News on the sidelines week 3 - 10 September

Apple announces that September 15 will be the date for the launch of new devices, news about the postponement of the announcement of the iPhone, news about the production of AirTags, Apple design of face masks, support for the Apple TV application for new TVs, a meeting of Japanese developers against Apple, the decline of Apple's stock and the decline of its market value , And other news in news on the sidelines ...

Apple announces that September 15 is the date for the launch of new products

Apple announced a digital event that will take place on Tuesday, September 15thIn it, some new products will be revealed. And several reports stated that the announcement of the iPhone may be delayed a few weeks to October for several reasons, including that Broadcom confirmed the delay in shipments of its chips, according to some leaks, and this is by nature related to the global health crisis due to Corona and the impact on production. One of them is to wait until new cities are covered by the 5G network, according to Verizon.

It is certain that Apple will announce at this event about the sixth Apple Watch, and announce a new iPad Air that looks like the iPad Pro, with an edge-to-edge screen, but it will not contain Face ID cameras. Instead, it is expected to come with Touch ID. A quick scan reveals that the current version of iPad Air might not be available in some locations. Apple will likely delay the launch to October as it did in 2018, when it announced new iPads and MacBooks.

Apple is also expected to announce a brand new product called AirTags, which will help users locate lost items, such as keys or anything personal, using their iPhone. Now, this product is in production, according to a new report from Nikkei Asian Review. The report does not provide any additional details. AirTags are said to be small devices that are designed to stick with things, just like Tile's Bluetooth trackers, according to reports from 9to5Mac, MacRumors and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

A new leak confirms 5G support and the iPhone launch date

The leak from Evan Blass shared a screenshot of a leaked telecom company email on Twitter, confirming that the iPhone 12 will support 5G technology, and the leak confirmed that Tuesday, October 20, is the confirmed date for the launch of the new iPhone, as well as the date Advance reservation. The leaked image also shows iPhone accessories, especially the Series 6 Apple Watch.

Other recent leaks stated that the iPhone 12 may be launched on Tuesday, October 13, with reservations open on Friday, October 16, and shipments begin on Friday, October 23.

After its share drop, Apple is no longer worth a 2 trillion company

AppleInsider reported that Apple shares closed at $ 112.82 at the end of trading on Tuesday, causing the company's market value to drop below $ 2 trillion. However, the company remains close, having settled at $ 1.96 trillion at the end of trading yesterday.

The less than $ 2 trillion valuation comes a few days after Apple recovered from a similar drop on September 3. During a massive sell-off in the tech industry, Apple lost nearly $ 180 billion in market value, the worst one-day loss for any company ever. AAPL's closing price of $ 112.82 resulted in a market valuation of $ 1.96 trillion. It is arrived at by multiplying the share price by the number of shares outstanding.

With the deepening of the sell-off in stocks and the rush of investors towards safety, technology stocks are the most vulnerable area in the market, after a strong rally in recent months, valuations extended towards levels last seen during the dot-com era.

We sum up two of the main risks to Apple stock after it saw a strong rally of more than 80% between March and September 1, when the current slide began. Apple shares have fallen nearly 16% since then, closing yesterday at $ 112.82.

1. Apple is still relying on the iPhone

One of the main reasons investors remain enthusiastic about Apple is the company's successful drive to diversify its revenue base beyond iPhones. In recent years, Apple has demonstrated that it can use its massive customer list to open up new avenues for growth when demand for its flagship products weakens.

In fiscal year 2019, iPhone revenue was around 55% of total sales, while the services sector, which includes Apple Music, movie rentals, and app downloads, accounted for nearly 18% of revenue. Despite this impressive performance, some analysts believe that the growth in services is not strong enough to offset the downturn in the hardware business.

However, relying solely on a major product and not opening other areas of revenue may raise the alarm on the company's stocks and lead to the belief that this progress has reached its peak and inevitably will start to drift down again, albeit a little.

2. China

Apple is the most vulnerable to deteriorating relations between the United States and China. Over the past few years, Apple has established a large network of suppliers in China in order to reduce costs. As a result, it became one of the most exposed stocks of the Asian country.

Apple employs an estimated two million people within its supply chain, in addition to a similar number of technology workers involved in developing Apple applications.

