Apple 2023 fiscal first quarter -- the iPhone and iPad angle

A few days ago, Apple released the results for its 2023 fiscal first quarter (which ran from September 25, 2022, to December 31, 2022, and did not actually include any days from calendar year 2023) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. This is typically Apple's best quarter of the year because it includes holiday sales.  One year ago, it was the best quarter in the history of the company, with an all-time revenue record of $123.9 billion.  This  year, it was the second best quarter in the history of the company, with revenue of $117.2 billion. 

Most of us would be happy to report over $100 billion in revenue in a quarter, and most of us would be happy to report a second best quarter ever.  But for most of the time since the iPhone came around, Apple's fiscal first quarters have been better every year.  Why not this year?  Apple identified three reasons.  First, Apple pointed to "foreign exchange headwinds."  In countries like China, Apple sold more this year than last year.  But because of the strength of the U.S. Dollar, when China sales are converted to U.S. currency, the revenue from China was actually down compared to last year.  Second, Apple pointed to COVID shutdowns at the factory (also in China) that made the iPhones.  And third, Apple pointed to the overall macroeconomic conditions: inflation, war in Eastern Europe, the pandemic, and other issues that cause people around the world to spend less money now than they used to.  As you can see, Apple's overall message was that Apple itself is doing a great job making wonderful products that people want to buy, but external factors softened the overall revenue.  I think Apple makes some good points, but others will see doom-and-gloom because it wasn't the best quarter ever.

As always, I'm not all that interested in the financial details.  What interests me is that this is one of four times a year when Apple answers questions from a bunch of analysts, so I'm always curious to see what Apple has to say about the iPhone and iPad and related technologies.  If you want to get all of the nitty-gritty details, you can listen to the audio from the announcement conference call on the Apple website, or you can read a transcript of the call prepared by Jason Snell of Six Colors.  Snell also created a number of useful charts that put Apple's financial announcements in perspective over time.  Apple's official press release is here.  Here are the items that stood out to me.

iPhone

• iPhone revenue was $65.8 billion.  That is down from $71.6 billion a year ago, but it is still the second-best iPhone quarter ever, up just slightly from $65.6 billion two years ago.
• Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that the installed base of active iPhones is at an all-time high across all geographic segments.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the shutdown of factors in China due to COVID significantly impacted the supply of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, and this lasted through most of December.  We all saw how difficult it was to get a high-end iPhone if you wanted one in your hands by Christmas or Hanukah.  Fortunately, Apple has gotten past that.  Right now, you can order an iPhone 14 Pro and—in many big cities—have it in your hands only two hours later.
• Cook mentioned the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature that is available with all iPhone 14 models, noting that "it is incredibly heartening to get emails from people describing the life-saving impact our new safety features have had on them."
• Cook said that many people "are willing to really stretch to get the best" smartphone they can afford because it is so "integral into people’s lives."  "It contains their contacts and their health information and their banking information and their smart home and so many different parts of their lives, it's the payment vehicle for many people."  I interpreted that statement as an explanation of why the Pro models of the iPhone are so popular, but Mark Gurman of Bloomberg speculates that Cook could be signaling that Apple has plans for an even higher priced iPhone model in the future—an iPhone Ultra?—to sell an even more expensive iPhone to those willing to pay more.

iPad

• For much of Apple, last quarter was about getting the silver medal, but for the iPad, this was the gold medal quarter, the best iPad quarter of all time.  iPad revenue grew 30% to $9.4 billion.
• Maestri provided two reasons for the great iPad quarter.  First, this time last year, Apple experienced significant supply constraints, while this year they had enough supply to meet demand.  Second, there was a lot of interest in the new iPad and iPad Pro models introduced last quarter.
• Apple no longer reveals the specific number of iPads sold or in use, but Maestri did say that the iPad installed base reached a new all-time high.

