Find out the week’s top mobile stories from around the world.
This week.. Apple launches P2P payments, mobile ad-yield dramatically improves with location data, Facebook knows what you are doing in ad-breaks and much more.
Snapchat Installs PayPal: Planning Mobile Commerce Feature?
Forbes
Engineers building the popular Snapchat app have recently added the PayPal software development kit (SDK) to both their iOS and Android apps, according to mobile intelligence service MightySignal.
“Curiously, we noticed Snap recently installed the Paypal SDK, one of the most commonly used payment processing SDKs, in both its iOS and Android apps,” MightySignal CEO Shane Wey posted on the company’s blog.
Just today, of course, Apple announced person-to-person payments through Messages, the iOS messaging app, at its Worldwide Developer Conference. Snapchat announced a similar feature in 2014 call Snapcash, but the offering has not really caught fire.
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SDK-derived location data leads to triple-digit growth for UK publishers
Mobile Marketing Magazine
87 per cent of UK publishers have increased mobile ad yield as a result of location data derived from software development kits (SDKs) – with 20 per cent seeing triple-digit revenue growth.
According to a survey of 249 UK media professionals by data and insights provider ExchangeWire, and commissioned by location mobile marketing platform Verve, only 11 per cent of publishers have used location data from ad exchanges, due to concerns over accuracy. 72 per cent of respondents agreed that location data gathered through exchanges is less accurate than data gathered through SDKs.
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Apple moves into P2P payments space
Finextra
Apple is to challenge Venmo and bank-backed network Zelle by introducing peer-to-peer payments as part of a forthcoming update to its mobile operating system. The new feature enables users to send money and get paid right in Messages, or tell Siri to pay someone, using the credit and debit cards they already have in Wallet.
When users get paid, they receive the money in a new Apple Pay Cash account. They can use the digital cash instantly to send to someone, make purchases using Apple Pay in stores, apps and on the web, or transfer it from Apple Pay Cash to their bank account.
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Mobile phone privacy case draws US Supreme Court scrutiny
Bloomberg
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a major constitutional test of digital privacy, agreeing to consider whether prosecutors need a warrant to obtain mobile-phone tower records that show someone’s location over days or even months.
Critics say prosecutors obtain massive amounts of data without ever having to meet the “probable cause” standards for a search warrant. The largest telecommunications providers receive tens of thousands of requests for location information a year under the 1986 Stored Communications Act, which doesn’t require a warrant.
The court will hear an appeal from Timothy Ivory Carpenter, who is seeking to overturn his conviction for taking part in nine armed robberies of Radio Shacks and T-Mobile stores in the Detroit area. At trial, prosecutors used data obtained from mobile-phone carriers to show that Carpenter was within a half-mile to two miles of the location of each of the robberies when they occurred.
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The eight biggest annoucements from Apple WWDC 2017
The Verge
Apple’s WWDC 2017 keynote just wrapped, where key executives Craig Federighi, Phil Schiller, and, of course, Tim Cook, took the stage to announce updates headed to iPhones, MacBooks, Apple TV, and more.
The rumors for this year’s WWDC came in the final hours leading up to the event, with hints of new hardware and, of course, software news for developers to help prep the release of consumer updates in the fall. We were also anticipating the company to finally take Siri up against the likes of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant on the hardware and smart home front — and it looks like it arrived in the form of the Apple HomePod.
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90% of UK consumers have unsubscribed from retailer comms in the past year
Internet Retailing
New research commissioned by Engage Hub, the data-driven customer engagement solutions company, reveals that 90% of UK consumers have unsubscribed from communications from retailers in the past 12 months, with nearly half (46%) saying this is because they received too many messages from brands.
In the study, a third of respondents said they were unhappy with the frequency they receive offers or updates from retailers. Nearly a quarter (24%) of UK consumers revealed they receive them from some retailers at least once every day, while 15% said they receive offers even more frequently than that.
As well as receiving too many messages, nearly a quarter of UK consumers (24%) said they unsubscribed from a retailer because the messages they received were irrelevant to them. In fact, 15% said retailers never send them offers or updates that are relevant to them.
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Alibaba takes another step into India, acquires movie ticketing company
TechInAsia
Chinese giant Alibaba has taken another step into India with the acquisition of majority stake in online movie ticketing site TicketNew, reports news agency PTI. The Chennai-based company enables the booking of movie theater tickets in over 300 cities across India.
Alibaba made a big push in the entertainment business last year with the acquisition of Chinese video streaming site Youku Tudou for US$4 billion. A year earlier, Alibaba Pictures acquired movie ticketing software company Yueke. TicketNew is its first major acquisition in the ticketing space outside of China.
“Alibaba plans to invest to the tune of US$18.6 million over a period of time,” says Ramkumar Nammalvar, founder and CEO of TicketNew, which competes with BookMyShow and other players in this space.
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Facebook knows what you’re doing during commercial breaks
Recode
You know how sometimes you still watch live TV? And how if you’re watching live TV, sometimes a commercial comes on?
Well, guess what happens then?
If you’re reading this, you know. But now Facebook wants to spell it out for you: You ignore the commercials and you look at your phone.
Here’s the graphic version of this story: Facebook says it tracked the behavior of 537 people who told the company they watched “the season premiere of a popular TV show” last fall. This bar chart measures Facebook usage over time. See the spikes? Those are commercial breaks.
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Mobile money flourishing in Myanmar
Nikkei
Telecoms see chance to catch up with startups as country shifts away from cash.
For a population used to carrying wads of cash stuffed in pockets, purses and wallets, mobile money has the potential in Myanmar to dislodge paper as the main means to make payments and remittances.
Mobile money is a fintech service that enables money to be deposited and withdrawn using apps downloaded to mobile phones. Cash equivalents can be sent from a user’s account to another person or business, and operators receive fees depending on the amount transferred.
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Mobile security is really about risk and identity management
ZD Net
If you’re still thinking in terms of your organisation’s mobility strategy, you’re already too late. You need a digital workplace security strategy across your workforce.
Two years ago, mobile device management (MDM) was the buzz. Mobile security was an essential part of a mobility strategy, and every enterprise needed one. Today, not so much.
“About 18 months ago at least, businesses across the whole market realised that the issue wasn’t around mobility. Mobility was subsumed by this idea of ‘any device, anywhere’,” according to Joseph Sweeney, an advisor with IBRS who specialises in end user computing, including mobility, future workplace strategies, and enterprise solutions.
