Monthly Archives: August 2019

Depuis peu, la Federal Trade Commission (FTC) s'intéresse à l'accord entre Apple et Amazon signé en fin d'année dernière, qui fait du géant du commerce de ligne un revendeur officiel de produits frappés d'une pomme. Un accord à l'échelle du globe ou quasi, qui permet de profiter de bonnes affaires sur du matériel qu'Apple continue de vendre au prix fort (le constructeur y gagne aussi en écoulant plus facilement ses stocks).En filigrane, cet accord est l'occasion pour la Pomme de faire le ménage dans les rayons d'Amazon, où l'on pouvait trouver tout et n'importe quoi, à tous les prix. Tout le monde n'est pas gagnant dans ce deal. Pour poursuivre leur activité sur Amazon, les vendeurs tiers et les spécialistes du reconditionné doivent obtenir un agrément officiel de la part d'Apple. Bon nombre ont été expulsés des étagères d'Amazon

Now Walmart is stepping into the ring to test its own blockchain technology as the company has filed a new digital currency patent that describes a stablecoin backed by USD. Walmart’s coin, if developed, could be easily be tested at its 11,368 hypermarkets, department stores and grocery clubs located in 27 countries. The Walmart coin was created by Robert Cantrell, David Nelms, John O’Brien, and Brian McHale. The patent’s abstract description states:“[The] method includes: generating one digital currency unit by tying the one digital currency unit to a regular currency; storing information of the one digital currency unit into a block of a blockchain; buying or paying the one digital currency unit.”“The digital currency may be pegged to the US dollar and available for use only at selected retailers or partners. In other embodiments, the digital currency is available for use anywhere. The digital currency can provide a fee-free, or fee-minimal place to store wealth that can be spent, for example, at retailers and, if needed, easily converted to cash,” Walmarts filing adds.Walmart Coin will be a stablecoin backed by USD.Walmart Coin Aims to Help Low-Income Households That Find Banking Expensive A closer look at the filing shows that the Walmart coin concept offers a number of features like “pre-approved biometric (e.g., fingerprint or eye pattern) credit” and could store a user’s transaction history and give loyalty points. Much like Facebook’s Libra, the coin produced by Walmart aims to help low-income families worldwide. “Using a digital currency, low-income households that find banking expensive, may have an alternative way to handle wealth at an institution that can supply the majority of their day-to-day financial and product needs,” the Walmart filing details. “In some embodiments, retailers may be directly to aid organizations for assistance that may be used to provide goods. Retailers may tie into assistance that can provide vehicles or funding for vehicles to get goods to customers when the customers do not have sufficient mobility otherwise,” the patent reveals.Is Walmart Coin the Corporation’s Second Attempt to Become a Bank? The news comes years after Walmart attempted to become an industrial loan company (ILC) but got pushback from politicians and regulators. Bankers and anti-Walmart groups forced politicians to pass laws to stop Walmart in its tracks from opening bank branches. Because of the opposition, Walmart’s application filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) never gained traction.

Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. But even today, many users of those apps don’t realize they are part of Mark Zuckerberg's empire. Facebook went to great lengths to allow them to operate as independent brands. There are many "I hate Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. I'm going to Instagram" posts on social media.The companies had their own CEOs, their own apps and websites, their own office buildings and email addresses. Facebook even allowed WhatsApp employees to have nicer desks and fancier bathrooms.Friday, Facebook confirmed that the independent era is over. It has told employees that Facebook's ownership of both apps will become clearer. Instagram's app says "Instagram from Facebook" at the bottom of the login page and the settings page. “We want to be clearer about the products and services that are part of Facebook,” said spokeswoman Bertie Thomson. The change was earlier reported by The Information.The timing of the news, like many things associated with Facebook recently, seemed simultaneously logical and bone-headed.Zuckerberg has taken steps in the past year to suggest Facebook intended to make WhatsApp and Instagram less independent. He pushed out both companies’ founders and installed Facebook executives. Earlier this year, he said that he would merge their messaging platforms into an encrypted version of Facebook Messenger. In that context, taking the step of making it clearer that Instagram and WhatsApp are part of Facebook makes sense.Also, much as WhatsApp and Instagram employees and users might not like it, merging the three brands also allows Zuckerberg to say that he’s doing what the world is asking of him. For three years, critics have hammed him for not having better operational control over his empire. Now, he’s asserting control.What makes the move seem ill-considered is that just last week Facebook confirmed that both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are investigating the company for possible antitrust violations. Among the items the agencies are considering: Whether Facebook's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram were anti-competitive, because they snuffed out potential rivals. It's hard to avoid wondering if Facebook's rebranding exercise isn't some ham-handed effort at convincing government lawyers that three apps are already fused.

