Just before we have the Q2 financial report, the stock price is again approaching what it was just before Q1 2019. The price is $198, having risen from a low of $142 at the beginning of the year, but is yet to reach the all-time high of $234 last Fall. The 10-year chart puts it in some perspective. However as is quite usual there are already rumblings from Wall Street. A few days ago Credit Suisse suggested that perhaps iPhone sales may be less than expected and predict a drop of 12.4%. We know this. There's no surprise here. This is just Wall Street playing its games, forcing the price down again so the profits might be taken.

We also see that New Street Research (Pierre Ferragu) is downgrading Apple from Neutral to Sell, but at the same time raising the target price from $140 to $170, when it is already at $198.87 which sounds like backing two horses in the same race for places and not winners. Philip Elmer-DeWitt also made comments on this and when he asked for a copy of the advice was told he could subscribe: $40,000 per year. I give better advice on Apple for free.

Others have now begun to hit this tired old bandwagon, but I note the reports of a survey in the USA (Oliver Haslam, Redmod Pie) that concludes 86% of teens expect their next phone to be an iPhone. Many smart teens here use these, but many more aspire to own one. It's not dead yet.

Apple Share Prices over 10+ Years

An interesting court decision was made in Ireland this week that would have affected Apple had the company not already walked away from its €850m planned data center in Athenry, Co Galway. It was put at risk by a few locals who challenged the environmental impact assessment, delaying an already late project. Apple had had enough and although the company still has considerable investment in Ireland, decided to cut its losses. Even so, the Courts continued the Appeals process as its outcome could be applied to similar situations in the future were they to arise.

The Irish Supreme Court sided with the Planning Board, Claire Murphy (Irish Independent) writes. Although Apple decided to move the project to Denmark who welcomed the scheme, there are still 6,000 people employed by the company in Ireland and (perhaps significantly), planning permission for the site remains in force.

There is a slight sting in the tale here as Denmark is asking Apple, Facebook and Google to pay for some of the costs that will be needed if fossil fuel use is to be reduced. They are asking for the companies to provide some of the costs towards building necessary windmills. In the past Apple has created its own solar energy farms, so it is possible that they may well contribute to this: the company is committed to green energy (Christian Wienberg, Bloomberg). I always look carefully for the slides that indicate the new APIs that will be available to developers for the next OS versions.

We have the WWDC to look forward to in June and that is promising to have new iOS- and macOS-related developments with the use of Marzipan: an app can be coded so that it will work, with some relatively minor changes on both platforms. We already see some of the early work on this with, for example, the Stocks app now on Macs.

It is also apparent that Apple is about to split iTunes. Some may say this is overdue as one size does not fit all: with music, podcasts, videos et al, a separation of functions might make app (and content) management easier.

I avoid Adobe products like the plague and consequently enjoy a host of other apps on my Macs and iOS devices, with the most recent being Pixelmator Photo, that Michael Zhang (PetaPixel) called a "Desktop-Class RAW Photo Editor for the iPad". John Voorhees (MacStories) also wrote a lengthy (and positive) review on this. My own first look is also available.

While Adobe has been the prime developer of image editing software for years, they have dropped off a bit, particularly with the subscription services approach. Mel Martin (Fstoppers) writes about his lack of love particularly for Creative Cloud and for the poor telephone support. To their credit Adobe have been in touch with him, but there is a lot more that needs doing. Some companies need to remember that the fee-paying customers are the ones who pay the bills.

The world was stunned (relatively speaking) this week by the first photograph of a black hole, produced by the use of algorithms developed by a young researcher. As is customary, the image was made public under the Creative Commons license: we can all use this. Well, No: not according to the Visual China Group, owner of 500px. Michael Zhang (PetaPixel) reports that the image appeared in China with the VCG watermark and the site insisted that a license was needed to use the image. Other images were found that also should not have been claimed by 500px, including the Chinese national emblem and national flag: definite No-Nos. The Chinese authorities flexed their muscles and the whole site went offline, "for a revamp in accordance with related laws". And a change in some personnel I shouldn't wonder.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on Twitter (@extensions_th)