The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) is a peer networking organization for people who work in the legal technology field, such as the people who work in law firm IT departments. ILTA recently held its annual conference in the Washington D.C. area, and at the conference, ILTA and InsideLegal released the results of their eleventh annual technology purchasing survey. The survey was sent to almost 1,231 ILTA member law firms with responses from 175 law firms, about 83% of which were U.S. firms. I previously wrote about the reports released in 2015, 2014 and 2013. Here is what I saw in the 2016 survey results that struck me as interesting for attorneys who use iPhones and iPads.
For law firms that buy smartphones, 94% buy iPhones
This is a “technology purchasing survey” which means it asks about technology purchased by law firms. There are many categories of legal technology that are virtually always purchased by law firms and not individual lawyers, but the category of mobile technology is one that is moving away from IT purchasing departments. Many attorneys now buy their own device, a practice so prevalent in all companies that there is a common acronym for it: BYOD (bring your own device).
The ILTA survey asks about BYOD for smartphones. Back in 2012, 90% of responding law firms were buying smartphones for their own attorneys with only 10% being totally BYOD. In 2013, 21% had a BYOD approach to smartphones. This increased to 36% in 2014, and in 2015 and 2016 it was 32%. Having said that, my suspicion is that some of these firms who do purchase smartphones for their attorneys are not purchasing them for every attorney; they could be just purchasing them for a subset such as new associates.
The ILTA survey also reveals that 68% of law firms have a formal BYOD policy that covers smartphones. For the 30% of law firms that have no BYOD policy at all, most of them — 60% — are smaller law firms with 1 to 49 attorneys.
This ILTA survey does not ask any questions about smartphones that attorneys purchase themselves (the BYOD smartphones), only the smartphones that law firms are buying. If 32% of law firms are completely BYOD in 2016, that means that around 68% are buying smartphones for at least some of their attorneys. What are they buying? Almost all of the 68% are buying iPhones (64%), about half are buying Android (33%), only 18% are still buying BlackBerries, and 10% are buying Windows smartphones. Or stated differently, for those law firms that purchase smartphones for their attorneys in 2016, 94% are buying iPhones, 49% are buying Android, 26% are buying Blackberry and 15% are buying Windows.
Here is what the last five years of survey data looks like:
What this chart doesn’t tell you is how many of each smartphone the firms are buying, just that the firm is buying at least one of that brand/platform. On the other hand, the chart does tell us something about which smartphones are acceptable to IT departments at law firms. Back in 2012, half of the law firms were not buying iPhones, and now almost all of them buy iPhones. In 2012, very few law firms would buy any Android smartphones; Android peaked at 63% in 2015 and is down to 49% this year. And while BlackBerry was the most popular smartphone purchased by law firms back in 2012, that popularity has decreased substantially in recent years. Indeed, while the 26% number reflected on the above chart is a five-year low for BlackBerry, I’m actually surprised it was still that high. For example, in 2015 the ABA reported that only 5% of lawyers were still using a BlackBerry device. (The ABA has not yet released its 2016 numbers.)
For law firms that buy tablets, the iPad remains popular
In the 2012 ILTA purchasing survey, only 13% of law firms purchased tablets for at least some of their attorneys. That increased substantially in the 2013 survey, when 58% of law firms purchased tablets for at least some of their attorneys. Since then, the number has gone up and down but has always stayed fairly close to 50%. In 2014, 48% of law firms purchased tablets; in 2015, 58% of law firms purchased tablets; in 2016, 52% of law firms purchased tablets.
For the approximately half of all responding law firms who were purchasing tablets, the iPad remains popular, although that popularity has been decreasing somewhat. In 2013, almost 100% of law firms purchasing tablets were buying iPads. That fell to 92% in 2014, 81% in 2015, and this year it is down to 73%. For those law firms that do purchase tablets for their attorneys, about 50% purchase Microsoft tablets, which is consistent with 2015. But only about 10% purchased Android tablets in 2016, down from 24% in 2015.
But again, remember that these numbers only reflect law firm tablet purchases. Most attorneys who I know purchase their own tablets.
At midnight Pacific this morning, pre-orders began for the new 2016 versions of the iPhone and the Apple Watch. I ordered the iPhone 7 (256 GB, Jet Black) and a stainless steel Series 2 Apple Watch. It is unclear to me if I’ll receive either device a week from today, Friday September 16, when the new products officially go on sale in stores (although perhaps in limited supplies); hopefully with a pre-order I’ll be near the front of the line. [UPDATE: Even though I ordered immediately after these went on sale, it doesn’t look like I will get them on September 16. I ordered the new watch using the Apple Store app on my iPhone, and I received a delivery date of Sept. 26. I ordered my new iPhone through AT&T’s website, and I received an expected delivery date of Oct. 7.] And now, the news of note from the past week:
Serenity Caldwell of iMore wrote a great article describing all of the differences between the original Apple Watch, the new Series 1, and the new Series 2.