L’idée étant de faire de la nature un sujet de droit, avec qui l’on partage des intérêts communs. Après tout, constater que le réchauffement climatique est une réaction de l’environnement aux activités humaines, c’est dire implicitement que la nature est sujet et qu’elle aura le dernier mot.Le second problème que je vois se reproduire, ou plutôt se prolonger, c’est notre addiction historique et structurelle à la croissance. Les humains sont animés par le besoin d’en avoir « toujours plus ». Un besoin inscrit dans notre fonctionnement cérébral, qui ne connait ainsi que le modèle de croissance. Or désormais, on sait que cet appétit pour l’infini est mortifère dans la mesure où il détruit l’environnement - fini - dont dépend notre survie. Aussi, pour nous en sortir, il nous faut fixer artificiellement et collectivement des limites. Les mécanismes auto-limitants sont une nécessité absolue et vitale. Mais l’autre problème qu’il nous faut pour cela dépasser, c’est que la croissance est toujours perçue comme une notion positive. Prenez l’ensemble des journaux et des politiques : leur baromètre pour parler de la santé des États se limite à leur indicateur de croissance que l’on espère la plus élevée possible en dépit des enseignements de la chute de Rome et autres civilisations du « toujours plus ».

Facebook released better-than-expected results on July 24, reporting $16.9 billion in revenues, 1.59 billion in daily active users (DAUs), and $7.05 in average revenue per user (ARPU). This came just as the company was fined a record-setting $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as a result of the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal.Our thoughts“This company has repeatedly shown that it can grow both its ad revenues and user base, even in the face of enormous challenges," said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst. "Its earnings release demonstrates that it still has that power."“We expect Facebook’s worldwide ad revenues will increase 22.5% this year. That’s a higher growth rate than for digital advertising as a whole, which we expect will increase 17.6%. The FTC settlement, which was announced the same day as Facebook’s earnings, doesn’t appear to have direct impact on Facebook’s ad business, but other regulatory or governmental investigations may have an impact in the future. We also think that Facebook will continue to scrutinize its own business practices and could decide to make changes to its targeting capabilities on its own.”eMarketer’s Facebook estimatesFacebook's worldwide digital ad revenues will be $67.37 billion this year (including Instagram's $14.41 billion), which will increase 20.1% to $80.93 billion next year. The company currently controls a 20.2% share of the worldwide digital ad market, right behind Google (31.1%).There are roughly 1.76 billion monthly Facebook users worldwide, which is up almost 6% vs. last year.AmazonResultsAmazon reported revenues of $63.4 billion in its Q2 earnings delivered on July 25, a 20% increase from the same period last year. Its Amazon Web Services (AWS) made $8.4 billion in sales, and subscription services made $4.7 billion, which is 37% up from last year.Our thoughts“Amazon has a decidedly mixed bag in Q2, with exceptional top line revenue growth but some cause for concern on the bottom line,” said Andrew Lipsman, principal analyst. “Increased costs for one-day delivery were baked in and likely helped on the top line, but the unexpected hit to profits came from the slowdown in the cloud business. Heightened competition from Microsoft and Google could really crimp this high margin revenue stream over the next few quarters.”eMarketer’s Amazon estimatesAmazon's US ecommerce sales will grow another 17.7% this year to $221.13 billion. This gives the company more than a one-third (37.7%) share of the US ecommerce market. US ecommerce sales total $586.92 billion, which is 10.7% of all US retail sales.We also estimate that for the first time, more than half of US households (51.3%) will be Prime members.GoogleResultsAlphabet, Google’s parent company, reported revenues of $38.94 billion in Q2 2019, which is up 19% from the same period last year. Its traffic acquisition costs, or how much it paid to affiliates that direct traffic to its website, were $7.24 billion, which made up 22% of its total ad revenues.Our thoughts“With a showing quite similar to Q1, Google’s Q2 earnings again display the moderating growth that has come to characterize 2019 for the company,” said Monica Peart, senior forecasting director. “Strength in mobile advertising is holding search ad growth steady and in a positive turn of events, global currency positions are beginning to stabilize against the US dollar, giving Google ad revenues minor relief vs. Q1.”eMarketer’s Google estimatesGoogle remains the dominant company in worldwide search ad spending, and we estimate that it will capture 61.1% of the search market worldwide, generating $103.73 billion in net digital ad revenues this year.

