#40 - India's 5G trials .. India's drone delivery .. The fight over 30% cut (Apple vs. Epic Games)
The numbers are now names. Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Strong and support anyone who ever has been impacted with the second wave of this pandemic.
Some bits,
Bitcoin, though has 46% share in the total crypto value, is not the only player in the cryptocurrency value. Ether, the 2nd most traded crypto currency, has its value hit $3,000. Binance, has seen its value rise up by 3,460% and Dogecoin’s value has risen up by 15,000%.
Twitter has set up Tip-jar, through which users can give small amounts of money as tips against for tweeting excellence.
Amazon India is delaying its Prime Day celebrations this year due to the worsening COVID crisis.
India’s 5G trials
The Indian Government has given 5G trials permission to Telecom companies such as Airtel, Jio, Vodafone & MTNL, who can tie up with original equipment manufacturers such as Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and home grown C-DOT.
A few points to note here.
Typically, a small band will be provided to these companies to perform their trials and experiments.
Chinese equipment manufacturers such as Huawei and ZTE are excluded.
Jio will use its own indigenous technology gear.
And remember, 5G technology does NOT spread coronavirus.
India’s drone delivery experiments
India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has given permission to perform Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone delivery experiments to 20 entities, that include Swiggy, Dunzo, Spicejet and ShopX.
Meanwhile,
One notable omission is Zomato, which had obtained permission last year.
ISRO is trialling Garuda drones for delivering vegetables and medicines in Sriharikota.
Telengana state government will use drones for experimental delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.
Apple vs. Epic Games
This is the battle which the whole internet is watching. For the uninitiated, Epic Games is the company behind the hugely successful Fortnite game. And the company is now at loggerheads in court with Apple. Here is a quick background.
Apple: Apps can allow users to make in-app purchases. But you can only use our own payment system and we will take 30% cut of each purchase.
Epic: 30% is too big of a commission. This is ‘Apple Tax’.
Apple: 30% is needed to cover our technology tools, marketing efforts, security costs and distribution of apps and content. Plus 30% is the standard revenue cut everywhere.
Epic: 8% should be sufficient to run your app store profitably.
Apple: It is not enough.
So Epic started its own Store to prove that 12% cut is enough to operate successfully and to allow users bye-pass Apple’s in-app payments system.
Apple: Bye-passing Apple’s in-app payment systemt is against the rules. You will be banned.
Epic: This is monopoly. Try banning us if you dare.
Apple now kicks Epic out of the App Store. Epic files anti-trust law suit against Apple. Enter Spotify.
Spotify: Apple is scuttling us to promote its own music service. For example, users cannot upgrade to Spotify Premium without paying Apple Tax. Siri does not work well with Spotify
Now, European Commission files an anti-trust charge against Apple.
Hope this edition was informational. Till the next edition, Stay Safe.
Best
-Senthil