COVID-19 has spread to 108 countries around the world, and the coronavirus shows no signs of abating. The pandemic is proving particularly devastating in Italy, with the country seeing over 800 deaths from over 10,000 cases, second only to China. COVID-19 has effectively shut down the airline industry, with most countries screening international passengers for signs of infections.
The coronavirus has had a huge impact on the tech industry, affecting the global supply chain and causing interminable product delays. Here’s the latest on COVID-19 and how it’s affecting the tech industry.
March 12, 2020: Twitter asks employees to work from home, U.S. bans travel from Europe as coronavirus becomes a pandemic
- Twitter has ordered all employees globally to work from home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
- In an unprecedented move, the U.S. has banned travel from most European countries for 30 days. 26 countries are affected, including Germany, France, Belgium, Finland, and Denmark.
- The NBA has shut down the 2020 season until further notice after a player has tested positive for COVID-19.
- The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic, with the organization urging countries to work together to contain its spread. This is the first coronavirus to be dubbed a pandemic, and with the virus already claiming over 4,500 lives, it is deadlier than SARS.
March 11, 2020: E3 won’t be taking place this year
- Owing to the “alarming levels of spread and severity” of the outbreak, the World Health Organisation has officially classified COVID-19 as a pandemic.
- One of the gaming industry’s biggest events won’t be taking place this year. E3 has been officially canceled over coronavirus fears, with the three-day event originally scheduled to take place from June 9 – 11. It’s a big blow to the gaming industry, and it is possible we’ll see brands announce new games in dedicated virtual events.
- Google is now recommending that all of its North American staff work from home. The search giant previously told full-time staff in San Francisco, Dublin, and Seattle offices to work remotely, but that is now being extended to cover all of North America.
- The Mountain View giant has now expanded that recommendation to include all staff in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well.
March 10, 2020: U.S. stock market plummets, China’s phone segment sees a massive 54.7% YoY decline
- Phone shipments in China have taken a massive hit in February because of the coronavirus outbreak. South China Morning Post notes that year-on-year figures were down by a staggering 54.7%, with the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi significantly affected. Apple’s shipments were also down by over 50% last month.
- Huawei will now unveil the P40 series in an online-only event. The manufacturer planned an event in Paris on March 26, but has switched to a virtual event because of the coronavirus.
- Major tech companies took a massive hit as the stock market witnessed its worst day since the 2008 meltdown. Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon cumulatively lost over $300 billion worth of value in one day.
March 9, 2020: Tech companies recommend remote work as COVID-19 spreads in the U.S.
- The U.S. now has over 500 cases of COVID-19, with 21 confirmed deaths. Major tech companies — including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook — are encouraging their employees to work from home to limit the spread of the outbreak.
- Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter have also committed to paying hourly wage workers during the outbreak. With these companies switching to remote work for full-time staff, hourly workers like security guards and janitors will be paid in full even if they’re asked to stay home.
- Stanford University, University of Washington, Seattle University and Northeastern University’s Seattle campus have all switched to online-only classes for the rest of the semester.
- Xiaomi has donated thousands of masks to the Italian government in a show of solidarity. The tech firm included a quote from Roman Philosopher Seneca to drive the sentiment home: “We are waves of the same sea, leaves of the same tree, flowers of the same garden.”
Get real-time global data on COVID-19
The best resource for real-time information on COVID-19 infection rates globally is the dashboard maintained by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins. It provides a real-time view of the virus’ spread around the globe, and has a country-wise breakdown of infection rates and total deaths/recoveries.
You also get a city-wise breakdown of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The dashboard plugs into several data sources, including the World Health Organisation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China’s National Health Commission, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and local government data. You can also head to the WHO and CDC to know more about the virus and how you can stay safe:
- CDC’s COVID-19 site
- WHO COVID-19 updates
List of cancellations/online-only events because of COVID-19
COVID-19 has caused several cancellations, including Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile-related event in the world. With the rising risk of infection and restrictions on global travel, most brands are rescheduling, canceling, or switching to virtual events to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
- E3 2020 (June 9 – 11): The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been canceled over coronavirus fears. The event was scheduled to take place in LA, and with the city in a state of emergency, the organizers of E3 decided to cancel the three-day event. This is the first time since 1996 the event won’t take place.
