Sunday Newsletter (No. 8): Femtech, Fortnite & the future of gyms
Here’s my take on a few things in tech and science that have been happening recently:
Femtech. As women, we encounter situations that the other half of the population are not familiar with - from a multitude of contraception choices to issues like endometriosis and menopause. Femtech, a term used to describe technology that addresses these areas, is predicted to be a $50 billion market in the next 5 years (Frost & Sullivan). I’m really excited about this and lots of products are currently being developed to help women take better control over their bodies at all stages of life. Period tracking and understanding fertility seem to be the areas dominating femtech at the moment, but I expect other categories will emerge. One area I’m particularly interested in is contraception. There are over 50 varieties of contraception, mainly hormonal options, and it’s impossible to know how you’ll react to the different therapies on the market before you try them. Many women experience emotional and/or physical side effects from taking contraception, and one of my good friends once described the copper coil, one of the few non-hormonal options available, as a “Victorian-era torture chamber.” A contraceptive review platform called The Lowdown has launched recently, which helps women find the right option for them by providing reviews of different contraception options: pills, coils, patches and more. This is a great step towards empowering women to find something that works for them. However I can’t help but think that rather than finding a tolerable pill, now is the time to take contraception technology a step further and develop more sophisticated non-hormonal options.
Links:
Clue, a popular period tracking app
The Grace cooling bracelet for women experiencing hot flushes as a result of menopause
Stix, which provides home delivery pregnancy and ovulation tests
Parla, which helps women understand fertility
Fortnite’s app store battle. This week, popular video game Fortnite, developed by Epic Games, was removed from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for violating the in-app payment rules on both platforms. Typically, Apple and Google take a 30% commission on in-app purchases for apps downloaded from their app stores. Epic Games tried to circumvent this by offering it’s users a direct payment option in the app, and was subsequently removed from the app stores. This means that existing users can continue to play but can’t download any updates, and it’s impossible (iOS) or not quite as easy (Android) for new users to download the game. In response, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against both companies in US federal court. This isn’t the first complaint Apple has had about what is described as the 30% “tax” - Spotify filed an antitrust complaint against them and in June, the EU Commission launched an investigation into whether Apple’s 30% fee is in breach of EU competition rules. Previously, Apple has defended itself by saying that because they do not have a majority of the global market share of smartphones, which is true, it’s impossible for them to have a monopoly. However, Epic Games are suggesting that the Apple ecosystem is a market in itself, over which it does have a monopoly. On the surface, this may seem like boring legal and business jargon (market share, antitrust, monopoly); however, it might be the argument that helps to finally overthrow the much-hated Apple “tax”. Monopolies by large tech firms essentially mean that small companies who do not agree with their rules will not survive, which is detrimental to competition and to consumers. Epic Games is by no means “the little guy” (they have a valuation of about $17 billion) but removing the 30% fee would help small developers who can’t afford to pay it. Having waged my own battle against the powers that be at Apple regarding in-app payments and the 30% “tax”, I can understand the frustration that comes with this fee. I’m hoping that the next time I write about this, David (in some form) will have beaten Goliath.
Links:
Fortnite maker sues Apple, Google after removal of game from app stores (Reuters)
In lawsuit, 'Fortnite' maker to test idea of iPhone as market unto itself (Reuters)
The future of gyms. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, lots of companies had to pivot their offering slightly. Restaurants and coffee shops began selling groceries and moved towards offering home delivery options, and gyms and fitness companies started offering online classes. Now that restrictions have eased, you can eat at a restaurant and go back to the gym. However, I think that digital fitness is here to stay and products and services will continue to develop in this area. ClassPass began offering online classes during the lockdown and have continued to expand this part of the app - they’ve also just partnered with a company called FYT (Find Your Trainer) in the US to offer virtual personal training sessions. Some readers of this newsletter will know that pre-pandemic, I was an avid gym-goer and not a fan of home workouts, but as it turns out I’ve cancelled my gym membership and plan to continue the exercise routine I developed during lockdown. It’s unsurprising that many people won’t be returning to the gym, but I’m curious as to the primary motivation for this: is it driven by a fear of being in a gym environment, because home workouts have been an effective replacement, or are people now just exercising less? Understanding this behaviour will be useful for those building digital fitness products. Now that gyms are open, will you be heading back or sticking with virtual classes and home workouts? Share your thoughts in the comments if you’d like!
Links:
Personal training sessions come to ClassPass (TechCrunch)
Searches for “home workout” (Google Trends)
This is a newsletter of a three things in tech and science that I've found interesting this week. It's a 5 minute read every Sunday, in which I’m hoping you’ll learn something new.
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