Sony’s patent for contact lens cameras is so detailed it includes provisions for animals
Rose Behar
May 3, 2016 10:00am
Sony has applied for a patent covering camera contact lens technology, putting itself in the race to produce commercial smart lenses alongside Google and Samsung.
The present disclosure was filed April 7th but appears to have been in the works since May 2013, when the foreign application data was first submitted. The application goes in to significant detail about the lenses compared to Samsung orGoogle‘s patents, giving the appearance that the technology is at a fairly advanced stage of development.
As described in the patent, the technology will allow users to take pictures through deliberate blinks, which will be differentiated from regular blinks through the length of time the eye is closed. By way of example, Sony says a blink over 0.5 seconds would activate the camera, as normal blinks are generally between 0.2 and 0.4 seconds.
The pictures can be taken one at a time or in bursts according to settings users can regulate from an external device. Once taken, they are sent to an external storage device via a built-in transmitter. Also in the patent is mention of a display unit that activates when eyes are closed and uses a head-tilt sensor to scroll through pictures.
The camera itself, the patent states, will have image stabilization, autofocus and zooming, as well as aperture and exposure adjustment.
Perhaps one of the more fascinating aspects of the patent is the section where Sony gives a passing reference to animals wearing the lenses. The mention is in a section regarding display elements placed in matrix on a curved surface corresponding to the curved surface of a human eye. It notes: “In the case where another animal wears the contact lens 1, an eye of the animal.”
Are we approaching the days of high-tech animal spies? One can only hope, but from the in-depth nature of Sony’s patent, it appears it may be available to us humans in the near future.
Move over drones and driverless cars, unmanned ships are up next.
SAN DIEGO — It’s not only drones and driverless cars that may become the norm someday— ocean-faring ships might also run without captains or crews.
(Photo: DARPA)
The Pentagon on Monday showed off the world’s largest unmanned surface vessel, a self-driving 132-foot ship able to travel up to 10,000 nautical miles on its own to hunt for stealthy submarines and underwater mines.
The military’s research arm, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, in conjunction with the Navy will be testing the ship off the San Diego coast over the next two years to observe how it interacts with other vessels and avoids collisions. Unlike smaller, remote-controlled craft launched from ships, the so-called “Sea Hunter” is built to operate on its own.
“It’s not a joy-stick ship,” said DARPA spokesman Jared B. Adams, standing in front of the sleek, futuristic-looking steel-grey vessel docked at a maritime terminal in the heart of San Diego’s shipbuilding district, where TV crews filmed the robotic craft.
“Sea Hunter” relies on radar, sonar, cameras and a global positioning system. Unmanned ships will supplement missions to help keep service members out of harm’s way, Adams said.
Besides military leaders, the commercial shipping industry will be watching the ship’s performance during the trial period. Maritime companies from Europe to Asia have been looking into developing fleets of unmanned ships to cut down on operating costs and get through areas plagued by pirates.
During the testing phase, the ship will have human operators as a safety net. But once it proves to be reliable, it will manoeuvr itself—able to go out at sea for months at a time. With its twin diesel engines, it could go as far as Guam from San Diego on a mission, developers say. There are no plans at this point to arm it.
“There are a lot of advantages that we’re still trying to learn about,” program manager Scott Littlefield said.
The idea in the commercial sector has sparked debate over whether it’s possible to make robotic boats safe enough. The International Transport Workers’ Federation, the union representing more than half of the world’s more than 1 million seafarers, has said it does not believe technology will ever be able to replace the ability of humans to foresee and react to the various dangers at sea.
Others have expressed concern about hackers taking control. Military officials have been working on hacker-proof protections and say it’s possible to make ships cyber-secure.
The “Sea Hunter” was built off the Oregon coast, and it moved on a barge to San Diego’s coastline. The prototype can travel at a speed of up to about 30 mph and is equipped with a variety of sensors and an advanced optical system to detect other ships.
The program to develop the ship cost $120 million, though DARPA officials say the vessels can now be produced for about $20 million.
The agreement raises questions around the sharing of patient data, as well as about Google’s broad reach into medical services, where it has access to information that it can use to build data-analysis services that can’t be matched byrivals.
The agreement is linked to the development of a mobile application called Streams, announced by Google subsidiary DeepMind in February, that is aimed at helping hospital staff monitor patients with kidney disease.
