This week, we’re dating, deleting and getting feedback. Hinge is testing a higher-cost tier for motivated daters in the dating app that’s designed to be deleted. Amazon is shuttering their Amazon Smile program after making several cost cutting measures, and Apple wants to beef up their smart home offerings. In addition, Spotify and several other music firms are after Apple in the EU for anti-competitive behavior, and YouTube has opened The Listening Room to test out new features for YouTube Music.

Hinge wants to help motivated daters to hit it off

Hinge is looking for love, and they’re looking for money. In a new tier from the Match Group’s offering, they’re asking for $60 per month for motivated daters. Their current premium offering sits at $35 per month. Hinge hinted at this new offering in their Match’s Q3 2022 earnings call.

Ideally, the tier would be like Tinder’s current “Platinum” subscription, Match shared in the earnings call. Tinder Platinum allows users to attach notes to every Super Like they send, which can increase match-making potential by up to 25%. This can, in turn, speed up the dating process and would be a standout feature for Hinge. Hinge has made itself out to be the app for people looking for relationships. Other features included in Tinder Platinum include priority likes, seeing who likes you before you like them, as well as the ability to change the location so subscribers can date around the world.

Hinge hopes the new offering will drive its revenue “meaningfully higher,” Gizmodo shared. Currently, Hinge only has two tiers: free and preferred. The preferred tier gives subscribers unlimited likes, an option to see everyone who likes you, and additional features for search capabilities.

The new tier is slated to roll out in the first quarter of this year, and Hinge is on track to deliver at least $100 million in incremental revenues this year, TechCrunch reported. The preferred tier currently costs users $35 per month, so a new tier would have to bring a lot of extra promise. However, the app has taken off in European markets like Italy, France and Germany, which allowed the app’s revenue to soar to $285 million last year, according to Bloomberg.

“We like subscription monetization opportunities with Hinge – with the Hinge user base. As with any big changes to tiers, we’ll continue to optimize the offering throughout 2023,” Bernard Kim of Match said.

There have also been rumors of a Tinder subscription that will set a user back $500 per month, but no details have been confirmed. Match is currently testing user interest, and those who would like to participate can join a waitlist.

 Amazon shutters AmazonSmile

Amazon is cutting back on a lot: employees, workspace, and now their charity program, AmazonSmile. With the program, shoppers could direct half a percent of their purchase toward a charity organization of their choosing. Amazon has decided to shutter this option due to “limited impact.” The last day of the program will be February 20.

Amazon Smile launched in 2013 and has allowed shoppers to donate to animal welfare groups, school organizations, churches and hospitals. To date, Amazon has donated $400 million to U.S. charities, as well as $449 million globally. However, their average donation per charity was $230 in the U.S., The New York Times reported. The largest recipient of donations was St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, receiving more than $15 million in donations, according to Axios.

“After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped. With so many eligible organizations – more than 1 million globally – our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin,” the company said in a statement.

However, some charities received quite a large amount from their funding, and that money did make a huge difference. Amazon shared with charities that, during this transition, they would be providing them with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned through the program in 2022, NPR shared.

In a blog post, Amazon said that they still plan to pursue philanthropic efforts. These efforts include investing in the Housing Equity Fund, Amazon Future Engineer and Amazon Disaster Relief. They said they will continue to support hundreds of local nonprofits in cities where their employees and families live, however, Amazon did not name the specific organizations.

Apple working on smart home devices

Apple may be ahead in a lot of ways, but they still need to compete with other tech companies. New reports show that Apple is trying to expand their Smart Home line up, and compete with the likes of Amazon and Google. Rumors about a smart home tablet and a new Apple TV are being discussed.

Apple’s first venture into smart homes has already been spotted. The company recently relaunched their HomePod, which features Siri as a virtual assistant. The new launch comes with improved audio and better integration of the voice assistant. In addition, the smart speaker also contains a temperature and humidity sensor, and can monitor for smoke and carbon monoxide. If a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm goes off, the HomePod can send an alert to the customer’s iPhone, Engadget shared.

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However, this foray into smart home devices isn’t what has people worried. It is rumored that Apple is working on a tablet that will be able to control smart home devices, Apple Insider reports. In addition to controlling lights and temperature, users will be able to take FaceTime calls and view video. This part of the market has not yet been approached by Apple. While their current devices can help handle smart devices, they are harder to manage if there is more than one user connected to a single device.

Apple is also looking into a refresh of Apple TV, giving it a faster processor. The refresh will arrive in 2024, but it will not support higher resolutions like 8K. The tech giant is also still working on their HomePod and Apple TV project, but it has suffered some setbacks, according to The Verge.

Spotify joins companies in the EU to crack down on Apple

Spotify has been after Apple for a while, writing an open letter about how Apple wouldn’t let the music platform sell audiobooks within the app among other concerns. Spotify has joined forces with Basecamp and Deezer to ask European regulators to crack down on anti-competitive behavior.

“Apple benefits from a monopoly position over its mobile ecosystem and extracts exorbitant rents from app developers who have no choice but to remain on the App Store to reach European customers. Apple has and continues to defy every effort from courts and regulations to address these unfair practices. While Apple continues to reap unfair rewards, the harm to developers and, more importantly, to consumers is immeasurable,” the companies said in a letter to regulators. Companies that signed this letter include Basecamp, Deezer, Proton, Schibsted and Spotify.

In the past, Spotify has submitted antitrust complaints against Apple in other countries. They previously filed an antitrust complaint in Europe in 2019. The EU responded to the previous complaint, but never forced Apple to make any changes, nor did they publish any findings, Fast Company said. Daniel Ek has previously alleged that the 30% “Apple tax” for developers has forced Spotify to “artificially inflate” their own prices, Reuters shared.

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act is upon us, which could mean that Apple will be designated as a gatekeeper under the new law, The Verge speculated. Should this happen, Apple would have to give app developers more flexibility, and they would have to allow third-party app stores and sideloading.

Apple would have to abide by March 2024 should this decision be made. The companies that signed the letter are asking EU regulators for a swift decision to prevent anti-competitive behavior sooner rather than later.

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YouTube launches The Listening Room

YouTube is on a continuous journey for improvement, and with the latest round, they are seeking user feedback for YouTube Music. After seeking help from Reddit, Google closed signups for the beta testing round but are excited to test out The Listening Room.

Users who were accepted into The Listening Room will be given early access to beta features, as well as a free upgrade to YouTube Music’s Premium plan. In addition, participating users have been invited to an exclusive Discord server that allows them to interact with the YouTube Music product team, Android Police reported.

This feature is designed to help “shape the future of YouTube Music,” said the product team. Requirements to join include that a listener uses YouTube Music as their primary music streaming service for a year, giving regular feedback through conversations and polls given through the Discord server, as well as an agreement to not share any information. This includes screenshots or recordings of new features, or screenshots of anything discussed on the Discord server, 9 to 5 Google reported.

In the signup questionnaire, users were asked what type of listener they were. Suggestions ranged from music being a part of their identity, being a nostalgia-driven listener, or listening to the same music over and over. YouTube also asked listeners about where they listen to music and what devices they listen on, but didn’t offer information about what would make someone more eligible or less eligible.

Additional questions included wanting to know more about short-form video consumption, or how often a user listens to podcasts, interviews or audiobooks. This could suggest that this is where YouTube Music wants to go, but we won’t be able to pinpoint that until The Listening Room testing has concluded and YouTube rolls out more features. If a user is selected, they will be notified in February, and will be given next steps to sign up.

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