The new Logitech G Pro Hero looks familiar, but plays better than ever

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After two years of research and testing with more than fifty professional gamers, Logitech G is now making available its new family of “Pro” mice consisting of one wired version costing $70 and one wireless version selling for $150. Both models are based on the company’s latest optical sensor, the Hero16K, packing a sensitivity of up to 16,000 dots per inch. Yet, the wireless version is the only model in the duo sporting an ambidextrous design, catering to both left- and right-handed gamers.

The successor to Logitech’s Hero sensor (short for High Efficiency Rated Optical), the Hero16K packs “critical upgrades” over the previous generation to track at over 400 inches per second and support more than 40G of acceleration. The company says it set out to create a high-performance sensor that requires very little power, therefore requiring a smaller battery and enabling lighter form factors without sacrificing performance.

That said, both mice weigh around 2.93 ounces, feeling pleasantly light but not enough to see your hand suddenly take flight in the heat of battle. If you’re coming from the G903, the new Pro mice are both lighter and slimmer, feeling less bulky under your fingers. There are no gaping crevasses either as seen with the G903, which we find can lead to garbage collecting on the mouse switches, causing annoying clicking issues with the buttons.

Take or leave the wire

What’s interesting about the new G Pro and G Pro Wireless is that they’re not the same: Logitech didn’t simply rip out the wireless component and re-sell the resulting device at a lower price.

For starters, the wireless version includes the two click buttons, the mouse wheel and two buttons on each side. It ships with four button covers enabling you remove two of the unused side buttons and cover the openings. The DPI switch is actually a button on the bottom of the mouse providing five customizable settings. Three hidden LEDs mounted behind the top click buttons temporarily illuminate as you cycle through these settings.

The wired version isn’t quite so friendly with lefties. It also feels and appears less rounded, using a flatter, boxier shape in its overall design. With this version, the DPI button resides behind the mouse wheel, joining your standard left- and right-click buttons along with two permanent thumb buttons on the left side. The added bonus is that this mouse provides an illuminated, customizable RGB strip running along the side and around the back of the palm area.

Both, then, have their pluses and minuses. But if you’re a long-time wired PC gamer who snubbed wireless peripherals over the years, you may need to make a double-take with Logitech’s latest efforts. The company’s Lightspeed wireless technology aims to bring wired-like connectivity to your twitchy gaming with speeds as fast as one millisecond. Of course, the higher your polling rate the faster you’ll drain the battery. But if you own the PowerPlay system, that really won’t matter.

The Logitech G Pro Gaming Mouse is one of the few peripherals that support the company’s wireless charging station. Just slap the magnetic charging puck into the socket under the mouse, and you’re good to go. If you don’t own PowerPlay, this socket is a good place to store the Pro’s provided Mini USB dongle. This mouse also ships with a USB cable sporting the company’s proprietary forked connector to charge the peripheral, as a USB port resides at the front of the device.

On a performance level, the wireless model is no different than any other Lightspeed-based peripheral we’ve tested thus far. Despite the wireless connection, Logitech’s proprietary 2.4GHz connection showed no signs of latency in games such as Prey: Mooncrash, Far Cry 5 and Destiny 2. If anything, we had to refine our twitch movement given we were used to pushing the heavier G903 mouse. Naturally, we didn’t experience any performance issues with the wired model either.

Overall, we’ve found our new, favorite mice until Logitech G cranks out another upgrade. They just feel right, a byproduct stemming from the feedback of more than fifty professional gamers who helped mold both peripherals. The collaboration is obvious in the overall presentation, feel and performance. There are no crazy, unnecessary frills here, just the very best performance and refinement, so you can focus on conquering games rather than battling hardware.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best gaming mouse of 2018
• The best ergonomic mouse
• Microsoft relaunches the classic mouse that changed gaming forever
• Microsoft’s Surface Mobile Mouse is the ideal companion for your Surface Go
• The best gaming keyboards of 2018

Chrome’s new design brings fresh problems for Google to fix

Chrome’s fresh new look is also bringing in a fresh batch of problems. For its tenth anniversary, Google gave its browser a makeover with the release of Chrome 69, but users are already reporting numerous issues. Though most like the new aesthetic, quite a few would like the option to revert back to an older build just to gain additional stability. Reports of lag, crashing, and the browser’s inability to render websites correctly are reported on Chrome for desktop and Chrome for mobile.