But under the terms of the agreement, which weren’t disclosed until they were reported by science magazine New Scientist, Google will have broad access to data on the 1.6 million patients who use the trust’s three hospitals, Barnet, Chase Farm and the Royal Free, each year.
The data includes information on people who are HIV-positive and details of drug overdoses and abortions, as well as real-time data on admissions, discharges and patient transfers, and access to patient data for the past five years, according to the agreement.
Google acknowledged the agreement, saying that the NHS has no separate data set for people with kidney conditions, meaning all hospital data is needed in order for Streams to run effectively.
The data is to be used to train tools that can spot patterns in large amounts of data and help hospital staff focus on what’s relevant, for instance indicators that a patient may be in the early stages of a particular condition, Google said.
The Royal Free NHS Trust added in a statement that the data would be used for “direct clinical care” and was provided under “strict information governance rules”.
Under the agreement’s terms, the data can’t be used by any other part of Google’s business, and is to be stored in the UK by a third party, not in DeepMind’s own offices. DeepMind is required to delete its copy of the data when the agreement expires at the end of September 2017.
The deal gives Google access to detailed daily logs of hospital activity, including the location and status of patients, and who visits them and when, as well as the results of some pathology and radiology tests, according to New Scientist.
It includes five years’ worth of data submitted by the trust to the NHS’ centralised record of all hospital treatments in the UK, including for critical care and accident and emergency care.
The NHS has an opt-out mechanism for data submitted to the historical store, which involves writing to one’s GP, but didn’t respond to a request for comment about how patients cold opt out of other types of data collection.
Life sciences minister George Freeman said in a statement that “tough new measures to ensure patient confidentiality” were designed to ensure NHS patient data was secure and wasn’t sold or used inappropriately.
Machine learning
While Google’s period of access to the data is limited, such access is invaluable for training machine learning technologies of the kind developed by DeepMind.
Academic Ross Anderson of the University of Cambridge told New Scientist that giving Google access to such valuable information could result in the development of important medical services for which Google would be the only provider.
“If Google gets a monopoly on providing some kind of service to the NHS it will burn the NHS,” he said.
The danger of such a monopoly is far from theoretical – EU antitrust regulators last year formally accused Google of abusing its dominant position in Internet search, and last month accused the company of abuse involving its dominant Android mobile operating system.
DeepMind was founded in the UK in 2010 in order to find applications for artificial intelligence technologies created by British researchers, and was acquired by Google in 2014.
Astronomers discover potentially habitable planets just 40 light years from Earth
Best targets so far for search for extraterrestrial life
May 3, 2016
This artist’s rendering shows an imagined view of the three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth that were discovered using the TRAPPIST telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. In this view, one of the inner planets is seen in transit (black dot) across the disc of its tiny and dim parent star. (credit: M. Kornmesser/ESO)
Astronomers have detected three exoplanets just 40 light years from Earth whose sizes and temperatures are comparable to those of Earth. The planets may be the best targets found so far for the search for life outside the solar system.
The results were published Monday (May 2) in the journal Nature.
Because the system is relatively close to Earth, co-author Julien de Wit, a postdoc at MIT, says scientists will soon be able to study the planets’ atmospheric compositions, as well as assess their habitability and whether life actually exists within this planetary system.
The scientists discovered the planets using TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope), a 60-centimeter telescope operated by the University of Liège, based in Chile. Built by lead authors Michael Gillon and Emmanuel Jehin of the University of Liège, TRAPPIST is designed to focus on 60 nearby small, ”ultracool” dwarf stars (those with effective temperatures of less than 2,700 kelvin) — stars that are so faint they are invisible to optical telescopes and are monitored at infrared wavelengths.
The team focused the telescope on the dwarf star, which they named TRAPPIST-1 — a Jupiter-sized star that is one-eighth the size of our sun and significantly cooler. Over several months, the scientists observed the star’s infrared signal fade slightly at regular intervals, suggesting that several objects were passing in front of the star.
Most exoplanetary missions have been focused on finding systems around bright, solar-like stars. These stars emit radiation in the visible band and can be seen with optical telescopes. However, because these stars are so bright, their light can overpower any signal coming from a planet. Ultracool stars emit radiation in the infrared band. Because they are so faint, these tiny red stars would not drown out the image of a planet crossing the star, giving scientists a better chance of detecting orbiting planets.
May be in the habitable zone
From their observations, the scientists determined that all three planets are likely tidally locked, with permanent day and night sides.
