Five Recent FAAGM Statistics That Underline the Tech Industry's Longer Term Trends

30% fee Apple charges developers for App Store transactions

Deadline reports: Epic Games, Spotify Target Apple, App Store Fees In New Nonprofit ‘Coalition For App Fairness’

My thoughts: The app store is not the gatekeeper that it was when the first iPhone launched. App discovery is happening mostly not in the app store. Apple does not deserve 30% of revenue from mobile apps anymore. Should be more akin to sales tax rate of local goods purchased. Whether it's this newly formed nonprofit, a legal victory, or something else, Apple is simply not providing enough discovery value anymore to deserve its arachiac 30%.

8% of Google’s employees said they want to come to the office everyday

The National Reports: Google mulls hybrid model as 62% of employees do not want to permanently work from office

What a surprise, people do not want to go the office. Google will be the biggest perti dish for the work from home movement in the post pandemic world (if the pandemic ever ends). Personally, I would like to see the world move towards a new standard of only working 4 days a week. Overall, the hybrid model is definitely the winner. An office will still be needed for meetings, mental health, separation of home and office, etc.

$3.9 billion: The amount Amazon currently pays the Post Office per year

Business Insider Reports: Newly released documents show Amazon is a $3.9 billion-per-year customer the Post Office can't afford to lose

This represents 30% of Amazon's total volume of shipping. Have you noticed more and more Amazon trucks on the road? I'm sure they're thinking it would be nice to not pay the government agency's margin on $3.9B per year. As a society becomes more captialistic, private entities often replace government functions... but will the consumer win? The Post Office, especially this year, provides a lot of utility value, and with its biggest customer becoming a competitor, it may not survive.

$7.5 billion: The amount Microsoft paid to acquire ZeniMax/Bethesda.

Gamespot reports: How Microsoft's Bethesda Purchase Stacks Up To Other Big Industry Acquisitions

It's a good thing to have young tech savvy customers who have many more decades to live, digitally spending with you. This deal is really about subscription revenue, as Bloomberg analyst Matthew Kanterman tweeted: At 7.5b acquisition price, if they can sign up 10m more Ultimate subs cause of all of the new games, the deal pays for itself in 4 years. It's funny how recurring revenue models become more and more like government taxes. Regardless of usage, the subscription fee remains the same, and Microsoft will pocket the difference.

773-365-9687: Obama's new community phone number

FastCompany reported: Why President Barack Obama is giving out his phone number today

He is using Community.com's platform to mobilize voters. Obama's been a pinoeer on the social media networks for comunity and audeince development. The larger trend at play is removing the middleman. Instead of using Twitter or Facebook for free, and being subject to their closed source code, follow system, user masking, and changing newsfeed algorithm conditions, more influencers are choosing to pay to own the direct relationship with their community via something as simple as SMS.