Amid growing spat with Facebook, Apple increases privacy controls

Apple Inc. executives rarely call out Facebook Inc., but they made more moves on Monday to limit the social network’s data collection. In iPhone, iPad, and Mac software updates later this year, Apple’s default Safari web browser will show a pop-up window asking users for permission before loading share buttons from social networks including Facebook. 

These buttons make it easy to share web content, but they also let social networks collect user data -- something Apple has been cracking down on in recent years. This would also apply to tools such as like buttons and the comment sections of social networks, Apple executive Craig Federighi demonstrated during a presentation at the company’s annual developer conference. Apple also showcased a new system that makes it more difficult to gather information about users as they browse across the web. When people visit sites, the characteristics of their device can be used by advertisers to create a “fingerprint” to track them. Safari will share a "simplified" profile to thwart this, Apple said.

Apple Inc. executives rarely call out Facebook Inc., but they made more moves on Monday to limit the social network’s data collection. In iPhone, iPad, and Mac software updates later this year, Apple’s default Safari web browser will show a pop-up window asking users for permission before loading share buttons from social networks including Facebook. 

These buttons make it easy to share web content, but they also let social networks collect user data -- something Apple has been cracking down on in recent years. This would also apply to tools such as like buttons and the comment sections of social networks, Apple executive Craig Federighi demonstrated during a presentation at the company’s annual developer conference. 

Apple also showcased a new system that makes it more difficult to gather information about users as they browse across the web. When people visit sites, the characteristics of their device can be used by advertisers to create a “fingerprint” to track them. Safari will share a "simplified" profile to thwart this, Apple said.

The real story behind the huge crowds gathered at iPhone launches

Apple’s special edition iPhone X release – like the new iPhones before it – brings thousands of people lining up in front of Apple stores around the globe. It raises the seemingly obvious question: what sane person would queue overnight for an over-priced, at best incrementally-changed gadget?

But what sounds like a question for psychologists, may actually be better addressed as a matter of the way media and markets work.

You’d be forgiven for expecting this article to be a rant about the blatant consumerism of the people that stand in line – many overnight – to get the latest iPhone. Or against the world’s obsession with smartphones more generally. After ten years of extensive media coverage of each launch, we’ve all grown used to the clichéd pictures of “die-hard fans” queuing outside Apple stores.

Many regularly express their profound dislike of the practice. One commentator called the iPhone 6 queues a “giant cocktail of wrongness and irrationality”. Samsung even ran a series of commercials to mock the infamous queues.

At the same time, marketing experts celebrate Apple for its seemingly magical ability to electrify the masses and mobilise thousands of people to line up for days. It has become a custom among admirers and critics alike to compare the relationship between Apple and its loyal customers with religions and mystical cults. What we are told is a story of powerful symbols and an idolised brand on one side, meeting irrational lemmings on the other.

Yet, there is also evidence suggesting that iPhone queues may be the result of something much more banal than the “mythical power of symbols, icons and stories”. And what if iPhone queuers weren’t irrational hedonists, but were acting more like calculating entrepreneurs?
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Roku connects with investors in debut, shares up 17%

Shares of Roku Inc, a Fox-backed video streaming firm, rose as much as 16.6 percent in their market debut on Thursday, giving the US IPO market a much-needed shot in the arm.

The US IPO market is struggling to finish 2017 on a high note even though it has already raked in more money so far this year than it did in 2016.

Snapchat owner Snap Inc, and meal-kit delivery company Blue Apron Holdings Inc, which listed in the first-half of the year are trading well below their listing prices.

At $16.33, Roku had a market capitalization of $1.55 billion.

A pioneer in helping consumers cut the cord from traditional cable, Roku made one of the first devices to offer streaming content such as Netflix over TVs.

But the market has since become more competitive, with Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google, Amazon.com Inc and others offering their own devices.

To compete better, the California-based firm has opened its platform to more TV apps than its peers, including Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Google Play, allowing it to offer over 3,000 channels internationally.
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iPhone X: Apple makes a $999 gamble on its aspirational brand

Apple is taking a calculated risk with the pricing of its new phone. The $999 iPhone X is a bet on users’ loyalty and wealth and is on the surface consistent with the company’s longstanding strategy of differentiation and exclusivity. The danger lies in how the phone sells in the world’s huge and growing emerging markets; Apple clearly thinks it is a risk worth taking.

And it’s not without reason. Apple has always targeted the higher end of the market worldwide rather than just aiming for a larger base of users. In fact, if anything, Apple tends to price phones higher outside the US. The UK has to stomach an inflated price for the iPhone X even when tax differences are allowed for.

To be clear, the top end phone is not the only option. British customers will be able to pick up an iPhone 8 for £699 and an iPhone 8 Plus for £799. This is still more expensive than its direct competitors, but the demand curve for the iPhone is relatively inelastic. This means that for a given percentage increase in price, the percentage reduction in demand is smaller, giving an overall increase in revenues. No wonder the iPhone accounts for the majority of Apple’s revenues and profits.
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Apple doubles down on China as local rivals pull ahead

Apple Inc is binding itself more closely to China as its share of the world's biggest smartphone market slips and it becomes more reliant on selling services which require government approval.

