Tag: App

Revolut launches Revolut Chat, an instant messaging feature in step towards superapp

Revolut, the global financial superapp with more than 20 million customers worldwide, has launched an instant messaging feature, where Revolut customers in the UK and EEA can chat as well as share fun gifs and stickers whilst sending and requesting funds to and from other customers.

A recent UK and European survey of 8,000 people, commissioned by Revolut, found that two thirds of people (67.5%) find it difficult to discuss money. The new chat feature in the Revolut app aims to make talking about money less awkward by keeping it in one place.

To access this feature, customers simply have to enter the ‘Transfer’ section in Revolut app. The chat window will open right after tapping on one of the contacts. The chat will be embedded in the ‘Transfer’ feature – so there’s no need to open multiple windows.

Sending a message is easy – all a customer needs to do is start typing and tap on the blue arrow icon. Once a chat message is sent, a notification will pop-up on one of the contacts.

Designed with a focus on security, all chat messages have end-to-end encryption. Customers are able to opt out of the chat function should they not want to use it, and they can either enable or disable it completely in the ‘Security & Privacy’ section. Additionally, users can block other users. The chat function is not available for Revolut <18 users. The chat feature can only be used between users who both have UK or EEA accounts, and have their phone number or have payment history.

Nikolay Storonsky, CEO of Revolut, said: “We’re delighted to bring instant messaging to our customers, moving us one step closer to being a global financial superapp. We listened to our customers who said they wanted to be able to discuss and clarify payment details within the app, rather than having to swap between Revolut and different messaging apps to send or receive funds.

“The new chat feature supports our customers with their fast, low-cost money transfers using Revolut. We want to give our customers more control over their financial well-being through the use of our technology, offering a service that addresses all their financial needs in one place.”

Customers will need to have the 8.72 update or later for their Revolut app on iOS or Android.

buymie partners with new money saving app Woolsocks

buymie, the same-day delivery platform, has announced it is partnering with new Money Saving app Woolsocks to provide discounts to its loyal shoppers.

The new multi million euro funded fintech app Woolsocks launched in Ireland on 17th October 2022.  buymie, Ireland’s leading same day grocery delivery company is one of Woolsocks first partners and is expected to feature in its TV advertising campaign early 23.

Consumers that download the Woolsocks app can save up to 2% on their weekly shop at either Dunnes Stores or Lidl when they get their groceries delivered via buymie. Following its recent launch with buymie, residents of South East Dublin can also avail of the 2% discount when they shop with Woodie’s.

CEO of buymie, Devan Hughes, said of the partnership: “Myself and Laiz are watching our spending like every other family right now. Online shopping is a great way of keeping to a budget and saving petrol money. As well as the weekly deals, this Autumn, we have added new lower cost eco slots. This extra 2% saving for buymie customers with Woolsocks is the icing on the cake. It is a great app and good luck to the team at Woolsocks”. 

CEO of Woolsocks, Carlos Valenzuela also commented ”Woolsocks is aimed at creating an ecosystem where users and local shops can benefit, allowing everyone to easily save money on their daily expenses. For that reason, we are more than thrilled to partner with buymie – the go to brand for grocery delivery in Ireland. Here’s to a great partnership!”

How it works :

Download the Woolsocks app from the app stores and each time you do your grocery shop with buymie you automatically get up to 2% back on your weekly shop , which is added to your savings “sock” in the Woolsocks app,  that you can either save, spend or donate to charity. The deal will initially last for six months.

Building A Trending Video Streaming App: Things To Consider

Businesses develop their applications to be closer to consumers. They arrange different marketing campaigns with the help of them. They inform people about new products and updates. Or use this application for another purpose. 

Still, the OTT application doesn’t guarantee that people will use it. They may find that your competitor’s app is more convenient and easy to use. That is the reason it is better to pay attention to some things when developing the application.

What are the things that can make your application successful? 

