Charlotte Henry

LONDON – Online smartphone retailers in the UK are being criticized for wrongly refusing customers Black Friday deals. UK cellular service provider Vodafone experienced problems with its credit check systems. As a result, some customers wanting the cut-price deals were mistakenly declined. According to the BBC, “5% of consumers experienced the issue.”  Mobiles.co.uk, owned by Carphone Warehouse, was particularly affected as it attracted many customers on the back of significant deals for the iPhone XR. From the BBC’s report:

Carphone Warehouse-owned website Mobiles.co.uk and other online phone retailers are facing a backlash from customers wrongly refused Black Friday smartphone deals. A problem with Vodafone’s credit check systems meant that some applications submitted via the contract resellers were incorrectly turned down.

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf told CNBC on Wednesday that his firm and Apple are “on the doorstep” of settling their ongoing dispute. He told Mad Money host Jim Cramer that they “do talk as companies.” He reiterated that he believes a resolution is likely in the last part of 2018 or early 2019. Apple has accused Qualcomm of taking an unfair cut of each iPhone. Meanwhile, Qualcomm has accused of Apple of stealing and bartering its trade secrets. Mr. Mollenkopf also discussed 5G rollout in the interview. He predicted that the 5G rollout will start in spring 2019.

“We’ve always talked about — I’ve been very consistent — that … the second half of this year and into next year is when we’re really on the doorstep of finding a resolution and we don’t see anything different than that,” the CEO said.

According to Apple Vice President of Product Marketing, Greg Joswiak, the iPhone XR has “been our most popular iPhone each and every day since the day it became available.” During an interview with CNET on Wednesday, Mr. Joswiak was pushed on the much debated reports that alleged disspointing sales. However, he reiterated that the device has “has been the most popular and best-selling” iPhone since it hit the market. He also said that in recognition of World Aids Day, between 1-7 December Apple will donate $1 for every purchase via Apple Pay made at an Apple Store, on Apple.com and in the Apple Store app. The firm will also turn the logos at 125 Apple Stores red.

Apple’s iPhone XR has been outselling the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max every day since the cheaper, colorful phone hit the market last month. Greg Joswiak, Apple vice president of product marketing, told CNET in an interview Wednesday that the device has “been our most popular iPhone each and every day since the day it became available.”

Microsoft and Apple are now worth nearly the same. A few years ago such a development would have been unthinkable. On Thursday, The New York Times had an interesting piece of analysis by Steve Lohr on how this happened. He said that Microsoft has “built on its strengths,” won its big bet on the cloud and was brave enough to walk away from bets it was losing (such as making smartphones). Mr. Lohr also notes that under CEO Satya Nadella “Microsoft has loosened up” and made its technology and culture more open.

Microsoft has become a case study of how a once-dominant company can build on its strengths and avoid being a prisoner of its past. It has fully embraced cloud computing, abandoned an errant foray into smartphones and returned to its roots as mainly a supplier of technology to business customers.

Starting this week, businesses in Ohio will be able to pay their taxes using Bitcoin. Engadget reported that the service could eventually be expanded to accept payment of personal taxes. According to the Wall Street Journal: “Ohio businesses will be able to go to the website OhioCrypto.com and register to pay everything from cigarette sales taxes to employee withholding taxes with Bitcoin.”  Ohio is the first state to allow taxes to be paid via Bitcoin. The change was pushed forward by Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel.

This doesn’t eliminate the regulatory concerns around cryptocurrency, and it’s doubtful that more than a handful of businesses will use it. It’s happening in Ohio precisely because state Treasurer Josh Mandel says he can do it without requiring help from the legislature or the governor. It could be considerably more difficult to implement this by passing a bill.

LONDON – The UK Parliament has exercised its legal powers and seized a number of internal Facebook documents. The cache of papers is alleged to contain revelations surrounding the data and privacy controls that resulted in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Furthermore, The Observer reported that, “they include confidential emails between senior executives, and correspondence with [Mark] Zuckerberg.” Damian Collins, Conservative MP and chair of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, sent a parliamentary official to the London hotel where Ted Kramer, the founder of Six4Three, a software company that is suing Facebook, was staying. Mr. Kramer was eventually compelled to hand over the documents. Facebook has denied all the allegations made and demanded the return of the papers. The Observer has the full details:

The documents seized were obtained during a legal discovery process by Six4Three. It took action against the social media giant after investing $250,000 in an app. Six4Three alleges the cache shows Facebook was not only aware of the implications of its privacy policy, but actively exploited them, intentionally creating and effectively flagging up the loophole that Cambridge Analytica used to collect data. That raised the interest of Collins and his committee.