Who Will Buy the iPhone 16e?, The Apple Intelligence Factor, Apple Discloses C1 Modem Efficiency Gains
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Who Will Buy the iPhone 16e?
The Apple Intelligence Factor
Apple Discloses C1 Modem Efficiency Gains
One quick programming note. Inside Orchard is the sibling website to Above Avalon where I write about broader tech topics. While I don’t normally call out Inside Orchard essays as they are published, the newest essay, "Apple News Is Winning," went over how changes in social media and the legacy news industry are boosting Apple News. If you have an interest in the topic, check out the essay (also available in podcast form).
Receive 50% off regular Inside Orchard membership pricing by bundling with an Above Avalon membership via the Inside Orchard add-on. For those of you with the Inside Orchard add-on, the essay is already in your inboxes.
Today's update will be focused on the iPhone 16e and C1 modem. As iPhone 16e reviews came out last week, a few observations jumped out at me.
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Amazon Unveils Alexa+, Apple News+ Expands Into Food, Apple News+ Food and New HW
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Amazon Unveils Alexa+
Apple News+ Expands Into Food
Apple News+ Food and New HW
We will kick things off with Amazon unveiling Alexa+. The framing Amazon is using to market Alexa+ is dramatically different than Apple Intelligence marketing. Our focus will then shift to an update coming to Apple News+ that raises new HW speculation.
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Apple Intelligence Expands to Apple Vision Pro, Spatial Gallery for Apple Vision Pro, Apple Vision Pro App for iPhone
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Intelligence Expands to Apple Vision Pro
Spatial Gallery for Apple Vision Pro
Apple Vision Pro App for iPhone
Over the past week, Apple has announced several product updates. For today’s update, we will focus on new items coming to Apple Vision Pro.
One quick update to Monday’s discussion. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is out with comments regarding the U.K.’s request for an Apple backdoor. Gabbard says she was only made aware of the U.K.’s request via recent press reports. She had harsh comments for U.K. officials, saying their request for a backdoor to be used to access encrypted data of any Apple user, including U.S. citizens, likely goes against the CLOUD Act.
My expectation is that Washington will stop the U.K. order in its tracks as it pertains to Apple users in the U.S. being impacted. The unknown is if the U.S. goes so far as to say Apple pulling Advanced Data Protection in the U.K. jeopardizes U.S. citizens who engage with Apple users in the U.K. We will continue to follow the story for updates.
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Apple Announces New U.S. Commitment, Untangling the Politics from Apple’s Commitment, Apple and Trump 2.0
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Announces New U.S. Commitment
Untangling the Politics from Apple’s Commitment
Apple and Trump 2.0
Hello everyone. For today's update, we will focus on Apple's $500 billion U.S. investment commitment. Unfortunately, the news has been weaponized by both side of the political aisle. After we go over what Apple actually announced, we untangle the politics from Apple's commitment.
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U.K. Demands Apple Backdoor, Apple Disables Advanced Data Protection in U.K., Apple’s Strategy
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
U.K. Demands Apple Backdoor
Apple Disables Advanced Data Protection in U.K.
Apple’s Strategy
Today’s update will be focused on the developing situation involving Apple and the U.K. as it pertains to encryption and cloud backdoors. The update begins by going over how the U.K. government is ordering Apple to create a backdoor to encrypted material. We then discuss what I think Apple’s larger strategy is by pulling Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the U.K.
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Apple Unveils First In-House Modem, Apple Unveils the iPhone 16e, The iPhone 16e Bet
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Unveils First In-House Modem
Apple Unveils the iPhone 16e
The iPhone 16e Bet
Today’s update will include plenty of good old Apple strategy talk. There is much to cover with Apple unveiling C1, its first in-house modem, and the iPhone 16e. Let’s jump right in.
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HP Buys Humane, Humane’s Autopsy, What Comes After Smartphones?
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
HP Buys Humane
Humane’s Autopsy
What Comes After Smartphones?
Happy Wednesday.
Earlier today, Apple unveiled the iPhone 16e, a new addition to the iPhone 16 family. It’s an interesting product on a few fronts. We will dedicate Thursday’s update to the news.
For today’s update, we will look at HP buying Humane. There’s a deeper story at play here than just a failed hardware start-up. As we will discuss, there are some takeaways related to a post-smartphone world.
