After crashing late last year, Apple stock has had a massive resurgence this year. Its next milestone to hit? Being on track to flash a so-called “golden cross” technical pattern.
This indicates the potential for a major rally. It takes place when a stock’s short-term moving average crosses above its long-term moving average. Golden crosses have recently appeared for Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google parent company Alphabet.
Apple Stores have long been leaders when it comes to the customer experience. But that’s starting to change, as decisions made by Apple erode some of the things which once made them great.
At least, that’s according to a new article from Bloomberg, which singles out a few key examples.
Apple’s former retail boss Angela Ahrendts was one of Apple’s most well-compensated executives during her time at the company. But in her first interview since parting ways with Apple, Ahrendts reveals how worried she was initially about joining.
“I was, on my own accord, incredibly insecure,” she told LinkedIn’s Hello Monday podcast. “I’m 54 years old, and it’s Apple, for God’s sake! I don’t speak that language. I am not a left-brain engineer operator. I mean, I could talk myself out of it forever.”
If you’ve ever dreamed of being able to add a GIF into your Twitter retweet (and what self-respecting citizen of 2019 has not?), this is your lucky day!
Twitter has introduced the ability for users to retweet a message with an accompanying GIF, photo or video. “People come to Twitter to share their thoughts on interests, events, and news, and we wanted to give them more ways to express themselves,” the company said. “Also, you asked for this!”
Apple has booted three dating apps out of the App Store on the advice of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The three apps, all created by the same developer, allowed kids to sign up under the age of 13.
Several people reportedly face criminals charges for contacting kids through the apps.
Mega-investor Warren Buffett says that Apple’s most recent earnings confirm “the reason [my firms owns] $50 billion-plus of Apple.”
Speaking on CNBC, the Berkshire Hathaway investor said that, “I was pleased with what they reported.”
Update: Beats’ new wireless Powerbeats Pro earbuds are now available for pre-order, ahead of going on sale May 10.
The earbuds are available in black to begin with. Ivory, moss, and navy color options will follow some time this summer.
Tech lobbyists, backed by companies including Apple, have killed another Right to Repair bill, this time in Ontario.
The bill, put forward by Liberal MPP Michael Coteau, would have compelled companies to provide businesses and consumers with spare parts and repair manuals. It failed in its vote on Thursday after lobbying efforts.
Adobe is apparently cranking up the prices for its Photography bundle of applications. But don’t worry: it’s only increasing by 100%.
Adobe’s website is now listing $19.99, rather than its previous $9.99, for the monthly subscription cost for Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, and Lightroom Classic. The company claims that it is testing out new pricing options.
General Magic, a movie about the most important tech company you never heard of, is getting a theatrical run.
The documentary tells the story of a ’90s startup created by (and employing) some of the greatest minds at Apple. These included Mac veterans as well as future employees such as Tony “father of the iPod” Fadell. General Magic became a big hit at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and is now headed to theaters.
Google brought its wireless phone service, Google Fi, to iPhone late last year. Now it’s given it an update — bringing Visual Voicemail to the iOS app for the first time.
That means that you can get information on the caller, call date, call length and preview of the transcribed message inside the app. This interface easily allows you to expand the preview to read the full message or hear the audio.
California-based Super Micro Computer is moving server production out of China. The company was last year at the center of a damaging story from Bloomberg.
The article alleged that spy chips had been placed into server motherboards, including those used by Apple, manufactured by Super Micro. Despite the story appearing to be highly dubious, it seems Super Micro is still having to take action.
Apple is pressuring a German cycle path over its logo, which Apple claims is too close to its own iconic logo.
The Apfelroute logo was intended for a cycling path in the Rhine-Voreifel region of Germany. It is scheduled to open on May 19. The logo has already been slapped on uniforms, bike racks, maps and banners by tourism company Rhine-Voreifel Tourism.
One of the parental control apps removed from the App Store has hit out at Apple’s “misleading comments.”
