Hey Snackers,
We almost built a self-driving newsletter in honor of the occasion.
A packed week of tech earnings truly gets going today with Snap. In the meantime, Uber "Prime-ified" its business model.
Uber launches a membership service fueled by its core advantage over Lyft
Hungry and lazy?... There's an app for that. Uber is piloting a membership service in San Francisco and Chicago. For $24.99 a month, users will get a fixed discount on each Uber ride, free delivery on Uber Eats, and 30 minutes of JUMP bike-share and scooter rides per day for free.
Variety gets 5 stars... Technically, Lyft has a monthly subscription too (an unlimited pass called "All Access"). But Uber's competitive advantage is all the logistics options for a variety of daily needs packed into one monthly charge. Lyft doesn't have that. Need to drive far? Uber's membership covers it. Just need to scoot around the corner? It's covered. Want a gyro STAT? All included.
"Prime-ification" is happening... Amazon brought the club concept to a mass audience with $119/year (or $12.99/month) Prime. Uber's pulling the same move because it knows that once you commit, you're a sticky customer. Already paid the month's Uber membership fee? You won't even open Lyft (unless Uber's surge pricing is crazy). Membership programs thrive on that guilt — and the recurring, consistent revenue they drive may get more business models Prime-ifying.
PS: What will get "Prime-ified" next? Tweet your guess @RobinhoodSnacks.
Apple is reportedly buying Intel's chip business for $1B
"I hate that chip store... I wish there were another in town." That's the thinking behind Apple's reported interest in acquiring the smartphone chip division at Intel. Intel is/was really good at making computer chips, but not so good at mobile chips for smartphones. Here's Intel's rocky relationship with Apple for the iPhone:
- 2007 — 2016: Qualcomm was Apple's go-to modem provider.
- 2016 — April 2019: Apple put its arm around Intel, hoping it could offer the same chips as Qualcomm for a lower price.
- April 16, 2019: Apple begrudgingly settled lawsuits with Qualcomm, and agreed to use its chips again for at least 6 years.
- Also April 16, 2019: Since Apple broke up with it, Intel announced it was done with smartphone modems.
We're talking about the "bottleneck"... iPhones start as raw materials and end fitting nicely on your palm. In between there's a value chain, including workers, factories, stores... and modems. Qualcomm is the only chip company able to offer the modems for 5G phones, so Apple has no choice but to work with them.
This is about busting Qualcomm's bottleneck... Qualcomm's stock fell 3% after the WSJ's report — if Apple's able to resurrect Intel's patents, research, and engineers into a functioning 5G chip assembly line, Qualcomm will lose the power it has over the iPhone. If not, Qualcomm will keep naming its chip price.
Equifax settles for a hefty $650M (or more) with 147M Americans for its data breach
The bureau of credit... Sounds like a government agency. It's not. It's Equifax, the for-profit company best known for exposing over 147M Americans' sensitive personal information. Yesterday, it settled a bunch of lawsuits and investigations, offering victims some free stuff:
- $25/hour: If you spent time with credit card customer service or learning how to manage a password manager, you can bill Equifax for it — up to $20K.
- 10 years: Free credit monitoring service for a decade, which is worth ~$10/month.
- $7B: That's the max amount Equifax could end up paying if all 147M victims take action (the company only expects 7M to make claims — FYI, you can learn more at equifaxbreachsettlement.com).
Your money history matters... Three companies keep track of Americans' money reputation — your credit score. If they make a mistake, you could suffer from high interest rates, a problem that's tough to correct. So far though, the data that Equifax failed to protect hasn't shown up on the black markets where stolen data is typically sold.
Equifax has pretty much recovered... The Atlanta-based company's stock price dropped from $145 to $93 in the two weeks after reports that its data door was left open. But shares have climbed back to $138 (as of Monday). Equifax was driving irresponsibly with a baby on board (your data), but politicians haven't done much new regulating to make sure it won't happen again.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Tuned: Etsy wants to enhance its "online craft market" — so it's buying Reverb, a new and used music gear marketplace
- Beans: Luckin Coffee, China's tech-focused Starbucks rival, is officially expanding to the Middle East (interesting side note: lots of politicians showed up to celebrate)
- Sharp: Stitch Fix rises after an analyst suggests the fashion box subscription service should get into renting clothes next
- Help: JCPenney drops 9% on word it is hiring bankruptcy advisors
- New: China revealed a new stock exchange to keep Chinese companies away from Wall Street
- Passed: Congress and the President agree to a 2-year budget and debt ceiling