Yearly Archives: 2021

News: Apple sheds value during iPhone event

The TechCrunch crew is hard at work writing up the latest from Apple’s iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch event. They have good notes on the megacorp’s hardware updates. But what are the markets saying about the same array of products? For those of us more concerned with effective S&P dividend yields than screen nit levels,

The TechCrunch crew is hard at work writing up the latest from Apple’s iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch event. They have good notes on the megacorp’s hardware updates. But what are the markets saying about the same array of products?

For those of us more concerned with effective S&P dividend yields than screen nit levels, events like Apple’s confab are more interesting for what they might mean for the value of the hosting company than how many GPUs a particular smartphone model has. And, for once, Apple’s stock may have done something a little interesting during the event!

Observe the following chart:

This is a one-day chart, mind, so we’re looking at intraday changes. We’re zoomed in. And Apple kinda took a bit of a dive during its event that kicked off at 1 p.m. in the above chart.

Normally nothing of import happens to Apple’s shares during its presentations. Which feels weird, frankly, as Apple events detail the product mix that will generate hundreds of billions in revenue. You’d think that they would have more impact than their usual zero.

But today, we had real share price movement when the event wrapped around 2 p.m. ET. Perhaps investors were hoping for more pricey devices? Or were hoping Apple had more up its sleeve? How you rate that holiday Apple product lineup is a matter of personal preference, but investors appear to have weighed in slightly to the negative.

Worth around $2.5 trillion, each 1% that Apple’s stock moves is worth $10 billion. Apple’s loss of 1.5% today — more or less; trading continues as I write this — is worth more than Mailchimp. It’s a lot of money.

You can read the rest of our coverage from the Apple event here. Enjoy!

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: Biden’s new FTC nominee is a digital privacy advocate critical of Big Tech

President Biden made his latest nomination to the Federal Trade Commission this week, tapping digital privacy expert Alvaro Bedoya to join the agency as it takes a hard look at the tech industry. Bedoya is the founding director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown’s law school and previously served as chief counsel

President Biden made his latest nomination to the Federal Trade Commission this week, tapping digital privacy expert Alvaro Bedoya to join the agency as it takes a hard look at the tech industry.

Bedoya is the founding director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown’s law school and previously served as chief counsel for former Senator Al Franken and the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law. Bedoya has worked on legislation addressing some of the most pressing privacy issues in tech, including stalkerware and facial recognition systems.

It is the honor of my life to be nominated to serve on the FTC. When my family landed at JFK in 1987 with 4 suitcases and a grad student stipend, this was not what we expected. Thank you @JoeBiden and @linakhanFTC, thank you Sima, my love, mom, dad, Pablo, our families. Vamos.

— Alvaro Bedoya (@alvarombedoya) September 13, 2021

In 2016, Bedoya co-authored a report titled “The Perpetual Line-Up: Unregulated Police Face Recognition in America,” a year-long investigation that dove deeply into the police use of facial recognition systems in the U.S. The 2016 report examined law enforcement’s reliance on facial recognition systems and biometric databases on a state level. It argued that regulations are desperately needed to curtail potential abuses and algorithmic failures before the technology inevitably becomes even more commonplace.

Bedoya also isn’t shy about calling out Big Tech. In a New York Times op-ed a few years ago, he took aim at Silicon Valley companies giving user privacy lip service in public while quietly funneling millions toward lobbyists to undermine consumer privacy. The new FTC nominee singled out Facebook specifically, pointing to the company’s efforts to undermine the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, a state law that serves as one of the only meaningful checks on invasive privacy practices in the U.S.

Bedoya argued that the tech industry would have an easier time shaping a single, sweeping piece of privacy regulations with its lobbying efforts rather than a flurry of targeted, smaller bills. Antitrust advocates in Congress taking aim at tech today seem to have learned that same lesson as well.

“We cannot underestimate the tech sector’s power in Congress and in state legislatures,” Bedoya wrote. “If the United States tries to pass broad rules for personal data, that effort may well be co-opted by Silicon Valley, and we’ll miss our best shot at meaningful privacy protections.”

If confirmed, Bedoya would join big tech critic Lina Khan, a recent Biden FTC nominee who now chairs the agency. Khan’s focus on antitrust and Amazon in particular would dovetail with Bedoya’s focus on adjacent privacy concerns, making the pair a formidable regulatory presence as the Biden administration seeks to rein in some of the tech industry’s most damaging excesses.

