Street Fight Daily: The Trouble With “Uber for X” Companies, Apple Moves Away From Mobile Advertising
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
‘Uber for X’ Will Fail in 2016, but Uber Will Continue to Thrive…Why? (Recode)
Micha Kaufman: Between the need to diversify in today’s maturing marketplace environment and the correction occurring in venture markets, 2016 will be an inflection point for “Uber for X” companies, with many being swallowed up by bigger players or just flat-out going out of business. For the exact same reasons, however, Uber itself will continue to see growth.
Apple Steps Back From Its iAd Advertising Business (BuzzFeed)
Six years after launching iAd, Apple is stepping back from it, getting out of the advertising-sales business and shifting to a more automated platform. While iAd itself isn’t going anywhere, Apple’s direct involvement in the selling and creation of iAd units is ending. The company is leaving that to the folks who do it best: the publishers.
Dealmakers: On-Demand and Deep-Linking Companies Born Under a Lucky Star (Street Fight)
Charity Huff: Two areas in the industry I see creating genuine value are in-app search, or “deep linking,” and on-demand tech. In both cases, the value these two industry segments bring is in the efficiencies they create. In other words, where and how they reduce friction in consumer transactions is where we will see 2016 investment and M&A activity.
How Mobile Apps Stack Up Against Mobile Browsers (eMarketer)
Mobile device users are split in their preference for mobile apps vs. the mobile browser, per December 2015 research. Nearly one-third say they prefer to use both at different times. App users like that apps offer access to more features and capabilities and that they have push notifications and alerts, while browser users like that browsers provide access to all the content they’re looking for in one place.
Menu for Success at Brooklyn’s Corner Media: Food, Crime, Homes, and History (Street Fight)
Tom Grubisich: The eight sites of Brooklyn’s Corner Media Group stretch from northwest to southeast in New York City’s most populous borough. We recently caught up with the network’s publisher, Liena Zagare, to talk about about her growing hyperlocal empire and the formula behind its success.
Adyen Is the $2 Billion Payments Startup You’ve Never Heard Of (Recode)
Adyen is not a household name in U.S. business circles, even with a $2 billion-plus valuation. The company’s pitch centers on the idea that retailers can get a better understanding of their customers if both online and in-store purchases run through the same payments platform. If it succeeds in building big businesses in both online and brick-and-mortar payments, it would differentiate itself from better-known companies like Square and Stripe.
Lyft Will Help You Get to the Doctor On Time, Even If You Don’t Have a Smartphone (The Next Web)
Following in Uber’s footsteps, Lyft has announced a partnership with the National Medtrans Network, an organization that arranges non-emergency medical transportation for people who need to go to checkups. Anyone without a smartphone in New York city can now use Lyft to get to their appointment through its new Concierge service.
Going Beyond Google: Innovating Retail Analytics (PYMNTS.com)
“No one can compete with Google.” Those are the words of a former Googler, Morten Hellesøe Poulsen — the CEO of Plytix, a products analytics platform — who is using his knowledge of brand analytics to go beyond Google to offer an innovative way brands can gain a more accurate understanding of product performance and conversion.
Get Street Fight Daily in your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter.