“Many websites are grayed out/dimmed out,” user Luke Avveduto wrote on Google’s product support forum. “I’m using a PC and my monitor is at 100 brightness. I have turned off night mode and any other programs that may turn down the brightness. This is only an issue in websites just a blank new tab and the chrome settings are the proper brightness.”

Though not an exhaustive list of user-reported problems, we’ve read user reports indicating that Chrome downloads SWF files instead of playing them, notification blocking doesn’t work, problems exist with lags when scrolling with touchscreens, websites won’t load, and there are sync issues, crashes and freezes, problems with logging in, displaying of the wrong language, inability to save passwords, and crashing when opening bookmarks or tabs.

Surprisingly, some users are also having issues loading popular websites, like Twitter and Facebook. Several users have noted that Twitter wouldn’t load in the normal browser, but will load fine when incognito mode is enabled. Other users report missing icons when loading Facebook’s site.

On Android, users have been vocal about problems with Chrome after the update. The most common complaints include crashing when opening bookmarks, lags, and error messages. Based on user reviews on the Play Store, it seems that Chrome on mobile is at least more stable than Chrome for desktop, with most users complaining about the lack of a dark-themed night mode to make it easier to browse at night as well as the inability to install extensions.

“Since the new update my Chrome has been doing all kinds of weird stuff,” one user wrote in a review posted on Google’s Play Store. “First of all I can’t even change tabs or swipe to close them, second my keyboard typing don’t show up on the search bar. The new white look also is ugly and slows down my app.”

While the white theme may boil down to user preference, those with an AMOLED screen complain that the extra bright white background greatly affects battery life. As a workaround, some users resorted to enabling incognito mode to get rid of the all-white theme.

And while it doesn’t affect stability, another design concern voiced by Android users is that Chrome 69 displays tabs up top, making it harder for users to open and close tabs on a phone. Yet, despite the many complaints, there appears to be many users happy with the update. Let us know if you experience any problems with the update and what your impressions are of the new interface design.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Google completely revamps Chrome to celebrate browser’s 10th birthday
• The best web browsers
• Chrome’s picture-in-picture mode for videos is expected to arrive next month
• Daydream VR users can browse with Google Chrome in virtual space
• Chrome 69 arrives in September with Google’s Material Design overhaul intact

¿Es tu hijo bilingüe? Amazon’s FreeTime now offers content en español

Por fin el español está recibiendo la atención que merece. Las grandes empresas de tecnología van incorporando poco a poco la lengua de Cervantes en sus productos y a pesar de que los pasos son más pequeños de lo que quisiéramos que fueran, son siempre avances sólidos. Siempre la noticia de un nuevo servicio en nuestro idioma será recibido con los brazos abiertos.

Tal es el caso de Amazon Free Time, un servicio de contenido de Amazon hecho y curado para los niños. Pudimos hablar en exclusiva con Kurt Beidler, Director General de Amazon Free Time en anticipación al lanzamiento de este servicio en español, quien nos brindó más detalles acerca de lo que podemos esperar una vez el servicio sea lanzado.

Los hogares son cada vez más bilingües

Beidler nos indicó que en Amazon siempre están buscando satisfacer las demandas de los clientes. Estando ubicados en un país donde el español está tan presente en ciertas áreas, tenía sentido hacerlo. La llegada de Free Time y Free Time Unlimited brinda contenido bilingüe, ideal para aquellos hogares donde se habla tanto el inglés como el español al mismo tiempo. “El español es el segundo idioma más hablado en los Estados Unidos y es ensenado como un idioma extranjero en muchas escuelas primarias hoy en día,” afirma Beidler.

Vale la pena resaltar que el bilingüismo se ha tomado los títulares últimamente. No solo Amazon se está enfocando en ello, sino que su competidor Google también se está enfocando en brindar facilidades en casas donde se habla más de un idioma. Por su parte, se conoce que la Asistente Alexa de Amazon hablará español muy pronto, e incluso, la plataforma Alexa Skills se encuentra disponible para que desarrolladores hispanos creen sus propias habilidades o skills en nuestro idioma.

En el caso de Free Time, no solamente habrá más de 1,000 títulos en español que incluirán libros, aplicaciones y videos en nuestro idioma, sino que, además, la biblioteca se alimenta también de los 20,000 títulos disponibles en inglés, ideal para los niños que crecen hablando los dos idiomas en su casa o que están aprendiendo español en la escuela. La interfaz se ha rediseñado además completamente, brindando mayor apoyo para que los niños encuentren el contenido que quieren ver más fácilmente.