#1 Understand your target audience

OTT application development is nothing without understanding your target audience, as the style and content of this application will be target user-oriented. You should know their interests and preferences, the tone of voice they prefer, their life values, when they like watching videos, and how they view content. 

It is essential to understand the necessities of your customers and what needs your product can meet. Understanding all these can help you create an average customer image and create an approach they can appreciate.

#2 UI/UX

Customers prefer using attractively designed and easy-to-navigate applications. Make sure that everything is simply written and easy to find. Also, it is paramount that everything is designed to meet your audience’s interests and needs. After that, you will be able to attract people for whom the application is built. 

If people find an application difficult to understand, they will likely stop using it. They will find another similar application and use it instead of yours. 

Clear UI/UX can influence your customer satisfaction and therefore improve ROI.    

You can obtain a white-label OTT solution where developers have already taken care of most things. You only need to customize it using your colors, fonts, and logo. 

#3 Devices

Will you offer only an application for smartphones? Or will you offer applications for different devices and platforms? Answers to these simple questions will define from what device or devices people will be able to access your videos. 

Maybe, you want to cover only smartphone users. Maybe, you want to sell only to Smart TV viewers. Or maybe, you want to cover as many devices as possible and offer multi-platform capabilities. 

When deciding, keep in mind that many people don’t use smartphones or Smart TVs. Many people would love to access your service from any device they have. But it is up to you to decide. 

#4 Content

Content is what users will chase first. Content is king. That’s why you should care for its creation, too. You should think about the quality of information you give and the quality of the image so that users are satisfied with the picture. Take care of a quality sound.

Also, make sure that you offer valuable information that your target audience is ready to pay for. 

Final Thoughts

When launching an application, many things depend not only on UX/UI, content, and features you offer your audience. A lot depends on the way you communicate with your viewers, how you treat them and how you respond to negative feedback. After watching a video or communicating with your customer service, people like feeling that they are ok and their problems can be solved. So, we recommend chasing quality in everything you do.

 

Trade Republic – Europe’s largest savings platform launches in Ireland

Trade Republic, the largest savings platform in Europe, today launches its services in the Republic of Ireland. Residents of Ireland can now use the Trade Republic app or website to jump-start their wealth creation journeys with secure, easy and commission-free access to capital markets. Trade Republic’s core product, ETFs and stock savings plans, will help the Irish to save up for retirement and with lower risk.

In Ireland, the average household currently saves 20 percent of their income, most of which sits idly in bank accounts. On top of that, residents of Ireland are still facing high brokerage fees or are getting offered difficult to understand investment products. Trade Republic has set out to change that.

Since 2015, the company has built a financial offering from scratch with an easy-to-use product everybody can afford, so everyone can start putting their money to work. Trade Republic does not charge its customers any order commission, there is just one euro of external fees to cover clearing and settlement, regardless of the size of the order. Savings plans for stocks and ETFs are offered completely free of charge.

Irish customers have access to a total of over 8,000 Irish, European, Asian and US stocks and 1,100 ETFs, real-time data, price alerts, a wide range of different order types and extended trading hours, from 7:30am to 11:00pm. Savings plans, with which users can automate investing in the stock markets, are available for over 3,600 stocks and ETFs.

“Inflation in the eurozone has risen sharply – this should be a wake-up call for all Europeans,” says Christian Hecker, Co-Founder of Trade Republic. “All Europeans need to have access to capital markets to start fueling long-term investing, participate in economic growth and ultimately save-up for retirement. We built Trade Republic to enable them to do exactly that, and have now opened our doors to a total of seventeen markets, so Europeans everywhere can finally take their personal finances into their own hands.”

With inflation being at almost nine percent in Ireland, there really is no alternative to investing,” says Hugo Suidgeest, Country Manager of Trade Republic in Ireland. “Everyone who leaves their money just sitting in their bank account will lose purchasing power year over year, and the state pension – even if you work until 70 years of age – will probably not be enough to keep up your lifestyle.”

