Page 12 - aruba-today-20201028

A12 TECHNOLOGY
Wednesday 28 OctOber 2020
Video app TikTok leans into e-commerce with Shopify deal

By MATT O'BRIEN our commerce capabilities
AP Technology Writer globally."
The popular short-form vid- It's not clear what the part-
eo app TikTok, still under nership means for TikTok's
U.S. government scrutiny negotiations with Walmart.
for its Chinese ownership, is Walmart and Shopify are
moving closer to becoming on good terms, having
a marketplace for buying teamed up against Ama-
stuff. zon in June on a deal that
Canadian e-commerce enables Shopify's small
platform Shopify said Tues- businesses to get listed on
day it's made a deal with Walmart.com.
TikTok enabling merchants Trump said over the summer
to create "shoppable" vid- he would shut down TikTok
eo ads that drive custom- unless ByteDance sold its
ers to online stores. U.S. assets to an American
The partnership was an- company, citing concerns
nounced Tuesday amid about the potential for the
stalled negotiations for Chinese government to spy
Walmart to buy a 7.5% stake on users' data.
in the video app. Walmart's ByteDance in September
planned investment is part proposed to U.S. authorities
of a government-forced a partnership with Walmart,
deal that would rescue Tik- This May 29, 2019, file photo, shows the Ottawa headquarters of Canadian e-commerce company California tech company
Tok from a threatened ban Shopify. Associated Press Oracle and other Ameri-
by President Donald Trump can investors designed to
and advance Walmart's we're seeing happen in through social media web- promote. relieve national security
ambitions for the world of countries around the world. sites isn't yet as common in Then, video ads will be au- concerns about the app.
"social commerce." And it's intriguing to us, and the U.S., though Pinterest tomatically generated that Trump expressed support
"If you're watching a Tik- we would like to be part of and Facebook-owned Ins- could show up in a TikTok for the idea but officials
Tok video and somebody's it." tagram have made some user's video feed and drive haven't formally approved
got a piece of apparel or ByteDance, the Beijing- inroads and TikTok last year customers to Shopify for it.
an item on it that you re- based company that owns began making it easier for checkout. Trump's attempt to ban Tik-
ally like, what if you could TikTok, already runs a thriv- businesses to link to them- TikTok said in a prepared Tok was also delayed until
just quickly purchase that ing social media market- selves from the app. statement Tuesday that after next week's U.S. presi-
item?" Walmart CEO Doug place on Douyin, its twin Shopify said its merchants Ottawa-based Shopify will dential election after the
McMillon told CNBC ear- video app for the Chinese will be able to select which be a "perfect partner to company sued in federal
lier this month. "That's what market. Buying products product they would like to help us grow and expand court to halt the order.q
T-Mobile offers up yet another TV streaming service

tiers priced at $40, $50 and mount Plus, relaunching in slowed and even dropped
$60, depending on how 2021. Some have already for many of these services
many sports channels you bitten the dust. Quibi, a as prices rose and they
want. The $40 option offers video platform designed added more channels.
around 30 channels includ- for people who were out YouTube TV, for example,
ing ABC, NBC, Fox, CNN, and about to watch on launched in 2017 at $35,
Fox News, ESPN, and Fox their phones in "quick bites," raised its price to $50 last
Sports Networks. launched in April and said year and then again to $65

Then there's TVision Vibe, last week it would shutter in June as it added new
which is $10 a month and after failing to find its audi- channels and lost others.
includes about 30 channels ence. T-Mobile had struck a Sony's PlayStation Vue, one
from AMC, Discovery and deal with Quibi to offer the of the first such services,
Viacom — but no sports. service free to subscribers shuttered last year citing
And TVision Channels, on unlimited wireless family the high cost of content
which lets you sign up for plans for one year. and the difficulty of reach-
In this Feb. 14, 2018, file photo, the T-Mobile logo ppears on a individual channel stream- Services offering more ing deals with networks.
screen at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. ing services, starting with traditional cable TV-like A TVision app is currently
Associated Press just three: Starz, Showtime bundles include Sling TV, available on the App Store
By MAE ANDERSON cheaper service for peo- and Epix. FuboTV, YouTube TV, and and Google Play for phones
AP Technology Writer ple dissatisfied with cable. A slew of new streaming others, were initially herald- and tablets, as well as third-
Yet another service pro- But it's entering a crowd- services started to chal- ed as the future of TV as ca- party TV platforms such as
vider is jumping into the TV ed field. And most similar lenge traditional TV provid- ble cord-cutting ramped Apple TV and Google TV.
streaming wars. This time streaming services have ers and dominant stream- up. They offered popular TV T-Mobile is also introducing
it's T-Mobile and its TVi- found it difficult to sustain ing services like Netflix over networks for less than you'd its own HDMI device and
sion service with live news, low prices over time. the past year, including pay a cable company. remote for $50, called TVi-
entertainment and sports TVision will offer three Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, Signing up and canceling sion Hub, that works much
channels, starting at $10 a branches of its service. HBO Max and Comcast's were easy, with no need like a Google Chromecast
month. TVision Live will have live Peacock service. CBS re- for a cable guy to come to or Amazon Fire stick to let
T-Mobile says it's aiming to news, entertainment and cently rebranded its CBS your house. you play video from a vari-
offer a simpler and and sports channels at three All Access service as Para- But customer growth has ety of streaming apps.q