News: Here’s everything Apple announced at its event this morning

It’s that time again! It’s September, which generally means two things: we’re blasting Earth, Wind, and Fire on repeat, and Apple will announce a new iPhone (or four.) Right on schedule, Apple held a remote event this morning, streaming kinda-sorta-live from its Cupertino campus. Whether you didn’t have time to watch the entire hour long

It’s that time again!

It’s September, which generally means two things: we’re blasting Earth, Wind, and Fire on repeat, and Apple will announce a new iPhone (or four.)

Right on schedule, Apple held a remote event this morning, streaming kinda-sorta-live from its Cupertino campus. Whether you didn’t have time to watch the entire hour long stream or just want the highlights, we’ve got you — as usual, we’ve boiled the whole thing down to the bullet points.

New iPads

Both the standard iPad and the iPad mini have gotten the update treatment — here’s whats new for each:

Image Credits: Apple

New iPad:

  • Runs the A13 Bionic chip, which Apple first introduced in 2019 with the iPhone 11. Apple says it’s 20% faster across the board compared to the last gen.
  • The front facing camera has been bumped from 8 megapixels up to a 12 megapixel ultra-wide
  • It’s getting Center Stage, the feature that debuted on the iPad Pro and automatically reframes front-facing video to keep your face centered as you move around a room.
  • Starts at $329 (or $299 for schools). Orders start today, shipping next week.

    Image Credits: Apple

New iPad mini:

  • Redesigned with slimmer borders and rounder edges
  • The display has been bumped up to 8.3″ (from 7.9″) while keeping the overall device size the same
  • The CPU is 40% faster, while the GPU is 80% faster
  • USB-C!
  • There will be a 5G model
  • The back camera has a much-improved 12 MP camera with True Tone flash, and, as with the standard iPad, the front camera is getting 12 MP ultra wide and Center Stage support.
  • It’ll support the second-gen Apple Pencil
  • Starts at $499. Orders start today, shipping next week.

Apple Watch

Image Credits: Apple

Apple kicked off the Watch segment with a few new features coming to iOS 8 (like fall detection for cyclists, and better algorithms for detecting calories burned when you’re on an eBike) before announcing a new Watch — Series 7, they’re calling it.

Apple Watch Series 7:

  • By reducing the screen’s borders, they were able to squeeze in a display that is 20% bigger.
  • To take advantage of that bigger screen, buttons are bigger across the UI
  • It’s got a swipe-style prediction keyboard, for easier text input on the go.
  • Apple says it’s got the strongest (most crack resistant) display to date, and is the first Apple Watch to be IP6X certified against dust.
  • An “updated charging architecture” and a new USB-C charger allow it to charge 33% faster
  • Series 7 will start at $399, and start shipping “later this fall”

New iPhones

Image Credits: Apple

Not one, not two, but four new iPhones — iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro max. Faster chips, better cameras, better battery life.

iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini:

  • Both run Apple’s new A15 Bionic chip. It’s got a 6 core CPU (two high performance cores, four high efficiency), a four-core GPU, and big improvements to the neural engine that Apple taps for on-device machine learning.
  • A “ceramic shield front”, which Apple says is tougher than any other smartphone’s glass.
  • IP68 water resistance
  • 28% brighter display
  • iPhone 13 comes in at 6.1″, while iPhone 13 mini will be 5.4″.
  • A wild new “Cinematic” mode that uses machine learning for tricks like auto-shifting the camera’s focus when one on-screen speaker looks at someone behind them
  • The 64GB model has finally been retired, with the base models coming with 128GB of storage.
  • Apple says the iPhone 13 mini’s battery life has been improved by an hour and a half, while most iPhone 13 users will get two and half more hours per charge.
  • iPhone 13 will start at $799, while iPhone 13 mini starts at $699.

 

iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max:

Image Credits: Apple

  • It’s getting that new “ceramic shield front”, along with an upgrade to A15, here with a five-core GPU.
  • As rumored, it’ll get a display that can adjust its refresh rate up to 120hz for super smooth movement/scrolling.
  • It’s got three cameras on the back: a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, an ultrawide, and a wide angle. Night Mode will now play friendly with all three cameras (including the telephoto lens, which previously didn’t support it.)
  • It’ll come in two sizes: 6.1″ (Pro), and 6.7″ (Pro Max).
  • For those who just can’t seem to get enough storage space, they’re introducing 1TB models!
  • Pro starts at $999, Pro Max starts at $1099. Pre-orders start September 17th, shipping September 24th.

