đ° Recent Top Tech News
Google brings Chat, Meet, and a new âSpacesâ to free Gmail accounts
Spotify copies competitor Clubhouse feature in a new âGreenroomâ
Shein, a Chinese shopping app, overtakes Amazon Fashion with $10Bn revenue
The Takeaways
Google brings paid features such as Workspace, Chat, video Meet to everyone who has a free Gmail account. This also integrates Chat better into other tools like Google Sheets.
đ Our Take
The way we work is changing, and Google knows this. We now expect faster collaboration within small teams, easy access to video conferencing and sharing documents. Microsoft and Apple are also building more âsocialâ features into documents, reflecting real-life interactions on the same documents.
Google has a terrible track record with trying different communication tools, having failed with 2 social networks and at least 5 messaging apps.
đ§Â Your Takeaway
Collaboration tools are rapidly evolving. Working with cloud-based files offers many benefits now (multiple editors, Single source of truth, history of revisions, and offline mode if you need). Think twice before you attach that next .docx.
2. Spotify, the music streaming company, launched a new feature âGreenroomâ, replicating the âlive audio conferenceâ feature made popular by the Clubhouse app.
đ Our Take
Spotify started its journey in making music accessible to all with its free ad-supported music. It then added Podcasts with spoken broadcasts, with a strategy to pay for celebrities for exclusive sessions on Spotify. However, this was all one way from speaker to audience. Now, by âborrowingâ this feature of a live audio conference, Spotify enables creators to connect with fans, offering an advantage over competitors such as Apple Music.
Clubhouse is a single feature app waiting to be acquired or die, as other major companies add their major feature into own app. Facebook is already testing âLive Audio Roomsâ in the US.
đ§Â Your Takeaway
Borrow good ideas where it makes sense. The tech industry almost expects that when one company rolls out a feature, that all others will bring in a version similar to that. Figure out how to make it happen.
3. Shein, the Chinese shopping app tripled to over $10Bn last year and has been the #1 e-commerce app in the US for the past 150+ days. Shein takes trends from TikTok and Instagram and can create a cheaper version ready to order online within 2 weeks.
đ Our Take
 If Zara and H&M pioneered âFast Fashionâ – being able to respond within weeks instead of seasonal months, then Shein is an example of âUltra-Fast Fashionâ. Shein appears to be sharing real-time data with their suppliers to give them a heads up, and actively monitoring trends across the internet.
đ§Â Your Takeaway
People now expect to be able to purchase what they see, near instantly. Give your partners a heads up when you see something on the horizon or going viral so that you collectively can react faster than your competition.
Jargon Buster
BNPL – Buy Now Pay Later –Â These are the online systems that allow you to take purchase items online and pay it over say 4 instalments over the next few weeks. BNPL companies are effectively lending companies, creating micro loans for that 1 purchase.