WWDC Dates & iPhone Button Rumor;Twitter Blue Subscribers-Few Followers; Facebook & IG Users Can Opt Out of Tracking-In EU; Folding Smartphones Will Pass 20 Million Sales

Apple has announced that it will hold Worldwide Developers Conference starting on June 5th. According to cnet.com, we can expect to see iOS 17, the next version of Apple’s mobile software, along with a reveal of Apple’s Mixed Reality headset. The event, which will run through June 9th, is free for developers to attend online. Apple will hold an in—person event at Apple Park in Cupertino for its keynote and state of the union presentation the first day. An interesting rumor about the iPhone 15 pro chips. They will apparently keep the solid state buttons useable even when power is low or the phone is turned off. What has been the mute button may become an ‘Action’ button, one which you can program to do various functions like on the Apple Watch Ultra. This may replace tapping the back of the phone a number of times to activate different functions. 

With Twitter rolling ahead with user fees in order to keep features that have been free up to now, some people have gone ahead and signed up for Twitter Blue at $8 a month. While it really only verifies that you are paying Twitter, starting in April, having a blue check is the only way to take part in polls or to show up in suggestions in the ‘For You’ feed. Allegedly instituted by Elon Musk to rid the platform of so many bots, it looks like the Blue fee is ending up just being a naked cash grab. A researcher named Travis Brown has determined that about half of the 444,435 paying Twitter Blue subscribers have less than 1,000 followers…and 78,059 Blue subscribers have less than 100 subscribers following their account. There are even 2270 paid accounts with ZERO followers….can you say bots? So far, only about .2% of Twitters 254 million daily users have gone for the $8 Twitter Blue checkmark.

Something virtually all of us would love…to opt out of tracking. Well now you can…IF you are in Europe! Bgr.com says Meta is complying with an EU demand…certainly reluctantly. Also, they aren’t making it automatic or easy. Meta will only allow users to opt out after they submit an online form expressing their objections to Meta’s tracking of in-app activity ads. Meta will then evaluate the user’s request and possibly implement the change. Most observers note that the EU will probably not be satisfied with that ‘possibly’ part! In January, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined Facebook and Instagram about $423 million for requiring users to agree to a contract that includes behavioral ads. 

For a device that is still both really pricy and fragile, folding smartphones are continuing on an upswing in people willing to take a swing at them. In 2022, just 1% of smartphone shipments were folders-about 14 million. Now, 9to5google.com reports that after 4 years on the market, folding phones are on track to hit 21.4 million…a 50% growth year over year. IDC forecasts that foldable will reach 48 million units by 2027…a big number for folders, but still only 3.5% of all smartphone sales. Several makers in addition to Samsung are now making folders, and there have been good advancements in making them more sturdy…but don’t look for prices to drop anytime soon. 

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