Apple WWDC
Apple’s (AAPL) yearly World Wide Developers Conference began yesterday, and while reviewers were sufficiently upbeat enough to likely satisfy company management, there was little to get very excited about. As a software developers conference, there was considerable focus in the release of iOS16, which is now available to developers and is expected to be released alongside the iPhone 14 series in September, at least in consumer beta. While we will not go into the details of the new iOS and its variants in detail, there were two aspects that we thought noteworthy.
The first was Apple’s move into the BNPL (Buy now, pay later) genre for the iPhone, which allows iPhone users to split payments into 4 installments spread over 6 weeks, with no interest or fees (if you pay on time), and strangely for Apple, the option is not restricted to only Apple products and you don’t need an Apple Card. Goldman Sachs (GS) is the attached bank, but details as to who might be absorbing the interest costs were not revealed. The concept is similar to PayPal’s (PYPL) BNPL, which limits the service to transactions between $300 and $1,500, while Apple has yet to specify limitations.
We have noted some of the security issues facing those using Apple’s Air Pod tracking devices, with boy/girlfriends or spouses using them to track or stalk former partners, going as far as to hide them in cars or personal items. Apple has taken this seriously, going as far as to include the features, known as “Rapid Security Response” in the developer version and making the update automatic, rather than forcing the iOS 16 user to reboot to have the changes take effect and institute further protection against cyberattacks and potential software vulnerabilities, but also adds “Safety Check” which implements a number of features that would help to protect those being tracked or harassed.
We note that while this was a software developer’s conference, there were some hardware changes announced, although we would consider them relatively minor. To use of most significance was the lack of any AR/VR reference or teasers, as we suggested might be the possibility in our note yesterday, and while this is disappointing from a product perspective, we expect it will be a positive for Apple in the long-run, as they continue to further refine their AR/VR headset prototypes further. There were some other upgrades, with the Mac Book Air and the Mac Book Pro 13 shifting to Apple’s M2 chip from the previous M1, which should noticeably improve performance, but the price of the Mac Book Air also increased from $999 to $1,199, which could push it near or to the budget limit of those looking for MacBook performance but at the lowest possible price. The MacBook Pro 13 with the M2 chip sells for $1,299, with both expected to ship in July. All in, a relatively uneventful event.
The first was Apple’s move into the BNPL (Buy now, pay later) genre for the iPhone, which allows iPhone users to split payments into 4 installments spread over 6 weeks, with no interest or fees (if you pay on time), and strangely for Apple, the option is not restricted to only Apple products and you don’t need an Apple Card. Goldman Sachs (GS) is the attached bank, but details as to who might be absorbing the interest costs were not revealed. The concept is similar to PayPal’s (PYPL) BNPL, which limits the service to transactions between $300 and $1,500, while Apple has yet to specify limitations.
We have noted some of the security issues facing those using Apple’s Air Pod tracking devices, with boy/girlfriends or spouses using them to track or stalk former partners, going as far as to hide them in cars or personal items. Apple has taken this seriously, going as far as to include the features, known as “Rapid Security Response” in the developer version and making the update automatic, rather than forcing the iOS 16 user to reboot to have the changes take effect and institute further protection against cyberattacks and potential software vulnerabilities, but also adds “Safety Check” which implements a number of features that would help to protect those being tracked or harassed.
- The system can disable sharing of location data.
- All application permissions are reset, which means no outsider (many couples share permissions to make sure the other person has not been in an accident or hurt in some way) can access the camera, microphone, or any other application that might have access to same.
- Removes outside access to messages.
- Facetime is limited only to the user’s device.
- All recently deleted or hidden photos are locked and cannot be accessed by others.
- All device iCloud accounts on all devices can be signed out at once.
We note that while this was a software developer’s conference, there were some hardware changes announced, although we would consider them relatively minor. To use of most significance was the lack of any AR/VR reference or teasers, as we suggested might be the possibility in our note yesterday, and while this is disappointing from a product perspective, we expect it will be a positive for Apple in the long-run, as they continue to further refine their AR/VR headset prototypes further. There were some other upgrades, with the Mac Book Air and the Mac Book Pro 13 shifting to Apple’s M2 chip from the previous M1, which should noticeably improve performance, but the price of the Mac Book Air also increased from $999 to $1,199, which could push it near or to the budget limit of those looking for MacBook performance but at the lowest possible price. The MacBook Pro 13 with the M2 chip sells for $1,299, with both expected to ship in July. All in, a relatively uneventful event.
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