Beyond Devices Podcast

As per tradition, this week's Question of the Week episode is a deep dive on Apple's September 2017 event, which happened this morning. Jan was there in person, while Aaron followed along remotely, and in keeping with our usual format we discuss the announcements largely in the order in which they were made, starting with the tribute to Steve Jobs and discussion of the new Apple Park campus, as well as an update on the retail business, and moving into a discussion of the Apple Watch, Apple TV, and iPhone product announcements.

Here are some links relevant to today's discussion:

Apple press releases:

• Watch: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/09/apple-watch-series-3-features-built-in-cellular-and-more/

• TV: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/09/apple-tv-4k-brings-home-the-magic-of-cinema-with-4k-and-hdr/

• iPhone 8: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/09/iphone-8-and-iphone-8-plus-a-new-generation-of-iphone/

• iPhone X: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/09/the-future-is-here-iphone-x/

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

This week's News Roundup episode covers four major topics. We kick off with a discussion of the Roku IPO filing and the launch of the Roku movie channel, and the implications of the company's increasingly ad- centric business model. Secondly, we discuss various streaming partnerships including T-Mobile giving away Netflix, Spotify bundling Hulu into its student subscriptions in the US, and Disney moving away from Netflix. Third is a discussion of Amazon's search for a second headquarters, and we finish up with a brief chat about the Equifax hack.

The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.

News stories we covered:

• Roku IPO and channel:

Jan's takes on Tech Narratives:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/09/01/★-roku-files-to-go-public-loses-money-sees-ads-as-core-of-future-business-model/ (free post)

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/09/06/roku-launches-its-own-channel-showing-ad-supported-movies/ (paywall)

Roku S-1 filing:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1428439/000119312517275689/d403225ds1.htm

Variety piece on Roku channel launch:

http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/roku-channel-avod-1202548017/

• Streaming partnerships:

T-Mobile & Netflix:

Jan's Tech Narratives piece (free post):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/09/06/★-t-mobile-announces-free-netflix-for-family-plan-subscribers/

T-Mobile announcement:

https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/tmobile-uncarrier-netflix.htm

Spotify-Hulu:

Jan's Tech Narratives piece ($):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/09/07/spotify-adds-hulu-to-5-per-month-us-college-student-subscription/

Variety news story:

http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/spotify-premium-hulu-student-bundle-1202549614/

Disney:

Jan's Tech Narratives piece ($):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/09/07/disney-says-streaming-service-coming-in-late-2019-will-include-lucasfilm-marvel/

CNBC news story:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/07/disney-ceo-iger-marvel-star-wars-to-go-to-disneys-streaming-service.html

• Amazon HQ2:

Jan's take on Tech Narratives (free post):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/09/07/★-amazon-announces-search-for-second-us-hq-location-invites-cities-to-make-pitches/

Amazon's announcement:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170907005717/en/Amazon-Opens-Search-Amazon-HQ2-–-Headquarters

• Equifax hack:

Bloomberg story:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-07/three-equifax-executives-sold-stock-before-revealing-cyber-hack

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

As with our last Question of the Week episode, this one is an interview rather than a discussion between Aaron and Jan. This time around, Jan talks to Mark Bergen, who is the Alphabet and Google beat reporter at Bloomberg, and previously did the same job at Recode. As such, he's one of the most knowledgeable people out there about what's going on both at Google and the broader set of Alphabet companies, and has lots of interesting thoughts about all of them. We talk about the Alphabet structure and how that's working out for the company, some of the other bets including Google Fiber, Verily, Calico, and DeepMind, as well as the non-core parts of Google itself like the enterprise cloud business. We also talk through some of the recent political flak Google is taking from both sides of the aisle and what the company's prospects are long term.

