Sources: DOJ began work on a possible Google antitrust investigation after brokering a deal with FTC, which considered and opted not to pursue the case in 2013 — The potential probe could open a new chapter in the tech giant's troubles with regulators around the world who contend that the company is too large.
Practicing organic farming for improved quality and healthy products has been recommended as the most viable option for farmers. Minister for Agriculture, Dr ...
This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. This report is exclusively available to enterprise subscribers. To learn more about getting access to this report, email Senior Account Executive Jeff Jordan at jjordan@businessinsider.com, or check to see if your company already has access.
Although competition in the US wireless carrier market remains fierce, the price war among the Big Four US carriers — Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint — began to cool over the past year.
In an attempt to avoid further competition on price, carriers began shifting their focus to adding value to their mobile plans with new offerings to differentiate from the competition. This helped average revenue per user (ARPU) start to stabilize across all carriers in Q1 2018, after declining over the last two years.
The Big Four have now begun reshuffling their unlimited plans to lure subscribers by providing more options. This strategy has been unrolling in two flavors: introducing new, expensive unlimited plan tiers loaded with an array of features and choices, while also catering to price-sensitive customers with more affordable plans that strip away extra perks like free digital content and international coverage. As a result, a new battleground is emerging, with differentiation now coming down to the value loaded in their mobile plans.
Looking forward, the US carrier market will see competitive pressure pick up due to a number of trends:
All of this means fostering loyalty and winning over new subscribers is more important than ever for the Big Four, making it crucial for these mobile carriers to understand consumer sentiment around their services.
In this report, Business Insider Intelligence uses consumer survey data from our proprietary panel, collected during 2017 and 2018, to evaluate which features are most important to consumers when selecting a mobile provider, as well as to determine which features would convince them to switch to the competition. It contains insights that can help telecoms guide strategic investment and marketing decisions to win and retain customers in this increasingly competitive space.
The companies mentioned in the report are: AT&T, Amazon, Apple, Charter, Comcast, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Sprint, T-Mobile, Tidal, and Verizon.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
In full, the report:
SEE ALSO: 5G in the IoT: How the next generation of wireless technology will transform the IoT
Join the conversation about this story »
Samsung is launching the Galaxy M40 in India on June 11. To build up the hype it's already released some teasers, and an official has even outed some information about the handset. Thus, we found out it would be priced around INR 20,000 ($287 or €257 according to the current exchange rates), that its main rear camera would be a 32 MP snapper, and on the front the selfie shooter would have 16 MP resolution. Today more specs of the highest-end Samsung M-series smartphone have been leaked, and despite what past rumors claimed, it looks like it's not getting a 5,000 battery (like the M30),...
Practicing organic farming for improved quality and healthy products has been recommended as the most viable option for farmers. Minister for Agriculture, Dr ...
Since the Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation Bill was enacted in 1987, the owners of 28 farms in Lawrence County have entered easements for farmland ...
Camera app VSCO, which has an ad-free social feed and makes its money on subscriptions, says 2M+ people paid $20 in 2018 for its premium service — Friday, May 31 The camera app VSCO is unlike its social counterparts. Though it has a feed similar to Facebook's News Feed and Twitter's Timeline …
Practicing organic farming for improved quality and healthy products has been recommended as the most viable option for farmers. Minister for Agriculture, Dr ...
A software product that helped define a generation is soon to be no longer.
Next Monday at its developer conference, Apple will announce the end of iTunes, according to a Bloomberg report on Friday.
In its place, Apple will reportedly announce three new apps for the MacOS operating system that allow users to access their music, TV shows and movies, and podcasts in separate places. These apps — Music, TV, and Podcasts — already exist on iPhones and iPads today, but will reportedly come to the Mac with the next big software update releasing this year.
The Bloomberg report also said that without iTunes, Mac users will manage their devices through the Music app moving forward. It's not clear what will happen to iTunes for Microsoft Windows.
Read more: All the new features Apple is expected to bring to your Mac computer later this year
iTunes revolutionized the music software world in the early 2000s — first available on personal computers running MacOS or Windows. As former Apple CEO Steve Jobs said when iTunes first came to Windows PCs: "It's like offering a glass of ice water to somebody in hell."
The music platform — which would add videos by 2005 — helped drive the immense popularity of the Apple iPod, as it was a convenient place to store music burned from existing CDs or purchased on its iTunes Store.
But as consumer preferences have changed over the years and Apple's strategy has shifted to streaming services, the iTunes platform seems to have simply be gotten in the way. For instance, subscribers to Apple Music — the company's music streaming service — must access the service on Macs through iTunes.
