Even though Apple didn’t announce new iPhones yesterday, the event was a jam-packed hour. Apple announced four new hardware products, a major new service, and a new bundle. By any objective standard, that’s a big day. As I’ll note below, the most important products might not be the hardware, but Fitness Plus and the ability to make an Apple Watch a kid tracker.
Besides those announcements, the main thing that struck me is that Apple seems to be making a subtle but important shift in its product strategy this year. You may have heard of the “Good, Better, Best” pricing strategy — it’s beenapplied to Apple a bunch. I think what Apple is doing this year is making the “better” option …better — and also a little more expensive. It’s the “better better” model.
The old among us have Steve Jobs’ famous Mac product grid indelibly marked in our concept of how Apple approaches products. On one axis was “Consumer vs Pro” and the other was “Desktop vs Portable.”
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But it’s not really applicable anymore on either axis and it certainly doesn’t work for the many kinds of products Apple makes now. There simply are more tiers than just “consumer” and “pro” for most product categories. Plus, in Apple world, the word “pro” itself doesn’t really mean “for professionals” so much as “the best thing” these days.
Take the Apple Watch announcements. Apple announced both a flagship Series 6 line of watches and a lower-cost SE line. At first, I thought of the Apple Watch SE as parallel to the iPhone SE. So it seemed to me that the trend is Apple needing to make more inexpensive products that are technically new because it’s harder to get consumers to buy last year’s model. But after some thought, I think that’s not quite right.
The Good, Better, Best cadence for the Apple Watch just happens to go by different names compared to the iPhone. The SE naming scheme just threw me. Here’s how I think it goes:
Good: Apple Watch Series 3 / iPhone SE
Better: Apple Watch SE / iPhone 11
Best: Apple Watch Series 6 / iPhone 11 Pro
The “good” option at the bottom of the lineup actually serves two purposes. It’s a killer deal and makes Apple’s products more accessible. But it also makes space for the better option to be more advanced and pricier. Last year, Apple likely sold a kajillion Series 3 watches at its low price — this year it has a very clear upsell in the SE.
I think Apple’s not too worried about the iPad Air cannibalizing the iPad Pro — it’s still selling you an iPad, after all, and it’s surely making a good margin because that’s what Apple does. In fact, I suspect “margin” is often the answer as to why the better option is missing a feature the best option has. The Apple Watch SE is a Series 6 with less expensive components too: no blood oxygen monitor, always-on display, or the newest chip.
Put another way, all I’m talking about here is upselling. The quality of the “good” option gets you in the (now metaphorical) door and the upsell to the better option is sitting right there. Apple’s trick is to make that upsell a variant of its best thing instead of an improved version of the good thing. The Apple Watch SE is based on the Series 6. The iPhone 11 is closer to the 11 Pro than to the iPhone SE. And the iPad Air is now more like an iPad Pro than a basic iPad.
Like any model, this idea can break down with too much rhetorical pressure. I don’t know how it applies to the MacBook lineup, for example, but that lineup is in such flux right now with the impending Arm chips that I think it gets a pass. To me, this model is what Apple is striving for, but depending on where any given product line is at the moment it might be difficult to achieve.
Every time Apple releases a new product in a line, there’s always some variant of the question “Why does this need to exist when it’s so similar to that other thing?” I was asking it myself with the iPad Air and the Apple Watch SE yesterday. And now I think the answer is to make sure the “better” one is better — and it doesn’t hurt Apple if that means it’s just a little more expensive too.
┏ Family Setup will let you manage multiple Apple Watches from a single iPhone. I think this low-key might be the most important thing Apple announced yesterday. You’ll have to pay a carrier a monthly fee for it to work, but I have to imagine that anybody looking at those kid tracker watches is going to think twice about getting an Apple Watch instead — especially if there ends up being kid peer pressure about it!
A couple notes I learned in briefings with Apple: the kids get notified of certain kinds of parental surveillance (like geofences) and can approve or deny sharing of certain health stats. Also for kids: the move ring tracks overall activity time, not estimated calories. Ostensibly this is because it just makes more sense to track how active a kid is, but I am also glad because it’s probably not good for kids to be thinking about caloric intake.
My very informal poll of my Twitter followers has a lot of replies from parents who are paying attention and thinking about this new feature. It also reveals a surprising number of parents who want to implant chips directly into their kids’ skulls.
