“Severance” Pop-Up at Grand Central, Apple’s Genius Marketing, Apple Finally Punches Back
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
“Severance” Pop-Up at Grand Central
Apple’s Genius Marketing
Apple Finally Punches Back
This is a big weekend for Apple TV+ as both the Season 2 premiere of “Severance” and the Season 2 finale of “Silo” are now live. There will be a lot of watch time materializing this weekend. There are several observations worth sharing, including takeaways from some of the best guerrilla marketing Apple has done in a very long time.
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Sonos CEO Fired, Where Sonos Went Wrong, Smart Speaker Intrigue
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Sonos CEO Fired
Where Sonos Went Wrong
Smart Speaker Intrigue
We will shift gears by talking about Sonos. Obviously, we can point to Sonos’ problematic app as a major factor behind the company’s current predicament. We can’t underestimate just how damaging the app fiasco has been on Sonos business results. However, the app saga is a symptom of much larger and deeper issues within Sonos. Today’s discussion also goes over why the premium smart speaker space remains fascinating to me.
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Apple Goes Public With Meta Interoperability Requests, Apple and Interoperability Risk, Zuckerberg’s Master Plan
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Goes Public With Meta Interoperability Requests
Apple and Interoperability Risk
Zuckerberg’s Master Plan
There is backstory to Mark Zuckerberg’s complaints about not having better access to Apple’s ecosystem to help sell products like Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. Today’s update goes over the Digital Markets Act’s interoperability requirements and Apple’s corresponding white paper on the topic. We also go over my view on Zuckerberg’s master plan in going after Apple on interoperability grounds.
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Meta Pivots on Content Moderation, Zuckerberg Talks Apple on Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg Continues to Gaslight
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Meta Pivots on Content Moderation
Zuckerberg Talks Apple on Joe Rogan
Zuckerberg Continues to Gaslight
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg announced that major changes were coming to Meta properties on censorship and content moderation fronts. Today’s discussion begins with my broader stance on the changes. We then shift to Mark Zuckerberg’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan. There is a lot to say about Zuckerberg’s comments about the iPhone and Apple innovation (or lack thereof).
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What Happened to CarPlay 2.0?, Eddy Cue Talks Down Apple Search Engine, Apple Uses Shazam for Predictive Analysis
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
What Happened to CarPlay 2.0?
Eddy Cue Talks Down Apple Search Engine
Apple Uses Shazam for Predictive Analysis
We are going to jump right into today’s update with CarPlay talk. The update will then shift to the latest in the U.S. v. Google search case, concluding with an intriguing new feature from Apple’s Shazam.
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Dell Renames PC Line, Apple News Expansion Planned, Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries Need Work
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Dell Renames PC Line
Apple News Expansion Planned
Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries Need Work
For those of you in the LA area, my hope is that things are going OK as it pertains to the wildfires.
My list of news topics worth covering this week has been created. As usual, we are not going to get to most of the stories. For today, we will start with Dell renaming its PC line. The discussion will then shift over to Apple News, concluding with Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries.
Let's jump right in.
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Looking Ahead at Apple in 2025 (A Financial Perspective)
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following story:
Looking Ahead at Apple in 2025 (A Financial Perspective)
Happy Tuesday. We will continue yesterday’s discussion by looking at Apple’s 2025 from a financial perspective. We will begin to cover some news items tomorrow.
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Looking Ahead at Apple’s 2025
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following story:
Looking Ahead at Apple’s 2025
Hello everyone. It feels good to get back into the swing of things. We will kick off the 10th year of this newsletter with a look ahead at Apple in 2025. There are a few things that have been on my mind. The discussion will likely flow into tomorrow’s update as well.
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Apple Year in Review 2024
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following story:
Apple Year in Review 2024
Happy Thursday. Hello everyone.
Above Avalon Gifts - DEADLINE. The final day to gift an Above Avalon membership is Tuesday (December 24th). The gifting page will be taken down on December 24th at 10 pm EST. While all gifted memberships will officially begin on January 6th, 2025, your gift recipient will be able to use their membership as soon as they are informed of the gift. This means gift recipients will have access to the member archive, and the private podcasts / Inside Orchard if that is their gift, over the holiday break.
If you purchased a one-time gift in 2023 and would like your gift recipient to continue receiving their membership benefits in 2025, a new gifted membership is needed.
A big thank you to those members who purchased gifts this holiday season. Once again, gifted group memberships were especially popular this year. More information on Above Avalon Gifts (and payment forms) is available here.
Turning to today’s update, we will go over my thoughts regarding Apple’s 2024. Our focus won’t be on what Apple should do in 2025 and beyond. We can tackle that topic in the new year.
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Google’s Veo 2 Is a Litmus Test, Blackmagic Debuts Camera for Vision Pro, Apple Sports App Update
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Google’s Veo 2 Is a Litmus Test
Blackmagic Debuts Camera for Vision Pro
Apple Sports App Update
Hello everyone. We begin today’s update with my thoughts on how Google’s Veo 2 is a litmus test. The discussion then turns to good news on the Apple Immersive Video front. We conclude with a quick look at Apple’s Sports app.
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Thinking Through Headset / AR Glasses Competition and Landscape
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following story:
Thinking Through Headset / AR Glasses Competition and Landscape
Hello everyone. Following yesterday's update regarding Google/Samsung partnership news, today’s update will be focused on the competitive landscape facing headsets and AR glasses. There are a number of moving parts. Let's jump right in.
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Google “Unveils” Android XR, Samsung “Unveils” First Mixed Reality Headset, Everyone Is Copying Apple
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Google “Unveils” Android XR
Samsung “Unveils” First Mixed Reality Headset
Everyone Is Copying Apple
For today’s update, we will discuss Android XR and Samsung’s new Android XR headset. The discussion will roll over into tomorrow’s update as well.
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Apple Releases Second Wave of Apple Intelligence, My Initial Thoughts on Visual Intelligence, Image Playground Beats Expectations
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Releases Second Wave of Apple Intelligence
My Initial Thoughts on Visual Intelligence
Image Playground Beats Expectations
With iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 now out, the second wave of Apple Intelligence features has gone live for the U.S. and localized English for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK.
For many Apple users with supported hardware, this second wave will be the one that truly showcases Apple Intelligence. While Writing Tools and things like notification summaries may have their audiences, this second release phase includes Image Playground, Genmoji, Image Wand, visual intelligence, and ChatGPT integration, among other features.
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Spotify 3Q24 Earnings, Disney 4Q24 Earnings
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Spotify 3Q24 Earnings
Disney 4Q24 Earnings
Hello everyone. Today’s update will take us to streaming land as we circle back to earnings from Spotify and Disney. The two companies reported earnings within the past month.
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Apple Places Retail Bet on Saudi Arabia, Vision Pro Wins Innovation of the Year Award, Vision Pro and Watching “TV”
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Places Retail Bet on Saudi Arabia
Vision Pro Wins Innovation of the Year Award
Vision Pro and Watching “TV”
Happy Tuesday. Information regarding Above Avalon Gifts 2024 has been posted to AboveAvalon.com at this page. Thank you to those of you who have already purchased a gift or reached out for more information.
We begin today’s update with news that Apple will bring its direct retail apparatus to Saudi Arabia. The discussion goes over the various implications associated with the move. We then turn to Apple Vision Pro, which Popular Science just named as the innovation of the year. The update concludes with a closer look at how Apple Vision Pro stands to change “TV” watching.
Let's jump into today's update.
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