Here are a few of the stories I’ve found interesting over the last number of days
Rogers, Shaw Executives Testify That Proposed Merger Will Increase Competition Despite Reduction in Number of National Carriers
The hearings over the proposed deal that will see Rogers purchase Shaw have begun, and we now get to see how the companies are spinning their perceived upside to the deal. The core of the argument seems to be Shaw testifying that it does not have the capital necessary to build out a national 5G network for its Freedom Mobile and Shaw Mobile brands, and not being able to build out that 5G network as its competitors do will lead to Freedom Mobile and Shaw Mobile not being relevant in the marketplace. Rogers says that acquiring Shaw will help it build a stronger, better network, especially in western Canada where Telus and Bell have a more robust coverage map than Rogers.
That is what we’re going to see a lot of talk about over the next year. Shaw will say it can’t afford to build a true national network, and will spin this as a partnership with Rogers to get it done. There is truth to that statement. Wireless services infrastructure is very expensive to build out and maintain, billions of dollars of expensive. That has long been the struggle of the attempts at a 4th carrier in this country, very few companies have the financial capacity to build the infrastructure required. I bet we’ll also hear that Freedom and Shaw Mobile face an uncertain future without this deal, that perhaps they may have to shut down altogether. The choice presented to the government will be “we either sell to Rogers, or shut Freedom down, either way it is going away.”. We’ll see how that goes.
Study Shows Canada has Highest 20GB Prices in the World
This actually dovetails with the previous story about why Shaw wants to sell to Rogers and how expensive network infrastructure is to build. A group has looked at wireless plans from about 50 countries and found that for 20GB of data, prices in Canada are the most expensive. Canadian wireless prices have long been among the most expensive in the world, and again going back to the previous story, much of that is due to this country’s extremely low population density. Even with a highly urban population, the desire to have cellular coverage across as much of the country as possible has lead to high prices, and that is where we are.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/03/30/canadians-pay-highest-prices-world-20gb-mobile-plans/
Foxconn, One of the Largest Electronics Manufacturers in the World, Says Chip shortage Will Last into 2022
Foxconn has disclosed to investors that it has started to see components shortages in its manufacturing plants, and that the company is likely to see shortages well into 2022, which will affect its ability to manufacture products on time. This is notable because Foxconn is one of the largest electronics manufacturers on the planet, and its size means that it generally has enough scale to weather short term issues in availability without repercussions. For Foxconn to say that the component shortage is affecting them, and that it will feel the effects for a year is a bad sign that we really won’t see a resolution to the shortages for quite some time.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22358256/apple-supplier-foxconn-parts-shortages-chips-2022
ARM Unveils ARM V9 Architecture
There’s a good chance the device you’re reading this on is an ARM device, or an ARM derived device. ARM designed processors are in virtually every device that isn’t a desktop PC or laptop, and even new Apple Macs have ARM derived processors. So when ARM announces an updated architecture, it is a big deal whether people know it or not. ARM v9 is the first major revision to the ARM architecture since 2011, and promises to offer better security, higher performance, and more power efficiency. It’ll likely be a year or two before products that run ARM v9 processors hit the market in any scale, and most people likely won’t even know that their shiny new device is running ARM v9, but when it happens, we’re likely to see a substantial jump in performance and power efficiency in those products. I’m excited to see what real world impacts it will have.
https://www.engadget.com/arm-armv9-architecture-180043435.html
Apple Announces WWDC 2021 Will be Online Only
Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference in 2020 was an online only affair due to the pandemic, with the added bonus side effect that the virtual show was made free for all to see. With the uncertainty continuing into this year, WWDC 2021 will be online only again, and once again free to all. I expect this trend to mostly continue in 2021, and most traditional trade shows will not return to normal, in person shows until 2022.
https://9to5mac.com/2021/03/30/wwdc-2021-officially-announced-for-june/
Adobe Announces iPad App Subscription Bundle
Adobe’s new subscription service bundle is an interesting one. For $15 USD per month users can get access to the full versions of its suite of apps on iPad and 100GB of cloud storage. But this bundle is mobile only and does not offer access to the desktop versions of those apps.
It is a very interesting play on the idea that there are people who want to use Adobe’s services exclusively on iPad. I don’t think there’s a big market for that today, but as more and more people find that mobile devices can become their every day computers, something like this may catch on.
Sony Ending Digital sales on PS3, Vita, PSP This Summer
After much rumor and speculation Sony has officially announced that it will end digital game purchases on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and turn off remaining purchase functionality on the PlayStation Portable over the course of the summer. The PSP and PS3 date back to 2005 and 2006, while the Vita dates back to 2012, so these are definitely not new products. Users who have purchased digital content like games will still be able to play those games, and re-download them as they please, but new new purchases will no longer be accepted.
I will be interested to see if Sony comes up with some kind of strategy for older titles on these platforms. In some cases it’s PlayStation Now streaming service can stream PS3 games, but bringing old games forward to new generations has not been a priority for Sonly like it has for Microsoft.
https://www.engadget.com/playstation-store-ps3-vita-psp-closing-180410870.html