Las actualizaciones de Free Time no se reducen a hacer más contenido en español disponible. También viene con actualizaciones de sus productos asociados como lo es el Parents Dashboard, que anteriormente solo se encontraba disponible en inglés y el cual era accesible únicamente a través de la tableta.

“Gracias a la retroalimentación de los padres, movimos el centro de control de los padres a la nube”, afirma Beidler. Ahora, podrán controlar las tabletas de los hijos de forma remota, al ingresar a parents.amazon.com desde una computadora o un celular. “Muchas veces ibas a cambiar algo y te encontrabas con que la tableta estaba descargada”. Con esta solución, podrás entonces utilizar tu computadora y disminuir la cantidad de tiempo que tu hijo puede ver videos, por ejemplo.

Vale resaltar que FreeTie Ilimitado en español, estará inicialmente disponible únicamente en los Estados Unidos. Amazon no descartó la opción de que llegue a otros mercados, pero por ahora, se están enfocando en construir una biblioteca bilingüe en este país.

Algunos de los títulos más populares que estarán disponibles en el servicio son Sesamo, La vuelta al mundo en 80 días, El código del dragón, Miss Alegría e Invasión del mundo principal: Una aventura Minecraft. También, habrá versiones traducidas de libros, videos, apps y juegos populares como lo son Harry Potter, LEGO Ninjago, Teen Titans – Teen Titans Go!, y Where’s My Water? producidos por marcas como Pottermore, LEGO, Disney, Cartoon Network y más.

Contenido para escuchar

Kim Wetzel/Digital Trends

Amazon FreeTime anunció también que Audible, su servicio para descargar libros narrados en formato de audio llega a Free Time Unlimited. En Audible, puedes escuchar también Podcasts y programas de noticias cortos, así como escuchar revistas y otro tipo de contenidos.

Los libros que estén disponibles a través de free Time serán aptos para su edad y en español, sin ningún tipo de costo adicional en la suscripción.

La ventaja al incorporar contenido en español en Audible es que se puede utilizar para acceder a narraciones a través de las bocinas de esta empresa, como por ejemplo el Echo Dot, una versión de Alexa hecha especialmente para niños. De esta forma, tus niños podrán pedirle amablemente a la Asistente de Amazon que les lea un libro en particular en español.

Se actualizan las tabletas para niños

Si eres padre de familia, seguramente habrás escuchado acerca de las tabletas Fire HD Edición para niños. Pues bien, el tercer anuncio de Amazon es que se lanza una nueva generación de esta popular tableta para los más pequeños. La Fire HD 8 Kids Edition sigue contando con un borde en silicona ultra resistente a las caídas.

Sin embargo, la tableta ha mejorado en varios aspectos, conservando el mismo precio de $129.99 dólares. Siempre la idea de obtener algo mejor por la misma cantidad de dinero es atractiva, ¿verdad? “Estamos muy emocionados por hacer esta tableta para niños aún mejor”, indica Beidler.

Lo más importante es que ahora la tableta viene con más almacenamiento, de hasta 400GB con una tarjeta MicroSD. El almacenamiento del dispositivo es de 16 y 32GB de memoria.

La compra de esta tableta viene con un año gratuito de FreeTime Unlimited, un servicio que cuesta $2.99 dólares al mes para miembros de Amazon Prime y $4.99 dólares para usuarios sin Amazon Prime.

Disponibilidad

Las nuevas tabletas Fire HD 8 para niños y el servicio FreeTime y FreeTime Unlimited en español estarán disponibles a partir del próximo 4 de octubre.

Recomendaciones del editor

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Is anyone using the Galaxy Note 9 without a case or skin?

According to the AC forums, it sure doesn’t look like it.

Without a doubt, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 is one of the most eye-catching phones you can buy right now. Its all-glass back and curved 6.4-inch display look fantastic, but at the same time, also make the Note 9 incredibly fragile.

The Note 9 is one of those devices that almost everyone should use a case or skin with, but is there anyone out there that’s brave enough to use the phone without any sort of protection?

Here’s what our AC forum members have to say.

ladiinay
09-05-2018 05:11 AM

“

I can’t stand fingerprints and smudges. The only time my phone is without a case is when I’m wiping fingerprints and dust from it or changing the case to what I feel like looking at.

Reply

bandofbrothers2112
09-05-2018 07:37 AM

“

I tip my hat to those that are brave enough to go naked but I just can’t.