Other

• If you are old enough to remember the iPod, you may also remember people talking bout the "iPod halo effect," the idea that once a customer bought an iPod and loved it, they would have more interest in buying other Apple products like a Mac computer.  More recently, Apple has been talking about the number of active devices.  If you own an iPhone and then replace it with another iPhone, that doesn't add to the total number of active devices (unless you give your old iPhone to someone else).  But as people who already own one or more Apple products buy even more Apple products, and as other people buy their first Apple product, Apple's potential future growth increases.  Folks with even more Apple products are even more a part of the Apple ecosystem and more likely to purchase services from Apple such as Apple TV+ or Fitness+.  And of course, customers buying their first Apple product have the potential to spend even more money on Apple products and services in the future.  Cook was proud to mention the number of active devices when he spoke to analysts a few days ago because he announced a new milestone: two billion active devices.  It was only seven years ago that Apple announced that it had one billion active devices.  Apple was founded on April 1, 1976, so it took Apple almost 40 years to sell the first billion devices, but only 7 years to sell the second billion devices.  You can do the math and see that this paints a picture of a bright future for Apple.
• Apple saw $20.8 billion in revenue from services in this past quarter, the highest ever.  This included records in many services categories including cloud services, payment services, and music.
• After Steve Jobs died in 2011 and Tim Cook took over the company, one of the changes instituted by Cook was a Giving program.  Cook announced that during those 11 years, more than $880 million was donated to humanitarian efforts, disaster relief, childhood education, and more.
• When asked about Artificial Intelligence, Cook said that it is a "major focus" of Apple because of the ways that "it can enrich customers' lives."  He said that "you can look no further than some of the things that we announced in the Fall with crash detection and fall detection or back a ways with ECG.  I mean, these things have literally saved people's lives.  And so we see an enormous potential in this space to affect virtually everything we do.  It's obviously a horizontal technology, not a vertical, and so it will affect every product and every service that we have."

       

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Podcast episode 86: Don’t Let Beeping Dogs Lie

The new HomePod from Apple is now available, so Brett Burney and I begin this episode by digging deep into the reviews on this new/old product.  We also talk about the pros and cons of security camera, note taking apps, AirTags on planes and poodles, the latest rescue thanks to the iPhone 14's satellite SOS feature, and the Motif app. 

In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses why you might want to install additional (and free!) fonts on your iPad and an easy way to do so.  I discuss some of the settings in the Home app that you might not know about, including the ability to let your family members see only the live stream from a HomeKit security camera or also recordings.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just use your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

       

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GoodNotes adds audio recordings

If you have an iPad and an Apple Pencil, GoodNotes is a fantastic app for taking digital notes.  I use it extensively in my law practice.  I also use it frequently when my kids ask for help with homework or studying for a test; one of us can work out a problem on the iPad while sharing the screen to an Apple TV, and the other person can follow along on the big screen.  One feature that has long existed in other note taking apps (such as Notability) but not in GoodNotes was the ability to record as you take notes.  That feature was added recently, and it works well.

To begin a recording, just tap the microphone icon at the top left of the screen and start taking notes.  Press stop when you are done recording.

When a notebook has audio notes, a waveform icon appears next to the microphone icon. 

If you want to listen to the recorded audio as you review your notes, you can tap that waveform icon to play the recording.  On the screen, you will see a dimmed version of the notes you took, and each part will change from a dimmed version into the normal version as the audio progresses to show you the notes you were taking while that audio was recorded.

Alternatively, if you are having trouble reading or understanding your notes, you can long-press on a word to play back the audio that was recorded at the time that you wrote the note. 

Click here for more information on this new feature from the app developer.

As an attorney, I rarely find myself in a situation in which I would want an audio recording associated with my notes.  My thought has been that the existence of a recording it likely causes more trouble than it solves.  For example, I wouldn't want a portion of a recording of a witness to be used out of context by my opponent.  And I certainly wouldn't want audio recordings of attorney-client privileged meetings or work product.

On the other hand, I can easily imagine situations in which this would be useful—such as if I was in a classroom environment where it was acceptable to create an audio recording.  I may not use this feature often, but I like that it exists.  And for others, such as students, who consider this to be an essential feature, now GoodNotes supports it too.

