Google Cutting its Take From Cloud Software Sales; Apple-Fix Coming for Watch Not Opening iPhone 13s; 53% of Software Will be Subscription in 18 Months; Elder-Friendly Tech Market Expanding

Google is making a big cut to the cash it keeps from the sales of software from other vendors that take place over its cloud services. CNBC notes that the cut is from 20% all the way down to 3%! This follows Google cutting the percentage it keeps from purchases on the Play Store back in July. that cut was from 30% down to 15% for the first $1 million in revenue a developer earns yearly. Apple has also made a similar cut in the App Store, as has Microsoft….they chopped the percentage they take on game sales through its Windows app store from 30% to 12% in August. 

Earlier this year, Apple rolled out a neat fix for people wanting to open their iPhone with FaceID, but who were wearing masks. If you have an Apple Watch and are logged in (which if you are wearing it and using it, you are), you can look at the phone screen, and the Watch will open it for you. I use this all the time when shopping as I put my lists on the phone instead of an old-fashioned piece of paper. iPhone 13 buyers started getting the new phones on Friday, and surprise! It doesn’t work. (It does work on older iPhones, even with iOS 15 installed.) Now, engadget.com reports that, over the weekend, Apple promised to have a bug fix to correct the issue out ASAP…although they didn’t give a time frame. Face it…the lat few years, Apple has been no better than any other company about releasing software that is effectively still in beta. 

If you still stubbornly cling to the Steve Jobs model of ‘buy it and it’s yours,’ you won’t be happy with this. (Raises hand.) Venturebeat.com says there is a report from Revenera Monetization Monitor that predicts that 53% of software companies plan to move to a subscription model in the next year and a half. The subscription model (think MS 360) works well for organizations, but for the individual that say, wants to write or open a few Word documents a month, it will be a terrible deal. Software companies say that the goal is ‘aligning pricing and value.’ Right now, they claim that is the case only 30% of the time. 

Who saw geezer tech as a growth market? According to vox.com, there are a lot more products out and on the way to join the simple dumb phone with giant display and numbers called the ‘Jitterbug’ we’ve all seen in ads. One that is something one an enlargement on the Jitterbug concept is the ‘GrandPad.’ The makers have tested it on people from 80 to 104 years old! The tablet comes with preloaded games…bingo, solitaire, and sudoko. It has a ‘jukebox’ music app that plays plenty of pre-oldies…that is, big band, classical, music of the ’40’s, and also has photo albums, address books, and video calling ability. All the apps have giant-sized icons and large text. You can pick up a GrandPad for GrandDad (or Grandma, or whomever) at Target for $200, or buy it at Best Buy or online at grandpad.net. The price is right, but the subscription fee is steep….$40 a month. Another senior friendly gadget is one out of Israel called ElliQ. Think of an Alexa device with b.s. empathy programmed in and AI. Instead of ‘Would you like to listen to music?’, it will ask ‘Would you like to listen to music together?’ Ok, a little creepy.