CardEase Brings Mobile Payment to the UK
on November 26, 2011
CreditCall will launch CardEase Mobile, a mobile payment app, on 1 December. CardEase brings the ability to accept Chip and PIN credit and debit card payments, in conjuction with a Bluetooth PIN pad, to Android and BlackBerry devices.
CreditCall stresses that the payment method is completely secure and has been fully tested by UK banks, and approved by Visa, MasterCard and American Express. It incorporates bank-grade end-to-end encryption, ensuring data cannot be compromised at any time during a transaction.
CreditCall marketing director, Pete Alcock says: “As a leader and innovator in this industry, security and compliance are paramount to us which is why no cardholder sensitive data is stored on the smartphone or card reader, and all data traffic is encrypted.”
Ch-ch-changes
on November 26, 2011
As Bowie sang, we have to turn and face the strain. And it's something we've clearly taken to heart, having been through a few changes ourselves recently. Firstly, with two new hires. On the Sales side, helping out John Owen, we have our new Business Development Executive, Celeste Marie. She's responsible for advertising sales, liaising with clients, and being generally charming. Celeste's interests include music production, swinging from a trapeze, and the making of elaborate cocktails.
And allowing David Murphy to put his feet up a little more, Alex Spencer joins the Editorial team as Staff Writer. As well as writing as many articles a day as he can manage, he'll be bringing his love of spreadsheets and finely-honed research skills to Mobile Marketing. Alex's interests include cookery, keyboard shortcuts, and the drinking of elaborate cocktails.
It's working out well – Celeste has already got her first deal in the bag, and Alex just got off the phone with eBay, his first interview. As the mobile market continues to grow, so do we, and we're excited to see where it takes us next.
We've also added a News in Brief section, for those left-field stories that we might not otherwise had room or time to cover. You can find the News in Brief ticker on the front page, below the Latest News section.
ValueClick Rolls Out Greystripe in EMEA
on November 26, 2011
Greystripe allows for rich media adverts on mobile devices
Media solutions company ValueClick Media, which acquired Greystripe in April 2011, is extending the mobile marketing platform beyond its traditional US base, to the UK and other EMEA markets.
Greystripe enables advertisers to develop rich media campaigns across all mobile operating systems. Its Lightning technology can convert Flash executions to HTML5, avoiding the need for separate creative development for platforms that don't support Flash.
Tim Scoffham, ValueClick Media’s head of mobile, says: “We all know that increasingly more brands are looking to move into the mobile space. Greystripe is unique in offering a solution to do this seamlessly without developing new rich media ads. Lightning technology enables brands to transform online flash adverts to HTML5 mobile adverts without any extra development or cost. This therefore provides incremental reach with the same MPU format making the ad work harder for the cost.”
Greystripe has nearly 2,000 mobile-specific publishers integrated into its brand placement network.
The Race is on for Hackney Olympic App Competition
on November 26, 2011
Hackney Council, Digital Shoreditch and IC tomorrow have launched the Race for Apps competition. The competition is intended to crowdsource mobile apps that can showcase what Olympic host borough Hackney has to offer ahead of the 2012 Games, and help visitors – including business leaders and journalists – to navigate the local area.
The competition is open to entries in five categories: 'Finding Your Way'; 'Making Connections'; 'Ctizen Journalism'; 'Fun and Games'; and 'Wild Card'. The apps should run on Android, iOS, Blackberry or alternatively on the web, optimised for mobile viewing.
Competitors will then be given the opportunity to work with a network of mentors and investors, including Seedcamp; UKTI, the Government’s UK Trade and Investment agency; and Vodafone developer. The apps will be 'raced' against one another to be ready by April 2012, and then judged by a panel of tech sector peers.
“Hackney’s creative tech businesses are world class and rightly deserve their reputation as being at the heart of UK innovation,” says Cllr Guy Nicholson, cabinet member for regeneration and the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. “Race for Apps provides the perfect platform from which to showcase this innovation and make a contribution to Hackney’s wider economy by encouraging and guiding visitors around the great town centres and neighbourhoods that make up our borough.”
