Startup to Help Contractors With Meds Costs; Galaxy S23 Hot Sales; iPhone SE Lives On After All; Pixel Watch Gets Fall Detection

One of the big down sides of being an independent contractor is less access to healthcare benefits and even when you can get them, significantly higher prices. Geekwire.com reports that Otis out of Seattle has launched, aimed at helping contractors who don’t have medical insurance to save money at the pharmacy. Otis is helmed by CEO Steve Moses, former senior product manager at Amazon Pharmacy. Otis members can sign up for free, and get their card via text message. Then, they can show the card to a pharmacist and get discounts of up to 90% off the retail price of the prescription. Otis generates revenue by charging pharmacies one set fee for every medication. That sets it apart from traditional players such as pharmacy benefit managers, Moses said. Otis is hoping to capitalize on the growing market of freelance “gig workers” and other contractors who pay for medications out-of-pocket.

The year 2022 was a rough one for smartphones, with sales overall down 11% worldwide. Samsung was worse than average, down 16% from 2021. Now, the Galaxy S23 seems to be changing that. According to Androidpolice.com, the S23 is hot…up 10% during the preorder period in Asia. The only European country with sales numbers so far is France, where S23 preorders were about double the sales last year. In Latin America, Galaxy S23 preorders were 50% higher than last year…partially driven by the flagship phones being available in Brazil on launch day for the first time ever. Samsung says that worldwide, 60% of customers have been going for the S23 Ultra. If these sales figures are an indicator, US sales should also show a significant uptick for Samsung when they come out. In other words, the S23 is a big hit that Samsung needed. 

It had been rumored that Apple was going to kill off the cheaper and smaller iPhone SE, but apparently it will live on for a 4th generation. Macrumors.com says the phone won’t be out until 2024, and won’t be small…noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will have a 6.1 inch OLED screen. The present 4.7 inch SE has an LCD display. Kuo goes on to say it will be similar to the standard iPhone 14, but will be a bit less feature rich. It is likely the entry level iPhone will lose its thick bezels, home button, and Touch ID, with it getting Face ID like the rest of the iPhone line. The present SE sells starting at $429, and the 2024 model is expected to continue to be Apple’s cheapest phone by far. 

Google has started rolling out fall detection to the Pixel Watch. Gizmodo.com reports that the feature was announced when the watch dropped 4 months ago, but Google says the feature “has been extensively tested” so the Pixel Watch can distinguish between an actual fall and “vigorous physical activity.”  Apple Watch has had fall detection for years, and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 has it…and had it going back to the Galaxy Watch 3. One reason Google delayed the feature…lately, Apple has gotten hit with a fair amount of criticism over false alarms from the feature in the Apple Watch. Google says they can differentiate between a ‘small stumble’ so an exercise routine, for example, won’t set off an alert. The Google Watch starts at $400, which is $50 more than the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5. 

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.