This week Tim Cook sent a letter to Apple investors regarding new strategies after much lower than expected earnings in FYQ1 2019.
Apple was expecting lower ravenue, but it looks like actual numbers caught Apple off guard. Regarding to Apple, the main cause of this situation is weak demand in China. People there doesn't buy new iPhones. New iPhones are ludicrous expensive, and in China there are plenty of cheaper devices that have the same features. People there doesn't care whether they use iOS or Android because Chinese apps look and work the same way on both platforms, so it is really easy for them to switch platforms.
Also, if we add to this tense relations, because of "Trade War", between China and USA it's not a surprise that sells have been lower than expected.
China is one of the biggest markets in the world, high demand from there is really important, but Apple also reported weakened demand in some "developed markets", which indicates that either iPhones are too expensive or new features introduced in new models does not appeal to the customers.
Probably it is the combination of both. For a while Apple has been increasing the price of the devices without any breakthrough features. I used to wait entire year for iPhone's keynote and I knew I would see something revolutionary. Now, I simply don't care because Apple will again show the same "recycled" phone with higher price tag.
On the positive note, Apple has increased demand for services, macs, wearables and iPads. Also in other markets, including Poland, Apple reported record sells. Maybe higher that usual demand in Poland is the first step to opening the first official Apple Store here.

Now, moving on to other news. Image of the Samsung Galaxy S10 has leaked, revealing bezelless screen without a notch, but with camera cutout withing the screen. This is an interesting design, and if you only need front facing camera it makes a lot of sense.

Google has got U.S. regulatory approval to proceed with a radar-based motion sensor known as the Soli Project. This technology can make UI from Minority Report a reality.

Thats all from this week, now it's time for list of interesting things.

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This week was one of the most uneventful weeks of this year. There is no a single story that might deserve more detailed coverage. In this situation, I decided just to listed news that might be somewhat interesting.

Samsung teases foldable phone. This phone is suppose to have foldable/blendable screen and will be released later this year under Galaxy brand.

Amazon passed a market value of $1 trillion. Amazon was competing with Apple to be the first IT company to pass $1T mark. Apple won this battle couple weeks ago. Nevertheless it's still impressive how company that couldn't afford a proper desk is now one of the most valued companies in the world.

Looks like Evernote is in trouble. First Evernote raised prices. Now is slashing prices for premium annual plans. In a meanwhile many executives left company. It does not look good. Especially when there are cheaper alternatives that offers the same or even better functionality.

Fortnite for Android has been downloaded 15 million times. The Android version was released just couple weeks ago and now it reached 15M downloads. Not to mention, it was achieved without Google Play. Impressive, most impressive.

Logitech will release alternative for Apple Pencil. Stylus will be available on September 12 for $69. I'm wondering whether this is confirmation of the rumors that new iPhones will support styluses. To be honest, it does not matter that much, because it's good to see more affordable alternative for quite expensive Apple Pencil.

Finally, here is list of interesting things.

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Image credits: Mehdi-Thomas BOUTDARINE.

This week was really uneventful. The only interesting thing was the Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 event, where new Note 9 has been announced, as well as new smart speaker - Galaxy Home. Also, Samsung has rebranded the Gear watches into Galaxy Watches so now we have entire Galaxy family of devices.
Samsung has also announced the partnership with Spotify. Now Samsung users can make Spotify the default music player across its devices.

Speaking of Samsung. One of the most popular games of last couple of months - Fortnite - was launched on Android... exclusively on recent Samsung Galaxy devices.
Last week we got news that Fortnite is not going to be available through Google Play Store. This week Epic Games dropped the bomb that it will be Samsung's exclusive at launch.
The rumors say that the exclusivity will last less than a month, but it still feels wrong.

That's it. As I said this was uneventful week. Now, the only thing left is to share the list of interesting articles.

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Image credits: Samsung.