Apple Expected to Report Its Best Fourth Quarter Ever Today Following iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max Launch

Apple is set to report its earnings results for the fourth quarter of its 2018 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today.

The quarter began July 1, 2018 and ran through September 29, 2018, according to Apple’s fiscal year accounting calendar.

Apple provided the following guidance for the quarter back on July 31:

• revenue of $60 billion to $62 billion
• gross margin between 38 and 38.5 percent
• op. ex. of $7.95 billion to $8.05 billion
• other income/expense of $300 million
• tax rate of approximately 15 percent before discrete items

Apple’s guidance suggests it will report its best fourth quarter results ever, by revenue, comfortably topping its 2017 record of $52.6 billion:

• 2014: $42.1 billion
• 2015: $51.5 billion
• 2016: $46.9 billion
• 2017: $52.6 billion
• 2018: $60+ billion

Wall Street analysts forecast that Apple will report $61.5 billion revenue, above the midpoint of its guidance, and earnings per share of $2.78, according to 32 estimates averaged by Yahoo Finance.

Key Takeaways and What to Look For

• iPhone unit sales of around 47.5 million, according to a FactSet estimate. Apple began accepting iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max pre-orders September 14, just over two weeks before Apple’s fourth quarter ended. Apple sold 46.7 million iPhones in the year-ago quarter.
• Apple doesn’t break out iPhone sales on a model-by-model basis, but the iPhone’s average selling price should reveal whether customers are leaning towards higher-priced iPhones such as the iPhone XS Max. iPhone ASP was $617.99 in the year-ago quarter.
• Mac unit sales should be boosted by 2018 MacBook Pro models, released on July 12, nearly two weeks into the quarter. Apple sold 3.72 million Macs last quarter, its fewest in any single quarter since the third quarter of 2010, due to seasonality and a largely outdated lineup. Mac sales totaled 5.39 million in the year-ago quarter.
• Apple’s guidance for its first quarter of fiscal 2019, which began September 30 and encompasses the launch of the iPhone XR and the new iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models. Analysts expect record revenue of $92.9 billion, based on 31 estimates averaged by Yahoo Finance.
• Continued growth of Apple’s Services category, including the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, iTunes, Apple Pay, and AppleCare. Last quarter, Apple’s services brought in a record $9.5 billion revenue. Apple said it is still on target to double its fiscal 2016 services revenue by fiscal 2020.
• Continued growth of Apple’s Other Products category, including the Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, AirPods, Beats, iPod touch, and accessories, as Apple diversifies revenue beyond the iPhone.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will discuss the company’s earnings results on a conference call at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time today. MacRumors will loosely transcribe the one-hour call as it occurs live.

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Apple Reports 4Q 2018 Results: $14.1B Profit on $62.9B Revenue, 46.9M iPhones

Apple today announced financial results for the third calendar quarter and fourth fiscal quarter of 2018.

For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $62.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $14.1 billion, or $2.91 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $52.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $10.7 billion, or $2.07 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue, profit, and EPS were all-time records for the September quarter.

Gross margin for the quarter was 38.3 percent, compared to 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 61 percent of revenue. Apple also declared an upcoming dividend payment of $0.73 per share, payable November 15 to shareholders of record as of November 12.

For the quarter, Apple sold 46.9 million iPhones, up slightly from 46.7 million in the year-ago quarter. iPad sales fell to 9.7 million from 10.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, while Mac sales dipped to 5.3 million from 5.4 million.

For the full fiscal year, Apple generated $265.6 billion in sales with $59.5 billion in net income, up from $229.2 billion in sales and $48.4 billion in net income for fiscal 2017. Both figures are also all-time company records, exceeding standards of $233.7 billion in sales and $53.4 billion in net income set in fiscal 2015.

“We’re thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Over the past two months, we’ve delivered huge advancements for our customers through new versions of iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac as well as our four operating systems, and we enter the holiday season with our strongest lineup of products and services ever.”

Apple’s guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 includes expected revenue of $89-93 billion and gross margin between 38 and 38.5 percent.

Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q4 2018 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Conference call starts at 2:00 PM Pacific – No need to refresh

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Apple’s Services Revenue Up 17% Year-Over-Year in 4Q 2018, Hits All Time High of $10B

Apple’s services category, which includes iTunes, the App Store, the Mac App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Pay, and AppleCare, continues to be an increasingly important revenue driver for Apple, and services growth is once again at an all time high.

During the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, Apple’s services segment brought in $10 billion in revenue, up 17 percent from the $8.5 billion services earned in the fourth quarter of 2017.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, services growth was actually at 27 percent if a one-time favorable adjustment from the year-ago quarter is excluded.

Several services categories, including the App Store, AppleCare, Apple Pay, and Apple Music hit all-time revenue records. 330 million Apple customers subscribe to Apple services, a number that has increased 50 percent compared to a year ago.

Cook highlighted Apple Pay’s success during the quarter. Apple Pay transaction volume tripled year-over-year, with Apple Pay generating significantly more transactions than PayPal mobile and growing 4x faster.

With the rollout of Apple Pay at Costco locations in the United States, 71 out of 100 major retailers support Apple Pay, and 60 percent of all U.S. retail locations support the Apple Pay service.

Apple has said that it is aiming to reach $14 billion in services revenue per quarter by 2020, a goal the company is well on its way to achieving.

Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty predicted that over the course of the next five years, services revenue growth will contribute more than 50 percent of Apple’s total revenue growth.

Apple is working on bolstering its services category in the future, breaking into the television industry. Apple has more than a dozen original television shows in the works right now, which it is rumored to be planning to distribute via television streaming service set to debut sometime during the first half of 2019.

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Apple’s Wearable Category Sets New September Quarter Revenue Record With Growth Over 50%

Apple’s “Other Products” category, which includes AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iPod touch, HomePod, Beats products, and Apple-branded and third-party accessories brought in an impressive $4.2 billion during the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, representing a 31 percent increase in revenue.

Apple does not break down the specific sales numbers of products in the “Other” category, which makes it difficult to determine specific sales numbers for products like the HomePod, AirPods, and the Apple Watch, but Cook says its wearables category set a September quarter revenue record with growth over 50 percent.

Much of Apple’s “Other Products” growth can likely be attributed to the Apple Watch Series 4, which came out in September.

Cook said the Apple Watch Series 4 has become even more essential to people’s daily lives, and response to the new model has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

Cook highlighted new ECG capabilities coming to the Apple Watch Series 4 in the United States later this year, which he described as an “unprecedented and potentially life changing feature.”

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Apple to Stop Providing Unit Sales Data for iPhone, iPad and Mac Starting With December Quarter

During today’s fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CFO Luca Maestri announced that going forward, Apple will not provide unit sales of iPhone, iPad, and Mac during its quarterly earnings reports.

This marks a major change to the way that Apple reports data and it will make estimating iPad, Mac, and iPhone product sales a more difficult task. Apple is perhaps making this change because its unit sales are decreasing while revenue is growing due to rising ASPs.

This quarter, for example, iPhone unit sales were flat at 46.9 million, but iPhone revenue was up 29 percent.

According to Maestri, Apple does not believe that unit sales over the course of a 90-day period are an indicator of the underlying strength of its business.

Apple also plans to rename the “Other Products” category to “Wearables, Home, and Accessories,” a change that will also be made in the December quarter. This category will continue to include the Apple Watch, Apple TV, AirPods, HomePods, Beats headphones, and more.

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What you Need to Know about Patch Management Software

What is patch management software? It is a system that scans and manages patches in a network to ensure it is secure against malware and hacking. This is because it detects weak and susceptible infrastructures in software application and operations systems that compromise your network’s security. Besides, it approves or restricts patches used on PCs, servers, laptops and other mobile devices. It ensures all patches are properly installed and tests them after installation.

Who is Patch Management Software Designed for?

Patch Management software is for any entrepreneur who wants efficient network management, easy management of updates and a secure network. Both large and small businesses can use it. The larger the company, the more essential it is to have this software.

Advantages of Patch Management

1. Security

Security comes first because it is the most obvious benefit. Using a patch at the right time will eliminate security breaches of all types.

1. Productivity

Another benefit of this automated software is reduced downtime. Usually, patches have performance improvements for products they fix crashes. This helps your employees increase productivity.

