Apple
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1 day agoThe App Store is booming again, and AI may be why | TechCrunch
New app launches are increasing significantly, contradicting predictions that AI would diminish the app market.
Warp is the combination of an Android app and a browser extension, which means it'll only be helpful if you use a Chrome-based browser capable of installing the extension - but that does make it compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux, so it's more universal than AirDrop.
The company is hiring for a New York-based product manager to define and execute product strategies that create net-new subscription packages for its drivers and couriers, according to a listing posted this week. The candidate will also create a cohesive strategy for global testing and expansion, and assess how this business model should evolve given different responses from our competitors.
If you sell the tool, you're in a race against the model. But if you sell the work, every improvement in the model makes your service faster, cheaper, and harder to compete with. A company might spend $10K a year for QuickBooks and $120K on an accountant to close the books. The next legendary company will just close the books.
Despite how modern it seems to be, the truth is that the subscription economy has been around for some time, surprisingly dating back to around 1800, with the first magazine subscriptions, or the subscriptions for fresh British milk, around 1860. Over the years, the of subscription-based companies has turned the subscription model into an ideal business strategy since it provides unique benefits. In the same way, the adoption of this model across multiple industries has led to negative repercussions for the general public.
Efficient business practices boost bottom lines, and finding the right balance begins with using the right productivity software tools. For entrepreneurs and small-business owners, time spent searching or navigating different tools could be better spent growing your company. Having the right productivity software in place isn't just convenient, it's essential for operational efficiency. The challenge many entrepreneurs face is balancing software costs with functionality.
A digital product is any non-physical item sold online and delivered electronically. This category encompasses a wide range of offerings: ebooks that teach specific skills, online courses that provide comprehensive training, design templates that save creators hours of work, stock media libraries offering photography and video, printables like planners and checklists, software tools that automate tasks, and audio files ranging from music to guided meditations.
Subscription & Support, which generates 95.5 percent of the company's total revenue with $10.7 billion, saw 13 percent growth on an annual basis. Each segment within this division is now called Agentforce, a clear move to place AI even more centrally in external communications. However, expectations for the coming year ($45.8 to $46.2 billion) are on the low side compared to the $46.06 billion predicted by analysts.
Developers spend more than 60% of their time debugging and maintaining code rather than building new features, Stack Overflow's Developer Survey reports. If you're running a software development team or building applications for your business, you can use Microsoft Visual Studio Pro to streamline coding workflows with an AI-enhanced development environment that reduces debugging time and accelerates deployment cycles. Best of all, Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 is currently available for only $49.99 (reg. $499.99).
Windows cloud PCs have gone from Microsoft's side project to the centerpiece of its post‑Windows‑10 strategy. But the story in 2026 is less "death of the PC" and more "merger of PC, cloud, and AI under Microsoft's terms." Today, the most interesting question is not whether Windows moves to the cloud, but how much local control users are willing to surrender in exchange for AI‑infused desktops.
Leading the pack has been the rise in agentic coding tools. These tools, such as Gemini Jules, Claude Code, and OpenAI Codex, are capable of writing entire programs and products. I put both Codex and Claude Code to the test, creating four plug-in add-on security products for WordPress using Codex, as well as a full-featured iPhone app using Claude Code.
Generative AI exponentially brings down the cost of building solutions. It lets people build exactly what they need to solve an exact problem in an exact moment. It lets people own their own solutions. This is great for a lot of specific problems that need specific solutions that wouldn't normally get solved easily. This has been the evergreen promise of computers and programming and hacking. But there's a difference between solving your specific problem, and owning a problem domain.
This week: Anthropic released an update that seems to have tipped the scales against Software as a Service companies, erasing billions in market value. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck, unpack why there was such a massive market response to such a small AI plugin, and what it says about the future of tech investment. Then, Disney has finally named a new CEO in Josh D'Amaro.
When I took my side hustle full-time, I needed a website and accidentally fell into the world of building with AI. After trying an old website builder and failing, I hired a designer and an engineer part-time to do it. They were a bit slow, so while I was waiting, I tried using a suggested AI tool to build my website.
Competition will heat up as AI-native challengers begin to chip away at market leaders across business processes and create new market segments that were previously unaddressed by software. In addition, new entrants are rapidly growing and disrupting the market with leaner operating models.
Technology giant Meta is to trial premium subscriptions for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp users in the coming months. The new offerings would give access to features including expanded artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Under the plan, access to the platforms' core services would remain free to use. The firm also plans to test subscriptions for features, such as its Vibes video generation app, which the firm says "can bring your ideas to life with new AI visual creation tools".