Category: iOS

August 18, 2020 Apple, development, iOS

Epic Games Antitrust Case Against Apple Will Fail

Here is a video I made explaining why Epic Games recent federal court Antitrust case against Apple in the Northern District of California will fail. Check it out.

Here is what I state in the video.

Okay, so here’s the thing a couple of days ago, Epic Games sues Apple, and it seeks declaratory injunctive relief in federal court in the Northern District of California. And what my YouTube video is about is how this claim by Epic Games is not really an antitrust violation. There’s really no basis for this. And if you understand what antitrust is all about, you’ll see why this doesn’t make sense. 

Now, here’s the thing with antitrust. So antitrust is when a company has a monopoly in a market and it takes that monopoly in the market and uses that to destroy some other market or to destroy some other entity that is trying to compete. And that’s what antitrust is all about. This goes back to the Sherman act way back at the beginning of the 20th century. 

So Fortnite — that’s the game that Epic Games is famous for. So they released Fortnite which is the shoot ’em up game, multiplayer game and actually had it’s probably its greatest success on the iPhone. And what Epic Games is claiming is that it’s unfair for Apple to take 30% from selling the game in the App Store. So Epic Games is basically trying to get a court to say it’s illegal for Apple to charge 30% to any app that is being sold through the app store or 30% of the services. Also, what’s going on is Epic Games is trying to claim that Court should then tell Apple that they have to allow other stores to enter to sell apps on the iPhone. And they’re claiming that, you know, Apple has a monopoly over the iPhone. 

Okay, let’s think about this. What does that mean? First you have to establish what is the relevant market? And does a company have a monopoly power in a relevant market? Right, but the key is what is the relevant market? Right. And monopoly power historically had been, you got to be significantly over 50% usually 60%, 70%, 80% or maybe 90%,  dominating the market. Okay. 

So what are things that are typically monopoly power? Well, your local electricity company like the one where I live in New York City: Con Edison provides electricity. The relevant market for electricity is New York City because I can’t really buy electricity from California. That is because Con Edison owns the wire lines, and I have to get it through Con Edison in New York. Now, the government regulates Con Edison, because otherwise Con Edison could just raise the price a lot. And we don’t have any real choice. 

The fact that a company created a product doesn’t mean that it has a monopoly in the market. That wouldn’t make sense, right? Think about it. Does Nintendo have a monopoly power? Because it makes the Nintendo Switch or other Nintendo devices? No, because the market isn’t just Nintendo’s switch. Similarly, Microsoft doesn’t have a monopoly power because it has the Xbox because, you know, yes, it controls the Xbox. But the Xbox competes with other things. So Microsoft doesn’t have monopoly power over the relevant market. 

So you have to figure out what is the relevant market. And one way economists historically have tested monopoly power is to do an analysis of, could the monopolist significantly raise prices, and its customers couldn’t leave, there is no place to go. So for example, we need electricity, where we live in New York City. Now Con Ed, if it wasn’t regulated by the government, they could raise the power and maybe some people couldn’t afford it and would have to shut off the electricity. But a lot of people would have no choice and would have to pay much higher electricity. And there’s really no other product that they could get in New York City. We don’t have fireplaces for heating up and it’s not really practical to use candles for light That would be an entity that would clearly have monopoly power. 

Buried in Fortnite’s complaint against Apple — I’m reading it, it’s, well, it’s on the web, you can find it, I found it at unrealengine.com. But if you look in the complaint, a lot of it is how users don’t have choices. And it sort of puts down the quality of the App Store. Let me let me take some of the arguments one by one. Here’s the key thing. If you go to Section three, paragraphs 156 157 and 158. These are the paragraphs that are alleging that, you know, trying to convince the court why just the iPhone is the market.  The Complaint alleges this heading entitled Competition In The Sale of Mobile Devices Cannot Discipline Apple’s Conduct in the iOS distribution, or iOS in an app payment Process market. So basically, it’s saying Apple’s mobile device customers face substantial switching costs and iOS lock in. So that’s one argument that they make. The second argument is that Apple’s sticky iOS ecosystem protects its dominance in the sales of mobile devices. And then the third point they make is information costs and other market inefficiencies in iOS, iOS distribution iOS in that payment process market. 

So basically what they’re saying to the court is people who are iPhone users can’t switch can’t switch away from the iPhone can’t switch away from Apple’s devices, because they’re locked in and you know, they’re locked in because they have a lot of devices. They can’t switch. Now, I think this argument is ridiculous stretch and is kind of crazy. Okay, let’s take the situation with Fortnite. 

First of all, I think most people would agree Fortnite the game is played by kids, a lot of teenagers, young kids, maybe even under 10 a lot of teenagers and maybe young adults.  These kids are if they’re really passionate fortnight fans, they’re going to lobby their parents for an Android device. Now here’s the thing, Google kicked out Fortnite from the Google Store and Android, but Android allows you to side load apps and also Samsung has its own store and Fortnite is in the Samsung store. So, if you want to play Fortnite on a smartphone, you don’t have to stay with Apple, you can switch to Samsung phones and to other Android phones and get them on your device. This isn’t like the electric company, the electric company can raise the price a lot if its not regulated. There’s nowhere for me to go. 

If I really want to use Fortnite and it’s not offered on the App Store for Apple, I can switch to an Android device and Android devices can be very cheap. And I can use it that way. So even now their complaint goes on at length trying to make arguments about how that’s impossible. Let’s take the first argument Apple’s mobile device customers face substantial switching costs and iOS locking. This is what Fortnite’s attorneys, a major law firm, is trying to argue: 

So it’s Apple’s power and iOS app distribution market. And iOS in app payment processing markets is not constrained by competition in the sale of mobile devices, because Apple’s mobile device customers face high switching costs in are locked in to Apple’s ecosystem for at least six reasons. These costs make it more difficult for users to purchase a mobile device from a competitor after having committed to Apple’s mobile devices, thereby bolstering Apple’s market power. 

So they’re basically saying again, that it’s very high switching costs. Now, I don’t think that’s the case. Okay. First of all, most people anyways after a couple of years, or if not every year, are upgrading their smartphone. It’s ike in some ways these smartphones are accessible luxuries that even people who are economically challenged go for, as well as middle class and upper class people. I remember years ago, I used to stand in line for the Apple store, you know, when that was a thing here in New York City and across the country. And I gotta tell you, it seemed to me there are a lot of people who were economically challenged, who are waiting for the 500 or $600 or $700 iPhone, and for good reason, because these devices are an incredible Information and Communication deal for people. 

A lot of people who didn’t have a regular computer can afford a smartphone and particularly the iPhone. And even today, I think a lot of people upgrade every year or every other year or maybe every three years. But the thing is they have it’s not that expensive. The cell phone carriers are still doing these promotions where you get a free phone if you switch. So if you really wanted to switch, you could switch carriers and get a subsidized practically free Android or iPhone. T Mobile has these deals. So I’m not sure what switching costs now, in terms of the apps. 

