The App Store Will Never Be the Same Again 🏪

Update 2023-03-20

News

• EU Scrutinizes Twitter Blue Subscription Over Tax Disclosure Violation

• Microsoft Launches Tests to Accelerate Access to New Bing

• Microsoft Plans for App Store on iOS and Android

• NVIDIA Provider Behind OpenAI

• Bill Ackman Warns of Bank Run Risk to US Economy

🥇 PRO

👉 Risk of creating a moral hazard in the banking system

👉 Microsoft solidifying their AI strategy

👉 EU digital markets act to shake up App store landscape

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Big Tech

EU Scrutinizes Twitter Blue Subscription Over Tax Disclosure Violation

Elon Musk's Twitter Blue subscription is facing scrutiny from the European Union for failing to disclose taxes in their advertised subscription prices.

• This breach of pricing rules violates consumer-protection laws throughout the 27-country union.

• The subscription includes a monthly fee of €8, or about $8.50, and an annual fee of €84, or approximately $88.50 - not including taxes.

• Value-added tax must be included in the advertised price in Europe, which was not done by Twitter.

• Local competition regulators in the EU have the power to enforce consumer-protection regulations if they deem Twitter Blue's pricing methods to be unfair towards consumers.

Microsoft Launches Tests to Accelerate Access to New Bing

Microsoft has removed the waitlist for its GPT-4-powered chat feature, allowing anyone to instantly gain access to it.

• The company is running various tests which may accelerate access to the new Bing for some users.

• Microsoft is holding an event called "reinvent productivity with AI" later Thursday, where there may be an announcement related to Bing as well.

• The tech giant has integrated the AI-powered chatbot into many of its services, such as Windows 11's taskbar and Edge browser's stable version.

📝 What does Microsoft move signal? See our PRO section at the bottom of the newsletter 👇

Microsoft Plans for App Store on iOS and Android

Microsoft is preparing to launch a new app store for games on iPhones and Android smartphones once regulators clear their $75bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

• Apple and Google will be required to open their mobile platforms to other companies' app stores under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), starting in March 2024.

• The acquisition would allow Microsoft to offer Xbox and content from them and their partners on any screen people play on, including mobile devices.

• Sony has been a vocal opponent of the Activision acquisition, as have the US, European, and UK regulators who are concerned about its potential effects on competition.

• • Regulators in Brussels have dropped key concerns to narrow their investigation on cloud gaming after Microsoft made "binding commitments" to make Activision Blizzard content available to rival cloud gaming providers.

📝 That Apple and Google will have to open up their app stores to more companies will have a significant impact! See our PRO section at the bottom of the newsletter for a discussion 👇

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AI

NVIDIA Provider Behind OpenAI

Microsoft and NVIDIA have collaborated to empower the development of OpenAI's ChatGPT model.

• The two companies developed an Azure AI supercomputing technology infrastructure that could support large language models.

• Microsoft has added capacity to the GPU clusters and the InfiniBand network while testing the data center infrastructure.

• The ND H100 v5 VM introduced by Microsoft enables customers to achieve supercomputer-level performance and deploy a new class of large-scale AI models.

• The upcoming NVIDIA GTC event will feature updates about generative AI, cloud computing, the industrial metaverse, and other topics related to their collaboration.

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Venture Capital and M&A

Bill Ackman Warns of Bank Run Risk to US Economy

Famous investor Bill Ackman has warned that Wall Street's $30 billion show of faith in First Republic Bank (FRB) could put other banks at risk and endanger the US economy.

• He believes a wave of withdrawals could cause FRB to default on its debts, exposing the big banks who made the loan to losses.

• The root problem is a lack of trust in the banking system, leading customers to increasingly withdraw their deposits.

• To protect against bank runs, Ackman is urging for a temporary guarantee on all US deposits and charging higher fees to less creditworthy banks.

📝 What would be counter-arguments to Bill Ackamn's proposal? See our PRO section at the bottom of the newsletter 👇

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