The Tech Landscape #168 đ
Facebook Shops, Reality Labs, Amazon Halo, the App Store revolt, TikTok, and a focus on XR: this is issue 168 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.
I went on a four-day walking holiday through the South of England this week, and learned a few things, notably that Britainâs centuries-old system of public footpaths and rights of way is one of its great achievements. But more pertinently for this newsletter: first, that Google Maps might be peerless for routing in urban areas, but its utility breaks down pretty rapidly when you want to go off-road; and second, judging by how many I saw in rural pubs, the QR Code is definitely back.
I Wrote This
A bit about avatars, virtual try-ons, enhanced social photos, identity in lockdown, and the potential environmental benefit of fashion going digital:
[Ralph Laurenâs digital collection for Bitmoji is] only the latest in a number of experiments with identity in the virtual spaces of games and social media by fashion and streetwear companies. While playful, these experiments also have implications for the future of retail, and of sustainability.
marketingsociety.com/blog-post/fashion-goes-digital
Top Stories
Social Ecommerce Facebook launched new features for its Shops social ecommerce platform: a new dedicated Shop section in Facebook displays products and recommendations to US users; expansion of Shops to all eligible businesses, and Instagram Checkout to all US-based businesses; integration with Messenger and Instagram Direct; and live shopping to businesses using Facebook Live, and US businesses using Instagram Live. This is the first major implementation of the features announced a few months ago, and puts Facebook first in the emerging social ecommerce market.
about.fb.com/news/2020/08/making-it-easier-to-shop-and-sell-on-our-apps/
XR The former Oculus, Portal, and Spark AR teams are being brought together in a new division called Facebook Reality Labs, and the upcoming Oculus Connect virtual conference will be rebranded as Facebook Connect. The Oculus name is now only attached to the VR headsetsâwhich, as mentioned last week, will require a Facebook account to use in future.
tech.fb.com/introducing-the-new-facebook-reality-labs-plus-save-the-date-for-facebook-connect-on-september-16/
Health Amazon announced Halo, a health and wellness subscription service which includes full-body scanning to measure body fat, and detection of medical conditions through voice analysis. An extra Halo Band wearable contains sensors to measure temperature, heart rate, and sleep. This is a further push into health by Amazon, but the amount of data itâs capable of tracking has people concerned about privacy. Amazon says body photos are deleted after analysis, and speech samples are never heard by a human.
press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/introducing-amazon-halo-and-amazon-halo-band-new-service-helps
XR (AR, VR, MR)
Facebook is opening Horizon, its VR social platform, to users who signed up for the waitlist to its invite-only Beta. Horizon is a social space built by its users, and the announcement pays a lot of attention to the safety features that will be in place, including âsafe zonesâ and monitored abuse reporting. Access will be available to people on Facebookâs own Oculus Quest and Rift devices in the US and Canada. Horizon is one of many attempts to create a âmetaverseâ, the next iteration of the internet; Facebookâs version will be walled off from the start.
about.fb.com/news/2020/08/facebook-horizon-welcomes-first-virtual-explorers/
Future Pixel phones, starting with the 4a, will no longer support the Playground AR stickers that were launched as a Pixel exclusive with the Pixel 3. I have a long-brewing blog post about Googleâs AR strategy, because I canât work out what it is. The 3D models in Search are doing well, but last year Google Lens was promised to be an âAR discovery toolâ and that seems to have fizzled out entirely.
9to5google.com/2020/08/24/pixel-4a-playground-stickers/
Apple is planning to release exclusive AR bonus content to support its Apple TV+ subscription service, according to a report by Bloomberg (who have been pretty reliable on things like this so far).
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-26/apple-plans-augmented-reality-content-to-boost-tv-video-service
Apple bought Spaces, a company specialising in VR video conferencing. Itâs not yet known if this was a product, talent, or IP acquisition. Apple has been on a tear of buying AR and VR companies in the last two years; just launch the damned glasses, already.
protocol.com/apple-vr-ar-spaces-acquisition
Amazon launched Room Decorator, a new AR furniture previewer which lets users see multiple items, from different vendors, at the same timeâan upgrade from the previous single-item preview. Itâs rolling out to iOS users in the US.
techcrunch.com/2020/08/25/amazon-rolls-out-a-new-ar-shopping-feature-for-viewing-multiple-items-at-once/
Ultraleap announced a deal to include its hand-tracking technology in and Qualcommâs next XR chip design, expected to be used in future AR and VR headsets from companies like Nreal, Niantic, and⊠well, probably almost everyone except Apple.
