Add Apple credit card to list of things you can do on your iPhone

Apple has announced a fintech service which will enable customers to turn their mobile phone into a credit card.

From the summer customers in the US will have access to the Apple Card.

There is an actual card and data is transmitted to an app on the iPhone. Beyond its great usability and high security standards the mobile phone giant is also offering financial incentives, with Apple Card.

This is what fintechs need to do if they are to take on traditional credit card firms and banks. As a consumer of financial services it takes a financial advantage for me to change service provider. The technology is all well and good but the traditional players are now doing the tech part of fintech pretty well. The fintechs need to offer something different around the fin part of fintech.

According to Apple the card will also reward customers with cash back on spending and will get rid of card fees and offer low interest rates.

Of course it will bring with it Apple style functionality.  Apple said the Apple Card application process will take minutes fees and will introduce new levels security and privacy.

iPhone users will be able to sign up and it will be linked to their Apple Pay account.

“Apple Card builds on the tremendous success of Apple Pay and delivers new experiences only possible with the power of iPhone,” said Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay. “Apple Card is designed to help customers lead a healthier financial life, which starts with a better understanding of their spending so they can make smarter choices with their money, transparency to help them understand how much it will cost if they want to pay over-time and ways to help them pay down their balance.”

Fintechs everywhere are trying to bring Apple-like usability to their financial services, while Apple itself is applying its expertise in providing consumer friendly services to the credit card sector.

It will use machine learning and Apple Maps to clearly label transactions with merchant names and locations.

But there is always a traditional player involved when it comes to financial services. In this case Apple is working with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard to provide the support of an issuing bank and global payments network.

Goldman Sachs doesn’t normally do consumer financial services but will be the source of money while Mastercard will provide cardholders the ability to shop at around the world, through its network.

“Simplicity, transparency and privacy are at the core of our consumer product development philosophy,” said David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs. “We’re thrilled to partner with Apple on Apple Card, which helps customers take control of their financial lives.

Mastercard also said it was very happy. And why not? Any traditional player will be pleased to be associated with Apple. This will give these traditional finance firms access to a huge potential customer base.

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Will Infinix Note 6 follow in the steps of its predecesor?

The Note series from Infinix Mobility have been targeted at high productivity and creative people. Core traits of the these devices are a big display, a big battery, and in recent times, an optional Xpen stylus. The Infinix Note 6 is going to follow this pattern.

While Infinix Zero smartphones get the most powerful processors and the biggest RAM, Infinix Note smartphones are more concerned with longevity and so have more power efficient processors along with the big displays and batteries.

Expected Features of Infinix Note 6

The Note 5 and its variant, Note 5 Stylus, both run stock Android, which is a marked departure from the usual mix of Android and Infinix’s custom UI, XOS. Has this come to stay, or was that just an Android One experiement on the part of Infinix?

Personally, I think that stock Android on the Note 5 is a good thing and would also like to see it continue with subsequent Infinix Note smartphones. If I had to purchase an Infinix smartphone tooday, it would be the Note 5 Stylus. I like the stock Android experience (along with the prospects of speedy software updates), the big screen, the big battery, and the stylus.

I think the Infinix S4 is a much sleeker smartphone than the Note 5, but if Infinix Mobility would put stock Android in it and add the stylus functionality, I’d take it in place of the Note 5. You get the picture. Whatever happens with the Infinix Note 6, I want stock Android and an Xpen stylus in the package.

Add a 6-inch display, a solid build, 4000 mAh + battery, and we are off to a good start.

AI on Infinix Note 6

Despite the absence of XOS, the Note 5 smartphones had AI built in, and that is expected to be seen in the Infinix Note 6 as well.

Of course, AI is mostly a buzz word on smartphones for now. Much of what is marketed as AI now is really no more than basic automation, but that is a conversation for another day. Here is a good article that deals with the subject well: AI in Smartphones: Separating Fact From Fiction, and Looking Ahead.

Whatever “AI” is on smartpones today, we shal definitely see it on the Note 6, for sure.

Infinix Note 6 Camera and Battery

The Note 5 has a single camera setup at the back. I definitely will like to see a dual camera at the least on the Note 6. A triple camera combination would not be bad either. Afterall, business/creative devices are allowed to be great camera phones as well. Take a look at Samsung’s Note series, which the Infinix Note range draws inspiration from.

We will definitely see at least a 4000 mAh battery along with fast charging on the official specs sheet.

Glo 4G Support

A few years ago, TECNO Mobile and Infinix Mobility were two smartphone brands that offered succor to Glo 4G users. This has since changed. It will be nice to see 4G LTE band 28(700) support on the Note 6 when it is announced.

The lack of Glo 4G support is one of the factors that hold me back from using an Infinix smartphone: my preferred smartphone must support Glo’s 28(700) LTE band, as that is what I use for my personal Internet access. Neither the Note 5 nor the Note 5 Stylus has Glo 4G support. Bummer.

