Month: September 2023
Apple asks Supreme court to reverse App Store ruling in Epic case
As expected, Apple is making a last-ditch effort to get the Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that would force it to open up its App Store to third-party payments. The iPhone maker filed a petition with the Court Thursday, arguing that the lower court injunction was “breathtakingly broad” and “unconstitutional.”
It’s the latest beat in a long-simmering feud between Cupertino and the Fortnite developer that’s seen both sides ask the Supreme Court to reverse parts of a lower court ruling. But Apple’s latest petition could have far-reaching consequences for all developers, should the Supreme Court decide to take up the case.
That’s because Apple is asking the Supreme Court to reverse an injunction that would require the company to allow app developers to offer payments that circumvent its App Store, and the fees associated with it. Such a move would be a major blow to the App Store’s business, which has used the rule to maintain strict control over in-app payments.
The rule, often referred to as an “anti-steering” policy, has long been controversial and a major gripe for developers. It not only prohibits app makers from providing links to web-based payments, it bars them from even telling their customers that a cheaper rate was available somewhere else.
Fortnite developer Epic made the issue a central part of its antitrust lawsuit against Apple in 2020, and the judge in the case ruled in Epic’s favor on the issue in 2021. Apple has spent the last two years fighting that part of the ruling.
Separately, Epic has also asked the Supreme Court to reconsider part of the lower court’s ruling in its bid to keep its antitrust claims against Apple alive.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-asks-supreme-court-to-reverse-app-store-ruling-in-epic-case-221126323.html?src=rss
As expected, Apple is making a last-ditch effort to get the Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that would force it to open up its App Store to third-party payments. The iPhone maker filed a petition with the Court Thursday, arguing that the lower court injunction was “breathtakingly broad” and “unconstitutional.”
It’s the latest beat in a long-simmering feud between Cupertino and the Fortnite developer that’s seen both sides ask the Supreme Court to reverse parts of a lower court ruling. But Apple’s latest petition could have far-reaching consequences for all developers, should the Supreme Court decide to take up the case.
That’s because Apple is asking the Supreme Court to reverse an injunction that would require the company to allow app developers to offer payments that circumvent its App Store, and the fees associated with it. Such a move would be a major blow to the App Store’s business, which has used the rule to maintain strict control over in-app payments.
The rule, often referred to as an “anti-steering” policy, has long been controversial and a major gripe for developers. It not only prohibits app makers from providing links to web-based payments, it bars them from even telling their customers that a cheaper rate was available somewhere else.
Fortnite developer Epic made the issue a central part of its antitrust lawsuit against Apple in 2020, and the judge in the case ruled in Epic’s favor on the issue in 2021. Apple has spent the last two years fighting that part of the ruling.
Separately, Epic has also asked the Supreme Court to reconsider part of the lower court’s ruling in its bid to keep its antitrust claims against Apple alive.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-asks-supreme-court-to-reverse-app-store-ruling-in-epic-case-221126323.html?src=rss
$5,000 Google Jamboard dies in 2024—cloud-based apps will stop working, too
Google’s digital whiteboard for schools and businesses lasted 8 years.
The Google Jamboard was a big, red touchscreen.
Even more Google products are getting the ax this week. Next up is Google Jamboard, a $5,000 digital whiteboard (and its $600-a-year fee) and software ecosystem marketed to schools and corporations. Google has a new post detailing the “Next phase of digital whiteboarding for Google Workspace,” and the future for Jamboard is that there is no future. In “late 2024,” the whole project will shut down, and we don’t just mean the hardware will stop being for sale; the cloud-based apps will stop working, too.
Most people probably haven’t ever heard of Jamboard, but this was a giant 55-inch, 4K touchscreen on a rolling stand that launched in 2016. Like most Google touchscreens, this ran Android with a locked-down, custom interface on top instead of the usual phone interface. The digital whiteboard could be drawn on using the included stylus or your fingers, and it even came with a big plastic “eraser” that would remove items. The SoC was an Nvidia Jetson TX1 (a quad-core Cortex-A57 CPU attached to a beefy Maxwell GPU), and it had a built-in camera, microphone, and speakers for video calls. There was HDMI input and Google cast support, and it came in whimsical colors like red, gray, and blue (it feels like Google was going for an iMac rainbow and quit halfway).
Google’s secret sauce here was that Jamboard was heavily integrated with Google Workspace, so it could pull in items from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, and all your whiteboard work was saved in a filetype called “Jams” in the usual Google storage. Like the other Workspace apps, this all worked live over the Internet. People not in front of the touchscreen could launch the “Jamboard app” instead, letting them get in on the whiteboard action remotely, complete with live handwriting.
Microsoft Considered Selling Bing to Apple in 2020
Back in 2020, Microsoft considered selling its Bing search engine to Apple, reports Bloomberg. Had the acquisition happened, Bing would have replaced Google as the default search engine on Apple devices.
Microsoft executives met up with Apple services chief Eddy Cue to discuss a potential deal, but the talks were just exploratory and did not progress. According to Bloomberg, Apple did not move forward with a deal because of the money that it earns from Google and because it was concerned that Bing could not compete with Google in “quality and capabilities.”
Google’s search engine has long been the default search engine on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and Google pays Apple billions of dollars per year for the privilege. Google and Apple last inked a deal in 2021, facilitated by Cue, and as of 2020, Apple was collecting $4 billion and $7 billion annually from Google. The Apple/Google deal has been under scrutiny this week due to the antitrust trial between Google and the U.S Department of Justice, with the DoJ pointing toward Google’s dominance on Apple devices as evidence that Google has a search engine monopoly.
