GAFAM NewsMonthly roundup
Big Tech in June 2025: the light and the dark
June 2025: WWDC brought iOS 26 and visionOS 26, Japan's My Number Card reached iPhone, and Google went AI Mode, amid layoffs, a Pixel ban and EU fines.
- First published in Japanese
- English edition
The Owl 🦉 here, with a quick roundup of the GAFAM news from June 2025.
The big developer events keep coming. After Google I/O last month, this month Apple held WWDC, setting out its next-generation operating systems and its XR strategy. Google and Amazon also put their energy into strengthening services with generative AI. At the same time, workforce restructuring, antitrust and privacy problems surfaced, and once again this was a month that highlighted the two faces of the tech giants: their influence and their social responsibility.
The light side
WWDC brings a major overhaul of iOS and iPadOS
At its developer conference, WWDC 2025, Apple announced iOS 26 and iPadOS 26.
They come with a long list of new features, starting with Liquid Glass, a new design that refreshes the whole interface, plus live translation during calls and visual intelligence that recognizes what is on the screen.
On iPadOS in particular, the long-awaited ability to resize and tile windows finally arrives, and the tablet takes another step toward feeling like a PC. I’m also curious whether iOS and iPadOS will each push further in their own direction from here, or whether they are heading toward a merger.
These updates are due this fall. They should improve the user experience around the world, and in Japan, too, digital life looks set to get even more convenient. [1]
Apple commits to its XR strategy for Vision Pro
At WWDC, Apple also released a developer beta of visionOS 26, the new operating system for its mixed reality device, and declared a full commitment to spatial computing.
An Apple executive stated plainly that the company is fully committed to developing visionOS, signaling that Apple will keep investing aggressively in AR/VR, a field that has lost some of its shine amid the AI boom.
visionOS, now in its third generation, promises a host of new experiences. As Apple strengthens its presence in the XR market, new opportunities are likely to open up for developers and users in Japan as well. [2]
Japan’s My Number Card arrives on iPhone
Through a collaboration between the Japanese government and Apple, “My Number Card on iPhone” has launched. (The My Number Card is Japan’s national ID card.)
Users can add their My Number Card to the Wallet app on iPhone and use it securely to get official certificates issued at convenience stores and to verify their identity for online government services.
Japan became the first country outside the US to support the digital ID feature in Apple Wallet, and the convenience of presenting your ID with nothing but a smartphone drew a big response. The implementation is designed with privacy protection in mind, and as the next step toward a cashless, digital society, its use in Japan is expected to keep growing. [3]
Google Search makes a full move to “AI Mode”
Google has fully shifted its search engine toward AI Mode, built around generative AI.
Search is being overhauled from the traditional list of links into a conversational interface, where AI presents answers while talking with the user. Advertising is also moving away from keyword dependence, with the introduction of AI Max for Search, which shows highly relevant ads based on the context of the conversation.
Advertisers will be able to market more flexibly, free of the old frameworks. If this comes to Japan, it could bring major changes to the search market and to how ads are run. [4]
Alexa gets smarter with a generative AI makeover
Alexa+, the generative AI assistant Amazon is rolling out first in the US, is drawing attention.
It goes beyond the old voice commands, holding natural, human-like conversations and making suggestions and taking actions tailored to each user. More than 1.5 million people are using it by invitation, and a full rollout within the year is also in view.
It is used by a wide range of people, from children to older adults, and some say they now touch their smartphones less often. The experience of controlling appliances, shopping and looking things up entirely hands-free brings Amazon a step closer to the “ambient computing” it has been aiming for.
Tests of Japanese-language support are also under way, raising hopes for a launch in Japan in the near future. The partner in our homes has finally begun to evolve into something we can actually talk with. [5]
The dark side
Microsoft keeps cutting jobs
Microsoft is continuing its large-scale restructuring. According to Bloomberg, the company plans to cut several thousand more jobs, mainly in sales, heading into July, the end of its fiscal year, [6] and it was also reported to be considering its fourth round of layoffs in 18 months in its Xbox gaming division. [7]
These cuts are described as efficiency measures tied to its huge investments in generative AI and the cloud, and if they go ahead, they will follow the more than 10,000 layoffs carried out at the start of this year.
The wave of cuts is not limited to engineers; it is reaching sales and support roles as well, which suggests that even large companies with a record of steady growth cannot avoid reorganizing for the AI era. The move is spreading job insecurity among employees worldwide, including at its Japanese subsidiary, and there are concerns about its impact on working conditions going forward.
Amazon CEO’s “AI means fewer people” remarks cause a stir
In a message to employees, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said he expects the company’s headcount to shrink in the future as it expands its use of generative AI.
He wrote, “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today … in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce,” suggesting that efficiency gains from AI could automate or replace some work and lead to a leaner workforce. [8]
The remarks drew concern from employees, and US media reported that he had warned staff, in effect, that with AI it is eat or be eaten. [9] He did not mention any concrete plans for immediate layoffs, but the remarks brought into sharp relief how the AI that companies are pouring vast sums into is starting to reshape the structure of work. With AI use spreading in Japan too, in places like logistics sites and call centers, we will need to watch closely how job cuts ripple outward and how ways of working change.
Pixel phones banned from sale in Japan
A Google smartphone has been hit with a sales ban in Japan for the first time. In a lawsuit over communications patents held by the South Korean manufacturer Pantech, the Tokyo District Court sided with the plaintiff and ordered a halt to sales of the Pixel 7 series in Japan.
The Pixel 7 is a 2022 model, but because the court found infringement of standard-essential patents (SEPs), the ruling could also affect inventory still on sale and successor models. Google immediately signaled its intention to appeal, and both continued license negotiations with Pantech and a legal battle look set to follow. [10]
A harsh precedent like a sales ban from a patent suit is unusual in a fiercely competitive smartphone market, and there is concern that it will narrow users’ choices. Escalating patent disputes could also hold back innovation, and the case casts a shadow over Google’s device strategy in the Japanese market.
EU warns Meta over privacy rule violations
Meta received a call from the European Union to correct its business model, along with a warning of fines.
The reason is that the new advertising model Meta introduced for the EU last year, “consent to tracking or pay” (use it free if you allow tracking, or pay a monthly fee for no ads), was flagged as possibly still violating EU competition and privacy rules.
In April this year, the European Commission ordered Meta to remedy its violation of the rules and fined it more than €200 million. In June, it warned that if the changes were not sufficient, it could impose fines of up to 5% of daily turnover from June 27 onward. [11]
Meta pushed back, saying European regulators were moving the goalposts, but the EU’s determination to tighten platform regulation is clear. [12] The battle over how user data is handled may not stay in Europe; it could spread to other countries, and it could affect how the tech giants run their services in Japan as well.
…Alexa+ apparently fits in so naturally that it could almost become one of the family. But an owl living with humans keeps a bit more distance than that: we don’t so much grow attached to people as get used to them.
References
[3] Apple introduces My Number Card on iPhone (Apple Newsroom) (in Japanese)
[6] Microsoft plans to cut thousands of jobs as AI spending grows (Reuters) (in Japanese)
[7] Microsoft plans major job cuts in its Xbox division, sources say (Bloomberg) (in Japanese)
[9] Amazon boss tells staff AI means their jobs are at risk in coming years (The Guardian)
[12] EU warns Meta of fines over its consent-or-pay model, Reuters reports (Investing.com) (in Japanese)