Apple reported its first fiscal quarter results on Thursday, with revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2% versus the same quarter a year ago. Overall, it was the company’s second best quarter ever in terms of revenue and profit, behind only the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Mac sales ended a string of down quarters to nudge up slightly; iPhone sales were also up. iPad sales were down double digits, as were wearables. Services growth slowed somewhat, but was still up double digits.
As you’re probably aware, there was a big anniversary last week. But the Mac wasn’t the only venerable Apple-related institution to hit the big four-oh on January 24. Once Steve Jobs wowed the 1984 Apple Investor Meeting at the Flint Center in Cupertino with his introduction of the original Macintosh, attendees emerged from the auditorium to be greeted by people handing out the first issue of the world’s newest computer magazine: Macworld.
Yes, it’s Macworld’s 40th as well. As you might expect from the relative health of the technology and media industries, the story of Macworld does not quite follow the same trajectory as the story of the Mac. (In the earliest days, Macworld was more successful than the Mac!)
As the person who has probably been associated with Macworld for two-thirds of its existence—I joined the staff in the fall of 1997, and I’m writing this in 2024—it’s only appropriate that I take you on a little trip down memory lane.
Just before launch, Jason has some second impressions of the Apple Vision Pro. But before the new-platform excitement starts, there’s the matter of Apple’s response to the EU and a complicated set of new iOS policies and features.
But though I’ve continued to use the Bolt since then, I’ve become keenly aware that its reliance on Bluetooth as its wireless connectivity of choice is letting down the side. Fundamentally, Bluetooth just isn’t the right choice for a smart lock: it’s not inherently designed for proximity and it’s always been temperamental. For better or worse, that lack of reliability meant that, for me, the Bolt has ended up being little more than a lock of average intelligence.
In the meantime, smart lock technology has moved on. Fortunately, Level hasn’t been standing still either. Enter the Level Lock+, an upgraded version of Level’s flagship smart lock which, in addition to Bluetooth, has added NFC, enabling support for Apple’s home key standard. That felt like a good enough reason for me to check it out, and Level kindly provided me with a review unit to put through its paces.
The Lock+ essentially replaces both the Level Lock and Level Lock – Touch Edition, providing a single model with all the bells and whistles. No surprise, all those bells and whistles come at a price: the Level Lock+ retails for $349, though that includes the Connect Wi-Fi bridge as part of the package (more on which in a bit).
Unlike the Bolt, the Level Lock+ is a complete replacement for your existing deadbolt, complete with keyway and turn paddle. But like the Bolt, the Lock+ excels by not standing out: if you don’t tell anyone that it’s a smart lock, literally nobody will ever know. Level offers the Lock+ in four finishes to match those of common door hardware: Matte Black, Satin Chrome, Satin Nickel, and Polished Brass. I opted for the last, which blends in nicely with my existing door hardware.
In addition to the lock and installation hardware (which includes two strike plates of different sizes and a longer cap for the bolt to adjust to different door sizes), the Lock+ package bundles a CR2 battery to power the motor, a pair of keys, and a pair of NFC key fobs.
A corollary to this point to keep in mind is that Apple is making these changes because it has to under EU law. It’s clear from the tone of the company’s press release and our conversations with its representatives that they strongly believe the changes are bad for the security and privacy of its users. By extension, it’s also clear that Apple doesn’t think the benefits to users imposed by the EU’s regulations outweigh those privacy and security tradeoffs. And that, right there, is where reasonable people can differ and what will continue to fuel this debate for a long time.
This issue is complex and far from over: the EU still has to respond to Apple’s proposal before we know exactly what the final rules will look like. John’s examination is very thorough and a must-read for understanding exactly what’s going on here from an Apple strategic level, as well as the dust and bolts of what the company is proposing.
