Here are a few of the stories I’ve found interesting over the early part of the week

Before the Rogers/Shaw Deal, Bell Made a Bid for Shaw

This is interesting in that Bell was in discussions to buy Shaw before the Rogers deal was announced.  Bell reportedly withdrew from the negotiations over concerns with regulators approving the deal.  In a turn I wasn’t expecting, there is speculation that Rogers is actually more interested in the home internet business that Shaw has, and would be willing to let the cellular part of the business go.  I assumed the opposite would be true, and it apparently was for Bell.

https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/04/25/bell-made-offer-acquire-shaw-before-rogers-deal-finalized/

Shopify’s Meteoric Rise Continues

Whether or not you have heard of Shopify, you have almost certainly used their services.  Shopify provides e-commerce services for many companies, and if you’ve bought something online within the past year, something more likely than ever because of the pandemic, there’s a good chance it was bought on a store using the Shopify platform.  Shopfiy has become a giant in the e-commerce realm, and has grown to be one of the largest companies in Canada as a result.  This is not going unnoticed, with Time listing Shopify as one of the most influential companies in the world.

https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/04/27/shopify-makes-times-list-of-most-influential-companies/

Ingenuity’s Success Continues with 3rd Flight

The Ingenuity Helicopter on Mars has successfully completed its 3rd flight, this time not only hovering above the Martian surface, but also moved about 4 meters.  The little helicopter that could continues to make history with every flight it makes on the red planet.

https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-ingenuity-third-flight-success

Apple Releases iOS and iPad OS 14.5, MacOS 11.3, and more.

Apple pushed a number of software updates this week, but iOS and iPadOS 14.5 were the most notable.  The biggest change in 14.5 was Apple finally changing ad tracking behaviour as it announced last June.  Now on iOS devices, apps that want to track users to serve personalized ads will have to get explicit permission from users who need to opt in.  Previously, the behaviour was the opposite, with users needing to manually opt out of ad tracking.

This is a controversial move for several reasons.  Privacy advocates applaud the move, but businesses both large and small say it will hurt the advertising business, and smaller businesses will likely be disproportionately affected by this change.  By reducing the ability for advertisers to track and target ads at more specific users, ads will likely be less effective, and less valuable.

Facebook Begins Testing Ads in Insagram Reels

Speaking of advertising, When Instagram rolled out Reels last year, there were no ads in that portion of the app.  It was always believed that would be a temporary situation to help reels gain a larger adoption, and now that it has, Facebook is testing advertising in the Reels section of Instagram.  This is the least surprising thing of the week

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/22/22396841/instagram-reels-ads-stickers-video-facebook