Well, one of the things this complaint doesn’t point out, you know, and what’s interesting that complaint at some point tries to compare the iPhone to the Apple’s Macintosh. And you know, the current Macs and long history of Mac’s Apple has an app store but also Apple allows people to download programs for the Mac from, from the web, or from alternative stores. Epic Games is saying that’s the way it should be. But here’s the thing for consumers. Apple’s App Store on iOS, which is exclusive has been better for consumers. Then this open system on the Mac, and the open system that was on Windows PC. And the best evidence of that is, look how cheap the programs are on the iPhone, compared to programs on the Mac. Programs on the Mac are much more expensive. You typically pay $10, $20, $30, maybe even $100. Well, you know, on the on iPhone, the biggest complaint has been a sort of, you know, the prices of apps keep going down and down and down and down. And developers can’t really charge that much money for an app like you can’t really, you never see somebody selling an app really for 100 bucks or 50 bucks on the iPhone. Instead, there’s a lot of free apps or $5 apps or a $10 app. And maybe if there was a really great you know, professional app Like, like ferrite, you know, that people use to edit audio and podcasts, you know, that might be $15. But if anything, these apps are really cheap. And, you know, I don’t use Android devices. But my sense is that the Android counterparts to a lot of these apps are also cheap. And don’t cost much. So if I wanted to, you know, if I really wanted if I was really into gaming, and you know, Epic Games basically says in its complaint that it wants to create, like its own store, on iPhone and sell other apps directly to people. Well, let’s say if they couldn’t do that. And they did that on Android, and I really loved Epic Games. I could easily switch. And I think a lot of people could just buy another Android device. It’s not that expensive to to play these games. 

Let’s look at  Section B in the complaint where Fortnite alleges that: Apple sticky iOS echo system protects its dominance in the sales of mobile devices. This is kind of a rehash of the other one, but it says Apple’s ability to raise customer switching costs creates customer lock into its ecosystem. iOS ecosystem is reflected in Apple’s ability to maintain its dominance in the sale of premium smartphones as well as in the sale of tablets. First, Apple’s iPhone dominates sales of premium smartphones. In 2019 alone, Apple’s global iPhone sales generated more than $150 2 billion in revenues. And in the first quarter of 2020, Apple was able to capture 60% of global premium smartphone revenue. Okay, so then it goes on to say that Apple maintains substantial operating profits ranging from 62 to 90%. And it goes on to say Apple has also been able to maintain its pricing power over many years. It’s then it’s then it sort of segues into that. But to say the high switching costs are obvious from empirical evidence. According to 2017 survey by Morgan Stanley 92% of iPhone users intending to upgrade with the next year indicate they would stick to an iOS device. 

But wait a second, this evidence is not evidence of high switching costs. See, this logic doesn’t make sense. This is a survey that says a lot of iPhone users tend to stick to iOS devices and upgrade to a new one. And and then they’re arguing that’s a switching cost. It’s not a switching costs. People are happy with iOS devices. Apple makes a premium product. And the irony is the reason that Apple is making a premium product is because it curates the App Store and prevents crappy apps from coming in there. The curating prevents third party apps from over your device and hijacking it. Now what do I mean by that? Okay, now the Mac. And just like the PC for years was around before the iPhone, right? But the Mac just like the PC was susceptible to malware taking over your PC or Macintosh. 

And even recently, you know, my teenage daughter I gave her gave her and my son 13-inch MacBook Pros a couple years ago.  And my daughter, you know, who probably learned when she was younger how to use an iPhone before she used the Mac. She was clicking stuff on the internet with her MacBook Pro. And I’m telling you, malware got into her to her MacBook Pro, because she clicked on the wrong thing. And next thing you know, both browsers, both Chrome and Safari. were sort of hijacked by this fake Google thing that made it look like you were using Google. But you weren’t using Google, you were using some third party unrelated to Google hijacking your browser to think that it was using Google when it was using its own stupid malware.   

This argument in the complaint that because so many people want to stick to the iPhone, there’s high switching costs, there’s no basis to say people are sticking with the iPhone because they don’t have a choice. This is kind of a logical if you think about it, right? What they’re trying to argue is, people don’t want to stay with the iPhone, but they’re forced to stay with the iPhone. But how are they forced to stay with it? Apple’s coming out every year with expensive iPhones for a premium and people they’re not getting the deal. No one’s giving like if there was a subsidy, right? What if If you could like somehow, you know, turn in your iPhone and get a huge subsidy for the more expensive iPhone, that’s why you would stay for it. That would be cheaper than buying an Android. But that’s not the case.  

For iPhone users, they can now go to Android.  You could go out right now and get a much cheaper Android device that will do a lot of the basic stuff that an iPhone does, right? But a lot of people are finding that it benefits consumers to use an iPhone, right? And how does it benefit the consumer? it benefits the consumer because Apple is investing a lot of its profits into creating better processors. So you get a much more powerful processor for your bang for your buck with an iPhone than you do with an Android device. I mean, now that’s well documented. I don’t know if the average consumer knows that. But the other thing is Apple does a really good job with the camera but then look the Google does with its with its camera, the Google phones right that are androids. 

So what is it? I mean, the other thing that they don’t really talk about is great customer service. Apple has all these Apple stores, right? So you know, if you have a problem with your iPhone, you just go to a Genius Bar, and they take care of it. Android doesn’t have any genius bars. There’s no Google stores. There’s no Samsung stores, that you can just go in that that I know of, and solve that. So what is going on is that, to the extent people are sticking with the iPhone, it’s because there’s better customer service. And I’m telling you one of the better customer services, that Apple is curating the App Store. 

Now remember, Apple has kicked off a lot of things from the App Store. Apple has, there’s no pornography in the App Store. There’s no you know, crazy apps that are like for like Nazis or something like that. Or, you know, Holocaust denying apps or anything like that. Now on a Foogle device, you can’t get it through Google Store because Google stores is trying to do curating just like Apple’s trying to do. But Android is an open system. So you could side-load pornographic apps. But here’s the other thing, an Android phone is more susceptible to malware being installed into it, because it can be side loaded. And by side loading it you can get into the system. And so that is a risk. That’s why if you see a lot of a lot of businesses and enterprise and government are using iPhones instead of Android phones because of the security. 

So one of the reasons that the app store is closed is for that security and for that peace of mind. Take also an example customer service. Now remember a while back, Apple went to you know, allowing service by some games.  Games like Fortnite, frankly, you know, make more money by selling points or coins or, or something in the game. And we know, you know, many years ago, there were these horror stories of kids buying games in the app store, and racking up huge, huge fees that with their parents credit cards, buying gold coins or something stupid like that in games, people were upset and people reached out to Apple, and Apple is the one who refunded those monies and cracked down on that practice. 

Now, here’s the thing. Epic Games has its own store. Parents are going to have to rely on Epic Games to prevent that kind of abuse of children, where kids rack up and waste money on points on games. And, I mean, with me, I’m very strict with my kids in the sense that I don’t let them play games, where they’re gonna have to buy coins and wrap things up. Okay. 