A New York Times report initially claimed that Apple had removed apps offering similar features to its own Screen Time tool. Apple then issued its own statement, saying that it removed them due to privacy and security risks.
But the makers of OurPact says it’s not that simple.
Yesterday, numerous news outlets (including ourselves, based on data from Yahoo Finance) reported that Apple had reclaimed its $1 trillion crown.
However, a filing made late Wednesday reveals that Apple has not actually hit that milestone just yet. A company’s market cap is calculated by multiplying a company’s outstanding shares by the market price of one share. As a result of Apple’s continuing share buyback program, there are fewer outstanding shares available.
Right to Repair legislation in Apple’s home state of California has been successfully pushed back to at least January 2020. After intervention by an Apple lobbyist, the co-sponsor of the bill pulled it from committee on Tuesday.
“While this was not an easy decision, it became clear that the bill would not have the support it needed today, and manufacturers had sown enough doubt with vague and unbacked claims of privacy and security concerns,” said California Assembly member Susan Talamantes Eggman.
Foxconn CEO Terry Gou visited President Donald Trump at the White House yesterday. Foxconn, which was founded by Gou, is one of Apple’s biggest manufacturers.
Gou discussed his plans to run for office in Taiwan, where he hopes to become president in next year’s elections. He assured Trump that he would be a friendly partner of the U.S. if elected. “If I am elected, I would be seeking to go to Washington,” he reportedly told the U.S. President.
Apple has won back its hard-fought $1 trillion market cap, after share prices rose following yesterday’s earnings triumph.
AAPL is currently trading at $213.20, giving it a market cap of just over $1 trillion. Shares rose 6% in early morning trading. This is a particularly triumphant moment for Apple after its stock price temporarily tanked at the end of last year.
When it comes to lobbying Congress, Apple’s biggest focus by far is on tax laws. Out of 236 lobbying reports since 2005, tax is mentioned in a massive 76%.
This is one takeaway from a new report, analyzing lobbying spend from the big five tech giants, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. Between them, they have spent $582 million on lobbying since 2005. According to the report, Apple spent $9.6 million on lobbying last year, and $59.9 million since 2005.
Shortly after going live in Austria, Apple Pay is also set to commence operations in the Netherlands.
The information was shared by Dutch bank ING on its website. While it doesn’t give an exact date, it does note that Apple Pay is coming “soon.” That suggests that all the necessary negotiations have been completed, and it’s just a matter of flicking the switch to send it live.
As we noted earlier this month, one of Apple’s earliest tablets is now officially classified “obsolete” by the company.
Apple’s iPad 2, released in 2011, packed a dual-core A5 processor, thinner form factor, and VGA front-facing and 720p rear-facing cameras. However, what was state-of-the-art almost a decade is ago is now considered so old that Apple Stores will no longer service it.
An Apple representative reportedly met with California legislators in an effort to kill a law that would make it easier for people to repair their own smartphones.
With initiatives like its battery replacement program, Apple helped extend the life of million of iPhones. But moves like this won’t please “right to repair” advocates.
Another Apple industrial designer is leaving Jony Ive’s iconic design team. Miklu Silvanto, who joined Apple in October 2011, is joining Airbnb’s new offshoot design studio Samara.
In his new role, Silvanto will help design future house prototypes. Samara has hired a number of experts in disciplines ranging from industrial design to roboticists and urban planners.
Samsung has reported its weakest profits in two years as first quarter earnings suffered from weak smartphone and memory chip sales.
While Samsung said that it expects things will be get better in the second half of the year, the immediate outlook isn’t great. Samsung posted operating profits of $5.4 billion for the quarter, its smallest since late 2016. By comparison, this quarter last year raked in $13.4 billion.
Departing Foxconn chairman Terry Gou is reportedly heading to the U.S. where he will have a meeting at the White House. The subject of the meeting will be Foxconn’s plans to open a factory in Wisconsin.
Foxconn maintains that it’s working hard to deliver the factory it received $4 billion in tax breaks for. However, behind-the-scenes dealings suggest that the company may be trying to renegotiate terms.