Dear Studio Fam,
This week we look at how there might actually be some customers left in the world that want to do business with FTX, and examine some early problems reported with Google's newest Pixel device. We've got news of even more antitrust enforcement concerns for Amazon that reveal some questionable practices that Amazon uses when dealing with third party sellers. Finally, we've got a new app spotlight on an AI tool for musical TikTokers.
FTX Is Getting Ready To Relaunch
While traditional finance companies continue their adoption of crypto technology, bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is preparing to relaunch its international operations. According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, interim FTX CEO John J. Ray III is meeting with customers and creditors to discuss the specifics of how the revived operation could be used to honor FTX’s previous obligations.
Figure, the blockchain fintech company that uses crypto concepts to help people buy homes, is allegedly involved, and rumors suggest the relaunched FTX will come with new branding or launch as a new Figure sub-brand. Considering the toxic nature of the FTX brand, and the ongoing criminal case against its founder and original CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, it is likely that any new operations will need a new consumer identity in order to have any chance at success.
What exactly this new FTX business will involve, or how it will be used to make good on its debts to its customers, remains unclear, although recent court filings have indicated there are some assets left under FTX control that can be liquidated to begin the compensation process.
Pixel Fold Phone Customers Report Lots of Problems
The Google Pixel line of smartphones have served as the official Android reference devices since the retirement of the Nexus brand in 2015. So far, the Pixel line has consisted of two models: a flagship with the newest tech and a budget version with the best features of the previous flagship. This year marked the introduction of the first foldable Pixel and the first group of actual customers are overwhelming Google Support and Reddit forums with reports of defective LCD panels, peeling screen protectors, and wonky hinges. You might want to hold off on investing in one of these $2000 devices until later in the production cycle.
FTC Prepares Another Amazon Lawsuit
We’ve written previously about FTC Chair Lina Khan’s numerous antitrust lawsuits against Big Tech companies but none compare to what is allegedly coming next for Amazon. The next lawsuit – which Bloomberg is referring to as “the big one” – revolves around claims that Amazon unfairly preferences merchants that utilize the most Amazon services. While not obvious to the average Amazon customer, not every product purchase through Amazon is shipped by Amazon, or promoted through the purchase of ads from Amazon.
Merchants can choose to use Amazon just as a payment processor and ship goods directly, or store their inventory at an Amazon warehouse and pay an additional fee for Amazon to pack and ship each order. Merchants can also pay to have their items promoted in search results, or in the “similar products” section of item detail pages. The case is based on analysis of multiple Amazon merchants who show their businesses being unfairly excluded from search results if they don’t also use Amazon for fulfillment services, and inclusion of competing products on their own listing pages from merchants who use Amazon for fulfillment.
What makes this case bigger than previous antitrust claims is that it might include specific demands that Amazon divest its advertising and logistics businesses, or ban outright the promotion of competing merchants’ goods on product detail pages.
TikTok Parent Company Launches AI Music Creation App Ripple
ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, launched this week a new app called Ripple to help content creators quickly generate novel soundtracks for their videos by just humming. Similar to how its video editing app CapCut can automatically create transitions between multiple video clips, the app uses a custom AI model that was trained exclusively on music owned and licensed by ByteDance to generate original soundtracks synced with video. The app is currently invite only and has been given first to the most prolific musicians on TikTok; not surprising giving multiple recent reports on ByteDance’s increased activity in the music industry and filing of a trademark for TikTok Music.