Huawei in hot water, more on Apple's rocky first-quarter | TECH(feed)

HEY EVERYONE, WELCOME BACK TO TECH FEED. I’M JULIET BEAUCHAMP AND TODAY WE’RE TALKING THE IPHONE SALES SLUMP, HUAWEI’S ONGOING LEGAL BATTLE AND MORE. STICK AROUND.


SO, ON TUESDAY WE TALKED ABOUT THE GENERAL TREND OF SLOWER SMARTPHONE SALES, BUT NOW WE’VE HAVE MORE INFO ABOUT HOW THE IPHONE FARED DURING APPLE’S FIRST QUARTER. REVENUE FROM IPHONES FELL FIFTEEN PERCENT YEAR ON YEAR ACCORDING TO APPLE’S Q1 RESULTS. INTERNATIONAL SALES WERE ESPECIALLY SLOW, LIKELY BECAUSE OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES. APPLE SETS PRICES IN U.S. DOLLARS, SO PRICES OVERSEAS SEEMED PARTICULARLY HIGH. APPLE REALLY TOOK A HIT IN CHINA, WHERE OVERALL SALES WERE DOWN TWENTY-SEVEN PERCENT. AND OF COURSE, ALL OF THIS NEWS IS COMING OUT WHILE APPLE IS DEALING WITH THE FACETIME BUG THAT ALLOWED CALLERS TO EAVESDROP ON THE PEOPLE THEY WERE CALLING … AND OF COURSE THE GROWING TENSION BETWEEN THE U.S. AND CHINESE TECH GIANT HUAWEI.

AND NOW LET’S TALK A LITTLE MORE ABOUT HUAWEI. THE CHINESE COMPANY HAS BEEN CHARGED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR STEALING TRADE SECRETS, DODGING ECONOMIC SANCTIONS IN IRAN AND OBSTRUCTING A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. HUAWEI OF COURSE DENIES ANY WRONGDOING. AND THIS IS ALL UNFOLDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRADE WAR BETWEEN THE WORLD’S TWO LARGEST ECONOMIC POWERS. ITS CFO WAS ALREADY ARRESTED IN CANADA A FEW MONTHS AGO AND COULD BE EXTRADITED TO THE U.S. TO STAND TRIAL TO SOME OF THESE CHARGES. THIS IS A HUGE STORY WITH GLOBAL RAMIFICATIONS, AND WE’LL BE SURE TO KEEP AND EYE ON IT PROVIDE KEY UPDATES AS NEWS PROGRESSES.

THERE’S NEW EVIDENCE THAT GOOGLE AND THE INTERNET ADVERTISING BUREAU ARE PROFILING USERS AND ASSIGNING THEM WITH HYPER-SPECIFIC AND POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE LABELS TO SELL ADS. THIS IS ALL PART OF A CONTINUING GDPR COMPLAINT INTO HOW ONLINE COMPANIES ARE SELLING DATA AND PROFITING OFF OF USERS. BRAVE, A PRIVACY-FOCUSED BROWSER, BROUGHT THIS EVIDENCE FORWARD AND SAYS AD AUCTION COMPANIES LIKE GOOGLE ILLEGALLY PROFILE USERS’ RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, ETHNICITIES, DISEASES, DISABILITIES, AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION. THOUSANDS OF COMPANIES THEN RECEIVE THIS PERSONAL DATA, AND THERE’S NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT THEY DO WITH THAT INFORMATION.

AND COLLABORATION SOFTWARE SPENDING IS PREDICTED TO GROW THIS YEAR AS DEMAND CONTINUES TO INCREASE. THE MARKET COULD GROW NINE PERCENT THIS YEAR WITH SPENDING HITTING FORTY-FIVE BILLION DOLLARS WORLDWIDE, ACCORDING TO SYNERGY RESEARCH GROUP. TEAM CHAT APPS SUCH AS SLACK AND MICROSOFT TEAMS WILL SEE THE BIGGEST GROWTH, WITH SPENDING REACHING 500 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2019. MORE MARKETS HAVE ADOPTED CHAT APPS, AND LARGER ENTERPRISES ARE BEGINNING TO ADOPT THEM AS WELL. SLACK HAS DOUBLES REVENUES IN THE PAST YEAR AND IS REPORTEDLY GEARING UP FOR A DIRECT STOCK LISTING.

THANKS FOR WATCHING. BE SURE TO LIKE THIS VIDEO AND SUBSCRIBE. AND LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU BOUGHT ONE OF THE NEW IPHONES LAST YEAR OR WHY YOU SKIPPED IT. TOO EXPENSIVE? YOUR OLD MODEL WORKS FINE? I WANT TO KNOW. SEE YOU NEXT TIME.