Cyber Monday was on track to become the highest online spending day, said Adobe Analytics Monday, after Black Friday crushed records, soaring 22% to $9 billion. Black Friday was the No. 2 e-commerce day ever, lagging only Cyber Monday 2019. Consumers spent $3.6 billion via smartphones, a 25% increase and 40% of total online spending. Top-selling electronics were Apple's AirPods and Watch, Amazon Echo smart speakers and Samsung TVs. Best Buy advised customers of possible shipping delays, a situation stakeholders have been warning about.
Intuit must divest Credit Karma’s tax business to buy that company for $7.1 billion, DOJ said Wednesday. The divestiture will “preserve competition for digital do-it-yourself” tax preparation products, DOJ said. Intuit, creator of TurboTax, would need to divest the tax business to Square, the department said: “Today’s divestiture to Square, another highly successful and disruptive fintech company, ensures that taxpayers will continue to both benefit from this competition and benefit from new innovative financial service offerings from both Intuit and Square.” Intuit is “very excited to reach this important milestone,” said CEO Sasan Goodarzi.
New rules for data-sharing are needed as an alternative to Big Tech platforms, the European Commission said Wednesday. Its proposed data governance act aims to boost trust in sharing data, because lack of trust is now a "major obstacle" that results in "high costs," it said. The regulation is the first under the EU data strategy approved earlier this year. It's "about creating the right conditions so that if people want to share data, they can do so in a trustful way," said Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager at a briefing. One key element is the creation of trustworthy intermediaries to provide basic infrastructure for data spaces. They must notify relevant authorities of their intention to provide data-sharing services, and ensure that sensitive and confidential data is safeguarded. There will be strict requirements to ensure their neutrality in connecting data holders and users. The framework offers an alternative model to the current data-handling practices offered by Big Tech, said Vestager. The principles will also apply "to us as individuals whenever we wish to share our own personal data, or donate them to serve the general interest." The act doesn't force anyone to share data. "Unjustified data transfer restrictions in themselves do not increase trust" but make it harder to do business with the world, said the Computer and Communications Industry Association. "Businesses need fewer, not more, [such] restrictions." European Digital Rights criticized the proposal for "framing everything in terms of theoretical economic benefits" for companies to the detriment of civil society goals of "moving towards a people-centric internet." The proposal "confirms the many worrying signals that Brussels has decided to pursue policies that are protectionist, discriminatory, and counterproductive," said the Center for Data Innovation. It's "as much an attempt to hobble foreign tech companies as it is an attempt to build up European ones."
Amazon and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center announced Tuesday "Operation Fulfilled Action" to prevent counterfeit goods from entering the U.S. Also supporting the operation are Customs and Border Protection and DHL. Amazon will help the IPR Center identify, interdict and investigate individuals, companies and criminal organizations engaging in illegal import of counterfeit products, said IPR Center Director Steve Francis. Amazon sidelines inventory if it suspects a product may be counterfeit, combining its own intelligence and that from the IPR Center and other agencies, said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon vice president-customer trust and partner support. The company’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit, created this year, will lead the operation (see 2006250036). Last year, Amazon invested over $500 million to prevent such fraud, it said.
Starting Jan. 1, Comcast will extend its 1.2 TB monthly plan, currently in the western and central U.S., across the rest of its footprint, it told us Monday. Customers who exceed that won't be throttled or capped but can either pay overage charges of $10 for 50 GB buckets of data, at a maximum of $100 per month, or subscribe to an unlimited option of $30 a month additional for customers with their own modems, or $11 a month when bundled with lease of a Comcast modem for $14 monthly. Comcast said any January and February overage charges will be credited on customers' bills, and subscribers will get a courtesy overage month for the year. It said the purpose is to put more of the network costs on the shoulders of the heaviest data users: 5% of its users account for 20% of network usage, and median residential data usage is 308 GB.
