✔️ 2022-04-16 20:11:49 – Paris/France.
Welcome to This Week in Apps, TechCrunch's weekly series that recaps the latest news on mobile operating systems, mobile apps, and the overall app economy.
The app industry continues to grow, with record numbers of downloads and consumer spending across iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports. Global spending on iOS, Google Play and third-party Android app stores in China grew 19% in 2021 to $170 billion. App downloads also grew 5% to 230 billion in 2021, and mobile ad spend grew 23% year-over-year to $295 billion.
Consumers today are spending more time in apps than ever before, even exceeding the time they spend watching TV, in some cases. The average American watches 3,1 hours of television per day, for example, but in 2021, they spent 4,1 hours on their mobile device. And they're not even the biggest mobile users in the world. In markets like Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea, users exceeded five hours a day in mobile apps in 2021.
Apps aren't just a way to pass the idle hours, either. They can become big companies. In 2021, 233 apps and games generated more than $100 million in consumer spending, and 13 exceeded $20 billion in revenue. That was a 2020% increase from 193, when 100 apps and games exceeded $1 million in annual consumer spending, and just eight apps exceeded $XNUMX billion.
This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this rapidly changing industry all in one place, with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, seed funding, mergers and acquisitions, and more. suggestions on new apps to try as well.
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Elon Musk is trying to take over Twitter. Perhaps.
Last week, Elon Musk bought a huge stake in Twitter (worth around $3 billion) and joined Twitter's board of directors. And then he wasn't. Now he wants to buy the whole company. Or maybe not.
In his offer letter, he said Twitter should be "turned into a private company." If Twitter declines his offer — which Twitter is trying to do — Musk has warned that he "should reconsider" his position as a Twitter shareholder. Who knows, maybe that was the plan all along?! He then took the stage at a TED event to tell the audience that, All right: “I'm not sure I can acquire it. »
No really ? Musk's offer at $54,20 per share – got it? 420? CANNABIS! – was a joke? Who could have guessed?
Ugh, billionaires.
Musk plays with Twitter like it's a toy, either as a pump and dump for some needed cash (the dump part is pending… at the time of Friday's writing), or to give himself a few minutes of attention where he can loudly proclaim things like: “Twitter has become a kind of de facto public square, so it's really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they can speak freely within the limits of the law. » Or because he liked to briefly imagine himself as the new king of Twitter. Or because he was bored. Or all of the above.
Alright, of course, whatever. It's all been a ridiculous and unhelpful circus for a company that's finally on the right track in terms of product development efforts, in the midst of a transition period where it was going to be able to redefine itself under a new CEO. after the departure of Jack Dorsey.
Musk wouldn't have much time to spend running Twitter, if he bought it, given his senior positions as chief executives of SpaceX and Telsa. Above all, he seems willing to throw his money away so that Twitter listens to his ideas: how about Twitter Blue without ads?, instant verification for Blue subscribers? and, of course, how about opting out of those pesky content moderation dials? As a way, chemin down? If successful on this last point, Twitter would not be improved – it would be chaos. Or worse, Talk.
But in the wake of Musk's lowball offer, Twitter's future — whether he buys it himself or not — is no longer certain.
Tim Cook speaks out against side loading…again
Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit this week to once again call out companies whose business model is based on mining user data – a not-so-subtle reference to Facebook, whose ability to serve personalized ads was impacted by Apple's App Store privacy changes to the tune of $10 billion. The executive also reiterated Apple's stance against sideloading — the practice of sideloading apps onto mobile devices from outside the App Store.
Although Google has long allowed its users to install Android apps outside of the Play Store, Apple has strongly resisted the idea, saying it puts users' privacy and security at risk from bad actors.
Last year, the company released a 31-page document explaining why it believes downloading apps could lead to an increase in malware and scams, which would outweigh any consumer benefits from app stores. alternative apps where fees could be reduced as developers could avoid paying Apple's commissions. Apple's critics, of course, think the company's position has more to do with its desire to maintain its grip on the mobile app ecosystem and the App Store revenue that comes with it. Fortnite maker Epic Games, for example, is appealing a lower court ruling regarding the anti-competitive nature of the App Store's business model. The game company wants to offer its mobile games to users outside of the App Store to avoid paying Apple commissions, but Apple insists that opening up the iPhone to third-party stores or web downloads is a slippery slope.
