Mobile-related technologies for the past week, in 3 (or almost) words: An Alternative To LEB, Uber vs. NYC, Flipboard Is Back

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THE WEEK IN 3 WORDS

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SEASON #02 – WEEK #30

3. AN ALTERNATIVE TO LOW ENERGY
BLUETOOTH
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As of now, Low Energy Bluetooth, leveraged by beacons, is the main
technology for near-field communication, more popular than NFC because
supported by Apple iPhones (the latest iPhone release, the iPhone 6 – and 6
Plus – was the first Apple smartphone to embed a NFC chipset).
A new technology developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi Aware*, may
become a very serious LEB challenger. This technology makes
possible for devices to discover other Wi-Fi Aware devices nearby and
communicate with them (receive and send notifications, for example).
Such a technology not only allows for proximity detection and services – as
LEB does – but also opens the possibility to build up some kind of local
networks where connected devices could communicate without having to go
through the Internet.
It’s a definite step forward the Internet of Computing!
(*) http://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-aware

5. UBER VS. NYC
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Uber is a pebble in NYC mayor’s shoe. The successful service is actually a
pebble in a lot of politicians and taxi driver shoes! And, instead of trying to
understand why the peble got in the shoe, they are transforming the shoe to
prevent pebble to get in…
And it won’t work!
Uber is the perfect example of a company which succeeded in
providing a good, reliable, cost effective and innovative alternative to a
system that was abusing – in some places at least –its monopolistic
position. The traditional actors of the market, instead of learning from
Uber and proposing new alternatives, try pathetic actions to get rid off
it.
Uber is not the pitch perfect company or solution and has pitfalls, like all young
innovative companies. But it’s definitely not the enemy: it has to be the new
reference competitors (especially historical ones) try to surpass.
(*): http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/22/uber-releases-hourly-ride-numbers-in-new-york-city-to-fight-de-blasio/?ncid=rss#.b77zrz:p59j

7. FLIPBOARD IS BACK
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Flipboard has announced a $50 millions dollars new funding
round, to continue developing its business, especially to
counter competitors like the soon coming Apple News
(expected to be shipped with iOS 9 later this year) or
Facebook Instant Article*.
Flipboard growth has been quiet, but the company claims 72 millions
active users per month, most of them using the mobile application. This
results from a raise of 75% in the last 6 months.
The application exists since 2010 and has been a reference in terms of
UI and user experience when it first launched. It has now a double
challenge: manage to offer a better catalog of content and a better
content targeting than Apple News. It probably won’t survive an offer
lower than Apple’s one on those two fields.
(*) http://www.slideshare.net/PatrickHerrmann3/w3w-season02-week20