AT&T’s key focuses are 5G, fiber and high-speed connectivity, Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said Friday at a Morgan Stanley virtual investor conference. While AT&T has deployed high-band spectrum in almost 40 cities, low band has proven more important during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. There has been “a dramatic shift in volumes into the suburban and into the rural areas, where our extensive … low-band spectrum holdings and our extensive towers and fiber footprint have really served us well and served our customers well,” he said. Millimeter wave is “only part of an integrated solution,” he said. COVID “provided a reassurance of the quality of the resilient products of broadband, wireless connectivity,” he said. But AT&T is still recovering. “It's challenged the media business, the closing of theaters,” he said: “The challenge with getting production completed and having to postpone or delay production.” AT&T is betting big on fiber, and not just broadband service to the home, he said. “I think about building a fiber plan that allows me to have backhaul for wireless, particularly when you think about some of the residential areas where traffic has grown substantially because you are working from home,” he said.
Students learning English as a second language and those receiving special education services had difficulty fully participating in distance learning services that school districts adopted in spring 2020 due to COVID-19, GAO reported Thursday. It reviewed plans from 15 school districts: four in cities or towns, five in suburban areas and six in rural areas. English learners and their families had difficulty because of “a lack of necessary technology, language barriers, and the demands of meeting basic family needs,” GAO said. “English learners lost opportunities to practice their language skills, according to school district officials and representatives of professional associations. Also, limited English comprehension affected the ability of families to assist students with the curriculum.” Some districts “addressed aspects of these challenges by, for example, increasing access to the internet and devices and adapting materials and instructional methods,” the auditor said. One "district partnered with a Spanish language TV network to broadcast curriculum for an hour every day. However, many of the major challenges with engaging English learners in distance education remained.” Barriers included “the wide range of needs of students with disabilities served under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA); the services specified in their individualized education programs; and the capacity of parents or caregivers to assist teachers and service providers in delivering general education, specialized instruction, and related services to their children,” GAO said. “Delivering related services -- such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, or speech therapy -- for students with complex needs was particularly difficult to do remotely.” Officials “addressed some challenges by modifying instruction, holding virtual meetings with parents, and encouraging collaboration between general and special education teachers,” the auditor said. “Officials from two districts told us they are considering using virtual meetings after returning to in-person education.”
Nearly 80% of U.S. digital minutes in August were spent on mobile devices, reported Comscore Wednesday, citing “the explosion of streaming service choices and user generated short-form video.” Video viewing on mobile devices grew 65% from August 2017 to August 2020, outpacing viewing on desktop, which grew 21%. Digital retail spending on mobile was 31% of Q2 digital retail, up from 16% five years ago. Average online monthly purchases grew from two in Q2 2019 to 4.5.
IHS Markit expects 5G-related investment in China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S. to average more than $260 billion annually through 2035, it said Tuesday in a Qualcomm-commissioned report on the role of 5G in a post-pandemic economy. The “isolation” of lockdowns “underscored the importance of communication technology in keeping social networks connected and economic systems resilient,” said IHS. “Deepening deployment” of 5G and the products and services flowing from it will “fundamentally support and enable the emergent requirements of the post-pandemic world for connectivity, flexibility, and resiliency,” it said. The need for expanded connectivity during COVID-19 is “invigorating 5G investment growth” even as other investment activities are declining, said the researcher. It projects an 11% increase in global 5G investment and R&D through 2035, compared with its 2019 forecast. The contribution of 5G to online shopping can “enhance the customer experience, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19,” said IHS. The faster speeds and lower latency of 5G “can enable long-form video advertisements to deliver more features and product information,” it said. Augmented and virtual reality enabled through 5G “can become the perfect conduit for an immersive in-store experience by giving the customer a full view of all products on display,” it said. Also, when combined with artificial intelligence, “chatbots can provide an interactive experience that is better than having a personal shopper.”
Huawei hopes to “reset” its relations with the U.S. under President-elect Joe Biden, said Paul Scanlan, Huawei Carrier Business Group chief technology officer, on CNBC Sunday. When there “is a change in government, there is always the opportunity to reset relationships,” he said: “There should be more dialogue. We would welcome more dialogue. … With dialogue comes understanding, and with understanding comes trust.” The FCC approved items targeting Huawei under Chairman Ajit Pai (see 2009040050).