imat

Mike Wuerthele said:

1) There won't be a wide US rollout in 2020, or even 2021. Most major metros won't even see any 5G until 2021, much less the rest of the country.
2) There are still 5G "standards" to shake out, as well as implementation details, because once again, we've got battling ideas from the carriers on what is best.

Yes. But in the EU it will be different. And it is a bunch of quite affluent markets. Moreover, the 2 cycle of iPhone X purchasers will be complete, so that group of customers will see their contract open up for renewal and subsidies (quite common in Europe) and will most certainly be on the lookout for a new smartphone.

( Excerpt from the 5G Europe Action plan:)

• Align roadmaps and priorities for a coordinated 5G deployment across all EU Member states, targeting early network introduction by 2018, and moving towards commercial large scale introduction by the end of 2020 at the latest.
• Make provisional spectrum bands available for 5G ahead of the 2019 World Radio Communication Conference (WRC-19), to be complemented by additional bands as quickly as possible, and work towards a recommended approach for the authorisation of the specific 5G spectrum bands above 6GHz.
• Promote early deployment in major urban areas and along major transport paths.
• Promote pan-European multi-stakeholder trials as catalysts to turn technological innovation into full business solutions.
• Facilitate the implementation of an industry-led venture fund in support of 5G-based innovation.
• Unite leading actors in working towards the promotion of global standards.

The countries where the most affluent customers live, and the cities within these countries, will almost certainly have full functional 5 G networks. I think it is a missed opportunity not to deliver in 2019. I think the iPhone XS 2 will have 5G, whereas the iPhone Xr 2 will not. But Apple needs to provide the choice for the markets where customers are willing to pay a premium for its smartphones, because these will be the countries where 5G will almost certainly be available. Moreover 5G offers many advantages besides speed (low latency being one) so the difference in "speed" of a smartphone will be noticeable (from Netflix, ti iCloud, to many other things). 5G also has the promise to allow "sim-less" devices on a greater number of carriers, which seems something Apple is very interested in.

Still no sight of iMac Pro, HomePod, new cinema displays, new Mac Pro.

I hope with Ive back as chief industrial design things get a true speed bump. Because it seems to take ages for every product nowadays...

Time to move here in Switzerland. Lower taxes, no EU problems. Yes, life and salaries are expensive. But not 14 Billions expensive.

What appears to be evident from this debate is the following: There are so many "examples" being made for why encryption should be weakened that, if Apple is ordered to follow the FBI's "diktat" on the San Bernardino case, there's a whole line of other agencies that will make the same request on a million other cases. At first, each and everyone will be "outmost important" until, as the procedure becomes "standard" and the public awareness weakens, privacy will only be a dream. The govt, or it's branches, will have unlimited access to each and every phone. Even for "monitoring" purposes and not only when the crime has already happened. I feel reassured that Apple is taking a strong stance from the beginning and exposes the govt, or at least some of its agencies, for what it is. A bunch of bureaucrats who only seek the "easiest" way possible to do the job they are supposed to do.

And I am not referring in particular to the San Bernardino case, which could have it's merits. But the agencies know once, as well as Apple, that once the door is opened, there's no way back.
A government that dreams about, and already exerted (NSA anyone?), TOTAL AND GLOBAL control of it's citizens and citizens and politicians of other countries smells so strongly "dictatorship" that I fear for the future of the US. And, as a consequence, of us all.