Axios

Snapchat announced Tuesday it's opening up its automated API platform to all advertising partners, not just a handful of high-level test partners, like Unilever and Gatorade.

Apple is making a come back this quarter, after a disappointing third quarter, with record revenue and iPhone sales.

But the iPad isn't doing so hot—units sold are down 19% from the year-ago quarter, and revenue is down 22% over the same period.

Why this matters: With personal computers decreasing in popularity, Apple (and its competitors) have been trying to convince consumers that tablets, especially more powerful ones like the iPad Pro, are a great alternative. Apple has also tried to position its iPad Pro as a "hybrid" device—a tablet at times, a laptop at others—to compete with those of Microsoft, Lenovo, and the like.But it seems this isn't working; even this last holiday season couldn't help the iPad.

Uber and German automaker Daimler today announced an agreement whereby Daimler will begin producing self-driving Mercedes-Benz vehicles that will operate on Uber's global ride-sharing network.

Why it matters: This is the first time that Uber has contracted with an auto OEM to put a fleet on its rider network ― self-driving or otherwise ― and it sounds unlikely to be the last (this is a non-exclusive agreement on both sides). It also reflects a bit of strategy shift, or at least strategy broadening, from an existing program to outfit cars with Uber's self-driving "kit."Expect to see a mix going forward.

Is it unique? No. Lyft and General Motors (a major Lyft shareholder) struck a similar agreement last year.

Open questions: No word on the financial terms, nor if the agreement involves any sort of equity. We also don't know the timing of roll-out nor where initial markets will be.

Quotable: "Auto manufacturers like Daimler are crucial to our strategy because Uber has no experience making cars—and in fact, making cars is really hard. This became very clear to me after I visited an auto manufacturing plant and saw how much effort goes into designing, testing and building cars." ― Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

Mark Zuckerberg has been lobbying since 2009 to get China to allow his social networking service back into the country, but it's probably not going anywhere, per the WSJ.

The bottom line: Efforts to soften China — such as hiring Chinese employees, using tech that's acceptable to the ruling Communist Party and learning Mandarin — aren't breaking down the barriers. Meanwhile social media brands in China, such as Weibo and Tencent Holding's WeChat and QQ, are already dominating the scene.

Why the Chinese blockage matters: There are 700 million internet users in China, making it an enormous potential growth area. The growth prospects in the U.S. are slowing as the company's ad revenues are possibly peaking: it boasted an 84% share of industry ad revenues in the third quarter of last year, per a WSJ report.

What to watch: Facebook will announce its earnings this Wednesday. Look for signs of growth with its Messenger app, Oculus VR headset, WhatsApp, or Instagram — since China isn't on its list of growth markets (at least for now).

A dozen analytics providers, social media celebrities, and talent managers TechCrunch spoke to have seen a decline in Snapchat Stories view counts ranging from 15% to 40% since Instagram Stories launched in August. Many also noted that users are posting much less frequently on Snapchat, opting for Instagram's Stories instead.

Our take: As TechCrunch points out, Snapchat removing the auto-advance feature, which automatically opened all of a user's friends' stories in a row, has definitely affected the number of Stories people are watching.

• Instagram's success in ramping up with Stories is due in part to its massive scale. Stories already has 150 million daily users, out of Instagram's total of 600 million monthly active users.
• Then there's what the Stories feature offers: non-permanence. Users and celebrities commonly say that posting on Instagram has them sweating over whether each photo is perfect. Many presumably turned to Snapchat to escape this, but now that they can have both through Instagram, why need Snapchat?

Why this matters: There is no doubt that analysts and bankers will—if they haven't already—ask Snapchat about this as it embarks on its IPO roadshow. The company is expected to publicly file to go public this week, and hit the public market in March.

The #DeleteUber movement, and Lyft's commitment to donate $1 million to the ACLU, has boosted Lyft's iOS app in the Apple App store thanks to calls on social media for customers to switch to its service..

iOS : On Monday Lyft's app is No. 6 in the U.S. App Store's rankings of all free apps. That's the highest it's been in the past year, according to app analytics provider App Annie.

• Uber's app, meanwhile has dropped to No. 13, down from being two spots higher on Friday, when Trump signed his immigration executive order.

Android: On Android, Uber is still much higher in the rankings than Lyft, suggesting that much of the anti-Uber activism likely concentrated within iPhone users.

Why it matters: Uber is no stranger to controversies, but this is an example of a case in which there's a visible impact on its business.

Uber has done a lot of questionable things over the years, but its actions this past weekend vis-a-vis Trump's immigration ban weren't among them. An actual timeline from Saturday, which may differ from what you saw on social media:

• 4:20pm ET: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick sent email to employees. It stopped short of explicitly opposing the ban, but did say: (1) The company would identify and compensate affected drivers. (2) Kalanick will raise the issue of how the "ban will impact many innocent people" this Friday during the first meeting of Trump's so-called CEO Council. This email was posted a short time later to Kalanick's public Facebook page.
• 4:55pm ET: NY Taxi Workers union called for a work stoppage at JFK airport from 6pm-7pm. Uber does not suspend its own service, but also does not send out any promotions.
• 7:36pm ET: Uber NYC sends out a tweet, saying that surge pricing to and from JFK has been turned off.

The claim that Uber was trying to "break the strike" by sending out its surge pricing tweet is belied by the timing (i.e., sent after the strike was to have ended).

Snap has decided to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, according to CNBC.

The report from CNBC's Bob Pisani is single-sourced, and notes that NYSE CEO Tom Farley has been repeatedly spotted wearing the company's Spectacles since word of the pending IPO first leaked.

Snap is expected to publicly file its IPO papers as early as this week, with plans to raise between $4 billion and $5 billion. The actual listing is likely at the beginning of March.

NYSE declined comment on the report, via email.