Monthly Archives: January 2016

Android, Apple, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Earnings, Episodes, FCC, Google, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Smartphones, Wireless

Episode 31 – News Roundup, Apple Earnings

This week, we once again did our brief news roundup on several topic items, but then we spent the bulk of the time on Apple’s fiscal Q1 2016 earnings, which came out earlier this week (and skipped our Question of the Week and Weekly Pick features).

Our news roundup covered three items: the FCC’s move to open up the cable set-top box market, the disclosure of what are purported to be Google’s revenues from Android as part of the Oracle-Google court case, and insights from the earnings of the US wireless carriers.

In our discussion of Apple’s earnings, we covered the iPhone and guidance for the March quarter, what’s going on with iPhone growth and when it’s likely to turn around again. We talked about the significant foreign exchange impact Apple has been facing, and the fact that it’s been forced to talk about it now that its growth has slowed dramatically. We discussed Apple Watch sales briefly, talked about China and India specifically, and also discussed the iPad, Mac, and the potential for new products in 2017. Lastly, we also covered Apple’s new emphasis on its Services business and the power of its installed base (something Jan wrote about this week on the Beyond Devices blog).

As ever, you’ll find links to related content and various 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 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.

Apple, Earnings, Episodes, M&A, News, Predictions

Episode 30 – News Roundup, Media M&A, Apple Earnings Preview

This week, we again kick off with a quick roundup of a few news items, and we’re feeling like this is probably how we’ll start all our episodes going forward. One side effect is that many of our episodes will end up being a little shorter than before – closer to 45 minutes than an hour.

This week, the three news topics we discussed up front were Netflix’s earnings, reports that Apple is applying to open its own stores in India, and the launch on Wednesday morning of an updated GarageBand app for iOS as well as a new Music Memos app. We discuss each of these items briefly and highlight what we think are the most significant aspects. Our Question of the Week this week is about M&A activity in the video content world, and specifically whether big tech companies should expect to be able to fix their streaming video rights issues by acquiring media companies. The context here is the continuing reports that Time Warner might be for sale, and that big tech companies like Apple or Amazon might be buyers. Aaron dives deep for us on which assets are actually for sale, why someone might want them, and what else they’d get by buying one of these companies, as well as the potential downsides.

Our last topic is a preview of Apple’s earnings next week. We run through both what to expect and what to look for as Apple reports iPhone and iPad sales, highlights Apple Watch performance, and provides other tidbits for observers and analysts. As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, and this week Jan recommends a couple of game apps for iOS.

As ever, you can find links to related content and other useful stuff under the 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 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.

Apple, Beta program, Episodes, Fitbit, iOS, tvOS, WatchOS

Episode 29 – News Roundup, Fitbit, Apple Betas

We kick this week’s episode off with a new format, which is a rapid-fire review of three news items from this week: IDC’s new PC sales numbers for Q4, Buzzfeed’s article about Apple removing itself as the sales middleman for iAd, and rumors that Time Warner is up for sale and both Amazon and Apple might be buyers. We’ve dropped our Question of the Week item for the past two episodes because we had so much else to talk about, but it’s back this week with a review of Fitbit and why its share price has taken such a dive lately. Our final topic is the beta versions of updates to all of Apple’s major software platforms this week, some of which involved fairly major updates somewhat uncharacteristic of Apple’s point software releases. As ever, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this time around is a card game recommendation from Aaron.

Links to many of the items we discussed along with Aaron’s Weekly Pick and some other stuff are under 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 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.

App Store, Apple, CES, Episodes, Netflix

Episode 28 – CES, App Store Numbers, Netflix

For our first episode of 2016, we focus mostly on CES and the announcements made there. Jan was there in person, while Aaron followed the news remotely. We discuss the following trends and products, among others:

  • The rise of USB-C
  • Cars, technology, and autonomous vehicles
  • Fitness and wearables – Fitbit Blaze and Withings Thermo
  • Drones
  • Virtual and augmented reality
  • Headphones, including Apple’s reported moves here
  • 4K and Ultra High Definition plus HDR in TV sets.

We also spend a few minutes specifically discussing Netflix’s big international expansion news from CES, including Jan’s post from this week about the possible financial implications. Lastly, we discuss the new App Store numbers Apple released this week and what they might mean. And, as always, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, a product recommendation.

As usual, lots of relevant links and other information are below, under the embedded 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:

  • The Verge’s Bragi Dash review
  • The Thermo thermometer product page on Withings’ site
  • TechCrunch article on Quanergy’s solid-state LiDAR technology
  • MG Siegler’s two pieces on Bluetooth earpieces (1, 2) and Jan’s earlier piece on intimate computing for Techpinions
  • Jan’s post from this week on Netflix Everywhere
  • Jan’s post on Apple’s new App Store numbers
  • Jan’s post on why Apple should buy Netflix
  • Aaron’s Weekly Pick, which is a knife sharpener, on Amazon (affiliate link).

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.