Apple

Developing new AirPods with cameras and AI features, though criticized for its current AI assistant.

“As a matter of fact, when your hearing goes, you stop processing words, and you become more, i- i- this is gonna sound strange. Well, it's not strange. People have a much more difficult time maintaining societal contact, relevance in relationships when their h…”

Analyzed for its hardware signaling power and its strategic approach to AI and search.

“... intel inside of Apple."”

Criticized for poor integration with OpenAI and strained relations due to privacy concerns and competition.

“Uh, Apple hasn't... It's disgraziad to the highest level. [laughs] Just disgraziad with this product. How do you get there first and you remain worst? Apple hasn't promoted the integration at all, and users are still overwhelmingly going to the standalone Chat…”

Mentioned as the subject of a potential lawsuit by OpenAI regarding the poor performance of their ChatGPT integration in Siri.

“Yeah. Okay, breaking news. I wanna get everybody's take on this. OpenAI, in a breaking news story, is considering suing Apple over their ChatGPT partnership. As we all know, two years ago, Apple and OpenAI announced ChatGPT would integrate into Siri, iOS, macO…”

Evaluated for its hardware footprint and potential to lead in AI through local models or strategic acquisitions.

“Apple has the clearest path to becoming, you know, a top two or three player in AI simply by buying something like Perplexity or Mistral or, or, or some AI lab and then using their hardware footprint, which is extraordinary. I just got this MacBook with 48 gig…”

Mentioned in the context of Tim Cook's data storage challenges within China.

“Uh, would hollow out the entire automotive industry here if we had $20,000, $30,000 cars from China. It would be the end of the US automotive industry overnight. And, uh, Tim Cook's there. He has to store all his data there. That's been a pretty controversial …”

Kevin Ryan describes being locked out of his Apple ID and the Apple Store appointment process.

“I'll tell you fully honest in a second, but my phone got wet. I don't know my Apple ID. I had to get a new phone 'cause I couldn't talk to anybody. I don't have any Uber or anything like that. No Venmo, no Seamless, nothing like that.”

Competitor whose operating system put pressure on BlackBerry's hardware sales.

“We're talking twenty eleven, and, um, a couple things were going on. Um, one, our hardware business had grown a lot, but it was under pressure, huge pressure, and there were new, uh, o-operating systems, one from Apple and one from Google, that were putting tr…”

The company that launched the iPhone in 2007, fundamentally changing the smartphone market.

“Apple launched the iPhone in January two thousand and seven, and in response, there was a very aggressive selling and marketing and device function.”

The company that released the iPhone, which Jim Balsillie identified as a major competitor to BlackBerry.

“Apple had just come out with the first iPhones. Jim was thinking that there was no way little BlackBerry, as fast as it was growing, could compete with Apple or giants like Samsung. But BlackBerry Messenger was a different matter. BlackBerry was dominant in th…”

Mentioned as a factor in the shifting smartphone landscape that impacted BlackBerry.

“Not long after college, Jim met an engineer named Mike Lazaridis, who had a little company called Research in Motion, RIM, as it was known. Jim becomes co-CEO, and to the surprise of absolutely no one who knew him, builds RIM into a multi-billion dollar jugger…”

Chesky credits Apple's design principles, specifically simplicity and essence, as major influences on his own leadership and product strategy.

“And before I say, just to say who Hiroki is, everyone knows Jony Ive. Hiroki is a bit of an unsung hero. I always heard about him. He's like this legendary, mythical figure that, like, was elusive. He- there's, like, almost no photos of him online. There's, li…”

Referenced as a model for effective leadership and design-led management.

“And so it was my fault. Like, I had actually enabled all this to happen. And then I started talking to people, and they all had the same experience, and all these founders felt like we were all made to feel crazy because we had this instinct. So around the sam…”

A company recognized for its golden age of design and influence on the public's appreciation for products.

“radios. And then eventually it becomes, like, medical equipment, like ventilators. And then, you know, with computers, I mean, a lot of people... The most famous industrial design product in the world is the iPhone. And the vastness of industrial design is unb…”

Noted as a rare tech company investment for Warren Buffett and a successful example of post-founder growth.

“expression created such a reservoir of IP, of momentum, he died 50 years ago. 50 years later, Walt Disney's spirit seems very omnipresent, whereas Louis B. Mayer, I don't know if most people can tell you which studio he was. See what I'm saying? There's a huge…”

The company where Steve Jobs implemented his hands-on founder mode management style.

