| | | Good Morning! It’s been an unusually hectic week for the folks over at Netflix. Streaming apps in general (Amazon’s been up to a few things with Prime Video too, which we’ll get into in a bit), tend to be quite busy, as is the way of life in these times. But for Netflix there’s a lot more at stake in the long run. Equally, Amazon knows it cannot fall behind. The outlook’s been pretty gloomy for Netflix, particularly after the company announced its first ever drop in quarterly subscribers, earlier this year. There is always a first time. There was expectation of losing as many as 2 million more in the quarter ending June, but as I write this on Wednesday morning, there’s confirmation that a net total of 970,000 have turned off subscriptions globally (Growth in Asia-Pacific has somewhat softened the blow of losses in the US and Canada). Better off than the predictions. I had written a few days ago, about how being fixated on just the numbers amplifies a rather gloomy picture, but that isn’t how it should be. Read: Netflix’s subscription with ads may bring cheer, but it’s not all doom and gloom Good to see Netflix responding with urgency, and purpose. They’ve decided enough is enough for password sharing. There are official numbers that illustrate the scale of the problem – as many as 100 million households globally are using Netflix accounts paid for by another subscribers. That’s potentially 100 million subscriptions lost. Mind you, this problem of password sharing impacts all OTT platforms, some more than others. And some choose to ignore, at least for the time being. Read: Netflix tests new feature to prevent password sharing; here's what it is After a test run that started in a few countries in Latin America, there’s widening of scope on the horizon. But there is a question we’ve all been asking – how will Netflix know it isn’t the same user using their Netflix accounts at different locations? | | To define a “home”, Netflix will compile IP addresses, device IDs and account activity | | | | | Whether all devices (two TVs, for example), are connected with the same Wi-Fi network | | | | | Specifically in case of a TV, Netflix allows up to 2 weeks per year to stream at a new location | If I can foresee how things will unfold, the last point could cause concern for Netflix, and annoy subscribers. There is little chance anyone would simply hand over more money if they want to access Netflix in different homes (some folks do have two houses, you know, and sometimes even two broadband lines in one home). What if, for instance, your parents are accessing the same account in their home and you are in yours? This would be the point of introspection. Simply waving IP addresses and an “add a new home” demand may see more people turning off, than the company has bargained for. Netflix needs to understand, subscribers aren’t binary. | | | | INTERFACE The more things change, the more they remain the same. Amazon’s video streaming platform Prime Video has looked the same for years. Be it on TVs, phones, tablets, Apple TV, their own Fire TV devices and game consoles. Sometime in the next few days (if not already), you’ll see a completely new interface across Prime Video apps. As I write this, changes don’t yet reflect on the Android TV or Fire TV interfaces just yet. I’ll reserve my comments on the good, bad and the ugly, for the moment. But from what we know, the new layout will be curiously familiar. The core ingredients – primary navigation has shifted to a left side vertical menu (Search, Home, Store, Live TV and more). Where have we seen that before? Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Sony Liv, to name some. The content navigation will be horizontal (left to right, and back), complete with Top 10 lists and so on. Then there’s something called “super carousel”, which when you hover over the landscape artwork of any content, expands to include video previews. Where have you seen that before? Oh yes, Netflix too. Not many folks have realised that Prime Video has something called Live TV in many countries. Then there’s the small matter of putting up front, the subscription bundles for other OTT platforms (Discovery+, Lionsgate Play and more) – that’s a recently discovered revenue stream. And quite frankly, rentals being littered in amongst content that’s otherwise included in the Prime Video subscription, are purely annoying. I still do not understand why Amazon wants me to pay a rent to re-watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – this is another revenue stream which has become inescapable, off late. It is only Rs 75 to rent, but it is not about the money. | | | | TRANSPARENT There comes a point when status quo cannot sustain. There’s that one spark to kickstart change. Android phones (you’d point to the millions being sold, but that’s one side of the coin) have been static. Phones seem to be conceptualized and finalised by accountants. I’m not surprised one bit when one similar Android phone after another looks and feels just the same. With an unpleasant whiff of rebadging, in some cases. Revenue streams now