Hello! Spotify's annual Wrapped is here, giving its 450m users a chance to truly come to terms with how much they listen to their "guilty pleasures" playlist. Today we're exploring:
Two-and-a-half years on from when the pandemic shuttered workplaces and offices around the globe, the demand to retain one major element of the ‘new normal’ remains very high: remote work.
Not a week goes by without a major company asking — or perhaps more accurately telling — workers to come back to the office. Employees at major banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are back in the office and even many of the most innovative tech companies now have a hybrid arrangement with at least some facetime in the office. On Tuesday, Snap Inc. told employees to show up in-office at least 80% of the time.
Out of office, in demand
Many who have clearly adapted to the WFH lifestyle appear keen to keep the commute out of their working lives and join the reported 30% of workers who are still logging in remotely. The typical employer, however, has other plans.
Indeed, as reported by The Washington Post, 50% of job applications on LinkedIn last month were for remote work positions, despite the fact that from-home postings made up just 15% of the listings on the site. Compared to the same month in 2020, when fewer than one-in-six applications were for remote roles on LinkedIn, it’s clear that the sort of work the job-seeking populus has appetite for has changed in a way that the market may not be able to meet.
Elon Musk is in another fight — this time with Apple.
Earlier this week, Musk tweeted that Apple had “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store”, unleashing a tirade of tweets criticizing the company for inconsistent “censorship” and building on previous complaints about Apple’s App Store fees, which he has called “a 30% tax on the internet”.
Screenshots seen by Platformer show that weekly advertising bookings in Twitter’s EMEA region are down 49% — hastening the need for Twitter to shift their revenue towards subscriptions. The problem for Musk is that subscriptions will incur Apple’s App Store fee.
Appy families
Musk’s comments put Apple’s “in-app purchase” policy, in which it takes a 15-30% cut of digital purchases from App Store apps, back in the spotlight. As the Apple ecosystem has grown, the App Store has been a remarkable marketplace for app developers to reach the 1.2bn+iPhone users — and its earned Apple a fortune in the process.
Figures from Analysis Group, endorsed by Apple, show that some ~$86bn is estimated to have been made by developers in 2021, with Apple’s cut of that likely towards the top end of the $13-26bn range. The iPhone maker claims to use this to cover costs in reviewing apps, in order to protect consumers, but the lack of alternatives for developers has led to calls of anticompetitive practices.
Epic, maker of Fortnite, has already done battle with Apple on these grounds. Though the judge ruled largely in favor of Apple, finding that they did protect customers, Apple was required to allow developers to link customers to their own payment systems.
Musk’s plan if this feud escalates — “make an alternative phone”.
Dropped calls
Budget airline Frontier is hanging up on consumers — confirming this week that they’re cutting off their customer service call option and asking passengers with problems to use their online chatbot or even go to Whatsapp with inquiries they have for the airline.
After being slapped with a $222m refund order and a $2.25m fine from the Department of Transport earlier this month, ditching the phone line is certainly one way to save money, as finances remain balanced on a knife-edge for the ultra low-cost travel company. Indeed, in 6 of the last 11 quarters the airline’s operating expenses have exceeded revenues, so execs are on board with any measure to cut costs, even if it might frustrate passengers.
Low budgets
The move rounds off an eventful 6 months for Frontier, after a botched merger with fellow budget fliers Spirit, a clampdown on bulging baggage, and the launch of their new flight subscription service. The airline’s $599GoWild! pass offers subscribers (almost) all-you-can-fly benefits, as Frontier looks for any edge in the hyper-competitive space.
That competition has driven prices down for consumers, albeit likely at the cost of comfort and convenience. According to the US Department of Transportation, the average domestic airfare in the US has fallen by just over a third (when figures are adjusted for inflation) since the mid 1990s.
• Meta was fined $275m by Irish regulators for breaking data privacy laws, equivalent to just over 20 hours of revenue for the tech giant.
• Want to see what you would’ve looked like if you lived in Ancient Egypt or Medieval Europe? New AI app renders your face in the style of different historical periods.
• Crypto contagion spreads as BlockFi files for bankruptcy with 100,000 creditors and liabilities of up to $10bn.
• Higher interest rates are hitting homeowners with variable mortgages: interesting data on the countries that are most exposed.
• The Pentagon is only able to account for 39% of its $3.5 trillion in assets, failing its fifth audit in a row.
• Talking of Apple’s app store, the company has just released their annual app awards for 2022.
• Mapping every country's favorite toy.
Off the charts quiz: Yesterday, the Senate passed legislation to protect same-sex marriage, in a landmark vote: but how many same-sex couples are married and live together in the US? [Options and answers below].
Click on your guess to see the answer!
