to in virgin galactic stock. so there you have it i'm sorry i couldn't be with you today. but tomorrow, back at the new york stock exchange with you. >> all right, morgan, thank you. that will do it for us on "squawk on the street. want to check your tech, you say? well, "techcheck" starts now happy thursday morning, we are checking your tech welcome to "techcheck. i'm jon fortt with julia boorstin deirdre and carl have the morning off. coming up today, apple's app store concession how pressure coming from overseas is changing the rules for all developers plus, alphabet stock at another all time high. listen up, new numbers out of youtube music could be the sound

of the next growth driver. and then tips for tweets will users pay for access to their favorite follows and we'll start with apple, a series of lawsuits and regulatory challenges around the world changing the way apple runs its app store new last night as part of the settlement with the japanese regulatory probe going on for five years, apple says developers of readers apps, including newspapers, books, audio music and video, are not going to be able to include links within their apps for customers to sign up for paid accounts big caveat here, netflix and spotify do seem to fall into that category, but gaming and in app purchases, which account for about 90% of app store revenue do not this, of course, follows south korean legislation that ensures google and apple have to let app developers use alternate payment systems there. if that's not enough, india

trying to strike while the iron is hot, filing their own antitrust suit against apple, alleging the 30% commission fees stifle competition, the overall thrust all of these challenges and changes is that apple's grip on that 30% fee that it charges some developers, not all, that's eroding. the wall garden ecosystem of the app store perhaps under some threat julia, i think that this latest shift out of japan, especially if it does in fact apply to the likes of spotify, of netflix, if you can actually buy kindle books directly, which it is not clear you would be able to, but that would be a big deal, not only for consumers, but for the broader ecosystem. >> absolutely. look, we have to know that we're not entirely sure how this is going to work yet, it seems according to sources close to the situation that companies such as spotify are still trying to figure out whether and how this applies to them but this is evidence of the wall

around that garden, starting to crumble, the days of the set, 30% fee, are over. and i agree with you, jon, this is going to be a crucial moment to see how apple handles those in app purchases that is at the heart of the epic lawsuit against apple. they want to make sure they control their own payment ecosystem and i think what we're seeing here is apple making some concessions, the question is how many more concessions are yet to come is this the first -- is what we have been talking about for the past week the first half dozen of another dozen more concessions or is this really going to be it for a while >> i don't think either way this is some huge threat to apple's business model, right? we have to remember mostly apple sells the devices and vertically integrates with the chips, the hardware, the software, the services and that's nice, but the bulk of apple's revenue and business comes from selling devices and experiences that people love. now, if this particular services

model has gotten long in the tooth, people, legislators around the world don't like it anymore, there are so many other ways that apple can charge besides this seems to me. >> yes, they certainly have a diversified revenue stream and this does remind us that there are all these other subscription revenues that they are trying to build, you know, things like paying for apple tv plus, apple music, all of these different services, offering different ways to lock people into the ecosystem. i believe health is going to increasingly be a big part of that with all the different options on the apple watch developers large and small reacting to this news this morning, some saying the new rules just serve to complicate things rather than fix the underlying issues. tim sweeney tweeting that apple should open up ios completely. the fortnite maker is its own battle with tim cook and the app store. the overall take is that

developers are not entirely satisfied with the changes they have seen. another james, thompson, writing, again with the let's add more complicated rules in an effort to stave off antitrust approach rather than just ripping up the payment system band aid so i think it is going to be really interesting to see not just how the developers react as they sort out what it means on a practical basis, but also sort of what the next step is from apple and is this really just about getting ahead of the regulatory crackdown and what will the epic ruling be? because that's the next shoe to drop. >> yeah, let's talk about it with us now to weigh in, cnbc contributor casey newton, editor of platformer. you cover all of these platforms and here's one from apple, the app store, where consumers seem to like it apple has shown in the market they're able to make more money through the app store despite the fact that google play, the android ecosystem is bigger.