- Coachella (April 10 – 19): Coachella has been postponed until October. The music event will now run from October 9 to 18 instead of April 10 – 19.
- SXSW 2020 (March 13 – 22):: SXSW 2020 has been canceled a week before its scheduled start. This is the first time the event has been canceled, and its fate was sealed when tech companies — including Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Facebook, and Intel — pulled out along with major record labels.
- Game Developers Conference (GDC): Originally scheduled to run from March 16 to 20, the event has been postponed to a date later in the summer. We don’t have details on dates just yet, but will update once we hear more.
- Mobile World Congress (February 24 – 27): The biggest mobile-related event of the year was one of the first to be canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak. With major brands like Intel, LG, Ericsson, Vivo, and others pulling out, GSMA had to pull the plug on this year’s installment of MWC.
A lot of tech events are still going on as planned, but will now be held online to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. That includes Google’s annual I/O, where the tech giant usually showcases its latest software efforts. These are the events that will now be conducted over the internet:
- Huawei P40 unveil (March 26): Huawei initially planned to unveil the P40 and P40 Pro at an event in Paris on March 26, but the Chinese manufacturer has now switched to an online-only event.
- Microsoft MVP Global Summit (March 16 – 19): Microsoft’s yearly summit gives the company’s MVPs the ability to connect and take part in technical discussions at Microsoft’s Redmond campus. This year’s event will be virtual-only, with Microsoft noting that it is working to set up a “globally inclusive set of virtual sessions” to accommodate different time zones.
- NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference (GTC): NVIDIA is all set to serve up details on its next-gen video cards, so there’s a lot of excitement around GTC 2020. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote and all the sessions from the event will now be broadcast online, with the event set to kick off on March 26.
- Adobe Summit: Every year, Adobe brings its customers and partners to Las Vegas and shares insights on its latest products. This year’s installment of Adobe Summit will be held online, with Adobe set to kick things off on March 29.
- Google Cloud Next (April 6 – 8):Google is “transforming” its Cloud Next ’20 event into a “free, global, digital-first, multi-day event” with hundreds of sessions broadcast digitally. Google is refunding paid tickets, and automatically enrolling everyone that paid to its virtual event. With the event now held online, anyone can register and tune in to all the sessions.
- Facebook F8 (May 5 – 6): Facebook pulled the plug on its annual developer event, and the company says it will instead rely on a combination of “locally hosted events, videos and live streamed content.” More details will be forthcoming leading up to the event date.
- Google I/O (May 12 – 14): Google’s annual I/O event is where the search giant shows off its latest developments. This year’s event has been pushed online, and anyone that has purchased a ticket will get a full refund and an automatic entry into I/O 2021. Google says it will “explore other ways to evolve Google I/O to best connect with our developer community” over the coming weeks.
Other major events like Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Computex, and Gamescom are still scheduled for now, but we will have to wait and see if that changes in the coming weeks. E3 in particular may be affected as Los Angeles is currently in a state of emergency.
Product delays due to the coronavirus
The coronavirus effectively shut down China’s manufacturing industry for several weeks, and that will have long-term effects for tech brands. It’s business as usual for the industry for now as most manufacturers stockpile products months in advance, but we’re already seeing the likes of Apple and Microsoft slashing their earnings forecast for Q1 2020.
The real effect of the coronavirus will be felt in the coming weeks as components run into shortages. Although companies like Samsung don’t rely on China for manufacturing anymore, the individual components that go into your phone are still manufactured predominantly in the country. We’ll be monitoring the situation closely, but for now there have not been any major product delays because of the virus.
COVID-19’s effect on the tech industry
- Twitter orders mandatory work from home for all of its employees
- Google encourages remote work for staff in North America
- Huawei will launch the P40 series in an online-only event on March 26
- Google and Apple curtail all nonessential travel for their employees
- Google shuts down all COVID-19 apps on the Play Store to prevent misinformation
- Twitter and Netflix bow out of SXSW, and the city of Austin pulls the plug on the event
- Google offers its enterprise version of Hangouts Meet for free to facilitate remote work
- Samsung temporarily shuts down Galaxy Z Flip manufacturing facility to limit spread of the virus
- How COVID-19 shut down the tech industry
