Winners and Losers: Apple Invites starts the party and Switch 2 scalpers face a fight

We’ve finally made it through the epic month of January. That alone is a win. Here’s who has been enjoying the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in the tech world this week.

The first week of Feb brought some excellent news for Xbox users in the UK, who can now just drop into their local Currys store to get the console fixed. And, for foldable smartphone fans too! The Huawei Mate XT just got its global launch date.

Speaking of launches, we could be less than two weeks away from Amazon launching its next-gen Alexa assistant, while Opera has launched a web browser with mindfulness in… well, mind.

And can we talk about how cute this Pixar-like robotic desk lamp Apple has built is?

In less positive news, there’s a new malware affecting iOS and Android apps, and Disney+ made more money despite losing subscribers because it is charging people more. Meanwhile, Sonos may make the mistake of charging $400 for its TV set-top box.

Let’s look at the winners and losers for this week.

Winner: Apple Invites

Apple Invites made me want to plan a gathering! I love the new Apple Invites app, which launched at the beginning of this week.

The app, which is entirely separate from the Calendar app (thank God!), enables users to create attractive invites to social gatherings, birthday parties or anything that doesn’t involve sending a boring calendar link.

With simple design tools, easy integration of apps like Maps, Music, Image Playground, and Photos, you can create something that looks swell in about five minutes.

Recipients can RVSP yes, no and maybe, and you can send updates to those who’ve confirmed. You can collaborate on a shared playlist from the event and incorporate a shared album so everyone can upload their photos afterwards.

It’s one of those neat and fun Apple touches that leverage other parts of the ecosystem in a manner that people will want to use. And it adds value to Apple’s iCloud+ platform too, which may encourage people to upgrade.

Remember a few months back when ex-Twitter billionaire came up with a weird ‘Let’s hang’ app for people who’d stopped hanging out? I feel like this is what that should’ve been. It might encourage people to create an event and share the invites wider, rather than just texting the same 3-4 people.

So far 2025 in the technology world has been too serious. Apple Invites is something to remind us tech can be frivolous and low maintenance too.

Loser: Switch 2 scalpers

If you envisioned making a quick buck by greedily snapping up the Switch 2 supplies and then selling them on for a profit, first of all, you suck. Second of all, Nintendo has news for you, Jack!

This week Nintendo confirmed it has a plan to prevent Switch 2 consoles getting into the hands of profiteering non-gamers.

“We will take all possible measures based on the experience we have accumulated to date (regarding scalpers and the like). We are making preparations,” Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said this week.

You hear that, scalpers? Boom!

In all truth, we don’t know how successful these measures will be, or even what they are yet, but we’re happy that Nintendo has a plan.

Especially considering the excitement for the Switch 2 is going to go through the roof when the Nintendo Direct games showcase takes place on April 2.

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