but some changes, they're having to make more and more significant it seems like. >> that's right. and keep in mind that, you know, as far as this ruling, this is an area where apple was competing directly against other companies on a totally unfair playing field, right apple gets to advertise apple music to you, doesn't have to pay 30% fee to itself, spotify has to give up that huge portion of its margin every single month to apple this is a really narrow case, but i think it was really necessary to begin the pushback on some of these distortions in the market that were created by this ios android duopoly. >> yeah. i mean, i keep thinking about walmart and albertson's and all kinds of stores where you can go and there are store brands that compete on the shelf with the name brands and you can buy them for less and it is kind of a similar thing, you can argue that, you know, if you only have got that grocery store in your neighborhood, it kind of has the

local equivalent of a monopoly the digital world is different, it is so pervasive, perhaps because of the sorts of tie-ins that they can engineer to so many different products. >> that's right. our entire lives are mediated through this phone it controls what tv do you watch what music do you listen to, what books do you read, what games do you play, where do you shop the list goes on and on. to your point what if we lived in a world with only two stores? we would want to have some strict antitrust rules making sure everybody got a fair shot to sell their wares. >> casey, i'm curious your thoughts about this game ecosystem. because payments from games are the most important piece of the app store revenue. the biggest piece of app store revenue. what do you think apple is going to do there? do you think they'll take preemptive steps or all hinge on epic ruling? >> you know, if i had to guess i would say they're going to wait for the utcome of thetrial

i suppose that a settlement could be reached in the meantime as you noted earlier, this is the bulk of the app store revenue. it is the gaming revenue so these changes that we have seen apple make in recent days are sort of around the edges, but i think you can expect to see apple still do everything it can to protect the lion's share of the revenue coming from the app store and that will mean waiting to see how these epic cases around the world play out. >> yes, casey, as i work it protect that bulk of the revenue that is games, i wonder what you see apple doing more broadly earlier jon was talking about the different businesses that apple is in, and i'm very interested in the services business, the subscription business where do you see apple having the most opportunity to grow because maybe it is not going to be the app store anymore. >> that's right. they have huge opportunities to grow if they can invent. in the near term, they're absolutely going to be investing more in the apple watch. i think they have discovered

health is the killer app for them the pandemic led to a huge surge in sales for basic hardware like mac books, imacs, tablets. but the real next frontier is can they build a headset that we're all going to want to wear around all day, build augmented reality glasses, ship a car out of cupertino, they have been working on it for a decade there is still any number of things apple could do. it is the richest company in the world, which is what makes some of its protectionist stances on its app store so unpalatable to regulators >> they could also do software and tools to enable services across lots of different platforms, lots of different opportunities there. casey, thank you >> yeah, thanks, guys. meantime, youtube music hitting a milestone. google announcing the sign of 50 million paid subscribers for youtube premium. this includes both those just paying for youtube music as well

as youtube premium subscribers, they sign up for the service, they get music as part of the broader youtube premium service. that is ad free access to youtube as well as original content and it also includes customers on the free trial. because of the user base, it is tough to compare this 50 million number apples to apples. spotify reported 165 billion paid subscribers this past quarter and apple doesn't break out its music numbers on a quarterly basis. but did boast about 700 million paid subscribers for all of its services tomorrow we'll be talking to youtube's chief business officer robert kyncl about all the numbers to break down youtube's impact across entertainment and music landscape, but i'm excited to talk to kyncl tomorrow. but youtube has really been building this subscription service while everyone has been talking about ad revenue, they have got this whole other game in the works >> yeah. not apple subscriber number is

really, i think, just everybody who is on, like, the app store, every other company, if they are doing subscriptions, then apple counts that as subscriptions that are running through them, but i think apple music in 2019 had something like 60 million paid subs, up from 50 million a few months earlier some estimates that they're around mid-70s right now so this, for youtube, which is, like, master of the universe when it comes to advertising around video content and music content is really impressive i think points to how these huge tech companies, google, apple, you know, two of the biggest, even if you mess with one little pot of money they have over here and how they run the app store, there are opportunities for them to reach into so many different places because of the loyalty that they have from consumers and just the raw number of touch points that consumers have with them them so many different upsell