Apple didn’t discuss the iPad during the keynote event this week, but it announced afterwards that the 16 GB models are now 32 GB models, and the iPad Pro models are getting price cuts. Jacob Kastrenakes of The Verge has the details on the iPad changes. I presume that this means that we won’t see new iPads until 2017, which makes sense to me.
If you want to give someone the gift of music, Dan DeSilva of 9to5Mac reports that you can buy a $99 Apple Music gift card, which gives someone 12 months of Apple Music.
In an interview with Matt Peckham of Time, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo discusses bringing the famous character he created, Mario, to the iPhone. He also discusses meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook: “It was actually shocking for me, because when I met with him, I didn’t realize I was older than him, and he mentioned that he’d been playing my games in college. [Laughs].”
And finally, I’m really intrigued to try Apple’s new AirPods, but they won’t be available until next month. Apple says that AirPods will produce “intelligent, high-efficiency playback, while delivering a consistent and reliable connection” and delivering “incredible sound.” Sounds good to me. Here is Apple’s introduction video for the AirPods:
Yesterday, Apple introduced the 2016 versions of the iPhone, called the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and the 2016 versions of the Apple Watch. The updates add new features that will be much appreciated by lawyers and other professionals who are using these devices to get work done, but the best new features will be most appreciated when you are off-the-clock. Apple also announced new wireless headphones, called AirPods, which look fantastic. The new iPhone and Apple Watch can be pre-ordered starting tomorrow, and will be available in stores a week from tomorrow. Here are my thoughts on Apple’s new product announcements.
iPhone 7
Faster. Every year, the iPhone becomes faster, and I always love these improvements because they make the iPhone more responsive. When I get work done using my iPhone, I am constantly switching between apps, jumping from Mail to my calendar to Safari to Dropbox to 1Password etc. As my iPhone gets faster, I can be even more productive. The iPhone 7 has Apple’s new A10 Fusion chip, which is even faster than the processor in the 12.9" iPad Pro.
More battery life. The iPhone 7 has a longer battery life. In part, this is because Apple removed the headphone jack, which I discuss below, allowing a bigger battery. In part this is because a new processor knows when to start using only 20% of the power when you don’t need full power. The net result is that you can get about two more hours of battery life on the iPhone 7, and about one more hour of battery life on the iPhone 7 Plus (which already had excellent battery life). I suspect that every lawyer has had a busy day when an iPhone was running on empty as the sun started to set. Having an extra two hours every day will be much appreciated.
Better screen. Apple says that the iPhone 7 has a Retina HD display. It is 25% brighter and has a wider color gamut, so colors will be more accurate and photos will be more realistic. This is something I’ll have to try to see how much of an improvement it is in real life. But in theory, I love the idea of a better screen on my iPhone because that’s what I’m staring at when I use my iPhone.
Water resistant. The iPhone 7 is rated IP67. The first number refers to how much dust can get inside of the device, and 6 is the best — complete protection against dust. The second number refers to liquid ingress protection and 7 is pretty good. The 7 means that in theory the iPhone could be up to 1 meter deep in water for up to 30 minutes and it would still work. That’s good, although not as good as an 8 or 9K rating. That 7 rating might make you think that you could take underwater photos and videos using your iPhone 7 as long as you don’t do so for more than 30 minutes and don’t go that deep underwater. In practice, however, the IP67 rating is based on a controlled test in a lab, and may even be with the phone powered off — I’m not sure about that. Even so, if you have ever had a situation where you accidentally dropped your iPhone in a sink or bathtub or swimming pool, the iPhone 7 is far more likely to survive being in the water than earlier models.
Camera. I think that the biggest improvement in the iPhone 7 is the camera. The camera works better in low light, with an f/1.8 aperture that allows 50% more light into the camera sensor than the iPhone 6s. The new camera also captures colors more accurately. And the iPhone 7 camera includes optical image stabilization, a feature that was previously included only on the Plus model. It also has a better and brighter flash. And while the main camera improvements are on the back, the front-facing camera is also improved, so you’ll look better in a FaceTime video conference, and you can take better selfies.
