Find out the week’s top mobile stories from around the world.
This week.. mobile industry tackles climate change, India tells tech firms to protect user privacy, Facebook brings AR ads to the News Feed and much more.
For next-gen, read low carbon: the mobile phone industry joins hands to tackle climate change
Ethicalcorp
GSMA’s Mats Granryd explains that the agreement by 50 operators to report their climate impacts to the CDP is the first step towards an industry-wide roadmap in line with the Paris Agreement
We have recently seen an acceleration in the number of countries, regions and cities committing to net-zero carbon emissions targets. According to data from Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, 15 countries, 11 states and at least 23 cities have set targets of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier. Together, these regions account for about one-sixth of global GDP.
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India tells tech firms to protect user privacy, prevent abuse
Asian Age
Technology firms must protect user privacy and prevent abuse of their platforms, India’s IT minister said on Thursday, speaking as the government draws up a data privacy law and seeks to push companies to store more data locally.
Federal Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said he wanted Indians to have access to more technology platforms but said this should not undermine user privacy.
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Popular consumer and enterprise routers, IoT devices contain remote access vulnerabilities
ZDNet
As our devices become smarter and Internet-connected, the potential attack surface for cyberattackers increases.
It is not possible for any machine or device with Internet connectivity to be 100 percent secure from exploit. Firmware, hardware, and connectivity protocol-based vulnerabilities which can be used to hijack devices and their functionality are discovered on a daily basis, and when it comes to Internet of Things (IoT) products, vendors are yet to fully introduce security at the heart of development.
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Google supercharges its mobile payment app in India with WeChat-style mini apps
TNW
Google is officially embracing the super-app strategy popularized by WeChat and Go-Jek, with its Google Pay app in India.
The internet giant is launching its new Spot platform, powered by its popular digital payments service. It allows businesses and merchants to create branded experiences that are accessible to customers through the app. Think tiny online stores that you can browse and order at, right within Google Pay.
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Facebook will bring AR ads to the News Feed fall 2019
Venture Beat
Would you interact with a digital ad featuring polls, games, augmented reality (AR), or some Frankensteinian combination of the three? Facebook seems to think so. The social network this morning announced it will broadly launch three new ad units on its platform, starting with polls and playable ads in the mobile News Feed and followed by AR ads in beta globally this fall.
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Researchers Think It’s a Good Idea to Secure Your Phone Using the One Thing You Perpetually Lose
Gizmodo
Apple’s FaceID authentication system started moving smartphone users away from relying on fingerprints to secure their mobile devices, which are arguably less secure. But researchers think they’ve come up with an even better biometric tool for protecting a device that uses a part of the body that’s nearly impossible to spoof: a user’s ear canals.
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HTC will preload a Bitcoin Cash wallet on its blockchain phone
Engadget
If a second blockchain phone didn’t make things clear, HTC is still as serious as ever about its crypto-phones On Monday, the company announced a new partnership with Bitcoin.com that will see all new Exodus 1 phones come with the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) wallet app pre-installed. On existing devices, meanwhile, HTC will push an update that adds the app to the phone. As part of the partnership, the Bitcoin.com online store has also started selling Exodus 1 devices. In the future, if you don’t plan on hoarding on your Bitcoin Cash, you’ll be able to get a discount on select HTC smartphones when you pay for a device with Bitcoin Cash.
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Singapore: a testbed for biometric payments
Raconteur
Convenience at the touch of a button is the mantra for services you can order through your phone. Whether it’s taxis or food delivery, there’s an app to bring it to your doorstep. Now the biometric payments sector is catching up.
The world leader is Singapore where 61 per cent of financial companies have adopted or are in the process of adopting biometrics, according to a survey by identity data intelligence company GBG.
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Australia leads the world for mobile ad view time
WARC
Australians spend more time viewing mobile web display ads than consumers in any other major global market, according to a new report that also notes the risk to brands from advertising online in Australia is one of the lowest in the world.
Integral Ad Science (IAS), a digital ad verification firm, published its global Media Quality Report earlier this month with details about viewability, ad fraud and brand risk.
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Half of China plays mobile games, report says
ZDNet
China’s mobile gaming market is showing signs of better growth this year, following a bumpy adjustment in 2018, as overall revenue for the industry reached 77 billion yuan in June, up 21.5% compared to the same period last year, according to the latest agency data of QuestMobile.
While the revenue growth pace in June 2019 is faster than the 12.9% year-on-year growth registered in June 2018, it still pales in comparison to the 50-80% year-on-year revenue growth that occurred in 2015 to 2017, when smartphone penetration was still increasing in China’s 1.4 billion person consumer market.
