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Breaking news from Cupertino. We’ll give you the latest from Apple headquarters and decipher fact from fiction from the rumor mill.

AAPL company Apple Park

AAPL is a California-based computer company that became the most successful smartphone company in the world.

AAPL defined by Apple

Here’s how Apple defines itself:

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

Key AAPL history

From Apple I to iMac

Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs (Steve), Steve Wozniak (Woz), and (briefly) Ronald Wayne as a business partnership: Apple Computer Company. The following year it became Apple Computer, Inc. The company’s first product was the Apple I, a personal computer hand-built by Woz and sold in part-completed kit form. The Apple II and Apple III followed.

The modern Apple as we know it today began in 1983, with the launch of the first personal computer with a graphical user interface, the Lisa. Way too expensive to succeed, it was replaced by the Macintosh in 1984, launched with the single showing of a Ridley Scott commercial during the Super Bowl. The Macintosh transformed the world’s understanding of what a computer was, and would eventually lead to Microsoft adopting the GUI approach.

Steve Jobs and then Apple-CEO John Scully fell out in 1985, when Steve wanted to focus on the Macintosh while Scully wanted to put more attention on the Apple II, which was still selling well. That led to Steve being forced out of the company and going off to form NeXT.

Apple focused on selling Macintosh models at the highest possible margins, but would eventually fall foul of a mix of unsustainable pricing in the face of competition from Windows machines, and an overly complex product lineup. By 1996, the company was in trouble, and in 1997 Steve was brought back, along with the NeXT operating system, which would eventually form the basis of Mac OS X.

Steve simplified the Mac lineup and had industrial designer Jony Ive work on a whole new look for a consumer desktop Mac, the colorful iMac. The iMac, like the original Macintosh, again changed the world’s understanding of what a computer was, and who should want one.

From Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc.

In 2001, Apple launched the iPod. Although this wasn’t the first mp3 player, it was massively better than anything on the market at the time, and succeeded in turning a geeky piece of technology into a consumer electronics product with mass-market appeal.

The success of the iPod paved the way into other mobile devices. Apple was working on what would eventually become the iPad, when Steve realized that this was the basis of a smartphone. He diverted the team’s work into this, to launch the iPhone in 2007. The iPad launched later, in 2010.

The iPhone was yet another transformational product. While most other smartphones of the time were clunky devices with a keyboard and stylus, the iPhone was a sleek-looking device operated with a finger, and so simple that no user guide was needed. It was with the launch of the iPhone that Apple Computer, Inc. was renamed to Apple, Inc.

From Intel to Apple Silicon

While the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more are made with Apple-designed processors, the Mac lineup has historically relied on third-party companies for its CPUs. Over the years, Macs progressed from Motorola 680000 series chips through PowerPC to Intel.

In 2020, Apple began a two-year transition to the final stage in that journey, with Macs too finally getting Apple-designed chips. The first such is the M1 chip, used in the latest Mac mini, MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Other Apple Silicon Macs followed.

AAPL today

Apple is one of the largest companies in the world. It was the first publicly traded company to hit a trillion-dollar valuation in 2018, $2 trillion in 2020, and $3T in 2022.

The company’s product lineup includes five different Mac families (MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac mini); four iPad ranges (iPad mini, iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro); four iPhone 12 models (12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max); three main Apple Watch models (SE, Series 3, Series 6); as well as other products, including Apple TV, AirPods, and HomePod mini.

In addition to hardware sales, Apple derives a growing proportion of its income from Services, including the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple Pay.

Former Apple engineer who stole Project Titan trade secrets sentenced to prison

For the last six years, we’ve been following the case of Xiaolang Zhang, a former Apple engineer who pled guilty to stealing Project Titan trade secrets.

This week, Zhang has officially been handed his sentencing: 120 days of imprisonment and 3 years supervised release. Zhang will also pay restitution of $146,984.00. California federal prosecutors had asked the judge for a one-year prison sentence in the case.

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Apple rolling out App Store Connect and TestFlight changes to support alternative app stores in the EU

App Store EU sideloading App Marketplace

Last month, Apple announced a wide range of changes coming to the App Store in the European Union as part of iOS 17.4, including support for third-party app marketplaces. Ahead of iOS 17.4 being released to the general public in March, Apple is rolling out new features in App Store Connect for beta testing.

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Apple joins AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC) at request of White House

AI Safety Institute Consortium | Illustration of AI chip on circuit board

Apple is one of more than 200 companies and other organisations to join the US AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), at the request of the White House.

Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidis are among the other companies to join the consortium in response to an executive order by President Biden to ensure that artificial intelligence is “safe, secure, and trustworthy” …

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Apple AI work continues: Editing photos using text commands

Editing photos using text | An example of Apple's MGIE output, making a sunset more red

Apple’s AI work may be something of a slow-burn when it comes to Siri, but the company isn’t sitting back doing nothing. The company has just released an open-source AI model for editing photos using simple text commands – something which has been described as a breakthrough achievement.

