Mobile Minutes: Facebook Messenger shopping; Amazon Echo copycats; IPhone redesign rumors; New virtual currency
Facebook users may be able to shop through Messenger
Facebook is steadily turning its Messenger app into a mobile hub for arranging
a ride, talking to a customer service agent, and sending money to friends. Next
up could be a way for users to shop at brick and mortar stores within the app,
according to a new report from tech news site The Information.
Read more on Fortune
Alphabet working on Echo-like product, report says
Alphabet may be working on its own version of Amazon's increasingly popular
voice recognition device the Echo.
Read more on USA Today
Apple could be radically redesigning the iPhone
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is more often right than wrong with
his Apple predictions, wrote in an analyst note this weekend that in 2017,
Apple will introduce an iPhone with a curved front and back, wireless charging
and a larger screen for the "Plus" model.
Read more on CNN Money
Ethereum, a virtual currency, enables transactions that
rival Bitcoin?s
A new virtual gold rush is underway. Even as Bitcoin, riven by internal
divisions, has struggled, a rival virtual currency ? known as Ethereum ? has
soared in value, climbing 1,000 percent over the last three months.
Read more on CNBC