Prime Day Set-October 13th; LinkedIn Rolls Out Stories & Video Integration for Zoom, Blue Jeans, & Teams; Leak Pegs Small iPhone Name; Court Blocks US Ban on TikTok for Now

Well, they say it won’t be a week, or even 3 days long this time, but Amazon has announced their two-day Prime Day event for this year…delayed since summer. Prime Day will kick off October 13th. According to engadget.com, the ‘day’ will last 48 hours. Besides offering deep discounts on a myriad of products, Prime Day has been a nice driver of new Prime subscriptions for Amazon. Amazon has said the main reason for delaying it was the huge strain the extra pandemic business has put on their warehouse and logistics systems. They say now they’re ready, so set your calendar and clock, and crack your knuckles…get ready to shop ‘till your eyes can’t focus on the screen anymore!

LinkedIn has jumped on the ‘stories’ bandwagon, rolling out their own version of Stories…the kind of short, limited life videos that have snagged lots of attention on Facebook, Instagram, and SnapChat. Techcrunch.com reports that LinkedIn now haas 706 million registered users, so this could pump up engagement at least by some of them. Besides stories, Inkedin has announced integration of Zoom, Blue Jeans, and Microsoft Teams for video chats, a tremendously useful new feature with all the work from home and constant video meeting that has gone on the last several months. The feature will be available over LinkedIn’s messaging service.

Everything points to the naming of the upcoming iPhones as ‘iPhone 12’ in some manner. Now, appleinsider.com says a leak of what appear to be Apple distribution stickers confirms the naming of the phones expected to be rolled out in a couple weeks. The small phone will be the iPhone Mini, then the lower priced 6.1 inch screen model will be the iPhone 12. The two higher line phones will be the iPhone 12 Pro (also a 6.1 inch screen) and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. These were leaked via Twitter by DuanRui, who doesn’t have an extensive record as a leaker, but who has been accurate so far. Apple’s event is expected to be October 13th…the same day as Amazon’s Prime Day, as noted above.

A court has issued a temporary injunction blocking the Trump administration from ordering Apple and Google to cease offering TikTok at their respective online stores. According to reuters.com, US District Judge Carl Nichols granted it, but did decline ‘at this time’ to block additional Commerce Department restrictions that are take effect November 12th. Those would have the impact of making the app virtually impossible to use in the US. More to come on this story in the upcoming days for sure.