My choice of workplace is outdoors and in a warehouse so to be careful I always attach a dbrand skin and screen protector and to be minimalist I use the Rhinoshield Crashguard Bumper.

Like others every month or so I remove the bumper to give the phone a clean when at home so keep it naked for a short period.
…

Reply

dedduck0121
09-05-2018 09:01 AM

“

I love the look of these phones and I think rocking them without a cover/case is the way to go..

However… They make these sleek designs but make them near impossible to hold in your hand without them slipping out. Way to risky for me when the edges and back are slick.

Reply

areyes163
09-05-2018 05:07 PM

“

I tried to go naked. But I couldn’t stand the fingerprints nor could I stand that greasy feeling after holding the phone for a but and your hand gets sweaty. Went back into its case. Tried a skin and didnt like it when I hit the edges. It is a beautiful device though.

Reply

How about you? Are you using the Galaxy Note 9 without a case?

Join the conversation in the forums!

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

• Samsung Galaxy Note 9 review
• Galaxy Note 9 vs. Note 8
• Where to buy the Galaxy Note 9
• Galaxy Note 9 specifications
• Is the Note 8 still a good buy?
• Join our Galaxy Note 9 forums

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These are the best controllers for the DJI Spark

The DJI Spark is an entry-level drone from the world’s top manufacturer. You’re able to control the Spark using your smartphone and the DJI GO 4 app, but physical controls are always better than touchscreen controls — especially when we’re discussing $500 of flying technology. The DJI Spark Remote Controller is your best bet, but since DJI now supports third-party controllers through its smartphone app, we’ve rounded up your best options for controlling your Spark.

Dedicated DJI controller

DJI Spark Remote Controller

Specifically designed for the DJI Spark, this controller pairs to your smartphone with the DJI GO 4 app, features a built-in smartphone holder, and will allow you to get the best performance out of your DJI Spark.

$110 at Amazon

For Samsung Galaxy Gamers

Gamevice Controller

This gaming controller is designed to work with the latest Samsung phones (Galaxy S8/S8+, S9/S9+ and Note 8) and adds physical controls to the sides of your phone. DJI recommends this as a great option for controlling the Spark and it’s also a great pick because it folds down to a compact size for traveling.

$70 at Amazon

Best Bluetooth Controller for Android. Period.

SteelSeries Stratus XL

Since DJI now lets you use Bluetooth gaming controllers to pilot your drone, we’ll recommend our favorite for Android gamers. You may also want this Foldable Smartphone Holder, too.

$44 at Amazon

If we had to pick one…

It’s great that DJI offers so many ways to control the Spark — using your phone, using a Bluetooth controller, or even using hand gestures — but if you want to spend less time mucking around in settings and more time flying, we suggest going with the DJI Spark Controller. It’s the more expensive option but it’s specifically designed to work exclusively with the DJI Spark and lets you fly the drone up to 30 mph in Sport Mode.

What’s the difference between A19 and BR30 bulbs?

We’re a virtual company made up of tech experts from across the globe. We’re just as passionate about smart home tech as we are about Android phones, and we research as many smart gadgets as we can to give you the best insight on what to buy.

LIFX A19

Everyday bulb

$50 at Amazon

Pros

• Provides omnidirectional lighting
• Fits in most lamps and hanging fixtures

Cons

• BR30s cast more directional light

If you’re replacing a traditional light bulb in a floor lamp or hanging lighting fixture, the A19 shape will be a better fit for you. The shape disperses light across a wider area than the more directional BR30, and the smaller size fits into more sockets.

LIFX BR30

Bulge reflector

$50 at Amazon

Pros

• Great as a single ceiling light
• Equally good for can lights

Cons

• Larger shape doesn’t always fit into fixtures

For ceiling lights, can lights, and outdoor floodlights, the BR30 is an ideal shape that casts light more directly than the A19. Designed to serve almost as a downlight, the BR30 can still easily light up an entire room with a single bulb.

Most people would be fine with either bulb for most purposes, but there are a few key factors that may swing your decision one way or the other. Generally speaking, the A19 is a more universally applicable bulb that easily replaces the standard bulb shape, but the BR30 can be more ideal if you’re shopping for a floodlight.

What’s the difference?

If you’re not well-versed in light bulb standardizations (and let’s be honest, not many of us are), you’d be forgiven for mistaking A19 and BR30 as the names of different LIFX products — but in reality, they’re just two of the most popular standardized shapes for light bulbs, regardless of the manufacturer.

You’re simply choosing between two shapes of the same bulb.

