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The Spatial-Experience Edition Friday, February 2, 2024

Apple Announces More Than 600 New Apps Built For Apple Vision Pro, by Apple

“Apple Vision Pro is unlocking the imaginations of our worldwide developer community, and we’re inspired by the range of spatial experiences they’ve created for this exciting new platform,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “With more than 600 new spatial experiences to explore in the all-new App Store, alongside more than 1 million compatible apps across iOS and iPadOS, users can discover a wide array of apps that expand the boundaries of what’s possible. These incredible apps will change how we experience entertainment, music, and games; spark our imaginations with new ways to learn and explore; unlock productivity like never before; and so much more. Developers are already capturing the promise of spatial computing, and we can’t wait to see what they create next.”

Vision Pro’s Killer Feature? It’s A Wearable Mac, by Jonny Evans, Computerworld

Think back to the iPhone — or even the Macintosh — and it was the emergence of productivity apps on both platforms that helped them make the leap from consumer bauble to enterprise essential. [...] We’re seeing this again in Vision Pro, with Microsoft confirming plans to introduce Office apps for visionOS, and Ukraine’s Readdle delivering a powerful new suite of PDF applications for use in Apple’s reality distortion field. This perhaps shows the extent to which people in the business recognize the opportunity to build creative productivity solutions for Apple’s new world of spatial computing.

Why Tim Cook Is Going All In On The Apple Vision Pro, by Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair

“What we do is we get really excited about something and then we start pulling the string and see where it takes us,” Cook told me. “And yes, we’ve got things on the road maps and so forth, and yes, we have a definitive point of view. But a lot of it is also the exploration and figuring out.” He concluded, “Sometimes the dots connect. And they lead you to some place that you didn’t expect.” (Letting connected dots lead the way was a theme Cook’s predecessor used to talk about.)

The question is, is the place we’re about to go, into the era of spatial computing, going to make our lives better, or will it become the next technology that becomes a necessity, where we can’t live in a world that’s not augmented? I think Joswiak had it half right when he said, ​​“It feels like we’ve reached into the future and grabbed this product. You’re putting the future on your face.” I think it’s the other way around. Apple is taking us into the future, into a new era of computing. Some of us are running as fast as we can to get there, and others are being dragged, kicking and screaming. But we’re all going. We’re going to the moon, and we’re going to look around at the ghostly luminescence of ancient dust under a black, star-studded sky, and we’ll just know that this is the future of computing and entertainment and apps and memories, and that this apparatus wrapped around our head will change everything.

Apple Vision Pro Demos Can Be Reserved Online Starting Monday, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple is also offering Vision Pro demos from today through Sunday at all of its U.S. stores on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no way to reserve a demo on these days, so you simply need to show up and wait.

Adobe Brings Lightroom And Firefly AI To The Apple Vision Pro, by Jess Weatherbed, The Verge

Adobe’s Firefly AI, the text-to-image tool behind features like Photoshop’s generative fill, will be available on the Apple Vision Pro as a native app, alongside the company’s popular Lightroom photo editing software already demonstrated during the headset’s announcement.

Juno App Brings YouTube To Apple Vision Pro Because Google Won't, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

The video player includes native controls for interacting with the video, including resizing to create a home theater experience in your living room, repositioning, dimming your room around the video, and more.

Apple's Business

Apple Breaks Year-long Streak Of Falling Revenue With Strong Holiday Sales, by Johana Bhuiyan, The Guardian

Apple has ended the quarter with its first revenue gain in over a year, but the company still struggled to cope with a decline in global smartphone demand. The company posted $119.58bn in revenue and $2.18 in earnings per share (EPS), beating Wall Street expectations of $117.91bn in full-year revenue and $2.10 in EPS. Apple broke its four-quarter streak of declining revenue with a reported a 2% growth in sales. Shares dropped in after-hours trading.

Apple Says The EU Accounts For Just 7% Of Its Global App Store Revenue, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Maestri revealed a notable statistic about the importance of Apple’s App Store business in the European Union, saying that it accounts for around 7% of Apple’s global App Store revenue.

Apple’s China Slump Deepens Even As Total Sales Grow Again, by Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Apple is contending with cooling consumer spending in China, rising competition and widening government bans of foreign technology.

This Is Tim: Transcript Of Apple’s Q1 2024 Analyst Call, by Six Colors

"Moments like these are what we live for at Apple. They are why we do what we do. They’re why we’re so unflinchingly dedicated to groundbreaking innovation and why we’re so focused on pushing technology to its limits as we work to enrich the lives of our users. As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in these and other technologies that will shape the future. That includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we’re excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year."

Stuff

This iPhone And iPad App Is A Virtual Corkboard In Your Pocket, by Becca Caddy, iMore

It could be an idea board, a photo album, a place where you keep reminders, manage to-do lists, plan lessons and so much more. Its flexibility makes it ideal for lots of different tasks, but I can imagine it being particularly useful for students, creatives and teachers.

Notes

Independent Record Labels Push Back On Apple’s Pay Plans, by Anna Nicolaou, Financial Times

Independent record labels behind artists including Phoebe Bridgers and Vampire Weekend are pushing back on Apple’s plans to pay more money for songs recorded in higher-quality audio — a move they say funnels cash towards megastars and away from other musicians.

[...]

“It’s going to benefit the biggest player, Universal, because they’re the ones with the resources to invest in that. Whereas the independent sector . . . we’ve found it hard to justify the expense of creating spatial masters . . . we’re not in the business of chucking money just because Apple is saying you should be spending money on this.”

Here Is Apple's Official 'Jailbroken' iPhone For Security Researchers, by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, TechCrunch

Kalman told TechCrunch that his Security Research Device is “identical” to an iPhone 14 Pro. The only difference, he added, is that at the bottom of the locked screen there is the writing “Security Research Device” and an Apple phone number, presumably to report it if it gets lost.

Bottom of the Page

Do I have FOMO about not having -- and can't see myself having -- an Apple Vision Pro? Sure, just a little.

Do I have FOMO about not doing Teams meeting in an Apple Vision Pro? Not at all.

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Thanks for reading.