iPad Sales Help ‘Bail Out’ Apple Amid a Continued iPhone Slide

Apple reported a new June quarter revenue record of $85.8 billion, up 5 percent from a year ago, fueled largely by new iPad sales. iPad “saw the biggest category increase for the quarter, up from $5.8 billion to $7.2 billion year-over-year,” reports TechCrunch. It helped counter slowed iPhone revenue, “which dropped from $39.7 billion to $39.3 billion year-on-year.” From the report: In spite of a drop for the quarter, iPhone remained Apple’s most important category by a wide margin, followed by service, which includes software offerings like iCloud, Apple TV+ and Apple Music. That category continued to grow, up to $24.2 billion from $21.2 billion over the same three-month period last year. Much of the iPhone slowdown can be attributed to the greater China region. Overall, the region dropped from $15.8 billion to $14.7 billion for the quarter. Canalys figures from last week show a marked decline in iPhone sales, down 6.7% from 10.4 million to 9.7 million for the quarter, Reuters reported.

The drop in Apple’s third-largest region (behind the Americas and Europe) had a clear impact on the company’s bottom line. The company aggressively discounted iPhone prices in China starting in May, as competition intensified from domestic rivals. The strategy resulted in strong iPhone sales that month, up close to 40% from a year prior. […] Q3 marked the second consecutive quarter decline for global iPhone sales. The news puts additional pressure on the generative AI strategy that the company laid out at WWDC in June.

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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Called Out For ‘Worker Surveillance’

Microsoft Dynamics 365’s “field service management” tools enable employers to monitor mobile workers via smartphone apps — “allegedly to the detriment of their autonomy and dignity,” reports The Register. From the report: According to a probe by Cracked Labs – an Austrian nonprofit research group — the software is part of a broader set of applications that disempowers workers through algorithmic management. The case study [PDF] summarizes how employers in Europe actually use software and smartphone apps to oversee field technicians, home workers, and cleaning staff. It’s part of a larger ongoing project helmed by the group called “Surveillance and Digital Control at Work,” which includes contributions from AlgorithmWatch; Jeremias Adams-Prassl, professor of law at the University of Oxford; and trade unions UNI Europa and GPA.

Mobile maintenance workers used to have a substantial amount of autonomy when they were equipped with basic mobile phones, the study notes, but smartphones have allowed employers to track what mobile workers do, when they do it, where they are, and gather many other data points. The effect of this monitoring, the report argues, means diminished worker discretion, autonomy, and sense of purpose due to task-based micromanagement. The shift has also accelerated and intensified work stress, with little respect to workers’ capabilities, differences in lifestyle, and job practices. “Field service workers travel to multiple locations servicing different products every day,” a Microsoft spokesperson told The Register. “Dynamics 365 Field Service and its Copilot capabilities are designed to help field service workers schedule, plan and provide onsite maintenance and repairs in the right location, on time with the right information and workplace guides on their device to complete their jobs.”

“Dynamics 365 Field Service does not use AI to recommend individual workers for specific jobs based on previous performance. Dynamics 365 Field Service was developed in accordance with our Responsible AI principles and data privacy statement. Customers are solely responsible for using Dynamics 365 Field Service in compliance with all applicable laws, including laws relating to accessing individual employee analytics and monitoring.”

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US Progressives Push For Nvidia Antitrust Investigation

Progressive groups and Senator Elizabeth Warren are urging the Department of Justice to investigate Nvidia for potential antitrust violations due to its dominant position in the AI chip market. The groups criticize Nvidia’s bundling of software and hardware, claiming it stifles innovation and locks in customers. Reuters reports: Demand Progress and nine other groups wrote a letter (PDF) this week, opens new tab urging Department of Justice antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter to probe business practices at Nvidia, whose market value hit $3 trillion this summer on demand for chips able to run the complex models behind generative AI. The groups, which oppose monopolies and promote government oversight of tech companies, among other issues, took aim at Nvidia’s bundling of software and hardware, a practice that French antitrust enforcers have flagged as they prepare to bring charges.