The Trade Republic account can be opened in the app as well as on the desktop in just a few minutes and is possible for adult users who are both fiscally and physically resident in Ireland with a smartphone (with iOS or Android operating system), a European telephone number and a SEPA bank account.

To change the financial system, Trade Republic has built a financial offering from scratch since 2015, with an easy-to-use product everybody can afford. With more than €1.3bn in venture capital investments by Sequoia, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund or most recently Ontario Teachers’, Trade Republic will continue to strongly invest into further growth, to expand its offering and launch new products to empower all Europeans to create wealth. Trade Republic is combining the security needs of a highly regulated environment such as the financial industry with the flexibility and customer centricity of a high-tech platform. Besides Ireland, Trade Republic is today also expanding its services to Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia. The company is now present in a total of 17 European countries, reaching 340 million people.

Nokia launches app marketplace for broadband network automation

Nokia has today announced the launch of a marketplace for broadband network automation applications. Seven apps are available at launch, organized under the categories of Network Support, Network Insights and Network Automation. New apps and marketplace features will follow in 2023.

The ‘Altiplano Application Marketplace’ is named after Nokia’s pioneering broadband network controller suite and will include Nokia and third party apps. Alongside the marketplace launch, Nokia is making available an ‘Altiplano Developer Portal’ which provides a software development kit (SDK) and virtual lab environment for developers to build and test apps.

Operators can self-develop and organize their own applications within the marketplace. They can also use the developer portal to customize their network operations tools, personalizing the user interface, customizing APIs, adding service profiles, and building their own network policies and automation workflows.

Geert Heyninck, Nokia’s VP Broadband Networks, said: “No two networks, and likewise no two automation solutions are alike. By opening up the Altiplano platform for developers, partners and customers to create and add applications, we’re pleased to offer exactly the flexibility they need.”

The marketplace will enable users to choose the automation tools from a digital storefront with ready-made applications. Apps will be curated by Nokia under three pillars. Network Support apps will be used by operators to maintain, troubleshoot and protect fixed networks through proactive monitoring, performance analysis and incident management. Network Insights apps will improve quality and service assurance with actionable insights that help operators to better optimize, plan and prevent. Network Automation apps will help automate and optimize the network, provide service and subscriber operations to increase operational efficiency and improve customer experience. All apps currently launched are from Nokia; third party apps will be added in 2023.

Fatima AlDaghar, Director Fixed Access Planning, du, said: “We’re committing heavily in SDN to enhance performance, get insights, and improve services. All managed under a single platform in a multi-vendor environment. Nokia’s open App marketplace – the first of its kind – delivers sophisticated apps that address the requirements of marketing, planning, operations, and assures customer satisfaction.”

Alberto Patron, CEO of Condor Technologies, Argentina, said: “Nokia has a strong reputation in SDN. We welcome this new, open marketplace which gives us an important platform to get our apps in front of global operators.”

Resources

Altiplano Marketplace Website: link (includes link to Development Portal)

Launch apps:

 

  • Network support
    • Automated Troubleshooting Assistant: Create alarm rules and execute corrective actions for resolving network problems
    • SFP Health Monitor: Proactively detect SFP issues, degradation and outliers in optical performance
    • ONT Health Monitor: ONT proactive monitoring and automatic analysis of key performance indicators
  • Network insights
    • Network Trend Analyzer: Anomaly prediction framework using time series analysis to predict network behavior
    • Network Capacity Manager: Monitor PON capacity, utilization and bandwidth bottlenecks on uplink and subscriber
  • Network Automation
    • ONT Easy Start: Automate the ONT activation process to enable first-time-right and user self-install
    • Bandwidth Sharing Optimizer: Dynamic PON bandwidth management for fair peak rate availability to all subscribers

Digital money management service Mi 365 rolled out to Bank of Ireland customers

Bank of Ireland has introduced a new digital money management service – Money Insights 365 (Mi 365) – for all personal customers. Available on the Bank of Ireland mobile app, Mi 365 helps customers take more control of their money by providing them with over 40 insights into their spending.

