A big week to wrap the year
I'll see you in 2023
Howdy! I hope your week has gone well. Mine was certainly busy. Before I get into it, I wanted to quickly note that I won’t publish a newsletter next week because of Christmas, nor the week after that, as I’ll be off for the holidays. I’ll be back with another newsletter on January 8th.
Now, without further adieu…
Time to talk Twitter. Again.
Despite my best efforts, I have failed to keep this newsletter free of Elon Musk. This week saw some absolute insanity with Musk banning tons of journalists who covered him and were critical of him on Twitter.
All of it started with Musk banning the ElonJet account, which tracked the movements of Musk’s private jet using publicly available information. Musk claimed the account doxxed his location and alleged a stalker used information from the account to chase a car carrying Musk’s child, thinking Musk was on board. And when journalists started covering the story, questioning Musk’s motives, and generally pointing out how hypocritical the ban was (Musk previously used not banning ElonJet as an example of his commitment to free speech), Musk started smashing the ban button.
I covered all this in detail here if you’re curious to learn more. The main takeaway, however, is we’re seeing Musk’s Twitter become increasingly hostile to anyone Musk sees as a threat. I still don’t think the platform will die, but more people will have fewer reasons to use it as long as Musk keeps attacking users.
One day you’ll download an iPhone app and it won’t come from the App Store.
The other major bombshell news this week was that Apple reportedly will open up parts of iOS and enable more third-party apps, including app stores, browsers, and more.
The details are pretty extensive, so I’ll point to this link so you can read up on them if you don’t already know what’s going on.
According to reports, Apple is making this change to comply with new EU laws regulating digital services. However, because of this, the changes will only apply in the EU to start. It’s a bummer, but maybe it’s the first of many dominoes to fall.
Wireless prices in Canada: then and now.
Finally, I wrote this comparison piece looking at the cost of wireless services at the Big Three national Canadian carriers and their respective flanker brands in December 2022 to January 2022. Although an important piece, the timing was… not great, since it dropped just a few days before Boxing Week deals started rolling out. Those deals included lower wireless prices that, while temporary, will likely hold through at least until the end of the year.
Despite the poor timing, I still think the piece is important and will be very relevant going forward since it will serve as a reference point for similar stories in 2023. It was also helpful in quantifying the value of Boxing Week deals and whether anything was worth buying. (Spoiler: there are some good Boxing Week deals, but so far, nothing as good as Black Friday.)
Tracking the pricing of, and changes to, wireless services in Canada will continue to be one of my primary beats in the new year, so stick with me for the latest on wireless pricing.
More sales…
Yes, it is once again deal season. So far, I am disappointed with the offers available (at least when it comes to wireless plans since I don’t really pay attention to other stuff). The discounts generally don’t match up to what was offered on Black Friday. That said, if you missed the Black Friday deals and want to take advantage of some savings, the best offer I’ve seen is the $50/mo 40GB plan from Koodo, Fido, and Virgin Plus. However, it’s a $65/mo plan with a $15/mo bill credit that lasts 15 months, so be ready to swap off the plan around this time next year.
That wraps it up for me this week. Thanks for tuning in and reading! I’ll see you in the new year.