Consumer Tech News (Feb 3-Feb 7): Meta Plans Not To Comply With The EU AI Code Of Practice, Apple Raises AppleCare+ Service' Subscription Cost & More

A federal appeals court in San Francisco showed skepticism toward Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG efforts to overturn a jury verdict in favor of Fortine-maker Epic Games.

Afederal judge decided that parts of Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will advance to trial. This legal battle centers on Musk's efforts to halt OpenAI's transition to a for-profit model.

Earnings Results

Spotify Technology SPOT reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.88 per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.06 and sales of $4.53 billion (4.24 billion euros), up by 16% year-on-year, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $4.15 billion.

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. TTWO  reported third-quarter revenue of $1.37 billion, missing analyst estimates of $1.39 billion and adjusted earnings of 72 cents per share, beating analyst estimates of 57 cents per share.

Palantir Technologies Inc PLTR reported fourth-quarter revenue of $827.52 million, beating the consensus estimate of $775.91 million. The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 14 cents per share, beating analyst estimates of 11 cents per share.

Smartphones

Apple Inc.‘s AAPL Watch Series 10 users are reportedly voicing their dissatisfaction over the limited selection of watch faces available, despite the device's advanced features.

Apple is reportedly gearing up to unveil five new products in March, including the iPhone SE 4, M4 MacBook Air, and a new iPad Air.

Apple has increased the monthly subscription cost for its AppleCare+ service across all iPhone models in the U.S. 

Samsung Electronics Co.‘s SSNLF Galaxy S25 Ultra is available at a significantly lower price than Apple Inc.’s iPhone 16 Pro. 

Technology & Online Retail

LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Indeed and Greenhouse have all introduced new AI-powered tools designed to help job seekers gauge their chances of receiving responses from potential employers.

Nvidia Corp.’s NVDA GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080 graphics cards have sold out almost immediately after their release. However, gaming enthusiasts can still acquire these powerful GPUs through high-end prebuilt gaming PCs.

Microsoft has quietly removed a workaround that allowed users to install Windows 11 on unsupported PCs.

Microsoft has recruited top talent from Google DeepMind. This recruitment is part of an effort led by Mustafa Suleyman to expand Microsoft's AI lab in Zurich.

Meta Platforms Inc. META decided not to comply with the European Union's AI Code of Practice. Joel Kaplan, the new head of global affairs at Meta, made this announcement, escalating the company's ongoing disputes with European regulators.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai hinted at potential future monetization strategies for Gemini AI, including the introduction of ads.

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN is gearing up to introduce a major AI upgrade to its Alexa voice assistant with a press event reportedly in New York on Feb. 26.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

OpenAI revealed a new feature for ChatGPT called "deep research," which autonomously plans and executes multi-step data searches. This feature allows users to input questions using text, images, and files like PDFs or spreadsheets.

OpenAI introduced a comprehensive rebranding initiative featuring a new logo and typeface.

OpenAI is contemplating a shift in its open-source strategy as it faces mounting competition from Chinese companies like DeepSeek.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD CEO Lisa Su has addressed DeepSeek’s AI advancements and their potential impact on the semiconductor market.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai recognized the progress made by China's DeepSeek but said that Google's Gemini remains ahead in efficiency, cost, and performance.

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity AI, believes many startup founders fail because they chase market trends instead of working on problems they truly care about.

Palantir advised its clients to avoid using AI models from Chinese startup DeepSeek.

Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar warned that the U.S. is in an “AI arms race” with China, calling for urgent action to maintain dominance as the race for artificial intelligence escalates.