On the larger iPhone 7 Plus, Apple takes advantage of the larger device by adding a second camera. And while the first camera has a 28mm lens like the iPhone 7, the second camera has a 56mm telephoto lens. This means that if you want to zoom, you are no longer limited to a digital zoom (which makes things larger but at a lower quality) and instead you have what amounts to a 2x optical zoom. And while the iPhone 7 will let you use a 5x digital zoom, the 2x telephoto lens on the Plus means that you can get what amounts to a 10x zoom. Once you go all the way up to 10x, the quality of the image will suffer. But it will still look much better than the iPhone 7. And if you are just looking for a 2x zoom, the iPhone 7 Plus camera will look fantastic, much better than the iPhone 7.
Later this year in a software update, Apple will also give the iPhone 7 Plus the ability to use both cameras at the same time to create the illusion of depth-of-field, a bokeh effect that will allow a person in the center of your photo to remain in perfect focus while the background is blurred. This effect is common on SLR cameras with much larger lenses, and I’ll be curious to see how it looks on an iPhone 7 Plus considering that the iPhone is essentially faking the effect, although it is using two cameras so it is not like you are just applying a cheesy Instagram filter.
Home Button. The Home Button on the iPhone 7 is no longer a button. It is just a surface that can detect when you are putting pressure on it, and which produces a slight click to make you think that you have just pressed a button. Apple does something similar on the Apple Watch and the “button” on the MacBook laptop. In the Settings app, you can adjust how it responds to your touch. I’ll have to try it to see what I think, but my initial reaction is that this isn’t really an improvement or a disadvantage; it is just a change that was necessary to make the iPhone more water resistant.
Audio changes. If you ever play music, podcasts, movies, etc. on your iPhone just using the built-in speaker, then you’ll really like the iPhone 7 because it produces sound out of the top and the bottom — or, if you have your iPhone turned on its side in landscape mode to watch a video, sound out of the left and right side. Stereo sound. Thus, the iPhone 7 is much louder when using the built-in speaker, and has a more pleasing stereo sound.
If you want to use a headphone, you will no longer be able to use a built-in headphone jack. Instead, the iPhone 7 only works with headphones plugged in to the Lightning jack. The iPhone 7 comes with Apple’s Lightning EarPods. If you want to use traditional headphones, the iPhone also comes with a headphone jack / Lightning dongle. You can buy additional dongles from Apple for $9, making this the cheapest Apple hardware product that I can ever remember Apple selling.
There are several reasons that Apple decided to remove the headphone jack. It lets that space be used for other purposes (such as a larger battery) and it helps to make the iPhone more water resistant. But the main reason is that Apple thinks that the future of headphones is wireless. Which leads me to…
AirPods
Apple is removing the headphone jack because it thinks that the future is wireless. To show what the future looks like, Apple is releasing its own wireless headphones called AirPods, which will be available next month for $159. You don’t need an iPhone 7 to use them; you can also use an older iPhone model as long as it is running iOS 10.
The new AirPods look like just the tip of an Apple headphone without any of the cords. A microphone is located at the bottom of each stem. Put them in at least one ear and the sound from your iPhone automatically starts playing through the AirPods. When you have AirPods in both ears and you remove one of them — for example, because you want to hear something or talk to someone — the iPhone automatically pauses. Put the AirPod back in your ear to resume playing. Or, if you are listening to music and you remove both AirPods, then music stops playing in the AirPods and starts playing through your iPhone speakers.
By the way, you don’t have to use both AirPods at once. You can just use one at a time, perhaps when you are taking a call or listening to a podcast and don’t care about stereo.
There are no buttons on the AirPods, but they can sense when you double-tap one of them, which activates Siri. You can tell Siri to skip tracks, change the volume, etc. but there are no buttons on the AirPods to manually perform those functions (unlike Apple’s traditional wired headphones which had a play/pause/FF/RW button on the cord).
The cord always gets in the way when I use traditional headphones, and for that reason I’ve been mostly using Bluetooth headphones for the last year. The biggest problem with traditional wireless Bluetooth headphones is that they often don’t work that well. They can lose the connection, the sound sometimes stutters, etc. Apple says that it solved this problem by placing a chip (Apple calls it the W1) inside of each AirPod. Based on the initial reviews from folks who tried them yesterday, the sound quality of the AirPods is supposed to be quite good. If it all works as well as Apple says, it will be fantastic to have wireless headphones that really work well.
AidPods will last five hours before the charge runs out (or two hours if you are talking on the phone), and you recharge them by putting them in their carrying case. The carrying case has 24 hour battery, so you can recharge the AirPods almost five times in the case. Plug the case into any Lightning port and both the case and the AirPods recharge. It looks like a great solution for charging.
Apple Watch
The new version of the Apple Watch is called the Apple Watch Series 2. Additionally, Apple will continue to sell the original Apple Watch with one revision — a faster processor — under the name Apple Watch Series 1.