The company designs and sells most of its products in the United States, but imports them from China after assembly. Almost all iPhones are manufactured by Foxconn's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co in Zhengzhou, China, and by Pegatron at an assembly site near Shanghai.

President Donald Trump said yesterday that he intends to reduce US economic ties with China further, threatening to punish any American company that creates jobs abroad. He also said it would prevent companies doing business in China from winning federal contracts.

On the tech front, the Trump administration is moving to block China from accessing US user data on popular apps like WeChat and TikTok. The United States is also moving to prevent Huawei from accessing US technology and equipment.

Japanese developers criticize Apple's app store policies and approval process

The ongoing dispute between Apple and Epic Games impacts complaints from Japanese game developers about the App Store and the way it handles requests for third-party apps. Bloomberg reports that some developers in the Japanese game market have been encouraged by the dispute and become more forthcoming about their own concerns, which include Apple's 30% commission rate and inconsistent enforcement of app store policies.

According to game developers in Japan, Google Play Store provides a smoother approval process and better communication than the App Store. Some developers even rely on a third-party service called iOS Reject Rescue, which helps them navigate through the Apple approval process if their app is rejected.

Apple has faced increasing scrutiny over its app store practices from developers and regulators in recent months. In response to the public clash between Apple and Epic Games, Japan's antitrust regulator said it would increase interest in Apple's practices and how they affect the country's huge mobile gaming market.

Apple designs a special face mask for its employees, retail and corporate employees

The engineering teams responsible for the iPhones and the iPads have designed two types of face masks specifically for Apple employees, retail and corporate employees. The masks are called Apple Face Mask and Apple ClearMask and were developed internally at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino by the engineering and industrial design teams. Last week, an Apple employee sent MacRumors a photo of the mask design.

Apple's face mask features a three-layer design that filters out incoming and outgoing particles like many cloth masks, and can be washed and reused up to five times. The mask has a triangular design to fit the nose, a round section for the chin, and adjustable tie straps to fit different sizes.

ClearMask is the first FDA-approved surgical mask that is completely clear. Shows the whole face out so deaf and hard of hearing people can understand what the wearer says.

Apple told Bloomberg that it conducted "careful research and testing" to find suitable air filtration materials.

Apple employees will start receiving face masks from Apple over the next two weeks. It also provides basic surgical masks to customers who visit its stores, but they are not designed by them.

Apple told Bloomberg that it only designed the Apple Face Mask. ClearMask was acquired in partnership with Gallaudet University, which specializes in teaching deaf and hard of hearing students, and tested with Apple employees. Apple is studying its clear mask options for future use.

Facebook messages app limits message forwarding

Facebook announced that it can now only forward messages to five people or groups at a time. The exact was revealed in a Facebook Newsroom blog post explaining that the new rule has been introduced to provide users with a "safer and more private messaging experience," particularly in the midst of the ongoing global health crisis and in the run-up to the major elections in the United States states.

"Reducing redirects is an effective way to slow the spread of viral disinformation and harmful content that can cause real harm in the world."

The change follows this similar to WhatsApp, also owned by Facebook, to limit the ability to forward messages to multiple conversations simultaneously. The encrypted messaging platform cited events in India as a specific example of how spreading fake messages could cause harm.

Earlier this year, a flurry of viral messaging-related crimes in India killed 12 people in just one month. One of the incidents resulted in the death of a man and the wounding of two others, after false rumors spread on WhatsApp that they were trying to kidnap children. WhatsApp said it was horrified by the violence in India, and that it announced several changes to help address these issues.

Twitter begins adding more details to trends

Last week, Twitter announced that it will start installing a representative tweet on its Trends page that gives more insights into the trend, and promised to make more changes soon. Today, the company says it will start writing headings and descriptions for some trends as well, so you will better understand why something appears in the "Explore" tab or when you click on the trend itself. This feature may not work for some hashtags, and Twitter did not explain the reasons for this.

Fortnite users are declining after falling into dispute with Apple

Epic said in a legal file filed last Friday that since the start of Apple's confrontation with Epic Games, the game manufacturer has seen a decrease in the number of its Apple-based users and devices.

