MacRumors

Apple CEO Tim Cook today sat down with CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer, where he discussed his thoughts on innovation, the future of the iPhone and the Apple Watch, the growth of Apple services, Apple's performance in China, and more.

Last week, Apple reported its first year-over-year revenue decline since 2003, announcing $10.5 billion in profit on $50.6 billion in revenue. Apple also saw its first ever decline in year-over-year iPhone sales, leading one Wall Street analyst to claim Apple's best days are behind it.

"I couldn't disagree more," said Cook when asked about the comment, attributing the perceived sales dip to an abnormally high upgrade rate in late 2014 and 2015 as people upgraded to the iPhone 6 and pointing towards growth opportunities in China and India. Cook went on to tease future advances in iPhone technology that will inspire people to buy new devices.

We've got great innovation in the pipeline. New iPhones that will incentivize you and other people that have iPhones today to upgrade to new iPhones.

We are going to give you things you can't live without that you just don't know you need today. That has always been the objective of Apple. To do things that really enrich people's lives. That you look back on and you wonder how did I live without this.

He reiterated Apple's future plans later in the interview when questioned on whether Apple is still innovating. "We're fairly secretive," he said, "but I would tell you we're incredibly excited about things we're working on."

Cook also commented on Apple acquisitions. "We've acquired a lot of companies. We generally acquire a company every three to four weeks on average," he said. "We're always looking," he added on the topic of potential major acquisitions.

On the Apple Watch, Cook didn't give many hints about what's coming in the future, but he said he believes it will be seen differently in retrospect, much like the iPod. "You'll see the Apple Watch getting better and better," he told Cramer. "We're still in learning mode."

If you look at iPod, iPod wasn't viewed as a success, but today it's viewed as an overnight success. [...]

And so I think that in a few years we will look back and people will say, "How could I have ever thought about not wearing this watch?" Because it's doing so much for you. And then it will all of a sudden be an overnight success.

"I could not be more optimistic about China," he said. According to Cook, the Android-to-iPhone switch rate has been "huge" in China, up 40 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the first half of 2015. He says Apple is working with Chinese regulatory authorities to get its iTunes Movies and iBooks services back online in the country. "We're pretty confident and optimistic that we'll be back online and offering those to our Chinese customers soon."

Cook also spoke at length on the dip in Apple stock, the company's quarterly performance and predictions for next quarter, smartphone penetration in China and India, and Apple's customer loyalty and potential for growth in services.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will appear on CNBC's Mad Money this evening, where he will speak with host Jim Cramer. On the show, Cook is expected to discuss Apple's future in China, his outlook on innovation, what's next for the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Apple services, and whether Apple is pursuing any potential acquisitions.

Mad Money will air at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

With much of the ring-shaped main building completed at Apple's second campus and auxiliary buildings taking shape, construction progress from month-to-month is ramping up. Drone pilot Duncan Sinfield has captured new aerial video of Apple Campus 2, allowing us to get a look at changes that have been made to the campus since April.

Significant work has been done on the 100,000 square foot fitness center, where Apple employees will be able to work out and stay healthy. A stone facade is now in place and the building looks to be nearing completion.

According to Sinfield, the sizable green fence surrounding the entire campus is being taken down and replaced with a shorter fabric-covered chain-link fence. A thick white foam is being laid on the top of ground structures like the tunnels and the auditorium, presumably kicking off the landscaping process. Trees and other greenery may be put into place soon, with Apple planning to cover the campus with 80 percent green space.

Apple plans to finish construction on Apple Campus 2 at the end of 2016, with employees set to begin occupying the buildings at the beginning of 2017.

For the first time in a federal case, authorities in a Los Angeles courtroom have issued a search warrant forcing a woman to bypass her iPhone's biometric security using Apple's Touch ID system (via LA Times). The woman in question -- Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan -- was arrested due to charges of identity theft and had previous strings of various criminal convictions.

According to jail records, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Rosenberg signed the Touch ID-related search warrant about 45 minutes after Bkhchadzhyan was taken into custody on February 25. By the afternoon of her arrest, the suspect pleaded no contest to the charges of identity theft and gave the court her fingerprint to unlock the iPhone.

