Apple Will Miss Revenue Expectations Due To Coronavirus
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| Apple Will Miss Revenue Expectations Due To Coronavirus | |
| Number | 1052 |
| Broadcast Date | FEBRUARY 18, 2020 |
| Episode Length | 4:26 |
| Hosts | Sarah Lane |
Ring will require 2-factor authentication for all users, Kickstarter employees unionize, Elon Musk says AI should be regulated.
Headlines
- Apple announced it does not expect to meet its second-quarter forecast for revenue, due to global supply constraints for iPhones and lower Chinese demand as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Apple said it had previously expected to report net sales between $63 billion to $67 billion in its fiscal second quarter, a wider range than usual given the uncertainty, but didn't specifically update those figures. Bloomberg's sources say Apple's iPhone SE 2 is still on track to launch in March, with a new iPad Pro expected in the first half of the year.
- Supply-chain analytics provider TrendForce issued a new report that smartphone production is projected to decline 12 percent year-on-year this quarter due to issues with the coronavirus, making it the lowest quarter in five years. Fiber optics suppliers based in Wuhan, where the outbreak originated, account for 25% of global production. The report also says China’s 5G rollout could also be affected due to the greater need for optical fiber cables in next-generation base stations. DRAM and NAND flash markets are unlikely to be affected because of a combination of stockpiling and automation at semiconductor factories. TrendForce expects smartwatches to drop 16% from prior expectations, and laptop PCs and smart speakers to see declines as well.
- Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon X60 5G modem with availability set for early 2021. The X60 uses process technology of 5 nanometers for lower power consumption and a smaller footprint. The X60 will run on everything from 2G to 5G networks, and it will access sub-6 GHz networks and millimeter wave networks for faster than average speeds overall.
- Kickstarter employees voted 46 to 37 in favor of forming a union with the Office and Professional Employees International Union. Kickstarter workers are the first white collar workers at a major tech company to successfully unionize in the United States. Kickstarter CEO Aziz Hasan said in a statement, "We support and respect this decision, and we are proud of the fair and democratic process that got us here."
- Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Monday that “all organizations developing advance AI should be regulated, including Tesla.” This was in response to an MIT Technology Review profile of OpenAI, which Musk co-founded in 2015 as a non-profit. OpenAI was originally backed by $1 billion to pursue open research into advanced AI for the goal of benefiting society. The organization officially formed a for-profit arm owned by a non-profit parent corporation in 2019, and accepted $1 billion in investment from Microsoft. Musk also said he has “no control & only very limited insight into OpenAI” and that his “confidence” in Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s research director, “is not high.”
- Dell announced it’s selling RSA Security to a private equity consortium for $2.075 billion. The transaction includes RSA Archer, RSA NetWitness Platform, RSA SecurID, RSA Fraud and Risk Intelligence and RSA Conference. It’s expected to close in the next six to nine months.
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced in an Instagram post he will commit $10 billion to fight climate change through a new fund called the Bezos Earth Fund. Bezos says the money will help scientists, activists, NGOs, and “any effort that offers a real possibility” to help preserve the earth from the impact of climate change. A Verge source says the fund won't engage in private sector investment and will focus entirely on charitable giving.
- Amazon-owned Ring will start requiring two-factor authentication for all users when they sign into their Ring accounts with a six-digit code sent to either an email address or SMS. Ring is also "pausing" the use of the majority of third-party analytics services in its apps and website while it works on more ways to opt out of that sharing in its Control Center. Users can also opt out of sharing data for targeted advertising. This follows a report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation that Ring app's third-party trackers shared info with Facebook, Google and data companies like AppsFlyer and MixPanel.
Links
| Preceded by: "Zuckerberg Discusses Framework for Regulating Social Media Content" |
Apple Will Miss Revenue Expectations Due To Coronavirus |
Followed by: "Facebook Tests Tabbed Interface" |