1. Updates

The technology world is quickly advancing.  Having automated software in place keeps you up with the latest updates without you doing much about it.

Choosing the Best Patch Management Software for your Company

Operating system, platform, and application

An operating system, platform, and application are vital to patch management. You don’t want to purchase a product that can’t support all your platforms. As much as possible, compare and choose that supports platforms deployed in your business.

Do you want patch management that includes support for mobile devices? So far no single management tool offers support for conventional PCs, server, and mobile devices.

Integration with other management systems

This is another crucial factor to put into consideration. It ensures cooperation and integration with your infrastructure management software.

One of the best framework-based configuration, monitoring, and management tool is Microsoft SCCM.  Top patch management tools such as Quest KACE and HEAT PatchLink integrate with SCCM via plugins. This allows IT experts to perform patch management from SCCM admin console.

If you are considering purchasing one of the above management tools just because it integrates with SCCM, it is important to understand how that integration works. It helps verify your needs. Some tools integrate through data exportation and importation at the same time supporting a direct connection to SCCM database.

Additional Features and customer support

Other factors to consider are additional features like physical desktops and servers, virtual desktops and servers, cloud-based computers and vendor support.

Well, it is difficult to gauge a vendor’s support mechanism. But you can use their online chat, call their support line during a proof of concept for authorization or post question in their support forum. How responsive is the support staff? Be sure to talk with the support team rather than sales personnel.

Cost

If cost is your primary consideration, there is a wide range of patch management software that can suit any budget. It is expected that framework-based patch management tools like those included in Microsoft System Center to be expensive. This may not be the case; it depends on your Microsoft licensing scheme.

For instance, Microsoft System Center patch management services can be in a more extensive suite that addresses different system management aspects. This means if your business has an enterprise licensing agreement with an organization like Microsoft or Heat, you can start using the patch management capabilities of those products for little or no extra licensing cost.

Performance

Unlike cost and features, performance is the best metric for comparing and choosing patch management tools. All vendors will tell you their patch management software is high performance. The best way to know if that is true is by testing your preferred tools in your IT environment.

Factors such as applications on the PC to be patched and network bandwidth and utilization can affect the perceived performance. This is where a software’s free trial version comes in handy. Most vendors provide a free trial of their management software.

Top 3 Patch Management Software in 2018

• SolarWinds Patch Manager

SolarWinds is a very intuitive software with many outstanding features. It enhances automated Microsoft servers patching, workstations, and third-party applications. Some of the third-party applications supported include VLC, adobe, UltraVNC/ Realvnc, Citrix, Apple, Dell, Google, and Apache…just to name a few.

The software also integrates with SCCM and WSUS directly. This helps you analyze and install updates to many applications, vendors, and systems. You can also build your own .EXE or .MSI files to set up within your network.

Another benefit of this software is its dashboard. You can track all your patches as well as check update status on a single panel. This keeps you updated with compliance and auditors.

• ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus

ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus is another intrusive patch management tool that keeps your network secure and patched. It is an endpoint software that patches all your computers at the same time from one point of a console.

This software comes with a ban list feature that removes any software added to the ban list from any detected device.

Some options offered include:

1. Patch compliance
2. Approve or decline patches depending on priority and severity
3. Implementation of test groups of your computers
4. Real-time audits

• GFI LanGuard

GFI LanGuard is another top solution for your patch management needs. It offers not only essential platform updates but also Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Moreover, it is a robust system with numerous scanning capabilities and configuration options.  It conducts more than 60,000 vulnerability assessments thanks to industrial strength vulnerabilities database integrating SANS Top 20 standards and OVA. This makes sure your devices and network are kept up to date with the latest updates and patches.

It comes with features such as:

1. Intuitive reporting console
2. Antivirus patch management
3. Ability to view security issues within your network

Final Thought

Planning and coming up with a requirement list will help identify the best patch management software for you. Remember to use the above-discussed factors. Implementing the right tool in your business gives you peace of mind knowing your business’s data, users and platforms are secure.

How to Deal with a Broken External Drive

We use external drives for different purposes. Faster SSD drives like the Samsung T5 are fast enough to use in actual computing operations, and a lot of video editors and designers actually edit via their T5 drives through a USB-C. Other HDD-based drives are useful for storing data and moving large files. The cost of external drives is on a decline, so you can get plenty of storage space for a few bucks.

