Wednesday December 2, 2020: $123.08 +$0.36 +0.29%

[Dave]

Good morning. Today’s pre-market is red at -$0.17, but it’s early. Hopefully we can have a repeat of yesterday’s trading day.

Apple Names Disney Plus the Apple TV App of the Year

Apple’s App Store Best of 2020 Winners

1. iPhone App of the Year: Wakeout! (Andres Canella)
2. iPhone Game of the Year: Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
3. iPad App of the Year: Zoom (Zoom)
4. iPad Game of the Year: Legends of Runeterra (Riot Games)
5. Mac App of the Year: Fantastical (Flexibits)
6. Mac Game of the Year: Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
7. Apple TV App of the Year: Disney Plus (Disney)
8. Apple TV Game of the Year: Dandara Trials of Fear (Raw Fury)
9. Apple Watch App of the Year: Endel (Endel)
10. Apple Arcade Game of the Year: Sneaky Sasquatch (RAC7)
11. App Trend of the Year: Shine, for helping users practice self care (Shine)
12. App Trend of the Year: Explain Everything Whiteboard, for helping bring remote classrooms to life (Explain Everything)
13. App Trend of the Year: Caribu, for connecting families to loved ones (Caribu)
14. App Trend of the Year: Pokémon Go, for reinventing the way we play (Niantic)
15. App Trend of the Year: ShareTheMeal, for helping users make a difference (United Nations)

[Dave]

Evercore: App Store revenue grew 32% y/y in November

All You Need to Know: Our analysis suggests that App Store revenue grew 32% in November, with continued strength across all regions. This brings the QTD growth rate to 31%, a notable improvement from the 25% growth in the Sept-qtr. We estimate total App Store developer revenue grew to ~$4.3bn in November; up 32% Y/Y (vs. +30% in October, +27% in September).

The App Store was one of five services (also Music, Cloud Services, Advertising, and Payment Services) that “grew strong double digits and set all-time records” in the Sept-qtr. Services growth in the Sept-qtr came in at 16%, despite a +25% growth rate for the App Store due to lower growth out of Apple Care (tends to be attached to new iPhones).

This trend should reverse in the Dec-qtr post-iPhone launch and facing an easier comp.

With the 30%+ growth rate coupled with Apple Care likely improving and momentum across other services, upside to our 18% services growth estimate is starting to look more likely.

Net/Net: Continued growth in the 30% range could support upside to our 18% services growth estimate in the Dec-qtr, especially as Apple Care headwinds should moderate given the iPhone launch.


Maintains Outperform rating and $135 price target.

My take: Work and play within the safety of the walled garden.

[Dave]

Apple wins BlueMail antitrust case

Blix alleged Apple copied patented messaging technology for its “Sign In With Apple” feature, then removed the developers’ app, BlueMail, from its App Store. The tech giant uses App Store search results to push consumers toward Apple products, suppressing third-party competition, the suit said…

The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware dismissed the antitrust claims without prejudice… Allegations that Apple has the power to restrict competition aren’t equivalent to allegations that the company actually did restrict competitors’ output, Judge Leonard P. Stark wrote. 

Stark also dismissed patent infringement claims related to a single claim in Blix’s patent for BlueMail that was central to the parties’ briefings.

My take: Not so much a win for Apple as a double whammy for Blix, which in one blow lost both its patent and its antitrust case.

[BillH]

A useful list of functional possibilities for your new HomePod or Mini. apple.news/A7fbnZk2TSHmx4RwGftFAZw

[ono]

If this is accurate, it’ll be very interesting.

Windows 10 faster on Mac M1 than natively on Surface Pro X

https://macdailynews.com/2020/12/02/m1-mac-virtualizes-arm-windows-10-nearly-2x-faster-than-surface-pro-x-can-run-it-natively/

[crispin]

The amazing John Gruber has a piece up on Daring Fireball that very much continues in the vein of what I was writing last night about the stupendousness of the M1:

daringfireball.net/2020/12/m1_macs_truth_and_truthiness

The entire thing is well worth a read, but one of my favorite sections is this one:

M1 Macs embarrass all other PCs — all Intel-based Macs, including automobile-priced Mac Pros, and every single machine running Windows or Linux. Those machines are just standing around in their underwear now because the M1 stole all their pants. Well, that just doesn’t happen, your instincts tell you. One company, even a company like Apple, doesn’t just embarrass the entire rest of the PC industry. But just because something hasn’t happened — or hasn’t happened in a very long while — doesn’t mean it can’t happen. And in this case, it just happened.

[Lstream]

Ya, I read that Gruber piece as well. I liked his takedown of the Forbes Contributor Page Hit Whore Network. That idiot had it coming, and is a reminder once again why I will never reward those parasites with a page hit,