Tis the season for end of year wraps - and first cab off the rank is Apple and Google, awarding best of apps, music and podcasts: 

Apple releases its 'Best of 2020' App Store winners and most downloaded apps of the year

Google Play's Best of 2020 Awards highlight the stressful year it's been

• In its press release, Apple said “apps are a reflection of culture. And this year, they reflected people’s focus on self-care and mental health, remote work and learning, staying connected with family and friends, interactive and social gaming, and more.”
• For Apple, home workout app Wakeout! won iPhone App of the Year and Zoom got the top iPad app 
• Google’s best app was Loona, a relaxation and sleep app. 
• Unlike other sleep or meditation apps where users close their eyes and drift off, Loóna is intended to help people wind down while still on their phones.
• Users of the app spend on average 34mins a day playing with the pretty colours and images, and the app has a massive conversion rate of over 50% from free to paying customers, so it must be doing something right. 
• Both platforms awarded Genshin Impact as game of the year 

In podcasting News.. 

• Amazon in Talks to Buy Podcast Maker Wondery - WSJ
• We previously reported on rumours that Apple was looking to buy podcast content creator Wondery
• The new word on the street is that Amazon is looking to purchase the company, possibly to lock in its shows like Dr Death and Dirty John to its own podcast directory 
• Amazon was late to podcasting, it opened a podcast directory just a few months ago
• Spotify shares dropped the day Amazon’s directory went live, showing how much the market values podcasts
• Podcasts are seen to benefit streaming music services in two ways:
• One - they keep users in your ecosystem longer
• Two - podcasts are generally free to stream, theres no royalties to pay 
• Meanwhile, 
• Spotify says a million-plus Anchor podcasts will help it dominate podcasting
• Spotify’s $100 million-plus Anchor acquisition is seemingly paying off.
• Spotify purchased Anchor, a simple podcast creation platform, in 2019
• The streaming company says 70% of podcasts listened to on Spotify are produced with Anchor 

Thanks to listener Simon who contacted me on Twitter to our next story, Microsoft listened to our podcast and has changed it’s Productivity Score program 

Our commitment to privacy in Microsoft Productivity Score

• Microsoft has bowed to pressure and is dramatically changing the productivity score details available to employers
• Microsoft Are removing employee data from the product. 
• During the preview, Microsoft added a feature that showed user data of all employee names over a 28-day period. 
• In response to feedback over the last week, they’re removing that feature entirely. 
• Going forward, the communications, meetings, content collaboration, teamwork, and mobility measures in...
  

  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.