We run down what we think we’ll see at Apple’s annual show based on past events, rumors and some recent trends.
Source: CNET
The App Store has seen over 170 billion downloads over the past decade, totaling over $130 billion in consumer spend. This data was shared this morning by app intelligence firm App Annie, which is marking the App Store’s 10th Anniversary with a look back on the store’s growth and the larger trends it’s seen. These figures aren’t the full picture, however – the App Store launched on July 10, 2008 with just 500 applications, but App Annie arrived in 2010. The historical data for this report, therefore, goes from July 2010 through December 2017.
That means the true numbers are even higher that what App Annie can confirm.
The report paints a picture of the continued growth of the App Store over the years, noting that iOS App Store revenue growth outpaces downloads, and that nearly doubled between 2015 to 2017.
iOS device owners apparently love to spend on apps, too.
The iOS App Store only has a 30 percent share of worldwide downloads, but accounts for 66 percent of consumer spend, the report says.
But this isn’t a complete picture of the iOS vs. Android battle, as Google Play isn’t available in China. App Annie’s data is incomplete on this front as it’s not accounting for the third-party Android app stores in China.
China today plays an outsized role, as App Annie has repeatedly reported, in terms of App Store revenue, even without Google Play. In fact, the APAC region accounts for nearly 60 percent of consumer spend – a trend that began in earnest with the October 2014 release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in China.
But when you look back at the App Store trends to date (or, as of July 2010 – which is as far back as App Annie’s data goes), it’s the U.S. that leads by a slim margin. China has quickly caught up but the U.S. is still the top country for all-time downloads, with 40.1 billion to China’s 39.9 billion; and it has generated $36 billion in consumer spend to China’s $27.7 billion.
iPhone users are heavy app users, too, the report notes.
In several markets, users have 100 or more apps installed, including Australia, India, China, Germany, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and France. The U.S., U.K., and Mexico come close, with 96, 90, and 89 average monthly apps installed in 2017, respectively.
Of course the numbers of apps used monthly are much smaller, but still range in the high 30’s to low 40’s, App Annie claims.
The report additionally examines the impact of games, which accounted for only 31 percent of downloads in 2017, but generated 75 percent of the revenue. The APAC regions plays a large role here as well, with 3.4 billion game downloads last year, and $19.3 billion in consumer spend.
Subscriptions, meanwhile, are a newer trend, but one that’s already boosting App Store revenues considerably, accounting for $10.6 billion in consumer spend in 2017. This is driven mainly by media streaming apps like Netflix, Pandora, and Tencent Video, for example, but Tinder makes a notable showing as one of the top five worldwide apps by revenue.
Thanks to subscriptions and other trends, App Annie predicts the worldwide iOS App Store revenue will grow 80 percent from 2017 to $75.7 billion by 2022.
And while the App Store today has over 2 million apps, it has seen over 4.5 million apps released on its store to date. Many of these have been removed by Apple or the developers, which is why the number of live apps is so much lower.
The full report with the charts included is here.
Source: TechCrunch
The messaging app’s battle moves to the App Store.
Source: CNET
The Detroit automaker and the Japanese conglomerate are pushing hard toward the commercialization of autonomous cars.
Source: CNET
The kids are online.
Source: CNET
Mark this date on your calendar. It’s the end of yet another tech era. Though, granted, this one’s been been death rattling for nearly a decade now. Canon this week announced with no fanfare that it’s sold its last film camera. The news was spotted by PetaPixel on the camera giant’s Japanese support forum.
The model in question is the EOS-1V, which, incidentally, the company actually stopped making a full eight years ago. Since it has simply been selling out the rest of its stock, which, it seems, has finally depleted. It’s less of a bang than a prolonged whimper, but it’s the end of an era, nonetheless, marking the first time Canon hasn’t offered a film camera since the 30s, when its parent company started offering a device called the “Kwanon.”
Those who are feeling suddenly nostalgic, you can likely pick one up used fairly easily (though this news might bump up their premium a bit), and I’m sure the inevitable Kickstarter project to revive the technology can’t be too far off, because that’s how these things go now.
And, of course, some other brands are still supporting film in one form or other, including, notably, Nikon. As for Canon, the company has promised to continue to offer repair on the EOS-1V until October 31st 2025, though that could end as early as 2020 for some, if parts and inventory run out sooner.
Source: TechCrunch
It’s a refurb, but also a powerhouse that normally sells for $900. Plus: Free episodes of “Humans” and the Cheapskate Mystery Box unboxed!
Source: CNET
Steve Schlafman has been an East Coast investor for roughly a decade — scouring deals for the Kraft Group ahead of joining Lerer Hippeau as an early employee, then spending more than four years as a principal with RRE Ventures before announcing on Twitter, to the surprise of some, that he was leaving the New York firm.
Many guessed that Schalfman, like a growing number of people right now, was setting off to create his own venture outfit. Today, Schlafman say it was a consideration and that he did a bit of research toward this end, but that as an identical twin, he’s not really programmed to work on his own. Enter Primary Venture Partners, a seed-stage firm in New York that was previously known as High Peaks Venture Partners and has backed numerous high-profile startups — Jet.com and Coupang among them — even while flying low itself.