Entrants can apply to join the competition here.
Orange Money Clocks Up 3m Customers
on November 26, 2011
Orange has revealed that its Orange Money has attracted 3m customers across the eight countries in which it is offered, a number which has tripled in the last year. A mobile payment service for customers in Africa and the Middle East, Orange Money was launched in December 2008 and has since become, the company says, one of the most powerful electronic money services in Africa.
Orange Money can act as a simple banking service, enabling mobile users to transfer money, make payments and use savings and insurance solutions. The service covers regions of sub-Saharan Africa in which less than 10 per cent of the population have access to a bank account, but more than 60 per cent have a mobile phone.
“Orange Money is a very important part of our strategy in Africa and emerging markets. Mobile payment services have the potential to bring cost-effective and secure access to banking services to people with low incomes, who often live in rural or remote areas,” says Marc Rennard, Orange’s executive director for AMEA operations. “By providing our customers with the means to save money, pay bills, run their businesses and receive money from abroad, we are not only reinforcing customer fidelity but we are also able to play an active role in the economic and social development of the country.”
The service has recently launched in two new countries: in Botswana in partnership with the Standard Chartered Bank, and in Cameroon in partnership with the BICEC (BPCE group).
Home From Phone
on November 26, 2011
Housing association Catalyst HomeBuy has released an iPhone and Android app, showcasing its inventory of homes to buy and rent, across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Milton Keynes and Surrey. The app, developed by KODIME, is free to download from the App store and Android Market.
Users can view multiple properties on a map and navigate and search by chosen area. Saving search criteria and individual properties allows for offline use. Uniquely, the app enables users who have already registered with the HomeBuy service to use their existing profile information for optimised search results, and for non-registered users to easily complete their registration straight from their mobile device.
For each listed property entry, details such as photos and a location map are provided, and users can directly contact the participating housing providers with a single tap, for a direct call or to request more information. A separate section provides information on solicitors and financial advisers that can help with completing a property purchase, listed by region. There’s also an ‘Events’ section that keeps users informed about open days or HomeBuy shows in their chosen area. Users are reminded about upcoming events through date-driven push notifications.
The app is powered from by the KOMOBILITY platform, KODIME’s web-based software solution. All property and contact data is synced automatically with the Catalyst HomeBuy backend services for instant updates and user interactions, such as registering new users and generating alerts to the respective sales teams.
Workplaces Lacking Mobile Policies
on November 26, 2011
29 per cent of workplaces across Europe have no policies in place around the use of mobile devices, despite the ever-increasing prevalence of them. That’s the key finding of a survey of 546 IT professionals across Europe conducted by Kaseya, which provides automated IT systems management software.
The survey also highlighted a disconnect between the lack of policies, and the value that businesses place on having mobile access to information. 67 per cent of respondents across Europe reported mobile access as either 'critical' or 'fairly important' to their business. There is some disparity between regions, with 81 per cent of UK and 75 per cent of German respondents reporting mobile access as 'critical' or 'fairly important', while figures for BeNeLux and France are 55 per cent and 51 per cent respectively.
Other key findings from the research include:
- 39 per cent of businesses reported a ‘vast majority’ of staff were regularly using mobile devices for work purposes (over 80 per cent of the workforce his figure is even higher in Germany (57 per cent) and BeNeLux (40 per cent)
- The biggest concerns for the business when it comes to mobile access are data loss (39 per cent), data leaks (33 per cent); theft of contacts (23 per cent); and availability (16 per cent)
- 23 per cent of businesses rate their annual cost of data loss at over €1,000. In France and the UK, however, 9 per cent and 11 per cent (respectively) of businesses estimated the potential cost in excess of €5,000.
“We know that addressing the challenges of mobile devices on the corporate network has become a mission critical operation for IT staff,” says Kaseya marketing director, Koby Amedume. “This research highlights the need for IT departments across Europe to ensure they are able to securely and easily allow access to their network from mobile devices – whether these are from laptop computers, smartphone devices or the increasing number of tables on the market. The challenge for IT departments is to allow full device management across the plethora of products now available and being introduced to the company by employees.”
eBay Launches RedLaser 3.0
on November 25, 2011
eBay has launched RedLaser 3.0. the latest version of the barcode and QR code-scanning iPhone app it acquired in 2010.