Mi 365 allows Bank of Ireland personal customers to:

  • Access personalised insights on their spending, including average monthly spend with particular retailers
  • Easily track money in and out, including unexpected payments or refunds
  • Review cash flow spend data on their account for up to six months
  • Spot changes in spending they might need to keep an eye on, for example on groceries, clothing or entertainment

Mi 365 will also show where customers may have duplicate transactions leaving their account – such as similar online subscriptions – highlighting where a saving could be made. The introduction of Mi 365 is one of a range of measures the Bank has taken to help customers understand and manage day-to-day spending, as part of the Bank’s commitment to support and enhance customer financial wellbeing.

Susan Russell, Director of Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland said: “Research shows that almost 70% of adults need help with tracking spending. Mi 365 responds to this by providing insights, alerts and interventions so that we can manage our money better.

 “It can be hard to find the time to track your spending day-in day-out. Mi 365 does a lot of the heavy lifting by presenting customers with a range of individual spending insights. The service is a core part of our mobile banking app which has more than 800,000 log-ins every day, making it the most popular way for our customers to manage their money. 

 “This is another practical addition to the financial wellbeing supports we offer over 2 million customers in Ireland. We look forward to continuing to expand these supports into the future.”

Mi 365 Insights appears automatically under the customer account information on the home page of the Bank of Ireland app.  A carousel is presented with the three latest insights and an insight inbox retains all previously shown insights for 35 days.  Personal customers can view insights drawn from their current account, joint current account, and credit card account activity.

For information on Bank of Ireland’s financial wellbeing resources: Bank of Ireland Financial Wellbeing

Buymie to expand outside grocery vertical with Woodie’s partnership

Woodie’s, the market leader in DIY, home and garden, today announces that it is partnering with same-day delivery platform buymie.

From October 10th, customers in South East Dublin can avail of buymie’s personal shopping services to order 20,000 DIY and home improvement products from their nearest Woodie’s store and receive their shopping to their doorstep in as little as two hours.

The new service named “Woodie’s powered by buymie” emulates the successful and extended UK trial “Asda Express powered by buymie” in Leeds and Bristol where buymie has integrated into the leading retailer’s broad offering of delivery options.

The customised Woodie’s app was designed by buymie in partnership with the Woodie’s team,  which will see the retailer leverage the innovative routing and delivery capabilities of buymie, as well as its dedicated network of independent personal shoppers. It makes them the first retailer in Ireland to access buymie’s newest platform enterprise technology.

The new Woodie’s powered by buymie app will be available in both app stores from mid October. In addition, existing buymie app shoppers will have the ability to shop Woodie’s extensive product catalogue via the buymie app.

The pilot will initially see shopping services being provided exclusively in South East Dublin, with a view to expanding nationally soon after.

Items will be picked and packed from the shelves by a dedicated team in Woodie’s and buymie personal shoppers will deliver the order at the selected time or in as little as two hours.  buymie’s delivery services will cater for small to medium-sized products such as paint, tools, accessories and seasonal lines.

Woodie’s is 100% Irish owned and the market leader for DIY, home and garden. They offer an extensive range of paint, DIY tools, gardening, homewares and seasonal products.

The partnership is the ‘first of its kind’ for buymie as it expands its personal, same-day service into a new vertical while maintaining its commitment to facilitating efficient and sustainable personal shopping services to time-poor individuals and families.

Suzanne Quinn, Woodie’s Chief Commercial Officer, said:

Our online business has seen rapid growth in recent years and this partnership allows us to further build and grow our omnichannel proposition, keeping ease and expertise at our core. This partnership with buymie is an important step for us as we continue to find new ways to help our customers shop the way that suits them.