L'entreprise américaine Ampaire va commencer à tester ses avions commerciaux hybrides sur des lignes commerciales à Hawaï dans le courant de l'année. L’entreprise américaine Ampaire a entrepris un programme d'essais en vol de son Electric EEL, un Cessna 337 Skymaster bimoteur modifié pour voler avec un moteur à combustion classique et un moteur électrique. L'avion de 6 places est le plus gros avion hybride-électrique volant aujourd'hui. L'avion, qui a effectué son premier vol en juin, a été équipé du système de propulsion électrique breveté d'Ampaire et est alimenté par un système de batterie léger. Il s’agit d’un système hybride parallèle, ce qui signifie que le moteur à combustion interne et le moteur électrique travaillent de concert pour optimiser la puissance à mesure que l'avion vole. L'Electric EEL effectuera des essais en vol sur des lignes commerciales avec Mokulele Airlines à Hawaï plus tard cette année. La certification de l'Electric EEL par la FAA (l'autorité fédérale de l'aviation) est prévue pour 2021.

Air France a noué un partenariat avec France 24. Une collaboration qui offre la possibilité à ses passagers un accès gratuit à la télévision en direct, rapporte planet-sansfil.com. À partir de leurs smartphone, pc portable ou tablette, ils pourront accéder à la télévision grâce au Wi-Fi. Ce service est donc réservé aux vols Air France équipés de boitiers Wi-Fi dans le cadre de l’initiative Connect. Bien que l’accès aux dernières sorties sur Netflix ou Amazon Prime ne soit pas disponible, le service permet notamment aux passagers d’accéder aux bulletins d’informations en direct durant leur vol.On peut également y voir un aperçu de l’avenir d’un trajet en avion, alors que les initiatives visant à réduire les coûts d’installation du Wi-Fi se multiplient. Air-France explore également d’autres alternatives avec son expérimentation sur le Li-Fi — aussi connu comme l’internet de la lumière — menée avec Latécoère et Airbus. Actuellement, une cinquantaine d’appareils disposent du service Connect. La compagnie aérienne espère équiper l’intégralité de sa flotte d’ici fin 2020.

Generation Y (AKA ‘millennials’) are currently between 25 and 39 years old and have outgrown the trappings of teenage angst, only to find themselves drowning in debt with about as much chance of owning their own home as Prince Philip has of tying his own shoelaces.Then there’s the current youth crop known as Generation Z – the newest tranche currently aged between four and 24 years old. To add context, this ‘Z list’ makes up 25% of the world’s population and, as such, shouldn’t be treated lightly. In the US alone there are nearly 74 million, enough to make any Gen X marketer reach for their skateboard in a doomed effort to engage with them.You need to cut through billions of bytes of trash before you can even think of capturing Gen Z’s interest.According to research by online bank Kasasa earlier this year, the average Gen Z human received their first mobile phone aged 10.3 years, grew up in a hyper-connected world and on average spends at least three hours a day on some kind of mobile device. Notoriously cynical and, rather unsurprisingly, untrusting of their Gen X forebears (they are their parents, after all), communicating with these teenagers is a minefield, leaving in its wake a cemetery of misplaced adverts, ill-judged products and cynically rejected politics.It should be no shock to anyone in marketing and advertising that teenagers think we’re dicks.According to Kat Krieger from coffee brand Joyride: “Authenticity may have been a buzzword years ago, but this goes way beyond that. […] Younger generations are more aware and politically astute than ever before. […] Marketing speak just won’t cut it anymore. Consumers want quality, but they also want brands with integrity.”In addition to Krieger’s unequivocal assertion in a 2018 report by Forbes, the following checklist is a good starting point if you want to earn trust and gain integrity with the Gen Z consumers:Earn their attention – Generation Z is known as the social generation and you need to cut through billions of bytes of trash before you can even think of capturing their interest.Tell the truth – counter-intuitively to our marketing tutelage, brands that speak plain truth are achieving cut-through faster.Work with influencers – but be aware of how easy it is to burn money and integrity when this (frequently) goes wrong (plus nearly 10% of Instagram accounts are bots according to several reports).Treat them as individuals – 25% of the world’s population plugged into social media means that they are fervently and constantly trying to express their individuality, so true personalisation should be the norm rather than the exception.Practice what you preach – you’re speaking with digital natives who smell bullshit like you sniff a decent pinot noir. Define your positioning, make sure it resonates and plant it as a rock-solid foundation to every campaign or communication you send out.Focus on brand values – having brand integrity, humility and purpose is no longer just desirable but absolutely essential.Admit you don’t know anything – this should be the start of pretty much any brief assessment anyway, but it’s always worth a reminder.Media wise, we know mobile devices are the first port of call for Gen Z so it stands to reason that your content should be designed to sit comfortably on these devices (very comfortably – see points 1, 5 and 6 above). As a kick start, these are the big four content types commanding attention from their eyes, ears and fingers:Social Media – Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and TikTok; Tencent’s QQ and WeChat and Sina’s Weibo in Asia; and VK in Russia are a few of the front-runners. That said, despite Facebook’s apparent efforts to become the social channel for old people, it remains the world’s favourite across the boardStreamed Video – Google’s YouTube remains the king but don’t discount other young upstarts, most notably Amazon-owned Twitch, a favourite of the esports community on which over 350 billion minutes of streamed content has been viewed this year alone.Music – Apple, Amazon and Google still have their claws deeply embedded in the music scene but smaller, more niche apps and video-streaming services have significant numbers of loyal Gen Z tribes among their followers.Esports – According to a recent study ‘From Nerdy to Norm: Gen Z Connects Via Gaming’ conducted by Whistle, 91% of Gen Z males regularly play video games, only incrementally higher than millennials (84%). Among both generations, the stereotype of gamers has eroded. ‘Gamer’ no longer conjures the negative affiliation of a lazy guy in his parents’ basement but rather playing (and crucially watching) esports – it’s seen as an essential social interaction.Gen Z is a misleading, buzz-phrase term – a chuck-away line much better expressed as simply ‘young people’. They exist in huge volumes, they’re fed up with their circumstances – socially, environmentally and financially – and they actively challenge the patronising way in which they’re currently marketed to. In the same way that many Gen X-ers would reject a pro-Brexit rant from a far-right 70-year-old UKIP member, Gen Z have their own opinions and have expansive means of sharing them.

