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Apple Q3 2018 Results: $53.3 Billion Revenue, 41.3 Million iPhones, 11.6 Million iPads Sold

Apple has just published its financial results for Q3 2018. The company posted revenue of $53.3 billion. Apple sold 11.6 million iPads, 41.3 million iPhones, and 3.7 million Macs during the quarter.

“We’re thrilled to report Apple’s best June quarter ever, and our fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our Q3 results were driven by continued strong sales of iPhone, Services and Wearables, and we are very excited about the products and services in our pipeline.”

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AppStories, Episode 72 – What Makes an App a Pro App?→

On this week’s episode of AppStories, we consider the elements that make an app a pro app.

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AppStories Episode 72 - What Makes an App a Pro App?

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Kano Announces Harry Potter Magic Wand Coding Kit

With three children, I’ve looked at many products over the years that are designed to make learning to code fun and engaging for kids. Of all the things I’ve tried, one of my favorites is a build-your-own computer kit from Kano. The kit is a kid-friendly Raspberry Pi with tiny, bright orange wireless keyboard.

The Pi runs a Kano-skinned version of Linux with a bunch of activities for kids ranging from Minecraft mods to simple building block-style JavaScript programs that abstract away the language’s syntax but makes it available just under the surface as kids become more comfortable with coding. It’s an excellent kit that strikes a good balance between learning and fun.

This week, Kano announced a new Harry Potter-themed magic wand. Kids build the wand, which contains an accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer, and then use an iPad, Mac, PC, or Android tablet to program magic spells straight from the Harry Potter book series using JavaScript. Kano says the wand, which can be pre-ordered for $99 and will be delivered on October 1st, comes with a book of over 70 projects and can be ordered from Kano directly, Amazon, and other retailers.

My kids are a little old for the Kano wand now, but I know that if it were available back when they were tearing through the Harry Potter series, the wand would have probably turned up at my house over the holidays.

Apple Releases New App Design Resources for the Mac and Apple Watch

As tweeted by Mike Stern, Apple’s Platform Experience and Design Evangelism Manager, Apple has updated its AppKit design resources with a comprehensive set of UI elements for making Mac apps. The UI elements come in both Aqua and the Dark Aqua variants for designing Dark Mode Mac apps.

https://twitter.com/themikestern/status/1022502042852454401

The update, also announced on Apple’s developer news website, includes new watchOS UI elements too, including ‘dozens of new UI elements for watchOS apps, watch face templates for designing complications, a color guide, and new text styles.’

The design assets are available to download in both Photoshop and Sketch formats from the Resources section of Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines website. A full list of all the changes is available here.

Nike Training Club Debuts on Apple Watch

Over the last year it’s become far too common to hear about a popular app dropping support for the Apple Watch – fortunately, today the opposite is happening: Nike Training Club has added an Apple Watch app for the first time.

Nike Training Club is a workout app containing over 180 different training sessions to choose from. The app offers guided instructions to help you complete your workout, along with activity data to see your exercise track record. It’s a really solid, well designed app that gives you the tools needed to hit your workout goals.

The new Apple Watch app for Nike Training Club is merely a companion to the iOS app. You can’t start workouts directly from the Watch, so despite the Series 3 model’s cellular capabilities, you’ll need to have your phone nearby at all times.

Despite its limitations, the Watch app can still be very useful during workouts. During a yoga session, for example, the Watch will show you which pose to take with a countdown for how long to hold it; you’ll also see your heart rate and calories burned. Swipe over in the app to see the total length of your workout and an option to pause or end the session.

If you’re a heavy Nike Training Club user, the new Watch app provides a much more convenient way to keep track of your workout’s progress. I really hope some day the app becomes completely independent of the iPhone, but this is a nice first step.

Nike Training Club is available on the App Store.

AeroPress Timer for iPhone, Now with Custom Recipes

One of my favorite iOS kitchen utilities, AeroPress Timer ($4.99 US), has updated to version 3 with a complete rebuild and new functionality.

AeroPress Timer is an iPhone app that steps you through the stages of coffee making with an Aerobie AeroPress. Each step, Pour, Stir, Steep, and Plunge, has its own countdown timer. Once you get into the world of AeroPress, there are a hundred different variations and precise recipes for making different types of coffee, so it’s a handy guide.

