It can’t be great for Apple’s engine of growth to stall out, but the company says there’s no reason to get upset because the services business is especially affected by the strength of the U.S. dollar. It makes sense when you think it through: Apple sets prices for services in local currencies and doesn’t change them when the exchange rates change. So when Apple TV+ debuted in the U.K., it was £4.99, or $6.41 per month. Today, that would only be worth $5.73 per month back home. This is being repeated in almost every territory Apple does business in, and it’s a drain on the Services business more than any other.
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However, there were soft spots, Maestri said. Game revenue in the App Store is apparently flagging, which seems like it might be a side effect of people going out more rather than staying home during earlier stages of the pandemic. And digital advertising was also soft.
Still, the $799-and-up iPad Pro remains The Best iPad in Apple’s lineup, the iPad for those who want the best screen, the best performance, and the latest hardware and are willing to pay for it. This year’s update doesn’t change that.
Apple has released iOS 15.7.1 and iPadOS 15.7.1 to fix 17 security vulnerabilities on older devices that either aren’t yet running or don’t support iOS 16 and iPadOS 16. The new versions have no new features or other bug fixes, but address vulnerabilities.
With this week’s release of iOS 16.1, Apple opened the floodgates for its Fitness+ streaming workouts service. While once limited to Apple Watch owners, Apple Fitness+ is now available to anyone with an iPhone…and Apple has a new video promoting this expansion today.
It’s unclear at this point whether Apple will intentionally not let users shoot ProRes video with the iPadOS camera app or whether the lack of ProRes in the app is just a bug.
Back in June at WWDC 2022, Apple announced that the new Metal 3 API coming with macOS Ventura would enable a new category of games for the Mac. One of the first titles to take advantage of this technology is the popular game “Resident Evil Village,” which is now available for Macs for the first time.
Photoshop users are beginning to feel the bite as Adobe’s controversial decision to dump Pantone Color books from its Creative Cloud tools.
In a letter addressed to Tim Cook, the negotiating committee says they’re disappointed to learn the company won’t be offering workers at the location some new health and education benefits that are rolling out to other retail employees. The union also says that Apple has been spreading “misinformation” by saying workers would have to bargain for those benefits to be included in their contract.
But Apple now looks a lot more stable than its peers, especially as fears of a recession start weighing on ad sales and potential holiday spending. It's largely because Apple relies on hardware and services that people are still buying.
Successfully updated my Mac to Ventura. Apps seem to be running fine. My scripts seem to be running fine. Great.
Not so great, at least for me, is Stage Manager. This is really the first time I've seen Stage Manager in action, as I don't install beta operating systems. My first impression: I have no idea how I can make use of it. Unlike virtual desktops, for example, Stage Manager doesn't present me with a good mental model that I can grasp on. I may still continue to try out Stage Manager, but I don't have the enthusiasm for it.
The new System Settings app -- I don't really care. The previous System Preference has personalities, while this new thing is boring. But, this is not an app that I use every single day, so, yeah, I really can't muster any energy to like or dislike any of it.
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Thanks for reading.