A big privacy move by Apple, a big shakeup in the mobile ad market

Business Standard

Those with iOS devices may have noticed a new pop-up while launching a newly installed application. The message puts in simple words whether you, the user, wish to allow the said application to “track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites?”

Given the growing concern for online privacy, many may have instinctively denied permission, knowing little what it was all about. This instinctive behavior is now a major cause of concern for the tech world.

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Google follows Apple with app privacy policy

Mobile World Live

Google outlined plans to introduce a safety section in Google Play Store, requiring developers to disclose how user data is shared by apps, less than a month after its rival Apple introduced a similar privacy update in iOS.

On its Android Developers page, Google’s VP of product and Android security and privacy Suzanne Frey explained the upcoming rules will take into effect from Q2 2022 and will call for app developers to reveal the types of data their apps have access to and how this information is being treated in terms of personalisation and functionality, among other aspects.

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Are Super Apps the Future of Online Messaging?

International Policy Digest

The Internet has kept us alive throughout the global pandemic. As we were forced inside and isolated, we all lost a degree of irreplaceable sociability. The Internet became one of the only avenues for socialization and conversation. Music lovers, sports fans, and every single hobby and interest that rely on in-person connection was severely impacted as people scrabbled to find a way to keep their passions alive during such a secluded time.

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Amazon, Safaricom Explore Enabling M-PESA Wallets On Amazon

PYMNTS

Kenyan telecom Safaricom is discussing the use of its mobile money service M-Pesa on Amazon’s eCommerce platform, Bloomberg reported. The move comes out of Safaricom’s global expansion efforts to recover from its first profit decline in 10 years, according to the report.

“M-Pesa accounts for about a third of Safaricom’s revenue, and East Africa’s largest company sees the financial-technology product as key to future growth,” the report stated. “The carrier already has partnerships with a unit of China’s Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. and PayPal Holdings Inc.”

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Xbox is teaming up with one of mobile gaming’s biggest developers

Mobile Syrup

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios is forging a partnership with Tencent’s TiMi Studios, the developer behind Call of Duty: Mobile and China-exclusive game Honor of Kings, two of the biggest mobile games around. According to a translated press release sent out by TiMi, the companies have teamed up for a “strategic partnership” to create “game content.” It’s unclear if this means TiMi will be building mobile versions of key Xbox franchises like Halo and Gears of War, or if it relates to some sort of companion content.

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Samsung Adds Ledger Wallet Support in Latest Crypto Tie-Up

Coindesk

Samsung is connecting its smartphone’s cryptocurrency wallet to Ledger storage devices, adding to a string of recent crypto-centric news to come out of the South Korea-based technology giant.

Announced Wednesday, the Samsung Blockchain Wallet that comes with Galaxy smartphones will support Ledger Nano hardware storage devices, designed specifically for the safekeeping of cryptocurrency.

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How Mobile Apps Have Transformed Personal Finance

Tech News Gadget

It is no secret that technology is becoming a major selling point in most industries. The convenience of a device that can do everything you could ever want is much more desirable to people. For instance, personal finance has changed dramatically in the last decade, making everything more convenient and accessible to more people.

Stock trading is a great example of this change. Instead of the wealthy elites primarily having access to the stock market, the Internet and mobile apps have opened the stock market to anyone. The markets are shifting, and more working-class and middle-class families are investing in the stock of companies they enjoy.

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Fake Apps Masked as Cryptocurrency, Trading, Banking Apps Duping iOS, Android Customers: Sophos

Gadget 360

Several counterfeit versions of popular cryptocurrency trading, stock trading and banking apps have been discovered by Sophos on iOS and Android platforms, designed to steal sensitive information. All those who download these fake apps can be potential victims of data theft. Counterfeit apps are impersonating major financial firms and popular cryptocurrency trading platforms, including Barclays, Gemini, Bitwala, Kraken, Binance, BitcoinHK, Bittrex, BitFlyer, and TDBank. Sophos found these fake apps while looking into a fraudulent mobile trading app that masqueraded as one tied to a well-known Asia-based trading company, Goldenway Group.

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The Rise Of Contextual Advertising: An Introduction To The Modern Advertiser’s Gamechanger

Forbes

Contextual advertising is a modern gamechanger to modern advertising. When the first banner ad was published on hotwired.com in 1994, no one could be certain about how audiences would react as AT&T ventured into the unknown. It was simply a milestone moment that began the snowballing of what we know online advertising to be today.

The ad saw a 44% click-through rate (CTR) and sent traffic to a series of ads from AT&T narrated by actor Tom Selleck. In his performance, he guaranteed a future in which a multitude of now menial sounding tasks could be accomplished online — reading books, getting directions and more.

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