By the London Technology Team
FinTech on tour
A big week for FinTech saw the Prime Minister take a delegation of FinTech companies on a trade mission to Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. This came as the FinTech trade body Innovate Finance published its new manifesto. They, like the Government, envision the UK becoming the principal global hub for FinTech and have called for further investment, the cultivation of global FinTech leaders and the creation of 100,000 additional jobs.
FinTech will no doubt rise up the political agenda this Parliament, particularly given a new All-Party Parliamentary Group, and run by Innovate Finance, has been created for the sector. The Government also recently announcement the appointment of Eileen Burbidge of Passion Capital as Special Envoy for FinTech.
Pornographic sites given last chance to bring in age-restriction controls
David Cameron has threatened to introduce legislation to bring in age-restricted controls on pornographic websites if the industry is not capable of producing its own effective voluntary scheme. Cameron also announced that a consultation will be launched in the autumn on age verification mechanisms to restrict under eighteens’ access to pornographic websites.
Covering the story in the Guardian, @patrickwintour noted that ahead of the election Sajid Javid MP, then Culture Secretary, pledged action on age-restriction controls and that the Conservative election Facebook page in April promised legislation to achieve this.
Windows 10 opens
Windows 10 launched this week, marking a ‘new era’ in computing according to new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. It’s a drastic shift, moving away from launching a new Windows every few years, the new OS will be tweaked over the next decade and given away for free. It is multi-platform, so the software can operate across a number of devices and Microsoft hopes it can lure back developers who develop for other systems.
Microsoft has taken some big hits recently. It was forced to write-down its Nokia acquisition and has struggled to sell Windows phones. Microsoft threw everything at Windows 8, but failed to understand that PC users didn’t want such a radically different interface on their screen. Windows 8, was so badly received, Microsoft skipped 9 and went straight to 10 to emphasise its new approach. Given the dominance of Windows, the story was extremely well covered, with The Daily Telegraph reporting that it had been downloaded 14 million times in the first day.