┏ Apple’s new Watch strap comes in 12 sizes, and you’ll need to measure your wrist to pick the right one. I saw a brief demo over video conference of these straps and they do stretch out quite far to fit over your hand before shrinking back to their original shape on your wrist. But this whole system for measuring your own wrist via a printout is really awkward. Not that I think there’s a better solution, but an uncomfortable watch is the worst and I worry people will get the wrong size and then just live with it.
There’s one extra complication, though. The largest three Loop sizes aren’t compatible with a 40mm Watch, while the three smallest sizes won’t work with a 44mm Watch. That means, for example, if you wanted the smaller Watch but have a large wrist, you might not be able to get one of the new Loop bands that fits you.
Services: Apple One and Fitness Plus
┏ Apple announces Fitness Plus virtual workouts. They’re not live like Peloton, but there is going to be new content weekly across a variety of different workout styles. An Apple Watch is required, though, which is maybe just a little disappointing.
┏ Apple confirms Apple One subscription bundle, bringing together Music, TV Plus, Arcade, and more. So there are three tiers, which feels like too many tiers. But okay, Apple has to charge more for a family plan than an individual plan because music labels charge more for that, I’m told. And both Fitness Plus and Apple News Plus aren’t available in all regions (Fitness Plus is only in six countries to start). Put those together and it kind of backs Apple into three tiers.
But I still feel like there’s a bit a confusion here, honestly. My own personal calculus is that the 200GB iCloud storage plan isn’t enough anymore. So I’m in for ten bucks a month for 2TB. Add in another Apple service like TV+ or Music and I’m creeping on $20 or $25 a month. So you start trying to do some math on what you want and don’t and eventually you just kind of land at it screw it, I’ll just get the one with everything for the whole family — and if you are a whole family it’s a good deal!
Still feels like upselling to me, just a little. And my regular reminder is that whenever you see a monthly price, you should do the mental math to see what it costs per year. That’s a scale that makes it easer to compare to other purchases or — you know — saving your damn money. So the Apple One Premier tier is $29.95/month or about $360 per year.
Finally — will Apple start offering bundles with hardware subsidies attached? In some ways it makes sense! In others, though, there are so many models of iPhone it’s hard to know which would get attached at what price.
┏ Apple says its new Apple One services bundle isn’t unfair to Spotify. Award for weirdest statement of the day goes to Spotify, who wanted to butt in and point out that Apple’s services bundle puts it at a disadvantage. In a well-crafted statement, Spotify could have made that case — but it chose more anger than clarity.
What’s interesting to me is that Apple felt the need to respond with a public statement. I think if there weren’t so much heat around antitrust right now, Apple wouldn’t have bothered.
┏ Apple announces new iPad Air that looks more like an iPad Pro, starting at $599. The processor in it is newer than what’s in the iPad Pro, but the iPad Pro has more cores and a stronger GPU. And as for the switch to USB-C? It tells me that there’s no religion about ports at Apple. But I also don’t expect the iPhone 12 will switch over to USB-C.
Which I think is a pity, but I understand Apple’s calculus that it would be disruptive to a large user base. Then again, being willing to disrupt a user base in the name of moving tech forward is something Apple used to be unafraid of — literally it was called “courage” to drop the headphone jack.
┏ Apple will release iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 on September 16th. The drama is that developers have historically had a little more advance notice of these releases. It means that a bunch of devs who worked to create iOS 14-specific features or updates won’t be able to publicize them on day one of the update.
┏ Apple has sold more than 500 million iPads over the last decade. Apple made a big deal of the fact that more than 50 percent of all iPad buyers are first-time iPad buyers. It wants to make the case that the iPad has room to grow and the ability to encroach on the PC and Chromebook market. It specifically called out how both new iPads were faster. Though I have to say Apple touting benchmarks like this rings hollow to me — it should win on experience and software ecosystem. Chromebooks aren’t popular in schools because they’re fast, they’re popular because they’re inexpensive, convenient, and relatively easy to manage.
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Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.
The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.
Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.
The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.
Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.
On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.
The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.
More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.
Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:
You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!
Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.
Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.
There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.
Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.
Successful people tend to be secretive.
Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.
Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.
Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.
TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.
Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.
The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.
The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.
The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.
Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.
“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.
The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.
“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”
The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.
However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.
That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.
“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.
“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”
The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.
About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.
“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.
Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.
In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.
The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”
“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.
“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”
Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.
Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.
In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.
The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.
Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.
“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.
“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.
Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.
Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.
“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.
“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”
Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.
As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.
But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.
Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.
The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