While external drives are versatile and durable, there will be time when your drive fails you. A lot of things can cause the external drive to fail. A corrupt partition or the accidental bumps your external drives have to deal with as you carry them in your bag are just as bad. Before giving up and accepting the loss of files, however, you actually have a few options to try.

Fixing a Corrupt Partition

Partition repair is something you can try if your external drive is no longer detected by the operating system. In the case of Windows 10, you can try accessing the partition using the diskpart command from the Command Prompt with the drive plugged in.

In many cases, the partition itself can be recovered and you will have access to your files again. However, you may also find the partition to be irreparable, in which case you are asked to create a new one and format the partition to make it usable.

If the latter is what you find after running a partition check, don’t go through with repartitioning the external drive (or formatting it) just yet, especially when you have important files inside the damaged partition.

Recovering from Bad Sectors

Another common symptom of a damaged external drive is the drive suddenly becoming very slow and unresponsive at times. When you experience the sudden slowness while the drive is still plugged and fully readable, try running a check for bad sectors.

On a Windows computer, right-click on the hard drive you want to check and select Properties. Click Properties > Tools > Check (under the Error-checking tab) to start the process. You can then choose the “Scan for a recovery attempt of bad sectors” to try and correct the issue.

Again, recovering from bad sectors isn’t always possible, especially when the drive is severely damaged. That brings us to the third option, which is….

Professional Data Recovery

When your disk partition isn’t recoverable, or your external drive remains unresponsive, you want to stop using the drive completely and preserve the files inside. You want to do the same when you start hearing clicking noises coming from the external drive.

Not using the drive further increases your chances of recovering your files. You can then get the help of a professional data recovery service such as Secure Data Recovery to further boost your chances. With the right tools and expertise, complete restoration of your valuable files is more possible than ever.

The next time you run into issues with your external drive, don’t panic! Back up the files that you can still salvage and take the steps we discussed in this article to deal with the issue further

Caltech’s tiny new gyroscope is smaller than a single grain of rice

Caltech

It’s no secret that the components used in our everyday technology keep getting smaller. But just how much tinier they’re getting might surprise you. At the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), researchers have found a way to significantly shrink optical gyroscopes, the devices used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. Simple gyroscopes are found in devices like phones and tablets. However, the higher quality optical gyroscopes used in navigation are still relatively large — slightly bigger than a golf ball. They function very well, but this larger form factor makes them inappropriate for use in certain portable devices.

That’s where the Caltech researchers come into play — since they have found a way to shrink down these high-end gyroscopes to something smaller than a single grain of rice. This is an astonishing 500 times smaller than current state-of-the-art gyroscopes.

“Optical gyroscopes are one of the most accurate types of gyroscopes, and they are used in various navigation systems,” Professor Ali Hajimiri, who worked on the project, told Digital Trends. “However, a regular optical gyroscope is very expensive and bulky. Miniaturizing this type of gyroscope can reduce its cost and size and can potentially replace mechanical gyros. Optical gyroscopes operate based on a relativistic effect known as the Sagnac effect, whereby the output signal is proportional to the size of the gyro. Therefore, reducing the size of the gyro will directly affect the strength of the output signal. In our work, we presented a technique that uses the reciprocity of passive networks to decrease the level of noise, making the signal detectable.”

The Sagnac effect is named after the French physicist Georges Sagnac. It calculates orientation by splitting a beam of light in two and then sending them in separate directions. By measuring the variations in the two beams of light, it’s possible to work out rotation and orientation with a high degree of accuracy. To shrink down the device, the Caltech researchers found a way to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of this system, thereby making it more efficient.

“This demonstration shows the potential of integrated optical gyros, and can open all kind of applications that need low-cost, small, and highly accurate gyros — like gaming devices, autonomous vehicles, wearables, CubeSats and nanosats,” Hajimiri continued. “[The] next step is to improve the sensitivity and make it smaller, as well as enhancing integration capabilities. We are thinking about commercializing our device.”

It might take a while to get to that point, but it seems that tinier, more efficient gyroscopes are definitely in our future. A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Nature Photonics.

