Month: August 2024

Last week while I was on vacation, Apple released the results for its 2024 fiscal third quarter (which ran from March 31, 2024, to June 29, 2024) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. This is typically not a big fiscal quarter for Apple, but Apple made the best of it, announcing its best fiscal third quarter ever, with record revenue of $85.8 billion (up from $81.8 billion this time last year). There was also some interesting news on services, which I discuss below. If you want to get all of the nitty-gritty details, you can listen to the audio from the announcement conference call on the Apple website, or you can read a transcript of the call prepared by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Apple’s official press release is here. Here are the items that stood out to me.

iPhone

• Apple’s iPhone revenue for the quarter was $39.3 billion, down slightly from $39.7 this time last year.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that if it were not for the fluxation between the dollar and other currencies, iPhone revenue would have grown instead of being down slightly.
• Looking at the big picture across many quarters, iPhone revenue has been fairly steady for the last 2.5 years. That may sound boring, but it is a great thing. The iPhone is a killer product that brings in tons of money for Apple, which means that Apple can spend lots of money making future iPhones even better. Virtually every other company in the world would love to have a business that is as good as Apple’s iPhone business.

iPad

• iPad revenue was $7.2 billion, up 24% from $5.79 billion a year ago. That is a huge iPad quarter. Apple has had other quarters in its history with over $7 billion in iPad sales, but it doesn’t often happen outside of the first fiscal quarter, which contains holiday sales. (In 2021 Q1, Apple hit $8.4 billion in iPad revenue; in 2023 Q1, Apple hit an all-time record $9.4 billion in iPad revenue.)
• There is no real mystery behind the reason for the iPad revenue jump last quarter. After not releasing any new iPads at all in 2023, Apple released some great ones a few months ago, including the new iPad Pro M4 and the new iPad Air. I’m sure that there were lots of people—like me—who were waiting to upgrade until Apple released a fantastic new iPad. And Apple did that.

Services

• Perhaps the most interesting news was that Apple had its best-ever quarter for services. Services is a broad category that includes everything from the money that people spend at the App Store, subscriptions such as Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple One, etc., third-party subscriptions for which Apple receives a share, licensing, Apple Care, Apple Pay, and more. On the one hand, you might say that having a record quarter in services revenue is no big surprise because virtually EVERY quarter has been a record quarter for services revenue for many years now. Every quarter, it goes up a little more. On the other hand, that number is now starting to get pretty big: $24.2 billion this quarter. That made it 28% of all of Apple’s revenue last quarter: less than the iPhone (46%) but more than all other categories combined (Mac, iPad, Wearables). When you ask someone what Apple does, it makes sense for the #1 answer to be that it sells the iPhone, but I wouldn’t have guessed that the #2 answer is providing services.
• Services is a particularly interesting category for Apple. Unlike buying products, which people might do only once every few years, many people pay for the same service month-after-month. That makes it a steady source of income that doesn’t fluctuate up and down. Also, it is a great source of profit. Apple has some of the highest profit in the industry on its hardware, around 35%. But in the services category, it is currently seeing 74% profit.
• Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote a fascinating article addressing what it means for Apple to be doing so well in the services category. It definitely changes what Apple is about. Don’t get me wrong, products are still important; people spend money on Apple services specifically because they use those services on Apple hardware. You need to have the iPhone and Mac and iPad for services revenue to continue to grow. But as Apple looks to its future, making decisions on services becomes just as important as making decisions on its traditional hardware products. This is something new that Apple has never before seen in its history.

I was thrilled to be the guest on Episode 203 of Tim Chaten’s fabulous podcast, iPad Pros. The iPad Pros podcast has been published for over seven years. In each episode, Tim talks to a developer of iPad apps or a person who uses the iPad in a professional setting to get work done. In the latest episode, I explain how I use my iPad in my law practice, and I go into great detail. We had a fabulous discussion; Tim does a great job coming up with questions.

If you have an interest in hearing all about how you can use an iPad to get work done as a lawyer, then you will enjoy this episode of the iPad Pros podcast.

Click here to listen to Episode 203 of iPad Pros.

This week, Brett Burney and I released a special episode of the In the News podcast, and it is one of my all-time favorite episodes. The episode is devoted to our history of using mobile technology. We talk about Sharp organizers, various devices made by Palm and Handspring, BlackBerries, Casio devices, and many more. We start in the 1980s when the term Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) had not been invented yet and come all the way until 2008 when Brett and I purchased our first iPhones.