A flurry of recent action by Cupertino-based Apple underlines its push to get on the right side of China's notoriously tough tech regulators, as it looks to revive sales there.

This weekend it moved to block apps used to evade the country's internet censors, a decision that fits with Beijing's recent crackdown on unapproved online content. And Apple has announced it will establish its first China data centre in the politically important province of Guizhou and has created the new position of a managing director for Greater China, reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook.

Apple's China revenues have stalled, falling for a fifth straight quarter in January-March, when sales grew in every other region. China recently slipped to Apple's third-largest market, as consumers have switched to newer domestic offerings. The buzz around new launches has also cooled since the iPhone 6 in 2014.

When it unveils quarterly earnings later on Tuesday, Apple is likely to report another dip in China smartphone sales. Its once coveted iPhone has slipped into fifth position behind offerings from local rivals Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi, analysts said.
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Apple beats Sensex in market capitalisation

The recent rally in the share price of Apple Inc has taken the market capitalisation of the technology giant to more than $797 billion at 10 PM IST, making it bigger than the combined market cap of all the 30 Sensex companies put together.

India’s bluechip index closed at a market cap of $784 billion, based on Monday's share prices. Apple, the most valuable company in the world, is the only company to have a higher market cap than that of the Sensex companies together. The Sensex accounts for 40 per cent of India’s total market cap.

Apple is also larger than the market cap of countries like Brazil, Singapore, Spain, and Malaysia.

In the league of companies with the top market cap, Apple is followed by Alphabet Inc and Microsoft, which have a market cap of $651 billion and $530 billion, respectively.

Despite reporting lower than expected earnings, shares of Apple went up by 3.7 per cent last week, pushing its market cap to record highs.

The rally in Apple was triggered by ace investor Warren Buffett’s statement that he had more than doubled his firm Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Apple. His firm currently owns a 2.5 per cent stake in the technology giant. Expressing his confidence in the company despite softer sales in the recent past, Buffett said consumer loyalty for Apple was huge and hence there was nothing to worry.

Apple has gained 32 per cent year to date.

During the previous quarter, Apple added another $10 billion to its cash reserves, taking them to $256.8 billion, larger than the market capitalisation of General Electric (GE). This is roughly the size of the Indian mid-cap index in terms of market value.
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Apple opens its accelerator for app developers in Bengaluru

Nearly a year after Apple CEO Tim Cook visited India to woo Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bollywood stars and start-ups, the iPhone maker has opened its doors to app developers with the first-of-its-kind accelerator in Bengaluru.

The Centre will support Indian app developers to design, test and optimise their apps to better run on Apple's iPhone and iPad. The move is aimed at replicating the iPhone's success a decade ago in developed markets, where users flocked to it due to the availability of higher quality apps.

"We are impressed by the great entrepreneurial spirit in India, and are excited to provide a platform for these developers to share their innovations with customers around the world," said Philip Schiller, SVP of Worldwide Marketing, in a statement. "In just the first few weeks, we've already seen some incredible developers here at the App Accelerator Bengaluru."

Apple will be able to provide guidance to over 500 developers every week where they will be able to get analysis and feedback for their apps from a set of experts. The company will also look at supporting Indian developers in using its own Swift development language to build apps and services for its iPhone.

The opening of the app accelerator comes weeks ahead of Apple's first iPhone manufacturing plant in Bengaluru going online. The facility is expected to produce the low-cost iPhone SE and will allow the company to circumnavigate high excise duties of importing a fully assembled device into India.

As Apple is working hard to increase sales of its iPhones in India, the company is trying to woo developers who've traditionally built services for Google's Android operating system first. Even today, devices running Android outnumber iPhones by over nine to one, as majority of buyers look for affordable smartphones. (READ MORE)

Apple Inc chief Tim Cook calls for more global trade with China

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook expressed support for globalisation and said China should continue to open its economy to foreign firms, while speaking at a forum in Beijing on Saturday.

"I think it's important that China continues to open itself and widens the door if you will," said Cook, speaking at the government-sponsored China Development Forum.

Cook's comments come amid rising tensions between the US and China, with protectionist rhetoric from U.S. President Donald Trump sparking concern of increased trade friction between the two countries.

"The reality is countries that are closed, that isolate themselves, it's not good for their people," said Cook, in a rare public speech.

Apple said on Friday it will set up two new research and development centres in Shanghai and Suzhou in China.

It has pledged to invest more than 3.5 billion yuan ($508 million) in research and development in China.

Apple has been singled out in Chinese media as a potential target for retaliation in the event of a trade war.

The Global Times warned last November if Trump triggered a trade war with China, Beijing would then target firms from Boeing to Apple in a "tit-for-tat" approach. (READ MORE)