If you’re going to take away anything from this whole episode, I think the most important point is this isn’t a case where either Apple or the EU are wholly on the side of right. Apple may very well care about the security of its users, but it also wants to protect its profit cut from the App Store and the use of its platform. The EU may want to curtail the reach of big technology companies when it comes to their citizens’ best interests, but it also is a large organization that doesn’t entirely understand what’s feasible from a technological perspective and has its own ideological axes to grind. It’s always imperative to interrogate where an argument stems from and who stands to gain.
Huge news on the App Store front this week, even as we’re all still recovering from the big Mac party. And will the next version of Siri finally put some intelligence in AI?
App Store Rulebook, Fifth Edition
Apple announced major changes to the App Store rules this week as part of its oh-so-reluctant compliance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Jason has rounded up the high points of the changes which include reduced commissions for EU developers, alternative browsers, and the ability to create third-party app stores. While still a confusing collection of rules designed mostly to hurt Apple the least while still complying with at least some of the letters of the law, these terms are better than those reported earlier in the week by The Wall Street Journal (which totally was not planted by Apple in order to set expectations of HATE so as to surprise and delight when the actual policy was merely SIMMERING DISLIKE).
If you’re curious about how this will work, it’s very simple. Please read this press release and the online documentation, use the calculator tool that many feel may not be correct, and know that the EC is more than likely going to tell Apple to revise any number of these provisions and this is all still in motion.
If you’re in the EU and are pitying those of us in the States who are not getting these improved terms, please, save your tears. We Americans like to pay full price for everything. More than full price when we can. It is a sign of the prosperity of this great nation (DISCLAIMER: healthcare not included, void where prohibited). Also, while the U.S. moves more slowly than other legislative bodies and often backwards but always twirling, twirling toward freedom, there are several governmental bodies currently taking a long look at Apple’s practices with a furrowed brow. So, it’s possible these changes could get implemented more broadly.
Happy 40th to the Mac! Before you run out and buy your Mac a ruby, the traditional 40th anniversary gift, remember that while we call it an anniversary, it’s really more of a birthday. Your Mac anniversary is from whenever you first started using a Mac, so don’t show up for dinner with your Mac at an expensive restaurant with the wrong gift.
Honestly, if your Mac is at an expensive restaurant waiting for you to show up, don’t. It’s a weird look. Just send your butler to retrieve it. That’s what I did.
The beloved device has been through it all and everyone has their favorite. All week long bloggers and podcasters have been regaling us with their picks for best Mac, worst Mac, Mac with the best personality, Mac most likely to succeed, best Mac in evening wear, etc. The Computer History Museum hosted a two-hour event featuring a veritable rogues’ gallery of Mac luminaries.
Here’s to the device that changed everything. I’d say I wouldn’t be where I am today without it, but I probably would actually still be sitting at a desk typing, so…
That’s right. A K-pop reference.
Apple may not be as neck-deep in the AI pool as some of its competitors, but it’s definitely got its feet in the water and is maybe even ordering some drinks from the snack bar.
This week the company announced automatic transcripts for Apple Podcasts, bringing a valuable usability feature to podcasts for free. Meanwhile, the company has gone on a buying spree, quietly acquiring several AI startups, and hiring for new positions in AI. All of this is leading up to what is now expected to be a big announcement at WWDC.
Is this going to be Siri 2.0 or Siri, Take Two? Or, worse, “I’m sorry. I can’t find ‘Take Two’ by BTS in your library.”?
[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]
As a native Safari extension, Magic Lasso blocks all intrusive ads, trackers and annoyances – letting you experience a faster, cleaner and more secure experience across all your devices.
However, I think Apple needs to go one step further in their next step and add timestamps to Apple Podcasts, a long-overdue feature that’d enable users to share links to individual moments within a podcast, directly to a specific point in the transcript.
Similar to what’s already now available for Transcripts, listeners could tap on a paragraph, seek to the beginning of a sentence, and the use the Share sheet to not only “Copy” the text, but “Copy link at timestamp” – something I’m surprised didn’t come along with this feature.
