Spotlight
In the ongoing privacy debate between governments and Big Tech, it seems like contact tracing (or at least the technologies needed to power it on a mass scale) has suddenly become the bellwether issue of our time.
Specifically, we’re starting to learn more about the initiative announced two weeks ago by Google and Apple. Below are a few of the better articles I’ve seen over the last week.
Google Apple Contact Tracing (GACT): a wolf in sheep’s clothes. // Jaap-Henk Hoepman
This is a detailed — and rather technical — exploration of privacy implications involved in the current Google/Apple implementation proposal.
The short version: this will be significantly more granular than current GPS/cellular network systems, and it only stays private as currently promised if we trust Apple and Google on all of the following:
- Ongoing technical vetting (at a very deep level) of all apps approved to access the data.
- Resisting any coercion by governments.
- Withstanding future temptation to commercially exploit the new data under their control.
The key question here really boils down to who we trust more: profit-seeking international mega-corporations, or national governments?
When Google and Apple get privacy right, is there still something wrong?
Here is a good perspective on the risks of granting this level of influence to powerful organizations with questionably-aligned values.
In other words, they effectively move from having a seat at the drawing table, where inclusion is (and should be) determined by technical expertise, to having a seat at the decision-making table, where inclusion should be (but hardly is) determined by democratic values.
With the obvious caveat that this is coming from someone fortunate enough to live under a government with ‘democratic values’, don’t forget that Google walked away from ‘don’t be evil’ years ago.
France urges Apple and Google to ease privacy rules on contact tracing | The Guardian
On the flip-side, some governments haven’t even waited for the ink to dry before pushing for more access.
Side note: cue the ironic laughter, given that this request is coming from the very heart of GDPR-land. I’m still convinced that pretty much no one in any EU government actually understood the details of what they were signing into law back in 2018).
Industry Buzz
A Major Brand Stopped Its Ads From Appearing On Coronavirus Content. Here Are The News Sites That Lost Revenue.
With COVID-19 dominating the news cycle — some days, it seems there are no other headline stories — ad-supported news publishers (which is still pretty much all of them) have a problem: in the name of brand safety, many advertisers are blocking their ads from being shown next to COVID-related content. Some publishers are seeing ‘block rates’ of 50% or higher.
Yes, of course this blocking is happening. It's logical and common-sense.
To me, this suggests something else that should be obvious, but often seems not to receive enough attention: even with ads, it’s important to consider the whole user experience. Just like how personalized ads only work if they’re not ‘creepy’, context matters. It’s easier to ignore this when the biggest impact would just be lower conversion rates, but alarm bells start ringing when brand reputation comes into play.
Walled Gardens
'This is exposing our weak points': Amazon changes teach publishers - again - platform dependence is risky - Digiday
Remember a few years ago, when Facebook made algorithm changes and publishers swore to get serious about revenue diversification?
Turns out many of those publishers ‘diversified’ right into the open arms of Amazon’s affiliate program, which announced this week that commission rates would be cut in half. Ouch.
Epic gives in to Google and releases Fortnite on the Play Store - The Verge
Epic Games has been a well-known holdout against the Play Store Tax. They finally gave in this week, but they’re not happy about it.
UX
Digital fashion surges in a sales downturn | Vogue Business
Overall, ecommerce sales for apparel are down. But fashion apps are on the rise right now.
Some of these digital-vision implementations (think ’virtual fitting rooms’) are among the best I’ve seen yet.
Data
COVID‑19 - Mobility Trends Reports - Apple
It seemed fairly logical when Google started publishing COVID mobility trends, but I’m actually quite surprised that Apple is even trying to play in this sandbox — knowing the power of their internal privacy watchdog, I can only imagine how tough it must have been to get something even as simplistic as this approved.
I suppose we should take this as proof that Apple can ‘play ball’, but compared to some of the other COVID-related real-world datasources we’ve seen recently (e.g., SafeGraph), the results just aren’t very compelling. Apple has strengths, but this falls at the intersection between none of them.
The Encore
Podcast
Stubhub: Manoj Tolety
Why Measurement Is the Key to Driving Loyalty
Aim big. This theme, along with successful cross-collaboration, aligning with strong mentors, and leading by example, seems to be common in many growth stories. How does the theme of family fit in? Manoj Tolety shares what he’s learned from becoming a parent and how human behavior, a dash of luck, and hard work drives both personal and professional growth.
This, traveling the world every 6 months for eBay, increasing his app budget by 3x, and more are featured on this episode of How I Grew This with Manoj Tolety of StubHub.
Listen now: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher
Events
Mobile Growth Online: France
Panelists: TBA.
Where: virtual event.
When: Tue, May 19, 11:00 AM (CEST).
Mobile Growth Online: ANZ
Panelists: Keep It Cleaner and flybuys.
Where: virtual event.
When: Thu, May 14, 3:00 PM (AEST).
Back at the end of March, everyone in the mobile industry was publishing graphs to show the impact of COVID-19. That’s still happening, of course, but now there’s another trend: articles discussing ‘all the things that will change forever’.
In other words, we’ve moved from observing the present to projecting the future.
This article from Fast Company isn’t specifically about the mobile industry, but it illustrates a couple patterns that seem to stand out with many of these pieces:
It’ll definitely be interesting to check back on these predictions in about a year...
Alex Bauer