opport opportunities. i've stunned you into silence. >> yeah, thii think what's amazg is for so long we talk about how it is hard to convert people to payingfor something that they're used to getting for free will youtube ever get people to pay, how many people really want to access those music videos and youtube clips without ads and it turns out quite a lot of them, 50 million kind of amazing that consumers are not as predictable as they might seem finally, super followers are here on twitter twitter launching the highly anticipated subscription service creators in the u.s. can charge per month for exclusive tweets they need at least 10,000 followers to have tweeted at least 25 times in the past month, and they need to be based in the u.s. and over 18 years of age. for now, only ios users in the u.s. and canada can super follow

accounts in a test group, but the company plans to roll out the option on ios in more countries in the coming weeks as well as android and web versions in the future. both you and i are qualify are we going to start doing this how many people do we think would pay to follow either us or people with many, many more followers? >> i don't think iproduce the type of content that is probably going to be most popular for superfollows out there i'm going to be vague about that in my question to you, julia, i'm kind of asking what sorts of creators, given what we saw with only fans, do you think are going to be the first out of the gate offering subscriber only content? >> well, honestly, i think it is going to be comedians. i think people are going to want to be entertained, comedians and journalists. a little substack model. we know journalists love twitter. and then people like comedians and actors who are going to be

trying to monetize their fan base twitter says open for all sorts of different people. but i think that we're going to really see the people with millions of followers and have really devoted fan base, jon. >> i think it is going to be the kardashians of the world and models i don't know i hope you're right. i hope you know, comedians we could all use a laugh right now. we're going to continue to monitor the severe weather it has been a serious situation here occurring in the northeastern united states historic flooding and reports of tornadoes. this video just came into the newsroom from bridgewater, new jersey, which is west of new york city. that's the home of the minor league somerset patriots baseball team. and that stadium covered in water. this shows the magnitude of this powerful storm that has run up the east coast, causing floods and tornadoes. we will have updates throughout the day here on cnbc including this hour at 11:30

just horrifying images there. and after the break, we talk with former paypal coo david saks on the rise at fintech and his new investment in social a o. big hour of "techcheck" is just getting started it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat. get ready for it all with an advanced network and managed services from comcast business. and get cybersecurity solutions that let you see everything on your network. plus an expert team looking ahead 24/7 to help prevent threats. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. that building you're trying to buy, you should ten-x it. ten-x is the world's largest online commercial real estate exchange. and it's fast. if i could, i'd ten-x everything. like our lunch.

(laughs) amazing! see it. want it. ten-x it.

another day, another chance. make the most of it with the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses. and get the advanced cybersecurity solutions you need with comcast business securityedge. ask how to get comcast business securityedge to help protect all your connected devices. and get started with a great offer on fast and reliable internet and voice for just $64.99 a month. plus, ask how to get a prepaid card up to $500. call or go online today to learn more. comcast business. powering possibilities. a gut check on c3ai.

we heard about the google cloud deal stock tumbling after a wider than expected loss for its most recent quarter and delivered weaker guidance for the current quarter than expected. just about in line, shares this morning down more than 7%. julia? >> and the social audio space keeps getting more crowded, from new startups like clubhouse to facebook, twitter and amazon is reportedly working on live audio and podcasting tools today a new app called collin is launching and it is a tool for social podcasting. while it does have live capabilities, what makes it different is that users can save the audio after and edit it in the app and turn it into a podcast. joining us is david saks, co-founder at collin, and former coo of paypal. thank you for talking to us today.

>> thank you for having me, julia. >> so, david, i know you're a podcaster yourself you invested in so many different companies and industries why get into the social audio space when it is already so crowded? >> well, because i don't think the problem has really been solved an how you make podcasting really easy for the last year and a half, i've been doing this pod with a few friends called the all in pod. we started doing it during covid because it was the only way to see each other and it kept us sane and i just learned a lot about podcasting from doing that what i discovered is how difficult it is. about six hours of post production goes into every episode of the pod that we do. if it wasn't for my besty jason who you know well, i never would have figured it out. so what i set out to do with this team is make podcasting as simple as pushing a button it is like starting a room, on a social audio site, but instead of the content being ephemeral, it is recorded and saved and you can do post production in the app, we automate all that sound