And so you know what Epic Games wants it? So Epic Games wants to do two things: it wants to not have the 30% fee. But let’s go back to that. If Apple has doesn’t have monopoly power, it can do whatever it wants. If Apple doesn’t have monopoly power over smartphones, it can if it wanted to kick out everybody out of the App Store, Apple could decide. Remember, the original iPhone didn’t have an app store. It just had a few of Apple’s own apps. And Steve Jobs said, Oh, people can download from a website, make a website, be an app on the iPhone, and you can still do that you can save any website, you know, look like it’s an app, but it can it can’t do much other than what the website does, because it can’t go into everything that’s in the iPhone. 

If Apple doesn’t have monopoly power, it can do anything it wants. It doesn’t have to be fair to anybody. Apple can make deals and say okay, you know, Netflix is a big provider. I’ll give you a special deal. You guys are smart. All developers, they’ll give you a different now, people aren’t gonna like that maybe developers weren’t like that. And so for business reasons. Apple wants to be fair, but that’s for business reasons for you know, for the company. 

Now, if you remember companies before they’re a monopoly, the whole point is to compete with the competition. And Apple has lots of competition. Lots in the sense of Apple is competing with Amazon. Apple is competing with Microsoft. Apple is competing with Google and Apple is competing with Facebook. Okay. And Apple has a lot of other count competition. Spotify is competing with Apple. But let’s take these other big entities. These other big entities are worth over a trillion dollars, just like Apple is worth over a trillion dollars. Apple is in ferocious competition with them and Apple does not have dominant market share of the smartphone market. 

And here’s what I’ll point out to you. Okay, so a little while back when another app was trying to claim, you know, antitrust violations. I did an article on my blog, MacsFuture.com  Apple does not have monopoly power in the smartphone market. And that is the relevant market. There are charts. And so if you look at smartphone sales from the third quarter of 2007, through the fourth quarter of 2019, which is last year, you could see that Apple has anywhere from under 15% to a little over 20% of all smartphone sales, globally. Right. So I mean, the world is kind of integrated economically, and smartphone sales Apple is every year more than 23% in some quarters, it’s down below 15 or 12%. Obviously, its fourth quarter around Christmas time is the big one. 

Now in terms of worldwide smartphone shipments, market share forecast, Apple is listed as having less than 15%. And the rest is really dominated by Android. Android has 85% of the market in terms of mobile operating system market share. Apple has less than 20% of the market share. 

Now one thing that is true is in terms of profits made in the smartphone market. Apple, does have a majority of the profits, but that’s because it’s making premium phones and it’s making its own chip and It’s integrated. In other words, there’s no other company making its device, and also the operating system. I mean, Google is trying to do it. But in very small quantities, only a small quantity of the Android phones or pixel phones. And Google, I think, is outsourcing the actual manufacturing of the hardware. But Apple is making the hardware. It’s making the chips, it’s making the operating system and so it has more efficiencies in making these devices. 

And I think because of that, it’s garnering more profit. It’s the premium now, but is that the relevant market, that they have a majority of the hardware profits in the smartphone market? I don’t think that’s the relevant measure of market and think about it. Think about it from Epic Games perspective. Epic Games, wants to be able to get to as many customers as It can. But Apple only has 20% of all smartphones. If Apple kicks it out, they’re still 80% of the other smartphones, right that Epic Games can sell to. So Apple can shut out Epic Games from a majority of all smartphone users, because it only controls maybe 20% of all smartphone users. 

So then what’s the argument for Epic Games Epic Games? And I don’t think they’re arguing this in the complaint because they can’t, because they also sued Google. Right? But they can’t argue that the people who use iPhones are more likely to pay for games. And so that’s the more lucrative market and we’re being shut out of the more lucrative market. Well, I’m not sure for gaming if that’s true. I mean, I think there are a lot of gamers on Android. 

And so that’s not the relevant market. But then here’s the thing. It’s not just smartphones and for gaming, right? mean, Epic Games a little too cute by half here. But the gaming market isn’t just smartphones, right? A lot of people play Fortnite on the PlayStation, on the Sony PlayStation, the Microsoft’s Xbox, I think even maybe Nintendo Switch, the Mac, the PC, all these other devices are gaming platforms. Windows is a huge gaming platform. And I’m sure a lot of people play Fortnite on that. 

So when you factor that in, in the universe of gaming devices, Apple has only a teeny percent of installs. So can’t really shut out and dominate, right? Like if Apple was a monopolist truly in this market. For games, Apple would be able to dominate 80% of the market for games of the people playing in games and then shut out for it. Right, but it can’t. 

What this really is, is that Epic Games, which grew in Apple’s App Store, and is now making hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars, is greedy, and doesn’t want to give Apple its cut of activity in the App Store. Now, regarding Apple’s app store, something like 80%, or 90% of the apps in the app store are free. And Apple’s doing all this backend work in terms of developing the technology for the developer tools like Xcode, and the API’s that come out every year that are revealed WWDC, lots of money is spent to do that. And for every game like Fortnite that makes money, Apple has all these free games that it’s supporting and those developers. Apple has an economic basis for charging 30%. 

And then the other thing is if you look at this 30% cut, it’s not high. You know, if you go to Walmart and try to sell some product through Walmart, Walmart, I’m sure Walmart’s taking a significant cut out of that. And I’m sure Amazon takes a cut out of products that you’re trying to sell through Amazon. And you know, if you want to go in if I want if somebody wants to release an app into into Nintendo store, sure Nintendo’s taking a cut, Microsoft is taking a cut. Everybody’s taking a cut.  So 30% is appropriate where Apple’s doing all the work in terms of collecting the money from users, providing the support is a reasonable fee. 

Look, I think when a court looks at this case, the first thing they’re going to do is look at whether or not what first they’re going to decide what is the relevant market and I just think that the arguments that Epic Games is making  — basically saying that the iPhone is itself a relevant market — are a big, big, big stretch. And I am going to follow this case, but I have a feeling that Apple is going to prevail on this. Apple may be worth close to $2 trillion. But it’s facing competition from other trillion dollar companies. And we’re not even talking about the Chinese companies that are out there that are worth, you know, maybe close to trillion dollars and are giants that are going to compete with the American companies. Apple’s a big company, but it still isn’t dominant in terms of market share. That’s why I think Epic Games is going to lose. We’ll have to see.

June 28, 2020 Apple, development, iOS

The HEY APP — Apple Is Not A Monopolist or Violating Antitrust

The latest rage among some developers on Twitter and the internet is to say that Apple is unfair for charging a 30% cut of selling apps or services through Apple iOS APP Store. Fine, it might be unfair, but sometimes business is unfair. But what really doesn’t make sense is that some developers are claiming that Apple is a “monopolist” and violating Antitrust Laws by charing 30% for app or services on the Apple iOS App Store. This makes no sense.

For example, this developer, Russell Ivonovic, said:

The issue is, Apple also makes the iPhone, and has mandated that there’s no other way to get software onto an iPhone except through their store. So what you have is the company which has a monopoly on installation of software on the iPhone, mandating that you use their store, and give them 30%. If you don’t like that deal, there’s no alternative available. It’s the definition of anti-competitive monopolistic behaviour: taking the market dominance you’ve created in one market, to give you an unfair advantage in another.

