Global Mobile News Round-up – Week 7th September

The latest offerings from Apple, mobile in South Africa, Britain is dominating Euro Fintech, Twitter users in Indonesia can buy mobile minutes & data plus all the week's global mobile stories... Each week the MEF team curates mobile stories from around the world. Essential news you may have missed, the latest market insight and data nuggets, the Global Mobile News Round-up offers an instant international mobile content and commerce snapshot.  Global News Stories From TVs to the work desk, Apple wants iOS everywhere to be your companion for life The Drum Apple has claimed …

Global Mobile News Round-up – Week 31st August

Google to start punishing websites that force full-screen app install ads, IoT devices ripe for cyber attack, payments via social media drive mobile money transfer market to 13bn transactions this year plus all the week's global mobile stories... Each week the MEF team curates mobile stories from around the world. Essential news you may have missed, the latest market insight and data nuggets, the Global Mobile News Round-up offers an instant international mobile content and commerce snapshot.  Global News Stories Google is going to start punishing websites that force …

Global Mobile News Round-up – Week 10th August

Google-bet, Blackberry BBM payments, the top 18 mobile unicorns are worth an average $9.3 bn and more global mobile stories... Each week the MEF team curates mobile stories from around the world. Essential news you may have missed, the latest market insight and data nuggets, the Global Mobile News Round-up offers an instant international mobile content and commerce snapshot.  Global News Stories Google to restructure into new holding company called Alphabet The Guardian Google is dead. Long live Alphabet. The tech company announced on Monday that it would rebrand itself …

MEF rebrands to Mobile Ecosystem Forum and elects new EMEA Board

New company name reflects MEF’s broadening remit as the ecosystem grows - cross border, sector and company size Darren Foulds, Managing Director of Barclays Mobile and Pingit, elected as EMEA Chair and Adia Sowho Head of Digital Media, Etisalat Nigeria elected as Vice-Chair MEF has announced the results of its 2015 EMEA Board elections which took place at the company AGM at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It also announced its transition to the Mobile Ecosystem Forum officially launching at its 13th annual MEF Connects MWC in association with American Express. Rimma Perelmuter, CEO …

Paym mobile payments service launches in the UK

New payment service, Paym, launched in the UK yesterday, enabling bank customers to send money using just their mobile phone number. Backed and developed by The Payments Council, over 300,000 people have already registered for the new service since registration opened three weeks ago, with nine banks and building societies on board at launch. The Paym service enables even more consumers to use mobile as a fast, secure and convenient payment channel, reflecting the global trend toward mobile payments. Earlier this year MEF released its Mobile Money Insight Report which indexed the …

Distimo & MEF Report on Worldwide App Store Trends

Ahead of the first MEF Global Forum in San Francisco on the 14-15th November, MEF has teamed up with app store analytics leader Distimo to release a free report showcasing global trends across the Apple and Google App stores in 16 different countries. As well as analysis of download volumes and revenues by category in established markets such as the U.S. and EU, the report also shines a light on trends in growth markets including South Korea, Brazil and South Africa. It found that the Apple App Store now accounts for 65 per cent of total revenues globally, with Google Play gaining ground in …

71 per cent of developers feel that ad networks exaggerate eCPM figures

That's according to a new report from social games network PapayaMobile, the company behind the mobile ad and cross-promotional platform AppFlood. The survey, which canvassed 1,000 independent studios to find out how they feel about the various app advertising and marketing channels, reveals some uncomfortable statistics: 71 per cent of respondents felt that ad networks exaggerate eCPM rates (effective cost per thousand impressions) 48 per cent of developers felt the acquisition cost was too expensive when asked if the investment in mobile marketing was good value for money To give …

Security of SIM cards under threat? – mobile industry reaction

This week, an announcement from Security Research Labs caused a stir, claiming that SIM cards, the ubiquitous and generally regarded safe data storage lynchpin of mobile handsets, is in fact facing a critical hacking risk.  In particular, older generation SIM cards, estimated to number some 500-750 million in the wild, could be susceptible to infection by a virus that according to Forbes, could: send premium text messages, surreptitiously re-direct and record calls, and — with the right combination of bugs — carry out payment system fraud. It has been noted that the issue is of particular …

Nokia partners with London based tech incubator for launch of augmented reality job-seekers app

This week MEF member Nokia launched a new app, JobLens, in the UK for its Lumia Windows phones and announced a collaborative partnership with London based tech start-up incubator, Entrepreneur First. The JobLens app allows jobseekers to peruse job vacancies according to standard criteria; company, keyword, salary and so forth, but adds some innovative features into the mix, such as local demographic information based on the job location, integration with social networks and HERE maps, and can even use the phone's camera to "see" nearby job opportunities in an augmented reality heads-up …

North America Update; TRUSTe & JUICE Mobile appointed to MEF Board

MEF North America has appointed two new members to its board of directors. The new appointments were approved by the existing members of the board which includes Alliance Data, Dentons, KPMG, Mozilla, Openmarket, Playphone, Red Bull Media House, Samsung and Turner Broadcasting. Board Directors play a leading role in shaping MEF's regional mobile agenda within our global member network, using their expertise and leadership to guide the activities and initiatives MEF undertakes. So welcome then, to the two newest additions to the North America Board: Neil Sweeney, President & CEO  - JUICE …

