Get the latest announcements from MEF Members across the mobile ecosystem globally in this weekly review of member news…
Wirecard switches on ‘pay with Alipay’ at European airports
Earlier this year, Alipay announced its intent to let millions of Chinese tourists pay with its wallet in Europe. Now, it’s happening – with help from Wirecard.
The European payments processor is switching on the Alipay app in 69 eurotrade airport shops. Wirecard has integrated Alipay barcodes into the retailer’s till system.
From mid July, Chinese tourists will be able to pay for shopping at arrivals and departures areas as they would at home. In 2014, 117 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad spending $165 billion. Alipay currently claims 450 million active users.
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MyOrder launches a mobile wallet for groups
Dutch mobile commerce firm MyOrder has created a wallet called GRPPY that friends can use for pooled purchases.
The GRPPY lets people keep a shared balance for buying things or sharing the cost of a night out. Users can create a group, invite members to join and deposit money via iDEAL.
MyOrder created the app with Wirecard, and is running GRPPY as a startup under the ownership of Rabobank.
Syniverse invests $45 million in mobile marketer, Vibes
Enterprise specialist Syniverse is teaming up with Vibes to create the world’s ‘leading mobile-first CRM platform’.
It’s invested $45 million in the US firm, which counts Chipotle, Home Depot and Gap among its customers. Syniverse has more than 1,500 clients and says the deal with leave it ‘uniquely positioned to help brands reach more consumers in ways that precisely track the return on their mobile marketing spend and accelerate the shift from lower-ROI email campaigns.’
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PubMatic launches Private Marketplace Guaranteed platform
Publishers and advertisers can combine the best of direct selling and programmatic with PubMatic’s new PMP-G system.
Lots of publishers advertisers like to deal direct with each other, but they also like the convenience and targeting of using real-time algorithms to do the buying and selling.
Pubmatic says its new platform will “combine the assurances of direct sold media with the data targeting and efficiency of real-time bidding, allowing advertisers to buy programmatic inventory with confidence.”
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MasterCard and Tesco Bank work together on a new kind of wallet
Tesco customers can look forward to an easier way to shop in-store, online or on your mobile, says the supermarket.
It’s working with MasterCard on a strategic partnership to deliver safe and secure digital payments”
Mark Barnett, President of MasterCard UK & Ireland, said: “As today’s shopper’s shift between online, mobile and in-store transactions depending on the circumstances, this partnership will strengthen Tesco’s payment offerings with new safe, secure and convenient solutions for customers.”
Lloyds tests queue-jumping system from WoraPay
Employees of Lloyds Bank can buy food and drink and pay from their desks thanks to a pilot scheme with a UK/Lithuanian startup.
WoraPay is working with with Gather & Gather, which runs the food counters at Lloyds Group’s offices, on the scheme. Staffers in London, Halifax and Bristol can try it.
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Kaspersky: social media, email and chat dominate children’s online time
Two thirds of children’s internet time is spent socialising, says an extensive new report from Kaspersky Labs.
It found 67 per cent of online activity was on social networks, email and chats, while 11 per cent was on gaming portals. The research detected a fall in visits to websites with potentially harmful content. However, it suggested this could be because children are moving sensitive activities to mobile devices, which were not covered in the report.
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Hungama adds Telugu content to its on-demand movies app
Movie fans from South India can now tune in to more content on their mobiles, following a new deal from Hungama.
India’s mobile entertainment giant has just confirmed it will add hundreds of movies in the Telugu language to its repertoire. The Telugu content comes from Sun TV Network and Maa TV.
The Hungama Play app currently offers over 7,500 movie titles across English, Hindi and other Indian languages for a monthly subscription of Rs 199.
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