This is a great idea and frankly, I’m kind of surprised that Apple hasn’t offered this feature already. As Matt points out, it’s in a couple of the company’s other apps, and third party options like Overcast provide this kind of functionality. Sharing a podcast episode is good, but sometimes you want to tell somebody “Hey, listen to this part right here.” Having a way to quickly and easily send that excerpt to someone seems like a no-brainer.
These are huge changes. Apple claims there are going to be more than 600 new APIs for app developers, along with numerous other alterations to policies and technology required by the DMA. You can see why Apple has essentially been working on this since the iOS 17 development process started a year ago—this is essentially an entire segment of the iOS 17 update that was never announced last June but instead sat and waited for a final rollout just as the DMA was about to take effect.
As is painfully clear from Apple’s press release on Thursday, the company deeply dislikes being mandated by law to make these changes. At every turn, while assuring the public that Apple is going to do its best to keep users as safe and secure as possible, it stops to point out that the DMA will make iOS less secure.
There’s no denying that these changes increase the danger for EU iPhone users. Apple has spent a decade honing the techniques it will use in the EU in a vital testbed—the Mac. While I wouldn’t call the Mac a hotbed of malware and scams, there’s far more of it on the Mac than there is on the iPhone. There will undoubtedly be more of it in the EU, post-DMA-rollout, than before.
But also new to the EU will be true competition with Apple in browsers and app stores. The economics of app sales in Europe will change. Apps that might never have been approved by Apple will have other avenues for sale. App developers fed up with Apple’s 30 percent cut will be able to strike out on their own.
For years, Apple has been preparing for this moment, not just by introducing features like notarization on the Mac, but by denouncing the concept of “sideloading” apps (i.e., loading them from outside the App Store) as a danger to all users. Beginning in March, the entire world will be watching the EU to see if Apple’s warnings were true—or if it was just a smokescreen designed to scare regulators and legislators out of creating laws like the DMA.
Here’s what Apple says is going to change:
Alternative app marketplaces. It doesn’t seem like Apple will let any old developer offer apps on their websites, as is the case on macOS. Instead, Apple has created a new set of tools that allow developers to build alternate app stores. If you’re a developer who wants to make an app—let’s say a video game emulator, since those are frequently rejected from the App Store—you can’t sell it or give it away yourself. You’ll need to find a place in an alternative app store.
Altstore has been a sideloading marketplace on iOS for a while now, taking advantage of bugs and limitations in iOS. According to Altstore, it’s going legit in the EU, doing the work to become an official “alternative marketplace.” You can bet Facebook and Epic Games will be there. I’d imagine that SetApp, the seven-year-old app subscription service, will jump in, too. (Apple will apparently require that alternative app marketplaces show proof of a substantial line of credit—presumably to prevent fly-by-night operations that show up, take everyone’s money, and run.)
Apple will also let users set an app marketplace other than the App Store as their default. That’ll be weird.
Alternative payment systems. Not only will apps in the EU be able to link out to external websites, but even in-app purchases and subscriptions can bypass Apple and use other means. Apple has built new APIs for developers to use for both of these scenarios.
Alternative browser engines. While there are currently several web browsers on iOS, they’re all using Safari’s rendering engine, WebKit, under the hood. That’s because Apple doesn’t allow other browser engines on the platform, period. This will change in the EU, which means that (for example) Google Chrome on the iPhone in Europe could use Google’s rendering engine. This has intriguing web-app implications since some web apps just don’t run on Safari but do run on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
Contactless payment without Wallet. Currently, all apps that want to use the iPhone’s tap-to-pay functionality for purchases, transit passes, and even door locks all run through Apple’s Wallet app. Apple will now allow apps to access Apple’s tap-to-pay hardware directly throughout the European Economic Area (which includes non-EU countries Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.) In the EU, Apple will let a third-party app be the default for tap-to-pay transactions.