The app incorporates local availability information from Milo, PayPal mobile express checkout and RedLaser barcode comparison shopping, enabling shoppers to access online and offline inventory, find the best price, buy the item securely and either pick it up at a local store or have it delivered to their front door.
It also features a redesigned interface with easier access to scanning, searching lists and QR code creation, and offers more pricing information for even better results and product coverage. Users can created categorized shopping, wish and gift lists, and share them via Facebook, SMS and email.
RedLaser 3.0 also features eBay’s first mobile retail partnership with toy retailer, Toys“R”Us. App users can buy toys at the best prices and avoid the checkout queues by picking up their gifts from the closest Toys“R”Us retail location that same day.
“This new version of RedLaser is a major stepping stone in the evolution of mobile shopping,” says RedLaser general manager and senior director of eBay Mobile, Rob Veres. “Through integration with PayPal and Milo we can now offer consumers the unprecedented ability to research online and offline inventory at the same time and purchase their items with a truly seamless end-to-end shopping experience.”
The app is available as a free download from iTunes. Users of the original RedLaser app need to download RedLaser 3.0 separately. There’s a video demo, showing RedLaser 3.0 in action, here.
42 Telecom Makes Four New Appointments
on November 25, 2011
42 Telecom, a provider of mobile messaging technology solutions and global SMS connectivity services, today announced four new appointments to the senior management team.
Claire Cassar has been appointed to the position of general counsel and SVP product development, based in Malta. Cassar joins from Vodafone Malta and will be responsible for leading the legal and regulatory departments of the company, as well as contributing to the deployment of products.
Appointed head of messaging services, based in London, is Uwe Schiefelbein. Responsible for the companyʼs overall target sales revenues, profits and strategic positioning, Schiefelbein brings with him over 20 years of experience working for A&T, Teleglobe Canada, and France Telecom.
Also based in the London office, Melissa Antão has been appointed the position of Senior Marketing Communications Manager. Antão has eight years of experience and is responsible for the companyʼs development and implementation of its global communications programmes.
Roberto Carfagno has been appointed the position of senior vice president Asia Pacific, responsible for generating and driving sales revenues and establishing a strong presence in the region. Carfagno brings with him over 10 years of extensive knowledge and experience in the Asian market
“We are very pleased to see a wealth of experienced key industry leaders in the mobile space paving the way for the next phase of 42 Telecomʼs exciting global growth plans,” says CEO Erik Angelöw. “Their expertise will help the company forge strong alliances with global partners, develop business intelligence in key areas and drive new sales revenues to help 42 Telecom achieve its vision in becoming a cutting-edge telecoms solutions provider for the future.”
Somo Scores UBM App Hat-trick
on November 25, 2011
The publisher, UBM Built Environment, has launched iPhone apps for three of its brands, Building, Building Design and Property Week. The apps have been designed and built by Somo, which claims they are the first ever news apps developed for the architecture, construction and property industries in the UK.
They offer users news, opinion and jobs, high resolution images of latest projects from the landscape-view picture galleries and rich video content. Other functions include the ability to read content while offline; full screen article views; and the ability to share articles on Facebook, Twitter, or by email.
The apps are free to download, and content is included for the first 30 days, before falling in line with Apple’s Newsstand subscriptions, where each publication will be priced at around £2 per week or £3.50 a month. Earlier this year, UBM Built Environment successfully launched mobile websites for all three brands: m.building.co.uk, m.bdonline.co.uk, m.propertyweek.com.
“Making news more accessible and immediately available is key to providing a valued news service to the industries we serve,” says Paul Dominguez, head of digital at UBM Built Environment. “The delivery of content is completely integrated with our content management systems, allowing us to distribute it as quickly as possible through multiple channels. Content is at the heart of our business, and these news apps provide yet another channel for our audiences to consume this business- critical content, providing choice, and more importantly access to news, as it happens.”