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The Sound-Issues Edition Saturday, August 28, 2021

Apple Launches New iPhone 12 Service Program For 'No-sound Issues', by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Apple today has launched a new service program for iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro users who are facing issues with their device’s speakers. Apple says that the affected devices “may experience sound issues due to a component that might fail on the receiver module.” This marks the first service program for the iPhone 12 lineup.

Why Apple Won Its Legal Settlement With Developers, by Jack Nicas, New York Times

The incentives of digital news today reward those who are first, not those who are more nuanced or accurate. [...] As a result, news headlines initially framed the change as a major avenue for companies to avoid Apple’s commission. This was good for Apple, as any perception that it was making substantive changes to its App Store rules could help appease developers, the courts, regulators and lawmakers.

Apple Has Changed Its App Store Rules, And Apple’s Critics Aren’t Satisfied, by Peter Kafka, Vox

Which means this is unlikely to be the last App Store concession Apple has to make. Whether it continues to make incremental changes or makes big sweeping ones will tell us a lot about how motivated and effective Big Tech critics are going to be.

The Curious Timing Of Apple's App Store Settlement, by Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Apple 3.0

One may wonder if Apple settled the case now in order to try to influence the Epic ruling, but by law she isn’t allowed to consider it; her decision must be based on the trial alone.

Still, it’s not a stretch to imagine Epic being disappointed by the developer settlement, because if the little guys are cool with getting a few crumbs from Apple, it may seem like Epic and other strong companies are asking for too much.

Stuff

Little Snitch 5.3, by Agen Schmitz, TidBITS

Objective Development released Little Snitch 5.3, introducing a new feature to Network Monitor: Grouping system background processes into a single macOS process which you can expand to view all of those processes.

Belkin Launches New MagSafe iPhone 12 Car Mount With Streamlined Design, by Blair Altland, 9to5Toys

Delivering a more streamlined model of versions we’ve seen in the past, the new MagSafe Car Vent Mount arrives with the same iPhone 12 focus and an integrated cable holder.

Notes

Apple Pushes Staff To Get Vaccinated After FDA Approvals Begin, by Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

While this campaign marks the biggest push yet to get staff vaccinated, Apple is still not requiring employees to do so -- unlike companies like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. Internally, Apple has cited employees’ privacy as its reason. The company also has offices in both red and blue states, and mandating vaccines could be difficult in some regions for political reasons.

Bottom of the Page

Apple is a proud company. They do what they believe is right, not what other tell them to do. Apple didn't do a DOS-compatible PC. Apple didn't get out of the hardware business. Apple never made Java a first-class citizen on it's platforms. And Apple remembered when they did do what other people tell them to do that one time and licensed Mac OS to other hardware manufacturers, things didn't end well.

I think it is safe to say Apple is working hard behind the scene to prepare for the day when Apple did have to make concessions. But I don't think it is what we are expecting it will do.

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Thanks for reading.