Our News Roundup this week covers the reports that Apple has been considering an investment in or outright acquisition of British supercar manufacturer McLaren; the release of Google’s Allo messaging app; and Comcast’s announcement that it will finally launch its long-rumored cellular wireless service sometime in 2017.

Our Question of the Week this week is “What can the research on past product recalls teach us about the Samsung Galaxy Note7 recall?” We’ve talked several times previously about Samsung’s recall of the Note7, but this week Aaron spent some time looking at the history of product recalls and reading some of the academic research on the topic with a view to understand a couple of things. Firstly, we talk about what the history suggests about how Samsung will be impacted by the recall, and secondly we discuss the general lessons for product recalls that come out of the research.

Our third segment is a review of the new iPhone 7 Plus and Watch Series 2, both of which Jan has been using for the past five days or so. This builds on the meta-review we did last week of all the published reviews of both products.

Our Weekly Pick is a set of iPhone apps recommended by Jan.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player 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). We also 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:

• Sources for Aaron’s Question of the Week on product recalls:
  • AP story on the backlash in China (where the Note7 doesn’t have the same battery issue but consumers are nonetheless concerned)
  • Academic paper: “The Liability of Good Reputation: A Study of Product recalls the US Automobile Industry” (paywall)
  • Academic paper: “Does a Firm’s Product-Recall Strategy Affect its Financial Value?” (paywall)
  • New York Times on Samsung’s stumbles in its recall process
  • Consumer Reports call for Samsung to officially recall the Note7
  • The CPSC’s official page for the US government’s recall of the Note7
  • New York Times on the 1980s Tylenol recall
  • The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case – PointOfLaw Forum.
• Jan’s Weekly Picks were a set of iPhone apps that support the new RAW photo functionality in iOS 10: Manual ($3.99), Obscura Camera ($4.99), and Pro Cam 4 (this is the only one of the three that supports both lens switching on the iPhone 7 – $4.99).

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