I’m not clear on how this will make things better for users, but it does mean that EU banks will be able to force users to open their apps to pay for things, presumably bypassing Apple taking a cut of Apple Pay transactions.
It’s not an app free-for-all. App developers who go outside the App Store will still need to notarize their apps, which allows Apple to scan them for malware and cryptographically sign them. That signature allows the operating system to identify if an app has been modified in any way, which is a good security feature, and it allows Apple to revoke its security approval if the developer turns out to be distributing malware.
Part of the notarization process will actually contain data about the app and its functionality, including screenshots—and that information will be displayed by iOS when an app is going to be installed from an alternative source. This means that what we think of now as an app’s “App Store description” will actually ride along with an app outside the App Store. And Apple will see it beforehand and approve it.
In addition to notarization, Apple is adding new features that will warn users of what they’re getting themselves into. Apps on the App Store that use payment processors other than Apple will get a warning label. Warnings will also appear in the app when going to non-Apple processors, and Apple will add layers of the App Review process itself to make sure that apps communicate that they’re not using Apple’s services.
It may seem like Apple has essentially reserved the right to reject all apps from its platform, even those in alternative app marketplaces, by rejecting notarization. But in practice, it’s unlikely to happen. Not only is Apple’s five-year track record on Mac notarization pretty clean, but Apple knows that the EU is watching the company carefully, and any capricious use of these security features would be frowned upon.
App developers: Deal or no deal? As a part of its announcements, Apple has offered app developers completely new financial terms—if they want them. Under the new terms, developers on the App Store pay either 10% (for small developers, down from 15%) or 17% (down from 30%). There’s an additional 3% fee if they use Apple’s payment processing. For large developers, it’s a dramatic reduction in the amount of money Apple’s taking from every purchase—presumably as an inducement to keep apps in the App Store.
There’s one other interesting catch to this new set of terms: A new “Core Technology Fee” that Apple is charging for access to its development tools and operating systems. Presumably convinced that demanding that developers outside the App Store continue to pay Apple 27% of sales might not fly with EU regulators, Apple has instead built a new fee system that charges 50 euro cents per year for (essentially) each active user.
So let’s say you’re Spotify, and you have roughly 40 million iPhone users in the EU. You’d pay Apple €19.5 million a year for access to its platforms, but you’d be able to sell your own subscriptions separately, without Apple forcing you into Apple’s payment systems and taking a cut (30% for year one, 15% after that). Spotify will have to do the math on that one and make a decision.
Apple gives app developers the first million users for free, which means this will be much less likely to hurt small developers. As we already saw when Apple cut its percentage share from small developers in half, Apple doesn’t care about money from small developers—it just wants to make sure that the big boys are paying up.
It’s also important to note that these new terms are not required. If an app developer doesn’t want to use an alternative payment method or alternative distribution, it can stay in the App Store as is, and the existing App Store terms apply. Developers of free and low-cost apps may want to choose these options as insurance against their app going viral—the last thing an indie developer of a free app wants is for their app to go viral and discover they owe Apple a million Euros.
So what happens next?
Developers got access to the software and documentation that enables these features on Thursday when the iOS 17.4 developer beta was released. Given that the DMA goes into effect in March, iOS 17.4 will ship by then—and then this grand experiment begins.
If you’re not in the EU, nothing should change. Will there be sneaky ways to “move” to Europe and install software outside the App Store? I’d imagine that Apple has tried very hard to make that impossible, but there are always workarounds, and I imagine a new game of cat-and-mouse will ensue.
That said, the existence of these features almost certainly ensures that the EU won’t be the only place to have them. Undoubtedly, every other legislator and regulator in the world is watching this situation and preparing their own DMA-like regulations. Some may rush in, while others may wait and see just what happens.
After all, we don’t actually know how this will go. Apple has insisted all along that features like these increase the danger for users and that all of its policies were designed to protect its customers. Of course, the other perspective is that these policies were also created in order to give Apple complete control over both policy and economics on the App Store and to generate enormous amounts of App Store revenue without any competition.