Rusty Rants

This logic makes no sense. It claims that because Apple makes the iPhone, and has an exclusive App Store for the iPhone, it is a monopolist and abusing monopoly power. By this logic, anyone who makes any device and any service that controls its device and service and limits what can go on that service is monopolizing its device and service and thus is a monopolist. By that definition, Nintendo is a monopolist because Apple, Google, and Microsoft and no one other than Nintendo can operate an App store for Nintendo devices. How about Walmart? By that logic isn’t Walmart a “monopolist” because Walmart controls what it sells in its stores? What if I want to sell a product in Walmart’s stores? Can I force Walmart to allow me to set up a stand in Walmart and sell it? No. That would be stupid.

It is well established in Antitrust Law that for a company to be deemed to have “monopoly” power, it must have more than 50% and closer to 80% and 90% in the relevant market. So there are two key things to properly define. First, what is the relevant market? And then what is that company’s market share in that relevant market.

Apple Does Not Have Monopoly Power In The Smartphone Market And That Is The Relevant Market.

What Rusty and other get wrong is that the relevant market is not iPhones in and by themselves. The relevant market is at the very least all smartphones, if not also all computing devices. Lets take the smartphone market. The smartphone market is dominated by two types of smartphones iPhones and Android Devices. These devices are so similar, that in the early days of Android, Apple engaged in major litigation with Samsung claiming that Samsung violating its patents on iPhones and iPhone designs so that customers couldn’t tell the difference between iPhones and Android. And if you go to websites and YouTube channels covering Androids, customers who are using Android smartphones claim Android smartphones are much better than iPhones.

So most customers would say the market between iPhones and Androids is very competitive. And in terms of market share, the data shows Android has a larger share of the market than Apple. In fact, data shows that Apple sold fewer than 30% of all the smartphones in recent quarters and years.

Statista

Rather than being dominant in the smartphone market, IDC’s data shows that the iPhone currently counts for only about 15% of all smartphones shipped worldwide and will fall to 13% in the coming years.

IDC

In terms of installed mobile operating systems world-wide, i.e. smartphones being used world-wide rather than ones just recently purchased, Apple has less than a 30% market share.

Statscounter

So with far less than 50% share in the smartphone market, there is no way any court can find Apple to have monopoly power in the smartphone market. And that makes sense. A monopolist is such that it can raise prices and customers have no choice but to pay the monopolist and can switch to another supplier . For example, ConEdison, the Electric Utility in New York City, is a monopolist in New York City. I have to purchase electricity through ConEdison. For that reason, the government regulates ConEdison’s prices. But Apple can’t raise the price of its iPhones and then require me to pay it. There are all those Android smartphones that my Android friends say are better than the iPhone. So if Apple raises the prices of its top new iPhone to $3000, I don’t have to purchase it. I can purchase the latest Samsung smartphone for $1500.

Apple Is Not A Monopolist Because Its IOS APP Store Is Better for Developers Than the Android App Stores.

Now Rusty Rants claims there is no other choice for developers than Apple’s App Store. But Rusty there is. You and other developers can make apps for the Android Store. It is a bigger market. There are man more Android customers than iPhone customers. Now those Android stores are not as lucrative. But that is because Apple made a better app store. And it is a better app store than the market for Apps on the Android smartphones, because Apple curates the iOS App Store to make sure there isn’t malware and other terrible apps on the app store. It is not a perfect, but many customers like it because Apple keeps iOS devices safe and not destroyed by malware.

Apple’s App store is more lucrative than the Android app market, because Apple’s exclusivity has made it a better store. Ironically, the very thing that some developers want to do, open up iPhones to have additional app store, or allow side loading, is the very thing that will destroy the quality of the iPhone experience and cheapen the quality of the iOS App store.

Developers who complain: “Cry my a river.” You don’t have to develop for iPhones, or smartphones. There are various other devices that you can develop for, like the Web, and Web apps, like plug-ins for WordPress, like apps for linux devices like Raspberry Pis.
You can develop for PCs and Macs. There are enterprise developers. The market for developers services is incredibly large and iOS developers are only a tiny slice of the developer market.

These complaints of Antitrust violations are ridiculous.

May 26, 2020 Apple Glass, iOS, iPad, Uncategorized

Apple Glass, LIDAR, GPS Inaccuracy and the Holy Grail of Location and Mapping Accuracy!

In the Graduate movie, a young Dustin Hoffman is playing a recent college graduate who doesn’t know what to do with his life. Some jerky older adult pulls Benjamin (Hoffman’s character) aside to tell him “one word, Plastics, there is a great future in Plastics.” Well it looks like this year, the great future is in LIDAR. One word, LIDAR. Hear me out.

Prosser’s Apple Glass Leak

As I mentioned in a recent post, the YouTuber, Jon Prosser, recently leaked from an Apple employee that Apple is working on releasing glasses next year. Prosser claims he has seen the glasses Apple is making and claims that the product will cost $499 (without prescription lenses), it will be called Apple Glass, Apple Glass1 looks like regular glasses, and Apple Glass will have LIDAR technology but no cameras. It’s the last part that I will address. Why would Apple not put cameras in Apple Glass? And is LIDAR technology enough for the Apple Glasses to make customers really want to purchase that product?

First, why won’t there be cameras in Apple Glass? Prosser suggested that there would be no cameras because people freaked out when Google Glasses had cameras in it. I think that makes sense. Apple doesn’t want people to be afraid to wear Apple Glass. Apple wants to make it easy for every day people to purchase the glasses. Apple also has been telling everyone that they respect the privacy for consumers. If cameras were on Apple Glass, people would be afraid that whoever is wearing Apple Glass is video recording what they see.

A number of years ago, I purchased Snap’s glasses, Spectacles. You can see the video I made here. They were fun to wear but the glasses were big and people could see the camera on one side of the glasses. When you were having the glasses take pictures or recording video, a light would go off on the side of the glasses letting people know you are recording them. I wore then for a while, but I felt I looked kind of silly wearing them and I have stopped using them.

So one reason Apple might not put cameras on the Apple Glass is that people might be afraid to wear them if everyone knew they had cameras on it. That makes sense.

Another reason to not use cameras on the Apple Glass is that cameras, that are always working or on a lot, could eat up the battery of the Apple Glasses. Prosser says the Apple Glass will be connected with the iPhone to work. So probably it will wirelessly connect with Bluetooth or some other wireless technology like the W1 chip. So that wireless connection itself will eat up some of the battery on the Apple Glass. And if Apple Glass look normal like regular glasses, well there won’t be much room for batteries on Apple Glass. So to save battery energy, maybe that is why Apple will not use cameras on the Apple Glass.

LIDAR

But how could Apple Glass be a great technology if they don’t have cameras? The answer is LIDAR, which Prosser mentioned is on the Apple Glass. He also pointed out that Apple put LIDAR on the latest iPad Pro so Apple could test out LIDAR before Apple Glass comes out. I think that makes sense. But how could LIDAR make Apple Glass be great new technology.