ultraleap.com/company/news/press-release/qualcomm-snapdragon-xr2/
Games company CD Projekt Red announced a new PokĂ©mon GO-alike XR game, Witcher: Monster Hunter, based on the popular novels/games/Netflix series. I donât know how successful Microsoftâs Minecraft World has been, but seems like few of these games have caught on in the way PokĂ©mon GO didânot even Nianticâs own follow-up, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
en.cdprojektred.com/news/announcing-new-mobile-game-the-witcher-monster-slayer/
The App Store Revolt
Apple terminated Epic Gamesâ App Store account, meaning Fortnite will no longer be available to download on iOS or MacOS. Anyone who has the game installed can continue to play, although they wonât get any new updates (see below). Apple says itâs because of Epicâs continued breaches of App Store rules, although the lawsuit between the companies canât help.
theverge.com/2020/8/28/21406013/apple-epic-games-fortnite-developer-account-terminated-no-longer-available
Epic Games confirmed that the new season of Fortnite content wonât be available on any Apple devices, following the revocation of its developer license.
theverge.com/2020/8/26/21402603/epic-fortnite-ios-mac-new-season-not-releasing
Apple rejected an app update from Facebook which told users about the 30% App Store fee, citing a rule about âirrelevant informationâ. The information was attached to the recent launch of the Paid Events feature, which Facebook was making free to small businesses to help post-COVID recovery. It was obviously an antagonistic move aimed at piling more pressure on Apple over its fees, and the rejection canât be a surpriseâalthough it still looks bad for Apple.
reuters.com/article/us-facebook-apple-exclusive/exclusive-facebook-says-apple-rejected-its-attempt-to-tell-users-about-app-store-fees-idUSKBN25O042?il=0
TikTok
US retail chain, Walmart, is reported (by Axios) to be working with Microsoft on the deal to acquire TikTokâs US operations, as it sees the app has massive potential for social ecommerce. ButâŠ
axios.com/microsoft-working-with-walmart-on-tiktok-deal-28d4bd9d-2418-43e1-b603-c66d32784dd7.html
China added âpersonalised content recommendations based on data analysisâ to its export control list, meaning Bytedance might have to apply for a license to sell its core TikTok algorithmâadding the risk that any US sale could be for a user list and brand only. Of course any buyer could roll out its own algorithm, but it would lose an awful lot of existing preferences.
asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/US-China-tensions/China-s-new-AI-export-curbs-threaten-TikTok-s-US-sale
Everything Else
Assistants & Voice Google announced a hospitality solution for Assistant, letting hotels offer Nest Hub smart displays in public areas and rooms with voice access to information about amenities and tailored guest experiences including in-room entertainment. Amazon launched Alexa for Hospitality back in 2018, so Google is a late entrant to the market (again).
blog.google/products/assistant/hands-free-hotel-stays-google/
Social Media Facebook says its personalised News service has been a success with publishers in the US and plans to roll out to new countries in the next 6-12 months, with the UK, Brazil, France, Germany, and India all being âconsideredâ. The announcement seems to be strategically timed as Google is currently fighting the Australian government over a (ridiculous, IMO) new law on news publishing.
about.fb.com/news/2020/08/bringing-facebook-news-to-more-countries/
Advertising Facebook warned that new advertising privacy controls coming in iOS14 will negatively impact monetisation for app owners using its Audience Network, although it wonât affect advertising on Facebook itself. Earlier this year Facebook ended Audience Network for the mobile web.
facebook.com/business/news/preparing-our-partners-for-ios-14-launch
Entertainment Tidal, the music streaming service, made a $7m investment in Sensorium, a new virtual events space set to launch next year. It looks like Tidal has plans to use the space to run digital gigs by its co-investor music artists, including Jay-Z, Madonna, and Rihanna. One to watch next year.
pollstar.com/article/tidal-gets-into-vr-by-purchasing-7-million-in-sensorium-corporation-tokens-146343
Maps Google unveiled a refresh of the Saved tab in Maps, which better surfaces recent and nearby saved places. Itâs a further sign of Mapsâ shift beyond routing and into being a travel guide.
blog.google/products/maps/remember-better-with-updated-saved-tab/
Stat of the Week
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to online shopping in the US by five years, according to the latest IBM Retail Index data. It predicts that ecommerce will grow by 20% in 2020.
techcrunch.com/2020/08/24/covid-19-pandemic-accelerated-shift-to-e-commerce-by-5-years-new-report-says/
There are 168 hours in a week. As of April 2020, UK adults spend an average 28 of those online.