PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
As Mobile World Congress 2016 moves into the third day of the show, there are still plenty of announcements, product launches and future gazing to report on from Barcelona.
Here’s the latest from MWC 2016:
Xiaomi Mi5 ceramic smartphone
Xiaomi has unveiled a ceramic-cased Android smartphone called the Mi5. Nokia used to make phones using this material, but most other manufacturers use glass, metal or plastic. Xiaomi said ceramic makes the 5.1-inch phone more durable. It will also be the first smartphone to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor. Xiaomi has also announced a new mobile payment partnership with NXP, offering NFC in the Mi5 smartphone.
Vkansee’s fake finger sensor trick
Sensor manufacturer Vkansee has demonstrated at the show how a fake finger can trick a smartphone fingerprint scanner. The firm, which makes high-resolution fingerprint readers, was proving a point that lower-grade sensors are easy to fool. The demonstration involved using modelling clay to copy a fingerprint. The firm said: “Although a fake clay finger is a poor imitation, it can fool many fingerprint sensors.”
Morpho CEO says ‘Selfies are the future of biometrics’
During a keynote at MWC 2016, Morpho CEO Anne Bouverot declared: “The future of biometric recognition is selfies. It’s facial recognition. Unlike passwords, biometrics are not secrets. Our faces are not secrets, but they clearly belong to us and only us. It’s a way to identify a person and link usage to a person.”
AppDirect expands in EMEA with Microsoft
At Mobile World Congress, AppDirect has announced several new partnerships and regional offices in Europe, highlighting the company’s success in helping service providers and value-added resellers (VARs) go to market as Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners.
AccuWeather’s ‘hyper-localisation’
AccuWeather has announced a new level of ‘hyper-localisation’ in weather communications. AccuWeather has the #1 mobile weather website in the world with nearly two-thirds of AccuWeather.com and AccuWeather app users residing outside of the United States. The firm has partnered with Rubric to help it provide customised weather information and updates.
Movistar Social TV
Telefonica’s Movistar Plus TV platform has announced a new service called Social TV. It will allow subscribers to interact with each other directly on their TV screens while watching programmes. Viewers will be able to interact during any live programme using a conference call and simultaneous chat system.