First, what is LIDAR? Here was what Velodyne a major manufacturer of LIDOR sensors and technology describes it as:

Lidar is an acronym for “light detection and ranging.” It is sometimes called “laser scanning” or “3D scanning.” The technology uses eye-safe laser beams to create a 3D representation of the surveyed environment. Lidar is used in many industries, including automotive, trucking, UAV/drones, industrial, mapping, and others.

Velodyne goes on to explain how LIDAR works:

A typical lidar sensor emits pulsed light waves from a laser into the environment. These pulses bounce off surrounding objects and return to the sensor. The sensor uses the time it took for each pulse to return to the sensor to calculate the distance it traveled. Repeating this process millions of times per second creates a real-time 3D map of the environment. An onboard computer can utilize this 3D map of the surrounding environment for navigation.

LIDAR has been around for a long time in automobile technology for autonomous cars to “see” as The Verge pointed out in an article right after the Consumer Electronic Show this past January. That technology, as the Verge pointed out, has been very expensive, but now that technology is becoming much cheaper.

So cheap, in fact, that the companies leading the pack now predict LIDAR will become as commonplace in mass-market vehicles as cameras, radar, and other low-cost safety technology.

(The Verge).

So why would Apple want to put pulsed lasers rather than cameras in Apple Glass? Or not both? As Velodyne explained, LIDAR has an advantage over cameras for mapping out what is around you because it immediately creates a 3D map while cameras create a 2D map that then the computer has to figure to make it 3D.

Cameras produce 2D images of the environment and companies are installing them around vehicles to use for navigation. However, there are serious problems with the accuracy of proposed camera-centric systems which have not been solved and will likely not be solved soon.

Lidar “sees” in 3D, a huge advantage when accuracy and precision is paramount. The laser-based technology produces real-time high-resolution 3D maps, or point clouds, of the surroundings, demonstrating a level of distance accuracy that is unmatched by cameras, even ones with stereo vision. Whereas cameras have to make assumptions about an object’s distance, lidar produces and provides exact measurements. For this reason, autonomous or highly automated systems require lidar for safe navigation. The ability to “see” in 3D can’t be underestimated. Lidar produces billions of data points at nearly the speed of light. Each point provides a precise measurement of the environment. Compared to camera systems, lidar’s ability to “see” by way of precise mathematical measurements, decreases the chance of feeding false information from the vision systems to the car’s computer.

(Velodyne).

So LIDAR appears to be more efficient than cameras at mapping the world. Maybe also LIDAR may use up less energy than having cameras open all the time. Also it looks like when you use cameras you will need more processor power to determine what the camera is seeing.

Now the LIDAR Apple puts into Apple Glass may be similar to the LIDAR sensor that Apple put into the newest iPad Pro. This is how Apple discussed its LIDAR technology in its March 18, 2020 Press Release when it announced the newest iPad Pros:

Breakthrough LiDAR Scanner

The breakthrough LiDAR Scanner enables capabilities never before possible on any mobile device. The LiDAR Scanner measures the distance to surrounding objects up to 5 meters away, works both indoors and outdoors, and operates at the photon level at nano-second speeds. New depth frameworks in iPadOS combine depth points measured by the LiDAR Scanner, data from both cameras and motion sensors, and is enhanced by computer vision algorithms on the A12Z Bionic for a more detailed understanding of a scene. The tight integration of these elements enables a whole new class of AR experiences on iPad Pro.

So you figure Apple will use LIDOR sensors in Apple Glass that are as good as the LIDOR sensor in the iPad Pro. So that means the LIDAR will be able to see anything in front of you that is at least within 5 meters, which is just short of 16 and 1/2 feet. So what could Apple do with 16 and 1/2 feet of LIDOR data for Apple Glass?

Some Ideas of What Apple Could Do!

What if Apple used the map and GPS data that the iPhone has together with the LIDAR data from the Apple Glass? Let’s think about this. Your Apple Glass maps out what is in front of you for 16.5 feet in front of you and sends it quickly to the iPhone. Your iPhone knows where you are because of GPS, Bluetooth Data and Wifi connections. Now Apple has been spending many of the last few years catching up to Google Map by sending cars mapping cities and towns in the U.S.A. and around the world. That is why in Apple Maps you can drill down on the map in the city your are and see 3D renders of buildings and monuments. So when the LIDAR data comes back to the iPhone, the iPhone can quickly connect it to the data from the GPS and Apple Maps and match up the LIDAR data. So even though you don’t have a camera, the pictures and virtual 3D pictures of the buildings on Apple Maps could be sent to your Apple Glass and matched up with the scan of your LIDAR data. That means your Apple Glass and your iPhone which is connected to it will know exactly what you are looking at through your Apple Glasses and it will be able to label it quickly for you. So you will able to look at a building or a a neighborhood and Apple will know exactly where you are and what you are looking towards and map out in front of you.

This LIDAR information is really helpful for Apple because currently, GPS data is not very accurate.2 Significantly, the current state of GPS data, according to the United States Government, is accurate to 16 feet. That is just short of the range of the LIDAR sensor on the iPad. The LIDAR data could fill in the 16 feet of inaccuracy from the GPS data. So the LIDAR data married with the GPS data will help Apple pinpoint exactly where you are standing and where you are looking. Apple will then put Augmented Reality (AR) data on your Glass as you are looking.

Right now, if Apple just used GPS data, the accuracy of what you see would be really messy. But with LIDAR data being sent back to the iPhone and matched with GPS data, Apple will have much better accuracy regarding where you are. Apple couldn’t do this with out first mapping out cities and towns on its own. Apple now has data regarding where buildings and structures are located. With LIDAR and other location data, Apple will be closer to the holy grail of location accuracy.

What does this mean? When I am driving and wearing my Apple Glass, I will be able to get map data on my Apple Glass rather than what I currently do, i.e. either look at my Apple Watch for prompts or look at the iPhone next to me. With Apple Glass, Apple Map data will be right in front of my eyes. I will look ahead. Data will come on telling me which way the route is going and where I have to take turns.

Similarly, using Apple Maps when you are walking and following directions is a pain. You have to look down at your phone or Apple Watch. And because the GPS isn’t very accurate, the map is often not lined up with the direction I am looking at. With Apple Glass, Apple Map will be more accurate and very convenient. The LIDAR data from Apple Glass will tell exactly Apple Maps where I am looking and the map data will be shown on my Apple Glass screen. Walking directions now will be incredibly easy.

With Apple Maps supercharged and showing on you Apple Glass, developers will make great apps using the map data combined with the LIDAR data. Someone can make a walking tour app for tourists on Apple Glass. When you look at certain landmarks, information can be showed on your Apple Glass or a video or audio played.

As found by Josh Constine in leaked iOS 14 files and building on what Benjamin May at 9to5Mac reported in March 2020, Apple is working on using Apple branded QR codes to work with AR. Longtime tech maven, and the guy who first wore Google Glasses in a shower, recently extolled how important Apple’s AR glasses with QR code will be. Scoble believes that that Apple’s QR code will allow people to use Apple Pay by just looking at the QR code and telling Siri it is ok to pay it. Scoble points out that Apple will further know your location to match up with the store and Apple Pay because they know exactly where they put the QR code for the store. His post is on LinkedIn here. What is interesting about Apple’s QR codes working with LIDAR is that LIDAR is not a camera but Apple figured out how to crate QR codes that LIDAR could read using software.

