Aug 26, 2016 | Facebook marketing, Mobile, Online advertising, Social media, WhatsApp
WhatsApp has updated its privacy policy in a move that will see it share its users’ phone numbers with parent company Facebook, meaning the chat app will get ads for the first time. In a move that has sparked privacy concerns among some industry commentators, WhatsApp...
Aug 26, 2016 | Australia and New Zealand, CPG, E-commerce and E-retailing, FMCG digital marketing food and beverages, Mobile
Domino’s has begun testing New Zealand pizza delivery via the first commercial drone delivery service in the world. The fast food chain has partnered with drone start-up Flirtey to launch the service, demonstrating the first stage with a pizza delivery in...
Aug 25, 2016 | Mobile
Singapore has become the first city to get driverless taxi service, under a new trial from start-up firm nuTonomy. The US firm has beated the likes of Uber and Google to launch the test, which lets a selected number of ordinary members of the public hail a free ride...
Aug 24, 2016 | Mobile, Regulation
Facebook has launched a new social media app aimed at school teenagers, but the move has sparked privacy concerns as all posts are public. Members of Lifestage, currently only available on Apple devices in the US, upload pictures and videos based around feelings,...
Aug 23, 2016 | Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Latin America, Mexico, Mobile, Russia, South Africa, UK, USA
New connected consumers in emerging markets, especially rural China, continued to drive smartphone growth in 2Q16, according to new research. Analysis of the latest smartphone sales trends has prompted GfK to upgrade its forecast for the year. Full year global...
Aug 22, 2016 | Mobile
Ride-sharing firm Uber will soon let users in Pittsburgh hail self-driving cars, the company has confirmed. The service, going live in less than two weeks, will see Uber team up with Volvo to launch the service. At first, the vehicles will be supervised by a driver,...
Aug 19, 2016 | CPG, FMCG digital marketing food and beverages, Mobile
McDonald’s latest attempt to shed its unhealthy image backfired this week, after a fitness tracker happy meal toy was claimed to bring out its users in a rash. McDonald’s was hoping the Step It! Activity Band would be a means of getting kids to be more active....
Aug 18, 2016 | Mobile
While UK consciousness of smart tech is approaching saturation with 99% of consumers now aware of it, only 33% have reached an advanced level of familiarity — indicating that further development is required to boost usage and understanding of its benefits. The report,...
Aug 17, 2016 | Mobile
Samsung is the most trusted Olympic sponsor brands among UK consumers, while McDonalds is the least trusted, according to new research. The study, from user generated content platform Reevoo, was carried out over the weekend with a base of 634 UK respondents. Key...
Aug 17, 2016 | Marketing through gaming, Mobile
Pokémon Go! is big business, with 13% of the adult UK population having downloaded the game, and more than 5 million playing it regularly, according to new research. The data, from YouGov, is based on over 25,000 interviews during July and August, showing...
Aug 16, 2016 | Mobile, Social media
Google has launched a simple one-to-one video chat app called Duo that looks to compete with FaceTime, Skype and Facebook Messenger. Unlike its other major video chat tool Hangouts, Duo works exclusively on phones (Android and iPhone) rather than across devices. The...
Aug 16, 2016 | E-commerce and E-retailing, Mobile
Snapcart, an Indonesian start-up app rewards people who send them photos of their shopping receipts with cash, is expanding to the Philippines. Snapcart taps into shopping data by incentivising shoppers to take photographs of their receipts in exchange for a small...
Aug 15, 2016 | Mobile
Snapchat has removed a controversial selfie lens filter after the photo app was accused of racism. The lens appeared to play on stereotypes of Eastern Asian appearance. As soon as the filter was introduced, it was met with an instant backlash. Users accused the app of...
Aug 12, 2016 | CPG, Mobile
Persil has teamed up with mobile dry cleaning service ZipJet, as its owner Unilever continues to expand into mobile commerce. ZipJet was founded in 2014 in Germany, and currently operates in three European cities- Berlin, London and Dublin. The company forges...
Aug 11, 2016 | Mobile
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its “shake up” of the UK’s banking sector with plans to implement a one-stop app where consumers can track their accounts across multiple banks. The new initiative involves creating new apps...
Aug 11, 2016 | Marketing through gaming, Mobile
Pokemon Go! is starting to invade the workplace, with 53% of UK employees who play Pokemon Go admitting to doing so during working hours. A photo posted by Kevin Gonzáles (@ape_dos_mil) on Jul 8, 2016 at 11:36am PDT 43% say they play up to three hours and 27% play...
Aug 10, 2016 | Mexico, Mobile
The majority of UK consumers are left dissatisfied with the mobile advertising experience, according to new research. The report, from mobile platform Unlockd, highlighted that less than half (47%) of consumers consider their mobile advertising experience to be...
Aug 10, 2016 | Mobile
Apple has bought artificial intelligence startup Turi for $200m, as the electronics giant looks to expand into the growing machine learning sector. Turi was formerly known as Dato and GraphLab. Apple acknowledged its purchase of the company but had no additional...
Aug 10, 2016 | Mobile, Search engine marketing, Social media
Spend on search ads continues to grow, with advertisers increasingly taking advantage of newer ad types, according to new research. Spend on social advertising has increased by 47% year-on-year (YoY) in the second quarter of 2016, with social ads attracting a 21%...
Aug 9, 2016 | Mobile
The digital dependency of Generation Z (GenZ) could present a technological ticking ‘time-bomb’ for brands and retailers, according to new research. The report, from Vodat International, reveals that despite being digitally native – 20% said they avoid stores...
