Mobile News - Week of May 31, 2021

Smartphone ownership (85%) and home broadband subscriptions (77%) have increased among American adults since 2019 – from 81% and 73% respectively. Though modest, both increases are statistically significant and come at a time when a majority of Americans say the internet has been important to them personally. And 91% of adults report having at least one of these technologies.

The $643 billion total estimate for 2020 takes into account various app monetization strategies, and 90% of the $643 billion comes from sales outside of the ‌App Store‌, which Apple says it collected no commission on. These sales include general retail, travel, food delivery and pickup, ride hailing, and grocery store orders, with physical goods and services representing the biggest category. Basically, when you shop in an app, purchase food delivery, or order a Lyft ride on your iPhone, the study counts that as commerce facilitated by the ‌App Store‌.

Apple said it’s developing an app for Android devices that will help people “detect” an AirTag or Find My network-enabled device that may also be unsuspectedly “traveling” with them. Apple iPhones already have a similar alert system built into their devices. The Android app will be released later this year.

Of Apple’s top 200 suppliers in 2020, 51 were based in China, including Hong Kong, up from 42 in 2018 and knocking Taiwan out of the top spot for the first time. Apple did not release data for 2019.

Chinese suppliers have also helped Apple build production capacity in other Asian countries as part of the company’s strategy to diversify its supply chain.

The Messenger API, by contrast, can be integrated into any third-party application that a company or brand might be using to manage communication, whether it’s a social media management platform like Hootsuite or Sprinklr, or a CRM application that can bring in other kinds of customer data, for example warranty information or loyalty card numbers.

Substack made email newsletters buzzy — and controversial. Then Twitter bought a Substack competitor and launched its own version. Now it’s Facebook’s turn: The social network is prepping its take on subscription newsletters with something called Bulletin. It’s aiming for a launch at the end of June.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the demand for semiconductors has sky-rocketed. Companies deployed laptops and smartphones to their newly-remote employees, schools and universities brought learning programs online, and users stuck at home turned to tablets, games consoles and TVs to busy themselves during months of lockdown.

The combined revenue of the top ten foundries, which produce the silicon wafers that constitute the basis of finished semiconductors, has reached a record high of $22.75 billion in the first quarter of 2021, according to market research firm TrendForce.