Walmart Is At War Against Apple Over The New iPhone Payments System — And Apple Is Losing | ||
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American retailers appear to have gone to war against Apple's new mobile payments system, Apple Pay, and Apple is losing. Walmart, Best Buy, Rite Aid and CVS have all said they want nothing to do with the system (or Google Wallet, for that matter). The latter pair tried it and then disabled it over the weekend. Apple is hanging on to a tiny gaggle of corporate partners. As described by the Verge, it sounds bleak: A quick look at Apple's website explaining the service highlights just 34 retail partners that support the system. Eight of those are different flavors of Foot Locker. One is Apple itself. So that's basically just 25 companies, not including Apple. It's an early battle, so it is premature to say who will win in the long run. Apple appears to have created an ingenious and obviously superior mobile payments system. But retailers control their own checkouts — they get to say who pays with what, not Apple. And Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is backing the retailers' system via a company they're partnering with called MCX. The retailers don't want Apple to monopolize a system that will produce a lot of valuable customer data. Their system, "CurrentC," will let them keep that data. Apple Pay is an elegant, universal, simple-to-use system that can be used by any retailer. You just touch your finger on the iPhone Touch ID fingerprint scanner, wave your phone near the NFC checkout device at the store, and approve the payment. CurrentC, by contrast, is kinda clunky, the early reviews say. Here's John Gruber, the respected tech writer: What Apple gets and what no one else in the industry does is that using your mobile device for payments will only work if it’s far easier and better than using a credit card. With CurrentC, you’ll have to unlock your phone, launch their app, point your camera at a QR code, and wait. With Apple Pay, you just take out your phone and put your thumb on the Touch ID sensor.
The retailers' CurrentC system does something similar, but without the fingerprint and without the one-step approval. You have to scan things and punch in codes to make the payment. The advantage of CurrentC is that it automatically applies discounts and coupons to your purchase, so consumers are heavily incentivized to use it. It also funnels a ton of data to retailers. And they have about 60 companies on board. So in the long run, the fight will be between Apple's system, which is simple and works universally like any credit card, and Walmart's system, which is complicated and only works when a store agrees to adopt it. That's why, even though it looks like the Apple Pay launch is in tatters, you shouldn't assume that Apple has lost the war. SEE ALSO: Internal Apple Documents Show How Strict And Punitive Its Contracts Can Be Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Apple's system works with any credit card you want to punch into the system. Apple Pay basically partners with, and sits on top of, the existing credit card system and makes credit cards super-easy to use by funneling payments securely through your phone. It shields data from retailers, too — which is why Walmart et al. don't like it. Wal-Mart Is At War Against Apple Over The New iPhone Payments System — And Apple Is Losing | ||
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American retailers appear to have gone to war against Apple's new mobile payments system, Apple Pay, and Apple is losing. Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Rite Aid, and CVS have all said they want nothing to do with the system (or Google Wallet, for that matter). The latter pair tried it and then disabled it over the weekend. Apple is hanging on to a tiny gaggle of corporate partners. As described by the Verge, it sounds bleak: A quick look at Apple's website explaining the service highlights just 34 retail partners that support the system. Eight of those are different flavors of Foot Locker. One is Apple itself. So that's basically just 25 companies, not including Apple. It's an early battle, so it is premature to say who will win in the long run. Apple appears to have created an ingenious and obviously superior mobile payments system. But retailers control their own checkouts — they get to say who pays with what, not Apple. And Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is backing the retailers' system via a company it is partnering with called MCX. The retailers don't want Apple to monopolize a system that will produce a lot of valuable customer data. Their system, "CurrentC," will let them keep that data. Apple Pay is an elegant, universal, simple-to-use system that can be used by any retailer. You just touch your finger on the iPhone Touch ID fingerprint scanner, wave your phone near the NFC checkout device at the store, and approve the payment. CurrentC, by contrast, is kinda clunky, the early reviews say. Here's John Gruber, the respected tech writer: What Apple gets and what no one else in the industry does is that using your mobile device for payments will only work if it’s far easier and better than using a credit card. With CurrentC, you’ll have to unlock your phone, launch their app, point your camera at a QR code, and wait. With Apple Pay, you just take out your phone and put your thumb on the Touch ID sensor.
The retailers' CurrentC system does something similar, but without the fingerprint and without the one-step approval. You have to scan things and punch in codes to make the payment. The advantage of CurrentC is that it automatically applies discounts and coupons to your purchase, so consumers are heavily encouraged to use it. It also funnels a ton of data to retailers. And it has about 60 companies on board. So in the long run, the fight will be between Apple's system, which is simple and works universally as any credit card, and Wal-Mart's system, which is complicated and works only when a store agrees to adopt it. That's why, even though it looks as if the Apple Pay launch is in tatters, you shouldn't assume that Apple has lost the war.