The two innermost planets orbit the star in 1.5 and 2.4 days and receive only four and two times, respectively, the amount of radiation the Earth receives from the sun. The third planet may orbit the star in anywhere from four to 73 days, and may receive even less radiation than Earth. But given their size and proximity to their star, all three planets may have regions with temperatures well below 127 degrees C (260 degrees F), within a range that is suitable for sustaining liquid water and life.
The two planets closest to the star may have day sides that are too hot, and night sides too cold, to host any life forms. However, there may be a “sweet spot” — a region that still receives daylight, but with relatively cool temperatures — on the western side of both planets that may be temperate enough to sustain conditions suitable for life. The third planet, furthest from its star, may be entirely within the habitable zone.
“Now we have to investigate if they’re habitable,” de Wit says. “We will investigate what kind of atmosphere they have, and then will search for biomarkers and signs of life. We have facilities all over the globe and in space that are helping us, working from UV to radio, in all different wavelengths to tell us everything we want to know about this system.”
This research was funded, in part, by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research, the European Research Council, and NASA.
Abstract of Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf star
Star-like objects with effective temperatures of less than 2,700 kelvin are referred to as ‘ultracool dwarfs’. This heterogeneous group includes stars of extremely low mass as well as brown dwarfs (substellar objects not massive enough to sustain hydrogen fusion), and represents about 15 per cent of the population of astronomical objects near the Sun. Core-accretion theory predicts that, given the small masses of these ultracool dwarfs, and the small sizes of their protoplanetary disks, there should be a large but hitherto undetected population of terrestrial planets orbiting them—ranging from metal-rich Mercury-sized planets to more hospitable volatile-rich Earth-sized planets. Here we report observations of three short-period Earth-sized planets transiting an ultracool dwarf star only 12 parsecs away. The inner two planets receive four times and two times the irradiation of Earth, respectively, placing them close to the inner edge of the habitable zone of the star. Our data suggest that 11 orbits remain possible for the third planet, the most likely resulting in irradiation significantly less than that received by Earth. The infrared brightness of the host star, combined with its Jupiter-like size, offers the possibility of thoroughly characterizing the components of this nearby planetary system.
New eggplant hybrid seeks a place on meatless menus
Eggplant hasn’t been a favourite of American home gardeners, but a new hybrid that’s billed as an alternative to meat could be changing that.
The hybrid dubbed “Meatball” has powered its way into the home-garden market this spring. Sales rival those of tomatoes and peppers, among the most popular items in the W. Atlee Burpee & Co. seed catalogue, said the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, George Ball.
“This new one is not like any eggplant we’ve ever bred or found or seen,” he said.
The Meatball contains more water, which resists oil in the frying pan, Ball said.
“That makes for a more refreshing and less oily product,” he said. “It also is seedless, giving it two important genetic virtues.”
Kitchen trials were held with friends, family and focus groups using the Meatball as a hamburger or steak-like primary ingredient, Ball said. “It won hands-down when compared to both veggie burgers and meat” in taste tests, he said.
Maturity dates for the new eggplant range from 55 to 78 days, depending on location.
Eggplants are native to India, much of China and Southeast Asia, so most species thrive in high heat. Many of the later European versions were white or yellow, resembling chicken or goose eggs; hence the name eggplant.
Their earliest use was believed to be more medicinal than culinary. Eggplants’ fruit, roots and leaves were used for treating abscesses and intestinal problems.
Thomas Jefferson often has been credited with importing eggplants into American gardens in the late 1700s, but they were slow to gain popularity as a cooking staple, a trend that continues today.
“I took some of my surplus eggplant to a local food bank last year and they said it was the first time they’d ever gotten it,” said Marianne Ophardt, Benton County director for Washington State University Extension.
“Recipes are limited for making it more flavourful, which may account for some of its slow acceptance,” she said. “It generally doesn’t have the same crispness or flavour as tomatoes. A lot of people harvest it when it’s over-mature, which makes it taste bitter and seedy.”
Eggplants are easy to grow, however, and are tougher in the garden than peppers, Ophardt said.
“I grow mine in a half wine barrel,” she said. “I learned the hard way not to put too many (plants) in. They can grow fairly large and take up containers.”
Eggplants have few pest problems, she said: “Some aphids, maybe, but even without treating them they’ll go away.”
And the vegetable has changed over time.
“Colours vary now from bright purple to oranges, whites and striped,” said Ophardt. “Some are a little different flavoured. I use them a lot when cooking Thai food.”
