[polymer-dev] 🍏 Is an Apple VR headset coming?

['The Hustle' via Polymer]

Title: thehustle.co

PLUS: How does Taboola make money? Brought to you by The Hustle together with Paycom. January 27, 2021 TOGETHER WITH Walgreens is tapping Starbucks COO Roz Brewer -- a long-time executive with a perfect last name for the coffee biz -- as its next CEO. Once appointed, she’ll be the only Black female at the helm of a Fortune 500 company. The Big Idea Is an Apple VR headset coming? Since its founding in 1976, Apple has set out to make computing more personal. In recent years, the move from iPhone to Watch to AirPods has fulfilled this vision. For many, the next logical step was augmented reality (AR) glasses… like the Google Glass but way less sucky. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Apple plans on releasing a virtual reality (VR) headset as a bridge to AR. The product is not aimed at the mass market Apple Insiders believe the product will cost much more than the $300-$900 price tag of commercial VR headsets (e.g., Facebook, Pico, Sony). Meant to leverage the company’s most advanced chips and display tech, Apple’s VR headset could run as high as a ~$6k Mac Pro desktop. Upon a projected 2023 launch, Bloomberg writes that Apple might only move ~180k units a year -- a far cry from Apple’s typical product volumes that run in the tens of millions. To reduce weight, Apple plans to use a fabric exterior... … which is slightly different than the slick metal you’re probably holding in your hand while reading this. With a VR headset on the market, the Cupertino spaceship can perfect the tech, bring developers on board, and create a content pipeline. Apple’s acquisition of NextVR -- a startup that records concerts and sporting events for VR -- was one tangible breadcrumb... … and another breadcrumb dropped on Monday Apple announced that its hardware chief, Dan Riccio, will be transitioning roles and taking over an unspecified project. Per MacRumors, there are at least 3 possibilities for this mysterious-sounding venture: VR/AR: Obviously. Car: Apple’s self-driving car project has been picking up steam, but it’s already under the leadership of the company’s AI chief, John Giannandrea. Title downgrade: Riccio’s new title (VP of engineering) is a downgrade, so the 23-year vet may just be taking a “step back.” Whatever Riccio ends up doing, we already know Apple’s AR/VR product will be huge and how the product cycle will play out: Snippets ‘Substack is Twitter’s paywall’ is a popular tech joke. Many writers do turn tweets into Substack subscriptions. Twitter clearly paid attention: It’s acquiring Dutch newsletter platform Revue (while, just last week, Forbes announced a mass rollout of paid newsletters). Stripe invests $102m into Fast, the fintech company that lets users “log into websites and check out, without having to enter information more than once,” per CNBC. GE saw cash flow jump at the end of 2020, boosted by its renewables and power unit. (We previously covered how GE is building the world’s biggest wind turbine.) Amazon East: The ecommerce giants announced 3k new job opportunities in the Boston area. It’s the latest in what has been a torrid hiring run: Amazon added 400k+ employees in 2020, putting its global workforce # at 1.1m+. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said the company paid $30B+ to creators over the last 3 years, and the YouTube ecosystem contributed ~$16B to the US GDP in 2019. Beyond Meat looks beyond meat: The company’s stock jumped as much as 31% Tuesday after announcing a joint venture with Pepsi to make plant-based drinks and snacks. Microsoft set the tone for a busy earnings season by reporting faster-than-expected growth in LinkedIn’s recruiter spam ad business. Facebook and Google saw stocks rise after hours on the news.   Valuations TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is valued at $180B. It’s worth way more. Most of us know ByteDance as the China-based parent company of video app TikTok, which was supposed to be banned in the United States. It’s not year clear what’s going on with the ban, but ByteDance’s business didn’t skip a beat last year… in fact, the company’s revenue doubled to ~$37B in 2020, according to The Information. In addition to TikTok, ByteDance owns 2 huge ad-based Chinese apps: Douyin, which is basically China’s version of TikTok Toutiao, a news aggregator powered by a recommendation engine ByteDance is currently valued at $180B, but when it goes public -- which it wants to do in 2021 -- it will likely skyrocket based on 2 comparisons: Facebook: Despite having ~½ of FB’s revenue ($37B vs. $79B), it’s valued at ~¼ of the American social network ($180B vs. $800B) Kuaishou: A competing Chinese social app is aiming for a $60B IPO on ~$4B of revenue; at the same market value-to-sales ratio, ByteDance would be worth $500B+. In sum: 👀 🚀 Check out our related coverage: The Oracle/Walmart/TikTok “deal,” explained Why the Chinese government is going after Jack Ma SPONSORED 3 signs your work is too much work: You’ve had to awkwardly email someone asking how much PTO you’ve accrued because you have no idea how to see it yourself You’ve tracked your mileage and expenses in your iPhone notepad You’ve had to email three different people in HR (and CC your boss) just to make sure your direct deposit goes to your new bank account Let’s call this what it is: absolute nonsense. Lucky for all of us, Paycom can help fix this. Get started by checking out their seriously-useful blog post: Why Your Organization Should Embrace the Power of Simplicity It includes everything you (and your company) need to know to simplify processes and make work less work.  Plus, it includes clear directions on how Paycom can help streamline your HR department so you don't have to stress about those pesky extra tasks anymore. Your work life deserves to be easier. Make it happen here: Read the blog here → Business Model A grid of Taboola ads in the Daily Mail (Source: Daily Mail) How does Taboola make money? You’ve definitely seen it. A grid of ads with can’t-miss headlines like, “You won’t believe what these celebrities looked like in high school” or “64% of seniors who try CBD gummies say it helped them.”  