The latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy can be found in this week's This Week in Apps.
In the first half of the year, global app spending was $65 billion, up slightly from the $64.4 billion in the same period in the previous year. According to the latest year-end reports, the app economy is growing and has produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the Apple and Google Play stores. Consumers downloaded 143.6 billion apps and global spending was $133 billion.
The latest from the world of apps can be found in this week's edition of This Week in Apps.
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Another week of deal drama came from Musk. After initially trying to get out of the deal, the CEO of the two companies decided he would go through with it. It was thought that Musk saw the writing on the wall and realized he couldn't win the case. He can't claim that he wants to fix the bot problem by buying the network and then claim that there are too many of them, when in fact, it's the other way around. It's right!
The judge gave the go-ahead for a probe that would allow it to seek out information as to whether Peiter "Mudge" Zatko had contacted Musk's lawyers before he attempted to leave the company.
The email that was sent to Musk's attorney was an anonymous email that claimed to be from a former employee of the social media company. They wanted to know if the legal team followed up on the sender. Just before Musk changed his mind about moving forward with the purchase, a judge agreed that the social network could dig in. It's possible that Musk wanted to avoid more files and communications. Maybe he didn't want to be questioned about it.
In any case, Musk said the deal was done and the stock price of the company went up 22%. The matter wasn't immediately solved.
Neither Musk nor Twitter filed anything to stop the court case from proceeding, even though they hadn't reached an agreement to stop their litigation. The trial would start on October 17, 2022, as per the judge's instructions. Musk said that he had a sudden change of heart, but he wasn't taken by it. The judge agreed to give Musk and his team more time to see if the transaction goes through. The parties will be given trial dates if not.
The deal is dependent on the proceeds of the debt financing. Morgan Stanley and half a dozen banks underwrote the debt financing for the deal, and given the market conditions, they may find it harder to find buyers for the bonds and loans. They are unlikely to back out or find a legal way to do so. Elon is purchasing again. We're thinking!
The image is from TechCrunch.
If that wasn't enough, there's also the fact that the Edit button has arrived.
The feature is now available to subscribers in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The feature allows users to make changes to their account for up to 30 minutes after they've posted. The public can see the edits to make sure they don't get abused. The 30-minute period is meant to cut down on the feature's abuse.
Many are concerned that bad actors will find a way to take advantage of the addition to make their work look better. At a time when user demand for an edit button may have been quelled, it comes at a good time. One of the major use cases for an edit button would be cut down by this. Users can delay their Tweets for up to a minute, giving them time to fix errors and re-read posts.
We should point out that the edit feature was a big idea for Musk. He asked his 80.5 million followers if they wanted an edit button, either a tease of the planned announcement or a desire to look like he was already taking action at the social networking site. An edit button was in the works a day later. It was not Musk's idea, according to the social networking site.
The impact of the edit option might be limited. The majority of users are not paying for a subscription at the moment, and it is not clear if this feature will change that.
The image is from the internet search engine, GOOGLE.
There was a lot of news this week in the mobile world. While the event focused on the new line of devices, including the Pixel 7, the one that may be more interest to app developers is the one that is more serious about its Wearable Strategy. The new watch from the company is the first of its kind.
The device has a unique look and feel and is powered by Wear OS. The device looks like a premium one. The entry point is interesting because Apple has gone in a different direction with the Apple Watch Ultra, with a large version that can look silly on smaller wrists. There won't be a problem with the Pixel watch.
Google gets serious about wearables with the Pixel Watch
Before now, there was a $2.1 billion deal for Fitbit, as well as a $40 million acquisition of Fossil intellectual property. The new Pixel Watch is a more serious competitor to Apple with features like heart rate monitoring and more. Along with its hardware investment, it is also considering the wider appecosystem. The company has made it easier for users to search and filter for non-smartphone apps on the Play store.
It was announced at the event that the next iteration of thePixel line would be a bigger screen. Consumers will be able to use their tablets in the same way they would any other smart display or smart screen in their home with the charging speaker dock.
Google updates the Play Store to make it easier to find non-phone apps
Enhancements to the smart assistant will be announced alongside the Pixel 7 launch, which will see the assistant improve its abilities in areas like voice typing, navigating businesses' phone menus, voice message transcription and more. One of the better improvements here is the Direct My Call service which will now display a business's phone tree options on the phone's screen so you can just tap the button you need instead of listening to all the choices.
LIONEL BONAVENTURE is an image.
Meta this week began looking at ways to stem its advertising revenue losses.
Meta is increasing its ad load on the photo sharing site with the launch of two new ad slots. Advertisers will be able to run ads on the Explore home page and in profile feeds, as well as a new ad format for Facebook reels.
When people first tap on the Explore tab, they are referred to as the Explore home. Clicking on a button at the top of the screen will open a page of suggested and trend content. When a person taps on a post and scrolls, it's when the ads are on Explore. The Explore home page is being expanded to see users spending more time there. This is being rolled out around the world.
The profile feed is the feed that appears when a user visits another person's profile on the app and then taps on one of their post and scrolls. There are four- to 10-second skippable ads that play after a reel has ended, and there are also video ads that play after a reel has finished.
At a time when Meta has seen declining ad sales, these additional ad units help the company pull in more revenue. Meta reported its first-ever quarterly revenue decline in Q2 after its first decline in daily active users. Meta's revenue fell only 1% in the second quarter of 2021, but investors are worried about the company's third quarter forecast.
The image is from the internet search engine, GOOGLE.
The image is called snap.
The image is called TikTok.
The image is from the dating app.
The image is called Substack.
Montana-based onX, the maker of navigation apps for hunting, hiking, off-roading and other outdoor activities, raised an $87.4 million Series B.
Kinzen is an Ireland-based tech company that helps with content moderation. The deal terms were not made public. Kinzen uses a combination of machine learning and human expertise to alert and flag dangerous misinformation and harmful content as it invests heavily into podcasting and other forms of audio. When Joe Rogan spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine on his show, he caused a problem for the streaming service.
A Detroit-based animation studio that created art for the company and others was acquired by Duolingo. The deal terms weren't made public.
An anonymous social app for college kids, Fizz, announced its raise of $4.5 million in seed funding, led by entrepreneur and investor Rakesh Mathur. Lightspeed and other angels invested in the app that claims to have penetration on college campuses.
South Korean search giant Naver plans to acquire Poshmark for over a billion dollars. The deal values publicly traded Poshmark at $17.90, a 15% premium over the closing price.
Jiko raised $40 million in a round led by Red River West, bringing the company's total raise to $82 million. The app gives companies low-cost access to short-term treasury bills as it has evolved from a consumer focused model to B2B.
A new investor is the state investment giant. The company is worth more than a billion dollars.
Neeva is the image's credit.
Neeva is an ad-free search engine that was launched to the US last year. The service promises a way to both search the web and private accounts from any device without having to view ads or compromise user data. Premium memberships provide privacy tools and other benefits to paid subscribers.
On desktop, the service is available via a chrome extension.
Paul Sawers sat down with Neeva co-founder and CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy in London to get an update on the company as it expands to new markets. You can read about Neeva's business here.
Founded by Google’s former head of ads, Neeva brings its ad-free search engine to Europe
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