Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/05/wednesday-morning-news030517/
Apple’s second quarterly results are out, and the company is still making unimaginably large amounts of money. According to the press release, Apple made $11 billion profit on their $52.9 billion revenue, with international sales accounting for 65% of Apple’s revenue. The numbers compare favourably to predictions from analysts and Apple’s own guidance, although Apple still doesn’t release Apple Watch sales numbers.
MacStories has a number of graphs that visually compare the numbers to previous quarters, with additional analysis included in the form of tweets by Neil Cybart and other sources. Apple sold 50.8 million iPhones, 8.9 million iPads, and 4.2 million Macs, with 63% of Apple’s revenue coming from the iPhone.
The Verge writes that Apple finds itself in an interesting position, that mostly boils down to the company looking for “the next big thing”. They’re literally the most profitable companies in the world, and yet because we’ve already seen the iPhone revolution, somehow there’s still this expectation for Apple to come out and hit a home run every other year — not only is that expectation unrealistic, it’s completely unsustainable.
As part of the financial results, Apple also announced an expansion of their stock buyback program. An additional $50 billion will be added to Apple’s stock buyback fund, bringing the total to $300 billion by March 2019. AppleInsider reports “Apple notes it has so far returned $211 billion to shareholders since August 2012, $151 billion of that in the form of buybacks.”
The latest research note from the Deutsche Bank says there won’t be a new iPhone this year, but I’m not so sure. Component shortages aren’t anything new, nor are production difficulties, and there would be riots if Apple didn’t release a new iPhone this year that was at least somewhat different from last year’s model.
A new kind of OS X malware called Dok which used a legitimate developer certificate, which means it would bypass any kind of Gatekeeper prompt for being an unsigned app. The malware spread via a phishing attack, running various scripts when executed and adding itself as a startup item to ensure it was run when the machine was rebooted. The good news, Apple’s XProtect defence mechanism has already been updated to block the malware, but that doesn’t mean you should keep downloading dodgy things from the internet.
For some reason, major apps are abandoning the Apple Watch, with the likes of Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay all quietly removing their Apple Watch apps from their iOS apps. While the exact reasons for companies ditching their Apple Watch apps are unknown, it’s possible some companies just don’t find enough value in having to maintain an Apple Watch app.
How do you tell if an Apple Watch notification is coming from your iPhone, or via an Apple Watch app? Take a look at the app icon in the top left of the notification: if the icon’s round, then it’s coming from an Apple Watch app. Otherwise, it’s an iPhone notification pushed to your Apple Watch.
Logitech has announced a Slim Folio keyboard case for the regular ol’ iPad, but the notable feature here is that it comes with a purported four-year battery life, thanks to Bluetooth Low Energy, and a usage pattern of two hours per day.
The last polycarbonate plastic MacBook has been added to Apple’s obsolete list, meaning parts for the 2010 13-inch MacBook are no longer available. I seem to recall many educational institutions buying the machine, but they’ve since likely moved on.