Daily Tech Snippet: Friday, April 23

• Apple Services Shut Down in China in Startling About-Face: For years, there has been a limit to the success of American technology companies in China. Capture too much market share or wield too much influence, and Beijing will push back. Apple has largely been an exception to that trend. Yet the Silicon Valley company is now facing a regulatory push against its services in China that could signal its good relations in the country may be turning. Last week, Apple’s iBooks Store and iTunes Movies were shut down in China, just six months after they were started there. Initially, Apple apparently had the government’s approval to introduce the services. But then a regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, asserted its authority and demanded the closings, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity.The about-face is startling, given Apple’s record in China. Unlike many other American tech companies, Apple has succeeded in introducing several new products — like its mobile payments system Apple Pay — in China recently. New resistance from the Chinese government to that expansion could potentially hurt the Cupertino, Calif., company. To a degree more than many tech companies, Apple relies on the smooth operation of its software — including its App Store and services like iTunes, which are tightly integrated with the iPhone and iPad — to keep customers coming back to its devices. Apple, which is facing a slowdown in sales of its iPhones, is also reliant on China for growth, so further moves by Beijing to curtail services could crimp sales. The company counts China as its second-largest market after the United States. Its China numbers will be dissected on Tuesday, when it reports quarterly earnings. China’s pushback against Apple shows that the company may finally be vulnerable to the heightened scrutiny that other American tech companies have faced in recent years. That scrutiny was spurred by revelations from the former United States National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden in 2013 of the use of American companies to conduct cyberespionage for Washington. China has sweeping goals in its move against Apple, said Daniel H. Rosen, founding partner of Rhodium Group, a New-York based advisory firm specializing in the Chinese economy. “They are interested in protecting the content that the Chinese people see, policing its national security and favoring indigenous giants such as Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent,” Mr. Rosen said. In this new era, he added, China “is strongly disinclined to accept the dominance of foreign players on the Internet, not least those from the United States.” Sales in China for those companies, including Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Qualcomm, have slid as government oversight has increased. Some have grappled with raids, investigations and fines. Some have also been pressured to sell off holdings, hand over technology and work with local partners to expand their China businesses. Though Apple is one of the eight, it has had a much easier time - so far.

• Dell’s SecureWorks stumbles in first tech IPO of the year: It has been a dry year for tech IPOs. Up until today’s SecureWorks offering, there had been zero in the U.S. in 2016. Zero. This compares to seven in the same period last year and 24 in that timeframe the year before. So tech investors and late-stage private companies were watching SecureWorks closely, to see if the tech IPO window would reopen. It is one of the few indications we have right now to assess public investor appetite for tech IPOs. Unfortunately, SecureWorks faltered.The unicorn-sized security company split from Dell, although the computer manufacturer remains its majority owner. SecureWorks raised $112 million in the offering, after pricing its IPO at $14 per share. But the company was expecting the initial price to be between $15.50-$17.50. SecureWorks closed the day at $13.88, beneath the $14 IPO price. The offering certainly did not assuage concerns about the current environment for tech IPOs.

• Women’s coding school Hackbright Academy acquired for $18 million: Hackbright Academy, the San Francisco-based coding school for women, has been acquired by Capella Education for $18 million as the publicly traded education company looks to expand its efforts to train more women in technical careers.Hackbright, which was started in 2012, has graduated 364 women from its 12-week full-time fellowship programs. Another 279 women have graduated from its part-time program. Capella, meanwhile, is based in Minneapolis and specializes in degree programs for working adults, three quarters of whom are women. The deal closed Friday, the companies said, with all of Hackbright’s 25 employees joining Capella. Hackbright CEO Sharon Wienbar will continue to lead the team, reporting to Gilligan. Hackbright will continue to focus its efforts on in-person trainings exclusively for women, Wienbar said.

• In Asia, Netflix trips on regulation, content, and competition: Months after its global rollout, Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) is facing problems in several major Asian markets as it struggles to provide enough strong content to attract consumers amid tough local competition, and also faces many regulatory hurdles, underlining concerns about disappointing subscriber numbers reported this week. From complaints that programming libraries offered in many countries are far smaller than in the United States to delays in offering its signature "House of Cards" series in some markets due to rights issues, the U.S. video streaming giant's January launch into 130 new markets worldwide, including a slew in Asia, has been bumpy. When it launched in Indonesia in January, for example, Netflix ran afoul of the film censorship board for carrying content deemed inappropriately violent or sexual. The communications ministry also demanded that Netflix set up a local office and pay Indonesian taxes.Netflix is still available in Indonesia via wifi connections and other carriers.In South Korea, where local content is popular and consumers have numerous streaming options, the Netflix site offers fewer than 20 local TV shows or movies."Korean Netflix's library in terms of content is pretty thin," said Jung Dong-yoon, a 29-year-old Seoul office worker and subscriber since January.Netflix had an explosive start in Australia, counting nearly 3 million Australians as viewers, OUT OF A population of 24 million, within nine months of its March 2015 launch. But growth has slowed just as dramatically, from a 55 percent leap between April and May to a rise of 4 percent between September and October, according to Roy Morgan research.

• Tipping Is Coming to Uber, and It’s Going to Be Awkward: Uber's mega settlement of as much as $100 million helps it solve a major legal liability around workforce classification, but another piece of the agreement could make for some uncomfortable situations in the near future. As part of the settlement with drivers in California and Massachusetts, Uber has agreed to notify customers more clearly that tips are not included in fares and give tacit approval for optional gratuity. Drivers can now solicit cash tips by asking passengers or posting signs in their vehicles. Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer representing the drivers, said riders should start seeing gratuities as a major part of an Uber driver's income. In other words, more like a cabbie. “I believe that, with this information, many riders will begin tipping their drivers, which will increase drivers’ pay substantially,” she said in a statement to the court. In the past, Uber tried to discourage tipping. During the company’s early days, its website said in 2011 that tips were included. Drivers complained that Uber was making its fares seem lower than they really were by rolling in a tip. In any case, they argued that Uber shouldn’t take a cut of the portion of the fare that was classified as a tip. The company eventually changed the way it described the cost of the ride. It currently says there’s no need to tip.