Dennis Sellers

<p class="">Driven by a surge in use and adoption of the device during the COVID-19 pandemic, quarterly first-time downloads of apps for Apple’s iPad surpassed 1.1 billion worldwide in the first quarter of 2020, marking the first year-over-year growth in this metric since the fourth quarter of 2013 and a 40% increase from quarter one of 2019.</p>

<p class="">Apple is known for its innovations and impressive design. Tablets, laptops, desktops, and iPods made by Apple have met innovation upon innovation as they hit the marketplace and place new standards on technology.</p>

<p class="">According to the latest market share survey from <a href="https://netmarketshare.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NetMarketShare,</a> the market share for Apple’s macOS was up last month, but iOS was down.</p>

<p class="">Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200136234) for iPhone and iPads with millimeter wave antennas. Dubbed “Electronic Devices Having Antennas that Radiate Through a Display," it could involves features in the upcoming 2020 iPhones.</p>

<p class="">A new Apple Pay promotion is promoting Mother’s Day, which is on May 10. You can check out with Apple’s mobile payment service at 1-800-Flowers and get US$10 off a purchase of $29.99 or more by using the florist company’s app or at <a href="http://1800flowers.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1800flowers.com</a> .</p>

<p class="">Apple CEO Tim Cook tells <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-30/apple-ceo-austria-australia-stores-to-reopen-in-1-to-2-weeks?srnd=markets-vp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bloomberg</a> that the company plans to re-open its retail stores in Australia and Austria in the next one to two weeks. The tech giant has 20 stores in the former and one in the latter.</p>

<p class="">As always, in an online session, CEO Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri, answered questions from analysts and media members regarding the company’s financial results for its fiscal 2020 second quarter that ended March 28, 2020. Here are some of the highlights from the call (at least the ones we've not covered elsewhere:</p>

<p class="">The installed base of Apple device users reached an all-time high during a fiscal 2020 second quarter that ended March 28, 2020, according to Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri. The company expects iPhone sales to continue to decline in the current quarter, but predicts that Mac and iPad sales will actually grow as folks continue to work from home.</p>

<p class="">You can't edit your messages on Apple's Messages app after they've been sent. Yet. That could change, however, as Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200133478) for “Devices, Methods, and Graphic User Interfaces for messaging.”</p>

<p class="">Intel has <a href="https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-delivers-worlds-fastest-gaming-processor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced</a> its lineup of 10th-generation "Comet Lake" desktop processors. I'd expect to see some of ‘em pop up in refreshed (and perhaps redesigned) iMacs later this year.</p>

<p class="">According to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-shutdown-puts-disney-in-a-programming-crunch-11588239003?mod=cxrecs_join" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wall Street Journal</a>, the shutdown of Hollywood is disrupting the Disney+ and Apple TV+ pipeline.</p>

<p class="">According to <a href="https://twitter.com/jon_prosser?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1255835846558855169&ref_url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/04/30/5g-iphone-12-rumored-to-cost-649-iphone-12-pro-at-999-and-up" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTuber and leaker Jon Prosser</a> says he has the info on pricing for the upcoming iPhone 12 line-up.</p>

<p class="">Apple wants to improve the audio of videos make with your iPhone and iPad. The company has filed for a patent (number 20200137489) for “spatially biased sound pickup for binaural video recording.”</p>

<p class="">Orange, a telecom company, is in “intense” discussions with Apple over developing France’s smartphone app for tracing people who are at risk of coronavirus infection, CEO Stephane Richard told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-orange-apple/orange-in-talks-with-apple-on-french-contact-tracing-app-idUSKBN22C1LJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a>.</p>

<p class="">The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic furthered the decline of the worldwide tablet market as global shipments fell to 24.6 million units, down 18.1% year-over-year during the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20), according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (<a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.idc.com%2F&esheet=52212363&newsitemid=20200429005919&lan=en-US&anchor=IDC&index=1&md5=5868782fc3938bd2150683afc32f888e" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IDC</a>) <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.idc.com%2Ftracker%2Fshowproductinfo.jsp%3Fprod_id%3D81&esheet=52212363&newsitemid=20200429005919&lan=en-US&anchor=Worldwide+Quarterly+Tablet+Tracker&index=2&md5=53641d57f2151ac7b436318368dbe066" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker</a>.</p>