Google is facing possibly multiple antitrust lawsuits from the federal government and many states is up in the air.
Why? Google is more likely to prominently show information or advertisements from its own computer systems or scraped from other companies’ websites — and keep you within Google’s digital walls. Google isn’t a front door to the internet anymore. It’s the house.
Another issue is Google planting its familiar search box everywhere. It’s the built-in search function on iPhones — a prime spot for which Google pays Apple billions of dollars each year. And in many cases, Google has deals to ensure that its search box has a pole position on Android smartphones.
Same question here: Do Google’s actions unfairly hold back competition?
Here are the top mobile news this week >
Google - Unfair search result?
Amazon - Flying security camera launch (I think the video is so funny)
Researchers study more than 15,000 recent popular queries and found that Google devoted 41 percent of the first page of search results on mobile devices to its own properties and what it calls “direct answers,” which are populated with information copied from other sources, sometimes without their knowledge or consent.
When reviewing the top 15% of the page, the equivalent of the first screen on an iPhone X, that figure jumped to 63%. For one in five searches in our sample, links to external websites did not appear on the first screen at all.
Yesterday, Amazon held its hardware event and announced new products. One of the most innovative announcements is the Always Home Away Cam, a flying security camera for your home and it’s pretty wild.
Ring (owned by Amazon) launched an autonomous drone that can fly through your home giving you a view of whatever room you want without having to install cameras everywhere. Instead of getting multiple security cameras, get one that flies around your house on preset paths. And if you were wondering, no, you can’t control it manually.
Today, Facebook is announcing a reversal on Apple’s part: Online event fees will be processed through Facebook Pay, without Apple collecting its 30% cut, meaning businesses will receive all of the earnings from their online events, minus taxes. This arrangement will last until December 31 and will not apply to gaming creators.
The news comes after Facebook publicly pressured Apple to change its stance. It even submitted an iOS app update stating that “Apple takes 30% of this purchase” in the events payments flow.
Epic Games, Spotify and other companies have joined together in what they’re calling the Coalition for App Fairness aimed at fighting the monopoly that Apple and Google have over their app stores.
The coalition was driven by Epic Games, the company behind hugely popular videogame Fortnite, which is involved in a bitter legal fight with Apple over its policies regarding distribution of mobile games on its devices.
The Coalition opened for business formally this week, prompting a flood of coverage. On its web site, the group lists its “App Store Principles,” starting with the rule that “no developer should be required to use an app store exclusively.”
At the onset of the pandemic, Peloton offered its mobile app subscription service free for 90 days (was previously 30) as a gesture of goodwill and good marketing. The app even hit an all-time high for single day revenue ($40k) last month. In case you were not sure, you can use the mobile app without owning the bike. It has in-home workouts, yoga and more.
The Trump administration is continuing its legal battle against TikTok. Photo: Reuters
The Trump administration on Friday filed an objection to TikTok’s legal efforts to stop a ban of the Chinese owned video-sharing app that is scheduled to take effect on Sunday.
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