Each week the MEF team curates mobile stories from around the world. Essential news, the latest market insight & data nuggets, the Global News Round-up offers an instant international mobile content and commerce snapshot.
Global News Stories
IBM: In 5 Years, Buying Local Will Beat Buying Online
Mashable
In five years, doctors will use your DNA to keep you well. Cities will be smarter and use social feedback to make residents part of decision-making processes, and retailers will leverage the power of mobile devices to upgrade in-store buying to the point where it will be a better experience than buying online.
CHART OF THE DAY: Paid Apps Are Dead
Business Insider
This chart from app analytics company Distimo says it all. If you’re doing an app that’s not ad supported, then it better have in-app payments. Paid apps are dead.
The Shifting Ways In Which We’ll Interact With Mobile Apps
Tech Crunch
‘Tis the season to reorganize the apps on my iPhone. With iOS 7 and the shift from spotlight search to swipe-down-to-search for apps, I’ve noticed my app behavior has changed a bit, as it’s become easier to search for apps with the new UI and therefore less important where the app is located on my phone. For instance, the Amazon app is buried in my Shopping folder (on my second page of apps), but if I need the app, I just swipe down to search.
Tablets Becoming Ubiquitous, says YouGov
Mobile Marketing Magazine
Almost half of UK households will have one or more tablets by the end of next year, according to YouGov’s Media, Technology & Telecoms Outlook for 2014. As reported a couple of days ago, YouGov is forecasting that there will be more than 20m tablets in circulation in the UK once al this year’s Christmas presents have been unwrapped, and Russell Feldman, director of YouGov’s technology & telecoms division believed that in 2014, the devices will become ubiquitous, with approaching half of households having one in their possession.
Two thirds of Brits don’t know what mobile NFC is
Mobile Money Revolution
The report, YouGov: The Future of Mobile Digital and Contactless Payments, found a lack of enthusiasm for contactless, with just nine per cent of smartphone owners aware their devices were NFC-enabled.
Tap and pay raises security anxieties
The Australian
MILLIONS of shoppers could soon be “tapping and paying” for groceries and other services with their smartphones. Yet while it is convenient, security fears could stymie the uptake. The Commonwealth Bank swooped in to launch the first tap and go functionality for smartphones, a day after rival Westpac unveiled its own offering, due out early next year.
Amazon follows PayPal into mPOS for in-store presence
Mobile Commerce Daily
Amazon has reportedly acquired mobile payments company GoPago, signifying the online retailer’s heightened interest in the mobile commerce space and competing against other big players such as PayPal and eBay.
Local-Mobile Marketing Is Helping Retailers Drive Foot Traffic And Sales At Bricks-And-Mortar Stores
Business Insider
Location-based marketing blurs the line between the digital and physical world. To drive foot traffic and sales at bricks-and-mortar stores, marketers target shoppers on their devices.
Read More… (report)
From protectionist to predator – an industry morphs
Telecom Asia
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the telecommunications industry, mobile operators in particular, have become paranoid about so-called over-the-top (OTT) players, and those very same OTT players have no idea why they are being labeled or singled out as a threat.
Global News Round-up – These articles are not written by MEF and do not represent any views of individuals, members or the organisation.