Police recovered Bkhchadzhyan's smartphone at the residence of her boyfriend, Sevak Mesrobian, known to be the member of a local gang, so it's unclear whether the contents of the device were sought after due to Bkhchadzhyan's crimes or her proximity to Mesrobian's gang.

The court's decision in the case follows the thin rules regarding a person's Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination, which relates that numeric passcodes are protected individual privacies, but fingerprints are not. For this reason, some believe new modern laws need to be enacted specifically detailing fingerprint-related security features.

"It isn't about fingerprints and the biometric readers," said Susan Brenner, a law professor at the University of Dayton who studies the nexus of digital technology and criminal law, but rather, "the contents of that phone, much of which will be about her, and a lot of that could be incriminating."

Even with the limited outlines of the inquiry, Brenner said the act of compelling a person in custody to press her finger against a phone breached the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination. It forced Bkchadzhyan to testify — without uttering a word — because by moving her finger and unlocking the phone, she authenticated its contents.

Still, others believe the biometric nature of Touch ID might largely follow in line with the 5th Amendment's prohibition of self-incrimination. "Unlike disclosing passcodes, you are not compelled to speak or say what's 'in your mind' to law enforcement," Albert Gidari, the director of privacy at Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society, said. "'Put your finger here' is not testimonial or self-incriminating."

This line of thinking flows directly from a 2014 case in Virginia, wherein a judge ruled that a man could not be ordered to present his passcode to the court, because that "entailed revealing knowledge and therefore testifying." Using Touch ID on his iPhone was ruled legal, however, and compared to providing the court with a key, instead of divulging information known only to him.

Although unrelated, the Los Angeles case follows a couple of months of heated debate between Apple and the FBI, as the government agency attempted to compel Apple into helping it hack into the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. Eventually the FBI withdrew its lawsuit after finding its own way into the iPhone 5c, which reportedly cost the agency less than $1 million.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Streaming service Hulu is said to be working on a new subscription model that would provide customers with cable-style access to popular broadcast television networks.

In a report by The Wall Street Journal, sources close to the plan said the company's move would directly introduce Hulu as "a competitor to traditional pay-TV providers," in addition to streaming-only services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Hulu's current launch estimate for the cable-like service is sometime early in 2017, and a few partners are already mentioning interest in the program. Disney and Fox are said to be close to signing agreements to provide "many of their channels" to Hulu and its subscribers on the live platform. Some of their networks include ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, Fox's basic broadcast channels, Fox News, and FX.

The company's ultimate goal with the new service may disappoint cord-cutters looking for a complete replacement for their cable box, as those close to Hulu's plans mentioned it "isn’t looking to offer all the hundreds of channels found in the traditional cable bundle." Still, Hulu is seeking other partners in addition to Disney and Fox, who are both co-owners of Hulu.

Hulu sees an opportunity to pitch its planned service to the more than 10 million people who already subscribe to its on-demand service. Consumers don’t need to be an existing Hulu subscriber to sign up for the new service, which has yet to be named.

In addition to live TV, the unnamed service is rumored to provide users with a cloud-based DVR, letting them record shows and set scheduled tapings similar to current offerings by cable providers. Due to all of these prime features, the current estimated cost of Hulu's live TV plan would be $40 per month, according to Sanford C. Bernstein media analyst Todd Juenger. That price was said to be "in the ballpark" by a Hulu executive.

Netflix can be relatively quick in getting up full seasons of recently-aired shows after their finales launch, but it largely depends on the cable network and even then it can be a few weeks to months until they're available on the streaming platform. Hulu has always been ahead of its rivals in providing users access to recently aired TV episodes, launching them one at a time a day after they air, but its new plan would go one step further and let subscribers watch specific TV channels live.

As more customers leave behind cable companies, streaming services are becoming increasingly interested in standalone TV packages such as the one Hulu is looking into launching. Premium channels like Showtime and HBO already have their own specific services, and Apple was even attempting to get a similar $30-$40 web-based TV package launched last year, but failed deals with networks caused the company to put its plans on hold.

A week ahead of Mother's Day, Apple has launched a new commercial centering around a collection of images and video of mothers interacting with their children. The spot continues Apple's "Shot on iPhone" advertising campaign, with each piece captioned by the amateur iPhone user who captured the moment.