Faster. One of my biggest complaints about the original Apple Watch is that it was slow to perform many tasks. The watchOS 3 software update will use software to make all Apple Watches faster, but the big hardware change this year is a new processor that makes the watch 50% faster, plus a new GPU that makes graphics twice as fast, plus a dual-core processor. Even if you get the cheapest aluminum model of the Apple Watch called the Series 1, you get the speed increase associated with the new processor. So every new Apple Watch sold will be faster. That’s great news.
Brighter. The screen on the original Apple Watch is pretty good, but it can be hard to see if it is really bright outside. The 2016 Apple Watch has a display that is twice as bright as the original Apple Watch, making it even easier to see the display when you are outside during the day.
Running and Swimming. Apple knows that people like to be active with an Apple Watch, and made it easier to do so in two ways. First, the new Apple Watch now includes a GPS so it can track your run (or hike, or bike ride, etc.), even if your iPhone isn’t in your pocket. Second, you can now go swimming with the new Apple Watch because it is waterproof. The Apple website says: “Apple Watch Series 2 has a water resistance rating of 50 meters under ISO standard 22810:2010. This means that it may be used for shallow-water activities like swimming in a pool or ocean. However, Apple Watch Series 2 should not be used for scuba diving, waterskiing, or other activities involving high-velocity water or submersion below shallow depth.” The only part of the new Apple Watch that isn’t closed off to water is the speaker, since you need to have a pocket of air to produce sound. But after a swim (or after you press the water icon in the control panel) you can spin the digital crown on the side of the watch and the speaker will activate to blow any remaining water out of the watch. Neat trick. If you enjoy participating in Ironman triathlons where you run, bike and swim, this new Apple Watch has your name written all over it.
Special versions. When the Apple Watch debuted, Apple announced a single special version: a very expensive Apple Watch called the Edition which featured a gold case. This year, the gold case is gone, but the name remains. The new Edition is one-tenth the price of the gold Apple Watch, and instead of gold, this year’s Edition includes a white ceramic finish. Apple says that the ceramic makes the new Edition four times harder than the stainless steel version of the Apple Watch.
Another special version this year is the Apple Watch Nike+. It is a Series 2 aluminum Apple Watch that comes with a few special features, most notably a Nike-branded sport band that has lots of holes in the band, but also some special watch faces.
And Apple is continuing to sell a Hermès version of the Apple Watch, which now gets you the stainless steel Series 2 Apple Watch along with a special leather band made by Hermès, plus a special Hermès watch face.
Price. To place the new Apple Watch prices in historical context, remember that the original Apple Watch cost $349 for the 38mm Sport version with an aluminum case, or an extra $50 for the 42mm version; The Apple Watch with stainless steel sold for $549 for the 38mm version and $50 more for the 42mm version.
Now we have new prices along with the new “Series” name. And there are so many different price points that it can all get somewhat confusing.
The cheapest Apple Watch is now $80 cheaper. The 38mm Apple Watch Series 1 will cost $269, and for an additional $30 you can get the 42mm Apple Watch Series 1.
If you want all of the new Apple Watch features (brighter screen, GPS, swim-proof) in the aluminum model, then you’ll want the Series 2. Apple is no longer using the “Sport” name with the Apple Watch, and instead just refers to that as the aluminum model. The new aluminum Series 2 model starts at $369 for the 38mm model, and is $30 more for the 42mm model.
Thus, if you want the aluminum case, the Series 1 is either $80 less (38mm) or $100 less (42mm) than the original Apple Watch, and the Series 2 is either $20 more (38mm) or the same price (42mm).
If you want the stainless steel case, there is no Series 1. Every model of the 2016 stainless steel Apple Watch is the Series 2, with all of the new features. And the price remains the same as before: $549 for the 38mm version, and $50 more for the 42mm version.
All of these prices assume that you get the version of the watch with Apple’s cheapest bands — the Sport band or the Nylon band. If you want any of the fancier bands, you’ll pay more. My advice for new Apple Watch owners remains the same as last year. I encourage you to get the cheapest version with a Sport band or Nylon band. You’ll want to have a cheaper band for use when working out, getting your hands dirty in the backyard, and for the new Series 2 models for when swimming. Then buy the more expensive band separately, because that way you have the ability to return the more expansive band for a refund and/or to swap it out with another expansive band if you don’t like the original one that you bought.
If you are interested in the Nike+ version of the Apple Watch, the prices are essentially the same as the aluminum versions of the Apple Watch. The Hermès models costs between $1149 and $1499 depending upon which leather band you select. And the new Apple Watch Edition with the white ceramic case costs $1249, or $50 more if you want the 42mm version.