Other stuff

  • iOS 15 will ship Monday, September 20th
  • Apple’s Fitness Plus service is rolling out in 15 new countries, including Austria, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Mexico, and Russia. Workouts will be in English, and subtitled in six languages. They’re also launching group workouts, which can be launched from iMessage or FaceTime and will let you multitask your hangouts and your workouts.
  • Apple’s MagSafe wallet will now be able to display its last known location via the Find My app if the wallet gets separated from the phone

News: iPhone users will receive iOS 15 update on September 20

Shortly after today’s virtual conference, Apple announced that the next major version of iOS will be ready for prime time very soon. iPhone users will be able to update to iOS 15 on September 20. The company first unveiled iOS 15 earlier this year at its Worldwide Developer Conference. The biggest change of iOS 15

Shortly after today’s virtual conference, Apple announced that the next major version of iOS will be ready for prime time very soon. iPhone users will be able to update to iOS 15 on September 20. The company first unveiled iOS 15 earlier this year at its Worldwide Developer Conference.

The biggest change of iOS 15 is a new Focus mode. In addition to “Do not disturb,” you can configure various modes — you can choose apps and people you want notifications from and change your focus depending on what you’re doing. For instance, you can create a Work mode, a Sleep mode, a Workout mode, etc.

There are many new features across the board, such as a new Weather app, updated maps in Apple Maps, an improved version of FaceTime, and more. Safari also has a brand-new look. At first, it was a bit controversial. Since then, Apple has listened to feedback and improved its new take on Safari.

The new version of iOS also scans your photos for text. Called Live Text, this feature lets you highlight, copy and paste text in photos. It could be a nice accessibility feature as well. iOS is going to leverage that info for Spotlight. You can search for text in your photos directly in Spotlight and it’ll pull out relevant photos. These features are handled on-device directly.

You’ll be able to update to iOS 15 if you have an iPhone 6s and later, any model of iPhone SE or the most recent iPod touch model. It’ll be available as a free download.

For users running the iOS 15 beta, the release candidate is rolling out now, ahead of Monday’s public launch.

If you like your iPhone the way it is, Apple has also said that you don’t have to update to iOS 15. For the foreseeable future, the company will still update iOS 14 with security patches.

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max feature 120Hz display, better cameras

Apple has announced its new lineup of phones at its virtual conference. In addition to the regular iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, the company has two Pro models with some premium features that you won’t find in the regular iPhone 13. Of course, the Pro models are also more expensive. For reference, the iPhone

Apple has announced its new lineup of phones at its virtual conference. In addition to the regular iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, the company has two Pro models with some premium features that you won’t find in the regular iPhone 13.

Of course, the Pro models are also more expensive. For reference, the iPhone 13 Mini starts at $699 and the iPhone 13 starts at $799. As for the Pro models, the iPhone 13 Pro starts at $999 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max starts at $1,099. The iPhone 13 Pro has a 6.1-inch display while the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display.

“Our Pro lineup pushes the limits with our most advanced technologies for users who want the very best iPhone,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.

Here’s what you’ll get if you decide to buy the iPhone 13 Pro instead of the iPhone 13. The design is slightly different as the Pro models get shiny stainless steel bands around the case of the phone. There are also three stainless steel rings around the three camera sensors. The back of the device is made of matte glass.

There are three different camera sensors at the back of the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max instead of two. In addition to the ultra wide and wide camera, you get a 3x camera. It seems like the wide and ultra wide cameras aren’t identical in the Pro models vs. the regular models either.

Last year, only the iPhone 12 Pro Max featured sensor shift optical image stabilization. This time, the entire iPhone 13 lineup gets sensor shift optical image stabilization. Basically, the regular iPhone 13 is getting many of the advanced camera features that was restricted to Pro models.

In particular, there’s a new cinematic mode with rack focus. You can track a subject and lock focus on that subject in real time. Cinematic mode shoots in Dolby Vision HDR. Later this year, you’ll be able to shoot ProRes videos with the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max.

So here’s what you get in the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro Max:

  • A 77mm telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.
  • An ultra wide camera with ƒ/1.8 aperture and “up to 92% improvement in low-light performance,” according to Apple.
  • A wide camera with ƒ/1.5 aperture and “up to 2.2x improvement in low-light performance,” according to Apple.

