Find out the week’s top mobile stories from around the world. Stories this week include… Why has Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, not launched in the EU?, Data privacy research reveals “reputation timebomb”, Mobile banking shouldn’t cost a rocket and much more…
Why has Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, not launched in the EU?
Euronews
Meta’s new app has been listed in the US and the UK, but has no foreseeable launch date in the EU yet as the company worries about the bloc’s privacy regulations.
Meta’s fresh new app, Threads, which is expected to become the number one rival of a struggling Twitter under Elon Musk’s leadership, is finally here. If by “here,” you mean pretty much anywhere outside the European Union, that is.
Threads, a text-based conversation app that’s currently linked to Instagram, debuted on the existing social media platform late on Wednesday, attracting over 10 million users in the first few hours of operating in the US and the UK. But residents of the EU have been excluded from the collective hype, as Meta works out how to have the new app comply with the bloc’s regulatory standards.
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Data privacy research reveals “reputation timebomb” waiting to blow up for many brands
Mobile Marketing Magazine
Measures taken by companies to protect consumers data are “not working” and are exposing brands to massive reputational risk, according to research commissioned by law firm, Schillings.
The study found that company data practices, often owned by marketing and IT teams, are falling short of legal requirements, and in some cases are harming customers by contributing to incorrect online profiles.
The report, commissioned by Schillings and conducted by cross-party technology think tank, Demos, tracked volunteers as they attempted to reclaim and delete the personal data companies held about them. In doing so, researchers uncovered widespread data ethics challenges at large numbers of companies.
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Mobile banking shouldn’t cost a rocket: what businesses can learn from IKEA
Tech EU
In this op-ed by FinCell co-founder Vitalis Kavaliauskas, he explores why mobile app development remains pricey despite years of active digitalisation and what can be learned from IKEA’s example.
The demand for a mobile-first experience is at an all-time high, and the financial industry is not exempt from this trend. Despite the emergence of new mobile banking solutions, smaller financial institutions can still easily get stuck in juggling quality, speed, and price. This raises the question – why does mobile app development remain pricey despite years of active digitalisation, and what can be learned from IKEA’s example?
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YouTube is reportedly testing online games for mobile and desktop
Engadget
Google is looking at online games as a new possible source of income for YouTube, according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal. The video hosting platform has reportedly invited employees to test a new product called Playables, which gives users access to online games right on YouTube itself. Based on the internal email the Journal saw, it wouldn’t even matter what device they’re using: Apparently, the games are accessible both on mobile and on desktop.
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Mobile wallets, most popular payment method in China: GlobalData
Electronic Payments International
GlobalData’s 2022 Financial Services Consumer survey reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the growth of the mobile payments in China. The adoption level is much higher compared to developed markets like the US and the UK, where consumers still predominantly use cards.
Shivani Gupta, senior analyst of Banking and Payments at GlobalData, commented: “China is home to one of the most mature mobile wallet markets in the world. Mobile wallets are a mainstream payment instrument in China and widely used for day-to-day transactions at supermarkets, grocery stores, street vendors, and public transport, as well as for online transactions.”
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The Impact of eSIM on Mobile Network Operators in the Era of Cellular IoT Technology
IoT for all
In its 2022 Mobile Economy Report, GSMA Intelligence forecasted there would be more than 4 billion cellular Internet of Things (IoT) connections by 2025 compared to 2 billion in 2021, with a great proportion of these being used by industry. IoT has become a game-changer for different industries as it changed the way businesses operate by optimizing data analysis in almost all fields. With the rise of cellular-enabled IoT technology, this trend has accelerated, facilitating real-time connectivity between devices.
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‘Maybe you will buy your next smartphone for its hybrid AI capabilities’
BN Americas
US chipmaker Qualcomm, a giant in smartphone processors, powering the leading sellers in Latin America, Samsung and Motorola, is looking to catch the emerging generative AI wave. To do this, it is betting on what the company has dubbed ‘hybrid AI’, that is, AI that is both online and offline, with devices leaving the factory with embedded generative AI capabilities.
With that, the aim is to alleviate the pressure on AI requests that are processed on the cloud in datacenters, which will also save energy resources.
“Maybe you will buy your next smartphone not for the quality of the camera, the battery or the storage, but for its AI capabilities,” Qualcomm’s president in Latin America, Luiz Tonisi, tells BNamericas.
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The US is Ready for Data Sharing With the EU
Find Biometrics
The United States has met its obligations for the impending EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which is meant to enable advanced intelligence sharing between the country and partners in the European Union, including the sharing of citizens’ biometric data. In a statement, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said the development was “the culmination of months of significant collaboration”, and emphasized that the framework will protect citizens’ rights and personal information.
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Thailand officially launches ‘ThaID’ personal identity verification mobile app
Pattaya Mail
The Thai government has officially launched the ThaID (THAI-I-D) mobile application, a major development in digital transactions for personal identity verification. The app eliminates the need for data entry, making the process convenient, quick and secure.
Caretaker Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha led the official launch of the digital identity verification and facial recognition system. The Department of Provincial Administration developed the app to facilitate access to services from public or private sectors requiring identity confirmation.
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