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I’m still slowly digesting Apple news of this week (think of a cow 🐄 in the field 🌿). About macOS Sonoma widgets 🖼️: it’s surprising that Apple is showing widgets to be perfectly aligned when they are dropped on the desktop background. According to some YouTuber’s early reviews, you can be messy with them and drop them wherever you want. People will get messy, for sure.
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I’m still digesting everything we heard and saw today. Like someone wrote today: what was that? I already read good (and dumb) reactions here and there, from which I’m trying to stay away, just to focus and maybe get my analysis and perspective one of my own. That’s not easy; it’s so noisy out there right now. Stay tuned for later this week.
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A Few Last-Minute Questions for WWDC2023
It’s Apple keynote day, and it is exciting but also stressful! Here are last-minute questions.
- Will the headset pricing be announced today?
- Will the headset be like the Apple Watch and be running apps, or will it be more like CarPlay, with some additional viewport from the iPhone? Or a combination?
- Is the headset unveiled with a “one more thing” segment?
- When the iPad was announced, Steve Jobs spent some time explaining its relative position within the use cases spectrum of our computing devices. Where does the headset fit?
- Will the headset announcement overshadow Apple’s timid foray into generative AI?
- Is Xcode finally coming to the iPad?
- Can we infer something about the rumors setting the price 1999$ when we compare that to the AirPods Max price?
- Tim Cook’s air time has decreased in recent events, is the trend continuing today?
- Can we expect another meme moment from Craig Federighi?
- Who’s going to present the headset? Jeff Williams, just like for the Apple Watch Ultra?
- Can any of the announcements today affect my Apple hardware upgrade plan?
For someone who’s not interested in the headset, I have far too many questions about it. I’ll return to this post once the event is complete to fill in the answers!
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👉🏻 This is WWDC day! Here are some informative tidbits. Two weeks ago, I set up a fake meeting in my work calendar for the entire afternoon (EST time here). I’ll be out of the office for the whole afternoon. I’ve been doing that for more than ten years. It worked 9 out of 10 times. I should be good to go today.
I’ll watch the keynote from within Safari to take screenshots (with the TV app, screenshots don’t work 🤔). Then, using a configured button on my StreamDeck mini, I’ll take the screenshots that will be saved and moved to my Synology NAS automatically; thanks to Hazel. The excellent Mastodon client, Ivory, will be running too side-by-side so that I can see reactions coming in. Sadly, feed streaming is not yet a thing on Mastodon, apparently.
My expectations are relatively low for all the tech announcements but high for the keynote production value and quality.
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In case people want to react and discuss Apple’s WWDC keynote tomorrow, there is still this Wavelength invite available. Currently, 43 users are in the group.
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😱I just realized that for the first time in quite a while, I’ll be following WWDC news outside of Twitter. I’m unsure if I’ll go on Mastodon or Bluesky to read the room temperature. I’ll see. Maybe I’ll just make up my own mind, too, which is a good thing. 🤔💭
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I miss ThinkSecret website.
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I forgot so many things to talk about in my WWDC 2023 expectations YouTube video… 🤦🏻♂️ like the Watch Face store that I wish Apple would be doing someday. At least this is covered in my article published earlier. Not all is lost. 😅
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Getting ready for WWDC keynote. This WWDC23 button on my Stream Deck mini triggers a screenshot of my Mac screen using Cleanshot X. Each file will be saved automatically and later processed by Hazel rules and moved to my Synology Photos library for future reference and use. 😎
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On Reddit API Access Pricing
So, apparently, just like Twitter, Reddit is entering into a “kill-third-party-apps” by charging an enormous amount of money to use their APIs. It looks like it. Apollo isn’t happy, and for good reasons. Unless there was a calculation error from the makers of Apollo, it just makes no sense for them to continue. Maybe Reddit made some calculation errors, too. Perhaps they fail to read the room’s temperature. But maybe they are entitled, to some degree, I guess, to charge for their APIs, right?
I’m tempted to make a parallel with Apple’s dreaded 15%-30% App Store commission. Is Apple’s stance on its App Store different from Reddit’s stance on its APIs? Is charging a commission to be on the App Store and take advantage of all Apple’s technology to get a chance to be distributed on hundreds of millions of iPhones similar to consuming a platform APIs? If not, what is different, actually? Is free API usage a dead end in today’s world? There are whole business models built around APIs these days. API speaks intellectual property in my book. Only companies with business models supported by massive ad distribution or expansive paid subscriptions can think of thriving by giving away their API access. It will be interesting to see how Reddit is reacting to third-party developers’ pushback.