increasingly include annoying (and a privacy mess) advertising. It’s all been about maximising every bit of profit from every device sold. Why were millions of these Android phones sold, you may ask? Because it’s all a sea of sameness, in varying degrees. Read: Nothing Phone (1) review: There’s a lot that’s unique, yet comfortingly familiar The question is, can a plucky new London based start-up change things around? The man at the helm over at Nothing is Carl Pei, who’s seen the smartphone industry up-close, for years. Wouldn’t it simply have been easier to pick up an existing mould, add some new shade of green and grey colourways, and roll out a “new” phone. With ads and preloaded apps filling up Android, to make more money? Nothing’s approach with the Phone (1) is one of transparency (not just the back panel on the phone). Android is clean with zero preloaded apps (no shopping or social media apps, surprise!), no ads popping up in notifications or lock screen and total reliance on Google’s suite of apps (why redesign the wheel). Could this change how other phone makers approach Android phones? It’ll be a slow change, because whatever’s already in the oven will be released in the coming months. The number of conversation I’ve had friends about the Nothing Phone (1), has far surpassed anything (even more expensive flagships included) Android. Perhaps Apple iPhone-esque levels of interest. For a start-up, volumes may not be enough to set the quarterly market-share data alight in the first time of asking, but this surely will figure prominently. Buyers have now seen something fresh, and boring phones (even shamelessly rebadged) just won’t cut it anymore. | | | | KNOW  | | This may be entirely unrelated, but difficult to not notice the timing. A Google Cloud data center in London logged in a “cooling related” issue, which was later resolved. Britain recorded its highest temperatures as a wider heatwave persists over parts of Europe. | | | | | We’ve already seen the first set of spectacular images from the James Webb Space Telescope. They’re all 4K wallpaper candidates. You may be thinking that the JWST would have countless terabytes (TB) of storage to save all the images it captures. Actually not. The good folks over at IEEE Spectrum reveal that on board the $10 billion space equipment is a tiny 68GB SSD, or solid state drive, albeit toughened for radiation protection. That’s less capacity than many Android phones. And about half the storage you get as minimum with an Apple MacBook Air. Just enough for one day’s worth of images in space. | | | | | What’s the meta? Turns out, Facebook’s mission to rename to Meta (a blast from the past, if you need it) has finally hit trouble. Art installation company Meta (that is meta.is) is suing erstwhile Facebook for violating an established brand. “Today, after eight months of trying to negotiate with Facebook in good faith to no avail, we were left with no choice but to file a lawsuit against them,” says meta.is in a statement. We’ll keep an eye on this one. | | | CHIRPING *Insert your favorite quote about birds chirping*. Turns out, the Twitter app has taken some inspiration from nature. Not sure if everyone’s received the update yet, but the Twitter app has changed the sounds for when you pull down the feed to refresh, and also replaced the refresh confirmation (it was a pretty insignificant “pop” earlier) with a bird’s chirp. It’s quite addictive. Very pleasant, though of course, robotic compared with a real bird (but would the Gen Z really know the difference?). Do update the app on your phone. That said, not all noises emerging from the Twitterverse are pleasant. The discord, the change of mind over a takeover, and the very public spats have not really done any good to anyone. Except the matter is now in court and will go ahead at a pace faster than what Elon Musk would’ve liked. That means the trial starts in October. Musk supposedly asked the courts to begin the proceedings next year, because of “complexities involved”. Wonder what they are. Here’s a little something to think about. Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, who will oversee Twitter’s $44 billion lawsuit against Elon Musk, is one of the few judges ever to have ordered that a previously agreed deal be closed, after the supposed buyer had been overcome with buyers guilt. Could this just be one of those times when Musk has bitten off more than he can chew? Any fallout of this trial is bound to impact his other business, including Tesla. Even if in the short term. That poop emoji in a reply tweet, hasn’t been forgotten. | Please share your feedback with us What do you think about this newsletter? | | | | Were you forwarded this email? Did you stumble upon it online? Sign up here. | | | | | | Get the Hindustan Times app and read premium stories | | | | | | View in Browser | Privacy Policy | Contact us You received this email because you signed up for HT Newsletters or because it is included in your subscription. Copyright © HT Digital Streams. All Rights Reserved | | | | |
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