Epic Games is a great venture but its management has scored a major own-goal, going against Apple which taxes all apps developers 30% for the privilege of having them in its App Store. Epic Games wanted a special highway, for Apple to waive or reduce that tax. Good people, it is costing that company big time: it lost $30 million in August as it wages a battle against Apple and Google.

Personally, I do think that Epic Games is making a very big mistake. You do not fight this type of battle alone. This is not a lifesaving drug or food: it is just a game. The implication is that politicians and celebrities will not even care. So, the capacity to amplify the heat on Apple is not directly there because NOT playing games is not that a big deal. As Apple countersues, Epic Games will see why own- goals are bad: they set you back:  “Although Epic portrays itself as a modern corporate Robin Hood, in reality it is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App Store”, Apple noted in its filing.

Apple has hit back at Epic Games in its ongoing battle with the gaming company, filing a countersuit Tuesday alleging the company breached its contract with Apple and asking to be awarded punitive damages. The dispute began when Fortnite launched an update that allowed users to pay for in-game content without Apple receiving a cut. The tech giant retaliated by removing the game from its app store; Epic Games sued Apple later that day, and two weeks later, Apple suspended its developer account. Epic has until Sept. 18 to respond to Apple’s countersuit. (LinkedIn)

Epic Games is making a really poor game in this battle with Apple. The fact that other game makers have not joined it should have sent a clear signal by now. According to Epic, its video game has lost 60% of its daily active users since Apple booted the game from its App Store.

Since Apple confrontation with Epic Games kicked into high gear, the game maker has seen its Apple-based users plunge, Epic said in a legal filing on Friday.

Daily active users of Epic’s blockbuster battle-royale game Fortnite on Apple’s iOS operating system have declined by more than 60% since the tech giant removed the game from the Apple App Store, Epic said in the filing. More than 60% of Fortnite users on iOS access Fortnite only on Apple devices, the video-game company said.

Consumers are visitors, Customers are neighbors. Make your consumers become customers. The greatest companies go beyond having neighbors – they engineer FANS out of customers. When customers are fans, great moments arise and glory awaits.

Go beyond Needs and Expectations of customers to Perceptions  of customers. Create and MAKE Fans of all for that brand.

She knows where all the grant funds are located! And she is coming to Tekedia Live to provide tips and guidance. Tekedia Institute will host our Faculty, Victoria Madedor, of Bank of Industry ITC tomorrow (Thursday) at 11am Lagos. Interestingly, the money people of Venture Capital and Private Equity asked us to reach out to BOI because “there is so much grant money in Nigeria”. Our Faculty is developing a course on Fundraising from DFIs, Governments, Grants, etc for our next edition.

We saw a bit of granting when WeForGood noted that it has millions to support innovators. Last year, it gave out $250k to innovators, the CEO TEA (Temitayo Ade-Peters) noted on Live today. (Tekedia is a knowledge partner training all the innovators).  We have also seen what Shecluded is doing. And the amazing vision of Ingressive for Good through Sean Burrowes and Maya Horgan Famodu on capacity building.

Join Live. Zoom link already in the Board. Others, join via YouTube here.

It came from nowhere: market forces are working, not sub-par regulations. Yes, Silverbird Television has signed on to broadcast selected live English Premier League matches over the course of the 2020 – 2021 season. This deal was agreed with Integral, the current free-to-air rights holder for the Premier League matches in Nigeria. Sure, it is just one match per week. But that is an innovator dilemma’s moment for DStv and GOtv. If Integral drops one more for NTA, then you have two matches per week. Then, give AIT one, you have three matches, and just like that, equilibrium is attained and katakata will bust for DStv.

I have also been informed that TStv is coming back as it would key into this Integral license. It looks like a good playbook but we will see how it would all play out. My call is that MutiChoice has a really big problem on its hands. I expect pay per view to be available in the next coming months because its moat has been cracked and Integral is going for the castle. Game on, lovers of sports.

Press Release

One of Nigeria’s most entertaining TV stations, Silverbird Television has signed on to broadcast one live English Premier League match per week over the course of the 2020 – 2021 season. This deal was agreed with Integral, the current free-to-air rights holder for the Premier League matches in Nigeria.

Integral secured its rights in a sub-license deal from the Infront Sports & Media agency, the substantive rights holder for free-to-air distribution rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Integral currently has a similar deal with national broadcaster, NTA and will now be adding Silverbird TV as an additional broadcaster partner. Silverbird will air one of the 3pm fixtures each Saturday on its free-to-air channel while it will also show a handful of Premier League produced magazine programmes weekly. STV can be viewed terrestrially on StarTimes Channel 109 and UHF 23.

Abimbola Ilo, the managing director of Integral said “We are once again pleased to be bringing the excitement of the English Premier League closer to its fans in Nigeria. Silverbird is an entertaining television station watched by millions of Nigerians and it’s only right that the most entertaining football league in the world is added to its roster. With the Premier League’s popularity in Nigeria, this is yet another opportunity for its passionate fans to get exciting up to date content on free-to-air TV”

Bola Salako, the Chief Operating Officer of Silverbird Communications added: “We at Silverbird are excited at the opportunity to avail our numerous viewers across Nigeria with select premium football matches from the most exciting league in the world – The English Premier League. Silverbird Television is primarily a family entertainment-oriented channel, and it is quintessential for us to ensure that our viewers get the best of every appropriate programming genre. Sports is a major part of our content offering and football in particular as the acclaimed ‘king of sports’ holds particular appeal to a large section of our target demographic. And with the new Premier League season on the horizon we are looking forward to team up with Integral on this exciting new project of bringing premium sporting content to mass numbers of Nigerian viewers.”