Apples sales drop and Google gets dinged by the EU, again

HEY EVERYONE, I’M JULIET BEAUCHAMP AND WELCOME BACK TO TECH FEED. TODAY WE’RE TALKING BLOCKCHAIN PAYMENT, SMARTPHONE SALES AND EUROPE IS FINING GOOGLE ONCE AGAIN--HOW MUCH ARE THEY EXPECTED TO PAY THIS TIME AROUND? STAY TUNED.



SEVEN UNIVERSITIES HAVE TEAMED UP TO DEVELOP A NEW CRYPTOCURRENCY APP AND A BLOCKCHAIN-BASED PAYMENT SYSTEM. THE UNIVERSITIES AIM TO SOLVE COMMON BLOCKCHAIN PAYMENT WOES LIKE PERFORMANCE, SECURITY AND TRANSACTION PRIVACY. THIS EFFORT IS FUNDED BY THE DISTRIBUTED TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH FOUNDATION, A SWISS NON-PROFIT CREATED TO PROMOTE OPEN DISTRIBUTED NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY. THE NON-PROFIT VIEWS A DECENTRALIZED PAYMENT SYSTEM AS A FUNDAMENTAL APPLICATION OF BLOCKCHAIN. THE APPLICATION, CALLED UNIT-E, AS WELL AS THE PAYMENT SYSTEM, ARE EXPECTED TO LAUNCH LATER THIS YEAR. SO, LOOK OUT FOR IT BECAUSE IT COULD TOP MAINSTREAM ELECTRONIC PAYMENT NETWORKS LIKE VISA NET IN TRANSACTIONAL CAPABILITY.

IT’S NO SECRET BY NOW THAT APPLE HAS EXPERIENCED LOWER-THAN-USUAL IPHONE SALES DURING THE PAST YEAR. BUT, ACCORDING TO DATA FROM S E M RUSH, APPLE IS IN GOOD COMPANY. TWO OF ITS BIGGEST COMPETITORS, GOOGLE AND SAMSUNG, HAVE ALSO REPORTED A DIP IN SALES DURING THEIR BIGGEST-SELLING QUARTERS. AS INTEREST IN THE LATEST AND GREATEST SMARTPHONE APPEARS TO DROP, MANUFACTURERS WILL BE FORCED TO FIND WAYS TO ADAPT TO A CROWDED AND COMPETITIVE MARKETPLACE.

PER USUAL, GOOGLE CAN’T CATCH A BREAK WITH EUROPEAN UNION. THE EU HAS ALREADY FINED GOOGLE TWICE DUE TO ANTITRUST REGULATIONS, BUT THIS MOST RECENT RUN-IN WITH EU LAW RELATES TO GDPR. A FRENCH AUTHORITY FINED THE TECH GIANT 57 MILLION DOLLARS FOR FAILING TO GET ADEQUATE CONSENT TO COLLECT USERS’ DATA. THE AUTHORITY, WHICH REGULATES DATA PROTECTION, SAID USERS DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW THEIR DATA IS PROCESSED BY GOOGLE AND THAT GOOGLE NEEDS TO DO MORE TO ENSURE PEOPLE ARE AWARE HOW THEIR PERSONAL DATA IS UTILIZED TO SELL HYPER-TARGETED ADVERTISEMENTS. GOOGLE DEFENDED ITS PRACTICES AND MAY APPEAL THE FINE.


2018 WAS BIG FOR IOT, AND 2019 WILL LIKELY SEE EVEN MORE GROWTH FOR BUSINESS AND CONSUMERS ALIKE. OF COURSE, WITH RAPID GROWTH COMES A MULTITUDE OF CONCERNS. SECURITY IS HIGH ON THE LIST OF CONCERNS FOR BUSINESS THAT USE IOT, AND, ACCORDING TO A STUDY FROM GEMALTO, SOME ARE CALLING ON GOVERNMENTS TO PROVIDE GUIDANCE FOR IOT SECURITY. THIS YEAR, EXPECT TO SEE MORE IOT DEVICES IN HEALTHCARE AND RETAIL SETTINGS. FOR MORE 2019 IOT PREDICTIONS, KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR OUR TECH TALK WITH NETWORK WORLD’S JON GOLD. IT’LL BE A COOL YEAR FOR IOT. MAYBE A LITTLE CREEPY…. JUST CHECK IT OUT.

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