For Facebook’s part in the ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today stated its intent to fine the social network £500,000, finding the company to be in breach of the country’s Data Protection Act.

Specifically, Facebook is being fined for two breaches to the act, which the official ICO report lists as “failing to safeguard people’s information” and “failing to be transparent about how people’s data was harvested by others”.

The final decision regarding the fine will be made after Facebook issues a response to the notice.

A drop in the ocean

The total fine of £500,000 ($663,130) is the maximum possible amount that the ICO could have penalized Facebook. That’s due to the time period in which the breaches took place. If the incidents had occurred more recently – such as after the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) had taken effect – the company could have faced fines of £17 million, or even £1.4 billion (around 4% of its global turnover).

From a broader perspective, that £500,000 amount pales in comparison to Facebook’s earning potential. Based on the earnings the company took in 2018’s first quarter ($11.97 billion), Facebook would be able to pay off the fine in just seven minutes.

Further action

The penalty and resulting fine only comprise a small portion of the ICO’s report, which initially was undertaken to investigate the misuse of data during the UK’s EU referendum (AKA, Brexit). 

As such, the “investigation into data analytics in political campaigns” has resulted in a number of other regulatory actions and recommendations. These include sending out 11 warning letters to political parties in the UK, “compelling them to agree to audits of their data protection practices”.

The report also initiates the prosecution of SCL Elections Ltd, which is Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, “for failing to properly deal with the ICO’s Enforcement Notice”.

Broader impact

The ICO’s chief, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham, also issued a statement regarding the findings, saying that the UK is “at a crossroads” when it comes to data and privacy. “Trust and confidence in the integrity of our democratic processes risk being disrupted because the average voter has little idea of what is going on behind the scenes.” 

“New technologies that use data analytics to micro-target people give campaign groups the ability to connect with individual voters. But this cannot be at the expense of transparency, fairness and compliance with the law.”

“Fines and prosecutions punish the bad actors, but my real goal is to effect change and restore trust and confidence in our democratic system.”

http://www.techradar.com/news/facebook-slapped-with-six-figure-fine-in-uk-over-cambridge-analytica-breach

10 years ago, Apple’s App Store arrived in time for the release of the iPhone 3GS, and it drastically changed the way apps and games were sold on mobile devices. In fact, we’d argue that the App Store is the key element that really paved the way for the success of the iPhone and thus shepherded in the age of smartphones we currently enjoy. 

Before the App Store, purchasing software online was a bit of a Wild West environment — and, in particular, discovering new applications and games for mobile devices like PDAs or proto-smartphones was a tedious and time-consuming exercise. 

And when you did find something you were interested in, you’d have to hope the app maker had a secure storefront — and then jump through even more hoops to get it installed on your device.

The App Store was revolutionary because it streamlined the whole process, from app discovery to purchase and installation, with Apple’s iTunes Store providing a ready-made template for digital purchases that the Cupertino company smartly leveraged. 

10 years later, it’s hard to imagine a world before the App Store. Aside from making daily tasks easier and providing iPhone and iPad owners with endless games and other forms of entertainment, it’s also allowed new business models to be created — without apps, there’d be no Uber, and media streaming services like Netflix have used apps to fuel their rapid growth and expasion into new markets. 

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Apple’s App Store, then, we’ve put together a quick list of what we think are the platform’s five of the most significant milestones.

1. The App Store is open

July 10, 2008 — In anticipation of the iPhone 3G’s launch the following day, Apple officially opens the iOS App Store, which features 500 apps available for download. Just three days later, the number of apps on offer has climbed to 800, and the total number of downloaded apps has already reached 10 million.

2. In-app purchases are born

June 17, 2009 — Apple rolls out iPhone OS 3.0 and with it, the App Store gets a new feature: in-app purchases (IAPs), giving app makers a new way to monetize their creations. Initially however, Apple’s policy limited in-app purchases to paid apps and games only – the late Steve Jobs apparently felt that customers shouldn’t be tricked into downloading something that seems free, but then actually requires payment. Four months later though, Apple changed its policy to allow IAPs in free apps and games, which helped kick off whole the ‘freemium’ revolution.