engineering away and you can publish it andshare it on social media no one has really bridged or combined the concepts of social audio and podcasting before and that's what we have done in this app. we call it social podcasting it is a new experience that has an existence. >> interesting i want you to put this in context in terms of your other investments. we have been talking about fintech, you invested in affirm, which earlier this week announced a big deal with amazon do you see more opportunity in the fintech space now and how transformative do you think these big deals like the partnership between affirm and amazon will be for this buy now, pay later space? >> i think it is going to be huge because amazon is the biggest player in e-commerce and this will expose a lot more transaction volumes to these -- the buy now, pay later space i was a seed investor in affirm, full disclosure. i supported max back when this

was his idea of a seed company and it has been amazing to see what he's done with it we also sold him a company last year called returnly, which advances credit against returns, which is similar to the way affirm advances credit against purchases. this whole idea of extending credit at the point of sale, which is what max came up with, is a brilliant idea. a lot of people aren't ready to make the -- pay the full purchase price of the time of sale and they need help sort of spacing out the payments but don't want to pay credit card fees with all the surprise penalties. and so, you know, what max has done at affirm is create a new way for people to get credit at the point of sale. it is pretty amazing. >> tell me how you think about the risk there to that model because i understand the idea behind it. so much of this data is from a bull market where consumers have had some pretty low interest

rates. what happens when the market turns down and there are more defaults on credit what happens when access to capital is not so easy for buy now, pay later players >> well, this is why i have a lot of confidence in max, he lived through the downcycles we went through the dotcom crash at paypal. we saw how the credit underwriting decisions we made at paypal turned out to be not so great and max is the guy at paypal who solved the fraud problem. so you're right that i think the critical skill set in this space is the ability to underwrite a credit decision and be able to stress test those decisions against all future possibilities like a sudden down market, that is the key skill set here. i'm confident in max's ability to do that. >> i want to go back to the app that you created in social audio. are we seeing the difference between a good social app and good creator tool? because disappearing content is great if you're a teenager, but

not if you're a creator. you created it on purpose and you want it to stick around. is this a problem for companies, apps like clubhouse, still into -- it is why we see linkedin getting into stories, because if you're on linkedin, you want your stuff to stay there. >> i think the social audio space as it has been conceived bit founders in that space has been very focused on, like you said, ephemeral experiences, live experiences and i think that's great there is a place in this world for the online cocktail party. that's not what we're trying to do with callin we're trying to long tail podcasting, let anybody who wants to create an audio hoe go online and do that you're right, it is way too hard i never would have figured it out if it wasn't for the help of my friends who made it turnkey for me to show up. what we're trying to do with callin is let anybody who, you know, has something to say, turn their iphone into a sound studio

and just start recording their podcast and they can now do it in front of a live studio audience i think that live experience adds a lot of energy to a room because you can call people up to ask questions there is something powerful there in terms of social audio but we're not using it for anything ephemeral we're using it to create a new podcasting experience. >> well, i wish we could talk to you for much longer. i hope you'll come back soon so we can ask you about everything else going on in this space. thanks so much for joining us, david sacks. >> thank you for having me. >> want to try that out. elizabeth holmes back in court today as jury selection continues in that fraud trial. the reporter who first explained the scandal behind theranos, author of bad blood is with us next today, global markets are challenging traditional assumptions like never before.

there is a new, accelerated sense of responsibility, sustainability, and social equity. at nasdaq, we call it the "era of impact." and we're at the forefront of it. innovating technology, data, and insights to help you deploy an esg strategy to be seen as the company you aspire to be. if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech. for insights on when to buy and sell. and proactive alerts on market events. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. competition beat us again. how? they have a better finance system than we do. i feel like they might have a better finance system than we do. workday. how do they make better decisions faster? workday. it's got to be something workday. i think i got something. work... hey, rob, you're on mute.

hello! hey, rob, there he is. workday. the finance, hr and planning system for a changing world. (vo) at t-mobile for business, unconventional thinking means we see . things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. whether it's ensuring food arrives as fresh as when it departs. being first on the scene, when every second counts. or teaching biology without a lab. we are the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan, so you get it all. without trade-offs. unconventional thinking. it's better for business.

