badmonk

I would recommend if anyone wants to have a glimpse into the future of EU app stores, listen to the FT podcast tech tonic and their multipart series about Chinese technology.  One of the podcasts is about the android OS penetration in Africa where multiple apps allow convenient lending in minutes (at a 30% interest rate).

Unfortunately if the user defaults, the apps harvest the contacts and the photos on the device to “shame” the user into paying off the loan.  They do this by sending text messages to your contacts to let everyone know you are a deadbeat and throw some compromising photos to the mix.

The EU may regret their insistence on the breakup of the app store duopoly.  If they are going to encourage third market apps, it is on the EU government to police them.  I hope they are ready.

I subscribe to one of my local newspapers.  It is such a challenge to access their website on my iPhone because their website is over run with advertisements.  When I scroll, I accidentally touch an ad which launches a video amd stops me from reading an article.  It’s painful and I was looking forward to this feature.  Yet again, the interests of the consumer is lost in the debate.

Again as others have written, this suit seems to have been written at the behest of Apple’s competitors and not to protect consumers against the things that truly bother us- online criminality such as fake malware apps, cyber crime, excessive tracking, pop-up ads & surveys etc etc.  Apple’s closed garden approach is a consumer choice and for those who don’t want it…there is the android world and admittedly that has its advantage in terms of customization and maybe AI ability.

This suit is analogous to saying Taylor Swift has a monopoly on concerts.

At least they finally are taking on Ticketmaster.  There are real monopolies in the world.

The stock bounce was a given when Federighi donned his hair helmet and led a parachute drop out of the Phil Shiller piloted Apple plane, best intro to WWDC ever.

He is becoming increasingly unhinged.  Satellite imaging shows tens of thousands of unsold Teslas stockpiled in parking lots that are unsold.  I personally saw a parking lot with over a 100 cybertrucks in a parking lot in NW Houston.  X continues to descend into an 8-chan cesspool of disinformation devoid of advertising.  The cybertruck has been a bit of a disaster (late in delivery, fit and finish issues, etc etc).  Honestly he needs to put his phone down and concentrate on what he does best.  X has been a disaster for him and has been his undoing.  I suspect his other businesses have been likewise running on autopilot (SpaceX etc etc) but he has become his own worst enemy.  I don’t think X will exist two years from now.  And it will be interesting to see what happens with his 56 billion dollar Tesla shareholder vote this week.  Personally I think the judge made the right call.