So as many of you know, the stock market is not good right now. In fact, yesterday, it dropped over 600 points. One of the biggest victims of this slide is Apple. But it’s not because of this US vs. China trade war. Apple stocks sink. The reason may surprise you.
The reason Apple stocks sink is because of a US Supreme Court ruling. That ruling said that you the Apple customer and app developers can sue the IT service conglomerate over high prices. Stockholders didn’t like that at all. In fact, Monday May 13 alone, Apple stocks dropped over 6%. The plaintiffs complained of Apple’s monopoly over the apps. They also complained about the 30% Apple takes from app sales, and the absolute control of the apps.
The plaintiffs don’t win any money or material value…yet. All this victory does is say they have a right to sue. The vote was 5-4 against Apple. The court ruled consumers are buying the app right from the Apple Store. Therefore, they have the right to sue Apple under antitrust laws. But in a statement, Apple spokespeople insists they are not a monopoly. Then, the statement says the majority of their apps are free, and the app distributor determines the price on the rest of them. In other words, they hardly get any revenue from apps.
Then why do they fight so hard in this lawsuit if they’re not making revenue? They already make billions upon billions on sales, repairs, software and other things. Apple should have settled out of court. It was a bad move to continue with a very public lawsuit. I think this makes Apple look like the big, bad, greedy mega-company. A mega-corporation that’s robbing the little guy, the app developer, of his/her royalties. Is that why stocks are suffering because of this? Is it because the shareholders don’t like this image of Apple? Today’s ticker says Apple is trying to make a comeback. Will they?
So let me start off by saying Happy Anniversary. Okay, that’s sarcastic, because for the IT service world, this one is nothing to celebrate. It’s WannaCry’s second anniversary. Did we learn?
So let’s turn back time. On May 13, 2017, The WannaCry virus spread globally like a raging wildfire. But great Britain got the worst of it. It almost shut down hospitals, transportation, and governments. Some hackers took over user’s files and other sensitive info. However, they didn’t demand cash. Instead, they demanded cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. There was also a lot of blame to go around. Some blamed the NSA. But in actually, a North Korean hacking group used NSA documents and they launched the attack. In fact, they even used NSA backdoor Double Pulsar, to deliver WannaCry to the world.
So why do I talk about this cyber attack two years later? Because look at the impact it had. Back in 2017, there was already little trust for the NSA or the IT support world. Then WannaCry came along and made many of us even more cynical. Here’s an example. Microsoft released patches to fight the attacks. But people were slow to patch these systems. Political leaders called out the NSA on the damage it caused.
The WannaCry virus caused over $2 billion in damage. Also, nobody was indicted or anything. So why do I talk about this? Because today 1.7 million Internet endpoints that are still venerable. And guess where the most venerable devices are? You guessed it, right here in the USA. The WannaCry is mostly contained, it still causes problems. One thing I remember is that it targeted systems still using Windows XP, a system Microsoft stopped supporting years ago. They got hit really bad. So the next time a computer repair expert says to stop using certain software, will you at least consider it? It’s WannaCry’s second anniversary. What did we learn?
So Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote quite an article for the New York Times. It criticized Apple for using something we all crave and need…privacy. This Google CEO sounds off on Apple.
So let me explain. Pichai criticized Apple for selling privacy protection as a luxury item. This stems from new…ahem…budget smartphones from Apple and Google/Android. Because both offer privacy features. However, the Google smartphone starts at $399. But the new Apple one cost $749, almost twice as much. In the New York Times article, Pichai said, “Privacy cannot be a luxury good offered only to people who can afford to buy premium products and services”. Yes, he directed this to Apple and this new smartphone of theirs.
Then add the fact that Google’s new smartphone offers privacy protection features as much as Apple does. If that isn’t enough, then add the criticism Tim Cook has toward Google, especially when it comes to privacy issues. One time, he used the word, ‘surveillance’ quite often. He didn’t say Google directly, but even a kid know who Cook threw shade at. This week, Google showed off a bunch of new products helping consumers control their own data. Of course, many others criticized Google over the lack of privacy. Maybe Pichai is getting the message and trying to do something about it.
Because ‘privacy’ is now the word of the day of sorts in Silicon Valley. Look at some of the recent news articles in the IT service community. But look at these prices though. Google’s is almost half as Apple’s. That’s the part I find interesting. If Cook is criticizing Google so hard, then why is his privacy protection smartphone so much more? And why does Google CEO sounds off on Apple? Why are they doing this now? Is it because Pichai is so concerned with privacy? Or is this a way for Google to stick it to their arch rivals?
So we say a lot about facial recognition around here. It’s a huge part of IT service’s future, whether we like it or not. But it has it’s critics. They complain of things like privacy invasion and racial profiling. In fact, one US city considers banning facial recognition. This city might surprise you.
Because the city I refer to is San Francisco, CA. That’s right. One of the most tech savvy cities in the world is considering banning all things facial recognition. Their Board of Supervisors voted to make a bill banning this. Then, it requires any entity, private or public, to get written approval before buying any kind of this tech. This includes everything from licence plate readers to body cameras.
If this bill passes into law, then San Francisco will be the first city to ban facial recognition. We’ll just have to say. The bill cites civil rights, civil liberties, racial profiling, and religious persecution all as reasons they want to ban this kind of technology. The bill also says it mistakenly identifies people with darker skin. Those who want the ban say it gives the government more control, and not in a good way. It will give them power and control to track people and follow them in their private lives.
However, there are some who support this kind of tech. Some will argue we need this to stop terrorism. Then there are those who argue we need body cams to stop police brutality. Some will even say, “If you’re not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to worry about”. We need to get rid of that saying. Because time and time again, people are going to prison even when they’re not in the wrong. This is one reason why this US city considers banning facial recognition. Will it help?
So do you remember a report I did about Alibaba? They overwork their employees with little to show for it. Furthermore, CEO Jack Ma likes it this way. But there is another China IT service corporation who wants positive influence. Tencent promises technological good.
So this is what Tencent CEO Pony Ma promises for his $460 billion company. He says Tecent’s mission is to, “improve the quality of life through Internet value-added services”. These are the three ways he wants to do it. The first is provide more big data for tradition businesses. Then the second is use his apps to easier provide gov’t services. This includes getting drivers licences and passports/visas. Finally, the third is helping society. One way he proposes is track missing people through facial recognition.
These things sound great, don’t they? But Tencent has a hard row to plow through, and Pony Ma knows it. The Chinese government and rival companies are putting the squeeze on him. For example, a gaming freeze cost Tencent billions of dollars in profits. Then you have competitors like Douyin. That’s an up and coming player in China’s social media world. With all these things, Tencent is changing the way they do business altogether, from cloud computing to IT support.
So maybe, and this is the cynic in me talking, this is why Tencent promises technological good. So they can compete and stay effective in a forever changing climate that is 2019 China. And do you want to know something else that’s ironic? Pony Ma revealed this plan at a Digital China Summit. The Chinese government sponsored this summit. So maybe Ma’s second suggestion won him some points with them. But whatever the reason, whether it is sincere or a business deal, I’m just happy Pony Ma is taking Tencent is dealing with them. What do you think of this move?
