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Covid Cases Spike in Hong Kong, Singapore

Covid Cases Spike in Hong Kong, Singapore

Bloomberg21-05-2025

Phase Scientific CEO & founder Ricky Chiu discusses the recent Covid-19 spikes in Hong Kong, Singapore and how that has affected the company's business with Bloomberg's Yvonne Man and David Ingles. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Apple often uses its annual developers conference to launch major new products. That doesn't seem likely this year. Instead, expect people to spend a lot of time focusing on Apple's weak points — exactly what CEO Tim Cook doesn't want. Apple kicks off its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday — traditionally an event where the company tries to woo developers, users, and Wall Street all at once. Maybe that will happen this time around. But only because expectations are so low: Apple is limping into this year beset with all kinds of problems, from many directions, and it's not clear how it's going to work its way out from them. Let's get this part out of the way at the top: You, a normal person, are unlikely to care about anything Apple announces at WWDC this week. Two years ago, Apple used the event to unveil its Vision Pro headset; last year, it showed off Apple Intelligence, its entry into the AI wars. Forget the fact that both of those products underwhelmed once they launched — they were at least something new for Apple to talk about. But barring a surprise, it doesn't look like there will be any major new unveilings at WWDC this week. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who is exceptionally dialed into Apple, has a preview of what's on tap and it all seems underwhelming: Even the most ardent Apple fans are unlikely to be excited about new interfaces, icons, and names. And while Apple is scrambling to catch up in AI — turns out a bunch of the stuff it showed off last year has yet to actually materialize — it won't have much progress to announce this week. Gurman predicts that Apple's AI announcements "will be surprisingly minor and are unlikely to impress industry watchers, especially considering the rapid pace of innovation" from the likes of Google, Meta, and OpenAI. 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In the case of Fortnite-maker Epic Games, that kicked off a legal fight that started in 2020, and took a sharp turn earlier this year when a US judge ruled that Apple had to allow developers to tell users they could buy stuff from them without going through the App Store — a move that could threaten a huge stream of revenue for Apple. But the app store also generates a vibes problem for Apple, with high-profile critics like Apple blogger John Gruber arguing that Apple has gone from courting developers to making it hard for them to make a living. Apple is most definitely sensitive to that criticism, which is why it often puts out press releases pointing out how much money developers make by selling stuff via Apple. (Its newest release puts that number at $1.3 trillion in 2024 alone.) And this week's event, remember, has the word "developer" in the title, so you can expect Apple to continue to insist that it's on the software guys' side. Don't be surprised if you hear from folks who feel otherwise. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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