Dennis Sellers

<p>Here are some of the highlights from Apple’s call with the press and analysts on Apple’s financial results for its fiscal 2018 first quarter that ended December 30, 2017. CEO Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri spoke during the conference call.</p>

<p>Apple has announced financial results for its fiscal 2018 first quarter that ended December 30, 2017. The company posted quarterly revenue of $88.3 billion, an increase of 13% from the year-ago quarter and an all-time record, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $3.89, up 16%, also an all-time record. International sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue.</p>

<p>An Apple TV app for Google’s YouTube TV is coming soon for tvOS, a YouTube representative told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-tv-available-on-roku-coming-to-apple-tv-very-soon/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>CNET</em></a>. </p>

<p>Apple has been granted a patent (number 20180028111) for a “family sleep monitoring system,” which would record the sleep parameters of family members by providing third party apps and a peripheral devices communicating with “mobile subscriber terminals” according to the age and interest of each family member. It would involve both iPhones, Macs, and Beddit sleep tracking hardware/software.</p>

<p>Apple has been granted a patent (number 20180032158) for an ambidextrous mouse for use with Macs that’s configured for both left and right handed use. </p>

<p>According to the latest market share survey from <a target="_blank" href="http://netmarkeshare.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">NetMarketShare</a>, the market share for both macOS and iOS both increased last month. </p>

<p>We’ll be covering <a target="_blank" href="http://investor.apple.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple's earnings this afternoon</a>. Meanwhile, here’s some relevant data from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.emarketer.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">eMarketer</a> on Apple’s U.S. and UK market share for the iPhone and iPad as well as revenue and sales.</p>

<p>GarageBand has seen the first new entry in its Sound Library since the feature was added in version 2.3. The Library allows users to preview and download new Apple-designed sounds and instruments right within the app. </p>

<p>According to the latest research from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.counterpoint.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Counterpoint’s Market Pulse program</a><strong>,</strong> Apple sold a record 22.39 million iPhones in the U.S. market during the holiday season quarter of 2017. The tech giant grew their sell-through market share from 37% to 44%, notes the research group. This is the highest ever market share for Apple in its home market.</p>

<p>Amazon is the world’s most valuable brand, ahead of Apple and Google, according to the latest <a target="_blank" href="https://eu.vocuspr.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d93%3b29%26JDG%3c%3b1%3e466%40%26SDG%3c%3a0%3c2&RE=MC&RI=3956681&Preview=False&DistributionActionID=32597&Action=Follow+Link" rel="noopener noreferrer">Brand Finance Global 500 report</a>. The e-commerce giant’s brand value increased by 42% year on year to $150.8 billion. Apple was in first place in 2016, but was overtaken by Google in 2017.</p>

<p>I really like my Apple Pencil —and really dislike the process of charging it. We need a better solution. How about an Apple Pencil that works with the upcoming AirPower?</p>

<p>Are you a news junkie? If so, you’ll want to check out AppGeneration’s <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mynews-free/id882762430" rel="noopener noreferrer">myNews Pro</a> for macOS (10.10 and later) offers easy access to news of all kind from all over the world — more than 5,000 online newspapers from 80 countries, to be exact. </p>

<p>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 today's picks.</p>

<p>Two former Apple TV designers, Ben Keighran and Sam Roberts, have raised $46 million in  in two rounds of funding led by Silicon Valley VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners to launch Caffeine, a startup looking to take on Amazon-owned Twitch with a new social-broadcasting service, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/caffeine-apple-tv-execs-funding-live-broadcasting-1202682809/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em></a>.</p>

<p>Dubset Media Holdings has partnered with Apple Music to provide hundreds of DJ mixes to the streaming platform, including three never-before-heard DJ sets from <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-retrospective-mix-2011-2017/1339218947" rel="noopener noreferrer">Steve Aoki</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sigalas-picks/1338903805" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sigala</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hip-hop-classics-part-1-hip-hop-classics-part-1/1338982765" rel="noopener noreferrer">DJ Suss One</a>. </p>