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
Google Play Downloads 45 Per Cent Higher Than iOS, Says App Annie
Global app downloads from the Google Play store now exceed those from the iOS App Store by over 45 per cent, according to a report from App Annie.
This has been driven by the prominence of Android in emerging markets which have recently seen a major increase in smartphone adoption – the report picks out Mexico, Turkey, Russia and Brazil as major contributors to the Play Store’s dominance.
Facebook Prepping Mobile Money Wallet Move
Mobile Money Revolution
The FT says that Facebook is in talks with the Central Bank of Ireland to develop a wallet that would store funds inside a Facebook account that could be transferred to other users.
Amid Reports That Facebook Is Eyeing Up Financial Services, TransferWise Hits £1 Billion In Transfers
TechCrunch
In the midst of reports that Facebook could be about to get into financial services, one of the startups it’s rumoured to have talked to, the European P2P money transfer serviceTransferWise, has hit a major milestone today: Its platform has processed £1 billion of customers’ money, an eight-fold increase — £125m to £1bn — since May last year when the company raised a $6 million series A round led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.
mCommerce Grows 53 Per Cent
Mobile Marketing Magazine
Sales made on mobile grew by 53 per cent from Q1 2013 to 2014, 65 per cent excluding large travel purchases, according to the March IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.
Overall the UK online retail sector grew 17 per cent on the same time last year, its strongest Q1 growth in three years, with an estimated £23.1bn spent online. Average mobile conversion rates have reached a five-year high of 4.2 per cent.
T-Mobile Drops Domestic Coverage Charges As It Rounds Out Trio Of Uncarrier Reveals
TechCrunch
T-Mobile CEO and President John Legere unveiled the last in a trio of announcements today with a healthy heaping of Twitter build-up, and this one might be worth the hype – the so-called ‘Uncarrier’ is dropping all domestic overage chargers on its plans, which means just what it says. The change applies to all users on T-Mobile consumer plans, and not just the Simple Starter plan announced last week which promised not to punish users who exceeded their data bucket.
78 Per Cent Of Millenials Want Mobile Options When Picking A Bank: Report
Mobile Commerce Daily
Banks and financial institutions looking to lure in millennials need to go beyond the basic requirements of mobile banking to also include personalized rewards and financial help, according to a new study from BancVue.
Mobile Is Losing Retailers A Third Of Potential Customers
Mobile Entertainment
Only 19 per cent of consumers complete a purchase in-store as opposed to online.
32 per cent of consumers change their mind about purchasing a product after searching for detail on their mobile in-store, reports Tradedoubler. 20 per cent make the decision to buy elsewhere, or change their mind completely about the purchase, where as 22 per cent decide to buy online.
Multan Claro, Movistar and Claro Receive Unauthorised Content [translation]
El Tiempo
The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) sanctioned a total of 2,400 million pesos fine to the operators Claro, Movistar and Tigo for receiving payments for content and applications that were not authorized by users. Sure must pay 1,232 million pesos, Movistar, 700 million pesos, and Tigo, 500 million pesos.
Global News Round-up – These articles are not written by MEF and do not represent any views of individuals, members or the organisation.