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Bright idea: this motorcycle jacket has built-in lights that sync with your bike

Motorbike leathers are there to protect riders from injury, as well as to keep them warm while riding in colder climates. But darker leather jackets, which are some of the most popular available, also have an obvious downside: They make bikers difficult to see in the dark.

This poses a clear safety risk for riders, which a new Kickstarter campaign wants to help lessen. Manufactured by French company Raylier, the “first luminous jacket for bikers” promises to make bikers more visible on the road — courtesy of various embedded LED strips. These can be switched on with the simple press of a button on the jacket’s belt. The aim is reduce the number of fatalities on the road, of which bikers currently represent around 18 percent.

“More than 60 percent of bikers’ accidents are due to a lack of visibility,” Baptiste Rosay, one of the co-founders of Raylier, told Digital Trends. “Thanks to our jacket, we improve their visibility in order to avoid crashes and save their lives. More than visibility, we improve the communication with the road users. A warning mode will make the jacket blink and improve visibility in risky situations. A brake light works autonomously, thanks to an on-board accelerometer. It intensifies the rear lights when slowing down.”

Rosay said that the jacket is made of a super tough leather, which is higher quality than the materials used by competitors at a similar price range. Each jacket is also equipped with a visco-elastic protective shell. This is crucially important since — if there does happen to be an accident — the jacket should help reduce the risk or severity of injuries. The jackets are also stylishly designed. While the LED light strips are instantly noticeable when they are switched on, when they’re turned off they won’t attract attention.

As ever, we offer our warnings about the potential risks inherent in crowdfunding campaigns. These can involve projects which don’t ship on time, products which don’t ship as described, or — at worst — sometimes even products which don’t ship at all. However, if you’re aware of these risks and still want to get it involved, head over to the project’s Kickstarter page. Prices for a jacket start at 540 euros (around $615). Shipping is planned to take place in February 2019.

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Dell patent hints at a super-thin, OLED-backlit keyboard

RGB backlighting may be all the rage in every PC component and peripheral from mice to RAM, but Dell clearly thinks that the bog-standard LEDs being used in most designs aren’t up to scratch, as it’s filed a patent to use OLEDs instead. It describes using an OLED panel in each key of the scissor-switch keyboard to illuminate the keycap. Maybe we’ll see such designs in future versions of its gaming laptops, like the Dell G3.

Mostly used in display technologies, OLED lighting has a number of advantages over traditional LEDs. When used in TVs, for example, OLEDs allow for thinner designs and blacker blacks, since they act as individual pixels, so when turned off, they are actually off. In the context of a keyboard, however, they could offer a way for keyboard (and by extension, laptop) manufacturers to cut down on the size and weight of keyboard lighting components, potentially leading to slightly thinner and lighter devices, as well as offering more nuanced lighting options.

The Dell patent was filed at the start of May 2017 and was approved at the start of November this year. It discusses the use of a pair of housings within a keyboard key, one being the switch and the base of the keyboard, and the second, the light-emitting keycap. It suggests two potential methods of lighting up the key. The first would have a cut out that sits over an OLED film, while another suggests an OLED sheet shaped like the key it represents, embedding the sheet into the keycap itself.

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Traditional LED lighting, say in the case of Cherry MX mechanical switch keyboards, sees an LED built off-center into the housing for the switch mechanism. This can result in uneven light coverage in the keycap, which is why clear switch housings, which help disperse the light more evenly, have become more commonplace. Membrane boards must illuminate larger swathes of the board itself to achieve a similar effect. Both cases can result in lots of light bleeding around the keys. That can provide an attractive effect, but Dell’s patent has the option to eliminate that entirely. In theory, Dell’s design could light up the keycap indicators only.

Another advantage of OLED lighting in a keycap could be to give greater control to the user. While LEDs allow for per-key backlighting, OLEDs are small enough that if used in adequate numbers, could allow for inter-key backlighting, such as providing different colored lighting for different parts of a keycap, or even animations within individual keycaps.

Taken to an extreme, Dell’s patent could even allow for something like the classic Optimus Maximus keyboard from Art Lebedev, which buried entire OLED displays into each key.

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