There is a lot of eggplant diversity in the garden market, including heirlooms, Ophardt said. “That includes some that are more ornamental than anything else.”
BMW ‘Intelligent Emergency Call’ System For Motorcycles Debuts As First Of Its Kind
Quick response in case of road accidents or emergencies can be crucial to the survival of those involved, and BMW wants to make motorcyclists as safe as car drivers.
BMW Motorrad crafted an optional “Intelligent Emergency Call (IEC)” system that is able to quickly summon help to the scene of a road accident or emergency.
In the case of car or truck drivers, the need for quick help request was met some time ago, via services such as OnStar. Bikers did not have this option, but they now have reasons to rejoice at the introduction of the IEC, which should increase road safety for them as well. Not only will the system be embedded into one’s motorcycle, but there is also a level of flexibility to it.
IEC works by tapping into sensors for acceleration and lean angle. The system recognizes when your bike falls or crashes and how bad the experience was. Then it triggers different responses. Should the crash be serious, the system sends your ride’s position with a distress call.
Scenario 1: The signal goes off in case of a critical fall / collision.
Should the system detect a significant fall or collision has occurred, a message reaches a BMW Call Center immediately. Until the emergency service gets to the scene, the rider remains in constant contact with BMW’s Call Center. Even if the motorcyclist does not respond (as when the person may be badly injured), help is sent out anyway. A visual and an audio cue indicate that the emergency service was hailed and on the way. For this level of alert, riders are unable to cancel the emergency call.
Scenario 2: The signal activates automatically when a minor fall / collision occurs.
After the accident, riders get 25 seconds to call off the warning. By pressing a button, the BMW Call Center is notified that no emergency crew is required. If the motorcyclist does not cancel the signal, the scenario 1 applies: the instrument cluster displays a visual reminder that an eCall was launched, and an acoustic signal is there as well.
Scenario 3: The signal requires manual triggering.
By pressing the SOS button on the right handlebar end, riders are able to call help in for other road users.
The SOS sends out an alert to a BMW Call Center, and a voice call starts to assess the situation. It should be noted that the voice connection is a must, in case the eCall was triggered manually. This scenario also allows for the canceling of the eCall, by pressing a button or by turning off the ignition. This means that the emergency call works on manual mode only when the bike is stationary and its ignition is on.
The system is calibrated in such a way that no false alarms are in store. The calls will not be dispatched in non-emergency situations, such as low-speed falls or when riding over potholes.
It will take a bit of time before BMW’s emergency call system reaches the United States, though.
IEC is scheduled for launch in Germany during the beginning of 2017, with other European countries in tow.
Just last year, a consortium of three motorcycle manufacturers (including BMW) entered a partnership aimed at increasing motorcycle safety. Read all about it in our coverage about two-wheeler road security.
We are living in an age where it’s possible to control our household devices using smartphones and remote computers. Thanks to technological advancements, smart home solutions are evolving and have seen momentous growth over the past few years.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been trending in the digital world and is a topic of conversation in the workplace and outside. IoT is an emerging trend and a ‘smart home’ is its subset. IoT involves the connectivity of all things that surround us, including vehicles, home appliances, buildings and everything else.
Internet of things is of significant importance for the future of smart homes. As the number of devices that are connected to the Internet increase, the more potential it will provide to integrate these into home automation.
Home automation refers to the ability of controlling devices around the house, from window shades to air conditioners with a simple click from an associated software application (app) installed on your phone, tablet or a remote computer. From a security point of view, this can also include alarm system, door locks, smoke detectors and surveillance equipment. Now you don’t need to worry if you forgot to lock the main door before leaving the house or you want to put the air conditioner on before you arrive home. Depending on the requirements and the investment you are ready to make, almost any device can be automated or remotely controlled.
The concept of smart homes has been in theory long before it became a reality, and large electronic companies have been pouring millions of dollars and working hard to research, innovate and reduce hardware costs to make this concept a reality and affordable for the general consumer. Since modern homes are equipped with Wi-Fi Internet, it makes complete sense to bring the appliances onboard and control them from anywhere to seamlessly integrate our digital and physical worlds. The two main characteristics of smart homes are automation and remote control.