heading to the bottom of the hour here. i'm jon fortt with julia boorstin in a minute, we're live outside the courthouse as elizabeth holmes awaits trial. first, let's get a news update with tyler mathisen. >> thank you very much here's what's happening at this hour massive flooding from pennsylvania to connecticut has killed at least 22 people. three more people are missing including two swept away by floodwaters in elizabeth, new jersey and another in connecticut new jersey governor phil murphy says he's there to help everyone recover. >> if you're a small business, you're barely getting back in your feet from a pandemic and get whacked by this and ask yourself rightfully life's not so fair sometimes. but i promise we will stay with everybody and won't be a short road, but we'll stay with them on that road to recovery >> never seen rain like it in my

life transportation interruptions from the storms are broadening united suspended operations at newark airport, hard hit there one of the major hubs. trains, mass transit reporting major outages. half of the new york city subway lines are suspended or disrupted. and stepping away from the storms, u.s. trade deficit has pulled back from record levels set in june. the july trade gap fell 4% to $70 billion thanks to a jump in exports. it says here, back to you. i don't know whether this is jon, i hope you got through the storms okay. >> i did indeed. lots of water, tyler, indeed. >> crazy >> want people to stay safe, of course the elizabeth holmes trial back in the limelight this week, theranos founder facing a dozen counts of wire fraud and conspiracy jury selection expected to wrap up today our next guest known for exposing the theranos scandal and author of "bad blood" which chronicled the rise and fall of

the company, joins us outside the courthouse john carreyrou john, the thing that has struck me most recently is the image shift of elizabeth holmes. in the past, she projected control. she projected being completely self-contained and decisive now heading into the trial, we're getting a different picture of her being controlled by others. which is the accurate picture? too soon to tell >> it is exactly right when she was at the height of her fame in 2014-'15, she was a self-possessed young woman, who entranced audiences, she came off as incredibly smart and incredibly charming and incredibly charismatic and now the defense would have us believe that in fact she wa the victim of an abusive boyfriend, who was number two executive at theranos.

and that this person, sunny balwani, held her in his thrall and deprived her of her free will and agency so she couldn't make the decision to defraud anyone because she was his puppet and he was the puppeteer. i personally don't buy this theory, but it is not me who matters. it is the jurors who are going to get empanelled this morning will they go for this defense theory and i think the trial, the outcome of the trial is going to hinge on this. >> i'm curious what you think the jurors are going to be focused on i was so struck by the note that she has been trying to make eye contact with everyone when they walk into the room she's been such a public figure, do you think the jury is going to buy this image, you know, remodel and are they going to buy it and this idea that she was being manipulated bysomeon who was not in the press for so

many years >> right as i said, in my podcast, there is a mountain of evidence against her, both documentary evidence, emails and so forth, and a ton of witnesses that the prosecution is going to call to the stand. her best chance to get off, to get acquitted, is not to fight the facts, to fight this on the facts, but to try to get the jurors to sympathize with her. and that's what this defense, in my podcast, i call it this svengali defense is all about. it is about making sunny balwani, her ex-boyfriend, ex-number two at theranos, the villain, and making it seem like she was not pulling the strings, like he was pulling the strings. i think it is very hard to tell whether the jury will go for this i think time will tell, i think we'll start getting a feel for

it in the coming weeks when the trial starts >> now, john, i read you predicted that she was going to be convicted, elizabeth holmes was going to be convicted of wire fraud what led you to make this prediction >> well, wire fraud is the easiest statute, you anyknow, to build this case on it really -- all the jurors need to understand is whether or not she lied and made misrepresentations to investors when she pitched them theranos and if it turns out that the prosecution can prove that she was telling lies at the time she was pitching investment, the jurors have to convict, same thing with the patients, if the prosecutions can prove that theranos was under her supervision, wiring electronic blood test results across state lines to patients, that she knew were false, then the jurors have to convict

so it is a very -- wire fraud is a simple proposition and that's why prosecutors often rely on it in cases like this one. >> it strikes me, you know, with this svengali defense that really in order to believe it, you have to doubt the entire venture capital and investing system because so often what investors say is that they're investing in the founder, in the story, in that person's ability to convince them not only of the legitimacy of their idea but their ability to be in a way self-powered and self-willed and get it done. is that something that we should expect perhaps, you know, the other side, the prosecution, to attack on? there was so many layers of people scrutinizing elizabeth holmes herself and if somebody had been controlling her, maybe they should have figured it out. >> i mean, that's exactly right. theranos was a cult of personality.

