alao News im Januar 2024: CES 2024, Apple Vision Pro, Versicherungen bei Swisscom, Netflix
Don’t fancy having to subscribe to an endless number of tech sites to stay up to date? Then we have good news: Our alao digest provides you with the most important tech, device and provider news once a month. In January, this news was important.
CES 2024: Transparent televisions are a reality
The Consumer Electronics Show, or CES for short, is one of the most important tech trade fairs in the world. Every year, the tech industry comes together to present the latest innovations and device updates. Not everything reaches the end customer market (i.e. us!), but it offers a good insight into what is technically possible.A highlight of this year’s CES: transparent televisions from LG and Samsung. While Samsung’s microLED TV is merely a design concept, LG’s transparent OLED TV will actually appear on the market: it should be ready as early as 2024. When the TV is not in use, it can be transformed into an aquarium. It is not yet known how expensive the TV will be. However, we expect it to cost at least a high 5- to 6-figure sum.
If you’d rather take your TV with you to your TV-less friends, you should take a look at C Seed’s foldable TV. But beware: with a screen diagonal of 137 inches, your friend will need a lot of space in the living room. Once this has been mastered, the price of 200,000 dollars is manageable.
If ordinary folding phones don’t go far enough for you, you should register your interest in Samsung’s Flex In & Out Flip Phones. This can be closed in both directions so that the display can be used even when folded. We don’t know in which everyday situations this feature could be useful, but so far it’s just a concept.
Anyone who wants physical keys back should keep an eye on the keyboard case from Clicks. So far, only the latest iPhone models have been supplied with a keyboard, but if the case is successful, the protective cover will probably be released for other smartphones.
Apple Vision Pro: US launch as early as February
In just a few days, the first people will be holding the latest Apple product in their hands. Pre-orders have been possible in the USA since January 19, and the first pre-order customers should hold Apple’s latest product in their hands on February 2. Analysts and insiders expect a worldwide launch before this year’s WWDC. It will cost 3499 US dollars, and those who need special glasses will have to pay another 99 or 149 US dollars. Only 800,000 units are expected to be available at launch, estimates assume up to 180,000 pre-orders. Apple advises foreign customers not to buy on the official sales page.
alao keeps you up to date on a possible Swiss launch.
Waves of layoffs in the tech industry continue; Sunrise also lays off employees
The waves of redundancies continue in the new year. The livestreaming platform Twitch, which belongs to Amazon, is laying off 500 employees, around 35% of its workforce. In March last year, 400 employees had to leave, including many managers. As Fortune reports, Twitch is still unprofitable even nine years after it was founded. At the gaming chat platform Discord, 170 employees, or 17% of the workforce, also have to go. Like Twitch, Discord is also unprofitable and only went through a wave of redundancies in August 2023. At Alphabet, as many as 12,000 employees had to go last year, now, more employees are affected. It is not yet known whether the wave of redundancies will also affect the YouTube site in Zurich. Amazon already laid off 18,000 employees last year; Meta and Microsoft let go of 11,000 and 10,000 employees respectively. If key interest rates continue to rise or remain high, further waves of redundancies are expected.
Sunrise is also parting with 6% of its workforce (source in German), which corresponds to around 166 out of 2703 employees. A “lean corporate structure” is intended to guarantee long-term success, according to a spokesperson.
Samsung now also promises 7 years of updates
After Google, Samsung now also promises to provide its models with updates for 7 years. This applies not only to security updates, but also to regular updates. But there is a catch: the update promise only applies to smartphones from the Galaxy S24 upwards. And: Not every new feature will be available on every phone. This applies in particular to features that require newer, more powerful hardware. Even with the Google Pixel, certain functions are only reserved for the Pro models. Nevertheless, Samsung is eliminating a point of criticism that is repeatedly directed at Android phones: namely the far too short supply of updates.
Netflix abolishes the ad-free standard subscription (in the USA)
The days when you could share your Netflix account unconditionally are long gone. After turning the price screw several times in recent years, introducing a low-cost subscription with advertising, users are now facing a new threat: As the streaming market leader announced in a letter to shareholders (original source), Netflix is not only planning further price increases,but also wants to abolish the ad-free standard subscription. New and returning customers will then only have the choice between a subscription with advertising and the most expensive subscription with four simultaneous streams and 4K content. The changes currently only affect the US and the UK, but Netflix has promised to extend the ad-free subscription to other markets. The last time prices for Swiss users were adjusted (source in German) was at the end of 2021.
Swisscom: Price increases for in-shop payments
It was only in July that we reported that Swisscom had put an end to free payment of bills in stores. Now the provider is turning the price screw again: instead of CHF 3.90, CHF 6.90 will now be charged (source in German) if you want to pay your bill in a Swisscom store. As SRF writes, citing a Swisscom spokesperson, around 50,000 bills are still being paid in stores. Around 85% of customers are under 65, and those who have their bills sent to them by post and pay them at the post office counter continue to pay CHF 3.90.
SECO admonishes Swisscom for greenwashing
Giving yourself a sustainable image is in. However, many companies advertise with self-evident or unsubstantiated statements – so-called greenwashing. In mid-January, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs issued a warning to Swisscom (both sources in German) and asked it to provide proof of its “climate-neutral services and products” claim. This was preceded by complaints from consumer protection, which questioned the sustainability claims of Coca-Cola, Hipp, Zurich Zoo and other companies in addition to Swisscom. Swisscom rejects the criticism from Consumer Protection, but intends to review the statements internally.
Swisscom wants to enter the insurance market
And once again Swisscom: As reported by the Swiss Tagesanzeiger, the provider will enter the insurance market from 2024 and offer household contents and liability insurance. Although the provider was subject to strict rules following privatization in 1998, Swisscom is not explicitly prohibited from entering the insurance sector. However, Parliament in 2022 and the Federal Council in 2023 called on the Federal Department of Economic Affairs to draw up new regulations for state-owned companies such as Swisscom and Swiss Post.
Swisscom already offers cell phone insurance today, but does not act as the primary insurer; instead, it works with the AXA Group in the background. This will also be the case with the current insurance plans; it is not yet known which insurance companies will be active in the background