Most of LIFX’s smart bulbs come in either size, including the Color 1000 and LIFX Plus, and your choice won’t affect the price, specs, or features of the bulb. Instead, when choosing the shape of your bulb, you’ll want to consider how that shape affects the directionality of the light the bulb emits.

Though LIFX’s A19 and BR30 bulbs both feature flat ends, the A19 is narrower and fits more easily into small lighting fixtures. A19 bulbs are omnidirectional, meaning they’ll disperse light evenly all across their surrounding environment. This makes them great for floor lamps and hanging ceiling fixtures, where you’re more concerned with lighting the entire room, rather than focusing the light on a particular area.

If you’re after more directional lighting, on the other hand, the BR30 is a better choice. BR stands for “bulge reflector,” which the bulb uses to point light straight ahead from its flat end. This makes BR30 bulbs ideal for floodlights where you’d want more light in a concentrated area, as well as ceiling and can lights where the bulb can face directly downward and illuminate the room.

LIFX A19

Everyday bulb

$50 at Amazon

Buy this for your floor lamp or hanging fixture.

While it isn’t great as a floodlight, the A19 shape disperses light more evenly than the BR30. This is the bulb to buy for lamps or ceiling fans, especially if you need more than one.

LIFX BR30

Bulge reflector

Perfect for outdoor and ceiling lights.

$50 at Amazon

Due to the flatter, wider shape, the BR30 is a floodlight with more directional output, making it ideal for areas where you want a lot of concentrated light.

The new iRobot Roomba i7+ empties its own dust bin

I, for one, welcome our new vacuum cleaning overlords.

The iRobot Roomba, with models like the Roomba 690 and Roomba 980, has become the standard when it comes to autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners. It’s a growing and competitive market, however, and iRobot needs some new features to stay ahead of the pack. Well, the new Roomba i7+ will have all the vacuum cleaning and obstacle avoidance of previous generations, but it will also include something new. The i7+ will empty its own dust bin. And thank goodness, too, because that was really the last bit of work required on our part for vacuum cleaning.

Other new features include Imprint Smart Mapping. With this new ability, the Roomba i7+ doesn’t just learn a floor plan and adapt to it. The machine can now learn multiple floor plans at once as well as names for individual rooms. You will be able to customize the robot’s cleaning path by specific rooms. Use the iRobot Home App or connect it to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant and you’ll be able to control the Roomba without getting up. Imagine being able to say “Clean Billy’s Room!” and it just goes to the room and starts a sweep. That’s nifty. And because it can learn multiple floor plans, you’ll be able to use one Roomba i7+ for different floors of your house. Once iRobot teaches these things to go upstairs without being carried, you may never have to pay attention to cleaning again.

The new Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal is where the i7+ will empty its dust bin when it’s full. This doubles as the charging station, so it’s also where the Roomba will go when its low on power. The iRobot cleaners are already designed to recharge their batteries and continue the work without any interruption, so it makes sense they drop the dirt off at the Clean Base, too. All of the dirt gets stored in a closed bag, and you will get a notification through the app when it’s full. Just pull out the bag, replace it with a new one, and throw the old one away.

The Roomba e5 is another robotic vacuum cleaner iRobot announced, and it’s meant to be a budget version still packed with features. At $449, it’s definitely going to be less expensive than the i7+. Still, there are a lot of budget options out there. The Eufy RoboVac 11S is just $230 and has earned a lot of praise from users and critics. The Ecovacs Deebot series also has a lot of praise and usually sells for around $200.

The new Roomba i7+ will retail for around $949.99. You can pre-order it right now through iRobot, and it will start shipping September 12. You can also order the Roomba i7 for $699.99, which is the same robot vacuum without the Clean Base, but considering the Clean Base will sell for $299.99 on its own, that’s probably not the best idea.

See at iRobot

Amazon just unveiled its new Fire HD 8 tablets

These tablets are fiiiiiire.

Today Amazon announced its new generation of Fire tablets. Packed with new features and upgraded specs, the tablets are still highly affordable, which is a huge plus.

First up is the new Fire HD 8. It features up to 10 hours of mixed use battery life, an 8-inch HD display, a quad-core processor, and — newly — hands-free access to Alexa. That’s something that the Fire HD 10 tablet has had for awhile, but this is a first for the Fire HD 8. You can upgrade the storage, too, up to 400GB depending on what microSD card you go with.