Both things can be true. I think it’s certainly the case that the EU rules will create a cottage industry of scammers who will provide detailed instructions about how to bypass Apple’s safety settings and then overcharge them or spy on them or do other nefarious deeds. We know this because it already happens on the Mac!
I have to think that Apple will have a team of security people watching carefully as these features roll out across the EU. But there will also be a team of PR people ready to publicize any incident that feeds into Apple’s narrative about the DMA endangering EU citizens.
This is a risky game for Apple, though. As the rest of the world watches to see the result of what will happen in Europe, Apple’s statements about the dangers of sideloading will be put to the test. If there aren’t major security issues with the rollout of these new features, Apple’s protests will be revealed as toothless and self-serving, and these changes will likely be mirrored all over the world.
I don’t think Apple is actually rooting for EU customers using these new features to be victims of crimes and scams—because that will reflect badly on Apple, not just the DMA. But I do think that Apple executives are confident that such ugly events are inevitable—and the company will be poised to loudly point them out and blame the DMA.
Among the changes in iOS 17.4 is one that’ll be an enormous improvement in podcast accessibility: transcripts in the Podcasts app.
When a podcast episode has a transcript available, an icon resembling a speech bubble appears in the bottom left corner of the playback screen. Tapping it brings up a transcript, highlighted in real time—very much in the style of Apple Music lyrics, but with smaller text. You can search transcripts, select text, and tap on text to jump to that point in the podcast.
Apple has detailed how this will work on the creator side: By default, Apple’s backend systems will find a new episode of a podcast and transcribe it. When a new podcast episode drops, the transcript won’t be available right away—but will appear once Apple has had a chance to consume it.
Transcripts will be done by Apple by default. Podcasters will also be able to use their own transcripts, rather than Apple’s, by opting in to that feature in Apple Podcasts Connect and then supplying a transcript (in VTT or SRT format) and embedding the transcript URL in a <podcast:transcript> field in their podcast RSS. (It appears that private podcasts—like our own Six Colors podcast for members—won’t be auto-transcribed by Apple, but they should be able to still provide their own transcript and have that picked up by Apple.)
Speaking as a prolific podcaster, I’m really happy that Apple has provided this feature because it dramatically improves the accessibility of our podcasts. Transcription technology has only recently gotten good enough to make automated transcripts readable, but the ideal solution to the problem was always to have platform owners like Apple build in this technology themselves.
iOS 17.4 is in beta now and should be out for everyone by March.
There’s a lot to unpack in Apple’s announcements about its changes for the European Union, and we’ll certainly be digging into that, but the company actually announced another big change that will apply across the globe:
Today, Apple is introducing new options for how apps globally can deliver in-app experiences to users, including streaming games and mini-programs. Developers can now submit a single app with the capability to stream all of the games offered in their catalog.
Apps will also be able to provide enhanced discovery opportunities for streaming games, mini-apps, mini-games, chatbots, and plug-ins that are found within their apps.
Additionally, mini-apps, mini-games, chatbots, and plug-ins will be able to incorporate Apple’s In-App Purchase system to offer their users paid digital content or services for the first time, such as a subscription for an individual chatbot.
As you might recall, this was a source of contention between Apple and Microsoft back in 2020, when the latter was working on an iOS version of its GamePass service, but ended up not being able to release it because of App Store rules.
It certainly seems as though that (along with competing services from Sony and Nvidia) will now be possible, though so far I haven’t seen any comment from those companies about whether or not they plan to bring them to market.
Different ways of viewing the Mac at 40; making our own plans for Vision Pro; and a brief mention that Apple is changing rules in the EU recorded just before those plans were made public!