it was a cult of one person, elizabeth holmes she was the face of this company, she was the story of this company and now the defense would have us believe that actually she had very little to do with what was going on it seems very hard to believe because, remember, she owned 99.7% of the voting rights of the company. absolutely nothing at the company could be decided without her. the board couldn't even reach a quorum without elizabeth holmes. so i think it is a very -- it is going to be a very, very tough theory for the jurors to swallow, but then again, she is a chameleon, in my experience, i've been covering this for six years, and she's very good at projecting the front that she wants to project and i just would not underestimate her ability to sway these jurors.

>> it is possible that perspective jurors who read your book are being dismissed so we will see what happens. john carreyrou, thank you. >> thanks for having me. and as we head to break, check out shares of okta, one of the biggest gainers on the ndx after posting a smaller than expected quarterly loss and issuing upbeat guidance. more "techcheck" is after this

♪♪ (vo) the rule in business used to be, "location, location, location." now it's, "network, network, network." so you need a network that's built right. verizon business unlimited starts with america's most reliable network. then we add the speed of verizon 5g. we provide security that's made for business and offer plans as low as $30 per line. more businesses choose verizon than any other network. we are open and ready for you.

welcome back collaboration tools for teams have never been more crucial than they are now. alasian has been ahead of the curve. i spoke with atlassian co-founder about how the pandemic has shifted how customers are using the product and the features his team is building >> we certainly have seen some usage trends change in software. you see a lot more bursts of highly synchronous work if you think about that as a handful of people on a zoom call really attacking a problem together and then long periods of asynchronous work, managing both of that. am i writing something you're going to read 12 hours later or i write it and you readit one second later it becomes two extremes, i guess. we have done a lot to tweak the software to do that. >> told me that building more humanity into software, those

personality type features is an important priority >> the other thing we have done is to add a lot more continued more humanity into the software. people want to show off their character, their personality, they want to personalize things, you know, we have got a large library of gorgeous photos, for example, and people change their backgrounds, that stuff can seem trivial, but in a world where you don't get to show up to work and put on different clothes to show off your personality or, you know, you got stuff in your cubicle or whatever, people get a sense of who people are from talking to them, have to move a little bit of that into the digital to give some flavor, so it is not also black and white documents. and lastly i would say adding a lot more video and audio capabilities, our management video assets, greatly improved across our collaboration tools and in the last 12 months, just because we're seeing a lot more video contentbeing used.

people instead of writing a document or recording a video of themselves talking to make it more personal and putting it online, and so we have handled more in video content. >> important competition space here, think asana, salesforce with slack watch to the entire conversation with mike, a neat story on how he joined the bid to buy the utah jazz, had to talk to his wife about it first, of course find that on "techcheck's" linkedin page and our show twitter stream julia? >> great stuff, jon. i will check it out. and pudgy penguins and millions of dollars in profit the latest on this summer's surge in nfts. that's next. "techcheck" is back in two

jerry is here! j! mate, how are ya!? it's so good to see you. good to see all of you, yeah! why is jerry so... popular? it's been like this ever since we started using workday. what do you mean? it makes it easier to develop great relationships with our suppliers. now everyone, everywhere loves jerry. they sure do. they do. they really do. mmhmm. workday. finance, hr, planning and spend management for a changing world.

well, geico's 85 years isn't just about time, you know. it means experience. i mean, put it this way. if i told you i'd been jarring raspberry preserves for 85 years, what would you think? (humming) well, at first you'd be like, "that has gotta be some scrumptious jam!" (humming) and then you'd think, "he looks fantastic! i must know his skin care routine." geico. saving people money for 85 years. beg your pardon. - stand up if you are first generation college student. geico. saving people mo(crowd cheering). stand up if you're a mother. if you are actively deployed, a veteran, or you're in a military family, please stand. the world in which we live equally distributes talent, but it doesn't equally distribute opportunity, and paths are not always the same. - i'm so proud of you dad. - [man] i will tell you this, southern new hampshire university

