It’s not an Apple Watch, it’s an Oppo Watch

Behold, the Opple Watch. Many have borrowed heavily from Apple’s wearable, but few, if any, have done so as brazenly as Oppo. Sure Fitbit received some guff for the squircle hardware design of its Versa line, but it’s not useful to get too hung up on those vague similarities — there are, notably, relatively few geometrical options for hardware makers looking to move outside the traditional circle watch face.

But based on the press material, the Oppo Watch is — to put it gently — a dead ringer for the best-selling smartwatch. There are some key differences, of course. The first and biggest is the fact that the device runs Wear OS, Google’s oft-neglected wearable operating system. Also of note is the “dual curved screen,” which allows the watch face to monopolize more space on the device, with a 73% screen-to-body ratio on the 45mm version and 65% on the 41mm. Those displays are 1.91 and 1.6 inches, respectively.

There’s a Wi-Fi and LTE version of the larger model, and both feature GPS+GLONASS tracking, along with heart-rate monitoring and sleep tracking. The battery is 430mAh on the big one and 300mAh on the smaller. The former should get around 36 hours of life on a charge, according to the company, charging back up to full capacity in about 75 minutes. There’s also a battery-saver mode that should keep it alive for a few weeks.

The watches are available starting today in select markets. If you’re in the market for a Wear OS watch, you have a lot of choices, all of which are significantly less likely to be mistaken for an Apple Watch.

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Where is voice tech going?

Mark Persaud Contributor

Mark Persaud is digital product manager and practice lead at Moonshot by Pactera, a digital innovation company that leads global clients through the next era of digital products with a heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence, data and continuous software delivery.

2020 has been all but normal. For businesses and brands. For innovation. For people.

The trajectory of business growth strategies, travel plans and lives have been drastically altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a global economic downturn with supply chain and market issues, and a fight for equality in the Black Lives Matter movement — amongst all that complicated lives and businesses already.

One of the biggest stories in emerging technology is the growth of different types of voice assistants:

• Niche assistants such as Aider that provide back-office support.
• Branded in-house assistants such as those offered by BBC and Snapchat.
• White-label solutions such as Houndify that provide lots of capabilities and configurable tool sets.

With so many assistants proliferating globally, voice will become a commodity like a website or an app. And that’s not a bad thing — at least in the name of progress. It will soon (read: over the next couple years) become table stakes for a business to have voice as an interaction channel for a lovable experience that users expect. Consider that feeling you get when you realize a business doesn’t have a website: It makes you question its validity and reputation for quality. Voice isn’t quite there yet, but it’s moving in that direction.

Voice assistant adoption and usage are still on the rise

Adoption of any new technology is key. A key inhibitor of technology is often distribution, but this has not been the case with voice. Apple, Google, and Baidu have reported hundreds of millions of devices using voice, and Amazon has 200 million users. Amazon has a slightly more difficult job since they’re not in the smartphone market, which allows for greater voice assistant distribution for Apple and Google.

Image Credits: Mark Persaud

But are people using devices? Google said recently there are 500 million monthly active users of Google Assistant. Not far behind are active Apple users with 375 million. Large numbers of people are using voice assistants, not just owning them. That’s a sign of technology gaining momentum — the technology is at a price point and within digital and personal ecosystems that make it right for user adoption. The pandemic has only exacerbated the use as Edison reported between March and April — a peak time for sheltering in place across the U.S.

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Apple says next iPhones will launch later than usual

Users gearing up to buy the latest iPhones are going to have to wait longer than they did last year.

In a call following the release of Apple’s Q3 earnings, the company’s CFO Luca Maestri shared that compared to the September 2019 release of iPhone 11 models, Apple is expecting this year’s supply of new iPhones “to be available a few weeks later.” It’s an exceedingly rare move for the company, which generally refuses to even acknowledge its timeline for releasing new products, even the iPhone, which refreshes annually.

It is not unprecedented for the iPhone’s release to be delayed; in 2017, Apple’s iPhone X was not released until November. The company also often releases different iPhone models on a different release cadence in the weeks following the device announcements.

Apple is expected to release several new models this year integrating 5G network support.

On Thursday, Apple shared quarterly earnings results from the third-quarter which smashed Wall Street expectations, delivering revenue of $59.69 billion, up 11% year-over-year. The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t knocked Apple’s share price or revenue growth, but the admission is one sign that it did halt momentum in its product pipelines in delivering another September release.

Apple smashes Q3 revenue expectations despite pandemic

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Daily Crunch: Apple beats Q3 expectations

Apple has a strong quarter despite coronavirus, Impossible Foods is coming to Walmart and NASA launches a new Mars rover. Here’s your Daily Crunch for July 30, 2020.