Automation: This is where a home’s devices are programmed and scheduled based on user inputs and preferences. This can include events triggered at a specific time, for example turning the lights on and off at a specific time of the day. This may also include non-scheduled events that are triggered when another event happens, for example turn the flash lights on when the safety alarm is triggered. You can customise the settings on each device to dictate how, when and why it should react and the device will follow orders, thus providing control, convenience, time and energy savings and a complete smart home experience. Initially, the devices work based on user programming, but with time, the device collects data and adapts to patterns.
Remote control: This is where the devices are connected to the Internet to be monitored and controlled remotely with no schedules or specific time but purely at the owner’s click of a button. Remote control provides a convenient way of interacting with your home and controlling any connected devices remotely. These connected devices can also send notification to your app when an unwanted event is triggered.
Benefits: While ease and accessibility are some benefits provided by smart homes, convenience and collaboration are also handy. Smart home technology enables appliances to operate on least required energy by turning them on and off only when required, this saves a lot of energy and cost as well. If saving energy doesn’t sound a big benefit for you, reducing the energy bill surely is. The other big reason that gets my attention is that by automating small tasks, we can save a lot of time which can be utilised in other activities. Safety is one of the main concerns for families, and automated homes provide advanced surveillance systems which can safeguard homes even while you are away.
Future: The home automation market is rapidly growing and primarily driven by growing need for effective solutions in various domestic applications. The global home automation market is expected to reach $21 billion by 2020, growing at an annual rate of around 25 per cent between 2015 and 2020. The GCC has also witnessed a growth in demand for home automation products and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14 per cent during the period of 2016-2020 as predicted by researchers.
The concept of home automation has been around for a long time but the technology to realise it didn’t exist. The future has already arrived, just open the door!
The writer is online marketing manager at Aston Pearl Real Estate. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper’s policies.
A new open source project called PieMessage enables cross-platform iMessage support, allowingAndroid users to communicate using Apple’s iPhone messaging platform.
In the video below, we get a short look at the PieMessage app in action with a still unreleased prototype version of the app.The video was sent in by Eric Chee, the app developer that builtPieMessage and today released the code on GitHub.
It’s not the first app to enable the feature as similar but short-livedsolutions have been previously available for Android devices. Likethe previous solutions, it needs a server to enable iMessage supporton non-Apple devices. The difference is PieMessage uses Mac andan OS X client as a server. In the past, apps that have been releasedused a third-party server to route messages, raising securityconcerns among users and likely for Apple as well. But thisapproach could in theory allow users to use their own Macs:
Basically what the Android client does is send the text to amacbook. And uses the Mac’s “Messages” app to send off the notification. When the Macdetects an incoming message, it will pass it back to the Android. So yes there is bothsoftware you need to run on a Mac and Android. I have an old 2007 macbook that is justalways on connected at home that serves as its client…
In the GitHub project is an OS X client and an Android client as well as “messages.applescript” andJava Web Server. Chee explains the “messages.applescript is arguably the most important part of the project. It is what makes sending iMessages possible. This script is what sends an iMessage message.” And he also notes that since the project uses a custom API, it’s possible other developers could build clients for the web, Windows or other platforms in addition to Android.The developer told us PieMessage is still a work in progress. It “can receive group messages, but sending has its limitations,” Chee notes. And he also points out that it’s possible Apple could patch future OS versions that could break the app.
But now that the code is on GitHub, it’s also possible for developers to build apps that will allowAndroid users (and other platforms) to access iMessage using their own Macs as a server.
A Business Insider report on the smartwatch market is forecasting that the Apple Watch will by 2020account for around 40% of sales in the luxury watch market, which it defines as watches costing atleast $350.
As evidence for this, it cites a consumer survey showing growing interest in the Apple Watch amongowners of traditional watches, 27% of those who already wear a watch saying that the addedfunctionality of Apple’s wearable appeals to them. The report also notes a trend away from simplerfitness bands toward full smartwatches …The report says that fitness bands have seen their share of thewearables market fall from 53% in 2014 to an estimated 48% thisyear, with a further slide to 42% predicted by 2020. Among thoseplanning to buy a smartwatch, three times as many favor an AppleWatch over an Android-based competitor.
As always with reports aiming to predict the future of tech products,a lot of assumptions go into them that may or may not turn out tobe correct, so they are best viewed as informed opinion.
An earlier report suggests that the Apple Watch may have a difficulttime in the shorter term, KGI forecasting that full-year shipments willfall 25% year-on-year before picking up on the back of a new designin 2017.