Summary
Sometimes Apple updates its products with features that seem to be aimed directly at lawyers and other professionals. For example, when Apple introduced the 12.9" iPad Pro, it seemed directly aimed at folks trying to get work done with an iPad such as lawyers looking at documents, exhibits, etc. Even the 9.7" version of the iPad Pro is a great productivity tool, with support for the Apple Pencil and a speedy processor. Yesterday’s updates to the iPhone and Apple Watch are, for the most part, not those types of updates. Sure, the increased speed and better screen on both products will improve productivity, and the better battery life on the iPhone could be a huge boost for many professionals, but most of the hardware improvements announced yesterday will be appreciated most when you step away from billable hours and begin your personal life.
But that isn’t meant to take away from the improvements. These are much better products. The new Apple Watch Series 2 will be great if you want assistance and motivation when you exercise — especially if you like to run without carrying your iPhone or you like to swim. The new camera on the iPhone 7 will improve the quality of your photographs, especially if you get the Plus model and want the ability to zoom. These look like amazing devices that folks will love, and I cannot wait to try them myself.
If you already use an iPhone 6s or an Apple Watch, these are not essential upgrades, although many will upgrade anyway to take advantage of the new features. But if you are using an iPhone 6 or older, the iPhone 7 is a substantial improvement that you will really appreciate. If you don’t yet own an Apple Watch, now is a perfect time to get one and learn for yourself why folks like me love it so much.
And finally, if you want to see a very quick recap of Apple’s new announcements in less than two minutes, Apple released a video yesterday afternoon called Don’t Blink, which contains an ultra-quick summary of the keynote. Apple has never released a video like this before, and it is fun:
Today at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern, Apple will give a keynote presentation at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Apple hasn’t disclosed what will be announced, but as I noted last week, the invitation may suggest a better camera on the iPhone.
I am 100% certain that Apple will announce the 2016 version of the iPhone today. I presume that it will be called the iPhone 7, based upon the naming conventions of the last few years, but this is always subject to change. I am also fairly certain that Apple will introduce a new Apple Watch today; the rumors say that at least one new Apple Watch model will include GPS.
But beyond those two products, I’m not sure what else Apple will announce. Rene Ritchie of iMore wrote a great post on Medium with his thoughts on what we will and won’t see today, so if you want more insight / speculation, check out his article.
You can watch the event live from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with Safari on iOS 7.0 or later, a Mac with Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later, or a PC with Microsoft Edge on Windows 10. Using any of those devices, click here at or just before 10 Pacific today. Or you can watch using an Apple TV.
I was recently interviewed by legal technology consultant Adriana Linares for her New Solo podcast, for an episode released late last week. You can listen to it in your podcast app of choice (I use Overcast on my iPhone), or you can listen to it here on the New Solo website (part of the Legal Talk Network), or I’ve embedded the audio below. Adriana is incredibly knowledgeable in the field of law and technology, and she is the Chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2017, which will take place in Chicago starting on March 15, 2017. Although based in Florida, Adriana also spends part of her time living in New Orleans, so were able to record this episode in a conference room in my office. This was the first time that I’ve had an opportunity to record a podcast when all participants were in the same room — which was so much better than using a service like Skype.
As you can tell from the title of this podcast, the episodes are typically aimed at attorneys transitioning to a solo law practice. But in this episode, she and I talked about how any attorney can integrate an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch into a law practice, regardless of how big or small your law firm may be. (I myself practice in a larger law firm, and I have never had a solo practice.) I really enjoyed how the interview turned out. We discussed lots of interesting topics, and I encourage you to give it a listen.
Apple got a lot of attention in the news this week when the European Union ordered Apple to pay Ireland $14.5 billion in back taxes, plus interest. But ironically, Ireland itself — the country that would receive the taxes — disagrees that Apple owes the taxes, and plans to appeal (as does Apple). Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote a public letter on the Apple website explaining why he believes that Apple has done nothing wrong and paid all of the taxes that it owed. But as Matthew Yglesias of Vox explains, the real issue is that the EU thinks that Ireland has been unfairly undertaxing Apple (and others) to encourage them to conduct business in Ireland, and this practice is allegedly contrary to EU rules. Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac wrote an interesting article on these taxes, and while his article doesn’t account for the ruling because it was written six months ago, it provides great background reading on this issue. Even if the EU is correct, it seems unfair to me to go back and retroactively change the rules for taxes already paid. It would be easier for me to agree with the EU saying that, going forward, Apple needs to pay taxes pursuant to a different formula. But I am not even a U.S. tax attorney, let alone an Irish or EU tax attorney, so all I can really say is that it is obviously a very complicated issue, and I’m sure that there are a lot of lawyers in Europe spending a lot of time on this for their clients. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Florida attorney Rick Georges reviews the QCY Q26 Mini in Ear Wireless Bluetooth, an incredibly tiny device that fits in one ear and wirelessly produces the audio from your iPhone. Wow, that thing is really tiny.
