Find out the week’s top mobile stories from around the world. This week.. Apple criticised for storing data inside China, India threatens action over WhatsApp privacy change, Snap debuts true AR glasses that show the potential (and limitations) of AR and much more…
Apple criticised for storing data inside China
BBC
Apple has confirmed that it is storing Chinese customers’ data inside data centres based in China, following reports by the New York Times.
However it said it had “never compromised the security” of either its customers or their data. Apple said it was complying with Chinese law about the data storage of its nationals.
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India threatens action over WhatsApp privacy change
Mobile World Live
India’s government reportedly warned it would take steps against WhatsApp if it failed to address a request to withdraw an updated privacy policy introduced less than a week ago.
The Times of India stated the Facebook subsidiary had seven days to reply to a notice issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asking for the policy to be abandoned over claims it violated national laws.
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6 Burning Questions About Apple’s ATT Privacy Framework
Ad Exchanger
AppTrackingTransparency enforcement officially began in late April.
But advertisers, publishers and mobile ad tech vendors are still grappling with a lot of head scratchers – and the dust is far from settled.
Until the release of iOS 14.5 last month, among the biggest unknowns consuming the mobile ad ecosystem was the agita-inducing question of timing for Apple’s new privacy framework.
That was only the beginning.
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Snap debuts true AR glasses that show the potential (and limitations) of AR
Snap Inc., the company best known for the popular Snapchat social camera app, has announced its first pair of augmented reality glasses that most people would agree actually qualify as real AR glasses. Like previous glasses the company has produced, they are called Spectacles.
Spectacles will not be available to buy as a mass-market consumer product—at least not in the immediately foreseeable future. Instead, Snap is seeding units to developers and content creators so the glasses can be used to create new experiences and filters. These creators will build these with Lens Studio, a Snapchat-specific tool that is already widely in use.
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To keep up with mobile shoppers, Peace Out Skincare brand invests in SMS marketing
Digiday
Peace Out Skincare is betting big on SMS marketing after it recently moved the channel from considering it experimental to part of its core marketing strategy in an effort to keep up with changing shopper habits.
The California-based skincare company launched SMS marketing efforts last summer in line with promoting a new product, messaging shoppers early access deals and other campaign exclusives. Since then, the channel has grown to make up an estimated 30% of Peace Out’s direct sales, per a brand spokesperson.
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The IoT iceberg – a global ecosystem driving commercial momentum
IoT News
Continued mobile industry commitment to the range of 3GPP-standards-based Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies has been demonstrated by the continued rise in the number of networks supporting NB-IoT and LTE-MTC (LTE-M) networks and the substantial growth in the number of Cat-NB1, Cat-NB2 and Cat-M1 compliant devices.
According to GSA’s latest report “NB-IoT and LTE-M: April 2021”, there are 136 operators that have deployed/launched NB-IoT or LTE-M networks in 64 countries. Of those, 34 operators have deployed/launched both NB-IoT and LTE-M. While 29 countries have NB-IoT networks only, and one country has an LTE-M network only.
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GSMA lays out plan for MWC21
MWL
John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA Ltd (pictured, right), claimed the organisation will be an industry trailblazer as it prepares to host more than 35,000 attendees at MWC21 in Barcelona next month, while revealing plans to donate €300,000 to the city’s local Covid-19 (coronavirus) recovery effort.
Hosting a press conference alongside GSMA director general Mats Granryd (pictured, left), Hoffman predicted MWC21 would be the largest face-to-face event taking place in more than year, with 35,000 to 50,000 expected to walk through the doors.
Living On Borrowed Time – The Twilight Of The Banking Apps
Forbes
For years, chief technology officers have haggled, pleaded and begged for their banks to embrace technology and adopt a digital-first mindset. Now, just as their mobile app investments have converged with pandemic-driven shifts in customer behavior, control of the customer interface may already be slipping away to the digital wallets and mobile payment systems coming out of Silicon Valley.
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Mobile crypto ‘mining’ app possibly connected to personal data leak
Coin Telegraph
Pi Network, a cryptocurrency mining app for mobile users, may have been connected to 17GB worth of personal data leaks, a Vietnamese news outlet reported on Monday.
The treasure trove of personal data was apparently taken from the Know Your Customer checks of users of Pi Network, according to the person who posted it to hacker hangout RaidForums on Thursday.
The identity cards of an estimated 10,000 Vietnamese citizens were placed for sale, along with connected home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. The seller placed a price tag of $9,000 on the data, payable in either Bitcoin (BTC) or Litecoin (LTC).
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