On April 4, 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft, a software company destined to become a tech behemoth (and key Apple frenemy). (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

On April 2, 1979, Microsoft released its first hardware product, a microprocessor card called the Z80 SoftCard that plugged into the Apple II. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

Even as the stock market is heads higher, the “Magnificent Seven” trade is beginning to fizzle, with Apple, Alphabet, and Tesla sputtering through the first quarter of 2024. Hardika Singh for The Wall Street Journal: ‎ The S&P 500 climbed 10% in the first quarter, its best start to a year since 2019, even though two of its biggest constituents suffered double-digit declines. Apple shares fell 11% in the first three months of the year, while Tesla dropped almost 30%. Alphabet shares sputtered for much of the period before making a run in the past three weeks and ending up 8%. The other four big tech stocks in the group known as the Magnificent Seven — Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft,…

Meta, Microsoft, X, and Match today joined Epic Games to protest the way Apple complied with a court ruling requiring it to walk back its anti-steering rules. In an amicus brief in support of ‌Epic Games‌ (via The Wall Street Journal), the four companies said that the fees Apple is charging are too high, and that there are too many restrictions on how developers link to their websites. "The Apple Plan comports with neither the letter nor the spirit of this Court's mandate," reads the brief. For context, Apple was ordered to change its App Store rules in 2021 as part of the decision in the ‌Epic Games‌ case. The judge took issue with the anti-steering guidelines that kept apps…

Meta Platforms, Microsoft, X, and Match filed a legal petition protesting Apple’s App Store policies, complaining about how Apple is complying with a U.S. federal court ruling that ordered the App Store to allow alternative payment methods. Aaron Tilley and Bradley Olson for The Wall Street Journal: ‎ The four companies, which have some of the most popular apps on the app store, join Fortnite-maker Epic Games in protesting Apple’s plan to charge a commission for payments made outside the app store.  Apple in January announced plans to allow developers to process purchases outside of its app store, but the company drew sharp criticism from software-makers when it said it would charge a 27% commission in such cases. Earlier this…

Apple CEO Tim Cook, looking for love in all the wrong places Apple’s frenzied scramble to catch up to other tech firms in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) likely will pressure its profit margins, Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner Gene Munster says. Gene Munaster for Deepwater Asset Management: ‎ The news of Apple launching its own model and talking with Google and OpenAI to license a foundation model speaks to the degree that the company’s growth North Star has changed over the past month. First, it was Project Titan getting canceled, now it’s considering doing something rare at Apple, license another company’s tech stack. I believe Apple now gets it. AGI [Artificial General Intelligence] has the potential to have…