Tag Archives: apple

Facebook’s Dominance In App Ecosystem Is Striking, Above Alphabet

Facebook ( FB ) completely dominates the app field, taking a 60% market share in February, led by its WhatsApp and Messenger properties. Alphabet ( GOOGL ) followed Facebook in app downloads, with YouTube being the most popular, according to an analysis by Nomura. Netflix ( NFLX ) also showed impressive strength, while Spotify outpaced Pandora Media ( P ). “With apps representing about 80% of total time spent on mobile, the importance of app trends is difficult to understate,” wrote Nomura analyst Anthony DiClemente in a research report. “App user trends have major implications for industry and company-specific shifts in consumer behavior, and ultimately advertising spend trend.” User engagement trends are leading indicators of mobile ad spending. DiClemente estimates mobile ad spend should reach $75 billion globally in 2016, growing 44% year over year. Alphabet and Facebook scored big in a recent survey of advertisers, receiving the highest budget allocations and the best return on investment of digital media properties. DiClemente examined 14 of the most prominent social apps on both the Apple ( AAPL ) and Alphabet Android operating systems. The apps covered were downloaded a total of 217 million times in February. In the analysis, using data from SensorTower , DiClemente said Facebook properties held the top four spots in the global app download ranking and comprised a full 60% of the 217 million downloads. WhatsApp and Messenger held the top two spots, with nearly 40 million downloads each. For comparison, the Facebook flagship app was downloaded 30 million times in February, while Instagram posted 22 million downloads. Messenger is generally stronger in the U.S., while WhatsApp remains the preferred messaging service internationally, DiClemente said. “The strength of Facebook’s app portfolio reinforces our view that Facebook maintains a user growth and monetization runway,” DiClemente wrote. YouTube was by far the most popular suit of apps by Alphabet. It was downloaded 12.5 million times, far outpacing Google Gmail. But many Google apps come preloaded on Android phones and likely understates Google’s prominence, DiClemente wrote. Following YouTube, music sharing site Spotify tied with Netflix, with both showing 7.9 million downloads. Spotify competitor Pandora had 5.3 million downloads. Pandora still leads in the U.S., but Spotify is beating Pandora by 75% in global downloads. At Netflix, international downloads surpassed domestic totals following January’s expansion into 130 countries. Alphabet and IBD 50 company Facebook carry best-possible IBD Composite Ratings of 99. Both were up more than 1% in midday trading in the stock market today , with major stock indexes up. Image provided by Shutterstock .

The Fox And The Hedgehog

“The fox knows many things while the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Click to enlarge Photo: Jeremy P. Gray The Greek poet Archilocus noticed this almost 3,000 years ago. We often see two different types of people. Some people go everywhere and study everything – pursuing contradictory ideas. They’re eclectic, diffused, and omnivorous. On the other side are souls who pursue a singular, unitary vision, an all-embracing organizing principle that gives the world coherence. We see this all around us. In literature, Dante was a hedgehog: he wanted to give the world a great poem about heaven and hell. Shakespeare, on the other hand, was a fox. He wrote plays about everything and everybody. In history, George Washington was a hedgehog – with the simple idea of American greatness – while Thomas Jefferson was a fox. And in modern life, outstanding business leaders are hedgehogs: think of Steve Jobs with his focus on design and functionality. And superior investors are often foxes: Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, John Templeton. Both approaches are necessary. In business, a company needs a singular vision to cut through the clutter and make the main thing the main thing. It’s too easy to get distracted by the crisis of the day and never spend time or energy on what’s crucial. Hedgehogs get things done and keep their teams focused. But with investing, foxes rule. A portfolio needs to be diversified, limiting its exposure to any single area – reducing risk – while spreading its assets among an array of industries that generate new products and ideas – improving return. Investors need to be fox-like and flexible. And they have to be interested in everything, from genomic sequencing to quantum computing to chain-store sales to bitcoins and block chains. Investors should leave no stone unturned when searching for value. Foxes and hedgehogs each have an important role to play. A lot of times, they end up married to each other. Which one are you?

Apple-FBI Feud Over iPhone Encryption Turns Ugly

The fight over smartphone encryption between Apple ( AAPL ) and the Department of Justice is being waged as much in the court of public opinion as it is in a federal court in Riverside, Calif. Late Thursday, Apple delivered an angry response to a DOJ court filing that accused the Cupertino, Calif., company of trying to sway opinion with false rhetoric and “corrosive” comments about the federal government. In its latest filing, the Justice Department accused Apple of deliberately raising technological barriers to prevent law enforcement officials from accessing data on its smartphones. It said Apple’s arguments about increasing data security on its iPhones to protect its customers’ privacy was a “diversion.” On Feb. 16, a federal judge in Southern California ordered Apple to provide “reasonable technical assistance” to the FBI to help unlock a password-protected iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack on Dec. 2. The Justice Department says the case is about only the one iPhone, but Apple believes it will set a precedent that will create a backdoor for government spies, criminals and hackers. “Apple’s rhetoric is not only false, but also corrosive of the very institutions that are best able to safeguard our liberty and our rights: the courts, the Fourth Amendment, longstanding precedent and venerable laws, and the democratically elected branches of government,” the DOJ said in its filing Thursday. Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell took offense at the claims of federal prosecutors. “In 30 years of practice I don’t think I’ve seen a legal brief that was more intended to smear the other side with false accusations and innuendo, and less intended to focus on the real merits of the case,” Sewell said in a statement Thursday . Sewell called the DOJ filing a “cheap shot.” “We add security features to protect our customers from hackers and criminals,” Sewell said. “And the FBI should be supporting us in this because it keeps everyone safe. To suggest otherwise is demeaning. It cheapens the debate and it tries to mask the real and serious issues. I can only conclude that the DOJ is so desperate at this point that it has thrown all decorum to the winds.” Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch went on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to defend the FBI’s stance in the case. She reiterated the government’s claims that the case is “very narrow and very focused” on one smartphone and that the feds aren’t trying to create a backdoor to Apple’s iPhone security. Apple claims that if the government succeeds in this case it will set a dangerous precedent that will allow it and other governments to keep coming back to Apple to hack its iPhones. Worse, if the technology becomes available to circumvent iPhone security, it’s only a matter of time before it leaks out to hackers and criminal enterprises who will go after iPhone users’ personal and financial data. RELATED:  Tech Rivals Unite To Support Apple In iPhone Privacy Case Vs. FBI .