Having standalone apps for its different streaming services could help Apple compete with the likes of Spotify and Netflix. The decision also comes at a time when the tech giant has indicated a growing investment in its services, like Apple Music or the forthcoming Apple TV+, to offset its slowing hardware business.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: 5G networks will be 10 times faster than 4G LTE, but we shouldn't get too excited yet
The Justice Department is planning an antitrust investigation involving Google, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Friday.
According to the report, Google will be investigated by the Justice Department over its search and other businesses.
This story is developing.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: We had our earbuds tested for bacteria to find out if it's gross to share headphones
Good news: Apple now allows you to download bigger apps over a cellular connection than it used to.
Bad news: there’s still a cap, and you still can’t bypass it.
As noticed by 9to5Mac, the iOS App Store now lets you download apps up to 200 MB in size while on a cell network; anything bigger than that, and you’ll need to connect to WiFi. Before this change, the cap was 150 MB.
And if you’ve got an unlimited (be it actually unlimited or cough-cough-‘unlimited’) plan, or if you know you’ve got enough monthly data left to cover a big download, or you just really, really need a certain big app and WiFi just isn’t available? You’re still out of luck. That 200 MB cap hits everyone. People have found tricky, fleeting workarounds to bypass the cap over the years, but there’s no official “Yeah, yeah, the app is huge, I know.” button to click or power user setting to toggle.
The App Store being cautious about file size isn’t inherently a bad thing; with many users only getting an allotment of a couple gigs a month, a few accidental downloads over the cell networks can eat up that data quick. But it really does suck to open up an app you need and find it’s requiring some update that exceeds the cap, only to realize you’re nowhere near a friendly WiFi network. At least give us the choice, you know?
On the upside, most developers seem to be pretty aware of the cap; they’ll hack and slash their app install package until it squeaks under the limit, even if it means downloading more stuff through the app itself post-install. Now, at least, they’ve got 50 more megabytes of wiggle room to start with.
The attorney representing two former staffers for Mark Zuckerberg that accused the Facebook CEO's personal security chief of sexual harassment and making racist remarks is now calling for an indepdendent investigation into the allegations.
In a statement provided to Business Insider, high-profile civil rights lawyer Lisa Bloom, head of The Bloom Firm, said: "We urge the family to retain a truly neutral, independent investigator experienced in harassment and discrimination claims to make factual findings and recommendations on these urgent and important claims."
The allegations against Liam Booth, a former secret service agent now tasked with heading up protection of the billionaire family, include sexual battery, transphobia, and making racist remarks about Zuckerberg's Asian-American wife, Priscilla Chan. The claims were laid out by The Bloom Firm in legal documents demanding damages that were subsequently obtained by Business Insider. The two former staffers are asking for damages, and allege that nothing was done after they raised concerns internally at Zuckerberg's family office.
In response, Ben LaBolt, a spokesperson for Zuckerberg's family office, said that it "takes complaints of workplace misconduct very seriously and our human resources team promptly investigates all such matters." The law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, which represents the family office LLCs, is currently conducting an investigation, he added, "to determine whether the claims have merit." Booth has been placed on adminstrative leave during this investigation.
This, however, is not enough for The Bloom Firm, which is now calling for an independent investigator that doesn't have ties ties to the family to conduct an investigation into the matter.
"As far as we know, no independent investigation is underway. Instead, a large defense law firm is defending against our clients' allegations. Attorneys are ethically bound to defend their clients," Bloom wrote.
Ben LaBolt did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on Bloom's request.
Zuckerberg's personal affairs are managed by a discreet network of LLCs and organisations; one handles his personal security (Facebook also provides some security for its CEO), while another employs household staffers and keeps his domestic affairs running. Booth is the head of security for this family office, as well as for the philanthropic Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
"I am proud to represent the two individuals who have raised claims. As far as we know, no independent investigation is underway. Instead, a large defense law firm is defending against our clients' allegations. Attorneys are ethically bound to defend their clients. We urge the family to retain a truly neutral, independent investigator experienced in harassment and discrimination claims to make factual findings and recommendations on these urgent and important claims."
We have no further comment at this time."
Got a tip? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a non-work phone, email at rprice@businessinsider.com, Telegram or WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: 9 simple ways to protect your data that don't take much time, but could have huge security benefits
Sensor Tower reports that many mobile game publishers are hitting the $1M earnings milestone in 2021 -- though not as many as in 2016. Rea...
