Tag Archives: request

Better Get Your App On Or Risk Fading Into Oblivion

When the Apple ( AAPL ) App Store and Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google Android Market (now Google Play) burst onto the scene in 2008, they created two powerful channels for app distribution that fueled a smartphone revolution and pushed PCs to the back seat. What also emerged was an explosion in apps that have become dominant factors in business success. Sales of mobile apps are projected to reach $51 billion in 2016 and to exceed $101 billion in 2020, driven by strong growth in smartphones in developing economies, says a report by market tracker App Annie. The $51 billion would mark a 24% increase from last year, said the report . App Annie estimates the number of apps downloaded will jump 33% this year to 147.3 billion, led by China. Google Play and third-party Android stores will maintain their dominance between now and 2020 in terms of the number of apps. But Apple will continue to lead in the all-important category of revenue. “Apps have become the primary way we engage with media, brands and ultimately with each other,” the report said. “Now all companies need to view themselves as app publishers, irrespective of their mobile strategy.” Google Play downloads are set to more than triple to 166.4 billion in 2020. The vast majority of this growth will be driven by rapidly growing smartphone adoption in under-penetrated emerging markets like India, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia, says App Annie. It expects Apple downloads to rise 46% to 35.2 billion over the same period. On the revenue side, App Annie forecasts Apple to remain the highest-grossing store through 2020, doubling to reach $44.8 billion in 2020. But Google Play and third-party Android stores will see faster growth in this span, with combined revenue rising to $55.7 billion in 2020 from $18.3 billion last year. The report said apps drive engagement and brand loyalty and can be monetized directly through app stores, advertising, commerce or any combination of the above. Apple stock was near 94.27, down 0.8% in the stock market today . Alphabet stock was up close to 1%, near 707.

Twitter Shifts More Like Facebook — Flap To Follow, Or More Users?

Twitter ( TWTR ) is testing a new feature that would bring major changes to how people view tweets in their timelines, making the microblog look a bit more like its No. 1 rival, social networking leader Facebook ( FB ). Twitter said that it would start displaying tweets by relevance instead of its usual reverse-chronological-order approach. Some industry observers say that the change could help Twitter bring everyday users aboard rather than keep the service in its current status as a niche haven heavily used by hardcore tweeters such as PR people and journalists. The new feature “helps you catch up on the best Tweets from people you follow,” Twitter said in a blog post on Wednesday, a few hours before the company’s Q4 earnings release . With the new service, “tweets you’re most likely to care about will appear at the top of your timeline — still recent and in reverse chronological order. The rest of the Tweets will be displayed right underneath, also in reverse chronological order, as always. At any point, just pull-to-refresh to see all new Tweets at the top in the live, up-to-the-second experience you already know and love,” the company said. After getting feedback on the change and making tweaks, Twitter said that it would “be turning on the feature for you in coming weeks — look out for a notification in your timeline.” Users who dislike the new look “can easily turn it off,”  the company said. A tweetstorm of controversy arose Friday night after unconfirmed reports that the company planned to prioritize tweets based on user preferences rather than a real-time algorithm. Twitter has two groups to please, said Will McInnes, chief marketing officer of Brandwatch, which monitors and analyzes social media, after those reports emerged. Twitter’s user base is divided into “hardcore, weathered veterans, who know and love the platform just how it is, and those newbies that don’t get how it works and don’t stick around to figure it out,” McInnes told IBD via email. “But common to so much else in life, Twitter cannot remain in stasis just simply to placate the most vocal and motivated. How Twitter works must change, and employing an algorithmic timeline feels like a big, important shift to test out.” Earlier reports said that the social network was mulling upsizing its tweet limit to 10,000 characters from the current 140. Snappy, short tweets have been Twitter’s calling card since the company started in 2006. Twitter stock was up 5% in afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 15. Facebook stock was up 3%, near 103. Growth concerns have depressed Twitter stock, which sunk to a new all-time low of 14.31 on Tuesday. Twitter is down 79% from its all-time high of 74.73, touched in late December 2013. Twitter stock dropped 7% on Friday as business social network LinkedIn ( LNKD ) crashed almost 44%  after low guidance given with a quarterly report. Twitter sank more than 5% Monday and more than 3% Tuesday on difficult days for tech stocks, with Internet review site Yelp ( YELP ) dropping about 11% Monday after a midday earnings report . LinkedIn was trading up about 3% Wednesday afternoon.

Verizon Seen Putting ESPN In Skinny TV; Disney Praises Dish Sling

Verizon Communications ( VZ ) will bite the bullet and include sports channel ESPN in its “Custom TV” package, giving Walt Disney ( DIS ) a boost amid worries over falling pay-TV subscribers, speculates Deutsche Bank in a research report. “We believe Verizon will soon adjust its Custom TV packages to include ESPN in the base tier, which will be one less source of pressure on ESPN subscribers,” said Bryan Kraft, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, in the report. Verizon launched Custom TV in April. Custom TV isn’t delivered via the Internet; it’s for pay-TV customers with set-top boxes.  Plans start at $55 per month for 35 channels. Verizon’s base package has excluded Disney’s ESPN, which garners the highest fees among cable networks. Disney sued Verizon claiming it doesn’t have rights to exclude its sports channel from TV bundles under programming deals. On Verizon’s Q4 earnings conference call Jan. 21, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo spoke to the issue. “Look, this (dispute) will go its course,” he said. “They’re a great partner of ours; we will continue to work with them and I’m not going to speak to the actual lawsuit.” Speaking more generally, Shammo also said:  “Custom TV . . . we will refresh that here in the short term to be in compliance with the contractual arrangements that we need to be in compliance with.” Disney, on its Q1 earnings call on Tuesday, had good things to say about Sling TV, an Internet service offered by satellite TV broadcaster Dish Network ( DISH ). Disney CEO Iger: Sling ‘Quite Successful’ “We’re also pleased with what we’re hearing from Dish about the response to Sling TV, a light package that includes ESPN,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said on the call. “The service appears to be growing nicely and is proving very attractive to young consumers in particular, significantly over indexing among millennials, and has been quite successful in bringing previous cord cutters back to pay TV.” Dish rolled out its $20-per-month Sling service in January. Dish did not include the four major broadcast networks, opting instead to go with ESPN. Sling had 240,000 subscribers as of June 30, analysts estimate. Dish Network did not update Sling’s subscriber total when reporting Q3 earnings. Goldman Sachs has forecast that Sling could hit 2 million by year’s end. Disney’s ESPN is also not part of Comcast ’s ( CMCSA ) over-the-top “Stream” TV service. Comcast’s Stream is available in Boston, Chicago and, according to its website, parts of Indiana and Michigan. Stream requires that customers have a broadband connection from Comcast. The service works with Apple ( AAPL ) TV, Roku and other streaming devices. No set-top box is required. Comcast on its Q4 earnings call did not disclose how many Stream users were included in its 89,000 video subscriber additions. Comcast’s Stream service includes the major live broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — along with HBO and local TV channels.