Recent reports
Epic fails to bust open the App Store: 'Success is not illegal'
15 September 2021Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has handed Fortnite maker Epic a crushing defeat in its antitrust suit against Apple’s App Store policies.
Apple is using settlements to preserve its model, though both it and Google are exposed to new legislation.
Google still faces trial by Epic; its Android licensing agreements are its Achilles' heel.
Better, more to come: European mobile in Q2 2021
13 September 2021European mobile growth was essentially zero year-on-year—a significant improvement thanks to annualisation of the pandemic but there is little evidence of the reversal of its negative impacts.
Italy saw the biggest improvement in its underlying trend as the pandemic continued to suppress Iliad’s momentum, while elevated competitive tension in Spain and France ate into their annualisation boost.
Mobility and flight data suggests that Q3 will evidence a bigger boost from renewed travel than in Q2—positive for roaming revenues—but that the improvement in mobility will be weaker than in the June quarter.
BBC licence fee settlement: A diminished TV ecology
10 September 2021The rumoured BBC licence fee settlement (with rises below inflation) may result in a real term annual shortfall of c. £481 million by 2027
The worst mooted scenarios of decriminalisation or absolute cuts to the licence fee have been avoided (for now)
A smaller BBC will have knock-on effects in the wider TV ecology, with fewer economic benefits flowing to the creative economy and a dilution of local content