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Weekly News For You To Stay Updated With The App Industry
India is a huge market for smartphone and app users. In fact, it’s the second-largest market after China. This is why it’s no surprise to see India appear in many top lists for app downloads and app usage.
Today we also have a similar story about the Indian app economy.
And of course, we’ve rounded up many other interesting stories in the app world for you.
Read it all here:
1. Unacademy cuts on free meals to focus on profitability
One of India’s largest ed-tech firms, Unacademy recently laid off almost 17% of its workforce due to cost-cutting. Now they’re going further by reducing unnecessary expenses in order to turn profitable soon.
What are these said expenses? Free meals, business class travel, salary cuts for management and founders, etc.
Unacademy is not running low on cash by any means. In fact, the company says they have Rs.2,800 crore in the bank. What they lack is efficient resource planning and given the recent changes, no clear direction on how to make more than they spend (aka profitability).
Layoff people, pay cuts, etc. are all part of business nevertheless it’s never to see when it happens. Let’s hope there’s a slowdown in firing in the coming months from such startups.
P.S. We’re hiring now with open positions in Data, Engineering, Marketing, and more. Click the link to find a good fit for you: https://bit.ly/3Oz2ylj.
Source: https://bit.ly/3PE8hHe
2. Google wins a tussle against a Korean app for offering an alternative payment method
A Korean messaging app, Kakao Talk was suspended from offering updates because it broke Google’s rules on in-app payment methods. Kakao Talk went against Google’s rules, which came into effect on April 1st, by giving its users an external payment link to make purchases.
But Google had enough and on June 30, Kakao Talk was banned from giving any more app updates. Two reasons why this is bad for the Korean messaging app. One, they can’t offer the best experience to their users. Two, apps that do not release updates will be removed from the Play Store. However, after holding discussions with the South Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and Google, Kakao Talk removed the external payment link.
By reading this, you’re maybe seeing this as a story of some rule breakers being put in their place. Or you’re getting a feeling that something is amiss with the rule enforcers.
Here’s some context, apps like Kakao Talk want to add alternative payment links mainly to avoid paying high commissions that app distributors like Google charge. These commissions can range from 15-30% on each digital transaction. Add this over several transactions and an app’s revenue takes a significant hit after paying commissions.
Google, on the other hand, wants all app developers to use only Google’s Billing System to ensure that they collect the commissions. Since apps are using the Play Store as a distribution platform, they have to follow Google’s rules.
Let’s add one more factor here, the Play Store is the largest Android app distributor in the world. The others are not yet close to where Google is. Therefore, Google faces almost no competition. Thus, they can make rules to suit their interests knowing that all will have to comply.
We’re not going to say anymore here. We’ll let you decide the ethics of the matter.
Source: https://tcrn.ch/3PARhBr
3. India no.1 global market for app downloads in June 2022
Sensor Tower released new data for app downloads that surveyed results from across the world.
The data showed that downloads across the App Store and Play Store hit 4.6 billion in June 2022 which is a 2.2% year-on-year increase. India contributed 18.4% to that number or 844.8 million downloads. The US came in at no.2 and Brazil at no.3 with 9% and 8% respectively.
Sensor Tower’s research also revealed that Subway Surfers was the most downloaded game in the world with India contributing the highest number of downloads. India added 14.7% to Subway Surfers' numbers with the US coming next at 10.2%.
Garena Free Fire was the next most downloaded game after Subway Surfers. The ban in India seems to have done little to its global downloads.
Source: https://bit.ly/3aOR8M9
4. Truecaller enters the live audio space with OpenDoors
Many platforms are trying to leverage the popularity of audio chat rooms. Twitter has its Spaces, Amazon created Amp, Clubhouse exits, and LinkedIn expanded its Audio Event recently.
Now Truecaller also wants to make a name for itself in this niche. The caller ID app makers released OpenDoors which offers its users something similar to what Clubhouse has. Users can start a conversation and their contacts will get a notification to join. Users can also send invite links to friends on their contact list.
Truecaller says they’re testing more features to be released soon.
Source: https://bit.ly/3PGqXWW
5. WhatsApp looking to increase the “Delete for Everyone” deadline
WhatsApp has a very precise deadline to delete messages that you send to individuals and in groups. Currently, you can delete a message for everyone within 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds after sending it.
But now WhatsApp wants to extend that to 2 days.
We find two things fascinating. One of course is the extension in the deadline, which of course may prove useful for groups (and if you have delayed regret over something you texted). The other thing is the precise duration of the current deadline. Why is that so exact? We’ll leave that up to find out.
But if this feature officially rolls out, you can expect us to share that news here.
Source: https://bit.ly/3PEpvEs
6. Twitter testing a new way of engagement called CoTweets
Just like how books have co-authors, your tweets may soon have a co-author too. This new feature in testing called CoTweets allows a user to create a tweet, send an invite to a fellow user to collaborate, and post the tweet simultaneously on each user's timelines and profiles.
The tweet will appear under both users' handles and avatars to clearly indicate that it's a CoTweet.
A video, released by Twitter Create, shows exactly how it would work. Given that two separate sets of audiences will see a CoTweet, you can expect engagement to hit higher numbers (probably unless the co-authors have a similar set of followers).
Right now the feature is testing in the US, Canada, and Korea and Twitter may end the beta phase soon.
Source: https://bit.ly/3oeHKoc
