The Talk Show

‘Just a Standard Bird’, With MG Siegler

Tuesday, 31 August 2021

MG Siegler returns to the show to talk about last week’s surprise announcement from Apple settling a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of U.S. App Store developers, and the various reactions to it. Also, a bit on App Store payment processing, and some speculation on who might succeed Tim Cook.

Sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.
• Mack Weldon: Reinventing men’s basics with smart design, premium fabrics, and simple shopping. Get 20% off your first order with code talkshow.
• Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
• Made In: Better cookware for better meals. Get 15% off your first order with code THETALKSHOW.

Links:

• Apple’s masterful press release that got them just the headlines they were hoping to get.
• Techmeme’s roundup of Big Press headlines regarding Apple’s settlement proposal for the class action lawsuit regarding the App Store in the U.S.
• Bloomberg got it right: “Apple Settles With App Developers Without Making Major Concessions”.
• Ryan Jones’s excellent Twitter thread that accurately depicts the actual nature of Apple’s settlement proposal.
• Jack Nicas’s column for the NYT: “Why Apple Won Its Legal Settlement With Developers”.
• MG on Apple’s press release: “Thank You, Apple! May We Have Another?”.
• And MG’s follow-up, “Apple Accentuates the Positive”.
• Apple’s earlier-on-Thursday announcement regarding the News Partner Program.
• Phil Schiller’s 2011 memo asking “Do we think our 70/30 split will last forever?”.
• Mark Gurman’s latest column, speculating on who might succeed Tim Cook as CEO.
• The Peter Principle — “a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their ‘maximum level of incompetence’”. (I blew it and said “Pareto Principle” on air, which is an entirely different thing, but also interesting.)
• Another post-show correction: there is one MLB team with a friendly bird mascot. (I mistakenly thought they had been relegated to AAA, and regret the error.)
• Randy Johnson hits a bird with a pitch during a 2001 preseason MLB game.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.