can change the whole trajectory of your life. (uplifting music) let's get a gut check on netflix. shares are up about 2.5% today after rising yesterday the stock yesterday falling short of a record close. still ending in its highest level since january. and cdc's more gains for netflix ahead raising its price target to $595 from $570. the stock is up now, you see that up 2.5% netflix announced that seinfeld would begin streaming come october. by the way, speaking of media,

viacom's paramount just announced the new top gun movie will be delayed because of covid concerns it was slated for a july 2019 release, it is looking at a two-year delay. >> that's a negative, ghost rider. the pattern is full. nfts exploded in popularity earlier this year and seemingly tapered off. the fervor is back robert frank is reporting on how this bizarre half art, half crypto corner of the investment world is roaring back. >> good morning, jon the largest nft trading platform saw sales volume of $3.5 billion in august. a record and more than ten times the july sales they did more volume in one month than etsy did in the entire second quarter. you got axion and infinity, they did over $800 million in sales in august. larva labs around $700 million so nft sales in august topping

more than $5 billion the average price of an nft is now $12,000. that's also way up and nft sold for at least $1 million every day in august, but this nft 2.0, which follows that first boom in march, it is being driven in large part by a whole new cast of cartoon characters crypto punks are the most expensive, they average $214,000 each with one trading for more than $7 million. visa bought one for $150,000 to better understand the space. catching up fast are the board ape yacht club seth curry bought one and it became his twitter avatar. and pudgy penguins, they're up more than 7,000% since they were created in june. one sold for half a million dollars, just two weeks ago.

now that's been relisted for $2 million. if you missed that pet rock craze in the 1970s, well, ether rock sold to crypto mobile justin sun for $611,000, another one listed for $28 million they only made 100 ether rocks and the cheapest one on the market now is $2 million back to you. >> well if they only made 100, one of these days, back when we're all back in the office, i'll stop by your desk so you can explain the pudgy penguins to me. the bored apes i think i get keep an eye on virgin galactic shares are taking off despite a new faa investigation into the company's july launch and reports that the spacecraft veered out of its designated air space midflight. you can catch that story on cnbc.com stay with us

and there you have it— -woah. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow! -big deal! ...we get unlimited for just $30 bucks. sweet, but mine has 5g included. relax people, my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. switch to xfinity mobile and save hundreds on your wireless bill. plus, save up to $400 when you purchase a new samsung phone or upgrade your existing phone. learn more at your local xfinity store today. for today aets funding secured we're rooking at the health tech space, exploded in the wake of the pandemic a company at the center of it is solve health today announcing a $45 million series c funding round to fuel the growth of its software tools for health care providers to manage appointment booking and

offer telemedicine and patients find the ability to book same-day appointments. ceo heather fernandez saying the past year has gotten doctors and patients accustomed to getting health care online >> there is this disaggression of health care that is born out of frustration, whether from policy makers or the health systems and most importantly consumers, enabling consumers to get more of what they need when they need it to be specific, covid accelerated our ability to grow our national network and work with partners. it significantly grew the number and volume of consumers coming to solve for same-day care >> the company says that one in 16 americans has used solve to schedule care, including covid tests. you can find the entire interview on cnbc.com lumbar "techcheck." >> all right will do. and if you missed part of the show, don't panic. you can follow and subscribe to

our podcast. listen any time, anywhere wherever you download podcasts and "techcheck" back in a moment pnc bank believes that if a pair of goggles can help your backhand get better... yeah! ...then your bank should help you budget even better. (laughing) virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. its low cash mode feature gives you at least 24 hours of extra time to help you avoid an overdraft fee. you see that? virtual wallet® with low cash mode from pnc bank. one way we're making a difference. (chimes) i think you're going to like it here. umm, why is everyone... throwing things at me? look, as cfo it's my job to be ready for whatever's next. that's why i have my finance team, randomly hurl things at me. it's also why we use workday. it gives us insights, so we quickly pivot our strategy, people, planning, you name it. sorry, sir. i will aim straight at your next step. see that you do.

would you like some coffee? workday. the finance, hr, and planning system for a changing world. ♪ if you're 55 and up, t-mobile has plans built just for you whether you need a single line or lines for family members, for a changing world.