The Last Frontier of Mapping

But I think Apple will use Apple Glass for something even greater — one of the last frontiers that hasn’t been mapped? What is that? Is it Antarctica? Is it deep oceans? No, it is your local gigantic box store, like Costco or Home Depot. GPS can only map what is outdoors and generally tell you roughly where you might be in a building. But Apple Maps doesn’t not have mapping information for large buildings. Now Apple previously tried to use technology to map the great indoors. Way back at the Developers Conference in 2013, Apple launched the iBeacon protocol which uses small Bluetooth beacons that will work with iPhone. I played around with such iBeacons and they were cheap, like $10 each. You could plug them into the wall in a building and when you walked by with an iPhone that had an app that worked with it, the iBeacon could send you a message on your screen. And presumably, if Apple knew where the iBeacons were placed, it could map your location in doors. But that technology never really took off. It didn’t work well with the iPhone. For it to generally work, stores had to put the iBeacons around and map the location of each. Then for it to work, the store’s app had to be used by the customer and work well with the data from the store.3

What I want as a consumer, and which iBeacons failed to deliver, is walk into my local large Home Depot Store and when I tell my iPhone to get me a certain screw, the iPhone takes me directly to the hallway and exactly where the screw I need is located. Finding products in stores without having to search for help and look at a bad map in the store is want I want Apple to solve.

Apple Glass with LIDAR data could solve this problem. A developer working with Home Depot or other stores could use Apple Glass to quickly LIDAR map the store. Then the Home Depot app would have an exact map of each store. And when someone came in the store with Apple Glass, the Home Depo app would know exactly where in the store the customer was located based on the LIDAR data it was getting. The Home Depot app would then guide the customer exactly to where the product is.

More importantly, Apple could use the LIDAR data from customers who walk into stores to map each store. Already, Apple is using Siri data from customers, although anonymously so it doesn’t know the name of each customer, to improve Siri. Apple is crowdsourcing Siri data from its millions of customers to improve Siri. Apple could do the same with the LIDAR data that customers wearing Apple Glass are collecing when they walk into stores. What if Apple married the LIDAR data with the Apple Pay data when Apple customers purchase products in large stores and malls? Apple probably knows exactly what terminal in a store you used Apple Pay. Although the stores don’t know your name and ID, Apple probably knows where the Apple Pay transaction occurred. Apple could marry that location data with the LIDAR data to map indoor stores and malls.

Don’t Forget the U1 Chip!

There is more that Apple could marry up with the LIDOR Data. Apple has a U1 Chip. Remember, back last year, Apple put a U1 Chip in the iPhone 11 Pro. Back in September 2019, longtime Apple journalist Jason Snell was so impressed by the U1 chip and its potential, he penned an article entitled: The U1 Chip In The iPhone 11 Is The Beginning of an Ultra Wideband revolution. Snell pointed out Apple only released this nugget of information about the U1 chip on its website:

The new Apple‑designed U1 chip uses Ultra Wideband technology for spatial awareness — allowing iPhone 11 Pro to understand its precise location relative to other nearby U1‑equipped Apple devices. It’s like adding another sense to iPhone, and it’s going to lead to amazing new capabilities.

It looks like for now the U1 chip is used for making AirDrop transfers and maybe the Apple Tags which hasn’t been released. The U1 chip is low powered and can pinpoint other U1 chips.

Snell explained its potential after interviewing an industry person familiar with the technology:

But the possible applications of UWB go way beyond AirDrop and tracking tags. Decawave’s Viot says potential applications include smart home tech, augmented reality, mobile payments, the aforementioned keyless car entry, and even indoor navigation. (And it’s not a power hog, either—Viot says that Decawave’s latest UWB chip uses one-third of the power of a Bluetooth LE chip when in beacon mode, as a tracking tile would be.)

(SixColors).

So think about what this means? Apple is rolling out the U1 chip roughly at the same time it is rolling out the LIDRO technology.4 Apple could have both technologies working together. For example, eventually if all the Apple devices have the U1 chip, Apple could use the location of the devices together with the LIDAR data. So if you lose your device in a mall, Apple could pinpoint for you exactly where that device is.

Conclusion

Developing new sensors, it looks like Apple is very serious with AR and mapping indoors with LIDOR technology. Apple getting in the LIDOR game is very serious. Remember, there have been rumors for many years that Apple is working building a car — Project Titan. (See MacRumors). LIDOR has been used for building an autonomous car.
Who knows what new products and services Apple will bring to the market in the coming years. What ever they do will push us forward into the future.

  1. I refer to it as Apple Glass without “the” in front of it because that is Apple’s naming convention for products. For example, Apple always refers to “iPhone,” not “the iPhone”. ↩︎
  2. In addition to GPS, Apple’s latest iPhone also has GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)technology. GNSS is an umbrella over all the satellite location technology. GPS relies on the old United States Department of Defense satellites. But other countries and Europe are creating new location technology location using new satellites. Europe’s Galileo is precise to 1 meter, roughly three feet, much more precise than GPS. So eventually satellite location for iPhones and other devices will be more precise than GPS. ↩︎
  3. Apple hasn’t abandoned iBeacon technology and still touts it in the technology specifications for the iPhone and iPad devices. It refers to it as “iBeacon microlocation.” ↩︎
  4. Now interestingly, it doesn’t look like the latest iPad Pros released this spring have the U1 Chip. (See AppleInsider — speculating that because of supply issues or the iPad Pro doesn’t have the latest processor, that is why the iPad Pros do not have the U1 chip). ↩︎
May 25, 2020 iOS, iPad, Macbook Air, review, Uncategorized

iPad Pro or MacBook Air For My Friend? Which To Get?

I have a really good and close friend who is not a tech geek like I am. Recently, his 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro broke down. I told him it was time he should get a new device. I suggested he get either an iPad Pro or a MacBook Air. I gave him the pros and cons of both devices: on one hand the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and on the other hand either the 13-inch MacBook Air.

Now mind you my friend didn’t do much with his prior 13-inch MacBook Pro. He is a writer. So the most he did with his MacBook Pro is write. He also used the mail app to send and receive emails. He also used the Safari and Chrome browsers to go on the internet. But that was about all he did with it. He didn’t have photos on that MacBook Pro. He never edited videos. As for sending messages or texts? He sent and received messages and texts on his iPhone, not on his MacBook Pro. He did watch videos on the MacBook Pro on the internet. And also listed to some music from the internet. He doesn’t have a tv, so his only movies or audios were on the MacBook Pro.

In the end, he went with a 13-inch MacBook Air. He is very happy with his purchase. It is a great upgrade from his 2012 MacBook Pro. But I think he made a mistake. I believe he should have purchased instead the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Here is why:

Technology-wise, he gets much more technology from an iPad Pro than a MacBook Air.

