iPhone 16 Pro Max

One week ago I decided to hold off buying a new iPhone 16 because Apple Intelligence had been delayed and steep price hikes were coming.

Family members encouraged me to go ahead and make the purchase; what if Apple runs out of inventory? (It wasn't a hard push.) On Friday afternoon I went to the Apple Store and charged an iPhone 16 Pro Max to the Apple card.

It may be cognitive dissonance justifying the purchase, but the new phone is much faster than the 6½-year-old XS Max, the battery life is nearly double (after the entire day the charge was still above 50%), and the camera is a vast improvement in low light.

Later Friday afternoon the Administration announced that it was exempting smartphones and other electronics from the new tariffs. The supply of iPhones seems to be assured, but I am glad I made the purchase anyway.

Chased Away

At 10 a.m. yesterday the water pressure in the house dropped to zero. I looked out the window. A couple of utility trucks were in the street.

Presumably the interruption was going to be brief, else the workers would have knocked on the affected homes' doors and informed everyone. One could also infer from the absence of signs that the shut-off was unplanned.

After an hour with no water I walked across the street. The homeowner explained that his plumber had damaged the line to the neighborhood, and the City had to close the valve while contractors fixed the leak. Maybe another hour, he said.

Not wishing to wait around, especially if nature called, we left an hour early for the appointment at the Apple Store to fix an Apple Watch.

Any irritation I felt evaporated. I felt sorry for our neighbor, who may be on the hook for the street repair costs, not to mention a plumbing job gone wrong. I felt grateful to live in a City that could respond so quickly to a utilities emergency. And I appreciated living close to safe shopping malls, work-out clubs, and restaurants where we could pass the hours. When we got back in the afternoon the water was back on, and the men were still working in the street.

San Francisco is only 20 miles north, but it seems much farther away.

Apple Visitors Center

The $5 billion mothership: close but out of reach.

The last occasion to visit Apple's headquarters was during a shareholders' meeting ten years ago.

The office buildings on Infinite Loop were well-appointed low-rises, but not noticeably different from other Silicon Valley companies.

The $5 billion circular headquarters building has been open for five years, and, since we were in Cupertino, it was time to check out the Apple Park Visitor Center.

It took less than 15 minutes to stroll through the main sections.

The rooftop terrace provided a view of the mothership. Movie images (Men in Black, ET, Independence Day, the Day the Earth Stood Still, etc.) of flying saucers are familiar, but being in the presence of something large, tangible, and circular does stimulate an emotion akin to awe. Millions of iPhone sales went into the headquarters construction.

Having just picnicked, we didn't spend much time in the café. Nor did we linger in the exhibit room, which had a scale model of the headquarters, visitor center, and the rest of Apple Park. The exhibit was distinguished by virtual reality technology; pointing an iPad at any section of the model called up an audio-visual presentation. It's quite an advancement over the cassette players that we used to rent for museum tours.

What I found most impressive were the lavatories, which were pristine and high-tech throughout. There was minimal touching of the fixtures. Even the corridors (pictured) had a futuristic-but-sterile feel. The $80 million (per Wikipedia) for the Visitor Center had to be spent somewhere.

At the Apple Store we bought T-shirts and an iPhone 14 Pro with specifications that we couldn't find at the Apple Store near our house. After basking in the ambience of Apple Park we were indeed privileged to spend money (using Apple Pay, of course) at the Apple Visitor Center.

The Day After Christmas

Left: during the week before Christmas the mall wasn't particularly busy. We did our shopping at the Apple Store and exited to the plaza. There was no one within 50 feet of the Christmas tree.

Right: On the day after Christmas the parking lots were filled. This time people milled around the Christmas tree taking selfies. The Apple Store required everyone to make an appointment.

We stopped by to make an exchange. The recipient of an iPad wanted more memory (he paid for the upgrade), and fortunately one was in inventory.

We went to restaurant row and bought a cheesecake. The Christmas task list was finally complete.

