The payment buzzwords to expect in 2016: Wearables, biometrics and banking APIs December 30, 2015 As the new year approaches and the retro reviews for 2015 and predictions for next year start to fill my Twitter feed. I take a look back at the year and put out my early calls on what 2016 will have on the books (or is that on your device, or is that in your Virtual Reality [...]
Seizing the Moment: Why Antoine de Kermel thinks 2016 is the year of “moment marketing” December 21, 2015 In digital marketing, time is precious. And as brands vie to be noticed in the digital space, many are recognising the impact that offline events can have on online activity. “Moment marketing” may be the shot in the arm their campaigns need. Named as one of the six major marketing trends in Warc and Deloitte’s [...]
Apple Pay, one year later: Why mobile payments have failed to catch on as we’re still looking for something better December 17, 2015 Mobile payments became a hot topic just about the time when first iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs in 2007. Back then experts in payment, retail, telecommunication, and banking industries started thinking about a smartphone as a viable alternative to physical wallets suggesting many different technologies, but no one knew how exactly the winner was [...]
Tech giant patent wars heading for Supreme Court: Samsung appeals patent ruling in Apple and iPhone’s favour over smartphone design December 14, 2015 The latest chapter of the tech giant patent wars sees the drama heading all the way to the US Supreme Court. Samsung appealed a patent ruling in Apple’s favour in a last-minute bid to minimise the over $500m in damages it’s been forced to pay its rival. The Korean tech giant paid $548.2m to Apple [...]
Countdown to Christmas 2015: Six of the most amazing and useful inventions of the year December 12, 2015 The stream of inventions flowing out of labs across the world never seems to stop, and 2015 has been no exception – over the last 12 months, a huge number of new inventions have been presented to us by scientists. Only today, we learned that American technicians managed to develop robots that can learn in [...]
As Apple’s iPhone 6S lands will mobile payments change the way we live? December 11, 2015 Today’s smartphones can do incredible things. Need a ride around London? Just tap the Uber app. Fresh flowers or food from a local restaurant delivered straight to your door? Try Bloom & Wild or Deliveroo. These apps are fantastic, but there's a new smartphone feature set to fundamentally revolutionise the high street and how [...]
Ashley Madison, Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk: These are the 10 worst cyber attacks in 2015 December 10, 2015 From TalkTalk to Ashley Madison, major data breaches have scarcely been out of the headlines for a moment this year. 2015 has been the year when hacks really went through the roof, with millions of people having had their private data stolen in the UK alone and national governments scrambling to combat the growing threat [...]
Why strong brands are stock market darlings December 6, 2015 The marketing industry is built around the understanding that a strong brand can drive sales and therefore deliver returns to shareholders. But new research from brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance has now put hard numbers behind this. The consultancy releases an annual list of the world’s most valuable brands, the Global 500. In 2015, for [...]
Samsung Gear VR launches in UK: Virtual reality device priced at just £80 released December 3, 2015 Technology fans can finally get their hands on Samsung's virtual reality device, after it launched in the UK with a rather affordable (in tech terms) £80 price tag. The Gear VR is one of the first devices to hit the market, bringing the fledgling technology to the masses. It first went on sale in the US a month ago and [...]
Parents will spend hundreds on gadgets for kids this Christmas December 1, 2015 It's not just adults eyeing up the latest gadget for their Christmas stocking. Parents will splash out £225 on buying tablets, games consoles and smartphones for their kids at this time of year, on average, with Apple and Samsung topping Santa's list. More than a quarter are budgeting even more to shower the latest technology on their kids, a whopping [...]