These ads (often called a “chumbox”) are primarily powered by 2 native advertising companies: Taboola and Outbrain, which almost merged last year before a deal fell apart. On Monday, Taboola announced that it would go public via a SPAC, valuing it at $2.6B (with forecast 2020 revenue of $1.2B and payouts to publishers totalling $2B+ in the past 3 years). The Hustle spoke with Taboola’s CEO Adam Singolda to find out about the business: An alternative to the walled gardens of Big Tech For publishers like ESPN or NBC, Taboola is a way to monetize web properties outside of the Facebook/Google ad duopoly. Singolda says Taboola is a “counterweight to the tech giants.” Per an investor deck, its ads have a reach of 500m+ daily active users, and the open web opportunity is worth $64B. A B2B company that helps publishers make money The Taboola ad units are ways for publishers to monetize their digital real estate while providing readers with content and product recommendations. “Facebook wants Facebook to succeed,” says Singolda. “Taboola wins when our publisher partners win.” Providing ‘clickable’ (not ‘clickbait’) content A common criticism of the chumbox format is that some content comes off as clickbait. Singolda disagrees with this characterization. He says that the content is “clickable,” which is particularly popular among the younger generation. “We have clear content guidelines,” he told us, noting that Taboola has a 50-person content moderation team that will scale with revenue. “There’s nothing wrong with having a clickable thumbnail title or image. Some people want to read deep dives and others want to read about Kim Kardashian. Both are fine.” When asked about a favorite case study… … Singolda cites Flare Audio, which launched headphones in the UK by advertising across publications like the Daily Mail and The Independent. “To break through on Google would have been very hard and expensive,” says Singolda. “But the headphones found the right audience with Taboola.” Stonks We used this image yesterday but its so good, we’re using it again GameStop update because LOLZ Yesterday, we talked about the GameStop ($GME), the video game store that has become a meme stock favorite on the subreddit r/WallStreetBets (WSB) and pitted retail investors vs. traditional hedge funds. We (really) need to update you: One of the hedge funds (Melvin Capital) betting against $GME has lost so much money that 2 other hedge funds (Citadel, Point72) put up $2.8B to prop it up. Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya (AKA the SPAC-man) got into the mix and backed $GME with a $100k options bet. On Tuesday, $GME skyrocketed, gaining +92%. For the WSB crowd, the cherry on top of the cake was a tweet from Elon Musk -- noted hater of short sellers -- in support of $GME and WSB: “Gamestonk!!” $GME was up another +42% after hours following the tweet. In layman’s terms: $GME was trading under $4 in March 2020 and, as of 9pm EST on Tuesday, it was at $209. Absolutely bonkers stonkers! The Hustle Says This free design platform helps you craft killer visuals for your company. Projector combines Adobe’s graphics and creative capabilities, Keynote’s approachability and simplicity, and Google Docs’ collaboration. Try it right here.* We absolutely need this hamburger and hot dog vase set. Why? We’re not quite sure, but vintage is in and we love supporting local businesses. Save up to $1,055 in 2021. How? By re-shopping your home and auto insurance with Policygenius. Just think of all the board games that money could buy…* Having trouble sleeping? Time for a mattress upgrade. Check out Wirecutter’s guide to The Best Mattresses Under $400. Want to invest in weed without actually touching the plant? Check out Good Earth Organics, the new company supplying the next generation of growers -- you can invest in them right here.*  *This is a sponsored post. TRENDS In last week’s Trends newsletter, we dove deep into the unique set of strategies that built a 48 year old, $1B company: Patagonia. Our analysts broke down the tactics that separated Patagonia from their competition, and outlined how you can start to apply the same tactics to your own business immediately. When you read through our analysis, you’ll learn: How to align yourself with the 80% of consumers that believe in the importance of sustainability without “greenwashing” How Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign increased sales by 30% How to follow Patagonia’s process for building in public And much more. If you’re not already a member of Trends, sign up today for a $1 trial to get access to the full newsletter. Get Access → Corporate swag of the day Wall Street Treasures is an online retailer that sells nostalgia-inducing Wall Street trinkets. Some of the site’s official corporate swag is from defunct firms, with some absurd pieces from Enron (the energy trading giant that imploded in the early 2000s over an outrageous accounting scandal): A business ethics handbook from 1998 ($395) A paperweight cube that outlines the Enron’s vision including to “work with customers honestly” ($395) A $50 Enron common stock certificate that actually isn’t worth $50 (but, ironically, costs $395) Accountant Scott Davidson has been selling stuff on Wall Street Treasures for 9 years and tells the New York Times that “everyone loves a good scandal.” He further explains Enron’s enduring appeal: “I think it partly has to do with collective identity. So many people owned a piece of Enron at one time, through their mutual funds. Everyone knew the story.” SHARE THE HUSTLE Over the years, we’ve learned… secrets. The business secrets, tips, and tricks that have helped founders go from zero to millions -- and even billions -- of dollars. Want to see ‘em? Just refer 3 more friends to The Hustle and we’ll send you our curated set of interviews with founders from brands like Zola, AWAY, Vungle, Bonobos, and more. Here’s a message you can use to share with your friends: Hey! Do you read The Hustle? It’s the best daily business newsletter out there -- only takes 5 minutes to read and you’ll sound like the smartest person in the room. Sign up here, it’s free: https://thehustle.co/?ref=fa4fab7876 P.S. You can always check your referral count here. Share The Hustle → How did you like today’s email? hate it meh love it Today's email was brought to you by @TrungTPhan. Editing by: Brad “So Virtual” Wolverton, Carmella Highwater (Coffee Break Manager). PODCAST JOBS ADVERTISE CONTACT US 2131 THEO DR. STE F, AUSTIN, TX 78723, UNITED STATES • 415.506.7210 Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and unsubscribe. 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