Each week the MEF team curates mobile stories from around the world. Essential news, the latest market insight & data nuggets, the Global News Round-up offers an instant international mobile content and commerce snapshot.
Global News Stories
All The Cool Things The Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch Can Do
Samsung announced its first Android-powered smart watch called the Galaxy Gear today.
The Galaxy Gear syncs via Bluetooth with a new smartphone Samsung announced today called the Galaxy Note III. The smart watch has a tiny, 1.6-inch touchscreen display that shows you incoming texts, emails, and phone calls. It also has limited control functions for the Galaxy Note III.
Read More…
Chat Apps, Social Media Threat To Telco Industry In Asia
A growing number of Asians are going online through their mobile phones, and this is becoming a problem for telcos.
It’s now happening strongly in Asia and the pressing fact has caused the Philippine telco PLDT to sit up and think. PLDT president and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno underscored the point in the recent inauguration of the Asian Carriers Conference. Napoleon states that the telco industry “is going through a profound and painful transformation because of the disruptive impact of digital technologies.”
Kantar: Android’s US Market Share Dominance Erodes As iOS Closes In
Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS continues hacking away at Android’s U.S. smartphone lead, with the iPhone’s nationwide market share surging 7.8 percentage points during the three-month period ending in July 2013, research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech reports.
Digital Indians: Five Pioneers Of Technological Innovation
What does a wealthy entrepreneur who’s creating the digital ID of a billion people have in common with someone making videos in farms?
And what does a young woman who created key features at the world’s top social-networking company have in common with a man who’s helping three million people find jobs – or with someone who’s busy refining 100 billion searches every month?
PlayStation Store US Supports Operator Billing Ahead Of GTA V Launch
mobile entertainment
Stateside integration comes following a UK debut almost two months ago.
Sony partnered mobile payments company Boku at the start of July to integrate direct operator billing into the PlayStation Store UK, a move that allows British gamers to pay for content through their monthly bills.
US Losing Ground In Mobile App Market
If mobile apps are the post-PC era’s software industry, the U.S. may be losing its edge. According to new findings mobile analytics firm Flurry released this morning, the U.S. isn’t leading in the creation of mobile applications, having slipped from 45 percent of worldwide app market share in 2011, to 36 percent in 2013, in terms of where apps are being built.
Philippines, Telco’s Need To Build Partnerships To Deal With Disruptions
Sun Star
THE telecommunications industry “is going through profound and painful transformation because of the disruptive impact of digital technologies,” said PLDT and Smart president Napoleon Nazareno.
“The Internet and social media are radically altering the way people communicate, and, are undermining the traditional telco services such as voice and SMS,” Nazareno said during yesterday’s opening of the Asian Carriers Conference (ACC) in Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.
More Students Want To Access Text Books On Tablets 
Mashable
With back-to-school season here, kids aren’t the only ones leaving the house this fall: money is also flowing from parents’ wallets for pricey textbooks.
A new report from Nielsen found that 71% of students who use tablets are interested in accessing textbooks on them. Google is one example of a company listening to this emerging demand. Students can now rent or buy digital textbooks via Google Play.
Read More…
Mobile Online Sales In Britain Double To Reach 23 Percent: Report
Mobile Commerce Daily
The percentage of online sales completed through smartphone or tablet in Britain has doubled in the past 12 months with mobile sales now accounting for 23 percent of online sales, according to a new report from IMRG and Capgemini.
Global News Round-up – These articles are not written by MEF and do not represent any views of individuals, members or the organisation.
mefminute 
Ola! Mefminute,
Thanks for your thoughts, wow, very informative instruction for all of us. thanks a lot!
Nice One!
alayela