Named MGIE – for Multimodal large language model Guided Image Editing – the model allows the user to use natural language to tell the editor what it is you want to achieve …

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Tim Cook says Apple is focused on appealing the Apple Watch ban, not settling with Masimo

check blood oxygen with Apple Watch

Apple’s patent battle with Masimo is far from over. As it stands right now, Apple is still selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the United States, but with the contested blood oxygen feature disabled.

In a new interview today, Apple CEO Tim Cook indicated that Apple has no interest in licensing Masimo’s technology and putting the battle to rest. Instead, he said that Apple is focused on its appeal of the ITC’s ruling.

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Apple says the EU accounts for just 7% of its global App Store revenue

App Store European Union sideloading

During Apple’s Q1 2024 earnings call with analysts and investors today, CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri commented on the company’s recently-announced App Store changes in the European Union.

Maestri revealed a notable statistic about the importance of Apple’s App Store business in the European Union, saying that it accounts for around 7% of Apple’s global App Store revenue.

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Zuckerberg doubles down on saying app age verification should be Apple’s responsibility

App age verification | 'Sign here' PostIt on an iPhone

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has doubled down on his view that app age verification should be the responsibility of Apple and Google, and not social media companies.

His remarks form part of prepared testimony to Congress, as he and other social media CEOs come under fire for failing to do enough to protect their teenage app users …

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Epic Games goes to court to accuse Apple of failing to comply with App Store ruling

App Store ruling headed back to court

While some may have thought the Epic Games versus Apple battle ended when the US Supreme Court decided the existing App Store ruling would stand, and it would not hear appeals from either side, it quickly became clear that this isn’t the case.

Epic Games has now followed through with its threat to contest Apple’s “bad-faith compliance plan” – which would see the company charge 27% commission on app sales made outside of its own App Store

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Jony Ive tried to discontinue the MacBook Air – Walt Mossberg

Ive reportedly wanted to discontinue the MacBook Air

A rather sketchy report claims that Jony Ive tried to persuade Apple to cease making the MacBook Air, leaving a redesigned MacBook Pro as the only portable Mac.

The story comes from Walt Mossberg, who admits that it’s based on a single source within Apple, but says that person was at “a very high level” with exceptional product knowledge …

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Apple burning bridges with the developers it needs to make Vision Pro a success – Macworld

Apple burning bridges | Vision Pro headset on colorful background

Apple’s “malicious compliance” with Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) is burning bridges with the very people the company needs to make Vision Pro a success, argues a new editorial.

The piece suggests that Vision Pro’s current market is so small that developers can afford to ignore it – or even ensure their iPad apps can’t run on it – which is something they are more likely to do if they are angered by Apple’s treatment of them …

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UK law that could ban Apple security updates worldwide is an unprecedented overreach

UK law could ban Apple security updates worldwide | Close-up of keyboard

Proposed amendments to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) which could ban Apple security updates worldwide are an “unprecedented overreach,” says the Cupertino company.

Apple previously described the planned powers as “a serious and direct threat to data security and information privacy” – not just to British citizens, but to all tech users worldwide …

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Apple loses veteran hardware engineering executive to Rivian

Apple veteran DJ Novotney is departing the company for a new role at Rivian, according to a report from Bloomberg. Novotney, a vice president of hardware engineering, has spent almost 25 years at Apple and worked across multiple generations of the iPod, the iPhone, the Apple Watch, and more. His LinkedIn page hasn’t yet been updated, but he is shown pictured next to a Rivian.

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iPad users will miss out on third-party app stores, browser engines, and more

iPad Air 5

Yesterday, Apple announced some major changes to the App Store and the broader iPhone platform in the European Union, including support for alternative app marketplaces. There’s one piece of nuance that Apple is now clarifying. 

Some of these changes are coming to all of Apple’s platforms, while others are coming only to the iPhone and not the iPad.

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Apple shares more details about the new default web browser prompt in iOS 17.4

Mac malware fake Safari Chrome updates

Yesterday, Apple announced that iPhone users in the EU will be prompted to choose a default web browser when they open Safari for the first time after updating to iOS 17.4. The company has now shared more details on this process.

Apple tells me that the popup message in iOS 17.4 will show a list of the 12 most popular browsers from the App Store in that country. That list will be presented in random order for each user.

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Apple’s third-party app store announcements guarantee the company will end up in court

Apple's third-party app store announcements | Apple logo against stone columns

Apple’s third-party app store announcements – in which the company set out the terms on which it will claim compliance with European antitrust law – was nothing if not confident.

The company’s announcement combined criticism of the law that required it, exceedingly tough requirements on any developer wanting to sell outside the App Store, and warnings intended to deter users from buying their apps anywhere else …

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