eXtensions - Tuesday 4 February 2025
By Graham K. Rogers
Like the iPad and other devices, as users become more familiar with them, their uses (and value) increase. Despite the usual Wall Street handwringing before the event, Apple produced another record quarter. Fewer iPhone sales were offset by increases in other areas: Apple is not a one-product company. DeepSeek created a few ripples last week, but all is not as rosy as it might seem. It is also not the only product to phone home.
Back in October, I linked to an article that reported on the way doctors in San Diego had been using Apple's Vision Pro (William Gallagher, AppleInsider). At $3900 it was considerably cheaper than the $20,000 monitors they had been using and had the additional benefit of reducing career-ending neck strain (from using the monitors). Wesley Hilliard (9to5Mac) now reports on a conference put together by Sharp HealthCare who have bought 30 Vision Pro units for their Spatial Computing Center of Excellence.
There is much interest from doctors and the health industry in the product. Sharp has partnered with Zeiss to produce a solution that allows ophthalmologists to view cataract surgery videos and now Stryker has produced an app for reviewing hip and knee surgery plans in 3D, while Elsevier has produced an app that lets users view detailed models of the human heart. Remember how the iPhone was ridiculed at its launch by some so-called industry experts; or how some experts could not see how the iPad was a worthwhile device (as they flew off the shelves on initial release); and how the Apple Watch was belittled although now it too is saving lives? Sometimes Apple makes products that we did not know we wanted.
Some analysts in Wall Street had been wringing their hands earlier in the week, but once again Apple bested the analysts (albeit by a slim margin) and posted record figures for its Q1 2025 financial report. While iPhone sales worldwide were down, services increased again. This should indicate to those who think Apple is a one-product company that, with its growing portfolio of products and services, Apple is not going to fall if one of them has a setback. The major part of the press release is:
Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2025 first quarter ended December 28, 2024. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4 percent year over year, and quarterly diluted earnings per share of $2.40, up 10 percent year over year."Today Apple is reporting our best quarter ever, with revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We were thrilled to bring customers our best-ever lineup of products and services during the holiday season. Through the power of Apple silicon, we're unlocking new possibilities for our users with Apple Intelligence, which makes apps and experiences even better and more personal. And we're excited that Apple Intelligence will be available in even more languages this April."
"Our record revenue and strong operating margins drove EPS to a new all-time record with double-digit growth and allowed us to return over $30 billion to shareholders," said Kevan Parekh, Apple's CFO. "We are also pleased that our installed base of active devices has reached a new all-time high across all products and geographic segments."
Apple's board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.25 per share of the Company's common stock. The dividend is payable on February 13, 2025, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 10, 2025.
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There were of course several reports from commentators including,
I did note that when asked about tariffs, which have just started being rolled out over the weekend, Tim Cook replied, "We are monitoring the situation and don't have anything more to add than that." Another question concerned the arrival of DeepSeek, and Zac Hall reports on this, with a couple of useful comments and a link.
Now that users and researchers have had a few days to look at DeepSeek - apart from its reluctance to answer certain questions (such as the one reported by Matt Growcoot (Petapixel) on the Tiananmen Square Tank Man) - other details are beginning to surface:
As some are beginning to recognise there are questions about this app (and the direct line to China). It was removed from online stores in Italy, but is still available in Thailand (Tuesday 4 Feb). I see that the app has also been banned by other countries and organizations: Taiwan has banned government agencies from using it; members of the US Congress have been warned against its use; Texas has warned users of government issued devices about its use; the US Navy has instructed its members not to use it; the Pentagon has blocked access (although some members had already tried it), and they are able to use this via AskSage; NASA has also banned the use of DeepSeek (Kyle Wiggers, TechCrunch).
I downloaded the app to my iPad mini, but first turned off wifi access to my other devices. Once downloaded, I turned off wifi on the iPad mini too. It was no surprise to me that when installed, I was unable to go past the opening screen. With the other devices still off, I looked at the login screen, but I chickened out after reading through the Terms & Conditions, and the Privacy information. I took several screenshots. I know that almost no one (apart from me) reads T&C or privacy notices, but these are worth looking at.
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After the usual declaration about the types of data (name, device details, IP number, et al) makes it clear that all the data would be heading for China for processing. At least Apple Intelligence would allow me to opt out of off-device processing.
After I had deleted the app, however, I turned the iPad mini off, then turned wifi on for the other devices. The app had already been downloaded to the iPhone (I deleted immediately), but not the iPad Pro
Where did the chips come from? While exports to China of some US chips are banned, it may be that these were sourced via Singapore. I was reminded of the interview of the CEO of TiKTok by Senator Tom Cotton at the committee meeting, when a politician was having difficulty separating the Asian person in front of him who was a citizen of Singapore from China, wondering, for example if he had ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party. There are strong links in the region between certain countries here of course and distribution channels may be different from those in the USA, but it has always been possible to ship illicit goods from even the most controlled countries. An example is the original supply of chemicals to Iraq (Friedman, Alan. The Spider's Web. 1993).
There have been suspicions for a long time that Huawei telecoms and networking equipment would be able to communicate with China, but to add to this and the suspicions regarding DeepSeek, it is noted by Roshan Ashraf Shaikh (Tom's Hardware) that some Chinese made patient-monitoring equipment is allegedly sending data to a 3rd party university using "a backdoor with a hard-coded IP address". As well as transmitting data, the vulnerability could allow someone to gain access and potentially manipulate the device, although there are no reports of this as yet. These are available in Thailand, but I have not been able to find any information online about hospitals here that use them.
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 X (@extensions_th). The RSS feed for the articles is http://www.extensions.in.th/ext_link.xml - copy and paste into your feed reader.
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