Apple Store: All Business and a Lot Less Fun

Apple people standing around, but Apple can afford it.

We made an appointment at the Apple Store to fix a 2-year-old Mac.

A security guard took our temperature and told us to wait outside. A masked Apple employee entered a brief description of our problem into his iPad. When the technician was ready, we were allowed to go inside, 15 minutes after our scheduled meeting. The broken screen will be fixed for $99. The cost would have been over $400 if we had not bought AppleCare.

Customers were escorted in and out efficiently. They picked up their merchandise, got their technical problem handled, and shopped under the watchful eye of an Apple salesperson. There were fewer tables displaying Apple products for "just looking" customers to touch.

It was all business, and a lot less fun than it used to be.

Note: San Mateo is one of the few counties that hasn't been shut down--though it could happen at any time--so there's really no complaining here.

Apple: The Worst is Over

Despite the March plunge, Apple shares are 46.4% up from one year ago.

As a long-time Apple user and investor, your humble blogger has always taken a keen interest in its earnings reports. Today Apple reported quarterly sales and earnings of $53.3 billion and $11.25 billion, respectively. both better than recent forecasts lowered due to the pandemic.[bold added]

Apple’s services and wearables business proved to be the difference maker for the company in the March period, underscoring the value of its strategic shift from selling more devices to selling more services and accessories across those devices. Those businesses, which include App Store sales and AirPods wireless earbuds, surged 18% to $19.63 billion. Meanwhile, sales of the company’s legacy products—the iPhone, iPad and Mac—fell nearly 7% to $38.68 billion.

The 2020 new-iPhone's delays could have been much worse, so today's announcement counted as good news:

Apple is pushing production of this year’s flagship iPhones back by a month, which could delay sales of those devices from September until October or later. It also is cutting production volume for the four new models by about 20% as the coronavirus weakens consumer demand.

Apple's China operations have recovered:

Mr. Cook said that Apple’s operations team and suppliers have returned to work and production reached traditional levels by the end of March.

The information coming from China's government has been untrustworthy, but we do trust Tim Apple.

China has been 2-3 months ahead of the U.S. in battling COVID-19 outbreaks. If the timeline is replicated, we should be underway to recovery in June.

Headline - Bloomberg: Tim Cook Says Austria, Australia Apple Stores to Reopen in 1 to 2 Weeks

Perth Apple Store (Business Insider)

Tim Cook said that the company plans to reopen its retail stores in Austria and Australia beginning in the next one to two weeks.

Apple has one store in Austria and more than 20 in Australia.

Cook...said that he believes that “just a few, not a large number” of stores in the U.S. will re-open in the first half of May.

Got the Pods But Waiting for the Card

I went to the nearby Apple Store to buy a set of AirPods, Apple's wireless earbuds. At $159--the wireless-charger version is $199--they're an indulgence, especially since the new hearing aids perform a similar function.

I mentioned to the Apple salesperson that I was keenly interested in using the Apple Card, the new credit card that Tim Cook announced 11 days ago, to buy Apple products.

Unfortunately--and I hope this isn't a trend---we'll have to wait at least 3 months to get it. (We're used to the new stuff being available within a month after an Apple announcement.)

While the Apple Card will allow users to make purchases anywhere MasterCard is accepted, it’s also quite unlike many other cards available today.

Apple Card doesn’t have late fees, annual fees, international fees, or over-limit fees. And although users will be encouraged to pay their monthly statements, technically, if you want to skip a month, you can. Just be ready to pay extra interest.

I like the price--no annual fees--and better security--no credit card number or CVV imprinted on the surface.

I also like it as an Apple shareholder. [bold added]

[Wedbush analyst Dan] Ives went on to say that Apple’s clear opportunity is “tapping into its 1.4 billion active iOS devices and monetizing the financial vertical.”

BTW, I miss working full-time in the financial world; impressing people with phrases like "monetizing the financial vertical" is what made my day.