If you lived through this time as well, you will enjoy our walk down memory lane. On the other hand, if the world of mobile devices before the iPhone doesn’t mean much to you, I think you will be fascinated by the features and limitations of the devices that we used to use.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just listen using your podcast player of choice. You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

One of the big new features coming to the iPhone this Fall in iOS 18 is the integration of AI. When Apple released the beta version of iOS 18.0 in June for developers to start to work with, Apple’s most significant new AI features—including stuff that the company is calling Apple Intelligence instead of artificial intelligence—were not in the beta. This week, Apple released a developer beta of iOS 18.1. Not 18.0; 18.1. And it contains Apple Intelligence. This indicates to me that we will see Apple release iOS 18.0 and the 2024 versions of the iPhone around mid-September, but then we will have to wait another month or two for Apple to release iOS 18.1, which will have some of the first parts of Apple Intelligence. Thus, for those of us who do not run beta software on an iPhone, that means that we will not be able to start to use Apple Intelligence in September, but perhaps we will see some of it in October or November, with even more features added in 2025. And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Apple released iOS 17.6 this week for the iPhone and similar updates for numerous other platforms. But there are no new features; these are just bug fixes and security updates.
• Massachusetts attorney Bob Ambrogi of LawSites reports on a new ethics opinion from the American Bar Association that addresses AI. It is Formal Opinion 512 (July 29, 2024). The opinion says that lawyers don’t have to become experts in AI but they are ethically required to have a reasonable understanding of the capabilities and limitations of whatever specific AI technology that the lawyer uses.
• Julie Clover of MacRumors reports that if you live in Ohio, you can now put your state driver’s license in the Apple Wallet app. I knew that this was true even before I saw that report because my podcast co-host Brett Burney lives in Ohio and he texted me a picture of his license in the Wallet app. In Louisiana where I live, a digital driver’s license is supported but not in the Apple Wallet app; instead, you need to use a special app called LA Wallet that I first reviewed in 2018. I can tell you that after using this app for over five years, I really love knowing that if my iPhone is with me (and it aways is) then my license is also with me, even if I forgot to put my wallet in my back pocket.
• Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac provides a first look at Siri with Apple Intelligence based on what is currently available in the beta software.
• Juli Clover of MacRumors describes all of the AI features that are included with the first beta of iOS 18.1.
• While some AI features will definitely be useful and helpful, there can be a fine line between what seems great and what seems somewhat creepy. For example, check out this new video for an upcoming $99 product called Friend, a necklace that you can wear and talk to as if it is a, well, a friend. It responds to you via text message.
• This week, Apple announced that the fantastic Apple TV+ Sci-Fi show Silo will return for Season 2 in November, as reported by Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac.
• To use an Apple Vision Pro, you have to be able to use your eyes to look at items on the screen and use your hand to pinch or touch to select items. But what if you have ALS and cannot use your hands? David Snow of Cult of Mac shares the fascinating story of how a company called Synchron came up with a way for someone to just think about selecting an item and then trigger a selection, meaning that they don’t need to use their hands. I recommend that you watch the video linked in the story. It’s pretty incredible.
• In a post for Six Colors and Macworld, Jason Snell wonders if Apple should release a smart ring if it wants to go beyond the health features available with and Apple Watch.
• Braden Newell of Pocket Lint recommends Apple Vision Pro apps for getting work done.
• San Antonio reporter Priscilla Aguirre notes that former basketball player Sean Elliott is recovering after A-Fib treatment that he first learned was necessary because of his Apple Watch, even though he wasn’t seeing any symptoms.
• If you need a power strip, there is a big sale on Amazon on one made by Anker that my wife has used for years: it is currently under $15. It has a unique design, shaped like a cube, and with three sides offering additional outlets and one side offering USB-C and USB-A outlets. And for a few dollars more, you can get a version with a long cord (10 feet). My wife keeps this one at her mother’s house so that she can charge all of her devices when she visits.
• William Gallagher of Apple Insider reports that Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite feature on the iPhone saved the lives of four hikers who were cut off by wildfire in British Columbia.
• And finally, here is a silly video in which Jake Gyllenhaal & Nana Mensah of the Apple TV+ show Presumed Innocent try (horribly) to provide definitions for common legal terms. My main reason for including this video is to note that I just finished watching this show and I thought it was great. I would like to tell you more about why it was great, but I cannot do so without spoilers, so just trust me on this one. If you like a good courtroom drama with suspense and twists and turns, this one is for you.