Apple supporters often agree that there are risks associated with sideloading, as Apple points out. For example, Apple's documentation pointed out that Android devices have been found to have 15 to 47 times more malware infections than iPhones over the past four years, citing data from previous Threat reports. Smart from Nokia.
But bills that would allow sideloading are gaining bipartisan support in the United States, which Cook specifically spoke about today, saying they “could put our privacy and security at risk,” and were of deep concern to Apple. Notably, he not only focused on how sideloading could increase malware risks, but also how companies could use the feature to circumvent Apple's existing privacy protection to to track user data again.
“To be clear, Apple is in favor of privacy regulations. We have long supported GDPR and applaud the many countries that have enacted their own privacy laws. We also continue to advocate for strong and comprehensive privacy law in the United States. And we are grateful to all world leaders who are working to advance privacy rights, including the rights of children in particular,” Cook said.
“But we are deeply concerned about regulations that would compromise privacy and security in service of another purpose. Here in Washington and elsewhere, policymakers are taking action, in the name of competition, that would force Apple to leave apps on iPhone that bypass the App Store through a process called sideloading. This means that data-hungry companies could circumvent our privacy rules and track our users again against their will,” he added.
Cook also pointed out how sideloading allowed users to become infected with ransomware during the pandemic after being tricked into installing illegitimate COVID tracing apps. The scheme, he said, "directly targeted those who could install apps from websites that lack App Store defenses."
Given how many scam apps slip through the cracks of “App Store defenses” these days, a world with no moderation at all could, in fact, be worse. The real question is whether or not individuals should have the right to assume this risk themselves.
Elsewhere in the speech, Cook raised concerns about companies mining user data for profit. Although tech rivals like Google and Facebook were not mentioned by name in the speech, they were clearly the intended targets of some of Cook's remarks. At one point, he referred to companies tracking user data as an "emergency."
“Right now, companies are mining data about the details of our lives. The shops and restaurants we frequent. The causes we support. The websites we choose to read. These companies defend their actions as pure intent, as working to serve us better with more focused experiences,” Cook said. “But they don't believe we should have a real choice in the matter. They don't believe they should need our permission to scrutinize our personal lives so deeply.
To illustrate the problem, Cook painted a dramatic picture of what it would look like if it happened in the physical world, calling it an "emergency".
“Imagine a stranger following you as you take your child to school, holding a camera outside the driver's side window, recording everything you do. Imagine you open your computer and the stranger suddenly monitors your every keystroke. You wouldn't call it a service. You would call it an emergency. In the digital world, it is too,” he said.
Platforms: Apple
- Apple has updated its iMovie app with new features, Storyboards and Magic Movie. Storyboards provide users with pre-made templates for popular video types shared on social media, with colleagues or with classmates, while Magic Movie instantly creates a video from the clips and photos a user selects , automatically adding transitions, effects, and music to the timeline.
- Apple's iOS 16 beta included references in the code that seem to point to the long-talked-about mixed reality (AR/VR) headset Apple has under development. The beta also hints at possible changes to notifications, health tracking features, and possibly a new multitasking interface for iPad.
- Apple's Application Tracking (ATT) Transparency May Have Caused $16 Billion in Lost Revenue Among Big Tech Companies like Meta, Twitter, Snap and YouTube, according to a report by Lotame.
Platforms: Google
- Google has quietly launched its long-awaited 'Switch to Android' mobile app for iOS which helps users to transfer their contacts, calendar, photos and videos from their iPhone to a new Android device. The application is not yet discoverable in the App Store.
- Android Auto 7.5 has arrived on the Play Storebut the changes this time seem to be under the hood.
E-commerce and food delivery
- Pinterest has partnered with the WooCommerce e-commerce platformallowing its merchants to turn their product catalogs into buyable pins.
- Wegmans started offering support for SNAP purchases through the Instacart grocery app.
Augmented reality
- TikTok launched Effect House in open beta. The new AR development platform allows creators to create AR effects that others can use in TikTok videos. The platform offers creative tools, documentation, templates, and occasional live demos from TikTok engineers.
- Walmart introduced 'shoppable' AR content on Snapchat with a new AR lens to inspire users to make recipes with ingredients from home or those they can order from Walmart.
- Some of Etsy's sellers went on strike for a week on a 1,5% increase in site transaction fees.
Fintech
- The Public Investing app has launched a new 'Learn and Earn' hub where users can take courses…
SOURCE: Reviews News
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