News You might have missed: Week of August 17th, 2018

Google to Open Retail Store in Chicago

Google is planning a two-level store in Chicago’s Fulton Market district, its first known location for a retail flagship. The technology giant is close to finalizing a lease for almost 14,000 square feet on the first and second floors of several connected, two-story brick buildings between 845 and 853 W. Randolph St., according to sources.

Via Chicago Tribune 

• As Google gets more into the hardware business having a retail presence is not a bad idea. Apple, of course, is the benchmark when it comes to turning the move into retail into a strong success both in marketing and revenue.
• That said, I would not look at this move by Google as an attempt to mirror Apple but more an attempt to mirror Amazon and its Amazon Books retail spaces that we have seen pop up over the past year or so. If you have ever been to any of those stores, you know that the whole front part is dedicated to Alexa and the home.
• I say that because I really believe that this move for Google has way more to do with showing off a smart home governed by Google than selling a few phones.
• Experiencing a smart home is still very hard today. Spaces in Best Buy, Home Depot, and Lowes help some but are a far cry from what a consumer needs today to understand and buy into the promise of a connected home.
• At the last product launch in San Francisco, Google set up the space like a home showing off Google Home, Chromecast connected to a TV, Nest products and more. I would expect a similar experience to take up much of this new retail space.
• One swallow doesn’t make summer the same as one store does not make a retail presence. It would be interesting to see what the next move is for Google. Will Google follow a traditional roll out with prime real estate presence in the big cities or will they open up those pop-up stores we have seen Amazon open in shopping malls? The latter might be much easier and cheaper way to have a presence in several cities.

#BreakingMyTwitter

In a company emailed shared today, Twitter cited “technical and business constraints” that it can no longer ignore as being the reason behind the APIs’ shutdown. It said the clients relied on “legacy technology” that was still in a “beta state” after more than 9 years and had to be killed “out of operational necessity.” The company’s email also says it hopes to eventually learn “why people hire 3rd party clients over our own apps.”

Via TechCrunch 

• This has not been a good week for Twitter. First defending Alex Jones’ presence on Twitter and now this.
• Developers have been left high and dry before by Twitter mostly with the reasoning that Twitter has its own app which makes third-party apps unnecessary.
• Unfortunately, however, when it comes to power users, Twitter does not cut it. Managing lists, syncing across devices and just simply have a linear timeline are steps hard to achieve on the original Twitter app.
• Tweetbot one of the most popular apps across iOS and Android sent out an update listing all the features that would have to be turned off because of this update. The list included a Watch app, push notifications for likes, retweets, follows and quotes timeline streaming, and pushed notifications for mentions and direct messages being delayed by a few minutes.
• While I understand why Twitter wants users to engage with its own app – advertizing – it is disappointing that the solution is not found in making that app superior to anything else but rather in crippling third-party apps.
• Twitter, who bought TweetDeck years ago, let the app basically die as no enhancements where ever made and the main Twitter app remains pretty basic even today. There is not even a Twitter app for MacOS.
• Users who are prepared to pay money for an app are clearly engaged with the platform which means that this move is hurting the more profitable users Twitter has.
• Like John Gruber, pointed out, people willing to pay for an app like Tweetbot would be either willing to put up with ads or even pay a fee to use the apps. Both are opportunities for Twitter.
• Pushing consumers to use the main Twitter app at a time when many already feel the toxicity on the platform is taking away too much from the pleasure and the productivity aspects might just be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
• The lack of sense of responsibility Twitter has towards developers shows a deep lack of understanding of the role these apps play in user engagement
• The statement made in the letter about wanting to understand why people use third-party apps shows even less of an understanding of how diverse the user base is and how a one size fits all approach will just hurt. Ironically the executive who shared the internal email did so using a third-party Twitter app.