“This aggressively proprietary approach, which is strongly contrary to industry norms about collaboration and interoperability, acts to lock in customers and stifles innovation,” the groups wrote. Nvidia has roughly 80% of the AI chip market, including the custom AI processors made by cloud computing companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon.com. The chips made by the cloud giants are not available for sale themselves but typically rented through each platform. A spokesperson for Nvidia said: “Regulators need not be concerned, as we scrupulously adhere to all laws and ensure that NVIDIA is openly available in every cloud and on-prem for every enterprise. We’ll continue to support aspiring innovators in every industry and market and are happy to provide any information regulators need.”

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Bungie CEO Faces Backlash After Announcing 220 Employees Will Be Laid Off

Rob Thubron reports via TechSpot: It’s a sad case of another day, another round of mass layoffs at a game studio. On this occasion, Destiny developer Bungie has announced it is letting go of 220 employees, or 17% of its workforce. CEO Pete Parsons said the eliminations were due to “financial challenges,” which isn’t going down well, especially after it was discovered he may have spent over $2.4 million on classic cars after Sony acquired the company, and continued buying them even after the previous layoffs. Bungie blames the job eliminations on “rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions.” The Sony subsidiary says it needs to make substantial changes to its cost structure and focus development efforts entirely on Destiny and Marathon. The cuts will impact every level of the company, including executives and senior leader roles — but not Parsons, obviously.

In what appears to be a way of reducing the number of people being laid off, Bungie is moving 155 people to Sony Interactive Entertainment over the next few quarters. Furthermore, a team working on one of Bungie’s incubation projects — an action game set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe — will be spun off to form a new studio within PlayStation Studios. […] “This is hitting people who were told they were valued. That they were important. That they were critical to business success. But none of that mattered,” wrote Bungie technical UX designer Ash Duong.

Many have called for Parsons to resign. The calls were amplified when he set his X account to private, but it seems the CEO realized that was making things worse and soon set it to public again. What’s angering people even further is the discovery of what seems to be Parsons’ account on a car bidding site called Bring a Trailer. It shows he has spent $2.4 million on classic cars since September 2022, which includes $500,000 since the October layoffs.

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Taco Bell Is Bringing AI To Hundreds of Drive-Thrus Nationwide

Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum! Brands, announced today that the fast-food chain will expand its Voice AI technology to “hundreds” of chains around the country by the end of the year. A global expansion of the service will follow. Fortune reports: Right now, more than 100 Taco Bell locations in 13 states rely on AI to take customer orders at the drive-thru. Company officials say that has resulted in improved order accuracy, shorter wait times, and higher profits. Human workers, the company says, will be freed up to focus on other tasks, ranging from interacting with guests who opt to order from the restaurant counter to preparing food. “Yum! Brands is integrating digital and technology into all aspects of our business with exciting new capabilities, and AI is a core piece of that strategy,” said Lawrence Kim, chief innovation officer at Yum! Brands, in a statement. “With over two years of fine-tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we’re confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction.”

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CrowdStrike Is Sued By Shareholders Over Huge Software Outage

Shareholders have sued CrowdStrike on Tuesday, claiming the cybersecurity company defrauded them by concealing how its inadequate software testing could cause the global software outage earlier this month that crashed millions of computers. Reuters reports: In a proposed class action filed on Tuesday night in the Austin, Texas federal court, shareholders said they learned that CrowdStrike’s assurances about its technology were materially false and misleading when a flawed software update disrupted airlines, banks, hospitals and emergency lines around the world. They said CrowdStrike’s share price fell 32% over the next 12 days, wiping out $25 billion of market value, as the outage’s effects became known, Chief Executive George Kurtz was called to testify to the U.S. Congress, and Delta Air Lines reportedly hired prominent lawyer David Boies to seek damages.

The complaint cites statements including from a March 5 conference call where Kurtz characterized CrowdStrike’s software as “validated, tested and certified.” The lawsuit led by the Plymouth County Retirement Association of Plymouth, Massachusetts, seeks unspecified damages for holders of CrowdStrike Class A shares between Nov. 29, 2023 and July 29, 2024. Further reading: Delta CEO Says CrowdStrike-Microsoft Outage Cost the Airline $500 Million

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