| |
| Here's a look at today's tech briefing: - U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear appeals in Apple-Epic case.
- Apple tops Samsung in last year's smartphone shipments.
- Synopsys to acquire Ansys for $35B.
- Google lays off ad sales employees.
- Uber is shutting down Drizly, its alcohol delivery app.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear separate appeals from Apple and Epic Games in their ongoing lawsuit over App Store policies. The high court's decision removes a temporary stay, allowing app developers to guide iPhone users toward alternative payment options outside of the App Store, thus avoiding Apple's commission of up to 30%. More: - In September, Apple asked the Supreme Court to overturn part of a 2021 court ruling that favored Epic, while Epic requested Justices to review part of the case that favored Apple.
- Epic lost most of its antitrust trial against Apple in 2021, with the court ruling in Apple's favor on nine out of 10 counts.
- Apple had asked the Supreme Court to review the one anti-steering count that it lost.
- Meanwhile, Epic appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 2021 ruling that cleared Apple of antitrust violations.
- The Supreme Court turned down both requests without explanation, meaning the previous rulings will stand.
|     | |
| 2 | | In 2023, Apple surpassed Samsung as the top global smartphone shipper, dethroning Samsung from the No. 1 spot for the first time since 2010. 
What the numbers show: According to IDC's preliminary data, Apple shipped 234.6 million units in 2023, securing a 20.1% market share, while Samsung shipped 226.6 million units for a 19.4% market share. Xiaomi, OPPO, and Transsion followed with 145.9 million, 103.1 million, and 94.9 million smartphones shipped globally, respectively The bigger picture: While there was a 3.2% decline in overall smartphone shipments last year, the fourth quarter saw an impressive 8.5% increase. Whar it means: Apple emerged as the winner in 2023, despite strong growth from low-end Android competitors like Transsion and Xiaomi, according to Nabila Popal, research director at IDC's Worldwide Tracker team. Popal attributed Apple's success in part to the rising popularity of premium smartphones, which now account for over 20% of the market. While Apple played a role in Samsung's drop in rank, the Android market is diversifying within itself as companies like Huawei, OnePlus, Honor, Google, and others are launching competitive devices in a lower price range of the high end, said Ryan Reith, IDC's Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers group VP. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Faros AI. |  | | In scaling a tech company, developing an engineering vision and execution strategy becomes a cornerstone for success. Get the field-proven playbook Mustafa Furniturewala used as SVP of Engineering at Coursera (NYSE: COUR) to 10x his team. With this playbook, you’ll learn how to: - Craft a three-year vision aligned with company goals utilizing four critical inputs
- Develop an execution strategy to deliver the vision with a 20/80 capacity split
- Utilize a 2x2 resource allocation framework that helps prioritize unplanned requests
- Identify leading indicators of team health and architectural and organizational “drift”
Get your copy of the Engineering Leadership Playbook, compliments of the engineering intelligence experts at Faros AI, today. Get the Playbook | |
|
| 3 | | Synopsys, a chip-design company, is set to acquire software developer Ansys in a cash-and-stock deal worth roughly $35B. This deal, one of the largest in recent tech history, is the sector's biggest acquisition since Broadcom acquired VMware for $69B last November. More: - Ansys develops simulation software used by engineers, designers, and other in industries like aerospace, defense, automotive, and energy.
- Synopsys plans to combine its semiconductor electronic design automation tools with Ansys' simulation and analysis offerings.
- Each Ansys shareholder will receive $197 in cash and 0.345 shares of Synopsys stock for each share they own.
- The deal translates to a per-share value of $390.19, offering a 29% premium over Ansys' closing price on Dec. 21.
- The transaction is expected to close in H1 2025, pending shareholder and regulatory approval.
- If the deal is canceled, Synopsys will be required to pay Ansys a termination fee of $1.5B.
| | | |
| 4 | | Google is laying off several hundred employees in its advertising sales team. The job cuts come less than a week after Google laid off hundreds of employees from its central engineering, hardware, and Assistant teams. More: - The layoffs are expected to affect Google's Large Customer Sales (LCS) unit, with the Google Customer Solutions team (GCS) becoming the core ad sales team for smaller clients.
