Apple's impressive earnings, promising patents, and new acquisitions on the AppleInsider Podcast

AppleInsider editor Victor Marks and writer William Gallagher discuss:

• Apple earned $91.8 billion in this past quarter. You can't call it small, but there is a question about how it stacks up year on year
• New and seemingly strong predictions say that Apple will soon release a wireless charging pad, even after it had to cancel AirPower last year
• Qorvo, an Apple supplier, acquires two companies that do ultra-wideband radio work. William wonders just how much encouragement Qorvo got from Apple for this.
• Meanwhile, Apple itself directly acquires an AI company — which then cancels all defense contracts.
• Apple's latest patents include one that proposes a flat Digital Crown for the Apple Watch and one that has self-adjusting bands.
• Speaking of patents, Victor and William examine a highly detailed one that at heart is about making handwriting recognition more natural
• Apple TV+ has been signings stars to series, but now it's also nabbed a veteran executive, formerly of HBO and Starz
• The Coronavirus is claiming lives and that's more important than how much money Apple makes from the region, yet the outbreak is capable of disrupting it and other international firms.

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Show notes:

• Examining Apple's record-setting $91.8B holiday quarter by the numbers
• Apple earns record $91.8B in first quarter revenue on strong iPhone 11 sales
• Apple predicted to release small wireless charging mat in first half of 2020
• Apple supplier Qorvo acquires ultra-wideband chipmaker Decawave
• Apple nixed Xnor.ai's involvement in Pentagon's Project Maven following acquisition
• Apple Watch may have a flat Digital Crown that recognizes gestures
• Future iPad or iPhone could both recognize and display handwriting
• Apple signs exclusive deal with former Starz and HBO programming exec
• Ming-Chi Kuo sees five potential risks to Apple because of coronavirus

Follow our hosts on Twitter: @vmarks and @wgallagher

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