Speaking about the partnership, Devan Hughes, CEO & Co-Founder of buymie said: “We have all run out of paint during a project and done the run to Woodie’s in our overalls! We are thrilled to launch this trial with a household brand like Woodie’s who is keen to expand the same-day delivery offering to Woodie’s and buymie customers. This trial demonstrates buymie’s wider ambition to bring the same-day, delivery model outside of the traditional grocery shopping space and to other areas in the wider retail sphere while continuing our commitment in delighting time-poor individuals”.

Founded in 2016, buymie is a leading player in the rapidly evolving same day grocery delivery market. The business has expanded to a team of 70+ with a network of over 400 personal shoppers to meet the increasing demand for grocery home delivery, a trend which has accelerated dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic.

By using local personal shoppers picking from local stores, the buymie delivery service has been delighting time-poor customers in Ireland and the UK. Customers are able to note specific preferences on their orders and can opt-in for a call from their shopper in-store if items are out of stock. Unlike traditional eCommerce solutions, buymie can deliver on the same day and can fulfil orders in as little as 1-hour.

buymie works closely with official Irish retail partners Dunnes Stores and Lidl. The new partnership with Woodies will see buymie branch outside the traditional grocery space and into alternative areas of retail for the first time.

Consumers who are interested in getting their shopping delivered through buymie can download the buymie app for either iOS or Android devices.

Pivo launches ‘Lock-On Tracking’ mode to track one person in busy environments

Pivo Inc, a leading developer of AI-technology for content creators, is upgrading its smart pods to include ‘Lock-On Tracking’ mode. Whether users want to capture themselves in a crowded place or record footage with more people in the shot, this new feature means Pivo will follow the star of the show’s movement, keeping them in the frame at all times, regardless of what is happening around them.

Using Pivo is like having a personal camera crew. Powered by AI-technology, the Pivo smartphone mount, which can rotate 360 degrees, automatically tracks a user’s face and body movements. It follows them at all times, zooming in and out, to make sure they are always in focus and in the frame. The new ‘Lock-On Tracking’ mode gives users even more control, by allowing them to manually select themselves in an environment where there are other people. This ensures the Pivo Pod stays locked on the correct person at all times.

“Our vision at Pivo is to become the creator-tech brand for the next digital era. Our community is at the heart of this — we want to support them to make sure they get the best experience. So when our users asked for single person motion-tracking, we prioritised it with our development team to get the feature ready as soon as we could. ‘Lock-On Tracking’ will make content creation even easier as you will no longer have to worry about who else is in the frame. This is a huge milestone for Pivo and we’re excited to share this with the world.” says CEO Ken Kim.

Pivo Pods enable users to capture videos and photos of themselves. With powerful app-driven motion tracking and easy-to-learn editing modes, creating content solo has never been so easy. Pivo has two models to choose from including:

Pivo Pod Active:

The Pivo Pod Active offers accurate tracking for faster movements, making it ideal for sports and fitness content creators and activities like dancing, athletics, skating and horse riding. Pivo Pod Active can be used in both portrait and landscape orientation, has four different speed modes as well as face, body and horse tracking, ensuring every moment of fast-paced content is captured, eliminating the need for a costly videographer or expensive camera and equipment.

The Pivo Pod Active comes with a companion remote and charging cable and is easy to use out of the box, no technical photography expertise required — users can focus on creating content they’re passionate about immediately.

The mount is compatible with tripods, including Pivo’s own standard Tripod and Tripod Mini (purchased separately) which both have a ¼″ UN thread universal mount, making them compatible with other devices including cameras.

Pivo Pod Lite:

For content creators whose videos don’t involve lots of high speed movement, Pivo’s entry level tracking mount, Pod Lite, uses the same AI tracking technology, freeing up their hands and allowing them to create content solo, without having someone else filming.

Pivo Apps:

In addition to the hardware, a free companion app, Pivo+, integrates with Pivo Pod Active, allowing creators to host live fitness classes and video calls using the same auto-tracking technology, taking fitness and sports content to the next level and allowing for more interactive content.