For the first time, you can use Night mode with all three cameras. This way, you don’t have to remember which camera will give you the best result.

The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max comes with a Pro Motion display with P3 color range. Like on high-end iPad models, these iPhone models have an adaptative framerate. If you need it, your iPhone display can run at 120Hz. If you’re watching a movie, the iPhone can use a lower framerate to save battery life.

As the iPhone 13 Max is the largest smartphone in the lineup, you get more battery life. Apple promises a battery that lasts 2.5 hours longer for the iPhone 13 Pro Max compared to the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Like the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini, the Pro models come with Apple’s A15 Bionic chip. It’s a 5-mm design with 15 billion transistors. There are two high-performance cores and four energy-efficient cores. You should get nearly the same performances across the lineup, but there’s a new 5-core GPU in the Pro lineup.

Pre-orders start on Friday and they will be available on September 24. There are four different models with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage.

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: Apple’s new MagSafe wallet works with ‘Find My’ app for when it goes missing

Alongside the introduction of the new iPhone 13, Apple introduced a few new accessories to complement its upgraded flagship devices. One of the more interesting additions in the accessories in the lineup is a new MagSafe wallet that works with Apple “Find My” service. That means if you accidentally lose your wallet when it becomes

Alongside the introduction of the new iPhone 13, Apple introduced a few new accessories to complement its upgraded flagship devices. One of the more interesting additions in the accessories in the lineup is a new MagSafe wallet that works with Apple “Find My” service. That means if you accidentally lose your wallet when it becomes unattached from your iPhone, you can launch the Find My app to locate it as you can with other Apple devices or items attached to your Apple AirTags.

In this case, the MagSafe leather wallet will notify users of the last known location where the wallet was separated from the phone. It will not, however, provide real-time tracking.

This is a small, but clever addition for those who use Apple’s MagSafe products. The technology was first introduced last fall to allow iPhone users to attach all sorts of products to the back of their iPhone, like cases, wallets, tripods and car mounts, as well as Apple’s own accessories for charging, like the MagSafe battery pack — which is coming to iPhone 13. MagSafe works by layering on a magnetometer, a copper-graphite shield, two shields, multiple layers of magnets, an NFC antenna, and more on the back of the iPhone, to make the accessories attach.

But it had not yet combined the power of MagSafe with the capabilities of “Find My” until now.

Image Credits: Apple

Along with the launch of the “Find My”-connected wallet, aka the iPhone Leather Wallet with MagSafe, the company is also introducing a range of new cases and colors for iPhone, designed to work with MagSafe. This includes MagSafe cases in leather and silicone, as well as a clear case with MagSafe. All are available to order today.

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: Apple adds Fitness+ updates, including a group workout feature

After unveiling the Apple Watch Series 7, Apple shared updates that are coming to Fitness+, its fitness service designed around Apple Watch. Currently, the $9.99/month service is available in six countries, like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. But at its press event today, Apple announced that the service will become available in

After unveiling the Apple Watch Series 7, Apple shared updates that are coming to Fitness+, its fitness service designed around Apple Watch.

Currently, the $9.99/month service is available in six countries, like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. But at its press event today, Apple announced that the service will become available in many more countries this fall, including Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, France, Italy, Russia and more. Content will be subtitled in six languages.

Here are the countries that are getting Apple Fitness+. pic.twitter.com/Z0RNlcSIjA

— MacRumorsLive (@macrumorslive) September 14, 2021

Apple also announced that it will add new pilates and guided meditation content for Fitness+ subscribers starting in the fall. Every day, Fitness+ will add guided meditations that focus on gratitude, mindfulness, and calming. These experiences will be available in both video and audio form, and could pose competition to apps like Headspace and Calm.

Also in the fall, Fitness+ will roll out Group Workouts, powered by Share Play. This enables subscribers to exercise alongside their friends via FaceTime or a group message thread, no matter where they are in the world. Up to 32 people can exercise together at once.

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: Extra Crunch roundup: BNPL bonanza, scraping Toast’s S-1/A, early-stage SaaS pricing

Are founders in fundraising mode short-sighted when it comes to working with Chinese venture funds? Runa Capital’s Asia business development manager Denis Kalinin studied data from iTjuzi, a database of Chinese venture capitalists, and found: “…Chinese funds invested around $250 billion in 2020 (three times higher than the figure reported in Crunchbase). This figure puts

Are founders in fundraising mode short-sighted when it comes to working with Chinese venture funds?

