Welcome back to this Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that summarizes the latest operating system news, the applications they support, and the money flowing through it all.
According to App Annie's recently published State of Mobile annual report, the app industry is hotter than ever with a record 204 billion downloads in 2019 and $ 120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. People are now spending 3 hours and 40 minutes a day on apps that compete with television. Apps aren't just a way to spend idle time – they're big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had an overall valuation of $ 544 billion, 6.5 times higher than companies with no mobile focus.
In this Extra Crunch series, we help you keep up with the latest news from the world of apps that are delivered weekly.
This week we're looking at the sad, strange death of HQ Trivia, the ToTok spy app booted (again!) By Google Play, Android 11, App Store book Apple wants to be banned, apps that abuse subscriptions and much more.
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HQ Trivia burns to the ground
The once-hot HQ Trivia believed it had invented a new kind of online game – live trivia, played on your phone. Investors threw $ 15 million into the company, hoping that this is true. But the novelty wore off, fraudsters came in, the prize money declined and imitators appeared. Then co-founder Colin Kroll died and things at HQ Trivia got worse, including failed internal mutiny, layoffs, and layoffs. HQ Trivia announced his death this week. It was a final, crazy game night with drunken and swearing hosts spraying champagne, shouting trolls and begging for new jobs. (Sure, because they left it so professionally.)