Infinix Note 6 Release Date

If we go by the regular calendar that the manufacturer has followed, we can expect the Note 6 to be announced/launched around September 2019.

One thing is for sure, if the Infinix Note 6 shows up ticking all the boxes above, it will become my favourite Infinix smartpone of 2019. Of course, by now, you should be able to tell that the Note 5 Stylus won my heart in 2018. It did, and if I were shopping for a mid-range smartphone right now, it would make my shortlist.

Winter September is on the way. We wait.

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As Xiaomi Nigeria excites fans; are Soda Mobile and Gionee exiting?

The countdown to what appears to be the first proper product launch by Xiaomi Nigeria is on, and there has been some excitement in the market. Understandably so too.

Xiaomi has been coming to Nigeria since forever, without exactly ever arriving. The brand pushed a few models in Nigeria in 2015 through Jumia, and  even got to review the Xiaomi Mi 4. In 2016, a Xiaomi representative who was in the country met up with me and spoke of an impending launch of the Mi 5 and redmi Note 3 in Nigeria. But that did not happen either.

By mid-2017, Xiaomi smartphones were hitting stores in Lagos, but that was short-lived. A key part of the problem was a legal face-off between Xiaomi and African mobile brand, mi-Fone. The latter had secured the rights to use the “Mi” brand in Africa and so went to court to get Xiaomi to stop sales.

However, mi-Fone is out of the game now, and the road should be clear for Xiaomi to proceed. Hopefully, the new Xiaomi Nigeria team is proof of that.

What phones to expect from Xiaomi Nigeria

This blog post by my friend, Habeeb, fingers the Xiaomi Mi 9 and Redmi Note 7 as two phones that will be part of the brand’s product launch on the 24th of April. Another post on Nairaland claims that Xiaomi Nigeria will launch the Redmi 5, Redmi 5 Plus, Redmi 5A, and Redmi 5A Prime. Those are all 2017 phones though.

I am sceptical about a brand looking to make a splash launching dated phones, so I am taking that Redmi 5 line-up with a pinch of salt. The new Redmi Go would be a more appropriate device to launch in Lagos alongside the Mi 9 and Redmi Note 7. All of them are recent, one is a premium device, the second a mid-ranger, and the third, budget.

Will Xiaomi Nigeria launch the Mi 9?

April 24 is not far away any more, and the rumours and conjectures will be laid to rest. One can only hope that this time, Xiaomi’s push in Nigeria is sustained. There have been too many “entrances” that didn’t last in the past.

Gionee and Soda Mobile: going, going, going?

As Xiaomi Nigeria has fans drooling and exchanging hi-fives over their upcoming product launch in Lagos, some other phone brands seem to be closing shop.

Soda Mobile is new in the smartphone market and has been active in at least Egypt and Nigeria for several months now. The brand has some really solid value-for-money devices in the market.

But in the last three months, all has gone quiet at their end. The Soda Mobile website has been offline, and the brand’s twitter account, which used to be very active, has gone silent. These signs usually mean one thing: the death of a brand. But we can hope against hope.

The jury is still out on what exactly is the fate of Gionee Mobile. Despite the bankruptcy filing in 2018, the brand has put out a handful of new phones, including the Gionee S8s. But the main Gionee website is offline, though the Indian and Nigerian sites are still active.

Gionee India is alive and well

In mid-2018, Gionee sold its Indian operation to Karbonn Mobile (source), which may explain the source of the new Gionee phones being seen till now. They are likely manufactured by Gionee India, which is now 100% independent of the Chinese company that went bankrupt. That would also explain why the Gionee India website is still active.

If Gionee India is able to push its phones in Nigeria, then fans of the brand will continue to enjoy availability of new Gionee phones. If not…

However it plays out, the countdown to a product launch by Xiaomi Nigeria has genarated enough excitment among phone enthusiasts in the country, so much so that many may not pay attention to those brands that are quietly fading away.

Whether this 3rd coming of Xiaomi to Nigeria will be a proper, sustained effort or not remains to be seen. As I always say, time will tell.

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Infinix S4 review: Made to empower you and great for picture lovers

he S4 is the latest smartphone from Infinix Mobility. It offers top-of-the-line features with an affordable price tag. Find out how in this Infinix S4 review.

Infinix S4 Key Specifications

• 6.2-inch HD+ waterdrop display with 500nit screen brightness
• Android 9 Pie O.S with upgraded XOS 5.0 software 
• 2.0GHz Octa-Core Mediatek P22 processor with 3GB of RAM
• 32GB built-in storage expandable up to 128GB with a microSD card
• 32MP A.I selfie camera and triple rear cameras (13MP+8MP+2MP)
• Face Unlock and fingerprint sensor
• 4000mAh non-removable Li–Ion battery.

And now to the Infinix S4 review proper.