Runa Capital’s Asia business development manager Denis Kalinin studied data from iTjuzi, a database of Chinese venture capitalists, and found:

“…Chinese funds invested around $250 billion in 2020 (three times higher than the figure reported in Crunchbase). This figure puts Chinese VC investments only 30% lower than investments by U.S. funds, but three times that of U.K. funds and 12.5 times more than German funds.”

The pandemic, geopolitical tensions and other factors led many Chinese venture funds to pare back their international investments, but that’s largely “because during COVID, China’s economy recovered much faster than other countries’,” writes Kalinin.

His analysis covers multiple angles: Chinese investments in Europe are catching up with those in Asia and the United States, half of China’s top cross-border investors are CVCs, and investors are particularly interested in fintech, deep tech and digital health at the moment.

“Chinese investors can bring value to foreign startups, but you need to study their expertise and how it can be useful for you.”


Full Extra Crunch articles are only available to members
Use discount code ECFriday to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription


Today at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET on Twitter Spaces, Managing Editor Danny Crichton and immigration law attorney Sophie Alcorn will discuss whether remote work is making H-1B visas less critical for international founders.

Join @DannyCrichton on Tuesday, September 14 at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET as he discusses if remote work will make H-1B visas redundant with @Sophie_Alcorn https://t.co/SCMUiqUj8J

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) September 10, 2021

It’s a provocative question: If remote teams are becoming the norm, tech hubs are decentralizing and investors are comfortable cutting checks after a Zoom call, how important is it to do business as a startup inside the U.S?

It’s sure to be an interesting conversation; to get a reminder, please follow @TechCrunch on Twitter.

Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch this week!

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

Toast looks toward $18B valuation in upcoming IPO

Toast released an early IPO price range of $30 to $33 per share on Monday, and Alex Wilhelm digs into the S-1/A filing to “better understand how to value vertical SaaS startups that are pursuing a payments-and-SaaS business approach.”

Is the restaurant software startup worth the $18 billion valuation it’s aiming for?

3 keys to pricing early-stage SaaS products

Family of disposable coffee/tea cups

Image Credits: Peter Dazeley (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Every founder who launches an enterprise software startup has to figure out the “right” pricing model for their products.

It’s a consequential decision: Per-seat licenses are easy to manage, but what if customers prefer a concurrent licensing model?

“Early pricing discussions should center around the buyer’s perspective and the value the product creates for them,” says Ridge Ventures partner Yousuf Khan, who previously worked as a CIO.

“Of course,” he notes, “self-evaluation is hard, especially when you’re asking someone else to pay you for something you’ve created.”

Is India’s BNPL 2.0 set to disrupt B2B?

Image Credits: jayk7 / Getty Images

India’s mom-and-pop businesses are experiencing a digital transformation that’s creating new e-commerce opportunities; smartphones have replaced paper records, and a new government-backed instant payments system is disrupting how value is exchanged.

But instead of importing legacy credit systems, buy now, pay later systems are the “next step for solving the digital B2B puzzle,” writes Anubhav Jain, co-founder and CEO of Rupifi.

What to make of Freshworks’ first IPO price range

Developing programming and coding technologies. Website design. Programmer working in a software develop company office.

Image Credits: scyther5 / Getty Images

Freshworks, which develops and offers a variety of business software tools, set an IPO price range of $28 to $32 per share on Monday, meaning its valuation could reach nearly $10 billion, Alex Wilhelm writes.

“It appears that the Freshworks IPO is pretty reasonably priced as is, though a boost to its price range is not out of the question if public market investors decide that they are bullish on its future growth prospects. We just don’t see dramatic upside.”

ish on its future growth prospects. We just don’t see dramatic upside.”

Here’s what your BNPL startup could be worth

The multibillion-dollar exits of Japanese startup Paidy (to PayPal) and Australian buy now, pay later company Afterpay (to Square) “provided hard market proof that what BNPL startups are building has value beyond simple operating results,” Alex Wilhelm writes in The Exchange.

He breaks down the value of Afterpay, Paidy and Klarna using a simple metric: What would you pay for $1 of BNPL GMV?

3 methodologies for automated video game highlight detection and capture

Image of a gaming computer setup with two monitors.

Image Credits: mikkelwilliam (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Video game livestreaming is booming.

Twitch has an average of almost 3 million concurrent viewers; by comparison, on the night of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, CNN’s livestream averaged 1.1 million.

