Telecoms.com

Apple in Korea climbdown after third-party payment ruling

The iPhone maker, which recently saw its market cap briefly top $3 trillion, returned to Earth with a bump this week.

• 12 Jan 2022

South Korea demands Apple and Google open app stores to 3rd-party payments

A bill voted through by Korea’s parliamentarians demands application store operators like Apple and Google to allow customers to choose alternative payment methods when buying apps and content.

• 31 Aug 2021

Apple opens its purse to settle developer class-action suit

Apple has agreed to loosen its grip on how mobile apps can be distributed and promised more transparency on app approval processes in a package to settle a class-action suit brought by app developers.

• 27 Aug 2021

US Senators out to tear down the app store walls

A bipartisan Senate bill is introduced to boost competition in the mobile apps market with rules to restrict what Apple and Google can impose on developers and users.

• 12 Aug 2021

Apple defends new device-scanning tech as criticisms grow

Apple has launched a defence of its controversial new system to scan users’ devices for child sexual material after over 5,000 people and organizations signed an open letter against it.

• 10 Aug 2021

Will Apple child safety gift governments the keys to comms?

Apple has caused a stir with its new child safety measures, which other tech firms and privacy advocates say could unwittingly open the door to let governments spy on their citizens.

• 09 Aug 2021

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of big tech’s good pandemic in Amazon’s quarterly?

Amazon has delivered another solid quarter, but the numbers fell short of market expectations. When looked together with the latest financial results from other big tech companies, it is tempting to ask if the pandemic bonus is coming to an end.

• 30 Jul 2021

Verizon also entrusts its messaging and RCS to Google

Following in the footsteps of T-Mobile and AT&T, the last of America’s “big three” Verizon announced that Android Messages will be the default bearer of its RCS messaging service from next year.

• 21 Jul 2021

Rakuten decides to compete on price, again

The Japanese greenfield operator Rakuten Mobile has seen its low-price strategy driving fast subscriber growth, so it has decided to double down on its iPhone 12 offers.

• 22 Apr 2021

Global smartphone revenues forecast for fastest growth in six years

Strategy Analytics forecasts that the global smartphone wholesale revenues will increase by 13% in 2021, driven primarily by pent-up demand during the pandemic and increased device price.

• 16 Apr 2021

Microsoft is close to acquiring Nuance for $16 billion – Updated

Microsoft is reported to be in advanced talks to buy speech recognition company Nuance Communications for $16 billion, which would be Microsoft’s second largest acquisition ever.

• 12 Apr 2021

What is lying in wait for telecoms in 2021?

Observers and practitioners take it on the chin to predict what the telecoms industry may look like in the coming year.

• 24 Dec 2020

What a Wonderful World of 5G Devices

Many brands have already brought to market large numbers of 5G devices, such as smartphones and hotspots. According to the latest tracking done by the GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association), an industry organisation, over 250 devices had been announced by mid-March 2020, with 67 of them commercially available, including 40 smartphones. Half a year previously, the same tracking recorded only 100 public device announcements, with only nine 5G smartphones commercially available. The pace of new 5G device launches has clearly been accelerating.

• 02 Apr 2020

Benign brother has got your back: China launches coronavirus app

China’s government bodies and businesses have jointly launched a mobile app to help the populace self-detect if they have been in close contact with those confirmed or suspected of carrying the novel coronavirus. The app has access to private data in the hands of multiple official holders.

• 12 Feb 2020

Apple U-turns again to pull HK map app under pressure from Beijing

The iPhone maker took down the crowd-sourced app HKmap.live, favoured by the protesters in Hong Kong to track police movement, from its local App Store, after being blasted by China’s state media.

• 10 Oct 2019

Losing face in seconds: the app that takes deepfakes to a new depth

Zao, a new mobile app coming out of China, can replace characters in TV or movie clips with the user’s own facial picture within seconds, raising new privacy and fraud concerns.

• 03 Sep 2019

Apple and Samsung both had a mixed second quarter

While Apple registered modest growth, with the strong performance of Services compensating the declining iPhone sales, Samsung’s revenue and profit continued to plummet, thanks to weakness in the semiconductor market.

• 31 Jul 2019

Apple’s design chief decides to call it a day

Jony Ive, Apple’s Chief Design Officers, has announced that he is leaving the company at the end of the year and will set up LoveFrom, his own creative business, with Apple as its first client.

• 28 Jun 2019

Enhanced privacy protection is now at the core of Apple

At its 2019 developer conference Apple introduced new measures to strengthen user privacy protection, as a point of differentiation from other big tech companies.

• 04 Jun 2019

Microsoft and Sony join up on AI and cloud gaming

Microsoft and Sony have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop cloud systems for game and content streaming, and to integrate Microsoft’s AI with Sony’s image sensors.

• 17 May 2019