The new Apple TV is officially available in stores, Bitcoin's value is rallying again,
Facebook tests a new Local Market feature that rivals Craigslist, and more.
It's Friday, October 30th and this is Crunch Report.
Some Facebook users in Auckland, New Zealand, and Melbourne and Sydney. Australia, have
spotted a new feature being tested in the iPhone app called “Local Market”... sometimes
in place of the “Messenger” button at the bottom center of the screen. Local Market,
as the name implies, is a marketplace aimed at buyers and sellers, that lets Facebook
users either browse or post items to sell... things like autos, appliances, furniture,
clothing, household, kids stuff, and books. The section is being populated by pulling
in items from Facebook’s “sale” groups in a given geographic region... sale groups
is a popular way people are using Facebook Groups already. In fact Facebook said earlier
this year that it hosts tens of millions of groups on its site, and sale groups were one
of the most popular categories. So, let's say Local Market becomes a public feature...
it could go up against Craigslist, or Etsy... as long as people used it. Facebook isn't
currently the place you go to sell your books, but if it can convince its users to do that,
the commerce side of Facebook gets more interesting.
Chrome OS, the “cloud” based operating system that Google runs on affordable laptops,
and Android, Google's mobile operating system for phones and tablets, may merge into one
product... this is according to the Wall Street Journal. The merge could happen as early as
next year…and could be introduced at next year’s I/O. A few things point to this not
being total BS - Android co-founder Andy Rubin left the company last year, which could indicate
changes at foot, and Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, who used to oversee Chrome, Chrome
OS, Apps and Android, stated that mobile rules the world during Alphabet’s most recent
earnings call. Now, Chrome OS doesn't have native apps, which developers love, but it
does have Google Apps, which companies and schools love. And then there's Google's announcement
of the Pixel C, remember? That laptop-tablet-running-full-on-Android. The whole thing doesn't sound that farfetched,
really.
The new Apple TV, with a brand new remote and its own app ecosystem, is now available
in retail stores. The set top box starts at $149 at Apple Stores, - there's a 64gb model
for $199 - with Best Buy and Target carrying the device as well. Although if you really
want one, you probably already pre-ordered an Apple TV when it went on sale online last
week. Apple has also redesigned the remote, which now holds multiple sensors, to allow
for more functionality, and a touchpad for sliding control over skipping backward or
forward, and has its own accelerometer and gyroscope for motion controls on games. Apple
TV now supports universal search, voice control and Siri integration, although it's a more
stripped down than what we're used to on iOS.
Remember when we talked about bitcoin all the time? Those were the days. Actually, when
were those days? Because all year the cyroptocurrency's sort of languished well below its former value
highs. However! We've got ourselves a rally, because Bitcoin is now at its highest value
of 2015, trading for around $320 per coin. That's still nowhere near its former highs,
but it's suer a lot better for investors than when it dipped below $200 earlier this year.
Now, bitcoin price is just one way to feel out the health of its larger ecosystem. Volume,
difficulty and the aggregate hash rate - which as TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm explains to me,
has to do with the processing power of the currency as a whole, based on total coins
mined - they all come into play here. But when bitcoin’s price goes up, people also
tend to get more interested in it. And after a ton of bitcoin-related startups got a lot
of money to build their businesses, without a proven business model, the market may be
in a period of self-correction.
Daily deals just aren't the hot thing they once were. And the latest company to pull
out of the space is...Amazon.. The Amazon Local homepage now informs customers that
the platform is closing down on December 18, 2015. At that point, Amazon will stop selling
deals via the website and in the Amazon Local mobile app. Although the company says if you've
already bought a deal, it'll still be honored. The shift away from daily deals is real - local
deals platform LivingSocial, which is partly owned by Amazon, announced this month that
it’s laying off 200 people, or 20 percent of its staff, as it moves away from the deals
model to focus on what it calls “experiences.” And Groupon, the king of the daily deals fad,
announced 1,100 layoffs in September and ceasing of operations in several non-U.S. markets.
So, Amazon will no longer directly run a daily deals platform, but it'll still offer its
Deal of the Day, Kindle Daily Deals, etc via the main Amazon.com website. Amazon Home Services.
That’s the report for today. I’m Sarah Lane.
Crunch Report airs every weekday at 7 pm Eastern, 4 pm Pacific, on Techcrunch.com. You can also
find us on iTunes, and on YouTube. Happy Halloween, see you Monday!