FTI Consulting News Bytes – 13th May

This week’s news

Femtech under Roe vs Wade

There has been widespread public debate this week about future access to reproductive healthcare in the US in the wake of the reported decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade legal ruling, which would make abortion illegal in 22 states. But the impacts of the case have also crept into technology. Here, the BBC reports that digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says women using period tracking apps must ensure they know how their data is being used, suggesting that some of these apps share data with third parties, noting fears that the apps could be used to punish those seeking a termination. Cooper Quintin, senior staff technologist at the EFF, told the BBC: “We strongly suggest that the developers of period tracking apps start thinking about the amount of data they are storing about their customers, and especially the ways that data could one day be used or misused in the future to cause harm, or be a tool of surveillance.”

Peleton’s had a wheelie bad week

The Financial Times this week reports that Peloton shares hit new lows on Tuesday, after the connected fitness company reported far higher quarterly losses than expected and warned it was “thinly capitalised” for a business of its scale. The New York-based maker of exercise bikes and treadmills reported a net loss of $757mn for its fiscal third quarter — almost triple the $267mn loss analysts had expected. Peloton now expects fourth-quarter revenue of between $675mn and $700mn, below analysts’ consensus forecasts of $820mn. Peloton shares fell as much as 20% to $11.35 in early trading, more than 90% below the peak they reached in late 2020 when Wall Street was betting that the company would be a lasting beneficiary of pandemic-induced changes to consumers’ fitness regimes. As the easing of coronavirus-related lockdowns has encouraged more people to return to gyms and fitness studios, Peloton has struggled to maintain its equipment sales, which account for about 60% of revenues.

iPod shuffles off the market

This week, Apple announced the end of the road for the iPod, the device  that was the first of many to lead Apple from the brink of bankruptcy to a multitrillion-dollar company. Apple released its first music player that could hold 1,000 songs on October 23, 2001, realising the vision of co-founder Steve Jobs. Here, The Times stated that the iPod (in all its versions) “was ubiquitous for much of the 2000s”.  Since then, Apple has sold an estimated 450 million iPods, according to Loup Ventures, a research-driven venture capital firm. That it lasted this long was a testament to its popularity, but when the company released the iPhone in 2007, it quickly began to eat away at iPod sales. Moreover, music streaming services also changed the game to the point where consumers no longer needed a dedicated device to hold music anymore. TechCrunch bid a fond farewell to the beloved device: “RIP iPod, you walked so smartphones could run”.

Big tech’s need for speed

Last weekend’s Formula One Grand Prix in Miami charmed a host of American fans, thanks to the “Netflix effect” of “Formula 1: Drive to Survive”, according to TechCrunch. The event attracted a “new class” of tech sponsors, such as Google, Amazon, and Dell, who can use their computing power to analyse the 100,000 data points the $20 million machines generate per second. The article reports, however, that it might just be Red Bull Racing who takes the cake, thanks to Oracle Cloud, with software that uses machine learning to analyse race-day variables, from when to make a pit stop to which kind of tires to use. Meanwhile, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, the drivers in McLaren Racing’s Formula 1 team, are benefitting from the recruitment of Google’s AI and Android 5G to “solve big and complex engineering challenges,” according to Nicholas Drake, Google’s VP of marketing. More attractively, the technology tested on the track — continually evolving due to the governing body’s ever-changing regulations — tends to trickle down into passenger cars, so what’s showcased today could be in showrooms tomorrow.

You’ve been hit by a crypto criminal

Thieves are targeting digital currency investors on the street in a wave of “crypto muggings”, police have warned this week, with victims reporting that thousands of pounds have been stolen after their mobile phones were seized. Anonymised crime reports provided to The Guardian by City of London police reveal that criminals are combining physical muscle with digital know-how to part people from their cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency transfers are irreversible, unlike a bank transfer, making this type of crime more attractive to thieves. Gurvais Grigg, a 23-year veteran of the FBI, who now works as public sector Chief Technology Officer for Chainalysis, which helps government agencies and financial institutions track movements of digital currency, said the nature of cryptocurrency meant that police should, in theory, be able to track stolen crypto. Phil Ariss, who leads the cryptocurrency team on the National Police Chiefs’ Council cybercrime programme, endorsed this claim by detailing the new cyrpto-related training being given to police officers.

Top Tweets of the Week

• Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, tweets that: There’s no doubt that London attracts a diverse, skilled, global workforce. It’s no wonder we are the number one choice for the tech community outside of the US. Great to meet with San Francisco’s tech leaders tonight. I look forward to welcoming you to our city. https://t.co/uMCYShhEwN
• Joe Miller, Frankfurt Correspondent at the Financial Times, tweets that: Asked which EV startup he admires, @elonmusk says the company making most progress besides Tesla is @VWGroup. “VW is doing the most on the electric vehicle front.”
• Aaron Pressman, Tech Reporter for the Boston Globe, tweets that: The Tech Selloff Is Ugly. But the 2000 and 2008 Crashes Were Far Worse. https://t.co/WCBBf90OLe

Number of the Week

$2.42tn. – The valuation of Aramco, which has overtaken Apple as the world’s most valuable company.

What’s happening next week?

• 14 May: Eurovision Song Contest
• 15 May: EU-US Trade and Technology Council meeting
• 16 May: EU Spring Economic Forecast; documentary about Elon Musk airs on Channel 4
• 18 May: CBI Annual Dinner; 10th anniversary of Facebook debuting as a publicly-listed company
• 21 May: SpaceX rocket launch for its internet-satellite megaconstellation

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