#62 - How Apple tampers with ratings and Tiktok the trendsetter

Hello,

I'm testing some graphic changes to make reading this newsletter a little more pleasant. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think (in addition to the content of course with the traditional survey).

On the menu this week:

🎤 Tesla launches into Caraoke
📱How Apple tampers with the ratings of its apps
💣 Big changes for my podcast!
👗 How Tiktok makes and breaks fashion!

🎤 Tesla launches into Caraoke

First of all no, there is no typo. Tesla, the famous brand of electric cars, now offers to transform its cars into Karaoke.
The service called Karaoke (just for the pun, we had to bring this thing out) allows you to use the main screen of the car as a console which displays the lyrics of your favorite songs. In fact this service is not new since it was deployed via a software update in 2019.

No, what is new is that Tesla has gone so far as to market dedicated microphones to take full advantage of this karaoke mode.

The accessory soberly titled “TeslaMic” takes the form of a pair of microphones sold all the same not far from 200€ and was announced on the occasion of the Chinese New Year 🐯.

The accessory sold like hot cakes to the point of being out of stock in less than 1 hour. As a result, its prices are soaring on marketplaces like StockX.
A price to be put into perspective if it makes traffic jams a little more fun…

📱How Apple tampers with the notes of its apps

Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve had typed on Apple but I admit that reading this article from The Verge simply blew my mind.

Let me explain: imagine you are at school and you are taking an exam. Except that the teacher is you and therefore you can also choose your grade. Practical, right?

Well, that's pretty much what Apple does with its Apple Store when it wants to improve the inglorious ranking of one of its flagship applications: Podcasts.

A little flashback: Apple is certainly the company that democratized podcasting. In fact, from 2005, the company which dominates the digital music market with the iPod integrated podcasts into iTunes, making subscribing and playing podcasts simpler than ever.

Followed by the iPhone with its dedicated application which was very good at the time...except that it has evolved very little over time. Other solutions appeared and overall the Apple app was getting dismal ratings.

To give you an idea the average rating was around 1.8/5...really not great.

So Apple had a brilliant idea:

Since our app allows you to rate podcasts, why not use the podcast ratings to inflate our average? And then just do the good ratings.

It’s as if Netflix used the ratings of its series as ratings for its application. Does that seem out of place to you? This is normal and that's exactly what Apple did.

The only difference is that Netflix couldn't do that because they don't have an app store...Apple does.

Here is so what their rating now looks like: 4.9/5… This is better.

Besides, if we look closely, the only negative note is the one that really talks about Apple's Podcast app 🤔.

Alert by the journalist from The Verge 3 months ago, Apple did nothing.

This is the perfect illustration of why we cannot be judge and jury. It is also partly this type of dominant position which is at the origin of the numerous “friction” between Apple and Spotify.

So, are you more team Apple or Spotify?

Find out more

💣 Big changes for Encore Un Podcast Tech!

As you know, I have been hosting a podcast dedicated to tech trends for several months.

Our goal: to cover 3 tech topics twice a month in 30 minutes (even if we tend to go a little over 🤫).

But we recently made a big decision with Remi about Encore Un Podcast Tech.

As the Americans say, we double down! Concretely, this means that we will double the frequency of publication by moving to a weekly rhythm!

On the other hand, we will be more concise by now zooming in on a single subject each week. So you'll know straight away if it's worth listening to!

What doesn't change, however, is the tone and the fact of dealing with evergreen subjects, that is to say which are not perishable. You can listen to an episode several months old without feeling like you're reheated.

Each week I will have a section of this newsletter which will present the latest episode released to you. Rest assured, this will only take up a few lines of this newsletter.

I hope that this new formula pleases you and will make you want to listen even more.

The topic of the week: How NFTs are taking the Web by storm!

We will see beyond the buzz word, the risks and opportunities that NFTs bring. With some very interesting use cases.

👗 How Tiktok makes and unmakes fashion!

I must admit the more time passes, the more I am fascinated by Tiktok.

Whether it is through the relevance of its algorithm, the inventiveness and content of certain creators or even the impact of the social network, we are faced with a phenomenon that is impossible to avoid as it has such an impact in “real life”.

Whether it is about making popular places, trendy restaurants or famous recipes, it is the social network that defines what is trendy.

Whether you like it or not.

And it is not the fashion industry that will say the opposite as the social network allows you to see strong trends emerge and to amplify.

The phenomenon nicknamed Tiktok couture allows fashions to appear and sometimes it only takes a few viral publications to launch a trend.