Category Archives: Apple

Advertising, Apple, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Apps, Cord-Cutting, Episodes, iPad, iPad Pro

Episode 23 – iPad Pro Reviews, Apple Watch vs. Apple TV, Cord-Cutting

We kick off this week’s episode with a discussion of the iPad Pro reviews that came out on Wednesday. We talk through the common themes – both the consistent gripes and the things that were consistently praised – as well as some of the unique things particular reviews picked up on. Our second topic is our Question of the Week, in which we pick up on a conversation we started last week around the Apple Watch and Apple TV and the prospects for these two devices. In particular, we talk about the total addressable market, the developer-related challenges each device faces, and the other constraints holding each device back, as well as the ultimate potential of each device. Lastly, we discuss cord-cutting, in the light of a post Jan wrote this week, and whether it’s likely to accelerate. We also talk some more about Apple’s potential TV service and how that might factor into all this.

The SoundCloud player is embedded below, and under that you’ll find some relevant links and links to alternative versions of the podcast (iTunes, Overcast, etc.).

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, Apple Pay, Apple TV, Episodes, Mobile payments, Payments, Square

Episode 22 – Apple TV, Payments Primer, Twitter Faves

On this week’s episode, we kick off the discussion with Jan’s thoughts on the new Apple TV, which he’s been using for five days now, and broaden the conversation into a review of where it might go from here. Our second topic is our Question of the Week, which is all about how the payments industry works, who the players are, where the money goes, and how new players such as Square, Apple, Google, and Samsung fit in. And our final topic is Twitter’s change this week to its Favorites feature, and what it says about Twitter’s broader challenge of attracting new users while retain its existing ones. As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a movie recommendation from Jan.

As ever, you can see some relevant links and other useful information under the SoundCloud player embedded 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, Apple Watch, Earnings, Episodes, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Mashable, Phil Schiller

Episode 21 – Apple September Quarter Earnings, Mashable Article/Interview

This episode is devoted almost entirely to Apple’s September quarter earnings (Apple’s Fiscal 2015 fourth quarter, and calendar quarter Q3 2015). Following up on last week’s preview episode, we discuss the guidance for next quarter and what it signifies, but also individual results for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch (such as we can glean them), and so on. We also discuss Tim Cook’s remarks on China and Apple’s rapidly-growing enterprise business. We wrap up the episode with a discussion of Mashable’s excellent article on Apple’s design process, based on interviews with Phil Schiller and VP of Mac and iPad engineering John Ternus. And of course there’s our Weekly Pick as usual, with Jan recommending an album he’s discovered recently.

As usual, the SoundCloud player is embedded below, and under that you’ll find some links to content relating to this 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). 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, iMac, Microsoft, Surface, Windows 10

Episode 20 – New iMacs and Peripherals, Apple Earnings Preview, Surface Book Reviews

This week, we kick things off with a discussion of Apple’s new iMacs and associated peripherals – Aaron has been using the new Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad and talks about his experience with them. We also discuss the surprisingly basic hard drives which ship with the new iMacs, and what this signifies about Apple’s strategy for its lowest-tier products. Our Question of the Week is, “What should we be expecting from Apple’s earnings next week?” and we discuss expectations for the iPhone, Apple Watch and other products, and what Tim Cook is likely to say about China. And our final topic is a quick run-through of the reviews of the new Microsoft Surface Book, which we discussed in some depth two weeks ago in Episode 18. As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, in which Aaron recommends a Bluetooth speakerphone he uses with his iPhone for conference calls.

The SoundCloud player is embedded below, and under that are links to some stuff relating to today’s 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). 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, Apple Music, Apps, Business Models, Cars, Elon Musk, Episodes, iOS, Music, Overcast, Tesla

Episode 19 – Music Survey Results, Elon Musk and Foxconn, Overcast and iOS Business Models

Our Question of the Week this week concerns Elon Musk’s recent comments on Apple’s car efforts. In an interview with a German newspaper, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said (among other things), “You can’t just go to a supplier like Foxconn and say: Build me a car.” Our Question of the Week is to what extent Elon Musk’s comment was justified. Around that middle topic, we have two others: we kick off the episode with a review of some of the findings of Jan’s recent music consumption surveys and what they tell us about Apple Music usage and subscribership. And our third and final topic is Marco Arment’s new Overcast app and its unique patronage-based business model, the controversy it’s caused, and what it says about the state of the iOS app market. And we wrap up, as always, with our Weekly Pick.

The SoundCloud Player is embedded below, and beneath that are links to other versions of the podcast and a host of links to things we mentioned on the show today and other relevant items.

