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| Here's a look at today's tech briefing: - Sony cuts 900 PlayStation jobs and closes game studio.
- EU lawmakers call for probe into Microsoft's Mistral AI deal.
- U.S. streaming subscription growth halved last year, data shows.
- Highlights from this week's Mobile World Congress.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Sony is eliminating 900 jobs across its PlayStation division and closing its London gaming studio. The layoffs, affecting 8% of its global PlayStation workforce, come days after Sony cut its annual sales forecast for the PlayStation 5. More: - Sony Interactive Entertainment's CEO, Jim Ryan, said the restructuring is due to a changing economy and shifts in how the company develops, distributes, and launches its products.
- The layoffs will affect Playstation employees across the company's regions worldwide.
- In the U.S., the cuts will impact Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, and teams within PlayStation's technology, creative, and support units.
- In Europe, PlayStation will shut down its London Studio and cut positions at Firesprite and Guerrilla Games.
- Sony also scrapped a service game from the Twisted Metal series, which was in development at Firesprite.
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| 2 | | European lawmakers are calling for an antitrust investigation into Microsoft's new partnership with tech startup Mistral AI. On Monday, Microsoft revealed a $16M investment in Mistral, a competitor to ChatGPT maker OpenAI, with plans to offer Mistral's AI models on its Azure cloud platform. More: - EU politicians are now urging an investigation into what's being viewed as a "concentration of power" by Microsoft, which already has a 49% stake in market leader OpenAI.
- Microsoft invested in Mistral without initially taking a stake, later clarifying that the investment would become equity during Mistral's next funding round.
- Paris-based Mistral develops open-source and proprietary large language models similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Microsoft said it's investing in Mistral to "unlock new commercial opportunities."
- Under the partnership, Microsoft will launch Mistral's AI models to its cloud customers, making Mistral the second company after OpenAI to have its LLMs hosted on the platform.
Zoom out: - The European Union is already looking into Microsoft's investment in OpenAI.
- The EU's executive arm said it is looking into whether the deal should undergo merger rule scrutiny.
- Microsoft has poured billions into OpenAI, incorporating its technology into Office, Bing, and Windows.
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| 3 | | U.S. streaming subscription growth fell in half last year, driven by cancellations and other issues, according to market data platform Antenna. Growth for premium subscription video on demand (SVOD) services fell to 10.1% in 2023, down from 21.6% in 2022 and 32.1% in 2021. The post-pandemic slowdown suggests the end of a boom for streaming services, shifting from aggressively drawing in new subscribers to managing their existing ones as major platforms reach scale. 
What the numbers show: The growth slowdown isn't about fewer sign-ups — Antenna found a 19.3 million increase in new U.S. streaming subscription sign-ups in 2023, reaching 164.7 million. The main issue is a rising churn rate, especially in premium streaming. In 2023, there were 36.2 million more cancellations than the year before, leading to 17 million fewer net new subscribers. What it means: Antenna believes the streaming sector is entering a new phase, where platforms are needing to work harder for smaller subscriber gains. Services like Netflix and Hulu are shifting from aggressive acquisition to managing their subscribers. What else: The report also showed changes in streaming services' popularity. Netflix, which claimed almost half the market in 2019, now holds just above 25%. Paramount+ now has more subscribers than Disney+. Peacock and Paramount+ gained a bit in the market, while Discovery+, Disney+, and Hulu dropped slightly. | | | |
| 4 | | The world's largest mobile tech conference, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, is taking place this week through Thursday. Here's a look at the most eye-catching technology from the event so far. More: - Deutsche Telekom introduced a smartphone that relies on AI instead of apps to perform tasks for users. The "T-phone" features an app-less interface created in collaboration with Qualcomm and Brain.
- Lenovo showed off a "rollable concept phone" for Motorola, designed to wrap around a user's wrist.
- Samsung's new Galaxy Ring wearable includes heart rate and sleep monitoring, along with a daily "readiness" score.
- OnePlus' Watch 2, on sale March 4, promises up to 100 hours of battery life and features Google Assistant.
- Lenovo's concept of a transparent laptop, Project Crystal, boasts a futuristic Micro-LED transparent screen.
- Xiaomi's CyberDog 2 has 19 sensors for hearing, vision, and touch, along with a more realistic-looking head. The robotic pet can do backflips and is designed to "replicate the movements, appearance, and interactions of a real dog," according to the company.
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| 5 | | Netflix is ending the option for subscribers to pay their monthly fees via the Apple App Store's in-app purchase system. That means subscribers who've been paying for Netflix via iTunes will lose any discounted rate they may have had. More: - The change impacts Netflix subscribers in the U.S., Canada, and possibly other countries.
- The Apple-billed members will soon be prompted to pay Netflix directly using a debit or credit card.
- While Netflix ended new subscriptions via iOS in 2018, it allowed existing subscribers to continue using in-app purchases for payment.
- Some of those subscribers were grandfathered in at a lower rate, in some cases $9.99 a month.
- Netflix is making the changes because it no longer wants to pay Apple's 15% cut in subscription fees.
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| 6 | | Google's most advanced AI models could arrive directly on smartphones starting next year, according to Google Pixel executive Brian Rakowski. Google has made "breakthroughs" to compress its large language models to run directly on devices rather than in the cloud, he told CNBC. More: - Google already offers its smaller "on-device" model, Gemini Nano, on the Pixel 8 Pro and other compatible Android devices.
- Its more advanced language models, which currently require an internet connection, are expected to be directly available on smartphones next year, Rakowski said.
- Some of the models "have already been proven, and some are being explored for some applications," he said.
- A dedicated Gemini chatbot app is currently available for Android users, while iPhone users can access Gemini through the Google app on iOS.
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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 publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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