Our News Roundup covers three topics, triggered by two news stories each:
- Yahoo – stories about Verizon being the most likely buyer for the core business, and indications that Yahoo may have to further write down the Tumblr asset
- Live video – Twitter is focusing heavily on live in general and live video specifically in 2016, while there are also signs Facebook is getting increasingly serious about this space
- Mobile payments – there are reports MasterCard will expand Apple Pay into several new markets this year, and Google is trialling a new “Hands Free” payment technology in the Bay Area.
Our Question of the Week is: “What’s the broader significance of the Orenstein court order?” and refers to the decision this week from a New York District Court in a case involving Apple and the FBI, which has some similarities to the San Bernardino case. Aaron draws on his legal background to dissect the decision and its legal basis, and talks us through the logic and the implications for the California case.
Our final topic is AT&T’s announcement of several new video offerings that it will launch later this year under the DirecTV brand, all of which are app-based rather than satellite or cable-based. We discuss the attractions of these new offers along with some of the shortcomings, and the reasons why AT&T felt the need to pre-announce them seven months or more before they’ll be available. We wrap up the episode with our Weekly Pick, which is another movie recommendation from Jan.
As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.
We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.
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Show notes:
Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:
- News Roundup topics:
- Fortune story about who might buy Yahoo
- Business Insider on Yahoo possibly writing down more of the value of Tumblr, based on its 10-K filing
- Article about Twitter’s emphasis on live streaming video in its 10-K
- Recode article about Facebook paying content owners to create live video, and Facebook’s blog post about emphasizing live video in the News Feed
- 9to5Mac’s story about MasterCard and Apple Pay
- Google’s blog post about its new Hands Free payments service
- Judge Orenstein’s order in the New York case
- AT&T’s press release on its new video offerings
- Jan’s comment for media on AT&T’s new video offerings
- Jan’s Weekly Pick was the movie Eddie the Eagle, and you can see a trailer here and the movie website here.
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