Apple slams UK surveillance-bill proposals

BBC

Apple says it will remove services such as FaceTime and iMessage from the UK rather than weaken security if new proposals are made law and acted upon.
The government is seeking to update the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016.
It wants messaging services to clear security features with the Home Office before releasing them to customers.

The act lets the Home Office demand security features are disabled, without telling the public. Under the update, this would have to be immediate.

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Instagram’s Threads app will soon get direct messaging

Sam Mobile

Meta launched Twitter’s rival Threads earlier this month, and it got off to a rocketing start. Over 100 million users registered on Threads and started their Threads journey within a week of the app’s launch. However, there was one feature that was missing on Threads, i.e., the ability to direct message or DM someone. Thankfully, it won’t be too long before you actually get the feature on the platform.

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Norway to Fine Meta Daily Over Privacy Violations; Amazon UK Down 1 Million Mobile Users

Exchange wire

In today’s ExchangeWire news digest: Norway threatens to fine Meta daily over privacy breaches; Amazon UK loses one million users as its competitors grow; and EU regulators drop their investigation of payments firm Global Blue.

Norway’s data protection authority has stated it will issue Meta Platforms with daily fines unless the company remedies its privacy breaches. Datatilsynet says that the Facebook owner cannot harvest user data in Norway for targeted advertising, with the regulator threatening daily fines of one million Kroner (~£75,910) between 4th August and 3rd November this year if the company does not comply.

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Leading Small Business Banks Expand Digital Customer Support and Mobile Banking for Business Customers

Yahoo Finance

Keynova Group, the principal competitive intelligence source for digital financial services firms, today announced the results of the 2023 Small Business Banker Scorecard. Bank of America once again secures first place for Overall Score in the annual benchmark that evaluates the digital user experience for small business customers of 10 national and regional banks.

The Scorecard revealed that mobile banking for small businesses is evolving beyond the basic consumer experience with some banks offering business cash flow dashboards and cash projections. The key findings also indicate that leading banks are working to improve the digital account opening process for new small business customers, a challenging process due to business considerations, risk and associated regulatory compliance.

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Mondee Adds Mobile-First AI Platform to Travel Marketplace

PYMNTS

Mondee Holdings has introduced a mobile-first artificial intelligence (AI) platform with integrated multi-party conversational commerce.

With the integration of this new Abhi platform, the Mondee Travel Marketplace offers a combination of leading technologies such as generative AI, deep learning, computer vision and a recommendation engine that allows users to personalize and transform their travel booking process, the company said in a Wednesday (July 19) press release.

“We are thrilled to introduce a new AI technology platform to our innovative journey and consumer travel experiences, which we expect will transform the travel marketplace, Mondee Founder, CEO and Chairman Prasad Gundumogula said in the release.

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Pinterest introduces mobile deep links for shopping ads

Mobile Marketing Magazine

Social design inspiration company Pinterest has launched a new feature that lets users go more smoothly from discovery to purchase.

It’s introduced mobile deep links on Pinterest Shopping ads. Consumers can use the feature to navigate directly to a specific page within a retailer’s app if it’s installed on their device. If not, they go to the mobile web page instead.

Either way, it shortens the path to purchase by removing additional steps. Obviously, this should lead to higher conversions for advertisers and retailers.

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Cellular IoT connectivity revenues surpassed € 10 billion in 2022

IoT Business News

A new report from the IoT market research firm Berg Insight says that global IoT connectivity revenues increased 24 percent to reach € 10.8 billion in 2022 as the decline in the global ARPU decelerated.

The ARPU dropped just 1 percent to € 0.38. On average, IoT connectivity revenues account for about 2 percent of total revenues for the largest mobile operator groups. By 2027, Berg Insight projects that there will be 5.3 billion IoT devices connected to cellular networks worldwide, generating annual connectivity revenues of € 21.4 billion.

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Open Identity Exchange calls for mobile telco data to be used for digital ID verification

Mobile Marketing Magazine

Data from mobile telcos could enable greater levels of inclusion for millions in the UK who currently struggle to prove who they are when trying to access products and services they are entitled to, according to the Open Identity Exchange (OIX), a non-profit organisationand global community pushing for positive and inclusive developments for trusted digital identities.

OIX is urging all digital ID service providers, and other organisations that will need to undertake ID proofing, to consider combining mobile telco data into their processes. As part of its wider work to understand how to enable digital ID inclusion across the population, OIX has identified the significant value that can be derived from including mobile telco data in the ID proofing process.

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Analysis: Mobile gaming has transformed Activision-Blizzard’s business

Tweaktown

Activision-Blizzard’s mobile performance was one of the main reasons why Microsoft seeks to buy the publisher for $68.7 billion, and our analysis really underlines just how important on-the-go gaming has become for the publisher.

It’s well known that ABK makes a lot of money from mobile. After all, the three-headed giant includes King, who is responsible for the ultra-lucrative Candy Crush. But what about the other segments? Traditionally, the company’s segments each have their own strengths. King reigns on mobile, Activision dominates on consoles, and Blizzard leads the charge on PC. That’s what makes the publisher such a powerhouse–it’s able to effectively generate billions of dollars everywhere games are played and sold.

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