Techmeme: Filing in AGs' lawsuit against Google: the Play Store hit revenues of $11.2B in 2019, with $8.5B in gross profit and an operating margin of over 62% (Paresh Dave/Reuters)

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August 29, 2021, 9:10 PM

Top News

Hartley Charlton / MacRumors:

Kuo: iPhone 13 hardware could support LEO satellite communications; Apple may work with Globalstar to enable connectivity when not in 4G/5G range — The iPhone 13 will feature low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication connectivity to allow users to make calls and send messages …

More: 9to5Mac, CNET, AppleInsider, Gizmodo, The Verge, iThinkDifferent, SiliconANGLE, Tailosive Tech/YouTube, iPhone in Canada Blog, phonearena.com, Mashable, MSPoweruser, Gizchina, iPhone Hacks, Engadget, PCMag, TechSpot, iClarified, and Forbes

Tweets: @saschasegan, @saschasegan, @rjonesy, @tailosivetech, @khaost, @jioriku, @kfury, @detroitborg, @maccaw, @saranbyte, @elidourado, @brianroemmele, @zollotech, and @ihacktu

Andrew Hayward / Decrypt:

Jack Dorsey and Mike Brock say Square's TBD is building a Bitcoin-centric decentralized exchange for digital assets — Square's Cash App is a popular way for people to buy and sell Bitcoin, but CEO Jack Dorsey's love for the leading cryptocurrency is immense—and the financial services firm plans to do a lot more in the space.

More: The Daily Hodl, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Blockworks, The Block, Benzinga, Crypto Briefing, Cointelegraph, and Bitcoin News

Tweets: @brockm, @jack, @brockm, @apompliano, @fedmarket_, @ldrogen, @icodrops, @techleadhd, and @brockm

Bloomberg:

China starts a two-month campaign to crack down on websites and social media accounts that post financial information that “maliciously bad-mouths” its economy — China kicked off a two-month campaign to crack down on commercial platforms and social media accounts …

More: Reuters and Bloomberg

Tweets: @kendraschaefer, @mbrookerhk, @hancocktom, @____achan_____, @ajphelo, @nomos46, @silvermanjacob, @silvermanjacob, @jchengwsj, @hosseeb, @el33th4xor, @justinhendrix, and @lisaabramowicz1

Paresh Dave / Reuters:

Filing in AGs' lawsuit against Google: the Play Store hit revenues of $11.2B in 2019, with $8.5B in gross profit and an operating margin of over 62% — Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google generated $11.2 billion in revenue from its mobile app store in 2019, according to a court filing unsealed on Saturday …

More: The Verge, Engadget, iPhone in Canada Blog, Gizchina, The Economic Times, Thurrott, phonearena.com, and AppleInsider

Tweets: @jasonlk, @ourielohayon, @pilky, and @jesse_squires. Thanks:@peard33

E&T Magazine:

New research suggests the internet is not making people who engage in political discussions online more aggressive, but makes their behavior more visible — New research suggests that the internet is not responsible for making people become more aggressive when engaging in political discussions online …

Source: PsyArXiv Preprints. More: Gizmodo and HotHardware

Tweets: @jasonkenney, @v21, @holden, @rachel_thorn_en, @chrisdyork, @watchingtvnfilm, @larsiusprime, @tero_hoo, @m_b_petersen, @catalinagoanta, @helenreflects, @rubi_, @roslyntalusan, @mattgrossmann, @m_b_petersen, and @lilithsaintcrow

Bloomberg:

S. Korea is expected to be the first country to pass a law to prevent app stores from mandating first-party IAP payment systems; assembly vote on 8/30 is likely — - New law will mandate free choice of app payment providers — Silicon Valley giants argue privacy, security under threat

Tweets: @business

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple Watch Series 7 will get a flat edged design with 41mm and 45mm displays, and multiple new watch faces to take advantage of the larger sizes — This is the free version of Power On. If you like it, consider subscribing to Bloomberg.com — you'll receive this newsletter several hours earlier …

More: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, AppleInsider, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Benzinga, MacRumors, Wccftech, iThinkDifferent, Wccftech, and AppleTrack

Tweets: @pinboard, @zollotech, @markgurman, @can, and @justsimplyja

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

Apple's “clarifications” as part of its settlement will not make much of a difference in the long run for developers or to how the App Store actually works — Apple isn't changing how the App Store works because Apple doesn't want it to change — Apple made waves this week …

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:

CryptoSlam: CryptoPunks, an NFT platform with 10K pixel portraits, crossed $1B in transaction volume, with the cheapest artwork available for sale costing $450K — Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week we dove into Bezos's Blue Origin suing NASA.

