​I’ve been quite critical about the tech echo chamber portraying Apple’s upcoming video streaming business as a response to plateauing iPhone sales. I see them as completely separate things. Apple’s push into services is a natural progression for a company which is in the business of creating devices that transport data as opposed to old-world companies that are in the business of transporting durable goods or people. The services push would have happened at about this time regardless of where iPhone unit sales stood.

​Spotify has taken their embarrassing complaints to a whole new level this week. They’ve filed a formal complaint with the European Commission over App Store policies. They’ve also launched a website to decry how unfair Apple is being with their App Store and subscription policies. So they’re also advertising their ignorance of normal business practices for all to see. 

​As much as I like Samsung’s new foldable phone, their DeX program which debuted about two years ago is ultimately a more meaningful development. 

​Microsoft has just rolled out a host of new updates including an amazing new feature that uses machine learning to import data into Microsoft Excel by using your camera. What?! That sounds amazing! It’s just been released for Android and is coming soon to iOS. 

​I just saw Samsung’s new Galaxy Fold smartphone and all I’ve got to say is “Well done Samsung, well done”. 

I was dismayed when news broke that Amazon was purchasing my favorite WIFI hardware company, Eero.  I’ve been a happy Eero customer for a couple of years now and our WIFI coverage has never been better. 

​Writing for Investor’s Business Daily, Patrick Seitz has crunched the numbers and come to the same conclusion that I have. Services isn’t a significant business if you try and look at it as a hardware replacement. 

​There seems to be a mistaken notion going around on the internet that the new Toyota Supra is nothing more than a rebadged BMW Z4. This video effectively debunks that idea and does so in an enjoyable manner. If you’re a fan of the automotive industry, I highly recommend you watch it. 

​I was disappointed to hear the announcement that Apple Retail chief Angela Ahrendts is leaving Apple in April. She brought a fresh new approach to Apple retail and she was definitely a visionary leader. I’ve enjoyed watching her success at transitioning the Apple Store to the epitome of class and function.

​If you’re like me, you love how all of Apple’s devices work together. But if you own an Apple Watch and an Apple TV and you’re not using your watch to control your TV, you are missing out. 

​Apple made two moves recently which launched a never-ending wave of tech articles along the lines of “Apple is now all about services.” Apple made Apple Music available on the Amazon Echo, and they put iTunes on televisions from other manufacturers, two moves which no one saw coming, myself included. Some analysts have even suggested that Apple isn’t thinking like a hardware company any more. They are wrong, and here’s why.

​I get a kick out of all of the Apple pundits who publicly acknowledge that they never use 3D Touch without any sense of shame. As if their stupidity or lack of memory has nothing to do with the fact that they can’t seem to remember to use 3D Touch. Somehow it’s Apple’s fault?

​Technology analyst Ben Thompson made an appearance on The Talk Show with John Grubera week ago where he made the case that Apple’s App Store policy is unjust. Only, he really didn’t. 

​Jeffrey Rosen wrote a thought-provoking article for The Atlantic in which he tackles the question, “Is democracy dying?” 

​Dieter Bohn wrote a ridiculous article at The Verge trying to make the case that it would be moral for Apple to bring iMessage to Android.

​I wrote the post below on January 16, 2016. Every word of it holds true today. 
 
The short-term price of AAPL isn’t that big of a deal to Apple’s strategy because Apple isn’t reliant on the equity markets to fund their operations. However, from a long-term view it matters because the CEO reports to the shareholders. Tim Cook can say that he isn’t interested in profits all he wants but at the end of the day that is where he’s judged. 
 
As long as Apple stock is doing well, the shareholders will let him say whatever feel-good platitudes he wants. But if AAPL tanks long-term, we’ll see just how much power Tim Cook really has.
 
In any matter, since Apple is flush with cash it’ll be business as usual for now. The price of the stock is simply Wall Street’s assessment of how they believe the future looks. And they’re not privy to Apple’s future plans. 

​I really like the iPhone widget screen that is always to the left of your home screen. It’s completely configurable. You can can pick and choose which items you want to see and in what order. However, I don’t really use it as much as I thought I would. That’s mainly because once I dig my iPhone out of my pocket and unlock the screen, it’s no less work to open the app versus look at the app widget. So instead of using the weather widget, I just open my favorite weather app.

​I happened to catch Leander Kahney on The Cultcast podcast this week expound on how disastrous the whole experiment of cloning Macs was for Apple. Just before Steve Jobs returned to Apple, Apple tried to increase revenue by licensing their Mac operating system for a small fee to other hardware makers who then sold their own version of the Mac. It was great for consumers, but it nearly killed the company. 

​I’m all for Apple pursuing a nice services revenue stream to complement their hardware business. Besides a nice padding to already high-margin device sales, services tend to offer things that customers really want any way. If they don’t buy it from Apple, they’re going to buy it from someone else. Why let Amazon or Google reap all that extra benefit?

​Rene Ritchie had an amazing conversation with Brian Roemmele this week on his podcast Vector. Brian is a “voice first” evangelist who explained why he thinks that making Apple Music available on the Amazon Echo was a dreadful mistake. I agree with Brian and am glad to finally see someone else echo many of my own thoughts. I highly recommend that any of my readers take the time to listen to Brian’s forward thinking theories on the future of intelligent assistance. And how Apple just turned the HomePod into the Zune. 

​One of the benefits of working in the tech industry is that you get to see life cycles born and age in a greatly accelerated manner. For instance, it took GM and Ford decades to mature into a stable market and another few decades to fall to where they are now. That’s not the case in tech. You can see a company explode onto the scene only to falter merely a few years, if not months, later. 

​Jason Snell of the Upgrade Podcast tried to make the case this week that it’s a good idea for Apple to offer a lower cost solution to the Apple TV in order to advance their aspirations on the streaming media front. He bases his premise on the fact that hardware revenue from the Apple TV would be insignificant compared to the potential media revenue that would come in. 

​When Apple unveiled their newly svelte 13" iPad Pro, they created a problem for me to which there is currently no solution. Granted, it’s a good problem. I’m having a terrible time deciding whether to stick with the same size (I currently use a 10.5"iPad Pro) or try and go big and order the larger one. 

​I know some people who actually look forward to going out and getting deals after Thanksgiving. But not me. And normally I enjoy going out and shopping. I enjoy it as an event where my wife and I or my kids and I can go out and have a shared experience. Plus, it’s much nicer to be able to try on that jacket before you buy it or to pick up and compare different brands of a product. But Black Friday I do not enjoy.