aimm News

Dutch digital innovator Sam Media used extended reality to develop a better learning experience

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

As a leader in innovation, Sam Media makes the next generation of digital content accessible to everyone, on any device. On October the 14th, Sam Media will officially launch it’s latest e-learning and entertainment product, XR Academy. The product will be presented during a launch party at World Telemedia in Marbella.

A better learning experience for everyone

XR Academy enables consumers from all age groups to explore a wide range of immersive, high-quality educational content. The product is the result of a diverse team of thinkers, educators, computer scientists, software developers and 3D artists from all over the world, coming together with a shared mission to transform learning experiences with the latest technologies, and to overcome the two main challenges in VR education today: the lack of high-quality content, and the availability of VR headsets.

XR Academy has been designed to be compatible with all types of virtual reality headsets. Even consumers that don’t own a VR headset are able to engage with all the content effectively. All they need is a smartphone with internet access.

What is Extended Reality?

​​Extended reality (XR) is referring to all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables, where the ‘X’ represents a variable for any current or future spatial computing technologies. E.g. It includes representative forms such as augmented reality, mixed reality and virtual reality and the areas interpolated among them. Its connotation lies in the extension of human experiences, especially relating to the senses of existence (represented by VR) and the acquisition of cognition (represented by AR).

Product features

XR Academy allows consumers to take virtual field trips to a variety of destinations, such as Mount Everest, capital cities around the world, and faraway planets across the universe, all from the comfort and safety of their homes.

  • Immersive VR platform
  • 360° documentaries
  • Captivating VR lessons
  • Engaging Quizzes
  • Supports all languages
  • Constantly growing content library
  • Animation for illustration and engagement purposes
  • Accessible on mobile and the web

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ8M2fyCd_s

Corporate website: www.sam-media.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sam-media.

Vodacom and Evina unite to fight mobile fraud

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Vodacom, SA’s leading network has taken a major step forward in mobile user safety by partnering with cybersecurity for mobile payments company, Evina.

Mobile users in Africa’s most advanced economy will now join the ranks of the tens of millions of consumers globally that are protected daily by Evina’s payments technology.

In recent years, the South African mobile industry has attracted a large number of fraudsters leading to a substantial increase in user complaint rates. These frequent fraudulent attacks are due to the fact that a large number of the African population uses a cellular phone, especially as a mobile payment method. Fraudsters are never far from where mobile transactions are. In South Africa alone, the country fraud rate recorded by Evina’s fraud sensors was 23.53% with clickjacking being the most fraudulent technique used to defraud mobile users in the first quarter of 2021. This region is a playground for new and extremely sophisticated fraud techniques that are difficult to spot unless using advanced technology

In this context, Vodacom has partnered with Evina to secure mobile transactions via Evina’s set of anti-fraud solutions that include DCBprotect and Eyewitness. DCBprotect detects bots that attempt to make fraudulent transactions whereas Eyewitness records fraudulent behaviour on payment pages to give proof to Vodacom’s partners of any bot-related activity.

Evina offers the most advanced cybersecurity technology for mobile payments and currently blocks over 16 million transactions in more than 70 countries worldwide. Evina is a recognized player in the mobile ecosystem and has been awarded various prestigious accolades such as the Best Financial Clearing Solution from Juniper Research and Best Carrier Billing Fraud Solution at the Global Carrier Billing Summit 2020.

David Lotfi, CEO & Founder of Evina: “We strive to work with mobile players that share our vision of fraud being a serious issue that needs to be dealt with – and soon. By integrating our anti-fraud solution into its operations, Vodacom with its large African network of mobile users, has confirmed that it too shares our values and wishes to create a fraud-free mobile payment ecosystem. This makes deploying the best technology worldwide, for the protection of South African mobile users, effortless.”