The most successful streamers use their ad revenue and sponsorship money to hire video editors and social media teams to make them look good, but new automated tools are giving part-time streamers the ability to spotlight their best moments as well.

Have ‘The Privacy Talk’ with your business partners

Speech bubbles between two human hands against khaki background.

Image Credits: Boris Zhitkov (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

A data breach costs a company an average of $3.8 million, Marc Ellenbogen, Foursquare’s general counsel, notes in a guest post, adding up to a “concrete financial incentive to having The Privacy Talk.”

What is it?

“It’s the conversation that goes beyond the written, publicly posted privacy policy and dives deep into a customer, vendor, supplier or partner’s approach to ethics,” he writes.

If you think the talk doesn’t apply to you, think again.

Advanced rider assistance systems: Tech spawned by the politics of micromobility

First person view of riding an e-scooter in a city

Image Credits: Alexander Spatari (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

In an effort to “reassure local administrations that micromobility is safe, compliant and a good thing for cities,” scooter operators are “implementing technology similar to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) usually found in cars,” Rebecca Bellan writes.

She breaks down how the tech could help prevent unwanted behavior and explores the cost for scooter operators and opportunities for startups.

 

News: Apple’s iPhone 13 sports better battery and improved cameras, starting at $799

The rumors were right. The centerpiece of today’s big Apple event is the latest iPhone. The latest device lands less than a year after its predecessor, now that things have settled down somewhat on the supply chain side for Apple. Last year’s iPhone 12 was a massive seller, bucking the trend of stagnating smartphones sales,

The rumors were right. The centerpiece of today’s big Apple event is the latest iPhone. The latest device lands less than a year after its predecessor, now that things have settled down somewhat on the supply chain side for Apple. Last year’s iPhone 12 was a massive seller, bucking the trend of stagnating smartphones sales, in part due to a bottleneck in sales from the unplanned delay, but also because it finally brought 5G connectivity to Apple’s mobile line.

Lucky number iPhone 13 (no skipping for superstition’s sake, mind) features a familiar design. The front notch has finally been shrunken down — now 20% smaller than its predecessor, while the rear-facing camera system has also gotten a redesign. The screen is now 28% brighter Super Retina XDR display on both the iPhone 13 and 13 mini at 1200 nits. The display is protected by a ceramic shield coating, and the handset rates IP68 dust/waterproofing.

The phone is powered by Apple’s new A15 Bionic chip, built with a 5nm processor. The CPU is 6-core that the company is calling “the fastest CPU on any smartphone.” The new 4-core GPU, meanwhile, brings advanced graphics to the handset.

The rear dual-camera system features a 12MP wide angle camera that’s capable of pulling in up to 47% more light. The new Cinematic Mode, meanwhile, brings rack focus-style shooting capable of adjusting the focus on subjects, using machine learning (you can also tap to adjust manual or switch between subjects). All models in the iPhone 13 also support Night Mode shooting.

Following last year’s introduction of 5G, the company has added more advanced antennae. Through the combination of a larger battery and energy saving software, the company says it’s been able to eke out an additional 2.5 hours of life on the 13 and 1.5 hours on the mini.

iPhone 13 mini starts at $699 and, while the 13 starts at $799.

 

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: The network effect is anti-competitive

Social networks and online marketplace providers have become digital dictators with complete control over their territories.

Eric Schwartzman
Contributor

Eric Schwartzman is a digital marketing consultant with structured programs for helping individuals and organizations pivot to digital marketing and is the author of “The Digital Pivot: Secrets of Online Marketing.”

A U.S. federal judge last week struck down Apple rules restricting app developers from selling directly to customers outside the App Store.

Apple’s stock fell 3% on the news, which is being regarded as a win for small and midsize app developers because they’ll be able to build direct billing relationships with their customers. But Apple is just one of many Big Tech companies that dominate their sector.

The larger issue is how this development will impact Amazon, Facebook, Grubhub and other tech giants with online marketplaces that use draconian terms of service to keep their resellers subservient. The skirmish between Apple and small and midsize app developers is just a smaller battle in a much larger war.

App makers pay up to 30% on every sale they make on the Apple App Store. Resellers on Amazon pay a monthly subscription fee, a sales commission of 8% to 15%, fulfillment fees and other miscellaneous charges. Grubhub charges restaurants 15% of every order, a credit card processing fee, an order processing fee and a 10% delivery commission.

