India Just Passed a Law That Will Help Apple

As part of a new proposal, India said that single-brand retail companies like Apple can open online stores before they set up physical stores in the country.

This would allow Apple, which has yet to set up retail stores in the country, to start selling a range of products through its own online store. Currently, Apple sells its products in India through partnered third-party offline retailers and e-commerce platforms such as Amazon India, Flipkart and Paytm Mall.

India is Apple’s next—and perhaps last—country for big potential growth in the electronics market. Keep a close eye on this relationship in the future. I expect Apple to build data centers and other resources in the country, if they don’t have such things already.

Emmanuel Macron Says its Crazy That Apple Gets Tax Haven

French President Emmanuel Macron says it’s crazy that companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google get a “permanent tax haven status.”

The reference to ‘tax haven status’ relates to practices used by Apple and others to funnel profits on European sales through Ireland, and then to claim large deductions for R&D costs incurred in the US. There have also been accusations that Apple assigns most of its European profits to a subsidiary which exists only on paper and which pays no taxes anywhere.

Apple's ASMR Venture, LOL Samsung, AAPL Buybacks with Charlotte Henry - ACM 520

Apple has posted plenty of “Shot on iPhone”: videos, but four new ASMR videos mark the first time where the content is more about the experience than it is about the device that made it. Bryan Chaffin is joined by guest-host Charlotte Henry to discuss it. They also talk about Samsun’s lame decision to pull an old ad from its YouTube channel that mocked an Apple move that Samsung is following today. So lame. They also look at Apple’s gargantuan effort to buy $24 billion of its own stock in just the June quarter.

How to Apply for Apple Card [Video]

Apple has published a video called Apple Card — How to apply. It shows the simple steps needed to apply for the company’s new credit card, which is being rolled out to a limited number of customers starting today. The entire process is handled through the Wallet app in iOS 12.4. The video skips over the approval wait, but an early-access user at TechCrunch wrote that it takes a minute or two. Some of the information you have to fill out is also autofilled from your Apple ID information.

Digging into Apple's T2 Chip

AppleInsider has a good piece on Apple’s T2 chip. It’s incomplete in that it doesn’t cover the T2’s built-in image signal processor and SSD controller, but it’s still good info to have, and we recommend it.

If you spent any time looking into which Mac desktop or notebook to buy before you paid out for a shiny new machine, you’ll have seen Apple’s website extolling the fact that many of them have T2 security chips. That’s nice. Only, it’s more than nice, it’s more than a way to invisibly secure your Mac, it is a process that has a dramatic and visible effect on just about everything you do.