It works in a really dead-simple way. You hit “Add Trip” and you pick your start and end date, and your location. You can stack up as many as you want: Like London, Santorini, Naxos, Athens, and Vienna — hypothetically. As soon as there’s a day without a trip it snaps right back to showing you your home weather. Brilliant for when your trip is winding down and you want to see what you’ll be headed back to. It’s only as granular as a whole day, so on travel days you need to pick which is more important to get a heads up about.
It sure would be great if I could pipe a calendar with a trip itinerary right into the app, and maybe even get the hourly forecast based on my flight time. And it would be even better if that was something that happened at the system level instead of forking over my whole calendar for such a feature.
With apps like Flighty, or even United’s updated app with Live Activities, I could travel across time zones as smoothly as a progress bar. Instead, I’m always adding and subtracting the change in time zone and the total flight time.
Fight!
Unfortunately, support for this level of travel detail isn’t built into iOS or watchOS. Apple devices always think that wherever they are right now and whatever timezone they’re in right now are constants. All this, even though my iPhone has emails, boarding passes, and calendar entries that indicate I’m on the move.
Any scheduling I do during the trip needs to be offset appropriately before the journey, or for once I return home. I don’t want to see what time a dinner reservation in London is in Pacific Standard Time, because that’s not how I will think about it when I’m there, and vice versa.
Add to that that any time-based modes like Sleep1, Do Not Disturb, and other Focus Modes will all trigger based on the time zone my devices were in before I switched on Airplane Mode at the start of a flight. Ironically, Airplane Mode doesn’t think the time will ever change.
Not every journey is a dramatic crossing of the international date line, hoping across the pond to Europe, or even a flight from California to the East Coast2, but you do gain and lose hours that can have an effect on when you want to sleep or start your day. Hello jet lag!
There’s an app that a friend of my swears by for jet lag, Timeshifter, which I haven’t ventured to try, but it sure seems like the kind of nagging “health” notification that Apple Watch product managers would salivate over.
Flights of fancy
Apple should add a layer of travel savvy to its devices. Sure, there’s complexity here—programmers detest time-zone programming for a reason—but this is exactly the kind of lifestyle feature that users appreciate. It’s not as if Apple doesn’t already have the components lying around: if my flight information is in Calendar, that’s everything needed for time zones and locations for weather. It’s not like I’m asking for an AI virtual travel assistant.
Beyond the basics, there’s even more Apple could do. When I arrive in Paris, instead of flashing a notification that transit directions are available, or telling me there’s a detailed map of CDG3 available, my phone should ask me if I want to switch my navigation preferences to transit or walking while I am in Paris… and then revert to my default when I leave.
My phone should allow me to designate my home-away-from-home. Let’s stick with Paris as an example: I want to have something as easy as tapping “Home” but for my hotel. You can favorite the hotel, but it gets lost in all your other favorites, recent searches, and other detritus, unlike “Home,” which Maps thinks is a helpful navigation suggestion in Paris. (This also works for when I’m visiting my mom and staying at her house.)
In addition to keeping that hotel at the ready, my device should also be able to understand things like the address of the next hotel, so if it’s check out time and there’s a trip to Strasbourg, apps won’t keep suggesting my Paris hotel as a destination for navigation. We’ve moved on. Literally.
You don’t even need to travel far to see how things might benefit you. If you live in a place with mountainous terrain and microclimates, you could even be alerted to a chance of rain or snow a short distance from you just when you’ve got an event on your calendar there. Or imagine being given a heads-up when you’re headed to an office in a nearby region that’s ten degrees warmer, so you can dress appropriately.
From the simple to the more complex, there are plenty of ways Apple could make its devices better at anticipating our movements. This goes for Apple’s own apps, but also allowing third-party apps—like Mercury and Flighty—to tie into the same information. That would be the real ticket to success.