- A spokesperson said Google undergoes a "rigorous process" every year to structure its team to offer "the best service to our ads customers."
- Last week's layoffs impacted employees working on Google's Voice Assistant, its augmented reality team, and hardware units responsible for Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit.
- A year ago, Google reduced its workforce by 12,000 people, or 6% of its full-time employees, and later made cuts in its recruitment and news divisions.
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Algolia. |  | | Learn to Master the 5Ws of True Personalization Want to create individualized customer experiences like no other? Of course you do. Imagine a digital shopping experience that shows you exactly what you need, even items you didn’t know you wanted. Thanks to the remarkable power of AI, that’s where savvy businesses are heading. Advances in machine learning can help transform the customer journey, providing the data points needed to create hyper-personalized experiences and 1:1 personalization. But it’s not always a simple task. Download our ebook to learn: - What you need to consider when personalizing user experiences
- The right approach to data to build an augmented user profile that works across channels
- Types of users and the best personalization strategy to score big with each
With AI, the future of personalization is now. Get started today. Download Now | |
|
| 5 | | Uber is shutting down Drizly, the alcohol delivery app it bought in 2021 for $1.1B. The company is closing the business to "focus on our core Uber Eats strategy of helping consumers get almost anything — from food to groceries to alcohol — all on a single app," Uber's SVP of delivery told Axios. More: - Driven by the surge in at-home deliveries during the pandemic, Drizly has been one of the leading online alcohol marketplaces in the U.S.
- While Uber incorporated Drizly's services into its main Eats app, it kept Drizly's alcohol delivery service as a standalone app.
- Drizly will now officially shut down by the end of March.
Zoom out: - Drizly faced a data breach in 2020 that exposed 2.5 million customer records.
- The Federal Trade Commission later revealed that Drizly's CEO was informed of the security issues as early as 2018. The agency ordered Drizly to purge unrelated personal data and stop collecting it in the future.
NOTE: Inside.com founder and CEO Jason Calacanis is an investor in Uber. | | | |
| 6 | | Nearly 40% of the world's jobs are exposed to AI, potentially deepening inequality as the technology both complements and replaces some jobs, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) analysis. The organization is urging governments to offer retraining programs and social safety nets to mitigate the effects of AI. More: - AI is expected to impact 40% of jobs in emerging markets and 26% in lower-income nations.
- In advanced economies, up to 60% of jobs could face AI-related impacts, according to the IMF.
- About half of these jobs could see benefits from higher productivity, while the other half could face reduced labor demand, lower wages, and potential layoffs due to AI applications.
- Roles highly exposed to AI, like administrative work and telemarketing, are most likely to be displaced.
Zoom out: - IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warned that AI will likely worsen inequality, adding that policymakers need to "proactively address" the issue to prevent AI from exacerbating social tensions.
| | | |
| 7 | | QUICK HITS - Are you creating the unique user journeys your customers demand? You can by Mastering Personalization with AI.*
- Apple and Disney are partnering to bring 3D movies and other content from Disney Plus to Apple's Vision Pro headset when it launches next month. The $3,500 headset will also support apps from Max, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN, Paramount Plus, Peacock, TikTok, and many others.
- Marketing firm Red Ventures is reportedly in talks with potential buyers to sell its tech news and reviews site, CNET, which it acquired with several other sites in 2020 for $500M.
- Microsoft has launched a $20-per-month subscription to consumers, offering its Copilot AI assistant within Office apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook. Microsoft is also making the AI-powered Office features available to all businesses, not just large companies.
*This is a sponsored post. | | | |
| Upcoming Events | | MAR
7 | | Alternative investment assets to know in 2024. | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
 | 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 | |
| |
 | Faros AI improves engineering productivity and the developer experience with centralized visibility and AI insights. | |
|
 | Use AI to better understand shoppers and transform data into truly personalized experiences with Algolia. | |
|
| |