Cameras. The iPad Pro has much better camera than the MacBook Pro and it has it on the front facing you and also on the back. The MacBook Air has a 720p FaceTime camera. The iPad Pro’s TrueDepth Camera, which is on the side with the screen, has an 1080p camera that shoots 7mp photos. In addition, it has two great camera lenses on the back that can shoot 4k video and photos at 12mp and 10mp. Now why should he care about these differences? Well, during the shutdown, like all of his, he is making many Zoom video calls with people. And if you have a better camera for the calls, then the Zoom or video calls you make are better. So right there for that reason the iPad Pro would be better for him than the MacBook Pro. But the cameras on the back are also better for him. He doesn’t take many pictures and he has an iPhone. But the cameras on the back would allow him to do more things with his iPad Pro than the MacBook Air. For one, he could scan documents with the iPad. You can’t scan papers with the MacBook Pro unless you have a good scanner connected to it. A good scanner can cost an additional $500. I do all my scanning now with my iPhone 11 Pro or my old iPad Pro.

Also, the cameras on the back have new technology for the iPad Pro. They have LIDAR sensors. Here is what the National Oceanic Service describes LIDAR as:

Lidar, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.

A lidar instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver. Airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring lidar data over broad areas. Two types of lidar are topographic and bathymetric. Topographic lidar typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land, while bathymetric lidar uses water-penetrating green light to also measure seafloor and riverbed elevations.

No my friend isn’t going to be interested in LIDAR technology because he doesn’t know how it it will help him. But the thing is he will probably keep his new device for at least 7 years. And clearly Apple plans to do something with LIDAR on the iPad and also third-party developers will create programs that use LIDAR. Right now, without LIDAR, my iPhone 11 Pro has a measurement app which allows me to measure stuff with the iPhone. With LIDAR, the measurement app will work even better. By purchasing the MacBook Air rather than the iPad Pro, my friend is missing out on all the possible apps that could use LIDAR.

In addition to LIDAR, the iPad Pro has other sensors that the MacBook Pro doesn’t have. It has a Three-axis gyro, an Accelerometer and a Barometer. Plus it has FaceID security rather than a fingerprint security. The MacBook Air does not have these sensors.

Screens. How about the screen? The iPad Pro’s screen is superior to the MacBook Air’s screen. The 12.9 inch iPad Pro has 2732-by-2048-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (PPI). The Macbook Air is 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch.

Weight. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air as it weighs 643 grams while the MacBook Air weighs 1.29kg (or 1290 grams). But if you get the Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro that combined weight will be about the same as the MacBook Air. But the point is you can have the iPad Pro naked with no cover and you can easily read it in your bed or sofa or when you are on a public transportation because its so light.

Power. The MacBook Air got a single-core Geekbench score of 1110 and multi-core score of 2862. The newer iPad Pros got Geekbench scores of 1118 single core and 4704 for multi-score. So the iPad is more powerful in multi-core processing.

Other Differences. There are a couple of other things that are different between the iPad Pros and and all the Mac.

  • First, the iPad Pro you can get with a cellphone antenna if you pay extra. You can’t get that with any Macintosh. So with the iPad Pro if you have a cellphone antenna, you can always connect to the internet even if you you are not at home and don’t have a connection to a wifi that is connected to the internet.
  • Second, the iPad Pro has access to many more apps and programs in the iOS App Store than what the Macs have access to in the Mac App Store. In addition, the iPad apps are generally cheaper than the programs for the Macs.
  • Third, and the most obvious, the iPad screen has touch on it so you can navigate the screen using your finger. This is a big deal because some apps are better to use by using your finger than using a mouse, trackpad and keyboard. Say you are watching a video. Isn’t it better to hold the iPad Pro and use your finger to start the video or to swipe around for other videos? Same with looking a photos. Isn’t touch better for looking at them? I think so.
  • Fourth, the iPad Pro can work with the latest Apple Pencil. My friend writes. Sometimes you want to write with a pencil and take notes. With the Macintosh you don’t have a choice. The screen on the Macintosh doesn’t have touch screen or the ability to use a pencil. With the iPad Pro you have a choice, touch, keyboard, trackpad, mouse or pencil. Actually also voice control. The Mac has voice control but I don’t think it is as useful or as ingrained in the system as voice control on iOS devices.
  • Fifth, the Mac has some major advantages but mainly for pros. For example, on the Mac you can use Xcode to create apps for the iPhone, iPad, Macs, Apple TV and Apple Watch. On the iPad Pro you can’t do that. But my friend is not a developer so he should not care about that. The Mac lets you put apps that don’t come from the Apple App Store. That is a big deal for a power user like myself. For example, I have long used the Audio Hijack program from Rogue Amoeba, which allows you to record any audio that comes through your Macintosh. There is nothing like that on iOS as Apple doesn’t let third-party developers fool around with the system underneath.1 Similarly, because your have a Terminal App on the Mac, and because MacOS was built on UNIX, you can put UNIX commands and do crazy stuff on your Mac. On your Mac, you can download Homebrew on the Terminal App and then do additional crazy stuff. Like for example, there are programs that can make your Mac a server for HomeKit so you can have devices that are not HomeKit work with Apple’s HomeKit on your iPhone and iPad. And of course scripting. On the Mac, you can run AppleScript and other scripts to automate your Mac. On the other hand, on iOS, Apple has the Shortcuts app, where essentially you can create your own scripts and automation apps. And iOS now has a finder so you can navigate into the folders for each app pretty much to find the files you need. So iOS is closer to having a finder like on the Mac.
  • Sixth, the security on iOS is greater than on the Mac because you can’t install non-Apple approved programs on iOS. Also, because the iOS apps are siloed when they run, unlike on the Mac where the programs get closer to the underlying system, your iPhones and iPads are much less likely to get hacked or hijacked. On the Mac, you can still get locked out and have your computer hijacked if you click on the wrong thing form the internet.

What about cost? That shouldn’t be the difference in deciding to purchase the MacBook Air or iPad Pro. The MacBook Air ranges in price from $999 to $2249 if you max out the ram and storage to 16gb of Ram and 2tb of SSD storage as well as bump up slightly the processor speed. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $999 and ranges up to $1649 if you max out storage to 1tb and get the cellphone antenna built in. If you add in the Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro, add another $349. If you get the Apple Pencil, add in another $129 for the second generation model. So the prices of the iPad Pro and Macbook Air are congruent on price range. Given that my friend is likely to own this new device for at least 7 years, he could splurge on either the iPad Pro or MacBook Air top price and it would be not very expensive for each month he uses it. For example, take $2000 and divide it by 7 years times 12 months; it totals $23.8 per month.

What about storage? That also shouldn’t be the difference for my friend. The MacBook Air gives you more storage than the iPad Pro if you pay for it. Up to 2 TB for the MacBook Air and only up to 1TB for the iPad Pro. My friend told me he only used 10% of all the storage on his 2012 MacBook Pro. That MacBook Pro had 4gb of ram and a 500mb hard drive. So my friend used approximately 50 mb of storage. The entry level iPad Pro comes with 128gb of storage. That is 256 times more storage than he use don his 2012 MacBook Pro. That entry model would probably have sufficient storage for my friend.

