Nearly a quarter of Tesla’s Model 3 reservation deposits in the U.S. have apparently been refunded, perhaps to extended production delays. Tesla began accepting $1,000 deposits two years ago, with the expectation that customers would likely receive their vehicles in 2018; hundreds of thousands of people have reserved one. But as of the end of April, some 23 percent of all Model 3 deposits in the U.S. had been refunded. At Tesla’s annual meeting today, CEO and chairman Elon Musk will face shareholder votes on two issues: One to curb Musk’s power and another against three directors. [Rani Molla / Recode]
Recode Daily: Some still-waiting Tesla Model 3 customers want their reservation money back
Plus, everything that mattered from Day One of Apple’s WWDC; audiobooks ascendant; and meet Elon Musk’s mom and brother.
Elon Musk / Twitter
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As expected, Day One of Apple’s WWDC was more about improvements and refinements than headline-grabbing hardware launches. You can watch Tim Cook’s full keynote here; here’s everything onstage that mattered, from numbers on Apple’s fast-growing Services business, to its available-this-fall iOS 12 and macOS Mojave updates, to FaceTime, which now supports 32 simultaneous participants plus Animoji and photo filters. Apple’s real emphasis appears to be on its AR efforts and its Siri digital voice assistant, which some see as losing ground to Alexa and Cortana, and perhaps should be baked into everything Apple makes. [Dan Frommer / Recode]
During its WWDC keynote, Apple took another swipe at Facebook and its data practices when it rolled out an update to its Safari browser that would cut off Facebook, Google and other third-party websites and services from collecting your browsing data without your permission. Facebook formed data-sharing partnerships with Apple, Amazon, Samsung and dozens of other device makers, giving them deeper access to users’ personal info than previously known and raising new concerns about its privacy protections. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]
Starbucks founder Howard Schultz is retiring as executive chairman of the global coffee giant. The 64-year-old socially conscious entrepreneur turned a local Seattle coffee chain into a retail icon, with more than 28,000 stores in 77 countries. Schultz’s decision will likely stoke speculation that he is considering a run for president as a Democrat in 2020; he has become increasingly vocal on political issues, including criticizing President Trump last year as “a president that is creating episodic chaos every day.” [Andrew Ross Sorkin / The New York Times]
You’re not going to be able to read Michael Lewis’s next book. But you can listen to it. The best-selling author is part of a growing group of A-list writers bypassing print and releasing audiobook originals; while e-book sales have fallen and print has remained anemic, publishers’ revenue for downloaded audio has nearly tripled in the last five years. [Alexandra Alter / The New York Times]
Recode Presents ...
Do you have questions about what Apple announced this week at WWDC? Kara Swisher and Dan Frommer will be talking about what’s new (and what’s MIA) on this week’s Too Embarrassed to Ask podcast. Send us your questions and you might hear them on the show! Tweet your Qs with the hashtag #TooEmbarrassed or email them to TooEmbarrassed@recode.net.
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