Propel: Digital Salary Insights shows growth in Mobile

Mobile, no longer considered a niche or silo in businesses, has seen exceptional growth over the last few years. As this growth has continued it has led to expansion in skill sets within mobile and, in turn, the salaries of those working in it.A recent piece of research from UK based mobile recruitment specialist and MEF Member, Propel, has shown that almost all areas of mobile have seen an increase in salary since 2011 into 2012 and the first half of 2013. Great news for the industry!Mobile Media Sales saw significant growth across senior roles and, at the extremity of its range, is now …

FTC strengthens COPPA rules for ads targeting under 13’s

Today new rules come in to play in the US that revise the ways in which mobile apps, websites and social networking sites can collect and use behavioural data on child users under the age of 13 in an effort to give parents greater control over the information that can be collected. The updates published last December follow a two-year FTC-led review of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in an effort to keep privacy legislation in step with advances in technology, particularly where it is used to track information about child users over time. When the amendments were …

iOS 7 – what’s it all about?

Apple has just launched the latest version of  its iOS software - iOS 7 - for its phones and tablets. Apple chief executive Tim Cook described it as: “the biggest change to iOS since the iPhone”. New features include a radically different look and feel to icons and the user interface.  So far opinion seems to be polarised around two central issues - how consumers will accept and re-learn their phone navigation against the need for the technology giant to refresh and update what has essentially been the same since iPhone launched back in 2007. With that in mind we've asked the mobile …

The Future is Mobile

A fascinating presentation here from industry analyst Benedict Evans gives an overview of the state of the global industry, succinctly illustrating what we already know, that mobile is doing rather well. With the aid of some startling stats, Evans paints a dramatic picture of the explosion in smartphone and tablet sales and the simultaneous decline in the PC market, while taking in all of the major winners and losers looking ahead to 2017. Essential viewing should you harbor any doubts that the future will be mobile. 2013 05 BEA - ’Mobile is eating the World’ - by Benedict Evans Via …

MEF unveils mobile predictions for 2013

Happy New Year from MEF Blog! MEF has kicked things off for us in 2013 by unveiling its mobile predictions for the year ahead. Leveraging the collective wisdom of its global board members and insights from the 2012 Global Consumer Survey, MEF has come up with 10 key mobile trends to watch for in 2013, including the growth of convenience as a key driver, Trust as a critical asset and the role of big data. Andrew Bud, MEF Global Chair, said: ”2012 saw continued expansion and diversification of the mobile content and commerce industry, particularly in growth markets such as Africa and Latin …

Take the Women in Wireless London Chapter "State of Play" Survey

Women in Wireless (WiW) London is conducting a survey among females in the mobile and digital media industries in the UK and you are heartily encouraged to participate by clicking this link. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.  The survey objective is to explore the current state of play for women’s career and life choices, and to understand how companies can work with organisations like WiW to develop the skills and options available for women to pursue a challenging and fulfilling career path.As a reward for participating, you will have the option to provide your …

New Leadership in MEF North and Latin America

MEF  has announced the results of its 2012 North and Latin America board elections. The elections took place at the international trade association’s regional AGMs held in Miami as part of the third annual MEF Americas 2012, where over 160 senior mobile executives from across North and Latin America’s mobile ecosystems gathered and the inaugural Battle of the Start-ups competition in association Red Herring also took place. Ron Czerny, CEO of Playphone, who previously chaired MEF’s LatAm Chapter, was elected North America Chair by the new Board and Filipe Roup Rosa, Business Development …

Women in Wireless launches UK chapter to help empower women in mobile and digital media sectors

Last week, the not-for-profit organisation Women in Wireless (WiW) announced the launch of its UK chapter at a sell-out event in London. Aimed at connecting, developing and promoting women in the mobile and digital media sector, WiW already has over 3,000 members across its New York and San Francisco chapters. The group aims to create a community and framework through which members can connect with like-minded professionals, while developing the skills needed to reach senior positions and promote and recognise the achievements of those women who have already succeeded in the industry. At …

Newly elected MEF EMEA Board represents mobile ecosystem diversity and growth markets

MEF, the global community for mobile content and commerce, has announced the results of its 2012 EMEA board elections with Colin Yeh, Head of Group Product Development QTel Group (Qatar) elected as EMEA Chairman. Ben Carter, Head of Mobile Services Atos (UK) and Emma Kaye, Director, Mira Networks (South Africa) were also voted in by the membership as co-Vice Chairs.The Elections took place at MWC 2012 directly after the EMEA AGM, where members received an update on all of MEF’s regional and global activities. The audience heard from outgoing chair Lee Epting, Vodafone and Vice Chair Colin Yeh …

Candidates announced for MEF EMEA Board Elections 2012 at MWC

MEF has announced the first round of candidates for the MEF EMEA Board Elections, to be held at the end of the month at MWC in Barcelona.Full MEF members are eligible to vote and stand as a candidate, and will be instrumental in creating thought leadership, sharing knowledge and addressing the critical issues facing the mobile commerce and content industry today and in the future.The current standing is as follows:• Diane Alphonse, Head of Marketing, Communications & PR, Barwa Bank• Ben Tatton-Brown, Co-Founder & Regional SVP, EMEA, Amobee• Emma Kaye, Board Director, Mira Networks• …