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Even going to the Apple Store, going to the Genius Bar, that's an experience that mall offers and the things that are around that Genius store are the places that might get more traffic. It might be good to be near the Apple Store because that's where I'm headed while they're fixing my iPad.

Companies like Apple are returning to X following Trump鈥檚 election after leaving in light of Musk鈥檚 takeover, indicating brands鈥� increasing concerns over drawing the ire of powerful figures. Why it matters: Situations like the Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney controversy and subsequent boycott have contributed to a marketing landscape where advertisers don鈥檛 want to step on anyone鈥檚 toes.

A wild card: Apple could throw its hat in the ring, but with its prior purchase of Beats and strong internal capabilities, its audio business may not need the help of Sonos to keep scaling. Our take: If Sonos continues to decline and no buyer is found, consumers may lose support for low-selling products and access to key features they based their initial purchases on.

Note: Our audio creator revenues forecast includes all revenues generated by US-based independent creators on digital audio distribution platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify and independent distribution platforms. It includes advertising, sponsorships, platform payouts, subscriptions, merchandising, and other revenues from podcasts, audiobooks, and digital music and radio content.

鈥淲ith OOH, you can leverage the same targeting tactics and measurement insights [as on-site], though noting that measurement won鈥檛 be exactly apples to 补辫辫濒别蝉,鈥� said Lucy Markowitz, senior vice president and general manager of US marketplace at Vistar Media. AI and automation fuel the more distant future of retail media.

As a result, while Amazon and Meta have also scaled back diversity efforts, Apple, and Microsoft have reaffirmed their commitment to diversity initiatives, per HR Grapevine. Our take: Businesses and their marketers must balance consumer expectations with government compliance in a polarized environment where transparency is key.

Goldman Sachs entered the Apple Card partnership to expand its consumer banking services and diversify beyond traditional investment banking. But Goldman may end the contract before its 2030 end date because of disappointing returns, per Reuters. Technology development: Banks also collaborate with competitors to promote technologies such as generative AI (genAI).

In 2024 alone, Apple, NatWest, Laybuy, ZestMoney, and Openpay shut down their BNPL operations, and Zilch reduced its operations. Providers face industry-wide slowing user growth and an inherently low-margin business. And the biggest players are getting even bigger, making it harder for smaller firms to compete.

Costco recently rebuffed a push from investors to move away from DEI initiatives, and Apple has asked shareholders to block an effort to roll back commitments.

This effort to appease EU regulators could shake up the mobile wallet landscape, but Apple Pay鈥檚 dominance shouldn鈥檛 waver

Twitter to pay Big Tech tax: Twitter Blue鈥檚 relaunch might not secure the intended revenue due to Apple App Store and Google Play payment commissions. But Twitter has bigger problems.

Generative AI is a content moderation threat multiplier: Apple and Blix face off over AI-generated content restrictions for the App Store. We can expect controversy to escalate as legal liability looms.

Several of the biggest AI players in the world, including Nvidia, Apple, Salesforce, and Anthropic, were accused of scraping thousands of YouTube videos for genAI model training without creators鈥� knowledge. The New York Times, Wired, Forbes, and The Shortcut accused AI search startup Perplexity of content theft and scraping articles without attribution.

Alibaba, which has long been integrating genAI into its ecommerce business, has just secured a partnership with Apple in China to power iPhones with its AI products. ByteDance鈥檚 AI chatbot Douban has risen to the top of China鈥檚 AI apps ranking with nearly 60 million monthly active users (MAUs), according to CTR Market Research.

Brands like Apple have been forced to participate in the country鈥檚 price wars to attract consumers and keep lower-priced domestic rivals from taking share. Apple is currently offering discounts on the latest iPhone models to boost Chinese New Year sales after cutting prices during last year鈥檚 618 shopping festival.

Meta, Apple, and France-based startup Mistral declined to sign but must still follow the law. Zooming in: The law categorizes AI systems into four risk levels鈥攍ow, medium, high, and banned鈥攚ith corresponding obligations. High-risk applications, such as medical AI tools, must meet stringent security and accuracy standards.

While its integration of health data from different sources should be useful, there are other devices on the market, like the Apple Watch, that already do much of the same. Plus, history hasn鈥檛 been kind to smart mirrors. lululemon discontinued its connected Mirror device in 2023 amid low consumer demand, according to Retail Boss.

Japan鈥檚 biggest shopping seasons revolve around the year-end and New Year, when it鈥檚 customary to give children money gifts ("otoshidama") and surprise bags filled with discounted items from the likes of Apple, Uniqlo, and department chains.

Companies hit hard by tariff swings include Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Nvidia, and Tesla. Tariffs on production hubs like China, India, and Vietnam were announced, paused, and, in China鈥檚 case, raised repeatedly.

And the last call-out is that wallet competitors will weigh an Apple, NFC partnership seriously, and we see Block as the most likely candidate to pilot an Apple, NFC partnership in 2025. So let me start first with the banking stuff, Tiffani.

While not as dominant as Apple or Samsung in the smartphone segment, Google鈥檚 Pixel smartphone market share in North America grew from 4.76% in September to 12.9% in October, per StatCounter. But a recent mixed-reality headset collaboration with Samsung and Qualcomm could indicate Google might slowly move to a licensing model instead of hardware production.

Apple, Google, Samsung, and Huawei are all launching AI-enabled smartphones with conversational search functionality. As more consumers get accustomed to those capabilities on mobile, desktop behaviors will start to shift. Brands and retailers will reassess their search strategies.

Last week, Apple made news for testing an AI-powered ad product similar to Google鈥檚 Performance Max. Apple has been successfully investing in advertising for the past few years. But Google has a multibillion dollar advertising advantage. Even with AI advertising improvements, Apple is nowhere near Google鈥檚 ad dominance.

Declining demand and rising costs are taking a toll. Samsung and Apple dominate the premium segment, leaving room for budget brands to thrive in emerging markets.

How we got here: Apple finally started opening up its walled garden to resolve antitrust investigations from both the EU and the US. Apple made its NFC tech available to developers in the US, the UK, and five other markets in the iOS 18.1 update. To use the tech, developers have to enter into a commercial agreement with Apple and pay fees.