TECH CRUNCH – July 4 – For the first time, Apple has published the number of requests it's received from governments to take down apps from its app store. In its latest transparency report, published Tuesday, Apple said it received 80 requests from 11 countries to remove 634 apps from its app stores during July 1 to December 31, 2018. Apple didn't list the apps that were removed, but noted in most cases why the apps were pulled. China made up the bulk of the requests, seeking to remove 517 apps claiming they violated its gambling and pornography laws. Vietnam and Austria also requested the removal of several apps that violated its gambling laws, while Kuwait asked Apple to pull some apps that fell afoul of its privacy laws. Apple said it received 29,183 demands from governments – down ~10% on the last reporting period – to access 213,737 devices in the second half of last year. Apple also received 4,875 requests for account data, such as information stored in iCloud – up by 16% on the previous reporting period – affecting 22,503 accounts.
Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch
App Revenue Tops $39B in H1 2019, up 15% YOY
Spark Networks Closes Its $258M Acquisition of Zoosk
TECH CRUNCH – July 2 – Berlin-based Spark Networks, the owner of Christian Mingle, Jdate, LDSsingles, Silver Singles, JSwipe and others, has acquired Zoosk for a combination of cash and stock. The deal values Zoosk at ~$258M. Spark says it will issue 12,980,000 American Depositary Shares (ADS) to former Zoosk shareholders valued at $153M based on the closing price of Spark ADS of $11.78 on June 28, 2019. Zoosk has for a long time struggled to compete against Tinder. A few years ago, the company laid off a third of its staff and even had to call off its IPO. According to data from Sensor Tower, Zoosk has generated worldwide in-app revenue of $250M and has seen 38M downloads since January 2014. In Q1 2019, Zoosk revenue was flat at $13M, the firm also says. Tinder revenue, by comparison, grew 43%. Zoosk's current CEO Steven McArthur is departing Zoosk following the deal, but will join Spark's board of directors.
Bumble Now Lets Users Call Their Matches Without Exchanging Numbers
HER, the Dating App for Queer Women, Revamps Profiles
Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report
TECH CRUNCH – June 24 – Bond Capital founder and former Kleiner Perkins general partner Mary Meeker made her presentation onstage at Vox/Recode's Code Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. on Tuesday. Meeker first crafted a report of this kind, which underlines the most important statistics and technology trends on the Internet, in 1995. This morning, Meeker highlighted slowed growth in e-commerce sales, increased Internet ad spending, data growth, as well as the rise of freemium subscription business models, telemedicine, photo-sharing, interactive gaming, the on-demand economy and more. Here's a look at all 333 slides.
Jewish Dating App JCrush Exposed User Data and Private Messages
TECH CRUNCH – June 4 – A security lapse at JCrush left a database open without a password, exposing sensitive user records and private messages to anyone who knew where to look. None of the data was encrypted. The records contained the user's name, gender, email address, IP address and geolocation, as well as their city, state and country, date of birth, sexual preferences, religious denomination and photos they use on JCrush. The records also show the user's Facebook ID, which points directly to their Facebook profile. It also includes the access token, which can be used to take over a JCrush user's account without needing their password. JCrush's parent company, Northsight Capital, said it was "aware" of the situation and "secured the database immediately when the problem occurred."
Tinder Is Preparing to Launch ‘Tinder Lite’
TECH CRUNCH – May 11 – Tinder is preparing to launch Tinder Lite in emerging markets. The light version will offer a smaller, more lightweight version of the current flagship app. Most major tech companies now offer "Lite" apps for the large and rapidly growing online user base coming from these emerging markets – and specifically India, as of late. For example, Google has a full suite of lightweight "Go"-branded apps, like Google Go, Gmail Go, Files Go, YouTube Go, Google Maps Go and Google Assistant Go. There's also Facebook Lite, Instagram Lite, Messenger Lite, Twitter Lite, Uber Lite, Spotify Lite and even TikTok Lite. The company didn't share an exact launch date for Tinder Lite, but, according to Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg, the app is "coming soon."
Tinder Launches ‘Festival Mode’ to Connect Music Festival Goers
Facebook Dating Opens to Friends With Secret Crush
by Josh Constine
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