Two quick self-promotion items from this Summer. First, New Orleans CityBusiness has a column where they ask people to recommend one or two apps on their iPhone. They recently asked me, and I talked about 1Password and Fantastical. If you want to read what I said, you can click on the link on this page.
Second, the Louisiana State Bar Association is celebrating its 75th anniversary. In one article in the June/July issue of the Louisiana Bar Journal, New Orleans attorney Ernie Svenson and I were interviewed by attorneys David Stein and Pete Kee to discuss what we think legal technology will look like in 25 years. Click here to read the article: PDF version. It was fun to think about the future of legal technology.
Caitlin McGarry of Macworld describes some of the new Siri features in iOS 10, the new operating system which may be released as soon as next week.
Joseph Cox of Motherboard writes that, in 2012, hackers stole account details for over 60 million Dropbox users, and the details are just starting to come out now. Dropbox says that it has seen no evidence of malicious access to these accounts, but even so, this news is obviously quite unsettling.
Geoffrey Fowler of the Wall Street Journal reviews the Automatic Pro, a $130 device (with no service fee) that plugs in to your car and provides information about your car to your iPhone. Better yet, if the device senses that your vehicle is in a crash, it automatically notifies someone who will call you to see if you are OK — and will call 911 with your location if you need help.
Brent Dirks of App Advice reviews the new Tile Slim Bluetooth Tracker that is thin enough to fit in your wallet, and lets you use your iPhone to locate your wallet — or your wallet to locate your iPhone — if you misplace one of them.
Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports on a French medical study finding that letting a child use an iPad before surgery was just as effective as using a sedative when it comes to reducing the child’s anxiety level. So the next time you are feeling anxious, you know what to reach for.
You know that “Sent From My iPhone” that you sometimes see at the end of an email? Lara Williams writes in an article for The Guardian that the connotation of that phrase has changed over time from a way of showing off (“Looking at me! I have an iPhone!”), to something else completely. Interesting.
And finally, as we look forward to Apple’s keynote next week at which the new iPhone will be introduced, it is fun to take a look backward at the great Apple keynotes of yesteryear. NotesKey is a neat website that has extensive details on every major Apple keynote since January of 1997. I enjoyed using NotesKey to relive the details of the July 2000 keynote at Macworld New York, the only Apple keynote I attended in person; it was a real treat to see Steve Jobs on stage. But one of the very best keynotes ever was the January 2007 keynote at Macworld San Francisco, where Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. Here is how Steve Jobs began:
This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two and a half years. Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. And Apple has been, well … first of all, one is very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in your career. Apple has been very fortunate. It has been able to introduce a few of these into the world. In 1984, we introduced the Macintosh. It didn’t just change Apple, it changed the whole computer industry. In 2001, we introduced the first iPod. And it didn’t just change the way we all listen to music, it changed the entire music industry.
Well, today, we’re introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. [Crowd cheers] The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. [Crowd cheers even louder] And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. So, three things. A widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone and an Internet communicator. [Crowd goes wild] Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.
If you want to watch it again as we look forward to next week, here is the full video of that January 2007 keynote; the iPhone introduction starts around 21:50:
There are lots of iPad apps that are useful for attorneys but also useful for many others: Mail, Microsoft Word, Dropbox, GoodReader, etc. But if I was asked to name the most useful apps designed specifically for lawyers, the apps that Lit Software makes would be at the very top of my list: TrialPad, TranscriptPad and DocReviewPad. These are incredibly sophisticated and useful apps that are in many ways more powerful than PC software costing hundreds of dollars more. And they work incredibly well on the iPad. For my litigation practice, which involves lots of depositions, TranscriptPad is an incredibly useful tool that I use at least once a week, and sometimes every day. TrialPad is an incredibly useful tool for lawyers who want to control the display of evidence in a trial (or folks who want to do the same thing in a mediation, meeting, etc.). And DocReviewPad has powerful tools for reviewing documents.
I mention these three apps today because they are on sale. However, you don’t have much time because the sale ends at the end of today, Wednesday, August 31. Lit Software doesn’t have sales very often — the last one was in December of 2015. Each of the apps is $20 off, which means that TrialPad (normally $129.99) is selling today for $109.99, TranscriptPad (normally $89.99) is selling today for $69.99, and DocReviewPad (normally $89.99) is selling today for $69.99.
