It's been another exciting week in the world of tech with plenty going on. We've sifted through the biggest stories of the last seven days to bring you our winners and losers of the week. There's good news for those wanting to get their hands on a 5G smartphone in the near future, and bad news for anyone who was hoping for Apple App Store reforms.
As always, we'll start with a couple of honorable mentions. In Germany this week, where AndroidPIT is based, the official Covid-19 track and trace app was launched. Reports at the time of writing claim that more than 6.5 million people have downloaded the app in its first week as privacy concerns seemingly take a back seat in the fight against the virus.
Elsewhere, there was news this week that Logitech is planning on adding carbon footprint labeling to its products in the future. The idea is that consumers will be able to make environmentally-driven purchasing decisions by understanding the impact of each product they buy has on global warming and climate change. I for one celebrate Logitech for making this move, but convincing consumers to care about their carbon footprint requires more than a label on the box. Still, it's a step in the right direction.
Winner of the week: 5G connectivity is trickling down
There was good news this week for those who are excited about 5G, the next-generation mobile network. American chip manufacturer, Qualcomm, official unveiled its new Snapdragon 690 5G Mobile Platform. We've seen the company bring 5G to its more premium SoCs such as the 865 in the Samsung Galaxy S20 and the 765G in the Motorola Moto Edge. Now, 5G is available on Snapdragon 600 series chips that typically feature in smartphones that cost between $300 and $500.
Qualcomm has already confirmed that LG, Motorola, TCL, and HMD Global are already working on new smartphones that will feature the Snapdragon 690 5G, and that announcements are on the way soon. Essentially, this is good news for consumers who reject the idea that you have to pay $1,000 for a smartphone in 2020, but who also want to have the most modern connectivity on board.
Loser of the week: Apple's App Store horror show
It's been an eventful week in Cupertino. Whilst Apple is preparing for its WWDC 2020 event on June 22, squabbling over the way the company conducts business on its App Store rages on.
After Spotify and Kobo, the Rakuten-owned ebook app, filed complaints about Apple's 30% cut of all purchases made inside apps that have been downloaded from its App Store, the European Union opened an anti-trust investigation into the rules. In the midst of all of this, Apple has been happy to boast about the half a trillion dollars that went through the App Store in 2019.
This week Protocol, a new email startup from the team behind Basecamp, launched. Apple then rejected the almost immediate update to version 1.0.1 because Protocol was not forcing users to go through Apple's payment system to make purchases. Basically, Cook was not getting his cut, and that's not enough to get you thrown out of the club.
Much was made of this issue and an App Store scandal proceeded to gather pace online. By the end of the week, Apple had come out swinging. The Californian company has no plans to change the game. Apple vice president, Phil Schiller, told TechCrunch: "Sitting here today, there’s not any changes to the rules that we are considering. There are many things that they could do to make the app work within the rules that we have. We would love for them to do that."
So that's that, then. Developers who want to be on the Apple App Store have to play by Apple's rules and pay the commission, it's as simple as that.
Who were your winners and losers of the week? Let us know in the comments section below.
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