Apple reportedly buys Montreal-based Mobeewave for US$100m

Apple's rumoured recent acquisition is Montreal-based startup Mobeewave, specializing in developing tech that can turn mobile phones into mobile payment terminals. Mobeewave's technology can let shoppers tap their credit card or smartphone on another phone to process payments. It doesn't require any hardware beyond a Near Field Communications (NFC) chip and the accompanying app. iPhones have had NFC chips since 2014. A demonstration on Mobeewave's site shows a user typing in a transaction amount, and then the customer taps their credit card on the phone to process the payment.

Apple is known to acquire startups to integrate its technology into its devices. We're hoping to see iPhones of the future that can become mobile payment terminals, which can be particularly useful in the COVID-19 age where going digital or cashless is the preferred or safer payment method. Apple supposedly paid around US$100 million for Mobeewave, which has a dozen employees that the tech giant will retain. The Mobeewave team will reportedly continue to work out of Montreal.

Source: Bloomberg

Uber launches grocery delivery in Canada, Latin America

If yoy don't feel leaving your house for groceries, Uber now offers grocery delivery in select cities. (Photo by Anna Shvets/Pexels)

A day after Uber announced that it acquired Postmates for $2.65 billion, it introduced grocery delivery in 19 Canadian and Latin American cities, including those in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. The project is also a result of the recently announced purchase of Cornershop in late 2019, which is still pending regulatory approval. Cornershop introduced grocery delivery to Latin America before bringing it to Toronto. The service will expand to the US later this month, specifically in Dallas and Miami, and then to more cities around the world in "the coming months."

It is the right time to launch a service like this, with COVID-19 affecting people's mobility and desire to leave the house with the pandemic for something as essential as grocery shopping. Uber says demand for grocery delivery has increased 197% since March.

Source: TechCrunch

Apple buys Waterloo-based Inductiv to improve Siri

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Apple's latest acquisition is seen as the company's attempt to improve its voice-activated assistant, Siri. The company bought Waterloo, Ontario-based Inductiv, but it won't elaborate on its plans, saying it "buys smaller technology companies from time to time." Inductiv specializes in using artificial intelligence to correct data and improve machine learning. According to Bloomberg, "clean data" is essential for machine learning because it allows the AI to enhance the software with "less human intervention." Apple also recently acquired Voysis, which reportedly will help develop Siri's natural language comprehension.

Inductiv was co-founded by machine-learning professors from the University of Waterloo, Stanford University, and the University of Wisconsin. But since the acquisition was recent, it might be a while to see what the effects will be on Siri.

Facebook acquires Giphy, reportedly for US$400 million

Facebook has acquired GIF-sharing service Giphy and plans to make it part of the Instagram team. Facebook didn't reveal how much it paid for to buy Giphy, but Axios reports that it's priced at around US$400 million. Giphy is expected to keep its branding, but it'll be primarily integrated into Instagram. GIFs are prevalent and used heavily in Instagram Stories, so having more access to a GIF-sharing service could work in Facebook's favour. We might expect to see it more integrated into other Facebook services as well.

Source: Engadget