Here are some links relevant to today's discussion:

• Mark's articles on Bloomberg:

https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/ATAlg7b7W-Q/mark-bergen

• Mark on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/mhbergen

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

This week Aaron was traveling and so you get a solo episode from Jan again, with five news items from this week. First up is Fitbit's announcement of its Ionic smartwatch, which will be available in October. Second is Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and what he means for the company. Third is Google's surprise announcement of ARCore, its response to Apple's ARKit developer tools for augmented reality apps on the smartphone. Fourth is another Google story, this time its intent to comply with the European Commission's order for changes to its Google Shopping service in Europe. And lastly, the announcement by Amazon and Microsoft that their two voice assistants will work together starting later this year.

The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.

News stories we covered:

• Fitbit Ionic:

Jan's take on Tech Narratives:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/28/★-fitbit-pre-announces-fitbit-ionic-its-second-smartwatch-due-in-october/

Fitbit announcement:

https://investor.fitbit.com/press/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Fitbit-Launches-Ionic-the-Ultimate-Health-and-Fitness-Smartwatch/default.aspx

• Uber CEO:

Jan's Tech Narratives piece from early in the week ($):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/28/★-uber-expected-to-name-expedia-ceo-dara-khosrowshahi-as-new-ceo/

Jan's second Tech Narratives piece following the official announcement ($):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/30/uber-finally-makes-ceo-announcement-official/

Uber Press Release:

https://newsroom.uber.com/ubers-new-ceo/

• Google ARCore:

Jan's take:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/29/★-google-previews-arcore-its-response-to-apples-arkit-for-android-phones/

Google announcement:

https://www.blog.google/products/google-vr/arcore-augmented-reality-android-scale/

• Google-EU:

Jan's take ($):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/29/★-google-intends-to-comply-with-eu-action-on-shopping-search-not-appeal/

Bloomberg report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-29/google-faces-tuesday-deadline-as-clock-ticks-toward-new-eu-fines

• Amazon-Microsoft Voice Partnership:

Jan's take:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/30/★-amazon-and-microsoft-announce-cortana-alexa-integration/

New York Times Report:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/technology/amazon-alexa-microsoft-cortana.html?_r=0

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

This is our News Roundup episode for the week, and as usual we discuss a few of the week's big news stories. First up is Samsung's launch of the Note8 device, the successor to last year's ill-fated Note7, which took place this week in New York City. Jan attended in person and shares some of his thoughts, but we also talk about some of the other ins and outs of the device and how it might do. Secondly, we talk about Amazon's very rapid progress in closing its Whole Foods acquisition and the immediate benefits customers of Whole Foods will see when the deal closes next week. Lastly, we discuss this week's New York Times report about the Apple car project, Project Titan, and some of the details that emerged from that story.

The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.

News stories we covered:

• Samsung Note8:

Jan's take on Tech Narratives ($):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/23/samsung-announces-pricey-note8-with-dual-cameras-confirms-speaker-in-works/

Jan's Media Release:

https://jackdawresearch.com/category/media/

The Verge Story:

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/8/23/16186496/samsung-galaxy-note-8-2017-announced-features-price-release-date

Jan's YouTube video of the Live Focus feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qloIJpoi5I

• Amazon-Whole Foods:

Jan's Tech Narratives piece ($):

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/24/★-amazon-whole-foods-deal-to-close-monday-lower-prices-to-follow/

Amazon Press Release:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2295514

• Apple Car:

Jan's take:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/23/★-apples-car-project-suffered-from-lack-of-focus-reports-new-york-times/

New York Times report:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/technology/apple-self-driving-car.html?_r=0

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

After a couple of weeks off for the Question of the Week episode, we have an interview with Mary Jo Foley, a reporter who's been covering Microsoft pretty much exclusively for 20 years, and who's one of the most knowledgeable and respected journalists on the Microsoft beat. We talk through the state of Microsoft and the various transitions and cultural shifts it's going through at the moment, whether things really are changing at Microsoft, how, and why. But we also talk through some more topical items about Microsoft including the recent Consumer Reports controversy over the Surface line, layoffs in the sales team, and the launch of Windows 10 S.

Thank you very much to Mary Jo for joining us, and we hope our listeners find this interview interesting. We're hoping to do more of this kind of thing going forward with our Question of the Week episode, so if you have suggestions for people we should interview, let us know!

