Dennis Sellers

<p class="">The gang at Twelve South has introduced the <a href="https://www.twelvesouth.com/products/curve-for-macbook?variant=31432696463417" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Curve SE</a>, a $59.99 white desktop stand for Mac laptops. It's designed to match all of Apple’s accessories such as the Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard.</p>

<p class="">Let the Apple Car rumors roll on. Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,558866) for a “system and method for light and image projection” that involves, among other things, innovative headlights on a vehicle.</p>

<p class="">The Federal Trade Commission <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/02/ftc-examine-past-acquisitions-large-technology-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced</a> that it’s issued Special Orders to Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Google parent company, Alphabet, requiring them to provide information about prior acquisitions not reported to the antitrust agencies under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act.</p>

<p class="">New data from <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.juniperresearch.com%2Fhome%3Futm_campaign%3Dpr1_contactlesspayments_financial_feb20%26utm_source%3Dbusinesswire%26utm_medium%3Dpr&esheet=52170998&newsitemid=20200210005531&lan=en-US&anchor=Juniper+Research&index=1&md5=8cea2ef130a9ed4bf6ee8a85f9dcaba4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Juniper Research</a> forecasts that global contactless transaction values will reach nearly $6 trillion in 2024, up from $2 trillion in 2020. The research group identified the rollout of contactless cards in the U.S. and improvements in China’s contactless POS [point-of-sale] infrastructure as key drivers of this increase, as well as strong growth from Apple Pay.</p>

<p class="">The global market size for true wireless hearables beat expectations, growing 53% quarter-over-quarter [QoQ] in the fourth quarter of 2019, topping 51 million units for the quarter and 130m units for the full year, according to <a href="https://report.counterpointresearch.com/posts/report_view/Emerging_Tech/1723" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Counterpoint Research’s latest Hearables Market Tracker</a><span style="text-decoration:underline">.</span> The U.S. was the main driver for the quarter, growing 76% QoQ and accounting for 35% of the global market on the back of seasonal promotions and Apple’s new model launch.</p>

<p class="">According to <a href="http://www.apple.com"><span style="text-decoration:underline">MacRumors</span></a>, Apple has joined the <a href="https://fidoalliance.org/">Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance</a>, an open industry association “with a focused mission: authentication standards to help reduce the world’s over-reliance on passwords.</p>

<p class="">Amazon, which already holds a dominant position in the U.S. smart speaker market, will continue to maintain this leadership through 2021, with approximately 70% of total U.S. smart speaker users expected to use an Amazon Echo device, according to a new report from <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/amazon-maintains-convincing-lead-in-us-smart-speaker-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eMarketer</a>.</p>

<p class="">Apple has lost another round in its never-ending legal battle over hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty claims by VirnetX (a company I consider a “patent troll”) for patents used in virtual private networks including FaceTime reports <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-10/apple-loses-bid-for-rehearing-in-virnetx-patent-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a>.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Smartphone sales in China could shrink up to 50% in quarter one of this year due to the impact of the Coronavirus on the retail and manufacturing sectors, the Canalys research group tells <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-smartphones/chinas-first-quarter-smartphone-sales-may-halve-due-to-coronavirus-analysts-idUSKBN2040XL" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a>.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">According to an October report from the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/85967cd2-e86b-11e9-a240-3b065ef5fc55" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Financial Times</a>, Apple was in discussion with records labels to bundle Apple Music and the upcoming Apple TV+ into a “super-bundle” of music, movies, and TV shows. Let's hope tis happens soon and includes Apple News+ and Apple Arcade (and perhaps iBooks+!).</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200045500) for a “user interface for providing offline access to maps” that hints at future features on the Maps app for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS devices.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90461424/a-new-low-cost-iphone-is-coming-in-march-and-its-a-smart-move-for-apple" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sources</a> of <em>Fast Company </em>say the follow-up to the iPhone SE will sell for $399 with parts already in production. The article says Apple needs a lower-cost device to have a better chance of competing in the Indian market, “which is huge but also accustomed to paying less than $200 for Android phones.”</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has added yet another granted patent (number10,k551,880) to its repertoire of patents related to a “foldable" iPhone. It’s not going to happen any time soon — perhaps ever — but the company is at least looking into such a device behind closed doors. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">On a regular basis, <em>Apple World Today </em>posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are this week’s picks.</p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The latest game on Apple Arcade, Apple’s streaming game service, is Charrua Soccer. It’s a soccer game inspired by South America's Charrúa people.</p>