The spate of recent acquisitions in the gaming space — Take-Two and Zynga, Microsoft and Activision, and Sony and Bungie — make sense in the context of the Smiling Curve.
Take-Two Acquires Zynga, The New York Times Buys The Athletic
Take-Two buys its way into mobile, and the New York Times re-bundles.
App Store Injunction Stayed, Fingerprinting on iOS, Life360 and Apple’s Missing Leverage
Apple wins in court, probably for good; meanwhile, its tracking rules aren’t really being enforced, and probably can’t be, which means Apple’s overreach was a mistake.
An Interview with Eric Seufert about the Impact of ATT
An interview with Eric Seufert about the impact of ATT and the future of advertising, Apple, and Facebook.
Facebook Earnings, Investor Trust, Facebook Reality Labs
Facebook’s earning seemed bad, but investors responded well, thanks to the trust that Facebook has developed over the years, and demonstrated this quarter.
Snap Earnings, Attribution and Targeting, The Supply Chain
Snap’s earnings show how the inability to measure attribution makes it hard to target ads; the big question is what this means for Facebook.
Apple Versus Governments, Apple’s Legitimate Privacy Claims, Privacy and Paranoia
The pushback to Apple’s move suggests that people are more concerned about their devices spying on them than they are third parties tracking them.
Facebook Earnings, The ATT Transition, Facebook’s Outlook
Facebook’s reckoning with ATT finally arrived, and the results are inconclusive. It still seems like a company worth betting on.
ShazamKit and Weather, iOS 15’s New Privacy Approach, Mail Privacy Protection and Newsletters
Apple and Microsoft have similar approaches to developers, and iOS 15’s approach to privacy is better than iOS 14.
Facebook Earnings; ATT’s Impact; COVID, VR/AR, and Optionality
Facebook’s earning show why it is relatively well-placed to capitalize on ATT.