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Alibaba to Power Parts of Apple Intelligence in China, Apple Unveils Powerbeats Pro 2, The Intrigue With Beats Continues
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Alibaba to Power Parts of Apple Intelligence in China
Apple Unveils Powerbeats Pro 2
The Intrigue With Beats Continues
The fast-paced news flow continues. We will begin today’s update with Apple Intelligence news. The discussion will then turn to a noteworthy product release from Beats. This will bring us to revisiting Beats strategy which continues to intrigue me.
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Apple TV App Expands to Android, Keep an Eye on Apple Sports, MLS Season Pass on Comcast
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple TV App Expands to Android
Keep an Eye on Apple Sports
MLS Season Pass on Comcast
Earlier today, Apple announced that the Apple TV app is now available on Android. After quickly going over the news, we will discuss the three prongs to Apple’s content strategy. The update will then focus on why I think Apple is bringing the Apple TV app to Android in early 2025.
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Spotify 4Q24 Earnings, The Streaming 2.0 Era, Spotify Signs Deals With Universal and Warner
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Spotify 4Q24 Earnings
The Streaming 2.0 Era
Spotify Signs Deals With Universal and Warner
Following yesterday's discussion regarding the Super Bowl halftime show, we will remain in music streaming land for today's update. A few days ago, Spotify reported 4Q24 earnings, surprising to the upside on most metrics. We will discuss a few things from the earnings release and conference call that jumped out at me. Our focus will then turn to some broader developments in the music streaming space.
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Apple Music’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, My Thoughts on Kendrick Lamar’s Performance, Why Sponsor the Halftime Show?
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Music’s Super Bowl Halftime Show
My Thoughts on Kendrick Lamar’s Performance
Why Sponsor the Halftime Show?
There is some follow-up worth pursuing when it comes to Apple Invites and broader competition implications, but today’s update will be focused on the Super Bowl. Apple is invested in the Super Bowl as Apple Music sponsors the halftime show. We go over my thoughts on Kendrick Lamar’s performance and some of the business rationale behind Apple sponsoring the performance.
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Apple Launches Apple Invites App, Initial Impressions, Partiful Cries Foul
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Launches Apple Invites App
Initial Impressions
Partiful Cries Foul
For today's special Friday edition of the Above Avalon Daily, we look at Apple's newest app: Apple Invites. We go over my initial impressions and why online RSVP start-up Partiful is so upset.
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Meta 4Q24 Earnings, Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Sales, Bosworth’s Leaked Reality Labs Memo
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Meta 4Q24 Earnings
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Sales
Bosworth’s Leaked Reality Labs Memo
We kick off today’s update with a look at Meta's 4Q24 earnings. Within Big Tech, Meta is likely to hold the most competitive stance against Apple. There is a fascinating story found with Meta. The discussion then turns to Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Reality Labs.
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Apple 1Q25 Earnings Review Wrap-Up (Management Remarks, 10-Q Notes, Buyback Tidbits, Paid Subscription Tally)
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following story:
Apple 1Q25 Earnings Review Wrap-Up (Management Remarks, 10-Q Notes, Buyback Tidbits, Paid Subscription Tally)
We wrap up our Apple 1Q25 earnings review. In yesterday’s update, our focus was on Apple’s 1Q25 earnings call Q&A exchanges. There were a few remaining comments worth going over regarding management’s prepared remarks prior to the Q&A. We then turn to Apple’s 1Q25 10-Q. Published at the end of FY1Q, 2Q, and 3Q, 10-Q filings provide additional commentary and disclosures regarding a company's business and financial results. For the 1Q25 10-Q, my focus was on qualitative descriptions for Apple's financial performance. The update concludes with examinations into Apple’s latest share buyback activity and the number of paid subscriptions.
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Reading Between the Lines of Apple’s 1Q25 Earnings Q&A With Analysts
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following story:
Reading Between the Lines of Apple’s 1Q25 Earnings Q&A With Analysts
We will continue reviewing Apple’s 1Q25 earnings. Here’s a recap of where things stand:
Last Friday’s update : Go over my big picture thoughts / compare Apple’s results to my expectations.
Today’s update: Examine Apple’s earnings call with analysts. Instead of just recapping the question and answer exchanges that occurred on Apple’s 1Q25 earnings call, we will go over my thoughts / response to each exchange.
Wednesday’s update: Cover various Apple earnings topics. Given the length of today’s email, a few discussion topics that could have been put into today’s email have been pushed to Wednesday's update.
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