A NYT piece contained an interesting snippet about Fitbit: the company delayed its new product launchby six months back in 2011 because of the launch of the iPhone 4s.
At the time, the new iPhone added a capability to synchronize with wireless accessoriesusing the standard called Bluetooth. Fitbit trackers back then lacked Bluetooth connectivity,but [Fitbit CEO James Park] wanted them to be able to synchronize data immediately withthe iPhone.
“It could enable a lot of possibilities in terms of real-time feedback,” he said.
So Mr. Park gathered a few top employees into a conference room. They decided to re-engineer the Fitbit products to support the new feature. The decision set product releasesback about six months, but the revised devices became best sellers.
Park says that Fitbit will expand the functionality of their products – possibly to include mobilepayment – while stopping short of the range of features offered by smartwatches. The Apple Watch,meantime, appears to have more designer bands on the way, with Coach bands expected to launchnext month from $150.
7 important things Tim Cook just said about iPhone 7, Apple Watch 2 and more
Apple CEO Tim Cook thinks Wall Street has it wrong: his company had “an incredible quarter” despite the fact that it experienced its first revenue decline in 13 years.
That’s not all. He dropped important hints about the iPhone 7, Apple Watch 2and expansion of key services while talking to CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer.
There’s a lot to take in from the Cook interview, and he’s extremely vague about everything except for the fact that Apple is “fairly secretive” company when it comes new products.
That’s why we parsed through the entire program in order to understand everything being said. Here are the seven big takeaways from this Apple interview.
1. Unfiltered iPhone 7 hype
There has been ample talk suggesting that the iPhone 7 will be a boring, iterative update, even though this year’s phone is due to be a major refresh that happens every two years. Not so fast.
Great expectations for iPhone 7
“We’re incredibly excited about things we’re working on. Incredibly excited,” said Cook after Cramer asked about the iPhone 7 directly.
“We’ve got great innovation in the pipeline, new iPhones that will incent you and other people that have iPhones today to upgrade to new iPhones.”
Cook didn’t go into detail on the new iPhones (shocker), but we’ve been hearing plenty of rumors about a dual-lens camera for the iPhone 7 Plus, reworked antenna bands and no headphone jack. Of course, there’s hope among Apple faithful that’s there’s more to it than that.
“We’re going to give you things that you can’t live without that you just don’t know you need today,” Cook boasted when talking about future iPhones.
“That has always been the objective of Apple. To do things that really enrich people’s lives. That you look back on and you wonder ‘how did I live without this?'”
In other words, Cook promised that the next iPhone won’t be boring, contrary to the ho-hum predictions of newsmaking analysts. At the end of the day it’s his job to keep the hype train rolling, and we’ll likely have to wait until September to know who’s right.
2. Apple Watch 2 hints
Cook hasn’t directly acknowledged that the Cupertino company is working on an Apple Watch 2, but everything he said indicates that a second generation smartwatch is inevitable.
Promises you’ll see Apple Watch get better
“You’ll see the Apple Watch getting better and better,” he promised. This statement could relate to a new Apple Watch for 2016, or possibly just watchOS 3 software. My bet is both.
Why? Because, right now, the Apple Watch is something we *can* live without, and no mere software update is going to dramatically change that. Yet Cook continues with promises that the Watch will be a must-have down the line.
“I think that in a few years we will look back and people will say, ‘How could I have ever thought about not wearing this watch?,'” he said to Cramer. Clearly, an Apple Watch 2 is the only way for this to happen.
With the current Apple Watch, Cook admitted: “We’re still in learning mode. We’re learning fairly quickly, though. We know a lot more than we did a year ago.”
Time to expand that “new category,” Tim, and make it something even more worthwhile.
3. Emphasis on services (which includes Android)
Apple is moving beyond phones and hardware with an intense focus on services, and it’s paying off in a big way.
Could more apps come to Android?
“Services now is the second largest revenue segment at Apple,” said Cook. “Last quarter we were at 6 billion, up 20%. It is fast growing.”
This includes App Store purchases, Apple Music subscriptions, Apple Pay transaction fees (off of credit card companies, not you), and digital content, from movies to songs to e-books.
“This is huge,” Cook exclaimed, reminding everyone that there are over a billion active Apple devices with such capabilities out there.
What’s interesting here is that Apple can instantly double down on its revenue by opening some its services up to Android. It’s already done that with Apple Music on Android.