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Kidnapped women 'used by Boko Haram on front line': rights group | ||
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Lagos (AFP) - Boko Haram has used kidnapped young women and girls on the front lines of its insurgency, according to a new report published on Monday, after a fresh abduction in Nigeria's far northeast. Human Rights Watch made the claim as it outlined testimony from dozens of former hostages who documented physical and psychological abuse at the hands of the militants. Suspected Islamist fighters kidnapped about 30 children, including girls as young as 11, in Borno state at the weekend. A week earlier, at least 40 women and girls were seized in neighbouring Adamawa. Both kidnappings -- and continued violence in northeast Nigeria and northern Cameroon -- have cast doubt on government claims of a ceasefire deal and agreement for the release of 219 schoolgirls held since April. In the human rights report, one 19-year-old woman who was held in militant camps for three months last year said she was forced to participate in Boko Haram attacks. "I was told to hold the bullets and lie in the grass while they fought. They came to me for extra bullets as the fight continued during the day," she said. "When security forces arrived at the scene and began to shoot at us, I fell down in fright. The insurgents dragged me along on the ground as they fled back to camp." In another operation, she said she was handed a knife to kill one of five captured civilian vigilantes brought to one of the camps and summarily executed. "I was shaking with horror and couldn't do it. The camp leader’s wife took the knife and killed him," she said. A wave of attacks by female suicide bombers earlier this year prompted speculation that Boko Haram may have been using abducted women and young girls to carry out attacks. But there has been no concrete evidence to prove whether the attackers were kidnap victims who were coerced or volunteers. In July, a 10-year-old was detained in Katsina state, northwest Nigeria, and found to be strapped with explosives. - Forced marriage, conversion - In all, 30 women and girls between April 2013 and April this year were interviewed, including 12 of the 57 who fled when the militants raided a school in Chibok, Borno state, taking away the 219 others. The women, who were held from between two days to three months, were seized from their homes and villages, while working on the land, fetching water or at school. They described how they were held in eight different camps thought to be in the vast Sambisa Forest area of Borno and the Gwoza hills, which separates Nigeria from Cameroon. Human Rights Watch said more than 500 women and girls have been abducted since the start of the insurgency in 2009, although other estimates put the figure in the high hundreds. In the camps, they described seeing other women and children -- some of them infants and others as old as 65 -- but were unable to say whether all of them had also been kidnapped. They were made to cook, clean and perform household chores. Some were forced to carry stolen goods seized by the insurgents after attacks. The report gives an insight into life for the kidnap victims, including those from Chibok, whose plight attracted worldwide attention. One of the interviewees said she saw some of the Chibok girls forced to cook and clean for other women and girls who had been chosen for "special treatment because of their beauty". The women also talked about rape as well as physical violence, including one who said she had a noose placed around her neck and was threatened with death until she converted to Islam. One 15-year-old said she complained that she was too young to marry one of the militants but a Boko Haram commander dismissed her concerns, saying his five-year-old daughter got married the previous year. Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a tactic since the start of its insurgency in 2009 but Human Rights Watch said the authorities had done nothing to prevent it or bring those responsible to book. Survivors were not receiving adequate support such as mental health and medical after-care on their release, said Human Rights Watch's Africa director, Daniel Bekele. Funds had been set up for the Chibok escapees but support had not been provided to other victims, he added. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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S. Korea seeks death penalty for Sewol ferry disaster captain | ||
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Gwangju (South Korea) (AFP) - Prosecutors on Monday demanded the death penalty for the captain of the South Korean ferry that sank in April, branding him an unrepentant liar who abandoned the more than 300 people who died in the disaster. They also sought life sentences for three senior crew members and prison terms of between 15 to 30 years for 11 others as the trial of Captain Lee Joon-Seok and his crew wound up in the southern city of Gwangju in an emotional session that left many of the defendants in tears. The 69-year-old Lee "escaped the ship without making any efforts to rescue passengers", senior prosecutor Park Jae-Eok told the court. "He made excuses and lied. He showed no repentance... and so we ask for the death sentence," Park said. Lee, who remained calm as the sentencing recommendation was read out, later told the court that he accepted responsibility but insisted that he never acted with the intention to cause any deaths. The three-judge bench will deliver its verdict and sentence on November 11. Although the death penalty is still passed in South Korea, nobody has been executed since 1997. Currently, there are some 60 people on death row. The 6,825-tonne Sewol ferry was carrying 476 people -- most of them high school students on an organised trip -- when it sank off the southern coast on April 16. Only 174 people were rescued. The disaster was blamed on a deadly combination of cargo overloading, illegal redesign and poor helmsmanship, but