Infinix S4 review

The latest smartphone from Infinix Mobility is hands down the most empowering smartphone in the market. With a 32MP AI selfie camera that is built to capture great images, powered by a 4000mAh battery capacity and runs on the Android 9 Pie OS that harnesses the power of AI for a truly intuitive experience, there is no denying that this smartphone will fast become a disruptive force in the mobile market.

Infinix recently launched the S4 in Lagos and upon first impression of the device, it doesn’t take long to become wowed by its sleek physical framework measuring at 156 x 75 x 7.9 mm (height x width x thickness), with the HD+ waterdrop display, 500 nits screen brightness and with a weight of about 154 grams, the S4 is lightweight, portable and fits into the hand perfectly plus the viewing experience is one to be yearn for and savour for a long time.

Under the hood, the Infinix S4 runs on Octa-core 2.0GHz MediaTek P22 processor, paired with 32GB ROM+3GB RAM/64GB ROM + 4GB RAM for optimum performance at all times.

It also has Face ID and fingerprint scanner put in place so unauthorised individuals don’t have access to your device without your consent. The Android 9 Pie OS is also coupled with the latest XOS 5.0 interface to enhance security for content safety, provide for more variance in aesthetics, encourage the creation of custom “themes” for the base guidelines, provide bold style for unique personalization and greater efficiency for battery life management.

The S4 comes in different colours such as Nebular Blue, Space Grey, and Twilight Purple and is available for sale at any authorised Infinix retail shop or online store at N49,900 while the 6 GB RAM/ 64 GB ROM variant retails for N64,500.

All in all, the Infinix S4 makes a bold, uncontested statement. If you are in the market for a quality budget friendly smartphone to empower you to live the smart lifestyle, then check the Infinix S4 out. It offers top-of-the-line features with an affordable price tag.

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The challenges and solutions of the UK's tech skills gap

GUEST BLOG: In this contributed post Claudia Harris, the new chair of software bootcamp Makers, discusses the challenges and solutions to the UK’s tech skills gap – could encouraging more women into the tech industry be the answer?

The UK’s digital skills crisis is well documented. There are 600,000 digital vacancies at any one time at an estimated annual cost to the UK economy of £63bn. A key feature is the role of gender. Only 17% of employees in the UK technology sector are women.

Solving this challenge requires much better engagement in our education system. Take up of computer science and maths A-levels has been increasing in recent years. Maths is now the most popular A-level. However a gender gap persists. Fewer than one tenth of A-level computer science students in the UK are female, and men are almost twice as likely to take Maths.

For young women, interest in certain subjects drops dramatically at the age of 13. Women look up, can’t see people like them in techy roles, and don’t think it’s for them. We know that role models are one route to solving this problem. The Careers & Enterprise Company, which I lead, works to link schools to employers to help provide this inspiration.

Given its urgency however, the digital gap also needs to be addressed by mid-career switchers. This is something that Makers looks to address with its software coding bootcamp.

The programme puts Makers through a 16-week bootcamp focused on learning to problem solve in coding. This equips them with the tools to continue to be confident learners even once they have left be bootcamp. Employers from the Financial Times to Deloitte have recognised the power of this model, using it to recruit talent. Conversely, for the individuals involved the experience is life changing.

Makers is focused on inclusion – 35% of its software engineers are women, twice the national average. It attributes its success in attracting women to its inclusive learning environment and to its application criteria. It does not ask for A-levels in its recruitment. Its focus is on problem solving and mindset. The positive learning experience of female Makers then leads to word of mouth referrals.

As well as addressing the digital skills gap, these female coders will become the very role models who can go back into schools and show younger women what is possible.

The bootcamp model holds some vital clues on how to build the digital skills that are in such great demand, and shows that it is possible to do this while beating the averages on gender. It is a model that has the potential to benefit both the economy and our society.

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Leave memes leave

Everyone knows about the European Union’s famous Article 50 by now, but what do all the other ones do? It’s like being invited into the cockpit of a Boeing 747 and only pressing one random button. Let’s have a go on another button. What happens if we press, say, Article 13? No more memes. Oh dear.

The European Parliament has now voted in several internet copyright laws that throw the future of some of our most cherished online content into the wilderness, but before you look for a yellow vest and start retweeting Julia Hartley-Brewer, those twinkly-eyed Brussels babes have given memes and GIFs a last-minute reprieve.

So don’t worry yourself too much about all this legislative nonsense. We know you like your memes and GIFs, and sometimes even mutter to yourself you don’t know where you’d be without them, because everything’s been getting a bit on top of you lately, hasn’t it? And the memes and the GIFs, they somehow make it all go away, if only for that split second, eh? We know.

It just means a headache for the likes of YouTube, which has fought these laws so it can keep making money out of users uploading copyrighted content. Actually, that probably does affect you quite drastically, doesn’t it… Unless all you want left on YouTube is Zoella showing you her pantry. Do you own a yellow vest?

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