Former Apple lawyer Gene Levoff, who was responsible for Apple's compliance with insider trading policies, has been charged with insider trading. The SEC unveiled the charges yesterday, saying Levoff—fired by Apple last year after the authorities came knocking—used confidential information to trade Apple securities for personal gain. BBC
Apple has just bought the talent it needs to make talking toys a part of Siri, HomePod and its voice strategy, with the acquisition of PullString. The company makes voice experience design tools, artificial intelligence to power those experiences, and toys like talking Barbie and Thomas The Tank Engine. (TechCrunch)
Weaker demand for Apple's iPhones has led key manufacturer Foxconn to pay its workers less and scale back perks such as their shuttle buses. While peak production season usually lasts four or five months, one worker said: "In September, our line supervisor told us that Apple added a new order for three million iPhone 8 Plus [units]. It only took us about 20 days to finish the production because we worked 18 hours a day in two shifts, including weekends. The peak season didn't last long at all." South China Morning Post
Last year, every time someone paid $11 for Netflix through an iPhone app, Apple pocketed as much as $3.30. Multiply that by every charge made through iPhone apps and you can see why Netflix and other companies are fed up about what they consider Apple’s unfair market power. Late last year, Netflix rebelled against Apple’s fees, which can range from 15 percent to 30 percent. (Denver Post)
At a Wednesday White House event, President Donald Trump flubbed Tim Cook's name, thanking instead "Tim Apple" for boosting the American workforce. The moment wasn't lost on the media—or Cook himself, it seems. The Apple CEO embraced the amusing mistake on Thursday by changing his Twitter name to Tim with the Apple logo. And in what's being called "the most legendary ‘Tim Apple' sub tweet of all time," Cook's inside joke was apparently only visible to users on Apple devices. Washington Post
Huawei is open to selling Apple its "5G" mobile connectivity chips, company founder Ren Zhengfei has said. So far, Huawei has reserved those chips for its own phones. Apple does not yet have a "5G"-capable device. CNBC
Apple's share price rose around 5% in after-hours trading, following a quarterly report that beat analyst expectations on dividends. Apple's guidance for its June quarter sales also came in above consensus. However, the results also showed Apple's first back-to-back drop in quarterly sales and profit—iPhone revenues were down 17%. Wall Street Journal
One of Monday's biggest losers was Apple, whose share price fell by almost 6%. That's not entirely to do with China—it's also because the Supreme Court ruled consumers can sue Apple for antitrust violations, on the basis that the App Store constitutes a monopoly. Apple claims it is only an intermediary. This ruling doesn't just affect Apple; it's ruffling nerves among many other tech companies with walled-off virtual storefronts. CNN