the most serious charges against Lee and his crew related to their response once the ship ran into trouble. - Ferry owners or crew to blame? - They were among the first to climb into rescue boats and were publicly vilified for abandoning the hundreds of passengers still trapped inside. Crew members were further condemned when it emerged they had instructed the passengers to remain where they were as the vessel began to list dangerously -- a decision which the prosecution said contributed to the heavy loss of life. Lee and the three senior crew all face the capital charge of "homicide through wilful negligence". But the prosecution said only the captain should receive the death penalty, as the burden of responsibility lay with him. Reading from a prepared statement, Lee acknowledged that he had been paralysed by panic and failed to take "appropriate measures" that could have saved lives. "But I swear from my heart that there was never any intention to murder," he said. - 'I feel ashamed' - "I deeply bow before the victims and their relatives and apologise again. I will keep reflecting on my wrongdoings and praying for the dead until I die," he added. The other defendants also made statements, and some of them wept as the they apologised and bowed to the victims' families in the courtroom. "I feel ashamed I failed to do anything to rescue passengers," said one female crew member. Lee has insisted that the ferry owners are the real culprits as it was their decision to consistently overload the vessel and commission an illegal redesign. The disaster stunned South Korea and unleashed an enduring wave of public anger that led some to question whether the captain and crew could receive a fair trial. South Korean media coverage of their arrest and arraignment was often coloured by a presumption of guilt, and before the trial even began President Park Geun-Hye publicly stated that the crew's actions had been "tantamount to murder". The defendants had difficulty in securing private legal representation, with few defence lawyers willing to take on such an emotive case. More than six months after the disaster, divers are still searching the sunken vessel for 10 victims whose bodies have yet to be recovered. As the prosecution called for the death penalty, the relatives of those still unaccounted for narrowly voted Monday against bringing in heavy cranes to raise the Sewol. The authorities have promised the ship will not be moved without the families' approval. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Russian Lawmakers Just Passed A Delusional Budget Based On An 'Alternative Economic Reality' | ||
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A draft Russia budget for 2015-2017 passed its first reading in the Duma, the country's parliament, Friday despite the Finance Minister warning that is based on an "alternative economic reality." According to Vedomosti, the independent Russian business daily newspaper, the draft budget is based forecasts an average oil price of $100 a barrel over the next three years, Western sanctions being lifted in 2015 and an acceleration of growth from next year. Right now, those assumptions look delusional. Since the middle of the year the oil price has been crashing, falling from a high of $115 a barrel in June to below $86 a barrel Monday. Goldman Sachs believes oil will fall to $80 a barrel with Morgan Stanley giving a 45% probability that it could hold around that level. This has mainly been due to positive supply shocks with oil production in Libya, Russia and Iraq all coming in above estimates, and the US shale boom continuing to put downwards pressure on prices.
Fears of its impact on the Russian economy have also caused foreign capital to flee the country. The Russian central bank reports that the country has seen $85 billion worth of capital outflows so far in 2014 forcing it to spend over $15 billion of the country's foreign currency reserves propping up the Russian ruble in October alone. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that although the government can dip into its reserve fund to meet its spending commitments "reserves are not infinite, and the poor economic situation may be protracted". The Ministry of Finance is set to propose spending cuts of around 10% of the draft budget with ministry sources briefing that each state program will be considered. However, the proposals may run into resistance from the Kremlin. Earlier this month President Vladimir Putin firmly ruled out any cuts to social programs stating that "we will not have to sacrifice that". SEE ALSO: Russia Will Be Plunged Into A Recession If Oil Prices Fall Further Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The collapse in the oil price has put huge pressure on Russia's government finances with oil and gas accounting for half of the country's budget revenues. The falls have compounded the impact of Western economic sanctions over Ukraine, with the IMF forecasting meager GDP growth of 0.2% this year and only 0.5% in 2015 (vs an average of 7% a year from 1998-2008).
Zuma 'outraged' at S.Africa football captain's death | ||
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Johannesburg (AFP) - South African President Jacob Zuma on Monday said he was outraged by the fatal shooting of national football team captain Senzo Meyiwa. Zuma voiced his "shock, sadness and outrage" at the killing of 27-year-old Meyiwa on Sunday, who was gunned down at a house near Johannesburg. Meyiwa was the goalkeeper and captain of national side Bafana Bafana and the Orlando Pirates, one of the country's biggest clubs. "We mourn the death of this young footballer and team leader whose life has been taken away at the prime of his career," Zuma said in a statement. The president said that law enforcement authorities "must leave no stone unturned in finding his killers and bring them to justice". "Words cannot express the nation's shock at this loss," he said. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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