If you want more information on each of these apps, here are my reviews and other posts on these apps:
Lit Software is a past sponsor of iPhone J.D., and it turns out that they are also a sponsor next month. But they are not a sponsor this month, nor did the company ask me to mention the apps today. I just noticed that a sale was going on, and since I know that these apps are discounted so rarely, I wanted to make sure that iPhone J.D. readers knew about the opportunity to save some money.
If one or more of these apps is not currently on your iPad and you have been thinking getting the app when the time was right, today would be a good day to make the purchase.
Click here to get TrialPad ($129.99, but $109.99 today):
Click here to get TranscriptPad ($89.99, but $69.99 today):
Click here for DocReviewPad ($89.99, but $69.99 today):
Yesterday, certain members of the press received invitations from Apple to a product announcement event that will take place on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 at 10 Pacific / 1 Eastern. As always, Apple is not revealing what will be announced, but it is pretty easy to make at least one guess. In 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012, Apple held an event in early September at which it introduced a new version of the iPhone. Thus, I feel quite confident that we will see new a new iPhone introduced next week.
What else will Apple announce? Maybe a second-generation Apple Watch. Maybe some new Macs, although Mark Gurman of Bloomberg (who has a great track record for these type of predictions) says that the new Macs won’t be announced until October. I don’t expect new iPads or a new Apple TV, but I suppose that anything is possible.
Suffice it to say that if you know of anyone planning to buy a new iPhone this week, I would strongly discourage them from doing so. My guess is that the new iPhones won’t be actually in stores until mid to late September, but anyone who can wait a few more weeks to get an iPhone should definitely wait.
Here is the graphic in the invitation itself. Sometimes, Apple’s invitations contain clues as to what is going to be announced. When I first looked at this picture, my only thought was that it was a neat bokeh effect — which is how a nice SLR camera can make objects in the distance appear blurry to add more depth. But John Gruber of Daring Fireball wonders if the bokeh effect is actually a clue that Apple is bringing SLR-quality pictures to the new iPhone, although perhaps only to the larger plus model. There is a rumor that the larger model will have two lenses on it, which will combine to create one improved picture.
This week in an article about early-birds versus night-owls, the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook starts his day at 3:45 a.m. each day. My guess is that you are not reading this at 3:45 a.m., but if you are, then good morning to you … and please keep the noise down, because I’m still asleep. If you want more information about Cook’s morning routine, I remember reading an interview with Time magazine in late 2012 when he was a runner-up for Man of the Year. As that Time article states that Cook is “a workaholic, and not of the recovering kind. He wakes up at 3:45 every morning (‘Yes, every morning’), does e-mail for an hour, stealing a march on those lazy East Coasters three time zones ahead of him, then goes to the gym, then Starbucks (for more e-mail), then work. ‘The thing about it is, when you love what you do, you don’t really think of it as work. It’s what you do. And that’s the good fortune of where I find myself.'” When it comes to daily routines, I am the opposite, a night-owl. After putting my kids to bed and then exercising, I often get some of my most productive work done late at night. That’s also when I usually post new items on iPhone J.D., typically between midnight and 1:30 a.m. Central. And now, the news of note from the past week:
If you are in the New Orleans area and want to hear me share some tips for using an iPad in a law practice, I’m teaching a one hour CLE at Noon today for the New Orleans Bar Association. The CLE is free for NOBA members. You can get more information and sign up here.
California attorney David Sparks writes about the demise of Vesper because the developer wasn’t making enough money. I love the Vesper app on my iPhone and use it every day as a simple to do list for projects I’m working on and a place to keep track of other information. I’m very upset to see the app going away. I suppose I could continue to use it even after support ends, but I’ll probably move most of my Vesper info into Apple’s Notes app — which is so much better today than it was a year ago. But I’ll miss the ability to drag items up and down to move them up or down in my list of items.
Massachusetts attorney Robert Ambrogi discuss Duet Display, an app that turns your iPad into a second monitor for your computer.
Apple released iOS 9.3.5 yesterday, and like many updates it contains security fixes. But the security fixed here was really something … apparently a hack created by an Israeli security company and used against a reporter. Had the reporter clicked on a link in a text message, bad guys would have gotten complete access to his iPhone. And if you haven’t yet updated to iOS 9.3.5, then your device is at risk too. For more information, read this fascinating report by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai of Motherboard or this New York Times article by Nicole Perlroth.
