Given many former private companies now are publicly traded companies – a lot of conversation in the tech related media is around who is a better group setting valuations. Uber, Lyft, Slack, Box, Pintrest, Square, SolarCity to name a few have all lost significant market valuation since going public.
Tech
- Don’t insult a startup as a VC or they’ll turn the back on you NYTimes
- All Apple announcements from last nights Apple conference TechCrunch
- Facebook cryptocurrency Libra meets hardened resitance from France who suggests to the EU to create a state-backed rival and a ban of Libra within the EU WSJ
- SoftBank say they they will buy USD 750 M of the USD 3 Bn in the We(Work) IPO WSJ
- Argumentative article about if we’ve hit peak “tech” Vox/Recode
- Defence startup Anduril co-founded by Oculus co-founder Palmer Lucky reached unicorn status last week. Another Palantir? Fortune
- Jack Ma officially retires from Alibaba TechCrunch
- WeChat released a face recognition solution for face ID payments Pandilay
Media
- Apple brings on the competition by launching Apple TV+ in November in 100 markets at once. Pricing it lower than any competitor at USD 5 per month. I find this increadibly interesting. They’re now making money from Netflix, HBO and other services who subscribe through their ApplePay service. Now Apple is competing against the same revenue streams with a “under priced” service. Will follow this closely and my bet is it will force some ailienation from AppStore and ApplePay Wired
- All you need to know about Apple TV+ Vox/Recode
- Maybe not too surprisingly Disney CEO Robert “Bob” Iger resignes from Apple’s board – speaks to the competition between the companies about to come? WSJ
- Moviepass ends the subscription service of all you can eat theater experiences WSJ
- Spotify acquired Soundbetter – a market place for musicians and sound engineers TechCrunch
Transportation
- Volkswagen says they are buying USD 100/kWh batteries from Northvolt and moves ahead with building plans. The threshold USD 100/kWh have been a long sought after milestone for the electrification of society Electrek
- Voi keeps pushing their PR machinery – here’s an interview with CEO Fredrik Hjelm SvD
- Uber lays off 435 people from their engineering and products team – a significant group TechCrunch
XR
- AR headset company Daqri is shutting down TheVerge
- It now is clear Apple is building and/or trying an AR headset. A readme file in the iOS 13 release described how to try AR apps without “the headset” Engadget
Binge
- Has to be the anticipation of Apple TV+ feature Glass Playpilot