Click here to get GoodNotes 5 (free, $8.99 to unlock all features)

       

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Podcast episode 85: Security iKeys, Ivory Bling, and Average Privacy

We begin this week's episode of the In the News podcast by discussing why I'm very happy to have security cameras installed at my house.  We then talk about additional security that you can obtain with iOS 16.3 thanks to the support of Security Keys.  We also discuss checking the temperature in a room using a HomePod, the new Ivory and timing.is apps, the updated Things app, iPhone privacy, and more. 

In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses creating signatures with images on the iPhone or iPad, and I explain how to designate a single HomePod in a stereo pair as the one that should speak to you when you talk to Siri.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just use your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

       

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In the News

This time last week, I noted how upset I was that Twitter had banned third-party apps such as the excellent Tweetbot app, one of my favorite apps for many years.  Fortunately, the folks behind Tweetbot released a new app this week called Ivory.  Ivory looks very similar to Tweetbot but works with the Twitter alternative Mastodon—which has become the new home for many folks who left Twitter over the last few months.  I've been using Ivory for the last few days, and it is a fantastic app already, plus the developer has plans to make it better than Tweetbot ever was.  Here is a good review of the Ivory app by Federico Viticci of MacStories.  If you have used Twitter in the past, I encourage you to check out Mastodon and the Ivory app in particular.  For a great explainer of what Mastodon is all about, I recommend this article by Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch.  If you want to follow me on Mastodon, you can do so at @jeffrichardson@mastodon.social.  If you want to follow iPhone J.D. on Mastodo to receive a new post on Mastodon whenever there is a new post on iPhone J.D., you can do so at @iPhoneJD@mstdn.social.  And now, the other news of note from the past week:

• iOS 16.3 came out this week.  Juli Clover of MacRumors discusses some of what is new.  For example, Advanced Data Protection, which I discussed in this post, is now available to all users around the world.
• iOS 16.3 also adds support for Security Key—a small physical device that you carry around to confirm your identity instead of using digital two-factor authentication.  Andrew Orr of AppleInsider identifies some of the best Security Key products.
• If you have a HomePod mini, or the new version of the HomePod, you can now find out the temperature of the area around that device as a result of a software update Apple made available this week.  Tim Hardwick of MacRumors explains how to install the update and to see the temperature readings in the Home app on an iPhone or iPad.
• Why did Apple stop making the HomePod only to come back almost two years later to re-introduce the product?  That's rare for a company like Apple.  I always assumed that the original HomePod was discontinued because not enough people bought them, but the flaw with that theory is that I always heard people talk about how much they enjoyed the big HomePod, quickly buying old units on eBay when they become unavailable from Apple.  John Gruber of Daring Fireball has a different theory: the original model had some sort of design flaw that made them unreliable.  Thus, Apple went back to the drawing board, took what it knew about the HomePod mini (which apparently avoided that flaw), and eventually Apple came out with the HomePod 2.0.  Nobody but Apple knows for sure, but Gruber's theory does explain a lot, so I think he is on to something.
• David Neld of The Ambient lists 30 things that you can do with a HomePod or HomePod mini.
• Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac provides additional details on using these temperature sensors, including an explanation of how you can create an automation to make something else happen whenever the temperature reaches a certain point.
• Chance Miller of 9to5Mac notes that iOS 16.3 fixes a bug in CarPlay that made it difficult to locate someone using the Find My service.
• I use the Things app to keep track of certain items that I need to do, and the app works well for me.  But unlike some of the software that I use, when it comes to Things, I'm the opposite of a power user.  I just keep a single list of items and I check things off as I go.  If you are—or you want to be—a more sophisticated user of the Things app, attorney John Voorhees of Macstories explains how you can take advantage of the latest feature added to Things: expanded support for Shortcuts.  His post includes some examples that you can download and try for yourself.
• If you are looking for something else new in the world of to-do apps, timing.ts is a new iPhone app that combines your calendar and your to-do items with an interesting interface that is supposed to help you focus on or plan activities.  I prefer a more traditional approach to calendars, but I suspect that this app will appeal to lots of people.
• Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks reminds us that, in a pinch, you can use an iPad to recharge an iPhone and certain other devices.
• And finally, tomorrow is Data Privacy Day, so hopefully you have something special planned to celebrate the occasion.  One way to do so is to watch an amusing video released by Apple this week called A Day in the Life of an Average Person’s Data, in which Nick Mohammed (the actor who plays "Nate the Great" on Ted Lasso) teams up with an Apple Store Specialist to show you how to enable features on your Apple devices to keep your data private.

