Amazon Renewables; Spotify & Ticketed Events; Android Messages on AT&T; iPhone 12 Sales

As Amazon’s sales skyrocketed during the pandemic, its carbon emissions rose — by 19%, according to its 2020 sustainability report. Geekwire.com notes that’s up from a 15% year-over-year increase in 2019. But at the same time, the company last year lowered its carbon intensity, increasing its use of renewable energy from 42% across its operations in 2019 to 65% last year, making it the world’s largest buyer of renewable energy. 

Spotify is reportedly “considering” expanding into ticketed events, according to The Information. The company could sell tickets for both virtual and live concerts as it moves to diversify its business.Apparently making money off of ticketed events isn’t necessarily Spotify’s short-term goal. Its more immediate plan is to use them as a way to improve its relationship with artists. Selling tickets to concerts might make a lot of sense for a music streaming platform, but it would still represent a massive business shift for Spotify. For 

AT&T and Google have announced that all Android phones on the network will use Google’s Android Messages app for SMS and RCS services. T-Mobile made the exact same partnership deal with Google in March, which leaves Verizon as the only US carrier who hasn’t committed to switching its customers to Android Messages by default. Theverge.com reports that this means real interoperability with RCS on other networks. Besides needing Verizon, the iPhone does not support RCS and Apple is silent about whether it will. 

Exactly 14 years ago, Apple disrupted the smartphone market as the first iPhone went on sale. According to counterpointresearch.com, it is not only the largest smartphone OEM by revenue but has also set up numerous benchmarks in the smartphone industry. The iPhone 12 series’ cumulative global sales crossed the 100 million units mark in April 2021. The series was able to achieve this feat in the seventh month after its launch, which is two months earlier than the iPhone 11.