Fun Fact: The face-mask unlock that uses the Watch for an assist doesn’t work when your Watch is in Sleep Mode. If you travel with a face mask on a plane, like I’m doing, you need to turn off Sleep if you want to use that. ↩
The new, detailed map for CDG is not very useful. It has no walking directions inside the airport, and it doesn’t understand that the airport has multiple levels. It’s definitely not ready for the Spatial era. ↩
[Joe Rosensteel is a VFX artist and writer based in Los Angeles.]
My feature for The Verge on the Mac’s 40th anniversary came together surprisingly quickly, given that the anniversary has been four decades in the making. As I was writing it, I realized I was leading off with interviews I had done with Steve Jobs for the Mac’s 20th and with Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, and Bud Tribble for the Mac’s 30th anniversary.
It made me realize that the article ideally should have the voice of someone at the Apple of today, too. One of the conditions of my interview with Jobs—hard to believe it’s half the Mac’s life ago, now—was that I only talk to him about the future, not the past. It’s a tough task, asking someone about the future when you’re supposed to be interested in the past, but that’s just how Apple rolls—then and now. It’s always focused on what’s next, a bit of corporate culture instilled by Jobs himself.
The obvious choice was Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. Joz has been working at Apple since 1986, and I first remember encountering him at an early PowerBook briefing. In a tight timeframe, I managed to get a few quick questions into Joz for the Mac’s 40th anniversary.
The issue I keep coming back to (apparently every 10 years!) is how since 2001 Apple just keeps adding new non-Mac product lines. (A new one on the way in a couple of weeks.) The Mac is roughly 10% of Apple’s business. So how do you give love to a platform that is only a fraction of your business when there’s another platform that’s more than half your business?
“The Mac is the foundation of Apple… and today 40 years later it remains a critical part of our business that we continue to invest in,” Joswiak said. “Through all of its changes and evolutions over the years, we couldn’t be more proud to say that the Mac is more popular and relevant than ever… It’s exciting to see more people switching to Mac than ever before. The Mac will always be part of Apple. It’s a product that runs deep within the company, and defines who we are.”
I asked Joswiak about where the Mac fits in among all these other platforms, and he pointed out that Apple, one of the largest companies in the world, runs on the Mac. “As a platform, the Mac is still breaking new ground and continuing to propel the concept of computing forward in unprecedented ways,” he said. “People can do things on a Mac laptop that they would have never dreamed possible 40 or even 10 years ago. And today, the Mac also plays an important complementary role to other devices in the Apple ecosystem, whether it’s iPhone, iPad, or soon… Vision Pro.”
As has been pointed out a lot today, the Mac is the unique tech product to have somehow survived and thrived over 40 years, when many hit products don’t manage even 10 years in the spotlight. I’ve got my own theories about why that is, but I was curious if Joswiak—who, again, has been around Apple since 1986—had his own theories.
“From the beginning, the Mac has always embraced big changes to stay at the forefront of personal computing,” he said. “It revolutionized the concept of the personal computer 40 years ago and is still doing so today — challenging the notion of what’s possible on a laptop or desktop computer. Mac has [led] with nearly every major technological wave… This constant evolution paired with our unrelenting dedication to the user experience across hardware, software, and design, has led the Mac to become a product that has not only stood the test of time, but that has built a loyalty among users like no other.”
There’s no denying that. From the very beginning to today, the attachment people feel for their Macs seems like it’s one of the product line’s definining characteristics. “People love their Mac,” Joswiak told me. “It’s hard to imagine any other PC that people love as much as the Mac. That was true with the very first Mac, and it’s still true with the Macs we make today.”
We got together with Backstage pass members live on Zoom earlier today to discuss all sorts of stuff, including the Mac’s 40th birthday (with a classic Mac demo from Jason), the forthcoming Apple Vision Pro, and even some Apple Car talk. We’ve embedded the video below, or you can watch it on YouTube.
Our widget usage on smartphones, views on Palworld’s Nintendo resemblance, whether we’ve activated Stolen Device Protection, and our readiness to pay a premium for ad-free streaming amidst Netflix and Amazon’s pricing changes.