Here are some links relevant to today's discussion:

• All About Microsoft, Mary Jo's blog at ZDNet:

http://allaboutmicrosoft.com/

• Windows Weekly, the Microsoft podcast Mary Jo does with Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte (and which you can also find in your podcast app of choice):

https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

• Mary Jo on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/maryjofoley

Jan also mentioned the Tech Narratives Podcast, which you can find on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/user-500920953), iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-narratives-podcast/id1252808525?mt=2), and Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1252808525/tech-narratives-podcast), and which should be available in many other podcast apps too.

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

Aaron's back, and so we're back to our usual back and forth format, this time around three major topics. First up, we talk about the belated launch of the Essential Phone from Andy Rubin's company, and the reviews which came out on Friday. Secondly, we discuss recent reports about the Apple Watch, including the possibility of an imminent LTE version and suggestions that Apple is talking to health insurer Aetna about subsidizing devices for its members. Lastly, we talk original video content, in the context of Netflix's hiring of Shonda Rhimes and Apple's reported $1 billion investment this year in originals.

The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.

News stories we covered:

• Essential Phone:

Jan's take on reviews:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/18/essential-phone-reviews-highlight-challenge-of-android-differentiation/

Techmeme roundup of reviews:

http://www.techmeme.com/170818/p5#a170818p5

• Apple Watch:

Jan's piece on LTE reports:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/04/★-apple-watch-with-lte-may-be-coming-later-this-year-says-bloomberg/

Jan's piece on Aetna:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/14/apple-is-talking-to-aetna-about-apple-watches-for-insurance-customers/

Source on LTE reports:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-04/apple-said-to-ready-cellular-capable-watch-to-break-iphone-ties

Source on Aetna:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/14/apple-aetna-secret-meetings-to-bring-apple-watch-to-millions-more.html

• Original Video Content:

Jan's take on Netflix and Shonda Rhimes:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/14/netflix-hires-shonda-rhimes-away-from-abc-to-create-new-shows/

Jan's take on Apple's $1 billion spend:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/16/apple-reportedly-spending-1-billion-on-original-video-content-in-next-year/

Source on Netflix:

http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/netflix-lures-shonda-rhimes-away-from-abc-studios-report-1202526464/

Source on Apple spend:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-readies-1-billion-war-chest-for-hollywood-programming-1502874004

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

With Aaron away, this is a solo episode of the News Roundup by Jan. Because there's only one of us talking, there are more topics than usual on this week's episode: six, to be precise. These are: the controversial Google memo; Uber board shenanigans; Netflix and Disney's announcements this week; Facebook's new Watch tab; Consumer Reports' decision to withdraw its recommendation of two Surface models from Microsoft; and the conclusion of the recent SoundCloud funding saga.

The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.

News stories we covered:

• Google Memo:

Two pieces from Jan:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/07/google-employee-pens-memo-arguing-against-diversity-initiatives/

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/11/google-cancels-diversity-town-hall-over-harassment-and-threats/

Business Insider on the cancelation of the Town Hall:

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-cancels-diversity-town-hall-2017-8

Motherboard's original reporting on the memo:

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kzbm4a/employees-anti-diversity-manifesto-goes-internally-viral-at-google

• Uber Board:

Jan's piece on the Benchmark lawsuit: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/10/uber-investor-benchmark-sues-kalanick-over-fraud-to-remove-him-from-board/

Axios's scoop on this story:

https://www.axios.com/benchmark-capital-sues-travis-kalanick-for-fraud-2471455477.html

• Netflix and Disney:

Jan's take on the Netflix Millarworld acquisition:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/07/netflix-acquires-millarworld-comic-book-company-to-hedge-against-loss-of-marvel/

Jan's take on Disney earnings:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/08/★-disney-reports-earnings-will-acquire-bamtech-launch-streaming-services/

Disney's announcements:

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/walt-disney-company-acquire-majority-ownership-bamtech/

Netflix announcement:

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/NFLX/3667621494x0x952713/155017DE-F0EF-47FA-972C-F9B002997979/PDF_Netflix_Acquires_Millarworld_-_Final_1_.pdf

• Facebook Watch:

Jan's take for Tech Narratives:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/09/facebook-launches-watch-a-new-tab-for-video-including-original-content/

Jan's Techpinions column: https://techpinions.com/the-risks-of-facebooks-video-pivot/50781

Facebook's announcement: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/08/introducing-watch-a-new-platform-for-shows-on-facebook/

Variety on some of the new shows: http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/facebook-premium-shows-launch-1202521520/

• Consumer Reports and Surface:

Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/10/consumer-reports-withdraws-surface-recommendations-over-reliability-issues/

USA Today story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2017/08/10/consumer-reports-pulls-recommendations-surface-laptops/554302001/

• SoundCloud saga:

Jan's take on the latest news: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/11/soundcloud-closes-new-investment-shuffles-management-pivots-business/

TechCrunch article: https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/11/soundcloud-saved/

Bloomberg interview: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-11/soundcloud-gets-new-life-with-fresh-170-million-investment

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

This week's News Roundup episode features a discussion of GoPro and Fitbit earnings, how they're similar and how they're different; Bloomberg's reporting on potential Facebook hardware for the home; iPhone details emerging from the HomePod firmware leak; and a discussion of recent numbers on market share and shipments in the smartphone, tablet, and wearables markets. As usual, we spend a few minutes on each topic, with each of us chiming in.

The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.

News stories we covered:

• GoPro and Fitbit earnings:

1. GoPro earnings release: https://investor.gopro.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/GoPro-Announces-Second-Quarter-2017-Results/default.aspx

2. Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/03/gopro-recovery-continues-in-q2-but-still-losing-money-well-off-past-highs/

3. Fitbit earnings release: https://investor.fitbit.com/press/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Fitbit-Reports-353M-in-Revenue-Sells-34M-Devices-in-Q217-Up-14-Sequentially/default.aspx

4. Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/02/fitbit-reports-more-shipment-revenue-declines-losses-in-q2/

• Facebook hardware:

1. Bloomberg report: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-01/facebook-is-said-to-work-on-video-chat-device-in-hardware-push

2. Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/01/★-facebook-reportedly-working-on-video-chat-device-voice-speaker/

• iPhone leaks:

1. Mac Rumors: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/30/homepod-firmware-face-detection/

Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/31/iphone-design-and-feature-details-show-up-in-homepod-firmware/

• Market share numbers:

1. Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/03/tablet-and-wearables-numbers-for-q2-show-rise-of-chinese-vendors/

Jan also mentioned his recent podcast episode on Samsung with Bernard Leong on Analyse Asia – that episode can be found here: https://analyse.asia/2017/08/03/episode-198-samsung-group-2017-jan-dawson/

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).

We're back with another deep dive, this time around our quarterly review of Apple's earnings for the June 2017 quarter, Apple's fiscal Q3. We talk through three sets of things: the numbers announced for the quarter, the guidance offered for next quarter, and additional comments on topics like China, augmented reality, autonomy, and original video content. We dive into the performance of Apple's various business lines, both in terms of what's been happening and what we expect to happen going forward, and quite a bit more.

Here are some links relevant to today's discussion:

• Apple's earnings press release:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/08/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/

• Jan's take for Tech Narratives:

https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/01/★-apple-reports-accelerating-growth-first-ipad-unit-growth-in-four-years/

Jan also mentioned the new Tech Narratives Podcast, which you can find on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/user-500920953), iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-narratives-podcast/id1252808525?mt=2), and Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1252808525/tech-narratives-podcast), and which should be available in many other podcast apps too.

You should also check out the Analyse Asia Podcast run by Bernard Leong. You can find the first of two episodes featuring Jan on SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/analyseasia/episode-197-tech-narratives-with-bat-softbank-in-asia-with-jan-dawson. The podcast is also available on iTunes, in Overcast, and all the usual places. Well worth a listen if you're interested in tech in Asia.

You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).