C'est le nouveau coup du « Google russe » dans son expansion tous azimuts. Pour accroître un peu plus encore son écosystème déjà bien diversifié, Yandex vient de racheter la propriété intellectuelle et les centres d'appels en Russie de Vezet , l'un de ses concurrents dans les services de taxi, passé donc sous son contrôle, tout comme Uber en 2017 . Il prévoit d'investir plus de 70 millions de dollars et de renforcer ainsi Yandex.Taxi, déjà leader local dans le taxi réservé en ligne et la livraison de repas. Deux services en plein boom en Russie comme en témoignent les résultats trimestriels du géant de l'internet russe publiés vendredi dont le chiffre d'affaires, tiré par ces activités est en progression de 40 % sur un an à 41,4 milliards de roubles (588 millions d'euros).Ce rachat confirme l'appétit de Yandex qui, vrai Gafa russe, élargit sa présence dans les secteurs clefs de son succès depuis sa création en 1997 et son entrée à la Bourse de New York en 2011.  La Russie est d'ailleurs l'un des rares pays (avec la Chine) dans lequel le moteur de recherche de Google n'a pas réussi à s'imposer . A la fois pour des raisons sociopolitiques mais aussi parce qu'il a peiné à s'adapter aux nuances de la langue russe. Le roi du genre, c'est bien Yandex, avec une part de marché de 56 %, loin devant l'américain (40 %).« Ca vibre ici ! »Le groupe et ses 10.000 employés, dont l'une des meilleures équipes d'informaticiens de Russie, multiplient les diversifications, même si aujourd'hui, la publicité en ligne représente encore la majeure partie des revenus. « Ca vibre ici ! On sent le dynamisme de la Silicon Valley, même en plus fort », dit carrément Greg Abovsky, directeur des opérations et finances du groupe qui a longtemps travaillé à San Francisco avant de rejoindre Arkady Volozh, fondateur et patron de Yandex.Dans le secteur des transports, où ses cartes et aides à la navigation font référence, Yandex s'est étendu à l'auto-partage. Yandex.Drive s'est aussi allié à Renault-Nissan-Avtovaz, pour que d'ici à cinq ans, plus de deux millions de leurs véhicules soient équipés de Yandex.Auto, incluant une multitude de services. Alice, la voix de l'assistante vocale de Yandex, guidera le conducteur dans ses recherches (navigation, centres d'intérêt, musique…).Cet écosystème se retrouve  dans le smartphone que Yandex a lancé l'an passé avec ses applications pré-installées. Dès le petit matin, l'utilisateur découvre le temps qu'il fait et l'état des routes vers son travail, peut réserver un taxi, actualiser sa playlist ou commander sa pizza du soir… Avec toujours l'aide d'Alice vers quelque 34.000 services Yandex différents.

Although Apple does not explicitly disclose it in its consumer-facing privacy documentation, a small proportion of Siri recordings are passed on to contractors working for the company around the world. They are tasked with grading the responses on a variety of factors, including whether the activation of the voice assistant was deliberate or accidental, whether the query was something Siri could be expected to help with and whether Siri’s response was appropriate.Apple says the data “is used to help Siri and dictation … understand you better and recognise what you say”.But the company does not explicitly state that that work is undertaken by humans who listen to the pseudonymised recordings.Apple told the Guardian: “A small portion of Siri requests are analysed to improve Siri and dictation. User requests are not associated with the user’s Apple ID. Siri responses are analysed in secure facilities and all reviewers are under the obligation to adhere to Apple’s strict confidentiality requirements.” The company added that a very small random subset, less than 1% of daily Siri activations, are used for grading, and those used are typically only a few seconds long.