GM. This is Take Off. We're like a cozy campfire on a chilly night - offering warmth, friendship, and illuminating stories in the world of tech.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• What’s in everyone’s pockets? iPhones! 📱

• Shopify is done “Shopping” around 🛍️🛒

• Asteroids ☄️

• Futuristic Fridays 🔮

What’s in everyone’s pockets? iPhones! 📱

Well, folks, Apple just pulled a rabbit out of its hat!

Despite a tough quarter with slumping smartphone sales, the tech titan managed to beat Wall Street forecasts, all thanks to those irresistible iPhones.

With a slowing smartphone market and economic turbulence, Apple really pulled off a Houdini, selling $51.3B worth of iPhones. Sure, it's only a 2% growth, but Hey! In this economy, we ain’t complainin!

iPhone sales just by themselves are so ginoooormous that it’s almost equivalent to Microsoft’s entire revenue and just a bit behind Google’s revenue.

CEO Tim Cook spilled the beans about Apple's success in emerging markets, especially India, Brazil, and Mexico.

Not everything's rosy, though.

• Mac sales took a big tumble (-31%) down to $7.2B.

• iPad revenue slipped a bit (-13%) down to $6.7B.

• Even the golden child – Services – fell a tad short of expectations to $8.8B despite growing +5%.

Apple’s the only Big Tech giant that has been the star amongst Silicon Valley as it hasn’t laid off anyone as of yet and Wall Street as it’s stock has grown by an impressive +32% this year.

We definitely think that such a performance begs the question: Is Apple truly the greatest company of all time?

Shopify is done “Shopping” around 🛍️🛒

Do you know the best way to have a good stock price these days? Show good profits with a sound business model. Lay Off your employees!

Shopify dropped 3 bombs yesterday and it’s a bag of mixed emotions.

1. They’re laying off 20% of their workforce.

2. They’re selling their logistics arm to Flexport for 13% in stock.

3. Beat Wall Street expectations as their revenue grew by 25%.

Shopify's CEO, Tobi Lütke, turned the layoff game into, well, an actual game. Lütke's a big-time gamer, and that vibe has seeped into Shopify's culture.

In his "heartfelt message” to the company, he described the departments from which people are being laid off as “side quests” which do not align with the core mission of the company.

Comparing your laid-off employees to side-quests workers? Not the best move, buddy.

The letter talks mainly about :

• Shopify shifting it’s focus back to what they know best : E-Commerce.

• Shopify embracing the “dawn of the AI Era” which essentially means get ready for a ShopifyGPT soon!

Despite all the bad news, Shopify was the darling of Wall Street yesterday as their stock shot up by a massive 23.84% in after-hours trading.

Shopify also had a great earnings call yesterday, so we don’t want to take away credit where it’s due.

The company reported 25% growth in their revenue ($1.5B) as well as 12% increase in gross profits ($717M). So, overall it was both a good and a bad day for Shopify.

Here’s another strategy for Shopify to boost their stock price even more!

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

Google announces the Pixel Fold. Get ready to fold, unfold, and be amazed at Google I/O on May 10th, and don't forget to bring your wallet, 'cause this baby ain't cheap! (ONLY $1700) 📱💵 

Bing Chat is open to everyone. Microsoft is ditching the waitlist and welcoming everyone aboard the GPT-4-powered party train! With fancy new features and plug-in support, Bing Chat is ready to show off its chatting chops. 🤖💬 

POTUS Meets Big Tech CEO’s for AI Talk. Executives from the White House met up with Big Tech Bois to discuss safety measures with regards to AI and to remind them that with great (AI) power comes great responsibility. 🏛️🦸

🔮 Futuristic Fridays 🔮

Evidence of liquid water of Mars. China's Zhurong rover might have found evidence of liquid water on Mars, making scientists do a double-take as they believed only solid or gaseous states could exist on the Red Planet. Mars might be playing coy with us, but these findings suggest that there could still be a chance of discovering ancient life or even habitable areas. 🔭💧🌌

AI Doctors are here? Researchers at Cornell University have created an AI system to counsel doctors like a human colleague, and it seems the key to a doctor's trust is less about how the AI works and more about the sources it cites. While the feedback is promising, let's not get ahead of ourselves—this AI tool isn't replacing our beloved doctors anytime soon. 🩺🏥

The world at your fingertips. Imagine having the world at your fingertips, literally! Meet the Lorm glove, a nifty gadget that could revolutionize communication for the deaf-blind community. Designed by Tom Bieling, this high-tech glove translates tactile hand touch alphabets into digital text, allowing users to send and receive messages without physical contact. 👂👁️🧤

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