Australia is the third country in the world to offer Apple’s Tap to Pay, which lets small businesses accept payments via in-person contactless payments on the iPhone. Retailers, restaurants and other merchants can now use an iPhone to accept Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets with no extra hardware or… Read more »
Australian lawyers are seeking app developers to join a class action against Google and Apple over what they claim is an abuse of market power by charging 30% commissions on in-app spending while preventing competitive payment alternatives. The class action reflects similar legal action launched in 2020 by Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, against the… Read more »
The five largest tech giants may be using ‘dark patterns’ to prevent consumers from adopting online services from competitors, the ACCC has warned as it solicits feedback on a new issues paper exploring the companies’ entrance into a diverse range of markets. Recent years have seen Amazon, Apple, Facebook parent company Meta, Microsoft, and Google… Read more »
Hotels tech venture, SiteMinder, has appointed former Xero managing director, Trent Innes, as Chief Growth Officer (CGO) and ex Apple executive, Tim Howard, as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). SiteMinder is an open hotel commerce platform, enabling hotels and lodging operators to market, sell, manage and expand their operations. The tech venture provides a complete… Read more »
Apple’s latest hardware refresh event incorporated the usual accoutrements – including a rugged smart watch, updated earbuds and next-generation iPhones – but for many users it is the release of iOS 16, and its passwordless logins, that promises to be the game-changer. Demonstrated at the company’s WorldWide Developers Conference in June, the new Passkeys are… Read more »
Apple just made itself the elephant in the room of buy-now-pay-later. With the sector struggling amid plunging stock prices, slowing growth and a looming economic downturn, Apple announced it was entering the BNPL space at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Apple Pay will gain a new feature, Apple Pay Later, which, like AfterPay, Klarna… Read more »
Things are not going to plan for quite a lot of Apple users who’ve installed iOS 15 on their iPhones. A bug in the software is giving plenty of users the “iPhone storage almost full” message regardless of how much storage space they have left. In some instances posted on Twitter, people have tens, if… Read more »
Rod Sims, chair of competition watchdog the ACCC, has told his colleagues around the world that the dominance of Apple and Google in app marketplaces may need to be tackled globally with new rules and regulations. In a speech to the Global Competition Review webinar outlining how Australia has been tackling the issue through the… Read more »
The proliferation of child sexual abuse material on the internet is harrowing and sobering. Technology companies send tens of millions of reports per year of these images to the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The way companies that provide cloud storage for your images usually detect child abuse material leaves you vulnerable… Read more »
Apple’s attempt to block Epic Games, the company behind the hit video game Fortnite, from suing it in Australia over anti-competitive behaviour has been overturned on appeal by the Federal Court. Epic has filed anti-competition complaints against Apple in the European Union, UK, US and Australia, complaining about a range of restrictive conditions on the… Read more »
Apple users across the globe are adopting the latest operating system update, called iOS 14.5, featuring the now-obligatory new batch of emojis. But there’s another change that’s arguably less fun but much more significant for many users: the introduction of “app tracking transparency”. This feature promises to usher in a new era of user-oriented privacy,… Read more »
The “significant market power” of the Apple App Store and Google Play in Australia needs to be addressed says Rod Sims, chair of competition regulator the ACCC, to give app developers better terms and conditions, as well as improving the approvals process The second part of the ACCC’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry interim report, which focuses… Read more »
The fight between Epic Games, the company behind the wildly popular video game Fortnite, and tech giant Apple, which banned the company from its App store in August last year, is currently playing out in the Australian legal system, as well as the US, UK and Europe Last month Epic Games announced it had filed… Read more »
Apple has released its new smartphone, the iPhone 12, without an accompanying charger or earbuds. Users have harshly criticised the company for this move and will have to purchase these accessories separately, if needed. While some see it as cost-cutting, or a way for Apple to profit further by forcing customers to buy the products… Read more »
There has been a clash of clans in mobile gaming, with angry birds Apple, Google and Epic Games in a saga over in-app payments. Video game developer Epic’s massively popular “battle royale” game Fortnite was removed from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store last week. Android players can still download the game directly… Read more »
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