April 2020 in review: iPhone SE, COVID19, Contact Tracing, and the Magic Keyboard for iPad

A collection of the key events in our April 2020 in review. This include the releases of the iPhone SE 2020 , COVID19, Contract Tracing and the magic keyboard for the iPad.

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The entire world seemed to be in lockdown, and yet April still turned out to be an extremely busy month for Apple with new products like the iPhone SE 2020, new controversies, and surprises.

You couldn’t move for Apple anniversaries in April, but then we’re in coronavirus lockdown so it’s not as if you could move much anyway. Even with the world in chaos, though. There were these anniversaries of the iPad, the iMac, the Apple II, and even Apple itself. Plus there were new products, and there were some reassuringly familiar things in April.

Such as having a security scandal. This time it was that the social media giant was revealed to have tried to track iOS users activity through spyware called Pegasus

We’ve gone beyond being shocked , but this month some people were relieved by it. Zoom should be the hero of the COVID- lockdown but instead our self-isolating world became divided into two groups of people.

There were those who’d had Zoom security problems and those who haven’t yet. It just felt as if there was no third group of anyone who isn’t using this video tool, unless they work for places that banned it, such as the US senate. Or Google.

Although there was definitely a group of people who were each using Zoom on their new MacBook Air. Following the launch of this machine last month, orders were now arriving and we were all getting to find out that, yes, MacBook Air is the Mac to buy.

Apple reaches into its pocket

While Apple presumably continued to earn money from the MacBook Air, it did spend some to help us all out, too. During April, the company allowed Apple Card users to defer their payment interest-free, for instance.

It also donated millions to the One World: Together at Home COVID- fundraiser. Also an unspecified amount to the BBC s The Big Night In, too. In both cases, Tim Cook appeared on video conference to show that he’s like the rest of us and needs some human contact.

Even Tim Cook needs some FaceTime contact.

Speaking of contact, it was during April that we learned how a small team within Apple created a proposal for contact tracing, or exposure notification, service. Working together with Google, the company devised a system that would mean iPhones and Android phones. They will be able to unobtrusively help track the spread of COVID-.

That also meant both companies got immediately hammered about privacy concerns. It was unusual for Apple, of all firms, to be accused of privacy risks. This wasn’t at all out of character for Google to, so it mostly balanced out.

There were complaints from US Senators, and then the EU, too, but generally it’s now seen that Apple and Googles solution is strong on user privacy.

That might be down to Apple’s calm, considered, authoritative explanations. It might also be down in part to how the two companies improved the technology in response to the criticisms. But ultimately people tended to accept Apple and Google’s technology as being secure. Chiefly because some world countries rejected it in favour of systems that demonstrably worse.

In the UK, the NHS was using the Apple system but then decided that it preferred its own technology expertise instead. Although when Apple insider asked them about it, their email system failed. It looked as if both Germany and France were going to go it alone too.

Then Germany seemed to listen to advice and changed to supporting Apple and Google. The developer of France’s StopCovid app has since claimed that Germany hasn’t really changed, no. Also that Apple may yet give in to the country’s demands to loosen iOS security. Not going to happen, said Apple.

April’s iPhone news and rumours

While Apple was busy making this contact tracing technology, it reportedly wasn’t busy making the new iphone. Rumours that the new phones would be delayed continue to come out just about as often as claims that no, it’s all on schedule.

But we did seem to get a more reliable read from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He became the first of many people to report that mass production is delayed by around a month. The new phones should be in engineering verification testing at the moment. Kuo says, but the laboratories that do this work are currently closed.

Apple could still announce the phones at the usual September time, but Kuo believes that they will ship later, much as the iPhone X did.

While Kuo continued to be the most reliable analyst around, April saw the rise of leaker Jon Prosser, too. Even before this month, he was claiming inside knowledge of Apple’s plans and then on April , he was proved right.

At last the iPhone SE sequel

That’s when the iPhone SE 2020, second generation, was officially launched. It s fair to say, too, that it lived up to all the hopes for it that had been building over the last many years.

While it eschews the previous, smaller screen, and some complained that its basic design was old, this was that rare Apple thing, the instant classic.

The new iPhone SE has much of the innards of an iPhone , and for its combination of price, performance, and features, it’s got to be a smash. We’re going to sound like fans or employees of the Apple marketing department, but no, this is straight factual information.

This is the cheapest iPhone Apple makes and it blows away the most expensive android phones. We called it the definition of affordable smartphone power in our full, detailed review.

So, let’s just recap for one second. Maybe Apple hasn’t actually released what you could call a cheap iPhone, but it has released one that is cheaper and immensely powerful. And throughout April, users were getting their MacBook Air deliveries and finding that the cheapest portable Mac is immensely powerful.

It’s almost enough to make you think Apple has changed but then the wheels came off that idea. Almost literally. For right alongside the high-profile launch of the iPhone SE, Apple quietly released a set Mac Pro.

When the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro was announced in March, Apple said that it would be available in May. Surprise. It was launched instead in mid-April

Apple is doomed

In the middle of a coronavirus lockdown, Apple was still pumping out products —and hitting every possible price point.

Even so, it is hard to ignore the massive impact of the COVID- lockdowns, and analysts were expecting some bad news during Apple’s legally-mandated financial conference call on the last day of the month.

And they didn’t get any. While the figures are less than they would’ve been, Apple still earned more than expected.

Perhaps you don t lie awake at nights worrying about the fortunes of this company, but maybe we could all do with considering just how Apple has done this. Especially when you think pervious, this company was within days of going bankrupt, it’s been a remarkable lesson in recovery.

Part of it is the company’s unquestioned and admirable focus on design. It also turns out to be an ability we might all be able to emulate, of diversifying. In these days when so many of us are seeing our jobs endangered. It’s educational to see that Apple s earnings came in great part because of its services and wearables divisions.

Apple is no longer the company that makes computers. It’s not even the company that makes iPhones. It’s now this giant organization that provides so many services that we rely on.

It didn’t pivot to services overnight, it’s been planning this for decades, but April’s financial earnings brought it home that diversifying has been the smart choice.