The big story: Apple beats Q3 expectations

Apple’s latest earning report suggests that the company is thriving despite COVID-19, with revenue of $59.69 billion in the third quarter of its fiscal year. That’s significantly higher than the $52.25 billion expected by analysts, and it reflects 11% growth year over year.

This isn’t the first time Apple has reported earnings since coronavirus became a part of our lives, but Q3 was its first quarter to occur entirely during the pandemic.

The company also announced a four-for-one stock split scheduled for the end of August, through which Apple investors will receive three more shares for each share they already own, with single shares becoming correspondingly more affordable.

The tech giants

Amazon says police demands for customer data have gone up — The figures show that in the first half of 2020, Amazon received 23% more subpoenas and search warrants compared to the first half of 2019.

PayPal and Venmo QR Code checkout is coming to 8,200 CVS stores in Q4 — CVS will become the first nationwide retailer to allow customers to pay using either their PayPal or Venmo QR code at the register, without fees.

Google is making autofill on Chrome for mobile more secure — The new autofill experience on mobile will use biometric authentication for credit card transactions.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Impossible Foods starts selling in Walmart and expands distribution of its new sausage product — Impossible Foods will now be available at more than 2,000 Walmart stores across the country.

Rocket launch startup Astra readies for orbital test flight as early as Sunday — The startup only incorporated three years ago, and it’s building its rockets in Alameda, California.

We’ve updated The TechCrunch List with 116 new VCs ready to write first and lead checks into startups — Thanks to reader response and recommendations, the list keeps growing!

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Six leading investors assess the remote-work startup landscape — In our latest VC survey, we try to understand if SaaS fatigue is real and where open-space still exists in the remote-work world.

Four keys to building your startup — Insights from Sequoia’s Jess Lee, Initialized’s Garry Tan, Floodgate’s Ann Miura-Ko and Neo’s Ali Partovi.

Jesus, SaaS and digital tithing — Part 1 of a series on “church tech.”

(Reminder: Extra Crunch is our subscription membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

NASA successfully launches its Mars 2020 Perseverance rover using an Atlas V rocket — The Perseverance rover is equipped with sensors specifically designed to help it find evidence of ancient, microbiotic life on Mars.

CBS All Access adds 3,500 new episodes before rebranding in 2021 — ViacomCBS had previously announced plans to launch an expanded and rebranded version of CBS All Access this summer, to better compete against streaming offerings like Disney+ and HBO Max.

Just 48 hours left on early-bird passes to Disrupt 2020 — Less than 48 hours now!

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 3pm Pacific, you can subscribe here.

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Apple says next iPhones will launch later than usual

Users gearing up to buy the latest iPhones are going to have to wait longer than they did last year.

In a call following the release of Apple’s Q3 earnings, the company’s CFO Luca Maestri shared that compared to the September 2019 release of iPhone 11 models, Apple is expecting this year’s supply of new iPhones “to be available a few weeks later.” It’s an exceedingly rare move for the company, which generally refuses to even acknowledge its timeline for releasing new products, even the iPhone, which refreshes annually.

It is not unprecedented for the iPhone’s release to be delayed; in 2017, Apple’s iPhone X was not released until November. The company also often releases different iPhone models on a different release cadence in the weeks following the device announcements.

Apple is expected to release several new models this year integrating 5G network support.

On Thursday, Apple shared quarterly earnings results from the third-quarter which smashed Wall Street expectations, delivering revenue of $59.69 billion, up 11% year-over-year. The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t knocked Apple’s share price or revenue growth, but the admission is one sign that it did halt momentum in its product pipelines in delivering another September release.

Apple smashes Q3 revenue expectations despite pandemic

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Apple smashes Q3 revenue expectations despite pandemic

COVID-19 isn’t keeping Apple down.

The company smashed Wall Street expectations, delivering Q3 revenue of $59.69 billion, beating down the $52.25 billion analysts had expected. The company also announced earnings per share of $2.58 compared to Wall Street expectation of $2.04 EPS.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Apple’s overall revenue was up nearly 11% year-over-year, reflecting the boom that broader tech stocks have seen as of late. The company’s year-over-year revenues were up in every geography it measures and every product category it measures.

Apple’s stock was up as much as 5% in after-hours trading as investors reacted to the earnings release.

“Apple’s record June quarter was driven by double-digit growth in both Products and Services and growth in each of our geographic segments,” said CEO Tim Cook in a statement accompanying the release. “In uncertain times, this performance is a testament to the important role our products play in our customers’ lives and to Apple’s relentless innovation.”

