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Apple is more than just the iPhone manufacturer. This $2 trillion company's decisions impact many facets of technology, financials, and everyday life. When the company is rumored to be getting into something new, the entire world pays attention. And since 1997, AppleInsider has been covering this fascinating electronics maker from every possible angle. From details of the next-generation iPhone and MacBook to key indicators expected to drive the company’s stock price, AppleInsider Daily has you completely covered on a daily basis.
Welcome to the AppleInsider Daily podcast for Wednesday, February 21st, 20-24. I'm Charles Martin, and we begin today with ... Sportsball!
It’s not every day that Apple announces an all-new official app for iOS, but on Wednesday the company released Apple Sports, a one-stop shop for sport enthusiasts of all sorts that of course incorporates the Live Activities sport updates that fans have come to really love. The app also displays real-time scores and stats for Major League Soccer, the NBA, NCAA basketball (men’s and women’s), the NHL, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Liga MX, Ligue 1, Premier League, and Serie A, all of which are currently in season.
As other sports begin their seasons, they will be added to the app, including Major League Baseball, the NLF, NCAAF, SWSL, and the WNBA. Users can pick favourite leagues and teams as well. The app requires an iPhone running iOS 17.2 or later.
But wait, there’s more! Apple has also revealed that Major League Soccer Season Pass users can also watch on their Apple Vision Pro, if they have one, and that the headset owners will soon be getting a 3D immersive film featuring the highlights of 2023’s championship games. As mentioned previously, the MLS Season Pass gives fans access to all the games, without any local blackouts.
There is also an Environment in Apple Vision Pro available that augments the video, to make the screen seem up to 100 feet wide, and of course the games include Spatial Audio. The 2023 championship highlights film, which Apple refers to as Apple Immersive Video but the rest of us call 3D, was shot in 8K resolution with a 180-degree field of view, but there’s no word just yet on when that will be available.
In other Apple News, it’s argument day with the EU over Apple’s new App Store plans in order to comply with the rather vague regulations the European Commission put forth. Microsoft is arguing that Apple has made it difficult to actually create a meaningful alternative to the existing App Store, to which we say “well duh,” but had to admit that Apple’s plans fall within current regulations.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the new Apple rules for alternative stores as “onerous” and said he would be surprised if any developer chose to go into the alternative app stores. Apple has said that it crafted these rules after months of conversation with the Commission, and the rules are based on the work of hundreds of Apple team members who spent tens of thousands of hours checking that everything Apple requires is in compliance with the Digital Markets Act and yet continue the company’s mission to protect user security.
Apple issued a statement that stated that its goals are to comply with the law and to reduce the inevitable increased risks to privacy and security that the DMA creates, and said that it worked closely with the European Commission to both ensure its proposals would comply with the law, and to create more than 600 new APIs and developer tools to assist developers in creating alternative app stores and apps that comply with both EU and Apple mandates.
The company also noted, bluntly, that the EU regulations create new risks and threats to EU users, and that the Digital Markets Act will, in the company’s opinion, result in a less secure system for EU users compared to the rest of the world because of the possibility of less screening of apps in alternative stores, and the desire of many developers to collect and sell more personal information in apps and services than Apple allows on its own stores.
We can expect perennial entitled whiners Epic Games and Spotify to also file complaints, but thus far none of the companies have been able to point to any part of the proposed Apple requirements that is actually in violation of the EC’s rules. Spotify says in fact that it will use the EU rules to offer subscriptions directly within the app, exactly the sort of action the EU was hoping its regulations would make easier.
Epic has opted to just file a court case in the EU, as it has in the US, claiming Apple has failed to comply with its own rules in both regions. The new rules will come into force on March 7th, and Apple will be releasing iOS and iPadOS 17.4 at some point on or before then in order to be in compliance.
Yesterday, we noted that Apple had beat out Samsung in EU smartphones sold during the holiday quarter of 2023. Now, Counterpoint Research has released its annual chart, showing that Apple and Samsung now have a combined market share of 20 percent of worldwide sales.
Furthermore, Apple’s iPhone took the top seven out best-selling smartphones worldwide, leaving Samsung’s Galaxy A14 5G, A04e, and A14 4G to round out the top 10. The iPhone 14, Pro and Pro Max took the top three spots, with the iPhone 13 in fourth place, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, 15 Pro, and regular 15 in fifth, sixth, and seventh place. Importantly, the iPhone was also the best-selling smartphone in China last year, despite growth from various Chinese rival brands.
For our UK listeners, keep an eye out for funny looking cars, vans, and backpack-clad pedestrians with all kinds of antenna and LiDAR gear on their roofs. No, it’s not the old-fashioned TV detector vans, it’s Apple’s GPS and ground truth teams touring the kingdom to update its general mapping, navigation, Look Around views and walking details.
Last year, the team updated big cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester, but this time they are all over England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Currently they are moving through six English counties, and scheduled to complete England by October 17th.
Wales is being re-surveyed from April 17th to May 21st, Northern Ireland will be covered from June 1st to July 4th, and Scotland will be surveyed from June 8th to July 10th. Sadly, no Apple Maps updating is currently scheduled for the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, and Gilbraltar, at least for this year.
Finally for today, getting ahead of the threats. Apple, on its Security Research Blog, announced that it would be overhauling the security of iMessage by introducing a new messaging protocol to thwart any attacks from quantum-based computers, which aren’t expected to become a feasible threat for years. Security features like Contact Key Verification keep users secure from cracking threats now, but quantum computing is particularly good at tackling such mathematical or algorithm-based security and finding solutions in far less time than is possible with available computing equipment presently.
Apple’s response is to introduce a new cryptographic protocol to iMessage called PQ3, because some hackers may be holding on to encrypted data they can’t access now in hopes of being able to decrypt it in the foreseeable future. As part of an infographic meant to illustrate the tiers of protection or lack thereof, Apple points out that messaging apps QQ, Skype, Telegram and WeChat currently have no end-to-end encryption at all.
Level 1 security is end-to-end encryption, which Line, Viber, and WhatsApp offer now. Another messaging app, Signal, uses Level 2 Post-Quantum security, with a “conversation key” for every secure conversation, but iMessage will move to level 3 Post-Quantum Cryptography by adding ongoing PQC rekeying. Eventually, the company expects to add PQC authentication, likely using biometrics, to its new system.
The Level 3 protection will be included as part of iOS 17.4, which is expected to roll out in early March. Users will not have to do anything different than they are doing now; the PQC rekeying mechanism will work entirely in the background.
You can hear more news and analysis from AppleInsider on the WEEKLY AppleInsider podcast that’s out every Friday, as well as our HomeKitInsider podcast that's out every Monday -- links to both shows are in the notes for this one.
If you would like to support the AppleInsider Daily podcast, we are now accepting sponsorships. Contact information can be found in the show notes.
I've been Charles Martin, and THIS has been the AppleInsider Daily podcast for Wednesday, February 21st, 20-24. Thank you for listening.