Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">VirnetX has urged the full Federal Circuit not to consider lessening a $439 million patent infringement verdict against Apple, claiming the tech giant is only asking for review in a bid to delay the case while trying to invalidate the network security patents through another proceeding, reports <a href="https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1142113/apple-using-en-banc-bid-to-stall-439m-ip-loss-virnetx-says?nl_pk=ade0cf2b-ea3f-464b-bc93-d8e19277ac63&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Law360</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Yesterday’s “It’s show time”Apple event was cram packed with news. Here are some of my first reactions:</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Users of Apple Pay and Apple Pay Cash have been notified about changes coming to Apple Pay Cash with iOS 12.2 and watchOS 5.2 software updates with addition of Instant Transfer.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has released macOS Mojave 10.14.4. The operating system upgrade adds support for Apple News + and Dark Mode on Safari.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has rolled out tvOS 12.2 for fourth and fifth generation Apple TVs. Combined with iOS 12.2, also released today, it lets users ask Siri to play specific media on the Apple set-top boxes from an iPhone or iPad.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has rebranded its fourth generation Apple TV as “Apple TV HD,” apparently so it won’t be confused with the Apple TV 4K.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has released iOS 12.2. You can download it on your iPhone or iPad by going to Settings --> General --> Software Update. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple today announced Apple TV+, the new home for the “world’s most creative storytellers” featuring exclusive origin. It’s coming this fall to over 100 countires, but pricing (and a lot of other details) have yet to be announced.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has announced Apple Card, a new kind of credit card created by the tech giant and designed to help customers lead a healthier financial life, according to Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple seems to finally be taking gaming seriously. The tech giant has announced Apple Arcade, a game subscription service that will feature over 100 new and exclusive games, including original releases from creators Hironobu Sakaguchi, Ken Wong, Will Wright and more. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Apple has announced Apple News+, a $9.99/month subscription service that brings together over 300 popular magazines, leading newspapers and digital publishers into a curated experience within the Apple News app. And it’s available now.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Smartphone sell-through in the US market fell 2.7% year-on-year (YoY) in January 2019 to 13.7 million units, according to the latest research from <a href="http://wwwcounterpointresearch.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Counterpoint's Market Pulse program</a>. This is the 14th consecutive month of YoY decline in sales and the second successive year when sales were down on a YoY basis in January. </p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Pandora may be the most popular music streaming service in the US, but it won’t retain the No. 1 spot for much longer. According to eMarketer’s latest <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/articles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration:underline">forecast on digital music listeners</span></a>, Spotify will surpass Pandora in terms of users by 2021—one year sooner than eMarketer predicted last year. Meanwhile, Apple Music continues to thrive.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In quarter four of 2018 (2018Q4), Australia's personal computer market experienced a -2.5% year-on-year (YoY) decline in unit shipments, according to the latest <a href="http://www.idc.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>IDC research</em></a><em>.  </em>However, Macs did a bit better.</p>

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;">If you ordered the AirPods 2 last week on the day, they were announced, you should get yours this week. Mine is due to arrive Wednesday, so look for a review soon.</p>