The month in technology: Barça gets busy with blockchain and ‘PremFlix’ coming to a device near you
The latest news, insight and analysis from the general technology sector
FC Barcelona partners with blockchain platform Socios
Spanish football giants FC Barcelona has joined the likes of West Ham United, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus in partnering with blockchain-based fan engagement platform Socios.
Fans around the world will be able to purchase Barça Fan Tokens, which can then be used to vote in surveys and polls on everyday activities at the club.
Barça Fan Tokens ($BAR) will cost €2 at the initial point of sale and will launch on the Socios app in Q2 2020.
Fans will also be able to collect cryptocurrency Chiliz ($CHZ) which can also be used to exchange for a chance to vote.
Josep Pont, head of commercial at FC Barcelona, said: “This agreement will give us the chance to set up innovative marketing and partnership activations with a clear focus on the digital realm to take the Club closer to our fans around the world.”
Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO and founder of Socios.com and Chiliz, said: “Adding FC Barcelona fans to the Socios.com global community takes us one step closer to our goal of mainstream adoption of blockchain.”
TCL to cease BlackBerry production this year
Chinese firm TCL took the decision in early February that it would no longer produce BlackBerry handsets after 31 August 2020.
The Huizhou-headquartered firm had been producing BlackBerry’s phones for the past four years after BlackBerry itself stopped manufacturing them.
Despite the decision to halt production, TCL will continue to provide customer service and warranty until 31 August 2022, or for as long as local laws require them to remain present.
In a statement on Twitter, TCL said: “We do regret to share that as of 31 August 2020, TCL Communication will no longer be selling BlackBerry-branded mobile devices.
“TCL Communication has no further rights to design, manufacture or sell any new BlackBerry mobile devices, however TCL Communication will continue to provide support for the existing portfolio of mobile devices.”
It is unclear whether another company will step in to fill the void left by TCL and continue to produce the handsets at this moment in time.
— BlackBerry Mobile (@BBMobile) February 3, 2020
Zuckerberg understands ‘frustration’ over tech firm taxes
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says that he accepts tech giants may need to pay their fair share of tax in Europe following criticism from politicians and the public alike, reports the BBC.
The American CEO also said he backed plans from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to find a global solution to tax avoidance.
Speaking earlier this month in Munich, Zuckerberg said: “I understand that there’s frustration about how tech companies are taxed in Europe.
“We also want tax reform and I’m glad the OECD is looking at this. We want the OECD process to succeed so that we have a stable and reliable system going forward.”
In the UK, Facebook only paid £28.5m in corporation tax despite generating a record £1.65bn in British sales.
Zuckerberg continued: “We accept that may mean we have to pay more tax and pay it in different places under a new framework.”
The UK had confirmed its intentions to place a digital service tax on US tech companies as part of any future UK-US trade deal, post-Brexit.
Under the plan, Britain would tax the revenues of search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces at 2%, in a move which could generate up to £500m a year.
However, the future tax plans remain unclear following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet reshuffle in which Chancellor Sajid Javid dramatically quit and Business Minister Andrea Leadsom was sacked. Both were advocates of the proposed tax reform.
Premier League muses over D2C OTT platform
The Premier League’s new CEO Richard Masters confirmed this month that the top-flight is developing plans to launch its own over-the-top (OTT) streaming service for the direct-to-consumer (D2C) market in the future.
As reported by The Daily Mail, Masters hinted that the OTT platform would work in tandem with traditional broadcast rights but didn’t clarify when the service would be available. The next rights cycle opens in 2022.
Masters said: “During the last [rights bidding] process [for the 2019-2022 seasons], we invested a lot of time and resources in building our expertise and capacity in direct-to-consumer.
“We considered whether strategically it would be the right time to test a few markets then and decided not to.
“We were ready last time and we will be ready next time, should the opportunity arise. I’m not saying it will happen in the next cycle, or when it will happen, but eventually the Premier League will move to a mix of direct-to-consumer and media rights sales.”
The German Bundesliga is set to launch its own OTT service next season, while Spain’s La Liga already offers a service.
Snapchat tests out a major redesign
Snap, the parent company of social media site Snapchat, has undertaken two significant tests on its flagship app in terms of redesign and UI.
The first test took Snapchat’s three screens and split them into five. Originally, users would open the app onto the camera, swipe left to their chats and swipe right to the Discover page – home to content from friends, creators, third parties and Snap itself.
Now, the Snap Map, which was previously accessed by pulling down from the camera screen, is found on the left of the user’s chat screen.
The Discover page has been renamed Community and contains the same content and now to the right of that is the new Discover page, which houses Snap’s original series.
A Snap spokesperson told The Verge: “We’re exploring ways to streamline navigation across Snapchat, soliciting feedback from our community to inform future versions of our app.
“This test’s UI offers more space to innovate and increases the opportunity to engage with and discover even more of what Snapchat has to offer.”
The second test was an adaptation on how the platform displays its news briefs on the app.
The section curates top headlines from around the world which when tapped can bring up a short full-screen news story
Snap also told The Verge: “We are in the very early stages of exploring how to evolve news offerings on Snapchat.
“We are working with a handful of partners and testing with a small percentage of Snapchatters in the US. We don’t have additional details to share at this time.”