Tech
Competition watchdog warns against turning ‘blind eye’ to anti-competitive deals
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It is not worth turning a “blind eye” to anti-competitive business takeovers in order to boost the UK’s reputation as a place to do business, the chair of the competition watchdog has said.
His comments come after the body’s decision to block Microsoft’s 69 billion US dollar (£55 billion) takeover of games company Activision Blizzard, a deal which the European Union approved earlier this week.
Following the decision, Microsoft said the EU was clearly a “more attractive place to start a business”.
On Tuesday, Competition and Markets Authority chair Marcus Bokkerink pushed back against the idea that blocking deals made Britain seem less attractive.
“We are vigilant, as it is our duty to be vigilant, about investments that consolidate and entrench market power,” he told MPs on the Business and Trade Committee.
“I think I would challenge the premise that if there is an impact on international confidence in doing business in the UK, that the best way that that confidence is served is by turning a blind eye to anti-competitive mergers.”
Sarah Cardell, the watchdog’s chief executive, told MPs that the body looked at specific deals on a case-by-case basis but “absolutely” considered the attractiveness of the UK when setting its strategy.
“Individual cases need to be decided on their merits,” she said.
“When we’re looking strategically at the role of the competition authority, absolutely we will consider the impact of the decisions that we have made and the impact that has for the UK economy, including the reputation externally.
“I believe that strong competition is a very positive signal for the UK’s reputation externally.”
Asked about how much the CMA had liaised with the the US authorities over the Activision Blizzard takeover, Ms Cardell said that an independent panel at the authority took decisions on their own.
“The CMA will take its decisions based on our assessment on a merger,” she said.
“We are absolutely not, and I would clarify this because I think there’s been some speculation on this, for example, in the press – we are absolutely not doing the bidding of other agencies.
“We undertake our own analysis and, as I mentioned before, we have our independent panel groups who are responsible for those decisions and take those responsibilities incredibly seriously.”
Apple has probably stopped production of its poorly-received FineWoven cases for the iPhone, but a new report from the same herald of its death says there is one last set of seasonal colorways coming.
Now according to leaker Kosutami, who first reported the cancellation, there could still be one more push for the FineWoven cases.
Pressed on the rumor, Kosutami emphasizes later in the same thread that if this is correct, it will be for only one more season. It’s now almost eight months since the launch of the iPhone 15 range, so it’s unlikely that there is to be a new mid-cycle color of the iPhone, but perhaps there can yet be new colors for the FineWoven cases.
Consequently, this rumor can at best be said to be possible, especially if Apple had already committed resources to the new colors. However, since FineWoven has proven to be startlingly poor at stain resistance or even just durability, it’s more believable that it is gone for good than it is that FineWoven will get a last hoorah.
Facebook parent company Meta today announced the upcoming expansion of Meta Horizon OS, a virtual and augmented reality operating system that will be available to third-party hardware manufacturers that want to design their own headsets.
Right now, Meta sells the Quest line of headsets, but the company wants to provide the software for third-party VR and AR products in the future, much like Microsoft offers Windows for all manner of third-party PCs.
Meta Horizon OS is the mixed reality operating system that Meta created for its own Quest headsets, and it has support for eye, face, hand, and body tracking along with passthrough, spatial anchors, scene understanding, and other features. There is a “social layer” that will allow the identities, avatars, and friends of users to move between virtual spaces on different devices.
According to Meta, multiple companies are working on devices that will use Meta Horizon OS. ASUS ROG is developing a performance gaming headset and Lenovo is working on mixed reality devices for productivity, learning, and entertainment. Meta says that it is also creating a limited edition version of Meta Quest in partnership with Xbox.
With the expansion of Meta Horizon OS to third-party hardware manufacturers, Meta is making it easier for any developer to ship VR software on the platform by removing barriers between the Horizon Store and App Lab.
By creating an operating system that can be used by other hardware manufacturers, Meta is inserting itself into the growing AR/VR ecosystem and creating opportunities for it to outpace Apple in mixed reality development. Apple launched the Vision Pro headset earlier this year, but software is lacking given the high price and limited distribution of the device.
According to a report from earlier today, interest in the Vision Pro is already waning at Apple’s retail locations with fewer people requesting demos.
There have been more launches in the past two weeks than any other two-week period I can remember since I started sweeping floors at Freedom Bike Shop back in 2001. Yes, that means I’m very old. It also means that after several years of delayed product releases, some brands have finally cleared out enough inventory to share what they’ve been working on.
The Pinkbike team came down to Sea Otter this year with mixed expectations, and there were definitely some weird vibes. Everyone is concerned for the remaining Kona employees, and more than one brand expressed that their plan is to #surviveto2025. But overall we loved catching up with everyone, the weather was great, and somehow there was even more gear to cover. The industry might be going through a tough time, but ultimately riding bikes is still ridiculously fun and bike tech is as interesting as ever.
And on that note, here are a few of the random things that caught my eye during the show.
OutsideBrendan works smarter not harder, and dog Bubbie(?) is awesome.
I mistakenly thought it was a garage project kind of thing, but it’s a real brand with a promo video and everything.
And with that, it’s time to face my expense report. Until next year, Sea Otter!
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