The app has always had a great selection of AeroPress recipes, but the biggest, baddest new feature: you can now create and add your own recipes. You can also favorite recipes, add notes, and there’s a new visual grind size guide accessible from any recipe.

This update did lose Apple Watch functionality, which is a bummer, but the developer plan to have it back soon.

AeroPress Timer is available on the App Store.

Tom Gruber, Co-Founder of Siri, Retires from Apple

The Information reports that Tom Gruber, Apple’s head of the Siri Advanced Developments group, has retired to pursue personal interests including photography and ocean conservation. Gruber joined Apple as part of the company’s acquisition of Siri in 2010 along with his co-founders Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, who previously left Apple in 2011 and 2012 respectively. In addition to Gruber, The Information reports that Vipul Ved Prakash, Apple’s head of search, has left the company. Apple confirmed both departures to The Information.

Siri, which Apple incorporated into iOS in 2011, has been through recent leadership changes as it has fallen behind voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant. In 2017, Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, took over Siri’s oversight from Eddy Cue. Just this past May, Apple hired John Giannandrea, Google’s former Chief of Search and Artificial Intelligence to be Apple’s Chief of Machine Learning and AI Strategy. Last week, Giannandrea showed up on the leadership page on Apple.com, and, according to a TechCrunch story, the Siri team now reports to him.

With all of Siri’s co-founders departed from the company, it will be interesting to see in what direction Giannandrea and the Siri team take Apple’s voice assistant.

Microsoft Releases Cross-Platform Skype Update and Announces Call Recording and Other Features

Microsoft has released version 8 of Skype for the desktop, which features a redesign inspired by the app’s mobile clients. The update, which is available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, replaces version 7, which will no longer work after September 1, 2018.

The update includes 1080p video calls with screen sharing for up to 24 participants. Twitter-style ‘@mentions’ have been added too. Mentioning someone by name preceded by the ‘@‘ symbol sends them a notification. Microsoft has also added a media gallery. Clicking on ‘Gallery’ in a conversation opens a panel on the right side of the Skype window with links, files, and other media that has been shared. Finally, users can share files, photos, and videos of up to 300 MB by dragging them into a conversation.

Microsoft also updated Skype’s iOS apps. The update to the iPad version of Skype is noteworthy because it’s been about a year since it was last updated, and it now includes features that are in line with the more frequently updated iPhone version.

Microsoft says it has other features planned for later this summer too. Skype will add read receipts that display avatars beneath the most recent message a user has read, so you can see at a glance where each participant in a conversation is. End-to-end encrypted audio calls and text messaging with file attachments based on the Signal protocol is coming later too.

Perhaps the most significant new feature that Skype will introduce is cloud-based call recording that works with audio and video calls. When a recording is begun, each participant will be notified that the call is being recorded. This should be an excellent addition for anyone who has relied on third-party solutions or QuickTime to record Skype calls.

Also, starting conversations should become simpler. Users will be able to invite new users to join Skype by sharing a link from their profile. In addition, shareable links to group chats will make it easier to add new members to a group.

I’ve never been a fan of Skype’s Mac app. Unifying the app across different platforms undoubtedly simplifies Microsoft’s development process and will be useful to anyone who uses Skype on multiple OSes. The unification comes at a cost though. Skype 8 is a cross-platform Electron app based on Chrome OS, which means non-standard windows and controls on the Mac. Apps like Skype are why I’m looking forward to UIKit coming to the Mac. If it isn’t worth the effort to Microsoft to build a native AppKit version of Skype, a UIKit version on the Mac that is based on Skype for iOS should at least be more familiar to users.

Apple Showcases New Emoji Arriving in iOS 12, macOS Mojave, and watchOS 5

In celebration of World Emoji Day, Apple has released a preview of the new emoji arriving later this year in updates to iOS, macOS, and watchOS. There will be 157 new emoji in total, but today’s preview only features a select few.

A centerpiece of the emoji additions this year will be improved diversity in hair options, including red hair, gray hair, curly hair, and bald.

Last year the new set of emoji was added with iOS 11.1 in October, while the year before that new emoji didn’t arrive until iOS 10.2 in December. One way or another, it’s only a matter of months until some version of iOS 12 puts the 157 new emoji in the hands of users.