Many see this as a test case for more Android app integration. If services are as important as Cook claims, it’s almost a no-brainer to further expand to the biggest mobile OS, too.
4. Thinks Apple is doing just fine, thanks
Cook gave us every reason why Apple isn’t in trouble, despite the fact that Wall Street analysts have basically been writing the company’s obituary for the last seven days.
Pushes back against Wall Street
“We just had actually an incredible quarter by absolute standards, 50 billion plus in revenues and 10 billion in profits,” Cook pointed out.
“To put that in perspective the 10 billion is more than any other company makes so it was a pretty good quarter but not up to the Street’s expectations clearly.”
There are a few problems, according to Cook: People are upgrading at a lowerrate than a year ago because last year’s rate was “abnormally high” for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
He went on to twice mention that customers love Apple products, noting that satisfaction and loyalty rates are at an all-time high. That’s the most important thing long term for the company, summarized Cook.
5. India is the new China
Here’s another reason Cook thinks Apple has room to grow: India hasn’t reached peaked iPhone. In fact, it hasn’t even been able to properly use it due to a lack of LTE coverage.
Saffron is the new red
“India will be the most populous country in the world in 2022,” said the facts-dropping Cook. “India today has about 50% of their population at 25 years of age or younger.”
In this “very young country,” Cook summed up the vibe: “People really want smartphones there. And this year, the first year, LTE begins to roll out.”
Previously, without LTE, the Indian population hasn’t been able to tap intoiPhone‘s potential, or the potential of any high-end smartphones.
Cook put it into perspective for the Cramer and the Western world: “So many of your viewers here in the United States, they’re used to using LTE and streaming video. And hopefully they’re getting a good experience there. In India you can’t do that long – there is no LTE. And so that’s changing.”
This echoes what Cook said during his latest quarterly earnings call. He referred to India as “where China was maybe seven to ten years ago.”
He ended his India discussion during today’s interview with three words: “Huge market potential.”
Of course, what Cook didn’t say is that companies like Samsung, Xiaomi and Motorola already have a brand presence there among lower-end devices. Motorola is even holding its next launch event for the budget-friendly Moto G4 in New Delhi.
6. Still growing in China, even if the market isn’t
Everyone is hurting in China in wake of the its economic downturn, but Apple’s revenues are larger than any other foreign company in the country, according to the Apple CEO.
This Chinese iPhone SE could still move the needle
“Economy, clearly not as strong as it was a year ago. Softening. Currency weakening,” was the curt way Cook laid it out before putting on the best pair of rose (gold) colored glasses.
“However, here’s the way I look at it. Two years ago we had enormous sales. And so last year and last year we did even better, 80% better. So we grew 80% over the previous year,” he said.
“This year in constant currency in mainland China, we were down 7. So if you look at it on a two-year basis, Apple grew 70% in China. It’s hard-pressed to say those aren’t good results.”
He conceded that, in general, China’s smartphone industry isn’t growing. How is Apple growing, then? “There’s movement between different suppliers of smartphone,” he explained.
“The great thing is, the [Android] switcher rate in China is huge. 40% up over the first half of last year, the first half of this year. This is huge. So these are people switching from Android smartphones to iPhone in China.”
7. Apple buys a company every 3 to 4 weeks
Another way that Apple can excite us with the iPhone 7 is by buying emerging companies. To be clear, it’s never been in Apple’s DNA to scoop up large, established companies.
I wonder if they use Apple Pay when buying companies?
“We’ve bought some companies to help us in services,” admitted Cook. “We generally acquire a company every three to four weeks on average.”
“It’s a rare month that there’s not a company being bought,” he said to the surprise of a lot of viewers, I’m sure.
They’re usually companies you’ve never heard of: Motion capture studio Faceshift, Machine learning firm Perceptio and augmented reality startup Flyby Media. All joined Apple within the last eight months.
None are household names and may not sound very exciting today. But Apple did buy Siri in 2010, and now that’s a cornerstone of its iPhone and iPad operating system.
“We typically buy for technology and really great people. But you know, we’ll see. We’re always looking,” said Cook.
Apple in 2016
Clearly, the Apple CEO remains bullish about the company’s worldwide goals and its upcoming products, even Wall Street and some investors think otherwise.
It wasn’t named, but it was definitely talked about
It comes to down two reasons: the new iPhone and Apple Watch 2. He side-stepped naming the iPhone 7 when Cramer brought up the phone, but he did say it’ll be worth the upgrade.
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