MacRumors is pleased to announce the Seventh Annual MacRumors Blood Drive, throughout the month of May 2016. Our goal every year is to save lives by increasing the number of life-saving blood and platelet donations. While most blood drives are specific to a geographic location, our blood drive is online and worldwide. To date we have recorded donations of over 300 units of blood and platelets.

Led by CEO Tim Cook, Apple supports health, relief, and charity efforts, including the recent Apps for Earth promotion. The MacRumors Blood Drive is run by the staff and volunteers of MacRumors.

We ask that you:

1. Donate blood or platelets at any donation center near you, join the bone marrow registry in your country, and sign up for the organ donor registry in your state, province, or country.

2. Post in the MacRumors 2016 Blood Drive! thread to tell us about it and to accept our thanks.

3. Share our message with other people you know.

For details see the MacRumors 2016 Blood Drive! thread and our traditional Honor Roll of donors.

There are many reasons that you should participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive. Consider what some of our forum members have said:

User A.Goldberg:

I was diagnosed and treated for leukemia at age 4. When I got my first blood transfusion, the nurse told me that a stranger had donated it. Decades later, I am healthy thanks in part to some truly altruistic people out there. If you're considering donating, do it for me since I'm not eligible myself. Thanks!!!

User TheBean75:

Thank you for everyone who donates. I cannot (due to the mad cow thing) but my daughter was a micro-preemie born at 24 weeks and had 5 transfusions before her first month in the NICU. I know without the selfless act of donating by others she never would have made it.

User I14:

Thank you to everybody who is donating or has signed up for the bone marrow registry. After donating 42 units over the past years, last year I became a recipient with many units of blood and platelets and finally a bone marrow transplant as I battled leukemia. One of you may have saved my life. You will probably never meet the recipient of your donation, but they will be very thankful for your time, effort and your donation.

How to participate

1. If you are eligible, schedule a blood or platelet donation (see FAQ), in May if possible. Register for the bone marrow registry and/or register as an organ donor (see FAQ).

2. If you aren't eligible to donate blood for reasons of health, age, height/weight, recent donation, or the temporary deferral for gay men that applies in many countries, please encourage someone else to make a donation, and let us know. The U.S. FDA has revised the rules since last year; see our Blood donor eligibility forum thread.

3. Help our drive by thanking donors and convincing friends and relatives to donate as well.

Apple today updated its support site with a brand new look and new ways for users to interact with it. The new site is broken into several different blocks, with most of the attention going to three different ways users can get help.

The first block is dedicated to a search bar that provides Quick Links, which allow users to get the answers they're looking for while they're searching rather than having to wait for a results page. The second block allows users to find support by choosing the device they need help with and the third block features "Popular Topics," like how to manage an Apple ID or photos.

The next set of blocks let users know they can seek help from other Apple users at the Apple Support Communities, check warranty and repair status and how to contact Apple Support. The final two blocks are dedicated to promoting Apple Workshops in retail stores and list out recall and replacement programs. The site's new design is also compatible with mobile browsers.

Well-known designer brand Coach is reportedly working on a line of high-quality Apple Watch bands, which could debut as soon as June. According to Haute Écriture's David Boglin de Bautista, a sales associate at a Coach boutique informed him of the upcoming release after seeing his Apple Watch and showed him pictures of the bands.

Coach is said to be debuting around eight watch bands, in colors that include white, red, black, and brown. Some bands are decorated with charms, while others have patterns like flowers stitched into them, with each band set to retail for approximately $150.

The bands are designed to match Coach handbags from its Spring/Summer 2016 Collection, and according to de Bautista, one band was stitched with flowers to match Coach's Tea Rose Appliqué bag.

It is not clear if Coach is teaming up with Apple or releasing the bands independently. Apple has partnered with Hermès to launch a line of Apple Watch models with Hermès bands and a unique watch face, but Coach may be working independently.

A few other designers, including Rebecca Minkoff and Colette have released Apple Watch bands without Apple's assistance, Minkoff in partnership with Case-Mate and Colette in partnership with Casetify.