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Friday Five: Facebook M, Samsung Pay, iPhone 6s

Punchkick Interactive
  • Punchkick Interactive
  • August 28, 2015
Friday Five: Facebook M, Samsung Pay, iPhone 6s

Dial M for Messenger

In a world dominated by virtual assistants like Siri, Cortana, and Google Now, Facebook is entering the fray with a new system it calls Facebook M. M lives inside Messenger, and users can communicate with it through chat messages just as they would with any of their Facebook friends. But unlike Siri, Cortana, and the others, Facebook M is able to make travel arraignments, restaurant reservations, and even send gifts to love ones because it is powered in part by human curators. Facebook M is available in limited beta to users in the San Francisco Bay Area , but should be coming to more users of Messenger shortly.

Verizon Hum connects the car

Verizon this week announced Verizon Hum, a new after-market connected car system that will power any car with an on-board diagnostics port—that is, any car manufactured since 1996—with connected car features powered by Verizon’s network. Verizon Hum is a three part connected car system. One part is the OBD module that connects to cellular networks, the second is a microphone and Bluetooth array that users can have on their dashboard or visor, and the third is an iOS and Android application that can read engine codes and give reports on the connected car status. Verizon Hum costs $14.99/month and is available to Verizon customers on iOS and Android.

Samsung Pay gets in the game

Samsung Pay, Samsung’s competitor to Android Pay and Apple Pay, is available in limited beta to certain network users in the United States. Samsung Pay leverages technology used by Loop Pay that emulates a card’s magnetic strip, meaning users can hold their smartphone up to traditional card swipe terminals and simulate the magnetic swipe of a credit card. This technology is available in the Samsung Galaxy S6 series, including the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy Note 5, and Galaxy S6 Edge+, which have all launched in the last 12 months. As it seeks a foothold in the United States, Samsung Pay uses an alternative approach than that uses by Android Pay and Apple Pay, which both uses NFC chips as a terminal payments system instead.

The next iPhone is coming

Apple this week issued press invitations to a September 9th media event, which ostensibly is to introduce the next generation of the iPhone. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are anticipated to add all-new features to the iOS flagship, including Force Touch capabilities—which would add a new dimension to user input on the iPhone—as well as a 12-megapixel camera that could record 4K video. Last-minute rumors about the next iPhone suggest that it may boast a new type of aluminum to match the enclosure of the Apple Watch, and that it might also get new animated wallpaper capabilities to match watchOS 2. We’ll know more about all of these rumors after Apple’s September 9th media event at 10 AM Pacific Time.

Punchkick among Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies

And finally, Punchkick is thrilled to announce that, for the third year in a row, we have been named one of the Inc. 5000 fastest growing private companies in America. It’s been an amazing three years to be in mobile and we couldn’t be more excited to see what the future holds.

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