Episode 6 – Apple earnings preview, new iPods, iPhone ads

We took a break last week as we were both traveling, but we’re back this week with Episode 6. We moved our Question of the Week to the beginning of the episode this week, as it provides useful context for our discussion of Apple’s earnings, which are due next week. Jan talks through Apple’s earnings release process, and provides some beginner’s notes on what to look for and how Apple reports, as well as providing a deeper dive into Apple’s reporting trends. We also talk about some specifics of what to expect next Tuesday.

Our other topics this week are the new iPods Apple announced, the iPhone ads the company recently released, and the public betas of iOS and OS X, which Aaron has been trying out. Our Pick of the Week feature also returns, this time around with something rather different.

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.

Episode 5 – Apple Music launch, Apple’s PR strategy, Indie Developers

This week, our first major topic of discussion is the Apple Music launch, the new service, and Beats 1, along with our first impressions. We have somewhat different reactions to Beats 1, but both enjoy the other features. Our Question of the Week is “How is Apple’s PR strategy changing?” in the wake of former PR chief Katie Cotton’s departure and the new openness Tim Cook is bringing to Apple (something Jan wrote up for a blog post too). We use the Apple Music launch over the past few weeks as a case study of the new approach. Our third topic is Brent Simmons’ blog post about the supposedly dire prospects for indie app developers. Lastly, we introduce a new segment called the Weekly Pick, in which we recommend something new we’ve discovered recently – this week, Aaron recommends a new motown album he’s enjoying. Some relevant links in the show notes 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.

Episode 4 – Taylor Swift, Public Betas, and Liquidmetal

In Episode 4, we kick off our conversation with a discussion of the very rapid turnaround that happened this past weekend when Apple reversed its stance on paying royalties to artists and labels in the face of a blog post from Taylor Swift (this episode was recorded before it became clear  how much Apple would be paying labels during the free trial, so you’ll hear some speculation on that point). In our Question of the Week, Aaron tackles the three different flavors of Apple’s operating systems – developer previews, public betas, and final releases – and what you should know about them, as well as some insight into when exactly the public betas and the final releases might land. And at the end we have a brief discussion about Apple’s ongoing licensing of the Liquidmetal alloys and what it might do with them, if anything.

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.

Episode 3 – WWDC 2015 announcements – part 2

Last week was the first part of our review of the announcements from Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, which focused on the operating system announcements around iOS, OS X, and watchOS. This week, we follow up on that episode with a discussion focused on the content-centric announcements from WWDC, principally Apple Music and the News app.

Our Question of the Week discussion this episode focuses on the DJs Apple has hired away from Radio 1, Hot97, and Rinse FM to host its new Beats 1 radio service. We did some research on the background of these three very different DJs, their strengths, why Apple hired them, and what they’re likely to do for Apple. This discussion starts around 20:25 in to the episode.

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 app if you want to add it manually.

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.

Episode 2 – WWDC 2015 announcements, part 1

In the second episode of our podcast, we review some of the key announcements from Apple’s WWDC keynote, focusing particularly on the iOS, OS X, and watchOS news. Also this episode, we introduce a new weekly feature called “Question of the Week”, in which we’ll do a deep dive into answering a question that may be on listeners’ minds. Given that the open sourcing of the Swift programming language got the biggest applause from the audience at WWDC, we thought we’d start by explaining what it means and why it’s significant. Special thanks to Farshad Nayeri, who helped us in our research into this question.

Next week, we’ll follow up with more analysis of the WWDC news, with a special focus on the content announcements including Apple Music and the News app. Our Question of the Week will be looking at the DJs for Apple’s Beats 1 radio station and what makes them unique. 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 app if you want to add it manually.

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.

Episode 1 – WWDC 2015 Preview

This is the first episode of the Beyond Devices Podcast, featuring Jan Dawson and Aaron Miller. In this episode, we look forward to Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference next week, and discuss some of what we’re expecting, and some of what we’d like to see Apple announce. Next week, we’ll be looking back on and digesting the news from WWDC.

At the beginning of the episode, we also introduce ourselves as co-contributors to the podcast. Jan is the author of the Beyond Devices blog and the founder and Chief Analyst at Jackdaw Research, a research and advisory firm focused on the consumer technology market. Aaron is a business school professor who has authored several books in the iMovie: The Missing Manual series with David Pogue, and continues to keep a close eye on Apple.

You can also find the podcast on iTunes.

Show notes:

We refer to several posts and other items in the conversation this week – here are some links:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you – this is very much a work in progress and we look forward to getting better over time!

Welcome to the podcast

The Beyond Devices podcast is brought to you by Jan Dawson and Aaron Miller. Jan is the author of the Beyond Devices blog, as well as the owner and Chief Analyst at Jackdaw Research, a research and advisory firm focused on the consumer electronics market. Aaron is a business school professor, but in a past life ran one of the most popular iMovie blogs and co-authored several books in the iMovie: the Missing Manual series with David Pogue, and remains an avid follower of all things Apple.

In March 2017, starting with Week 87, we changed up our format and split the podcast into two parts, each comprising what used to be a segment in our original format:

  • Question of the Week (QotW) – in these episodes, we do a deep dive around a topical question, with either one of us or a guest answering questions based on their expertise and/or research on the topic. Our intention is to publish these episodes on Wednesday or Thursday each week.
  • News Roundup – in these episodes, we briefly discuss several news items from the week, pulled from Jan’s Tech Narratives service, which provides short commentary on the week’s tech news and puts it in context.

You might like to see our full listing of past episodes, our past Questions of the Week, or our Weekly Picks.

Jan can be found on Twitter at @jandawson, while Aaron is @aaronmiller. We welcome your feedback on any of our episodes or the podcast in general.

Here’s the link to our SoundCloud profile, and here is the podcast on iTunes. You can also add us on Overcast. In any other podcast app, you should be able to add the podcast with a search for Beyond Devices Podcast.