The Tech Landscape #95
In 1926, California postman Rudolph Hass’s experiments with avocado seedlings created a new variety with wrinkled black skin and a more rich, oily taste than other varieties. Today, the Hass avocado accounts for 80% of global sales, and 95% in the US.
This is a bit of an odd week as there‘s not a ton of ‘hard’ tech news, but instead a lot of news from tech companies operating in slightly different markets—subscription services, podcasting, and media. Too much to ignore this week, but hopefully there’ll be more proper tech-tech news next time.
Apple Services
Last week Apple held an event to announce a range of new subscription services. This is because with growth in sales of hardware plateauing or in decline, Apple needs to make more revenue from its user base.
Apple News+ is a subscription service for magazines and newspapers, based on the acquisition of Texture early last year. So far very few news publishers are on board as it requires unique formatting and Apple takes a whopping 50% of revenue.
apple.com/uk/newsroom/2019/03/apple-launches-apple-news-plus-an-immersive-magazine-and-news-reading-experience/
Apple Arcade is a subscription service for games. For a monthly fee users can play a range of exclusive games.
apple.com/uk/newsroom/2019/03/apple-introduces-apple-arcade-the-worlds-first-game-subscription-service-for-mobile-desktop-and-the-living-room/
Apple TV+ is a video streaming (Netflix competitor) platform with some big name creators attached—see the launch trailer for details. No news yet on release date or cost, which is a quite un-Appley way of doing things.
apple.com/uk/newsroom/2019/03/apple-unveils-apple-tv-plus-the-new-home-for-the-worlds-most-creative-storytellers/
Apple Card is a digital and physical credit card, launched in partnership with Goldman Sachs and MasterCard. It’s US-only for now, where it’s more of a big deal; here in the UK and Europe we already have similar services in Monzo, Revolut, et al.
apple.com/newsroom/2019/03/introducing-apple-card-a-new-kind-of-credit-card-created-by-apple/
NB: The smartphone decline and increase in importance of services isn’t unique to Apple; every mobile phone manufacturer is in the same boat. I talked about this in my article Trends in Consumer Digital Technology for 2019, which I promise I’ll stop mentioning soon.
Assistants & Voice
Google appear to have accidentally leaked a new smart display, under the Nest brand. The Nest Hub Max seems to be a smart display with cameras and video calling.
androidpolice.com/2019/03/29/google-accidentally-leaks-nest-hub-max-a-10-inch-smart-display-with-a-camera/
IKEA released the first photos of its Sonos-collaboration Symfonisk smart speakers. Details are still unrevealed, so not sure yet which assistant(s) it will be compatible with—probably Alexa, Assistant, and Siri, like the Sonos One.
fastcompany.com/90324925/a-first-look-at-the-hotly-anticipated-ikea-sonos-speaker
Huawei announced Smart Eyewear, a pair of glasses with built-in mic and speakers. The glasses don’t have any kind of visual function; really they’re more like smart earphones in glasses form. Further details, such as assistant integration, not available yet.
androidauthority.com/huawei-smart-eyewear-969521/
Scientists at Amazon have created an audio watermarking system, with many potential applications including using external audio to prompt Alexa—such as interactive commercials.
developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/d6fe5fef-b546-430c-8dcc-5cd4fecd410b/audio-watermarking-algorithm-is-first-to-solve-second-screen-problem-in-real-time
Podcasting
Google is preparing to roll out in-episode search for podcasts, letting you find conversations by topic rather than category. This is made possible by auto-transcription of podcast episodes.
androidpolice.com/2019/03/26/google-podcasts-in-episode-search-is-coming-shows-now-being-fully-transcribed/
The BBC has blocked Google from indexing its podcast content due to a dispute over user data.
theverge.com/2019/3/26/18282436/bbc-podcasts-google-assistant-home-block
Spotify acquired Parcast, a podcasting company specialising in true crime stories. It’s quite interesting to watch Spotify buy itself a pre-eminent place in the industry.
investors.spotify.com/financials/press-release-details/2019/Spotify-to-Acquire-Parcast-a-Premier-Podcast-Storytelling-Studio/default.aspx
Everything Else
Gmail now supports dynamic AMP email, with interactive features (such as ordering) available directly through emails—that is, not linking out to a website. Emails become simple apps. Outlook, Yahoo, and Mail.ru will also add support.
blog.google/products/gmail/take-action-and-stay-up-to-date-with-dynamic-email-in-gmail/
Valve, the games company, teased a new VR headset called Index. No further details were forthcoming.
theverge.com/2019/3/29/18287734/valve-index-virtual-reality-vr-headset-may-2019-reveal-announcement
YouTube Premium is cutting back on its expensive scripted original content, and working on a new advertiser-funded model for all of its shows.
engadget.com/2019/03/25/youtube-canceling-big-budget-originals/
Google began a new initiative to encourage local news journalism. The Local Experiments Project will initially partner with McClatchy for multi-platform news in three US cities.
blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/mcclatchy-and-google-partner-experimental-lab-local-news/
The EU passed new copyright reform measures, which both internet giants and online right campaigners were against. Some fear it may lead to a ‘link tax’ and Google has threatened it may end some services in Europe.
theguardian.com/media/2019/mar/26/meps-approve-sweeping-changes-to-copyright-law-european-copyright-directive