Apple Reduces Japan Display's Payment Periods to Improve Panel Supplier's Short-Term Financing

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Apple will shorten Japan Display's payment periods in an effort to improve the panel supplier's short-term financing situation, reports Reuters, citing a source familiar with the matter.


JDI CEO Minoru Kikuoka, who took on the role in September, told reporters on Wednesday that concerns about an immediate cash shortfall had been allayed but did not mention Apple by name.

Japan Display still owes Apple nearly $900 million for the $1.5 billion cost of building a smartphone screen plant four years ago and the U.S. tech giant is also allowing the supplier to slow the pace of those repayments.

The agreement to ease payment conditions, which also includes agreements from other business partners, would improve JDI's short-term financing situation by as much as 40 billion yen ($370 million), said Kikuoka.

JDI recently lost out on Chinese funds from a key investment firm leading a proposed bailout deal, but Apple reportedly agreed to double its own investment to aid in the LCD panel maker's restructuring.

JDI relies on Apple for more than half of its sales, and supplies the liquid crystal display panels for the iPhone 11, which has helped support its bottom line. However, its mainstay LCD business has been hit heavily by the growing adoption of OLED panel technology.

Tag: Japan Display Inc

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Apple Pay Overtakes Starbucks as Most Popular Mobile Payment Platform in the US

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Apple Pay has overtaken the Starbucks mobile app to become the most popular mobile payment system in the United States, claims a new report out today.


According to eMarketer, ‌Apple Pay‌ became the market leader last year, when 27.7 million Americans used the app to make a purchase. Since then, however, ‌Apple Pay‌ has grown even faster than expected.

In 2019, ‌Apple Pay‌ will have 30.3 million users, or 47.3 percent of mobile payment users. That compares with Starbucks' 25.2 million customers via its mobile app in the same year, representing 39.4 percent of mobile payment users.

"‌Apple Pay‌ has benefited from the spread of new point-of-sale (POS) systems that work with the NFC signals ‌Apple Pay‌ runs on," said eMarketer principal analyst Yory Wurmser. "The same trend should also help Google Pay and Samsung Pay, but they will continue to split the Android market."

Citing data from Digital Trends, the analysis predicts ‌Apple Pay‌ will be available in 70 percent of U.S. retailers by the end of 2019. In contrast, the Starbucks app has commanded a 40 percent market share of mobile payments for the last few years, but growth potential is limited because it can only be used in Starbucks stores.

Total spending via contactless mobile payments will approach $100 billion this year in the U.S., according to eMarketer. On average, that is equivalent to a user spending $1,545 per year, up more than 24 percent over last year.

Nearly 64 million people (30 percent of all U.S. smartphone users) are expected to make use of mobile payments this year, a 9.1 percent increase over 2018. In terms of demographics, nearly 50 percent of all smartphone users are adults aged 25 to 34, so the growth of mobile payments is expected to be strongest in this age group, although digital wallet use is said to be growing across the board.

"Although a growing number of millennials feel secure using payment apps, virtually all still find credit and debit cards equally convenient," said eMarketer forecasting analyst Vincent Yip. That bodes well for Apple Card, which launched earlier this year. ‌Apple Pay‌ is now in 47 markets and in the June quarter, started adding more new users than PayPal, with monthly transaction volume growing four times as fast.

Tags: Starbucks, Apple Pay

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Motorola One Hyper Could be the Company’s Upcoming Mobile with Popup Camera, Snapdragon 675 SoC

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Firefox 70 for Mac Brings Social Tracking Protection and Notable Performance Gains

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Mozilla has launched Firefox 70 for macOS, which continues to enhance the browser's privacy features as well as bringing significant improvements to performance and power efficiency.

Recent versions of Firefox have included several extensions to the Mozilla's Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) system, and this release is no different. ETP now features social tracking protection, which blocks cross-site tracking cookies from sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Firefox 70 also introduces a Privacy Protections report, which offers a summary of the trackers Firefox has blocked. So if you think the blocking is too strict (if a website doesn't work properly, for example) you can check the report and customize the protection accordingly.

In addition, there are improvements to Firefox Lockwise, the browser's digital identity and password management tool. Lockwise now lets you create, update, and delete logins and passwords to sync across all your devices. Meanwhile, integrated breach alerts from Firefox Monitor notify you if saved logins and passwords have been compromised in online data breaches, and Monitor is also now capable of complex password generation.

Thanks to improvements to the browser's core engine components, Firefox 70 users can also expect a significant reduction in power consumption (Mozilla quote improved power usage by three times or more for many use cases), along with faster page loads by as much as 22 percent, and reduced resource use for video by up to 37 percent.

Mozilla's full changelog can be found here. If you're already a Firefox user, you should receive an automatic upgrade after restarting the browser. For everyone else, Firefox 70 is available for macOS as a free download directly from the Mozilla website.

Tags: Mozilla, Firefox

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Honor Band 5i with Full Color Display, Heart Rate, and Sleep Monitoring Features Launched

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Realme Smartphones to Soon Get ColorOS 7 with Close-to-Stock Android Experience: Madhav Sheth

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Selena Gomez's New 'Lose You to Love Me' Video Shot on iPhone 11 Pro

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Selena Gomez today released a new song and video entitled "Lose You to Love Me," and the entire video was shot in black and white using an iPhone 11 Pro.


Apple has released a one-minute clip of the video as part of its ongoing "Shot on iPhone" series, but the full video is available on Gomez's YouTube channel.


As noted by Billboard, the video was shot by noted music video director Sophie Muller.

Apple has released quite a few different types of photos and videos in its "Shot on iPhone" series, including stills, sports-themed videos, and short films. More recently, Apple has expanded the campaign to include musicains and bands on tour and even ASMR videos.

Tag: Shot on iPhone

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