In addition, the tablet now has Show Mode. This gives your tablet some of the same features that the Echo Show has. You can use your voice to ask Alexa to show you the news or weather, play a song, call a family member, control your smart thermostat, and more. If Show Mode sounds like something you’ll use frequently, you can pre-order the Fire HD 7 with a Show Mode dock for $94.99. The dock will automatically switch your tablet to Show mode.

There are four different color options to choose from, all starting at $79.99. You can pre-order the new Fire HD 8 and it’ll start shipping around October 4th.

Next up, there’s a new addition to the Fire Kids tablet lineup. The new Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, which is available for $129.99 as a pre-order, has lots of upgrades to enjoy. It features the same display and specs as the Fire HD 8, but with more kid-friendly software. There are multiple customizable profiles, up to two for adults and up to four for kids. This is $30 more than the Fire 7 Kids Edition, but the upgrades are worth it.

The purchase includes a year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, which can now be used in Spanish, which gives kids access to over 20,000 books, videos, apps, and games that are all age-appropriate. The newly-designed FreeTime makes it easier for kids to use it, and it has awesome parental controls too. You can set time limits, bedtimes, age filters, and the content that kids can see. You can even disable the web browser. You’ll also be able to view screen time statistics and restrict non-educational content until they’ve met their learning goals for the day. After your free year runs out, you can get FreeTime Unlimited for $3 per month.

By far the most alluring feature of these tablets is the kid-friendly warranty. For two years, Amazon will replace your tablet. No questions asked. Did they throw it out the car window? Step on the screen and shatter it? Leave it outside in the rain? Amazon gets that kids are hectic, and this warranty makes your life a little easier should something happen.

Head over here to pre-order the new Fire HD 8 or the new Fire HD 8 Kids Edition.

See at Amazon

Canada Deal: The 1080p HD Arlo Q security camera is just $141 — today only

The Arlo Q is capable of recording when motion or sound is detected and is down to its best price ever right now.

Netgear’s Arlo Q 1080p HD Security Camera is on sale for just $141 at Amazon Canada for a limited time. This deal saves you almost $60 off its usual price and brings the camera down to the lowest its ever been.

This camera allows you to live stream 1080p HD video from anywhere in the world using your smartphone, tablet, or computer, while its enhanced night vision ensures you can see clearly even in total darkness. You can set it to record when motion or sound is detected and then access your recordings from anywhere using the Arlo app. The camera features a built-in microphone and speaker so you can talk back and forth with people using the app as well. Arlo allows you to keep seven days of footage and audio in the cloud for free automatically and you can opt to back up your last 30 or 60 days’ worth of footage with a monthly subscription starting from $10.75.

The coolest thing about this camera however is that it works with Alexa for voice control, allowing you to pair it with a device like the Echo Dot.

These deals expire at the end of the day, so act fast to make sure you don’t miss out.

For more Canadian deals coverage, be sure to keep an eye on Thrifter CA, sign up for the Canadian newsletter and follow the team on Twitter.

See at Amazon Canada

European Regulators Approve Apple’s Acquisition of Shazam

The European Commission today announced it has approved Apple’s proposed acquisition of music recognition service Shazam.

“After thoroughly analyzing Shazam’s user and music data, we found that their acquisition by Apple would not reduce competition in the digital music streaming market,” said Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition.

The regulatory body concluded that Apple and Shazam mainly offer “complementary services” and “do not compete with each other,” and that a merged Apple-Shazam entity would not adversely affect competitors in the European Union:

In particular, access to Shazam’s data would not materially increase Apple’s ability to target music enthusiasts and any conduct aimed at making customers switch would only have a negligible impact. As a result, competing providers of digital music streaming services would not be shut out of the market.

The regulators were concerned that the merger could reduce choice for users of streaming music services in Europe. In particular, they were concerned that Apple might gain access to sensitive data that would allow it to directly target competitors’ customers and encourage them to switch to Apple Music.

While the Commission did not name any specific companies, Apple Music’s biggest rival in Europe is Spotify, headquartered in Sweden. Shazam is currently integrated with multiple services, including Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer.

Apple announced its plans to acquire Shazam in December, describing the two companies as a “natural fit” with “exciting plans” ahead. In February, however, the Commission received requests from Austria, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Sweden to assess the deal under European merger law.

Shazam is a popular service that can identify the name and lyrics of songs, music videos, TV shows, and more. It has apps across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, iMessage, and Mac, while the service has been built into Siri since iOS 8.

Via: Reuters

Tag: Shazam
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