you'll get great value on america's most reliable 5g network. like 2 lines of unlimited for just $27.50 a line. that's our everyday price. plus, our plans always come with unlimited talk, text and data included. so, switch to t-mobile and get 2 lines of unlimited for only $27.50 a line. that's half the price of verizon or at&t. only at t-mobile. the leader in 5g. your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire

turning back to apple, in the latest in its app store saga, the company says it will allow developers of some apps to link from apps to external sites for payments the latest concession apple made in maintaining the walled garden and maintaining the control that goes with it joining us to discuss, let's bring in "wall street journal's" johanna stern. bottom line question, is this a really big deal or not >> it's a deal i don't know if it's a big deal. it's definitely a concession i would say it's a smaller concession from apple. on the developer point of view, this is a nice to have it allows the developers of reader apps really meaning for not on the in, the netflix of the world, spotifys he is those wanting you to sign up for

something where you can consume content. in the past you couldn't send people through an the a.m. li apple app to sign up for service. you had the companies basically off at the knees not being able to get people to sign up for services now this allows that so it is a nice to have. it's certainly a nice to have as a consumer developers, i think they think this is a small concession >> a small concession, but between this headline and the one about south korea and the fact that there are these bills in congress, do you think that this is going to be further accelerant, more fuel on the fire for another slough of regulations or necessary concessions? >> yeah, i think it all adds up. it's adding up certainly pr play by apple obviously driven by regulation in japan this isn't something they did out of the goodness of their hearts but we're awaiting the epic

trial results. we are in the wait and see with what apple is going to do on its own and what it's forced today. >> joanna, it seems to me the take away for investors maybe is apple a vertically integrated company. they want to craft not just the hardware but the software as much as possible, the services behind it. and just because this one piece of the services model is being challenged and changed, doesn't mean apple won't figure out some other way to get paid, right isn't that what they have a history of doing >> yeah, totally and i think here, i mean, how many people are signing up through apps when you think about what this does be it's nice for a consumer you can open up the app, sign up apple isn't taking a cut of that now. you can go outside you'll be going through a website to do this that's really what the -- on the ground what changes. but, yeah, apple can basically do whatever they want to do in the future and we can have this all over again >> what's different about app

store model we have particularly from apple but also from google which is being challenged with the play store as well is a more tightly controlled store that has led to fewer issues when it comes to trojans, viruss, fraudthat kind of thing. it seems in a way even though apple and google are trying to put that into the conversation, legislators and governments aren't so focused on it, aren't buying it. >> i think we're having a big discussion in a couple of months here or there is a lot more talk soon about the third party app stores and what it could do to the platforms. we will -- i mean, that's obviously been apple's biggest argument, what third party app stores would do if they came on the platform, the security, the privacy risks there. i think that's the conversation that's going to be where we're headed >> yeah. >> well, thank you -- thank you so much for joining us joanna,

we see apple shares up nearly 1% today. >> i thought i was here to talk about the iphone so -- >> we can always talk about the iphone 2 we got a new one coming out soon >> after the bell, we're getting hewlett packard enterprise, dock ewe sign, mongo db and pager duty julia we were talking earlier about c-3 a. i after earnings this is a stock popping huge after the ipo, come back to earth. they are talking about with google cloud to expand but that stock down 9% right now. we were talking about collaboration software, asanna also had earnings last night that stock up 12%. of course founded by somebody you and i both know, co-founder of facebook, dustin moskz. >> but i think the question as we watch the work from home

space, the collaboration space what are we going to see in terms of the giants, jon how much are the microsofts and googles make sure they don't lose share here. >> maybe -- we just heard from google yesterday maybe hear from microsoft soon keep tuned to tech check meanwhile, the "halftime report" starts now let's get to brian sullivan. >> jon and julia thank you yes it does. welcome to the "halftime report" i'm brian in for scott onward and upward. stocks hitting new record highs again. while the focus has been on what they just talked about on tech check, alphabet, apple, the overall tech trade, there is a group mavg a stealth move higher, the best performing sector of the week and this year taking over financials and tech. who is it? we're going to let you know of course and trade around it we've got a great group to get you through all of it today. tiffany mcgee, d