       

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Review: Camo -- use your iPhone as a video camera

In yesterday's post, I explained the advantages (and disadvantages) of using an iPhone as a web cam, and I also explained how you can use the Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe to mount your iPhone so that it has a secure spot atop a monitor.  In today's follow-up post, I am reviewing Camo, software that lets your iPhone act as a web cam on a Mac or a PC.  I'll also compare Camo to a free alternative on the Mac: the Continuity Camera feature.

Starting Camo

Camo consists of two sets of software that work together.  On your iPhone, you simply launch the Camo app and then put your iPhone on the Belkin mount or in another location so that the camera on the back of the iPhone is looking at whatever you want on your web cam. 

Note that when you are using Camo, you won't actually see the screen on your iPhone because you will almost certainly be looking at the superior battery on the back of the iPhone.  (I say "almost certainly" because Camo gives you the option of selecting which camera to use, so you could opt to use the front-facing camera if that made sense for some specific use, but I suspect that use would be rare.)

On your Mac or PC, launch the Camo Studio software.  The very first time that you use Camo with a computer, you need to follow the on-screen instructions to pair your iPhone with the computer.  It is very simple, and basically involves scanning a QR code.  After that, if your iPhone is connected to a Mac with a cable, the Camo Studio software will automatically see the iPhone.  If your iPhone is connected to a PC with a cable, and if you are running iTunes on the PC, then the Camo Studio software should work the same way, although I didn't test that configuration.

In the alternative, you can skip the cable and just have your iPhone and your Mac or PC communicate via the same Wi-Fi network.  For this configuration, start the Camo app on the iPhone.  Then start the Camo Studio software on  your Mac or PC and click the button in the middle of the screen that says Connect a device.  Camo Studio will find your previously-paired iPhone in just a second or two.

The developer of Camo says that a cable connection can be better, but I've been using Wi-Fi for most of my video conferences for several weeks, and it has worked great.  The only downside I've experienced is that, very rarely, the video will pause for a second or two.  But I only notice that once out of dozens of uses, and it fixed itself quickly.  Having said that, I suppose if you don't have a good Wi-Fi connection, you may see worse results, so using the cable might be a superior option.

Using Camo Studio

Once the Camo Studio software is running and communicating with your iPhone, the software will take the video that it is capturing from your iPhone's camera and announce itself to other programs (such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams) as another camera called Camo Camera. In the following screenshot, Camo Studio is running on my PC, but the interface is virtually identical on the Mac.  There are lots of settings that you can change if you want to (more on that below), but you don't have to do so.

Now that Camo Studio is running on your computer, start your video conference software of choice—I've tested Camo Studio using both Zoom and Microsoft Teams—and select Camo Camera as your camera.  For example, in Microsoft Teams on my iMac, I see the following list.  Besides Camo Camera, my other choices include FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in), which is the camera that is part of my iMac, and Jeff iPhone 14 Pro Camera, which is the Continuity Camera feature that I will discuss below.

If Camo Camera was the camera that you used when you last used your video conferencing software, it should default to Camo Camera again the next time that you use the software.

Here is a screenshot from a video conference that I was attending in my office.  In this first picture, I was using a Logitech HD Pro C922 webcam.  I have pale skin in real life, but as you can see from my thumbnail photo in the top right, my skin seems to be even more pale with the Logitech camera.

