Paul Stenhouse: Fortnite's return to the iOS store and the Pixel Watch 3's lifesaving feature

Fortnite is back on the iOS store 

But it's only for those in the EU, thanks to their Digital Markets Act. It's forced Apple to offer a pathway for app developers to sell their software without needing to go through Apple's official app store. 

Epic says Apple has a monopoly on the market, and uses that position to force developers to give up to 30% of their revenue to them. They reportedly earn $70 billion in app store revenue each year. The "Epic Games Store" is the highest profile launch of an alternative app store yet, with a large fan base eager to get back to playing Fortnite on their phones after four years. Apple has not made the process for installing easy though - there are warning screens to get through, settings to update, which Epic says is intentional to make the experience as terrible as possible. 
Apple has launched a new fee for successful off-app store they're calling a "core technology fee", to try and recoup some of the revenue they'll inevitably lose. 
This is going to be a case study for other brands to decide if it's worth the effort to create their own store. 

 
Google's Pixel Watch 3 has a lifesaving feature  

If you have a heart attack when you're alone, you have virtually no chance of receiving resuscitation. This new "loss of pulse" feature of the Pixel Watch will give you a chance. It first uses the regular heart-rate sensor to detect a pulse, then if it can't find one will use infrared and motion sensors to help decide if you need help. An alarm will sound, giving you a chance to cancel the call for emergency services. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at be.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Google's Pixel three watch has just been released, and of
all the new bits of technology and gadget tree to
hit the market, this one has a very interesting feature,
a life saving feature. Our texpert postin house is here
with the details. Hey, Paul, tell us about it.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Good morning. I love when there's some like technology for good. Yeah.
We make all these advances and sometimes, you know, the
AI stuff we talk about might end up maybe taking
some jobs and not doing some good things. So I
saw this and thought this is nice. Okay, and here
we're about to change the tune. Imagine you're by yourself
and you have a heart attack. Yeah, great, great setup, right,

(00:51):
but it's never would be a very scary time. And
if you think about it, the chance of someone finding
you in time to give you potentially life saving resuscitation
is probably very close to nel. And that's where there's
a new feature on this watch that will detect a
loss of pulse as.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
They're calling it rhich, could.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Be caused by heart attack or could be caused by
any number of things, and it uses all of the
senses inside the watch and actually also uses some AI
to figure out where or not they need to get
emergency services to you. So first of all, right, your watch,
it has its regular heart rate sensor. It detects maybe
something might be a miss. We can't find a pulse,
So then it fires up a whole range of other

(01:33):
senses and they are sort of more sophisticated infrared senses,
but also motion sensors too, basically to work out if
you're moving and if you need help. If it decides
that you do it then sign it basically sounds an
alarm to try to maybe wake you up and to
see if it can then detect any other form of movement,

(01:54):
and if not, it will then call emergency services for
you on your behalf and send your location. Which I
just thought this is such a nice feature. Yeah, I
think of like the St. John alarms, right, Like you
still need to be able to actually push the button
for help. This actually removes the pushing the button aspect.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, I mean this sounds really cooler and principle is it?
Do you know if it's gonna work in New Zealand?
Can they do?

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yes? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Right, this was my one hesitation, but when we talk
about it, cool technology that they need to go through
these regulatory hurdles. And there's a bunch of countries in
the EU. Not quite in New Zealand just yet. But
I mean that's to me. Hey, if there was a
reason to buy a Google pixel Watch, to me, that's
at the top of my list.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, the great feature, Yeah, it sounds very cool. Okay. Hey, Fortnite,
the incredibly popular game, is back on Apple's iOS store.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yes, and not just in New Zealand yet either. Are
some of the parts of the world that seem to
have less regulatory hurdles or are more favorable than others,
and the EU is one of those. They passed their
Digital markets at which basically forced Apple to give app
developers a way to sell their software on iPhones and
iPads without needing to go through the official Apple Store.

(03:05):
Why is that important? Well, Apple charges developers up to
thirty percent of their revenue for the privilege of being
in that store.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's crazy, love it.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Why because it earns them almost seventy million, sorry seventy million.
That'd be nice, seventy billion dollars in revenue. So this
is something they obviously wanted to fight and Epoch has
been honestly, they've been the ones who have been really
pushing this forward. And so the Epic Game Store has
launched in the EU and people can go on there

(03:37):
and they can download Fortnite for the first time in
four years on the iOS devices. But Apple has not
made it easy. Jack. There are a ton of warning
screens to get through settings you have to update. Of course,
Epic says that that's very intentional by Apple to make
the process basically as terrible as possible. But Apple has
done one slight sneaky They've launched a new fee for

(03:58):
these off app stores that are calling a core technology fee,
basically to try to recoup some of that seventy billion
dollars that they have at staf right. But this is
really interesting because this is the first high profile alternative
app store that's existed, and I think this is going
to be a real good case study for other brands
to basically decide whether or not this is an avenue

(04:19):
they should pursue.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, it's going to be fascinating to see how that
all unfolds. Thank you, Paul. Paul Steerhouse.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to news talks ed b from nine am Saturday, or
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