So why did my friend pick the MacBook Air instead of the iPad Pro when the above shows that that iPad Pro has more flexibility and much better technology?

I think he was prejudiced against getting the iPad Pro by a prior experience with an iPad that he purchase many years ago and quickly returned to Apple. Many years ago, when the iPad was in its nascent existence in 2012, the iPad and its operating system couldn’t do as much compared to a Mac. Back then, there were no keyboard covers. You connected a keyboard by bluetooth or lightning back then. Significantly, the operating system for the iPad wasn’t geared for physical keyboard back then. Also, there was no support for a mouse or trackpad. So if you used a physical keyboard a lot, you had to each out to change an app or edit. For someone used to writing a lot on a MacBook Air, the 2012 iPad and its operating system could not really well complete with a Mac. I remember my friend purchase the iPad on my recommendation back then and he promptly returned if to Apple after trying to use it. He doesn’t trust that the experience on the iPad has changed so much since 2012 that it would be easy for him to write and use the iPad Pro.

Second, I don’t think he can appreciate that new things that he never tried could enhance his life. I think most people in the World are like that. It is normal. We live in today. If things are working today, we are happy with that. Something new might not work and it takes additional effort to learn. This is why Apple is careful about how and when it releases new products. Apple knows it has to bring people to the new technology by seducing them with great design that is friendly to people and technology that is so good that people will quickly adopt it. Look at the original iPhone. Most people didn’t think it was a big deal or given its high price anyone would adopt it. Remember Steve Balmer then the CEO of Microsoft. He said no one would purchase the iPhone. RIM, the makers of the then very popular Blackberry said no one would purchase the iPhone because it didn’t have a physical keyboard. iPhones and iPhone-copiers (i.e. Android phones) now completely control the cell phone market. No one purchases cellphones with physical keys or keyboards. I think most people when they start using an iPad regularly will full embrace it as their main computing device. My mom, who is 90, started using an iPad about 6 years ago. She has access to regular computers. But when I see her she is always on the iPad.

Eventually my friend will have an iPad as his main device. Eventually.

  1. Apple isn’t approving Audio Highjack to get into the Mac’s system to highjack audio. Audio Highjack is not sold in the Mac App Store. Instead you download and install it directly from Rogue Amoeba. ↩︎
September 13, 2019 Apple, iOS, tech news, Test post shortcuts

Is the the Phone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 A Really Update from Last Year? — Yes!

Apple’s September announcement event is like a holiday for me. It is tech Christmas for me. For many years now, I look forward to September because that is when Apple announces a new iPhone. And many people in the media or my friends always say Apple’s new iPhone isn’t that much better than last year’s iPhone so why should anyone upgrade? But I point out to my friends that Apple’s iPhone is much better upgraded every year. Compare it with PCs. Back in the 1990s, everyone would get excited every year when company’s like Dell, HP, IBM, Compaq, etc would upgrade every year with a better processor from Intel. You would get a more powerful PC. And the processors would be maybe 20% more powerful. But then it leveled off.
But Apple has been killing it every year upgrading the iPhone. Most people don’t understand that. They look at the design and say Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 looks just like the iPhone XS or XR from last year. Big deal. But the real magic is the technology in that rectangular slab. With the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11, Apple has updated 4 things that are much better than last year’s phone: 1) the camera, 2) the processors, 3) the battery, and 4) the screen.
The Camera (Cameras)
The cameras are upgraded from last year. The iPhone 11 is the price of the XR (actually a lower price than iPhone XR), but it now has 2 cameras on the back of the iPhone compared to 1 last year. And the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max now have 3 cameras on the back compared to 2 on the XS and XS Max.
The front-facing camera now has a 12 mp camera rather than a 7 mp camera. And the front camera now records video in higher data, like 60 frames per second and 4k.
But don’t forget the processors that work with the cameras. I won’t go into the details about the camera processors but the bottom line is they have been greatly updated from the XS and XR iPhones. And those new processors in all the iPhone 11s do things the iPhone XS and XR cannot do.
2 Video Recording at the same time!
Among the things they can do is record videos at the same time from 2 cameras. FILMIC, which has a great professional app in the iPhone for video recording, showed on the stage during Apple’s event that its app will be able to show what all 4 cameras on the iPhone 11 Pro is showing and on the fly you can record 2 of the video streams at the same time. This is a big deal. Before with devices, you could record two videos at the same time but then you would have to sync them. Now the syncing is automatic.
So this will be great for sports and event recording and vlogging. I record my kids playing tennis. But it’s hard to record the entire court. If you go to one end you get the back of one player and the other player is far away. But now you could stand right at the net and record both half’s of the court and show it split-screen.
Similarly, vloggers will love this. They can record them talking and recording where they are and quickly edit the back and forth view or do picture in picture.

Night Mode
The new processors and extra cameras allow the iPhone 11s to take great pictures in low light. Apple calls this tech “Night Mode.” This is what Apple says about it on its site:

2019 09 11 at 7 53 AM

Major Upgrade to the screens for the iPhone 11 Pro.
Another major reason to upgrade if you use the phone a lot is that the screens for the iPhone 11 is not much much better. Without going into the technology, the screen can get much brighter than the iPhone XS. Why should you care? You should care because when you are outdoor in the bright sun the screen will be easier to see. Also, whey you watch movies on your iPhone 11 Pro it will look much better.

Battery
Another key reason to upgrade to an iPhone 11 from last year’s phone is the battery. All three iPhone 11s have much better batteries. In particular, the iPhone 11, which is the upgrade from the iPhone XR, now has a battery that lasts 1 hour more from the XR. The iPhone 11 Pro, which is the upgrade from the iPhone XS, has a batter that is 4 hours more than the XS. And the iPhone 11 Pro Max? That phone now lasts 5 hours more than last years iPhone XS Max. If you use your phone a lot during the day, you might want to upgrade alone for the better battery.

Processors and other technology
But another reason to upgrade is the processors. The processors are more powerful, And when they are more powerful, you can do more with them. You can edit videos quicker. You can edit photos quicker.
But it’s not just batteries. Apple has upgraded the wifi technology so you can get faster data from wifi. So if you use your wifi at home or at work to stream video or transfers large files, it will go faster.
But other technology: The A1 chip. Apple added a chip, that makes the iPhone 11 more location-aware. It can be used when you do Airdrop on another phone. One problem now with Airdrop is when there are a lot of iPhones around with Airdrop, you see many iPhones in your Airdrop screen. But now with the A1 chip, if you point your iPhone to the iPhone you want to Airdrop, it will bring that iPhone to the top of the iPhones you see on the screen. But this technology is what Apple is going to use when it comes out to tokens. It will allow your iPhone to quickly find those tokens in the room.

Conclusion
Overall, if you are a heavy iPhone user, it is worth upgrading to the iPhone 11, in particular the iPhone 11 Pro. You get a better camera for taking pictures and video, you get a faster processor for all the work you do, you get a better screen, and you get a much better battery. That alone is worth upgrading.