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The Growing-Dramatically Edition Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Apple's iPhone X Keeps Selling As Q3 Services Revenue Soars, by Shara Tibken, CNET

Because so many people have iPhones, Apple's services business -- which includes the App Store, Apple Music and iCloud -- has been growing dramatically over the past several quarters. Revenue from services operations jumped 31 percent to $9.5 billion, the second quarter in row with a 31 percent rise.

Diving Into The Details Of Apple's (Boring?) Record Quarter, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

Apple keeps talking about new growth in the Mac in various markets and uses that seasonality as an excuse, but it’s been three straight quarters of sales and revenue flops. At what point do we say that Apple has a Mac problem? The optimist would probably answer that last year’s “Mac roundtable” was an indication that Apple realized it had made some poor Mac decisions, and that the new features in macOS Mojave are another sign of the company’s recommitment to the platform.

I hope so. But still, the Mac has currently replaced the iPad as the product line that makes me cringe every three months when sales figures are released. That’s not great.

Apple's Tim Cook Hints At TV Ambitions, by Shara Tibken, CNET

CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday hinted at Apple's ambitions, but, in typical Cook fashion, didn't reveal any specifics.

"We hired two highly respected television executives last year, and they have been here now for several months and have been working on a project that we're not really ready to share ... all the details about it yet," Cook said during an earnings call with analysts. "But I couldn't be [more] excited about what's going on there."

Four Million People Are Using Apple’s OS Betas, by Greg Kumparak, TechCrunch

While that percentage might not sound huge, having four million people happily stress test your software before you officially ship it is a rare strength that few other companies can claim.

Apple CEO Tim Cook: Tariffs Can Have 'Unintended Consequences' For Consumers And The Economy, by Chloe Aiello, CNBC

Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterated the company's position that tariffs can have "unintended consequences" for consumers and the economy, and are generally not the right approach for modernizing U.S.-China relations, but glossed over what if any impact the new set of tariffs on $200 billion in goods could have on Apple products.

This Is Tim: Apple Q3 2018 Financial Call With Analysts, Transcribed, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

Tim Cook: Today we’re proud to report our best June Quarter revenue and earnings ever, thanks to the strong performance of iPhone services and wearables. We generated 53.3 billion dollars in revenue, a new Q3 record. That’s an increase of 17 percent over last year’s results, making it our seventh consecutive quarter of accelerating growth, our fourth consecutive quarter of double digit growth, and our strongest rate of growth in the past 11 quarters. Our team generated record Q3 earnings per share of $2.34, an increase of 40 percent over last year. We are extremely proud of these results, and I’d like to share some highlights with you.

Stuff

RR Donnelley Reveals Role As Apple’s Photo Printer, Debuts Motif Plug-in, by Jeremy Horwitz, VentureBeat

When Apple announced plans to discontinue its photo printing service, it guided users to several third-party alternatives. But one option has an advantage over the rest: Top commercial printer RR Donnelley has revealed itself as Apple’s longtime provider of photo printing services and released an app called Motif that lets macOS Photos users continue to purchase its products.

Hands On: iA Writer For Mac And iOS Claims To Be A Calming, Relaxing Text Editor, by William Gallagher, AppleInsider

The latest iA Writer won't distract you, won't interrupt, and won't do anything to get in the way of the words you type —and that can be good and bad simultaneously, depending on your style and what you need.

Power Station Plus XL Is Great For Powering Two Apple Gadgets While On-the-go, by Dennis Sellers, Apple World Today

Mophie’s powerstation plus XL will put a minor dent in your wallet, but it could also put a major dent (in a good way) in your on-the-go charging needs.

Notes

Apple Comes Under Media Fire In China, by Wall Street Journal

On Monday, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other top government agencies said they would impose new requirements requiring mobile phone makers to include spam-filtering features.

Google Plans To Launch Censored Search Engine In China, Leaked Documents Reveal, by Ryan Gallagher, The Intercept

Google is planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China that will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest, The Intercept can reveal.

The project – code-named Dragonfly – has been underway since spring of last year, and accelerated following a December 2017 meeting between Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and a top Chinese government official, according to internal Google documents and people familiar with the plans.