Charlotte Henry

Amazon is the world’s most valuable brand, according to one analysis firm. Cult of Mac reported that it beat Apple and Google in the Brand Finance list.

The somewhat unorthodox ranking system looks at the world’s 500 most valuable brands across all sectors and countries. It then assigns a “brand value” based on a royalty rate that companies could get for licensing their name in the open market. Brand Finance compiles its annual list by estimating the royalty rate that would be charged to use a company’s brand. This takes into account current and expected future revenue. It’s a fairly complex methodology that’s explained in more detail here. As the firm explains: “Brand Finance helped craft the internationally recognised standard on Brand Valuation – ISO 10668. It defines a brand as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.”

Facebook has settled a dispute over its use of facial recognition technology, BBC News reports. It will pay $550m to users in Illinois who claimed it was against the state’s privacy laws.

The lawsuit against Facebook was given the go-ahead in 2018 when a federal judge ruled it could be heard as a class action (group) case. The appeals court disagreed with Facebook’s attempts to stop this, and in January the Supreme Court also declined to review its appeal. The social network told the BBC: “We decided to pursue a settlement as it was in the best interests of our community and our shareholders to move past this matter.” Facebook began using facial recognition in the US in 2010 when it automatically tagged people in photos using its tag suggestions tool. The tool scan a user’s face and offered suggestions about who that person is.

At Forbes, the writer and analyst John Koetsier outlined his view that Apple TV+ was DOA. He believes the should company cut its losses and end the streaming service. I totally disagree. Given recent awards success, I actually think it is gaining credibility, not losing it. However, it’s always worth reading dissenting opinions.

Now, with 25th mover advantage firmly in its not-so-hip pocket, Apple is trying to present Apple TV (the app, not the service or the device) as a hub for all your video entertainment, whether it’s on Netflix or Amazon Prime or rented from iTunes or — very infrequently — streamed from Apple TV+ (the service, not the app or the hardware). And yes, this is confusing, because Apple TV is hardware: a set-top box. Apple TV is an app on iPhones and Macs. And Apple TV+ is a paid service with Apple-exclusive video entertainment on multiple platforms, including Roku.

Apple plans to launch an online store in India in the third quarter of 2020. However, according to Techcrunch, a much anticipated physical store there might not open this year.

The source said the company was still working on the logistics of setting up the store and that the quarter between July and September was the new deadline. Apple CEO Tim Cook would likely plan an India trip for the announcement, the source said. The company’s first official physical store in India, to be situated in Mumbai, will take an additional few months of time for setting up and might not be ready by this year, the source said.

Mark Zuckerberg is to head to Europe to try and stop EU lawmakers implementing tough new regulations on his firm, Bloomberg News reports. The Facebook CEO’s Brussels visit will coincide with his attendance at the Munich security conference.

The Belgian capital has for years been at the forefront of regulating large U.S. tech companies, with strict competition enforcement and its flagship privacy rules, the General Data Protection Regulation, which entered into force in 2018. Facebook currently faces a slew of probes by national data protection regulators. At the same time, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive body, is looking into possible antitrust issues around how the company collects user data and has criticized the social media giant’s handling of the spread of disinformation on its platform.

Apple dropped a new Shot on iPhone video Monday. Titled ‘Powder’, it featured X Games snowboarders taking on fresh snow, and Cult of Mac spoke to its director, Joe Carlino.

“Lately I’ve been making content with ESPN X Games the last two years that is 100% shot on iPhone,” Carlino said. The great thing about shooting on iPhone in this context is how quick and easy it is. The small form factor devices make it easy to capture action footage that’s good enough to be used on both social media and TV broadcasts. “[Last fall], a friend of mine who works internally at Apple reached out to me about doing a full-on backcountry powder video,” he continued.

Smartphone makers, not least Apple, have long hoped that the widespread rollout of 5G will encourage users to buy new, compatible, devices. However, Wired highlighted some recent research that indicated this might not be the case.

Research released this week by analyst firm Gartner predicts that UK smartphone sales will not just fail to surge, they will flatline with zero per cent growth expected. Despite the continuing rollout of the 5G network and additional 5G-ready phones coming on the market, the UK is literally not buying into the 5G hype. This is more bad news after a poor year for major smartphone manufacturers in 2019: in the opening quarter Apple and Samsung combined sold almost 17.5 million fewer smartphones globally compared to 2018. The reason, analysts explained at the time, was that people did not feel the urge to upgrade their devices as often as they used to, partially because smartphones are now so much more expensive.

The other day, I highlighted the wonderful Unofficial Apple Archive. It was a fantastic resource, full of Apple history. I say ‘was’ because the archive has been almost emptied by DMCA takedown notices, 9to5Mac reported.

Site creator Sam Henri Gold told us that he only wanted to save Apple’s history from being lost after the EveryAppleAds YouTube channel was taken down in April 2017… Gold said at the time that he was aware this could happen. Sam knows his efforts could be rendered useless with one word from Apple. But he hopes the amicable and educational nature of the archive will keep it online, because the Apple community deserves no less. “I think we’ve seen what a world without a public archive would look like, a world littered with tiny archive channels, maybe one or two god-awful screen recordings of keynotes with giant […] watermarks. That’s not a world I want to live in.”