A second standalone free app, Pivo Play (available on Google Play and App Store) allows creators to create fun edits designed with social media engagement in mind.

Pivo Pod Active is available now for £124.99 from the Pivo website, Amazon and Currys. Pivo Pod Lite is just £69.99 and available in seven stylish colours. To use the new ‘Lock-On Tracking’ mode download or update the Pivo+ app which is available from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

TCS is New Title Partner of TCS London Marathon: Promotes Technology for Sustainability and Healthy Lifestyles

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today announced its priorities and new innovations as title partner, to enrich the TCS London Marathon experience through technology, and to make the event more sustainable, inclusive, accessible, and enjoyable.

Through the six-year partnership, TCS will prioritise enhancing the participant and supporter experience of the event to deliver on TCS London Marathon’s vision of inspiring sports-related activities and charitable giving. TCS has launched several new features for its official race app, which in 2021 set a record by being downloaded nearly 500,000 times. It is now available for download on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.

The new app features include:

  1. The Belief Booster feature enables supporters to share encouraging messages for participants. A selection of messages will be displayed on the finish line LED gantry as runners approach the famous TCS London Marathon finish line on The Mall. Messages will also be shared in a post-race email to the participant, along with an option to upload to social media.
  2. Event participants could already allow up to three spectators to find their live location on the course in London. This feature is now available for virtual participants too, so they can share their actual live location, as opposed to their distance run being shown on the TCS London Marathon course.

TCS will continue to promote the innovative use of technology to transform marathon experience for everyone. This year TCS is providing an enhanced data warehouse with conceptual data modelling, which has helped London Marathon Events (LME) derive customer insights from diverse datasets to support decision making and strategy.

The TCS Mini London Marathon and TCS in the community

This year, the first ever mass TCS Mini London Marathon, where children of all abilities aged 4 to 17 can run, walk or wheel a 1 mile or 2.6km course. TCS has pledged to donate £10 per participant to the schools taking part, to be used to buy new IT equipment. The new mass TCS Mini London Marathon will also include the traditional Championship events for the best young runners across the UK.

TCS is working with its chosen charity of the year, City Year UK, to register all 20+ of its schools for the Mini London Marathon this year. TCS is also partnering with City Year to help address education inequality in some of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities. The Mini Marathon events will be held on October 1st, 2022 in London, and between September 26th and October 21st in schools across the UK.

To enhance its sustainability, LME will be using the ReScore app for the 2023 TCS London Marathon, developed by TCS for the Council for Responsible Sport. This will help LME verify the event’s sustainability progress to help reach its goals of net zero carbon emissions across its own operations by 2024 and remove more carbon than it emits across all operations by 2025. ReScore is a TCS-designed, cloud-based application, which enables event organisers to measure, track, report, and verify their progress on a broad range of environmental and social indicators for sports events.

Amit Kapur, Country Head, TCS UK and Ireland, said: “In our first year as title partner of the TCS London Marathon, we will use technology to promote inclusion, sustainability, and healthier choices for communities. We believe in using technology to reimagine and transform companies and communities to drive a positive impact in society.”

Hugh Brasher, Event Director, TCS London Marathon, commented, “We are delighted that TCS is now our official title sponsor and are excited about all the different initiatives we have planned. As we build and develop our six-year partnership with TCS, we are working together to drive forward LME’s digital transformation, allowing us to inspire millions more to build a healthy, active lifestyle, as well as raising even more for charities.”

In addition to the TCS London Marathon, TCS is also the official title partner of other distance running events around the world, including the TCS New York City Marathon, the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the TCS Amsterdam Marathon and TCS Lidingöloppet.

TCS’ mission is to provide trusted and innovative, best-in-class consulting, IT solutions, services and digital transformation support to ensure enterprises achieve their key business objectives. TCS is the number one supplier of software and IT services to the UK market, by revenue. It currently employs over 20,000 people in the UK and Ireland, including over 1,000 people located at the TCS Global Delivery Centre in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.