3. The age of the tablet has arrived

April 3, 2010 — The iPad arrives, and with it, Apple expands the App Store’s repertoire to include tablet-specific apps alongside what it calls ‘Universal’ apps, which are designed to work on both iPhone and iPad. Owners of the new tablet can initially choose from a range of 3,000 apps that are optimised for the bigger 9.7-inch device. The number of available iPad apps triples in the space of three months.

4. App Store arrives on watches and TVs

October, 2015 — Having successfully nurtured its app storefront on smartphones, tablets and Mac computers, the 2015 launches of Apple’s highly-anticipated Apple Watch and revised Apple TV brings the App Store to wrists and living rooms around the world.

5. A decade later

July 10, 2018 — On the App Store’s 10th birthday, the number of apps on offer has climbed to reach over 2.2 million, which between them have been downloaded over 130 billion times. For their coding efforts, iOS app developers have made more than $100 billion in revenue selling their wares on the App Store platform.

http://www.techradar.com/news/celebrating-the-app-stores-10th-anniversary-5-significant-milestones

By the end of 2018, people who love AI assistants and hate tapping out questions on their phones will have bought 100 million smart speakers. And that number could soar above 300 million within the next four years. 

So far, not many of those 100 million have been Apple HomePods. In a Monday report, analyst firm Canalys stated that Apple will control only 4% of the smart speaker market by the end of this year – so, approximately 4 million in sales. 

By comparison, Amazon will control “over 50%” of total sales with its Amazon Echo line, while Google and its Google Home speakers will constitute 30%. 

Canalys’ analysis confirms earlier reports that HomePod trails far behind Amazon Echo sales in 2018. Slow sales reportedly led Apple to reduce production of HomePod speakers. 

One could argue that 4% market control after half a year of sales isn’t that substandard, considering Amazon has sold multiple smart speakers for years – but Apple clearly has loftier ambitions.

According to the report, Apple will improve its sales somewhat by 2022, raising its total market control to 10%. Perhaps the rumored Apple HomePod Mini launch could help the company improve its totals. 

Simultaneously, Amazon’s current smart speaker market dominance could start to dwindle within that time. 

In the short term, the upcoming Amazon Prime Day sales and newly announced Alexa for Hospitality (hotel room smart speakers) could help drive up Amazon’s market dominance, the report says. 

Yet, in the long term, Canalys predicts that “other” smart speaker manufacturers will claim 21% of the market by 2022, and that Amazon will lose much of its market share to those companies. 

Ultimately, Amazon and Google could both control 34% of the market, meaning that Google is projected to gain ground while Amazon loses it. 

Canalys also broke down the worldwide distribution of sales by country. The United States currently leads the pack at 64%, followed by China at 10%, the United Kingdom at 8%, Germany at 6% and South Korea at 3%. 

Plus, China’s market share is projected to grow exponentially over the next 10 years. 

Predicting the ‘other’ smart speakers

Up until now, Amazon Echo vs Google Home has been the only real smart speaker war to watch closely. 

But, this report suggests that other upcoming launches could really resonate with consumers. 

Facebook’s smart speaker with rumored 15-inch screens may have been a contender before recent scandals delayed the launch, but now Facebook is considering a non-US speaker launch, which locks it out of the most profitable sales market. 

The Samsung Bixby smart speaker, projected to launch in late 2018, could be a legitimate sales contender, since it will be able to connect its speaker with other Samsung products like its smartphones and TVs. 

Spotify’s rumored smart speaker could also generate some buzz when it launches, and even Ikea plans to launch a smart speaker of its own with Sonos. But, we suspect these won’t be able to get quite as much traction as those made by other, bigger tech companies. 

Via 9to5Mac

http://www.techradar.com/news/apples-homepod-holds-just-4-of-the-smart-speaker-market-according-to-analysts