Epic said in the recording that daily active users of the popular Battle-Royale game Fortnite from Epic on Apple's iOS have dropped by more than 60% since Apple removed the game from its app store. The video game company said that more than 60% of Fortnite iOS users access Fortnite only through Apple devices. "The harm to these users is significant," the lawsuit states. Epic also warned that Apple's actions could cause "irreparable harm" to its business.

The Safari app now prompts you to use the News app when you are on a publisher website

According to AppleInsider's report, Apple made a change to the latest beta version of iOS 14 that directs users to the News app when viewing a publisher's website when that publisher is part of the Apple News + ecosystem.

A patent from Apple suggests that the iPhone will have the same water repellent system as the Apple Watch

The Apple Watch 2 is the first to have a feature to expel water through the loudspeaker, and this may come to the iPhone, according to a new patent registered by Apple that was published last Tuesday.

The ECG feature on the Apple Watch receives final medical approval in Japan

The ECG app and arrhythmia notifications on the Apple Watch 4 and 5 have received approval and local certification from Japanese medical authorities, indicating that both features should be operationalized in the country very soon. The approval was confirmed by the Japanese Association for Medical Equipment Development (JAAME) on Friday, September 4, and later reported by technology blog iPhone Mania. The impending watchOS update has the potential to trigger features for existing Apple Watch owners.

Australia opens an antitrust query in the Apple App Store

Australia is now considering app store policies as part of another Apple and Google antitrust investigation (via Gizmodo), with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announcing that it will investigate the competition between Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, access to platforms and consumers, and fee structures. Data collection, and prices. The work is part of a five-year ACCC investigation, which intends to issue reports every six months to examine markets for the provision of digital platform services in Australia. The investigation will look into the experiences Australians have with Apple and Google app stores, including consumers, suppliers and developers. Part of this will include a public survey, and the full report is due to be delivered in March 2021. In recent months, similar investigations have been conducted in the United States, the European Union, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, and Korea, as major tech companies are under increasing scrutiny due to monopolistic practices. The alleged anti-competition.

Apple TV app on new TVs

Today, VIZIO announced that the Apple TV app is now available on 2016 and newer SmartCast TVs in the United States and Canada. From today through October 16, eligible VIZIO SmartCast TV owners in the US can subscribe to Apple TV + and receive three months free of charge. The Apple TV app is already available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, and Apple TV devices, and select Roku and Amazon Fire TVs, as well as Samsung and LG Smart TVs. Sony also plans to launch the Apple TV app later this year, according to Apple. VIZIO introduced HomeKit and AirPlay 2 support for SmartCast TVs in 2016 and most recently last year.

Miscellaneous news

◉ Apple closes downgrading to iOS 13.6.1, this means that users can no longer downgrade to any version earlier than iOS 13.7.

Apple has released a public beta version of the upcoming macOS 11 Big Sur update, allowing non-developers to try the program before it's released. The release comes two weeks after the second beta and a few days after the sixth beta release has been sent to developers.

◉ Apple launched the eighth beta of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 updates coming for developers for testing purposes, one week after the seventh beta release. The eighth version did not come with anything new, and since Apple is close to the last version of iOS 14, so it makes more sense for me to focus on resolving any bugs or problems rather than adding more new features that can be postponed to sub-versions.

◉ Apple today launched the eighth beta version of the upcoming watchOS 7 system for developers, one week after the launch of the seventh beta version and more than two months after watchOS 7 was unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

◉ Microsoft is working on a new model of mid-range Surface laptop in a challenge with Google Pixelbook Go, according to Windows Central. The upcoming laptop could start at $ 500 and may come with a 12.5-inch screen, with an ad rumored in October.

The base version of this new Surface Laptop model, codenamed “Sparti,” is said to come with a 5th-generation Core i4 Intel Ice Lake processor with 64GB of RAM and 10GB of storage space. The laptop could also come with the locked version of Windows known as Windows 10 in S mode. Alternatively, this new Surface Laptop can also roll out Windows XNUMXX, which is the new operating system expected from the company.

Apple opens a new store in Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, from afar, the latest Apple store looks like a ball floating on the still waters of Marina Bay. The doors of the new store open to the public on Thursday 10 September, but for safety precautions, visitors can only enter if they have an appointment in advance by booking online. Visits will only be permitted beginning Friday, 11 September.

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