The Tech Landscape #140 👏🏻
This is issue 140 of The Tech Landscape, a weekly collection of news about consumer digital technology. Stories are selected by me, Peter Gasston, with a little insight and opinion where appropriate.
Twitter’s original 140 character limit was imposed to ensure that tweets could be sent in a single SMS message, with an extra 20 characters for the name of the user. After it increased the limit to 280 characters in 2017, only 12% of tweets took advantage of the extra capability.
Top Stories
Apple’s Quick Look AR preview is gaining a configurable action button, letting brands like Wayfair and Bang & Olufsen offer purchases or customer support. This is a really important step for getting retailers on board with AR.
techcrunch.com/2020/02/13/apple-expands-quick-look-to-let-retailers-sell-things-directly-in-augmented-reality/
WhatsApp now has 2 billion users, up from 1.5bn two years ago.
blog.whatsapp.com/10000666/Two-Billion-Users–Connecting-the-World-Privately
Samsung Unpacked
Samsung announced some new devices including the Galaxy S20 flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Z Flip folding phone, and updated Galaxy Buds earphones. There will be three models of the S20, all 5G-enabled, with 8K video recording and powerful zoom. Prices start at ÂŁ800 and go up to ÂŁ1,400 for the highest spec.
theverge.com/2020/2/11/21125212/samsung-galaxy-s20-event-news-announcements-top-biggest-products-unpacked
Samsung also announced that Google’s Duo video calling service will be integrated into the dialler of the Galaxy S20 phones, hinting that it may come to other devices later. Duo has over a billion downloads from the Play Store, but I’ve no idea how many people are using it.
engadget.com/2020/02/11/samsung-galaxy-s20-duo-video-messaging/
Video
YouTube viewers (in certain countries) can now tip creators by buying an applause animation. The applause costs $2, of which YouTube keeps 30%. It’s another way for creators to make revenue (and for Google to keep them using its platform).
androidpolice.com/2020/02/12/youtube-lets-you-donate-to-creators-and-videos-you-like-by-buying-a-2-applause/
YouTube accounts for 7 of every 10 minutes spent in the top 5 video streaming apps worldwide.
appannie.com/en/insights/mobile-minute/youtube-dominates-video-streaming-ad-model/
Flipboard is launching a paid curated video service, Flipboard TV. For $3 a month users will get news, business, entertainment, and more. At launch it’s a timed exclusive to the new Samsung Galaxy S20.
about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/introducing-flipboard-tv/
Caffeine announced a multi-year exclusive streaming deal with pop star Drake, which will initially involve him producing a show called Ultimate Rap Battle. The deal shows the money currently pouring into live-streaming video, and Caffeine’s desire to be known for more than game streaming.
polygon.com/2020/2/11/21133441/drake-exclusive-streaming-caffeine-ultimate-rap-league-battle
Payments
Apple Pay accounts for around 5% of global card transactions, and is expected to handle 10% by 2025.
qz.com/1799912/apple-pay-on-pace-to-account-for-10-percent-of-global-card-transactions/
Patreon is opening a new office in Berlin, will allow European creators to choose Euro or Pound currencies, and is working on language localisations for its site as it tries to increase its global profile.
blog.patreon.com/creativity-has-no-borders
Games
Game content streaming is up 17% year-on-year. Twitch remains the streaming king, although YouTube Games has grown 25% since last year. Twitch recently lost some of its top talent and content to rivals like Caffeine (see above).
digitaltrends.com/gaming/twitch-remains-king-of-livestreaming-2020/
GameSnacks is a new project building very fast, light, simple games aimed at developing markets. It’s a product of Google’s Area 120 incubator, and will initially launch in partnership with SE Asian delivery giant Gojek.
blog.google/technology/area-120/gamesnacks-brings-quick-casual-games-any-device/
Social
Snapchat is rolling out Here For You, a tool which pro-actively gives support resources to users who search for topics related to mental health.
snap.com/en-US/news/post/introducing-here-for-you/
Reuters is partnering with Facebook to fact-check user-generated media posted to Facebook and Instagram in the US.
reuters.com/article/rpb-fbfactchecking/reuters-launches-fact-checking-initiative-to-identify-misinformation-in-partnership-with-facebook-idUSKBN2061TG
Messaging
Google announced Emoji Kitchen, a tool to mash together two different emoji together for a wider range of non-verbal communication. It will be available to users of Google’s Gboard keyboard for Android.
blog.google/products/android/feeling-all-the-feels-theres-an-emoji-sticker-for-that/
Walmart is shutting down its personal shopping by text service, Jetblack. The service had reportedly struggled to gain subscribers.
corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/02/13/moving-jet-black-from-incubation-into-our-broader-business
Everything Else
The UK’s broadcast watchdog, Ofcom, will be given new powers by the government to regulate internet content. The details will be announced later this year.
bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51446665
Google says there’s been a 98% reduction in Android apps requesting access to users SMS and call log data since introducing new Play Store policies 2018.
android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/02/how-we-fought-bad-apps-and-malicious.html
The US Department of Justice is charging Huawei with 16 serious offences including stealing corporate secrets. Huawei responded that the charges are a rehash of some old civil suits and that it’s US protectionism (which doesn’t sound unlikely).
techcrunch.com/2020/02/13/the-u-s-is-charging-huawei-with-racketeering/
The latest test from Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team is Hobbi, an app for tracking and documenting personal projects. Apps from the NPE team aren’t necessarily designed to succeed.
techcrunch.com/2020/02/13/facebooks-latest-experiment-is-hobbi-an-app-to-document-your-personal-projects/