Eddy Cue this week had to testify in the trial, and he explained why Google is the iPhone’s default search engine. “We make Google be the default search engine because we’ve always thought it was the best,” Cue said. He went on to say that Apple has not gone with another search engine provider because there is no “valid alternative.”
While Google is the default search engine on Apple devices, users can choose to swap to Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Ecosia as an alternative. Bing has recently become a more popular search engine option thanks to Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI and the integration of chatbot technology.Tags: Google, MicrosoftThis article, “Microsoft Considered Selling Bing to Apple in 2020” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Back in 2020, Microsoft considered selling its Bing search engine to Apple, reports Bloomberg. Had the acquisition happened, Bing would have replaced Google as the default search engine on Apple devices.
Microsoft executives met up with Apple services chief Eddy Cue to discuss a potential deal, but the talks were just exploratory and did not progress. According to Bloomberg, Apple did not move forward with a deal because of the money that it earns from Google and because it was concerned that Bing could not compete with Google in “quality and capabilities.”
Google’s search engine has long been the default search engine on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and Google pays Apple billions of dollars per year for the privilege. Google and Apple last inked a deal in 2021, facilitated by Cue, and as of 2020, Apple was collecting $4 billion and $7 billion annually from Google. The Apple/Google deal has been under scrutiny this week due to the antitrust trial between Google and the U.S Department of Justice, with the DoJ pointing toward Google’s dominance on Apple devices as evidence that Google has a search engine monopoly.
Eddy Cue this week had to testify in the trial, and he explained why Google is the iPhone’s default search engine. “We make Google be the default search engine because we’ve always thought it was the best,” Cue said. He went on to say that Apple has not gone with another search engine provider because there is no “valid alternative.”
While Google is the default search engine on Apple devices, users can choose to swap to Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Ecosia as an alternative. Bing has recently become a more popular search engine option thanks to Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI and the integration of chatbot technology.
This article, “Microsoft Considered Selling Bing to Apple in 2020” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
Smartphone Sales Down 22 Percent In Q2, the Worst Performance In a Decade
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Canalys has some gruesome new numbers out for the North American smartphone market in Q2 2023, detailing what it’s calling the “worst quarterly performance for over a decade.” Q2 has plummeted 22 percent, year over year, and with these numbers, Canalys is predicting the smartphone market will be down 12 percent overall in 2023.
Apple is down 20 percent for Q2 and still in a dominant position with 54 percent market share. Samsung is down 27 percent, in second place overall with 24 percent market share in Q2 2023. Motorola is next with a 25 percent decline and only 8 percent market share. TCL, a TV company that feels like it only briefly dabbled in smartphones, is the single biggest loser, down 30 percent, with 5 percent market share.
Only a single company survived this quarter unscathed, and it’s actually Google! The company might be at the bottom of the smartphone charts, but Pixel phone sales are up 59 percent, earning Google 4 percent of the market. It was the same story last year, when Google jumped from 1 to 2 percent. In a few quarters, the company might hit fourth place. The biggest loss on the chart is actually “others,” down 43 percent, likely representing the further consolidation of the Android market. These are your OnePluses, your HMD/Nokias, and trashy pre-paid vendors like Blu.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Canalys has some gruesome new numbers out for the North American smartphone market in Q2 2023, detailing what it’s calling the “worst quarterly performance for over a decade.” Q2 has plummeted 22 percent, year over year, and with these numbers, Canalys is predicting the smartphone market will be down 12 percent overall in 2023.
Apple is down 20 percent for Q2 and still in a dominant position with 54 percent market share. Samsung is down 27 percent, in second place overall with 24 percent market share in Q2 2023. Motorola is next with a 25 percent decline and only 8 percent market share. TCL, a TV company that feels like it only briefly dabbled in smartphones, is the single biggest loser, down 30 percent, with 5 percent market share.
Only a single company survived this quarter unscathed, and it’s actually Google! The company might be at the bottom of the smartphone charts, but Pixel phone sales are up 59 percent, earning Google 4 percent of the market. It was the same story last year, when Google jumped from 1 to 2 percent. In a few quarters, the company might hit fourth place. The biggest loss on the chart is actually “others,” down 43 percent, likely representing the further consolidation of the Android market. These are your OnePluses, your HMD/Nokias, and trashy pre-paid vendors like Blu.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google Is Expanding Its AI-Powered Search to Teens Ages 13-17 – CNET
The company says slightly older users, in the 18-24 age group, have found the technology helpful.
The company says slightly older users, in the 18-24 age group, have found the technology helpful.
Losing subscribers, Disney+ starts fighting password sharing, too
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US may pay 3x more than EU for Moderna’s US-funded COVID shot
Moderna developed its vaccine with the NIH and got $1.7 billion in federal grant money.
Enlarge / Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel during a Bloomberg Television interview on the closing day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on May 26, 2022. (credit: Getty | Jason Alden)
Compared with other countries, the US is again seeing exorbitant prices for a medicine—even one it helped develop.
In the current COVID-19 booster campaign, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is paying around $82 for each dose of Moderna’s 2023–2024 updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for its program to provide vaccine for the uninsured. That price is a little over three times the $26 per dose the federal government paid for the last updated booster, which was exclusively distributed by the government.
The price hike marks the vaccine’s move from federal distribution to the commercial market. Moderna and rival manufacturer Pfizer raised the US list price of their COVID-19 vaccines by roughly 400 percent. (Moderna’s is listed at $128 and Pfizer’s is $115).