Alongside the news, Apple detailed that they would be doing a four-for-one stock split, indicating that investors who already own one share of Apple stock will receive three more. This doesn’t materially change much for investors, but does ensure that single shares of Apple stock will be more affordable when the stock split is carried out toward the end of August. This isn’t a first for the company; they’ve done it several times, most recently back in 2014.

This was Apple’s first quarterly earnings report that fully felt the damage of COVID-19 and worldwide changes to in-person retail amid wide shelter-in-place mandates by governments. These seismic shifts have clearly not damaged Apple’s stock, which hit an all-time high this month and already appears on its way toward breaking through a $2 trillion market cap.

The company had its first fully remote developer conference earlier this summer, where they debuted the next wave of their device operating systems. The company is expected to release a flurry of new mobile devices in upcoming months, as per their historic device release schedule.

Yesterday, CEO Tim Cook was Zoom-summoned to an antitrust hearing in Washington, D.C. where he was questioned about anti-competitive practices alongside other Big Tech CEOs.

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Big tech crushes Q2 earnings expectations

Today after the bell, Apple, Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon reported their earnings results. Each bested expectations, and all but one are up sharply in after-hours trading.

Coming on the heels of a day’s worth of congressional hearings in which the four companies highlighted competition and downplayed their market position, the results are loud. The group’s collected earnings beats are especially impressive given that they came during a quarter in which the economy contracted, meaning that their combined, relative share of the U.S. economy went up sharply during the period.

Let’s chat about each to collect high-level results, and check in on Apple’s stock-split news that is sure to keep Wall Street talking for days to come.

Apple

Image Credits: TechCrunch

Apple reported Q2 2020 revenue of $59.7 billion, up 11% from the year-ago period. This was ahead of expectations, with the street anticipating $52.25 billion, according to Yahoo Finance averages.

The hardware-and-software giant also reported earnings per share (GAAP, diluted) of $2.58, up 18% from the year-ago quarter. This also beat expectations, with investors expecting a slimmer $2.04, again, according to Yahoo Finance data.

And Cupertino announced that it will split its stock four for one, something that Apple said that will make its “stock more accessible to a broader base of investors.” In the age of fractional-share investing, the move feels somewhat meaningless. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, is price-weighted, and Apple is a component, so perhaps that has something to do with the choice.

Apple shares are up 4.7% in after-hours trading, after gaining more than a point during regular hours.

Why is SAP spinning Qualtrics out via an IPO?

Alphabet

Image Credits: TechCrunch

Alphabet is a slightly more complicated story, with the company actually shrinking on a year-over-year basis, though still besting expectations.

The search giant reported $38.3 billion in revenue in Q2 2020, ahead of an expected result of $37.36 billion. As Alphabet reported $38.9 billion in the year-ago quarter, Alphabet was smaller this year than the last.

The company’s earnings per share also fell, from $14.21 in the year-ago quarter to $10.13 per share (GAAP, diluted). Again, however, that was ahead of an expected result of $8.34. Shares of Alphabet are roughly flat after its report.

Why is its stock down despite beating expectations? Because shrinking is not great, and perhaps because its “Other Bets” business collection posted negative operating income of $1.12 billion in the quarter, a worse result than it recorded in Q2 2019. That’s a big expense.

Amazon

Image Credits: TechCrunch

Amazon had a killer quarter, including revenue of $88.9 billion, up from $63.4 billion in the year-ago quarter, and ahead of an expected result of $81.53 billion.

The company also managed to earn $10.30 per share (GAAP, diluted), far ahead of an expected result of $1.46, per Yahoo Finance figures.

The only possible mark against Amazon was that AWS, the company’s cloud computing service, only grew 29% in the quarter. That was slower than the 33% it recorded during Q1 2020, and, as CNBC notes, was dramatically slower than what Microsoft’s competing Azure product managed when it reported recently.

Still, shares of Amazon are up around 4.9% in after-hours trading, after gaining 0.6% during regular trading.

Facebook

Image Credits: TechCrunch

Facebook’s quarter was a single, extended finger at those trying to nudge the social giant into shaking up its content policies. The company reported $18.7 billion in revenue, up 11% from its year-ago result of $16.9 billion. Investors had expected just $17.4 billion in top-line.

Unsurprisingly, off the back of that revenue beat, Facebook bested earnings per share expectations, reporting $1.80 in per-share profit, up nearly 100% from its year-ago result of $0.91 per share, and far ahead of an expected $1.39.

Facebook shares are up nearly 6.5% in after-hours trading, after gaining about half a point during regular trading.

Summary?

Hot damn, is tech doing better than the rest of the economy as millions are out of work, and Congress can’t figure out if supporting its own population during a global pandemic and economic crisis is, you know, a good idea. These results will do precisely nothing to dampen concern that Big Tech is too big.

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