Tag: mobile app

Peeple mobile app for rating people rolls out in North America

The controversial application has been causing a massive stir since last year and it is now launching.

Following a significant controversy in 2015, Peeple, a mobile app with the nickname “Yelp for people” has made its North American launch so that users will be able to rate and review others.

The design of this mobile application lets individuals rate and review anyone they know.

This doesn’t just mean celebrities and people in the public eye. This mobile app lets users give star ratings and reviews for neighbors, co-workers and anyone else they know. Peeple was first unveiled in October 2015 and faced serious criticism from the media as well as across social media and among celebrities. A tremendous number of people objected to the idea of being able to be reviewed in the same way that restaurants or products were being reviewed online.

Some new rules are now allowing the mobile app to proceed forward with its strategy to let users rate each other.

The initial description of the Peeple app explained that users would be capable of adding any name they wanted to the service so they would be able to create a review and a rating for that person. That individual would not be able to opt out of their presence on the app and of that review. That created a tremendous concern in the media and among social media users with regards to the risk of bullying.

Furthermore, positive ratings could be immediately displayed on the app, but low star rankings and negative reviews were required to be placed in a 48 hour hold. In that way, the individual leaving the review was supposed to be given enough time to “work it out” with the other person in the form of a private message.

Public outrage voiced over the mobile app features forced changes to be made to the application before it could be published. Now, Peeple is required to allow ratings only for people who have opted into the network. That way, an individual’s name cannot be added to the service by someone else. As a verification of the person’s identity, sign-ins are conducted through a person’s Facebook account, which is required to have been active for six months before it is approved. A second identification verification is required in the form of a phone number.

Mobile wallet industry still led by Apple Pay and Samsung Pay

A recent report from BI Intelligence indicated that smartphone payments are still dominated by the same tech giants.

Mobile wallet tech using contactless payment technology will be used by approximately 148 million people around the world, said a new report that was published by Juniper Research, which also claimed that this format will be the leader in mobile device based transactions.

That said, it is clear that within that limited space, there are clear leaders that have already carved out their positions.

The Juniper Research report identified Apple Pay and Samsung Pay as the two top mobile wallet brands that have grabbed hold of the largest share of the smartphone payments market. In fact, together, they are believed to hold a 70 percent share of the number of customers who use that type of contactless payment service in stores. This suggests that those two firms could be the dominant figures in this market and may be able to keep a firmer hold on their portion of that space than newer entrants or older ones that have not been as successful at gaining user-ship.

Apple Pay leapt into the mobile wallet space quite strongly as it had been a greatly anticipated service.

Mobile Wallet - Mobile PaymentsIt launched as one of the first major entrants into the American market, which helped to ensure that it would build users more quickly than smaller players or later joiners. While Samsung didn’t arrive nearly as early, it still held onto a competitive advantage in the fact that it can be used at both NFC technology based terminals and those that are compatible with a magnetic stripe card. In Apple’s case, the mobile payments service can connect only with NFC readers.

Firms invested in mobile payments are pushing hard to gain U.S. customers, but adoption has been slow. Most consumers have yet to be convinced that there is any great benefit to using their smartphones instead of their plastic credit cards, which they already find to be quite convenient. Moreover, many people still face the barrier of comfort when it comes to feeling that their sensitive personal data will be kept secure.

Moreover, the adoption of NFC technology based contactless payments is also holding back widespread use in the United States, as only 20 percent of American terminals are actually equipped to accept transactions through those mobile wallets.