This week on The CultCast: Why Apple’s done pursuing the “new hit product business.” Plus: The demise of Pebble Watch is a bad omen for wearables; Foxconn secretly prepares to make more Apple products in the United States; and we remember our favorite movies of 2016!
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CultCast #261 – Apple’s next big thing? — Subscribe on iTunes
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This week’s topics
Apple stops swinging for the fences
- Apple analyst Horrace Dediu says Apple’s cultural identity is undergoing a dramatic shift.
- Instead of being in the “new hit product business,” Dediu says Apple is trying to become a “services and recurring-revenue business.”
- Dediu argues that constantly trying for home runs has been demoralizing for employees, so Apple CEO Tim Cook is moving away from that attitude.
- Will Apple ever have another “iPhone”?
Apple Pay is now accepted by 35% of U.S. retailers
- Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay, says 35 percent of U.S. merchants now accept Apple Pay.
- Bailey says the new EMV chip cards are annoying customers and have helped drive adoption.
- New chip cards are the worst!!
Fitbit buys software assets from smartwatch startup Pebble
- Bloomberg has reported that Fitbit is buying out Pebble.
- Pebble watch hardware is dead, with support ending sometime in the future.
- All pending orders will be canceled and refunded.
- Tim Cook says Apple Watch sales are “off the charts,” but sales of Apple Watch fell more than 70 percent in Q3, according to IDC Research.