Episode 12 – Apple in China, In-car Technology, Apple Retail moves

Episode 12 of the Beyond Devices Podcast is a very Apple-centric episode, with three different topics relating to the company. We kick off with a discussion of this week’s news around Apple in China and Apple’s share price, and tackle whether the market is being rational or irrational around all this. Our Question of the Week is about the current state of in-car technology and Apple’s role in it today and tomorrow, including the prospect of Apple making cars. Our last major topic is the recent changes to Apple’s retail stores and what these signify, especially as we look forward to the launch of new iPhones next month. Aaron wraps up the episode with his Weekly Pick, in which he recommends several websites he uses when he’s looking for guidance when he’s about to buy something.

Links to these websites and other relevant content for this week’s episode may, as always, be found below the SoundCloud player.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also now have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Episode 11 – Google OnHub, Apple Samsung Patents, Apple Fall Preview

This week’s Question of the Week is answered by Aaron, who (aside from being a business school professor) is a qualified lawyer, and digs into the details of the Apple vs. Samsung patent litigation, recent news in the case, and the implications for these two companies and others. If you’ve been wondering what all this is really about, and why not just Apple and Samsung but Google and Facebook are involved, you’ll really want to listen to this segment, which starts at 15:45. Either side of the QotW, we have our other two topics. Kicking off the show, we have a discussion of Google’s OnHub wireless router, which was announced this week, including its role as a Trojan horse for Google’s ambitions in the smart home. And following the patent discussion, we have a quick preview of Apple’s fall announcements, including what Aaron is expecting in new MacBooks based on Intel’s new chips. Last on the agenda, as always, is our Weekly Pick, which this time around is a movie recommendation from Jan.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com).

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

  • Google’s blog post announcing the OnHub wireless router
  • Wired’s article on the OnHub, including the quote on privacy we discussed in the episode, in the second to last paragraph
  • John Moltz’s tweet on OnHub privacy settings, which was mentioned by Aaron in the episode
  • Two articles (first, second) from Patently.io which Aaron read during his research for our Question of the Week on patents
  • Far from the Madding Crowd (Jan’s Weekly Pick movie recommendation) on iTunes and Amazon (affiliate link) and the trailer on YouTube.

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Episode 10 – Google’s Alphabet Move, Privacy, Mobile Payments

Our three topics this week are Google’s Alphabet restructuring, privacy policies and concerns for major smartphone vendors, and trends in mobile payments. We kick off with a discussion of Google’s announcement that it will create a new parent company called Alphabet under which the core Google business and Google’s various new initiatives will be subsidiaries. We discuss the pros and cons of this approach and what it means for Google going forward. Our Question of the Week is about the different levels of privacy protection offered by the major smartphone platforms and the implications that has for their ability to provide effective cloud services. Our third topic is mobile payments, prompted by recent announcements about payment platform CurrentC, which seems to be struggling, Samsung’s announcement today of Samsung Pay’s impending launch, and the ongoing rollout of Apple Pay. And in our Weekly Pick, Aaron recommends some running shoes. As usual, the embedded SoundCloud player and links to other sources and related content can be found below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com).

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Episode 9 – Apple’s MVNO, the Law of Large Numbers, Apple Music subscribers

This week, we talk about the reports (now shot down by Apple) that Apple was doing trials for launching a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), and the reasons why this might (and mostly might not) be a plausible scenario. Our Question of the Week (which starts at 11:35) tackles a term that’s often bandied about in relation to Apple but that few really understand, which is the “law of large numbers” – Aaron talks us through the real meaning and definition of that law, and why it isn’t really applicable in the way it’s often used in relation to Apple. He also talks about another similar concept called the Gambler’s Fallacy, as well as the history of very large companies. Our final big topic (at 30:18) is the subscriber numbers Apple released for Apple Music the morning we recorded this podcast – is 11 million good or disappointing? And our weekly pick is a singer/album recommendation from Jan.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com).

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.