separating AppleIDs and Family Sharing - benefits and possible drawbacks

I have felt the need for quite some time to create some separation of Apple accounts with my family.  iOS 8 and Yosemite make this more appealing.  Your Apple account is your AppleID.

First, how many places are there to set your account?  There are 5!  If you separate them, make sure to do so every place you intend to do so.

Update on 1/6/14 - TidBITS linked to an article about Family Sharing that is important from someone quitting family sharing:  http://macsparky.com/blog/2015/1/quitting-family-sharing
-- iTunes match is not shared, from what I can tell.  I was told I could continue to share music content, but this is not the whole truth.  I was sharing via iTunes Match.  The separate ID does not allow for this.

What are the implications?
  • iCloud
    • This separates iCloud backups of ios devices!
    • This separates photostreams for each person - you lose the ability to stream photos with any devices on a separate iCloud account
    • It enables easy setup and sharing of:
      • a shared photo album all family members may publish to when they choose.  This typically causes an alert just like with other shared photo albums.
      • a family calendar
      • a family reminder "group"
    • If you use one account, you can keep a shared photostream and iCloud storage account for backups, but then could be sharing contacts, calendars, documents, and more.  This can be problematic.
  • iTunes, App Store, iBooks bookstore
    • App purchases are available to all family members (although I read that there is an ability to hide purchases.  I have not explored this)
      • In app purchases are only available per account and are not family-shareable
    • iTunes Match is no longer shared.  If you share music via iTunes match, another account will need to be purchased.  I believe it will also need to be "primed" with all of your music.  This looks like a bit of a mess!
  • Messages
    • This needs to be separate for each person to be able to use sms messages on their mac linked to their iPhone.
  • Facetime
    • This needs to be separate for each person to be able to use their cellular phone linked with their mac to make/receive phone calls.
With shared messages and facetime, wackiness such as receiving all family texts on one computer and/or one iPhone can be accomplished!
  • GameCenter
    • Separation means a family competition can begin!  Also, separate friend lists can be had.

I think messages and facetime are close to being synonymous.  I suspect in some future version of iOS and Yosemite, they will no longer be separate.  In fact, I suspect that this complexity of 5 different places to use an account will be eliminated and shrink to one account at some point.
Conclusions:
  • I think it is clear that each person using a separate AppleID for Messages, Facetime, and Gamecenter always makes sense.  If I have that wrong, and you disagree, please tell me.
  • iCloud:
    • This one Graham Spencer of MacStories strongly recommends be separate (see link below).
    • This is very hard for families used to having a completely shared photostream; auto-sharing is lost.
    • It also means if you have one purchased larger iCloud storage capability, it is no longer shared for backups.
    • It lets each user have their own documents, calendar, contacts, while enabling easy sharing of the same with family members.  This makes it seem pretty necessary.
  • iTunes
    • If you use 2-factor authentication, and you should, your family members need to type this in when purchases are made.  This means having it separate is probably a necessary idea.  However, you lose sharing in-app purchases, such as true app-activation in some cases.
    • When family members split from your family group at some future date, they keep their purchases.  What else does it mean?  This is not clear.
I really do hope Apple can eliminate this kind of complexity for its users.

Here are a few articles for reference which can really help as well: