Techmeme
August 21, 2020, 6:25 PM

Top News

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
In a legal filing, Apple accuses Epic Games of anticompetitive behavior, producing three emails from Tim Sweeney to show that Epic asked for a special deal  —  - Apple responded to Epic Games' lawsuit accusing it of anticompetitive behavior in its control of the App Store in a legal filing on Friday.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Epic to host a #FreeFortnite tournament Aug. 23, with prizes including gaming hardware, encourages players to “fight against the App Store” on social media  —  Fortnite-maker Epic Games and Apple are currently embroiled in a public battle over Apple's App Store policies …
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Danny Crichton / TechCrunch:
Leaked Palantir S-1 shows the company had 2019 revenue of $742M, up ~25% YoY, and a net loss of $580M, about the same as in 2018  —  Palantir filed an S-1 confidentially to the SEC in early July, but we have so far been waiting for the final doc to be published for weeks now with nary a murmur.
Bloomberg:
Sources: up to 80% of Palantir shares will be subject to a lockup period until February 2021, making it more like a traditional IPO  —  - Company had $488 million in revenue in first half of 2020  — Lockup provision makes direct listing more like typical IPO
Joe Maring / Android Central:
Sources: Google Pixel 5 to have a 6" 90Hz display, Snapdragon 765G, and dual rear cameras with an ultrawide lens; leaked renders show a rear fingerprint sensor  —  Here's your early look at Google's upcoming Pixels.  —  What you need to know  — Following new renders of the Pixel 5 …
Matt Mullenweg / @photomatt:
Matt Mullenweg says Apple locked WordPress updates on iOS, and won't unlock them unless WordPress commits to support in-app purchases for .com plans  —  Heads up on why @WordPressiOS updates have been absent... we were locked by App Store. To be able to ship updates and bug fixes again we had to commit to support in-app purchases for .com plans. I know why this is problematic, open to suggestions. Allow others IAP? New name?
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Kuo: Apple is looking to offset cost of new 5G tech in iPhone 12 by using a simpler battery board design that will be 40%-50% cheaper than the one in iPhone 11  —  Apple is looking to put a pricing squeeze on component suppliers for the upcoming iPhone 12 lineup to help offset increased costs …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Alphabet considered participating in a group bid for TikTok but talks among companies in the nascent consortium ended recently  —  - Google parent would have used an investment unit for deal  — Talks among firms in nascent consortium said to end recently
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Jeff Wilke, Amazon's CEO of Worldwide Consumer, will retire from the company in 2021; senior VP of retail operations Dave Clark will succeed him  —  - Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon's worldwide consumer business, will retire from his role in the first quarter of 2021, Amazon said Friday.
New York Times:
Sources: Facebook is exploring steps like a “kill switch” to shut off political ads after the election, if Trump attempts to dispute the results using Facebook  —  The world's biggest social network is working out what steps to take should President Trump use its platform to dispute the vote.
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Sources: Microsoft started signing deals with foreign governments for cloud contracts after JEDI was put on hold due to Amazon's legal challenge  —  - A cloud contract effort designed for governments outside the U.S. could launch later this year.  — The launch would come after Microsoft won …
Business Insider:
Facebook confirms its chief marketing officer Antonio Lucio is stepping down after nearly two years  —  - Facebook chief marketing officer Antonio Lucio is stepping down from his role at the company.  — Employees were notified Friday in a post on Facebook's internal message board, a source told Business Insider.
Casey Newton / The Interface:
Facebook says it's piloting an effort to closely watch posts that rapidly gain millions of views to ensure they don't violate community standards  —  Earlier this week, I wrote about how platforms proved they can stop a piece of health-related misinformation in its tracks.

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