“And Steve Jobs, when he came back to Apple in 1997, in July of 1997, they were 90 days from bankruptcy, and he basically just, like, went into founder mode, what you call founder mode. He got into the details of every little detail. And I wanted to do that, bu…”

Cited as an example of a company with a specific 'design mafia' talent ecosystem.

“someone else. So if I were to meet you and I'd say, "Hey, who's the best people you know? Can you introduce me to two or three people?" So what you're doing is you're constantly meeting people in advance of searches, and you're just building your pipeline. You…”

Discussed regarding their IDE, SDK, and compiler constraints that make supporting older iOS versions difficult.

“For me, like some of the headaches we have is around some OS that are difficult to support, right? Because, um, uh, if you look at VLC and thanks to FATE and FFmpeg, we run on... The last version of VLC runs on Windows XP and still run there and runs on Window…”

Mentioned as having a specific variant of the Arm processor and for replacing GCC with Clang.

“... et cetera, et cetera, and there's the Apple variant, there's this variant, there's that, and you need to write code that works efficiently on all of them. X86, well, broadly speaking, you have Intel, AMD, and you have sub-variants, but generally speaking, …”

The Apple App Store's terms of service make it difficult to host GPL-licensed applications, prompting a shift to LGPL.

“It depends on, it depends on the company, but the company whose business model requires the source, the, the application to be closed source, yes, it's limited. So that's why, for example, I moved to LGPL. The second reason, um, is a, a bit more obscure, is th…”

Referenced in the context of macOS, iOS, tvOS, and Apple Clang compiler support within the FATE testing environment.

“Because FFmpeg runs on so many different OSs and can be compiled with so many different compilers, there's been a crazy number of configurations. So you can see the absurd combination of, um, compiler variants, operating system variants, instruction sets. You …”

The company transitioned from PowerPC to Core Duo, which led to the speaker's decision to stop supporting PowerPC in VLC.

“So that must be, what, 2009, 2010, right? Um, uh, Apple is moving from PowerPC to Core Duo, s- um, that probably in 2006. And by 2009 or 2010, I decide that we are not going to do new versions of VLC for PowerPC.”

The company created the MOV video format, which later evolved into MP4.

“... from, uh, Microsoft, and, uh, MOV, M-O-V, which became MP4, was a format from Apple. Um, in the open source community, uh, one of the person that is still active on VideoLAN is called Steve Lhomme and sta- started the, this Matroska format, which is, like,…”

Mentioned in the context of FairPlay DRM technology that was reverse-engineered.

“Like, when I joined a Decol Centrale Paris in 2003, John Lesch Johansen basically broke the DVD specification and created DCSS, showed us how he was breaking a DRM, which was MP4 Fair Play from Apple. What he did on his laptop, and I was young, I was 21, was j…”

Developed the ProRes codec for professional video editing.

“It's Apple's codec for editing, originally for Final Cut Pro, and it's designed to be fast to decode, fast to seek, because an editor will need to move very quickly. So it's a different use case to the distribution element.”

Mentioned as a member of the Alliance for OpenMedia working on the AV1 codec.

“So AV1 is this codec that is done by the Alliance for OpenMedia, right? Where there is, uh, Google, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, uh, VideoLAN, where we try to make a royalty-free very good codec, right? And now it's being deployed. But actually, the codec was finis…”

Mentioned in the context of the Apple Vision headset and its streaming capabilities.

“Uh, for example, on VLC, we also have already a VR and XR version of VLC. And also on Kyber, right? We talk about Kyber. On Kyber, we also like do streaming of XR content on, on, for the glasses who cannot have, uh, enough power or inside the Apple Vision or t…”

Mentioned for removing HEVC support from their laptops due to rising patent costs.

“And so it was impossible to license, right? And I think that several months ago, HP decided that they were going to remove support from HEVC in their Windows laptops because the, the cost was increasing of those patents. And it arrived-”

Mentioned as a platform where listeners can follow the podcast and leave reviews.

“Thank you for joining me for today's discussion with Dr. Nick Epley. To learn more about his work and to find a link to his new book, entitled A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection, please see the links in …”

Mentioned as part of a hypothetical username stereotype for online trolls.

“There's no, um... I think we're critical of that safely behind a wall piece. You know, the, the, the stereotype that you hear online is like, you know, um, you know, Apple7689 in his mom's basement, like, you know-”

Used as an example of a company that issues debt to buy back shares, benefiting investors like Buffett.

