michael scrip

AppleInsider said:

Although the company won't post in-depth results until later this month, Samsung said that its Q2 profits are estimated to have grown 17.4 percent year-over-year to 8.1 trillion won ($7 billion), according to Reuters. The company's mobile division is thought to have been the top profit driver.

razormaid said:

Eeek. Looks like a building for some Planned Parenthood or something. Not very pretty is it. I'm guess this one will not be on "the tour" of most beautiful Over the top Apple stores. Looks like somewhere they'd make shoehorns for horses with that sheet metal sign. GRIN 

theothergeoff said:

battiato1981 said:

If that is indeed all that Apple provides, it does seem rather simple, except you have to put a value on the venue itself, which of course is valuable. On one hand, the upcoming system is a step in the right direction of fairness for the consumer (the 15% mark-up for subscribers who come via the app-store), perhaps there can be more descending tiers if that customer is in fact continuously loyal (next year 10%, next year 5%, then done - zeroed out). That would be another improvement. If there was a way for there to be a rebate for the first year on half of that 30%, once you hit the mark, that would be even better. 

This is such a hot button issue and I admit that I hadn't thought much about it before this recent kerfuffle. I don't think that a company with a questionable business model should be rewarded much, especially if it's true that they totally lowball their content providers (i.e. - the musicians), but I think Apple has to stay ahead of the game and not be seen as gouging. 

I still think that if I was in Spotifys shoes I would do what someone said Amazon has done and offer the Kindle app, which when opened informs the new customer that they need an account to use it. The customer goes to their website, signs away their privacy and then returns to the app and logs in. Spotify gets it all, Apple gets nothing. Everyone is happy. 

the spotify content comes from spotify.  Apple also provides
- the DRM to trust the app is truly an unadulterated app from spotify
- The CDN to download the app.
- User notifications that the App has been updated
- A comments and review section for marketing the application

hagar said:

Thanks for pointing me to Joanna Stern's article on iPhone and AI in WSJ. I think she's spot on. The position of Apple on privacy is not a desirable one. If I look at my Android friends that are amazed by the AI delivered to their phone by Google & friends that analyse their data, I can't help but wonder how Apple will ever deliver something similar?  Nobody seems to care that Apple protects their privacy (it's a multinational too!) and Google not. They just want useful information delivered to them when they need it.