Schlafman had been friends for years with cofounders Ben Sun and Brad Svrluga, coinvesting with them in the civic app startup PublicStuff (acquired in 2015 by a better-funded peer), and turning to them for advice as he was figuring out his next moves. When they suggested that he join them as a venture partner, he thought the move made perfect sense. “It feels like buy a stock that’s on the rise in some ways,” he tells us.
More from our conversation yesterday, edited for length:
TC: Why did you leave RRE when you did?
SS: It was an incredibly hard decision, but after soul searching about what I wanted to do long term, I just felt that seed investing is where my heart is. RRE tends to be a Series A investor, and while I enjoy Series A, my super power is really spotting founders early and helping them along that journey.
TC: Were you thinking about launching your own fund?
SS: I was under the assumption at the time that I’d go start a fund as a solo GP, but after doing work [on the idea] for four or five months, I decided I didn’t want to work alone. I’m a collaborative person by nature, and the idea of working on my own for the next 18 to 36 months as a solo GP just wan’t attractive. I was in touch with Brad and Ben and they said, ‘What would think of joining forces with us?’ They’d been helping me think through different models, and it evolved that I could bring a lot to Primary.
TC: You’ve led deals in some companies that seemed out there at the time. I still remember chatting with you years ago about Breather, the on-demand network of meeting rooms, and thinking it was pretty far out there.
SS: I tend to like the weird things. I think part of the reason Primary works so well is that Ben has worked with transactional marketplaces, and Brad [knows] business-to business applications and I’ve traversed both worlds. I’ve also done things like [crime reporting app] Citizen, [indoor farming startup] Bowery Farming, and Groups [an opiate treatment center and community]. That’s just my style, so I think they’re excited to get my brain to the table and bring a new perspective.
TC: ‘Venture partner’ means different things at different firms. Is this a part-time role?
SS: We did spend a lot of time talking about this, and there are a few roles that I’m going to play for them. Certainly, I”ll be being active on the investment team. I’ll also be helping with the broader firm strategy given the perspective I’ve gained by working in three investment firms previously.
But over the last six months, I’ve also been going through training to become an executive performance coach, which is something I really believe in. Not only only have I personally gotten the benefit of coaching, but founders who’ve worked with coaches will tell you the experience transforms the way they lead. I plan to bring that to Primary, too.
TC: That’s interesting. Whose coaching program is it, and how involved is it?
It’s 250 hour of classroom [learning] and coaching at Leadership that Works, an accredited coach training program that [renowned VC-turned-coach] Jerry Colonna and other coaches at Reboot [a coaching firm Colonna cofounded nearly four years ago] have gone through.
For me, I’m married to a founder, and she’s been a big inspiration for me as an investor and taught me a lot about the daily grind of running a company. [I’ve learned much more about] not telling a founder how to run their company, but asking questions that ultimately help them make the tough decisions themselves. At the end of the day, I’m showing up for them and meeting them where they are in their process and hopefully helping them get to answers themselves versus being a traditional investor who tries to have all the answers.
TC: Are you on any boards right now?
SS: I’m not. I’ll rolled off all my RRE boards when I left the firm.
TC: A year from now, will you be a general partner with Primary? I’m hearing the firm is raising another fund after closing its last fund with $60 million in 2016.
SS: Part of the appeal of working with Brad and Ben — and much of why I believe in Primary’s current trajectory — is that it’s building out the only true fund that’s focused on New York as a seed platform. Right now, I plan to spend half my time with them, and there will be a certain portion of my time spent evaluating alternative paths, in terms of maybe starting a company, or coaching could certainly be one of those paths I decide to take.
I’ll be working from Primary’s office every day like a team member, but I will have a bit of flexibility to explore a variety of avenues. It’s a fluid role. I imagine I’ll get entrenched pretty quickly, though.
Source: TechCrunch
At MWC, ZTE promised that its Tempo Go would be the first device to bring Android Oreo (Go Edition) to the States. But, well, stuff happened, and the company’s had a lot bigger things to deal with in the intervening months. Alcatel, however, is on the case with the 1X.
TCL announced this morning that the budget device will be hitting Amazon some time next week, priced at an extremely affordable $100, unlocked. It will also be arriving at Best Buy and Walmart soon after, no doubt taking advantage of the fact that it’s the only Android Go handset available in the U.S. for the time being.
The specs are unsurprisingly uninspiring. There’s a 960 x 480 5.3-inch screen, a MediaTek chip and 1GB of RAM. The good news, however, is that the new, lightweight version of Google’s mobile operating system is built for exactly those hardware restraints, which means you ought to get a much smoother Android experience than you would on a similarly specced handset running the full OS.
While the operating system is well positioned to get a foothold in developing countries, Google was quick to point out that it wasn’t limiting Android Go’s availability to those parts of the world. But while a number of manufacturers have signed on, none appeared too eager to launch the handsets in the States — well, aside from ZTE, but we all know how that went.
Another Android Go devices is on the way as well, with HMD bringing the Nokia 2.1 to the States in July.
Source: TechCrunch
Sony’s latest Android phone is a little awkward, but snaps some beautiful shots. Our full WIRED review.
Source: Wired