Oh, and if they actually kill the third-party Reddit client ecosystem, unlike Twitter, Reddit platform alternatives are not obvious to me.
I guess it’s time to remember: there is no such thing as a free lunch.
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I’m thinking: The Mac Pro is expected to feature the same design as its predecessor and the M2 Ultra chip. I have doubts on this. The design was highly influenced by the need of air flow that was driven in part by Intel processors, a power hungry monster. With Apple Silicon, I would expect Apple to tweak the design to reflect the lower power consumption and heat dissipation by the chip.
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How many tech sites like MacRumors will switch to Mastondon to live-toot their comments during WWDC keynote ? Not MacRumors apparently has they still advertise their live tweets for the event. 🤔
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I finally checked off enough of my tasks on my to do list to make room for the WWDC conference! On that day, I’m calling off for the afternoon to watch the keynote! 🤣
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I’ve been following Apple since 1982. At that time, Apple was selling the highly successful Apple ][+ line, the much less successful Apple ///. The Lisa was still a project. The Mac was not even on the drawing board. I find it cool to see the young generation of tech guys today who are fervent admirers of Apple. These people weren’t even born in 1982.
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What is it like to use the migration assistant on a Mac to move content & settings from one machine to another? Is it as good as moving from one iPhone to another?
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Just finished watching a few videos about FinalCut Pro for iPad. One thing came to my mind: the iPad will probably continue to get bigger to accommodate the vision for FCP on the iPad. Even on the 12.9-inch iPad, FCP looked a bit cramped. I still don’t know if I’ll ever use it for my needs (when I upgrade my current and unsupported 11-inch 2018 iPad Pro. 🤨
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On Apple Stores Evolution
After 22 Years, Apple’s Very First Retail Store Is Reopening Its Doors in a New Location Source: After 22 Years, Apple’s Very First Retail Store Is Reopening Its Doors in a New Location | Inc.com
I re-watched the video, where Steve Jobs is touring the very first Apple Store. It’s fascinating to see how things evolved over time. Software titles disappeared from shelves, thanks to the App Store. It’s no longer possible to put all Apple products on a single table. Macs, iPads, iPhones, watches, HomePod, and device cases took over the place and then more. Thankfully, the Genius bar is still there in many stores because, you know, people still have questions and broken devices to get fixed.
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We used to be excited about new iOS releases, weren’t we? Even for small bug fixes releases like iOS 16.5 today, we would be drooling about any small improvements or additions to what constitutes the logic that brings the iPhone experience to life! The excitement over the slow progress bar on a black screen he behind us.
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Apple's Headset — Alarming or Not?
A recent report on Apple’s upcoming headset:
Key figures including software chief Craig Federighi have also kept their distance from the headset during its development and have seemed wary of it. Apple’s senior vice president for hardware technologies, Johny Srouji, is believed to privately be a skeptic of the device, comparing it to a science project. He has warned that designing the high-performance chips that the headset requires could distract from new iPhone chips that drive more revenue. Source: Report: Apple Executives Cautious of Mixed-Reality Headset Amid Compromises - MacRumors
Everything will be fine, right? If Mr. Srouji is skeptical because the current product is too far from the original vision, I wouldn’t call this alarming. But overall, the signals coming out of these reports aren’t encouraging either. Is Apple headed in a bad direction?
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On Android Switchers Coming in Drove to the iPhone
Report reveals Android users switching to iPhone at 5-year high
15% of new iPhone owners report having an Android device as their last smartphone. That’s a 4% increase from what CIRP saw last year, and 5% higher than the data seen in 2020 and 2021.
The last time new Android switchers made up 15% of new iPhone buyers – according to CIRP – was back in 2018. The highest rate of switchers in the last nine years was 21% back in 2016.
The market is full of previously-owned iPhones for sale. You can find used iPhones from 2 to 3 years ago at reasonable prices these days. People who were using an Android phone probably can now afford to buy an iPhone much cheaper than a brand-new one. Moreover, according to this chart, iPhones from the last few years can still run the latest releases of iOS with most of the features available. It’s very tempting for switchers. This is how I would explain this phenomenon. The study covers the US market. The dynamics might be different in other parts of the world.
One question: what percentage of iPhone owners who buy a new iPhone are returning their iPhone to Apple to get a credit instead of selling their iPhone themselves?
