Global smartphone shipments recorded a negative year-over-year growth rate in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018, for a third consecutive quarter. According to IHS Markit preliminary smartphone data, global smartphone shipments reached 365.2 million units in Q4 2018, which is a 5.7 percent y/y decline. For the 2018 calendar year, shipments declined 2.4 percent compared to the previous year, from 1.44 billion units in 2017 to 1.41 billion units in 2018. 

Following is an overview of the smartphone market leaders in 2018, based on unit shipments: 

This morning, we hosted a conference call where we shared Mastercard’s financial results for the fourth quarter and our 2018 fiscal year. If you listened to that call, you heard how we had a strong end to the year, delivering broad-based growth.

The numbers speak for themselves – double-digit gains in both volume and transactions, with earnings per share increasing 40 percent year-over-year, on a currency-neutral basis and excluding special items.

Raiffeisen and Avaloq have made IT history: one of Switzerland’s biggest IT projects was successfully completed at the start of January. In a first for the financial industry, 253 banks (246 Raiffeisen banks, six branches and the central bank) will now be operated on one platform. The platform is available to all 11,000 employees at 900 separate Raiffeisen sites throughout Switzerland.

Long-term continuation of a successful collaboration

Temenos, the banking software company, today announced that it has been certified ISO 14001. Temenos has successfully implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS) in the company’s three offices in India (Chennai and Bangalore), which account for 52% of the total global employee workforce and are the hub of its product development activities. In addition, Temenos received ISO 14001: 2015 certification of its EMS, independently verified by Bureau Veritas.

TIBCO Software Inc., a global leader in integration, API management, and analytics, today announced it has been named a Leader in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms.

Coeus Consulting, an award-winning independent IT consultancy, today announced new research revealing that although the fate of many organisations depends on their ability to implement strategic change and to adopt disruptive technologies, a reported lack of business and IT alignment, coupled with a corporate fear of risk, means they risk losing out on crucial revenues and market share.

Leading identity confirmation provider HooYu has partnered with hassle-free alternative banking solution, Suits Me, to help financially-excluded workers get quicker and simpler access to bank services.

One year on from its commercial launch, payments app MuchBetter, is announcing a number of significant milestones and figures, as it signals its intent to ‘break the monopoly of iGaming payments’, in an industry estimated to be worth £40bn. Having launched in November 2017, key highlights and milestones after 14 months include: 

Lenders, card issuers and payment service providers that need to comply with new fraud rules under PSD2 next year face a challenge from their own customers. In a new FICO survey, only about half of UK consumers say they are willing to give their bank or card issuer their mobile number in order to carry out extra authentication steps. Many banks are counting on authentication using mobile phones to comply with the rules.

Improvement in revenue in 2018

Econocom Group, a digital transformation specialist, posted 2018 full-year revenue of

€2,846 million, an 8.0% increase, 2.7% of which was organic.

Revenue for the Technology Management & Financing (TMF) business reached
€1,356 million, a slight drop of 1.6%, after a strong increase in the two previous years (9.5% organic growth a year). The basis of comparison was particularly high in the fourth quarter (up 28% in Q4 2017) and the group was selective, focusing on generating cash.