“Good question. So yeah, I, I operate fairly unlevered. I occasionally use leverage, but for the most part, I look for other entities that are using it effectively. You know, one of the things I've said before is that the best, like, product that, you know, Coc…”

Discussed in the context of seeking favorable treatment and tax breaks from the Trump administration.

“You know, I mean, th- this is a group of executives that are aligned with the Trump administration, and they have all found, in various ways, that the more time you spend flattering President Trump, the more, like, tax breaks and other forms of relief your com…”

Used as an example of a typical company that must grow to appease shareholders.

“You don't have any shareholders to appease. Like, normally in a company, when I buy a share of Apple, it's because I think Apple is gonna compound their profits, their cash flows, in the future at a higher rate than anything else that I could invest in. And so…”

Ben discusses the performance of his new MacBook Pro and the quality of Apple silicon.

“I, I did. And I was definitely in the camp ofAll Apple silicon is amazing, and it's remarkable how my M1 still feels snappy, and I was wrong. The [laughs] w- getting, getting an M5 Max revealed to me just how slow my 2021 computer was, and God, this thing is j…”

Mentioned as an example of a company that successfully transitioned from a founder to professional management.

“And we see this in Ferrari with Enzo. You see this at, with Apple, the Steve Jobs/Tim Cook. You see it in the NFL, with Coca-Cola, with Trader Joe's. I mean, this phenomenon just shows up over and over again.”

Mentioned as one of the major companies with significant ownership by large index funds.

“Yes. There is an equilibrium. Long before we get to that problem, you'll have arbitragers that are interested in trading because it's profitable, that... You're right, it'll hit an equilibrium. At least that's my, my perspective on this. The other concern is, …”

Mentioned as one of the companies in the S&P 500 that Vanguard owns a significant stake in.

“And we are your hosts. Today's episode is more relevant for you than any other company we have ever covered. For most of you, you have most of your net worth tied up in this company, or the copycats who followed. The company is Vanguard, who effectively create…”

Mentioned as a platform where listeners can leave reviews for the show.

“And while you're at it, head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave us five stars, and tell us what wows you about our show by leaving a review. Or send us a comment on Spotify. You just might hear your reviewsy read by Dennis on We Wow on the Weekend.”

Mentioned in the context of Apple Podcasts for reviews.

“That is when it stops being just an interesting data point and starts being genuinely useful. The principle I'd leave you with is simple. Test with intention. Know what you're looking for, know what you'll do when you find it out, and know what you will do if …”

Represented by Tim Cook in the business delegation meeting with Trump.

“There was a lot of anticipation ahead of this meeting. Trump was flanked by an entourage of American business leaders, including Elon Musk and Apple's Tim Cook, and you know, all this got me thinking about one word, China maxing. [gentle music] This is The Ind…”

Speculated to potentially benefit from AI advancements without heavy initial spending.

“Yeah, I get your point. So it'd be funny if Apple spent nothing and ends up benefiting the most, which is probably gonna happen.”

Mentioned in the context of developing heads-up display technology and the ongoing issues with CarPlay functionality.

“And Apple, of course, is look- looking at gla- there's gonna be some sort of heads-up display, but it's not quite there yet. One of the th- it, it's really been a series of, like, disappointments in that area in terms of it not working. I can't even get CarPla…”

The platform where unauthorized, AI-generated versions of Stern's book were found.

“... uh, iBooks.”

Referenced in the context of the iPhone's historical impact on technology platforms.

“I think we're at, to... 'Cause I lived through and covered the smartphone explosion, so let's use that. I think we are at the i- the first generation of the iPhone-”

The company where Darren Adler led the development of the Safari web browser.

“Yeah. I was putting a few notes down there while you said that because you reminded me of a few things that one of the other guys who came out of General Magic, the big failure, was a guy named Darren Adler, who went on to lead the development of the Safari we…”

Company represented by Tim Cook in the US delegation to China.

“Observers expect China to announce purchases of additional soybeans and other farm products, and maybe even Boeing airplanes. Announcing big purchase agreements is a trademark of Trump foreign trips, but these things have often turned out to be less than meets…”

Used as an example in a debate about whether major corporations in the S&P 500 should be classified as purely American companies.

“Dude, the S&P 500's not... Is Apple an American company? Of course not.”

The speakers discuss how wearing AirPods creates a barrier to experiencing the richness of the world around us.

“You know, you were sitting in traffic and there wasn't a lot to do. You were in line at the supermarket, and there was nothing really to look at, and now we have the world of distraction at our fingertips. We have AirPods in our ears, and so the-- just the dai…”