Like app developers, online resellers and social media influencers are all falling for the same big lie: that they can build a sustainable business with healthy margins on someone else’s platform. The reality is the App Store, online marketplaces and even social networks that dominate their sectors have the unilateral power to selectively deplatform and squeeze their users, and there’s not much to be done about it.

Healthy competition exists inside the App Store and among marketplace resellers and aspiring social media influencers. But no one seems to be talking about the real elephants in the room, which are the social networks and online marketplace providers themselves. In some respects, they’ve become almost like digital dictators with complete control over their territories.

It’s something every small and midsize business that gets excited about some new online service catering to their industry should be aware of because it directly impacts their ability to grow a stable business. The federal judge’s decision suggests the real goal in digital business is a direct billing relationship with the end user.

On the internet, those who are able to lead a horse to water and make them drink — outside the walled gardens of digital marketplace operators like Uber, Airbnb and Udemy — are the true contenders. In content and e-commerce, this is what most small and midsize companies don’t realize. Your own website or owned media, at a top-level domain that you control, is the only unfettered way to sell direct to end users.

Mobile app makers on Apple’s App Store, resellers on Amazon and aspiring content creators on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are all subject to the absolute control of digital titans who are free to govern by their own rules with unchecked power.

For access to online marketplaces and social networks, we got a raw deal. We’re basically plowing their fields like digital sharecroppers. Resellers on Amazon are forced to split their harvest with a landlord who takes a gross percentage with no caps. Amassing followers on TikTok is building an audience that’s locked inside their venue.

These tech giants — all former startups that built their audiences from scratch — are free to impose and selectively enforce oppressive rules. If you’re a small fry, they can prohibit you from asking for your customer’s email address and deplatform you for skimming, but look the other way when Spotify and The New York Times do the same thing. Both were already selling direct and through the App Store prior to Friday’s ruling.

How is that competitive? Even after the ruling, Big Tech still gets to decide who they let violate their terms of service and who they deplatform. It’s not just their audience. It’s their universe, their governance, their rules and their enforcement.

In the 1948 court case United States v. Paramount Pictures, the Supreme Court ruled that film studios couldn’t own their own theaters because that meant they could exclusively control what movies were screened. They stifled competition by controlling what films made it to the marquee, so SCOTUS broke them up.

Today, social networks control what gets seen on their platforms, and with the push of a button, they can give the hook to whoever they want, whenever they want. The big challenge that the internet poses to capitalism is that the network effect is fundamentally anti-competitive. Winner-take-all markets dominated by tech giants look more like government-controlled than free-market economies.

On the one hand, the web gives us access to a global marketplace of buyers and sellers. On the other, a few major providers control the services that most people use to do business, because they don’t have the knowledge or resources to stand up a competitive website. But unless you have your own domain and good search visibility, you’re always in danger of being deplatformed and losing access to your customers or audience members with no practical recourse.

The network effect is such that once an online marketplace becomes dominant, it neutralizes the competitive market, because everyone gravitates to the dominant service to get the best deal. There’s an inherent conflict between the goals of a winner-takes-all tech company and the goals of a free market.

Dominant online marketplaces are only competitive for users. Meanwhile, marketplace providers operate with impunity. If they decide they want to use half-baked AI or offshore contractors to police their terms of service and shore up false positives, there’s no practical way for users to contest. How can Facebook possibly govern nearly 3 billion users judiciously with around 60,000 employees? As we’ve seen, it can’t.

For app makers, online resellers and creators, the only smart option is open source on the open web. Instead of relying on someone else’s audience (or software for that matter), you own your online destination powered by software like WordPress or Discord, and you never have to worry about getting squeezed when the founders go public or their platform gets bought by profit-hungry investment bankers. Only then can you protect your profit margins. And only then are the terms of service the laws of the land.

Politics aside, as former President Donald Trump’s deplatforming demonstrated, if you get kicked off Facebook and Twitter, there’s really nowhere else to go. If they want you out, it’s game over. It’s no coincidence Trump lost his Facebook and Twitter accounts on the same day the Republicans lost the Senate. If the GOP takes back the Senate, watch Trump get his social media accounts back. Social networks ward off regulators by appeasing the legislative majority.

So don’t get too excited about the new Amazon Influencer Program. If you want to build a sustainable digital business, you need an owned media presence powered by software that doesn’t rake commissions, have access to your customer contact information and has an audience that can’t be commandeered with an algorithm tweak.

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