Diane Cardwell of the New York Times reports on Apple’s efforts to create clean renewable energy to offset its own energy use. What Apple is doing is really impressive, is good for the environment, and in the long run will even save Apple money.
I agree 100% with this article about Apple Music by Jason Snell for Macworld. The service is wonderful because you have access to so much music and discover so much music that you otherwise would not have known about it; at the same time, you get locked into a system where you need to keep paying to access all of that new music. I still listen to music ripped from CDs that I bought when I was in high school in the 1980s, and I haven’t had to pay anything more to keep listening to that music for 30 years. But the new music I love to listen to on Apple Music won’t be available to me 30 years from now unless I continue to pay Apple the monthly fee every single month for 30 years (assuming the service remains in business).
Jan Dawson of Beyond Devices wrote a great article with really interesting charts showing how Apple has fared during the last five years that Tim Cook has been CEO. Spoiler alert: Apple is doing well.
Steven Levy of Backchannel has a great article about artificial intelligence efforts at Apple including Siri, based on his interviews with numerous Apple executives.
Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reviews August Smart Lock, a lock for the front door of your house that you can control with Siri.
Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac explains that while Apple Pay is great to use because it is convenient, the real value is that the merchant never knows your credit card number but instead gets a one-time code.
And finally, here is a video from PhoneBuff showing that the year-old iPhone 6s is much faster than the brand new Galaxy Note 7 on numerous tasks:
Because a large part of my law practice is devoted to appellate litigation and complex litigation at the trial court level, legal research is an important part of my law practice. When I was in law school in the early 1990s, Westlaw and Lexis certainly existed, but much legal research was still done with books. If you are old enough to remember the process of using Shepard’s books to research subsequent history in a case, you know how much of a pain it was, having to check many different books and pocket parts and updates with small type just to make sure that a case was still good law. I’m thrilled that those days are gone. Legal research using a computer is infinitely better, especially with the advanced tools that are now a part of Westlaw and Lexis.
Having said that, one thing that I hate about spending a significant amount of time doing legal research on the computer is that staring at a screen for a long period of time turns me into a zombie. My Apple Watch taps my wrist and reminds me to walk around once every hour, and I am often amazed to learn that a full 60 minutes has passed since the last time I felt that tap. After staring at the monitor screen for too long, I find that my senses are somewhat dulled, and I fear that it may have an effect on the quality of the legal research that I am doing.
For me, a good solution is to switch between using a computer and using an iPad to do legal research. The simple change from one platform to the other seems to give my brain a surge and makes me more sharp as I am reading cases. Plus, in many ways I prefer doing legal research on an iPad. There is something about holding caselaw in my hand and being able to lean back in a chair — much like I used to do with a book back in the 1990s — that makes me feel more connected with what I am reading.
I mention all of this today to make sure that you know how easy it is to switch from a computer to an iPad and back again. If you use Westlaw, right on the home page of the app there is an area that shows recent searches:
Additionally, when you tap in the search bar at the top of the Westlaw app, you will see recent searches:
Similarly, in Lexis, there is an area right on the main screen of the app that shows you your recent search history:
If you use Fastcase, you can tap the Recent button at the bottom of the app. That will show you a list of recent research that you have done on both the computer and the iPad. (You may need to tap the refresh button at the top right to see your very latest research.)
Of course, both Westlaw and Lexis also have a dedicated history section of each app where you can see all of your recent searches and recent documents. But if you are shifting from your computer to your iPad just for a change of venue, you’ll most likely just want to pick up with the last search that you were just doing on your computer. On Westlaw and Lexis, you can do that without even invoking the history function by using the most recent history lists located on the main screens each app, and on Fastcase it is almost just as easy to tap that Recent button.
Legal research on the iPad is not 100% the same as legal research on the computer; you typically get more sophisticated search options on the computer. But it is usually possible for me to do a significant portion of my legal research on the iPad, and I can always switch back to the computer whenever I need the full set of tools. Going back and forth every once in a while is actually a good thing, in my opinion, because it stops me from staring at any one particular screen for too long and stops me staying in any one particular position for too long.
If legal research is a part of your law practice and you aren’t currently using an iPad to do a part of that legal research, I encourage you to give it a try.
Click here to get Westlaw (free):
Click here to get Lexis Advance HD (free):
Click here to get Fastcase (free):
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This article won the LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award on September 2, 2016. The editors of LitigationWorld, a free weekly email newsletter for litigators and others who work in litigation, give this award to one article every week that they feel is a must-read for this audience.
And finally, as we look forward to Apple’s keynote next week at which the new iPhone will be introduced, it is fun to take a look backward at the great Apple keynotes of yesteryear. 
