Apps
Apple Music has 38 Million Paid Users
A few days ago, Eddy Cue showed up at the SXSW (South by SouthWest) Conference to make a few announcements. The company’s SVP offered up some insight into the health of its music streaming service. Cue noted that Apple Music has hit 38 million paid subscribers — an increase of two million since the company reported last month.
Even though this is a substantial growth for Apple’s Streaming Service. Spotify is still the undisputable lead in this market as well. The service has 159 million users, with 71 Million of them being paid users.
However, we must also consider that Spotify has also been aroiund since 2011. All the while Apple Music has begun its rounds since 2015. So maybe the growth is going to be a concern for Spotify pretty soon.
As Eddy mentioned in the event. There are a lot more potential ears up for grabs. The executive suggested that around two billion people qualify as potential streaming music subscribers, possessing both the technological and financial access to get on-board.
There is a lot to be said about how Apple has been handling its music streaming service. One of the things to mention is that they are trying to sell the exclusive features instead of offering a free service like Spotify does.
The very product and software ecosystem is basically the means to getting users on-board of the service. So, it’s a matter of time before we see if this way of doing business surpasses that of Spotify’s.
Apple Music is clearly a part of the company’s connected home strategy as well, as the centerpiece of its HomePod smart speaker, which finally launched last month. So there is a lot of growth for the service to be done.
Apple has also shown its interest towards subscription based magazines by acquiring Texture as well. As such, it seems like Apple has a continued interest in growing as a service.
WhatsApp launched dual-account support today. You can switch between accounts in WhatsApp.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature on Facebook and said it would soon be available.
People used to need two phones for two WhatsApp accounts. The company now allows two accounts on one phone. App cloning lets users use multiple WhatsApp instances on Xiaomi and Oppo phones.
“Helpful for switching between accounts – such as your work and personal – now you no longer need to log out each time, carry two phones or worry about messaging from the wrong place,” the company wrote in a blog post.
Users can add accounts under Settings > Add Account. Your second SIM or multi-SIM phone is needed for setup. Account-specific notifications and privacy settings are available, the company said.
WhatsApp discouraged fake apps to prevent fraud.
WhatsApp added Android passkey support this week, enabling access without SMS-based two-factor authentication.
X, formerly Twitter, announced today that it will experiment with charging “new unverified” users $1 per year to interact with posts. The company said this test is live in New Zealand and the Philippines and won’t affect existing users.
Users can post, like, repost, reply, bookmark, and quote for that fee. Free users get a read-only account to view posts and follow accounts.
This “Not A bot” program is not a profit driver, according to the company’s support account, but reason is hard to trust. The Elon Musk-owned company claims this program will reduce spam.
We created this new test to improve our already successful efforts to reduce spam, platform manipulation, and bot activity while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee. It does not generate profits, the company said.
The company said it would share spam-fighting program results on its support page.
Musk announced that X will charge “a small monthly payment” to use its service. The test program pays annually, but ethos is the same.
X (then Twitter) started requiring logins to view posts in June. Days later, the platform allowed logged-out users to view posts.
One year after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition, Simialrweb reports X traffic has dropped. The company has taken drastic measures to cut costs and make money.
In an interview last month, CEO Linda Yaccarino predicted X’s 2024 profitability. The former NBCU executive avoided discussing X’s user fees in the interview.
As of now, X only offers a $8 monthly plan. According to recently discovered code, the company may introduce three premium tiers, one ad-free.
Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP of devices and services, says the Pixel 8 Pro will be the first hardware to run Google’s generative AI models.
At an event today, Osterloh said the Pixel 8 Pro’s custom-built Tensor G3 chip, which accelerates AI workloads, can run “distilled” versions of Google’s text- and image-generating models to power image editing and other apps.
Osterloh said, “We’ve worked closely with our research teams across Google to take advantage of their most advanced foundation models and distill them into a version efficient enough to run on our flagship Pixel.”
Google improved Magic Eraser, its photo-editing tool, to remove larger objects and people smudge-free using on-device models. Osterloh claims that this improved Magic Eraser creates new pixels to fill in shot gaps, producing a higher-quality image.
Osterloh says a new on-device model will “intelligently” sharpen and enhance photo details, improving zoom.
On-device processing benefits audio recording. The Pixel 8 Pro’s recording app will soon summarize meeting highlights.
Gboard will use a large language model on the Pixel 8 Pro to power smart replies. Osterloh claims that the upgraded Gboard will provide “higher-quality” reply suggestions and better conversational awareness.
Osterloh said an update in December will add on-device generative AI features except for Magic Eraser, which appears on the Pixel 8 Pro at launch.
- Gadgets9 years ago
Why the Nexus 7 is still a good tablet in 2015
- Mobile Devices9 years ago
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 vs Galaxy Note 5: is there room for improvement?
- Editorials9 years ago
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – How bad updates prevent people from enjoying their phones
- Mobile Devices8 years ago
Nexus 5 2015 and Android M born to be together
- Gaming9 years ago
New Teaser For Five Nights At Freddy’s 4
- Mobile Devices8 years ago
Google not releasing Android M to Nexus 7
- Gadgets9 years ago
Moto G Android 5.0.2 Lollipop still has a memory leak bug
- Mobile Devices8 years ago
Nexus 7 2015: Huawei and Google changing the game