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, AT&T, Episodes, Microsoft, Sprint, Steve Jobs, T-Mobile, TracFone, Verizon, Wireless

Episode 18 – Microsoft event, US wireless market, Steve Jobs

This week, we follow up last week’s coverage of Google’s event with discussion of Microsoft’s big Windows 10 event, which had a very different feel to it. We evaluate the big announcements, but we also talk about the presentations and demos and the overall tone of the event, which felt much more energetic and compelling than previous Microsoft events. Our Question of the Week this week is “What’s going on in the US wireless market, and who’s winning?” Jan provides some context by discussing each of the major US wireless providers and their background, and then talks through some different definitions for measuring which of them is “winning”. We also talk about what’s next for the US wireless market. Our final topic is Steve Jobs – both the man and the movie that’s coming out soon, along with the controversy over the movie, and the reaction from both Steve Jobs’ widow and from Apple executives. And Aaron has our Weekly Pick for this episode, which is a book recommendation.

As ever, the SoundCloud player is embedded below, and there are quite a few links to blog posts and other things we discussed in the episode underneath that. One thing of particular note is Jan’s slide deck on the US wireless market in Q2 2015, which provides a lot of depth beyond what we discussed on the podcast.

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, Apple Music, Episodes, Google, iPhone, Nexus

Episode 17 – Google Event, A Series Chips, iPhone and Apple Music Impressions

We kick off this week’s episode with a discussion of Google’s event on Tuesday. We discuss the new Nexus phones and the history of Google’s Nexus programs, the new Chromecast devices, and Google’s strategy for the TV. Our Question of the Week is about Apple’s A-Series Chips, and Aaron’s been doing some research into how Apple has managed both to make such rapid advances and to compete so effectively against other approaches. Aaron explains the differences and relationships between fabless manufacturers, foundries, and Integrated Device Manufacturers, the role of Apple’s PA Semi acquisition, the importance of the ARM architecture, and more.

Our final topic is a discussion of our personal experiences with Apple’s new iPhones, as well as our conflicting responses to Apple Music (Jan has just allowed his trial to roll over into a paid subscription, while Aaron has cancelled). And Jan’s Weekly Pick is the Launch Center Pro app, which in its latest version makes interesting use of Apple’s new 3D Touch Quick Actions.

As ever, relevant links and more are beneath 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.

Ad blockers, Apple, Content blockers, Episodes, Events, iOS 9, iPhone, Safari, WatchOS

Episode 16 – New iPhones, Content Blockers, iOS 9

Episode 16 is a fairly iPhone-centric affair. We start out with a review of the new software releases from Apple over the past week, with iOS 9 landing on schedule last week and WatchOS 2 arriving a few days late. We discuss some of our favorite built-in features, and also the relatively small number of apps that seem to be taking advantage of the new features in both operating systems.

Our Question of the Week this week is about the hot topic of the moment – content blockers in iOS 9. This discussion starts at around 23:35 in the episode, and we review the context and the technical details behind Apple’s implementation of content blocker extensions in Safari, the worries some people have about the implications of these content blockers, and an evaluation of the likely impact over time.

Our final topic is the new iPhones, and this section of the episode starts at around 41:40. Neither of us has our hands on these devices yet, but we discuss the reviews and what they reveal about reviewers, as well as our take on the preorder process and early numbers from Apple and what (if anything) they might signify.

As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this time around is a band Aaron recommends. The SoundCloud player is below as usual, with links to relevant content and other material beneath that.

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, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Episodes, Events, iPad, iPhone

Episode 15 – Apple September 2015 Event Deep Dive

Last week, we did a quick half-hour quick take on Apple’s September event, and briefly covered all the major announcements. This week, we dive a little deeper on each of the announcements, but focus mostly on the Apple Watch, iPad, and Apple TV announcements, touching only briefly on the iPhone, which we’ll cover in a bit more depth next week. On the Apple Watch front, Aaron notes that there are no obvious killer apps for the Watch yet, even with the WatchOS 2 release imminent, and we talk about the implications for product upgrade and release cycles given the addition of new color options last week. With regard to the iPad Pro, we discuss Steve Jobs’s famous comment about the role of the stylus, as well as Tim Cook’s remark from the event itself that the iPad represents “the clearest expression of our vision of the future of computing”. Aaron also follows up on his comment from last week about the possible role of the iPad Pro in college settings. On the subject of the Apple TV, we discuss the interesting storage limitations Apple has placed on apps, along with the significance of the On-Demand Resources model; the requirement for all games to support Apple’s Siri Remote, and not just third-party controllers; and possible upgrade cycles. With the iPhone, we discuss briefly the significance of 3D Touch, the new cameras, and a few other features, as well as Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program. As ever, the SoundCloud player is embedded below, and links to other versions as well as other relevant content are underneath that.

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, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Episodes, Events, Gaming, iPad, iPhone

Episode 14 – Apple September Event First Take

This is our quick take on Apple’s September event, which was recorded with Jan sitting outside the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, immediately following the conclusion of the Apple event. As such, the audio on this episode is not up to our usual standards. It’s also shorter than most of our episodes and doesn’t follow our usual format. Instead, you’ll hear about 25 minutes of quick conversation following the chronological order of Apple’s event, with some tidbits from the hands-on experience. We’ll do a deeper dive next week, hopefully with our usual audio quality!

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.