More: Decrypt. Tweets: @turnernovak, @alex, @seldo, @gmoneynft, @j__liang, and @joshconstine

Benedict Evans:

Many internet privacy proposals circulating today are in direct conflict with those to increase market competition, as they would further entrench big platforms — The consumer internet industry spent two decades building a huge, complex, chaotic pile of tools and systems to track and analyse …

Tweets: @matthew_d_green, @sgtholly, @matthew_d_green, @sub8u, @dwellington, @benedictevans, and @benedictevans

Gené Teare / Crunchbase News:

Analysis: a record 19 fintech startups in Europe have become unicorns in 2021 so far, bringing the total number of fintech unicorns on the continent to 39 — At the start of 2021, Europe had just one decacorn—a startup valued at $10 billion or more—in the fintech sector to speak of …

Tweets: @nicholaskatz and @chris_skinner

Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review:

Tel Aviv-based startup Hour One is paying people to use their likenesses to create AI-voiced characters for marketing and educational videos for its clients — AI-powered characters based on real people can star in thousands of videos and say anything, in any language.

Tweets: @strwbilly, @timsowula, @pomeranian99, @carolhtucker, @giano, @funnymonkey, @combsthepoet, @iwillleavenow, @farahshoucair, @i_m_shweta, @domwitczak, @hackermaderas, @mat, and @hypervisible

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From Mediagazer

Committee to Protect Journalists:

After the building fire, Hong Kong summoned AFP, FT, NYT, AP, Bloomberg, and WSJ journalists, telling them to avoid “trouble making”, and arrested a commentator

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:

Source: Piers Morgan's YouTube-based venture Uncensored is raising £22.5M from The Raine Group, Theo Kyriakou, and others at a £97M pre-money valuation

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

The Academy reports fiscal 2025 revenues of $269.2M, up from $263.1M in 2024, after cutting expenses from $220.1M to $208.1M; Oscars revenue grew to $150.5M

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More News

Anna Kramer / Protocol:

Interview with Apple engineer Cher Scarlett, who has become the face of the #AppleToo movement, a group that wants to shed light on workplace issues at Apple

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:

EU's data protection supervisor recommends that personal data such as search queries and browsing history should not be used for the assessment of credit scores

Tweets: @carnage4life, @cubicleapril, @hypervisible, and @campuscodi

New York Times:

Didi, which grew by moving in regulatory gray zones before the US IPO, became a bellwether for how far China is ready to go in Big Tech crackdowns

Tweets: @zhonggg and @liyuan6

Rest of World:

BlueCity, owner of China's biggest gay dating app Blued, is navigating a precarious environment for LGBTQI orgs by positioning itself as a sexual health service

Tweets: @decka227, @anupkaphle, @aurorachaang, @williamyang120, @lmatsakis, @lmatsakis, and @lmatsakis

Bloomberg:

Customer-relations management software provider Freshworks files for an IPO, looking to raise $100M; Freshworks was last valued at $3.5B in 2019

More: The Economic Times. Tweets: @avlesh, @varunkrish, @sang1983, and @dhruvilsanghvi

Joe Guszkowski / Restaurant Business:

Toast, a cloud management software provider for restaurants, files its S-1, reports it had $494M ARR at the end of June, up 118% YoY, and $38B in GPV

More: Securities and Exchange Commission, Restaurant Dive, Boston Business Journal, TheStreet, MarketWatch, Reuters, and The Boston Globe

Earlier Picks

Nikkei Asia:

China says it has surpassed 1B internet users for the first time, up 8% from 2020; internet penetration rose to 71.6% and delivery services rose to 468M users

More: Gizchina, CHINAdaily, and Global Times. Tweets: @zhugeex

Kate Rooney / CNBC:

Amazon partners with Affirm to roll out monthly installments for purchases over $50 to some US customers; Affirm stock is up ~30% after hours

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

The City of Chicago sues DoorDash and Grubhub for allegedly deceiving customers and using unfair business practices

More: City of Chicago, The Verge, Eater Chicago, Mashable, PCMag, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Business, Chicago Sun Times, CNET, The Hill, Gizmodo, Fortune, and Engadget

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

The House select committee investigating the January 6 riot demands records from Facebook, Twitter, Google, Reddit, TikTok, and other tech companies

More: Select Committee …, Tech Policy Press, Engadget, CNET, Reuters, The Daily Dot, CBS News, Insider, and USA Today

Tweets: @pinboard, @alexstamos, @donie, @donie, @donie, @fboversight, @queeniema52, @repjimbanks, @justinhendrix, @justinhendrix, @ricksmithshow, @jason_kint, @pinboard, @pinboard, @pinboard, @pinboard, and @axios

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft won't block users from getting Windows 11 on most old PCs if they install using ISO files, but they won't get Windows Updates, including security ones