Retailers including Wal-Mart Stores, Target Corp and Best Buy formed a company that would allow customers to pay with their mobile phones, as they work to gain control over the growing method of processing purchases. The company, named Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, is developing a mobile application, the retailers said in a statement. The app is intended to work with all smartphones and as many forms of payment as possible, including Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc debit- and credit-card accounts, said Terry Scully, president of Target’s financial and retail services.
iPhones become mobile casinos
iPhone users will soon be able to gamble with real money on virtual slot machines, trying their luck with the swipe of an index finger. Big Fish Games Inc is introducing a version of its gambling application Big Fish Casino with real-money betting in the UK, where it is legal, the Seattle-based company said. It will arrive in Apple Inc’s App Store in the coming weeks, and Betable Ltd, a London-based partner of Big Fish, will process bets in the program.
Nokia to offer Zynga games
Nokia, seeking to fend off competition from Android devices in growth markets such as Asia, said it plans to start offering two Zynga games on its cheaper mobile phones. “Draw Something” and “Zynga Poker” will be available as free downloads for Nokia’s Asha touch-screen handsets this quarter, according to a statement from the Espoo, Finland-based phonemaker.
LaGuardia’s digital employee
Marie, the newest employee at LaGuardia Airport (US), a young, blonde woman, stands at the arrival section and points out where passengers could find their baggage, as well as taxis. What’s different about Marie? She is an avatar — a life-size image of a woman digitally broadcast on a glass screen. Motion sensors prompt her 90-second script whenever anyone comes within 30 feet of her.
Hewlett-Packard remakes WebOS
Hewlett-Packard is rebranding WebOS—the mobile software acquired from Palm Inc —as an internal startup called Gram and recruiting staff for the venture, according to an internal company e-mail. We are no longer a consumer hardware brand, we are a different company with a focus on software, user experience, cloud, engineering and partnering,” Martin Risau, a senior vice-president at Hewlett-Packard, said.
