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| Here’s your daily tech briefing: - Adobe and Figma abandon $20B acquisition due to regulatory scrutiny.
- Apple to pause sales of some Apple Watches in U.S.
- EU investigating X over potential violations of its new tech law.
- U.S. lawmakers call for DOJ probe into Apple.
Thanks for reading! Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Adobe and Figma have mutually terminated their merger due to competition concerns from U.K. and EU regulators. As a result, Adobe must pay Figma a $1B cash reverse termination fee. More: - In September 2022, Adobe announced its agreement to acquire Figma, a maker of collaborative interface tools, for $20B in cash and stock.
- The deal, which would have been Adobe's largest acquisition to date, has faced scrutiny from antitrust regulators due to Adobe's near-monopoly in the design software market.
- Last month, Britain's competition regulator preliminarily found that the deal could harm innovation in software for U.K. digital designers. The European Commission was also reviewing the deal.
- In explaining the termination, Adobe and Figma said they couldn't foresee a clear path to regulatory approval.
- "Adobe and Figma strongly disagree with the recent regulatory findings, but we believe it is in our respective best interests to move forward independently," Adobe chair and CEO Shantanu Narayen said in a statement.
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| 2 | | Apple will pause sales of its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 later this month as it prepares to comply with a U.S. import ban. The move is related to a recent ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which found Apple guilty of patent infringement in the smartwatch's health-tracking feature. More: - In October, the ITC ordered a ban on Apple Watch imports, pending a presidential review period that ends on December 25.
- The ITC found that Apple infringed on medical device maker Masimo's rights in blood-oxygen-reading technology, specifically its SpO2 sensor.
- Apple has decided to comply with the ITC import ban preemptively.
- The company announced it will end online sales of the two watch models on December 21 and pause them in retail locations on December 24.
- After the review period, Apple can appeal the ban to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Zoom out: - The import ban only applies to the flagship Series 9 and Ultra 2 models sold in the U.S., leaving the Apple Watch SE and earlier models with the SpO2 sensor unaffected.
- The watches are still available for sale outside the U.S.
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| 3 | | The European Commission has opened an investigation into X, formerly Twitter, over potential violations related to the EU's new digital services law. It is the first formal probe under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires large online platforms and search engines to take additional action against harmful content. More: - The investigation will look into X's compliance related to illegal content in the EU and the effectiveness of its risk assessment and mitigation strategies.
- The EU is concerned that X may have violated the DSA, especially as it relates to spreading disinformation about Hamas' attacks on Israel.
- Transparency concerns include limited researcher access to X's public data and a potentially deceptive design in X's user interface with its blue checkmarks.
- The EU will also examine X's Community Notes for fact-checking, including its susceptibility to external manipulation.
Zoom out: - The investigation could eventually result in X facing fines of up to 6% of its global turnover, though specific timelines and steps have not been shared.
- With the first formal proceedings under the DSA, "the time of big online platforms behaving like they are too big to care has come to an end," said Thierry Breton, commissioner for internal market.
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| 4 | | A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is urging the Department of Justice to investigate Apple after the company blocked the services of an iMessage-compatible Android app. The app, Beeper Mini, allowed Android users to send blue-bubble texts to iPhone users via iMessage. However, Apple has taken various actions to shut down the app, which is no longer working for most users. More: - Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) and Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Ken Buck (R-CO) have asked the DOJ to look into whether Apple's actions against Beeper Mini amount to "potentially anticompetitive conduct."
- In a letter, the lawmakers said they are concerned that Apple's behavior has harmed competition, eliminated consumer choices, and discouraged "future innovation and investment in interoperable messaging services."
- Earlier this month, Apple blocked the app, saying it exploited "fake credentials" to gain access to iMessage and posed security and privacy risks.
Zoom out: - Apple is already facing increasing external pressure, particularly from overseas, to make iMessage compatible with other messaging services.
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| 5 | | E-signature software company DocuSign is exploring a sale that could potentially rank among the biggest tech deals in history, given that it was recently valued at $11B. Private equity firms and tech companies have already shown interest in the firm, which went public in 2018 with a valuation of about $6B. 
Details: San Francisco-based DocuSign offers electronic signature services and tools for document creation for over 1.4 billion organizations. The company went public in 2018 and experienced robust growth during the pandemic, though its growth has slowed considerably amid increased competition from rivals like Adobe and Dropbox. In 2022, DocuSign underwent a restructuring, reducing its workforce by 9% and naming Allan Thygesen, a former Google executive, as CEO. This was followed by further job cuts in February. The bigger picture: The potential sale coincides with a slowdown in private equity activity due to price expectations and rising interest rates, causing a 30% drop in leveraged buyouts this year | | | |
| 6 | | Intel unveiled three AI-optimized processors for PCs and data centers. Intel's latest chips will rival offerings from Nvidia and AMD. More: - Intel showed off its Gaudi 3 AI accelerator, a chip for generative AI software, which is scheduled to launch next year, competing with Nvidia's H100.
- Its new Intel Core Ultra processors, previously codenamed "Meteor Lake," have a built-in neural processing unit (NPU) to run AI programs faster. They are designed for Windows laptops and PCs.
- Intel also introduced its fifth-generation Xeon server chips for data centers, featuring NPUs and AI acceleration in each core. They are optimized for AI inferencing tasks.
Zoom out: - CEO AI Pat Gelsinger said AI innovation could potentially boost the digital economy's impact up to as much as one-third of global GDP.
- The company also forecasts that AI-powered PCs will make up 80% of PC sales by 2028.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for notable publications like USA Today and the Arizona Business Gazette. During her time as a public policy reporter at The Arizona Republic, she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for her collaborative reporting on pension cost increases. Beth also authored a book on the solar photovoltaic industry in 2016. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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