Next, I clicked the three dots that say "More" in Microsoft Teams and I switched my camera to Camo Camera.  Thanks to the iPhone, my skin tone looked more natural, and the iPhone automatically slightly blurred items in my background, which also made the picture look better.

For more comparison photos, check out my review from yesterday of the Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe.

Why use Camo?

If you want to use your iPhone as a web cam on a PC, you need to use software like Camo.  I say "software like Camo" because I know that there are alternatives on the PC, but I have yet to come across one that gets great reviews.  Camo, on the other hand, gets very favorable reviews, and it has worked incredibly well for me.

If you want to use your iPhone as a web cam on a Mac, you don't need Camo.  You can instead use Continuity Camera.  Continuity Camera is better than Camo in some ways: it is free, and it starts automatically without having to first open a special program like Camo Studio.

But after using both for a few weeks, I prefer using Camo on a Mac.  First, I prefer to initially launch the Camo Studio software because that way I can see how I look on camera before I even start Zoom or Teams.

Second, there are lots of settings that you can adjust in Camo to adjust how you look.  For me, there is only one of them I typically change, but it is a nice one.  In the bottom left of Camo Studio, you can Zoom the camera.  I prefer having my face take up a little more space on the screen so that it is easier for other people to see me, so I keep it at 125%.  An advantage of zooming is that you can drag the rectangle at the bottom left of Camo Studio to determine which cropped area of the screen to use.  This makes it super easy to center your face within the image.

If you have a built-in camera on your display, or if you have a web cam sitting on your monitor that never moves, you probably already know exactly where you need to sit to remain in the center of the screen.  But when I put my iPhone in the Belkin mount to place it on top of my display, it always seems to be in a slightly different position than the last time.  But by taking about two seconds in Camo Studio to adjust the position of the crop area, I can quickly get my face in the best spot without having to fiddle with either the iPhone or Belkin mount.  This is quick and easy, and a bit advantage over Continuity Camera.

Other options available in Camo Studio, but not Continuity Camera, include the ability to apply templates to the image.  If you want your name and company logo below your face, or if you want to display your phone number or some other information, you can quickly create a template and then toggle that on or off.

You can also turn on or off the light used by a flash for the iPhone and you can adjust the percentage of the flash level.  It's much better to use natural light, of course, but it is nice to have the option to use the flashlight in a pinch if necessary.

I mentioned above that the iPhone automatically adds a nice, slight background blur.  If you want even more background blur, Camo Studio has a portrait mode feature that can make the background blur more pronounced.

You can make lots of adjustments to the picture quality: exposure, white balance, hue, saturation, etc. In my tests in lots of different lighting conditions, the iPhone did a great job adjusting this manually, so I saw no need to change anything.

Finally, Camo has lots of features that, to me, are just silly, but perhaps they would appeal to others.  For example, you can change your face to an Emoji face.  Or to a Jaguar.  Or you can put a moving virtual cat on your head.  My video conference use is just about 100% for professional purposes, and I don't need to be the next lawyer cat, but if you want to be more creative, you can do that with Camo Studio.

So in short, if you use a Mac, the advantage of Camo over Continuity Camera is that you have a lot more options.  Even though I only find a few of those options useful, I miss them quite a bit when I use Continuity Camera.

Pricing

You can use Camo for free and take advantage of most of its features.  To take advantage of all features, you need to pay either $5/month, $40/year, or $80 for a lifetime license.  Some of the key advantages of the paid version are:

• Use on more than one computer.
• Use 1080p instead of just 720p
• Use the Zoom, pan, and crop feature that I find very useful

You can see all of the differences described on this page.

Conclusion

Apple's Continuity Camera feature is great, in part because it is so simple.  Plus, it is free.  But if you use a PC or if you want more precise control, you should check out the free version of the Camo app to see if you prefer it.  It didn't take me long to figure out that I really like the Camo software, so I paid $40 to use the Pro features for a year.  If I don't see a better option this time next year, I will either pay for another year or just buy the lifetime version.

Click here to get the Camo app on the iPhone (free).

       

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