“The protection of our customers against all forms of fraudulent activity is our top priority. We are constantly striving to eradicate any potential mobile fraud on our network by updating and enhancing our controls to give customers peace of mind whilst enjoying seamless connectivity through their mobile phones. Introducing DCBprotect as solution is testament to our efforts to stay ahead of fraudsters and create a fraud free digital environment. We believe that early detection and blocking of any form of criminality on our network is in the interest of our customers and ultimately the Vodacom brand” said Mariam Cassim Chief Officer of Vodacom Financial and Digital Services.

Refund Statement for phone-paid industry released

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

We are pleased to announce that after working closely with our membership across the value chain aimm have now produced our Refund Statement for use by industry.

This refund statement has been created and agreed by members of aimm who work across industry including the MNO’s to provide a template statement fit for purpose for those who may wish to use this within their business for customer refund queries. Created September 2021

View the Refund Statement on our website: https://aimm.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Refund-Statement-Sept21.pdf

SLA Digital Announce Carrier Billing Connections with UK Mobile Operators

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

SLA Digital are pleased to announce that they have added UK mobile operators to their list of direct carrier billing connections.

As a carrier billing aggregator, SLA Digital can now offer full UK coverage, opening up new revenue streams for digital merchants and facilitating fast and frictionless mobile payment experiences for UK mobile customers.

“Our connections with UK mobile operators are a very welcome addition. Many of our clients have expressed interest in the UK and we hope they will have great success in the market. When it comes to mobile payments customers are looking for convenience and we are excited to provide a simple payment option for UK mobile subscribers to access our merchants’ services,” commented Kevin Drayne, CEO at SLA Digital.

Largest Ever Survey of Digital Subscriptions – 78% Don’t Want Fixed-Term Subscriptions

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

90% of consumers state the ending of a subscription to a service should be entirely their decision.

5th August 2021: Research of 1,000 consumers, commissioned by aimm in June 2021, observed that 93% described the process of signing up to a subscription to be clear and transparent. Just 1.5% of consumers found themselves subscribed to a service that they didn’t want. Unsurprisingly then, 90% of consumers felt that they alone should be responsible for choosing when to end their subscription, and 78% don’t want to sign up for a fixed term.

The research found that when it comes to digital subscriptions, regulation should guide consumer behaviour, but not be an imposition.

The current regulations already require robust consent, so any new regulations that impose stricter criteria will automatically discriminate against subscribers who are passively happy. The natural suspicion of consumers to click on links to renew a subscription means that services, including charity fundraising, will suffer, should this become a requirement.

The recommendation from the research, which asked about consumers’ preferences regarding reminder messages and length of subscriptions, is that for monthly subscription services a reminder message should be sent every month for the first 3 months, then once a quarter following that, with an additional service summary sent annually.

Joanna Cox, General Manager at aimm said “We wanted to ask consumers what they wanted when it came to digital subscriptions. The results of the research overwhelming show that the current regulations provide enough security for consumers and if anything they’d like to be contacted even less than they currently are.”

Over 97% of consumers felt that an annual service summary, that was for information only and did not need to be acted on, would be beneficial. Consumers now think of digital subscriptions as long term and not in 12-monthly timeframes. This is backed up by the fact that 75% have subscribed to a service or donation for over a year.

“We want to make sure that consumers are protected and feel safe using mobile subscriptions to sign up to services or donate to charity,” said Neil Johnson, Chairman at aimm. “However, we also want to make sure that we don’t create regulations that are too stringent, that actively dissuade consumers from signing up to quality subscription services, or mean that they are inadvertently cancelled. Too much unnecessary regulation risks damaging the consumer experience and the subscription business model; a model which creates a convenient way for users to pay for services they enjoy.”

 

Details about the research

Research was commissioned via Mobile Squared during June 2021. This research asked a panel of 1,000 unbiased people about their experiences, with the expectation that this would provide a meaningful insight into the world of those with a passive happiness with the service they receive. The panel was evenly split by age group, gender and location, to ensure a fair cross-representation of society.

Whilst recognising there have been challenges with phone-paid subscriptions in the past, these have now largely been resolved. This research addressed the experiences of those with a passive happiness with their subscription; the silent majority of people now using phone-paid subscriptions without concern.