Dabbling in the future of payment: A week of Apple Pay and Google Wallet

By Nicole Lee

On Monday last week, Apple finally launched Apple Pay, the company's mobile-payment system that only works with the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and the latest iPads. (Though you can't use iPads for in-store payments.) Even though mobile payments have been around for several years now, Apple Pay is seen by many as a key step toward making paying-by-phone more mainstream due to all the increased attention. Seeing that I have an iPhone 6, I decided to use Apple Pay every day this past week to pay for everything from my groceries to a hot dog at AT&T Park during the World Series. Just to see how they would compare, I also tried using Google Wallet installed on a Samsung Galaxy S5 and a regular ol' credit card in the same locations.

The verdict? Well, the future of mobile payments is looking brighter than ever, but that doesn't mean I'm getting rid of my wallet. Let me tell you why.

Both Apple Pay and Google Wallet are very similar in a lot of ways. For starters, they both work in any store that accepts mobile payments. Apple made a big deal about partnering with certain stores like Whole Foods and McDonald's when it launched Apple Pay, but in reality any location that has an NFC-enabled point-of-sale system will work with Apple Pay. Google Wallet, of course, has worked with such systems for a little over three years.

Yet, Google Wallet doesn't seem to have caught on, most likely due to slow carrier adoption (many of them preferred to push Isis/Softcard, their own mobile wallet solution, instead) and the fact that many phones require that you download the Wallet app. Apple Pay, on the other hand, works with Passbook, an app that's preinstalled with every new iPhone. Google also recently mandated that only Android phones running 4.4 KitKat or higher can take advantage of Wallet's tap-and-pay functionality, which leaves certain phones out in the cold. Still, the same goes for Apple Pay -- older phones are not supported due to their lack of NFC. Wallet is definitely compatible with a lot more devices.

The process of adding a debit or credit card is very similar for both. On the iPhone, simply launch Passbook and you'll see an option to add a debit or credit card. For Wallet, you'll need to get the app first if you haven't already, and then follow the instructions to add a card once you have it. You can either enter in your card's information manually or use your phone's camera to automatically capture your card's number and expiration date. You'll still need to key in your name, address and CVV number, but otherwise it's all pretty easy. If you added multiple cards, you'll need to select one as a default for tap-to-pay, but you can always change to a different card at the point of purchase.

Here, however, is where the first stumbling blocks for Apple Pay show up: It only works with certain cards from certain banks. First, it'll need to be a Visa, MasterCard or American Express (sorry, Discover Card users) and it'll need to be a card from a participating bank. Launch partners include Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo.

And even if your card is from that bank, it's not a guarantee that it's compatible with Apple Pay. Corporate cards, for example, are still a no-go, and a few co-branded cards like Amazon's Chase Visa won't work (Update: Though it didn't at launch, Amazon's Chase card now works with Apple Pay). Google Wallet, however, works with all debit and credit cards. I only managed to add two of my cards to Apple Pay -- a debit card from a local credit union isn't supported -- while Google Wallet accepted all of them.

You can use both Apple Pay and Google Wallet with online purchases and through different shopping apps, but the key for me was to see if I could use it in the real world. So I tried both systems out at different Whole Foods and Walgreens locations here in San Francisco multiple times throughout the week. For Apple Pay, I simply tapped the iPhone on the reader, placed my thumb on the Touch ID sensor, and voila, I was done. There was no need for me to unlock the phone prior to payment.

Google Wallet, on the other hand, requires that you unlock the wallet with a PIN before you can have access to it. That sounds like a pain, but it doesn't have to be. You can select the PIN timeout for 15 minutes, a day or never. So, theoretically, you could just leave your Wallet unlocked all the time, which admittedly compromises its security. Even if you decide to lock it up, entering a PIN really isn't all that difficult. For me, I decided to simply leave the Wallet unlocked.

When I tapped my Galaxy S5 onto a payment terminal, it beeped to let me know it was working -- I didn't have to unlock the phone for this to occur. The terminal then showed a prompt asking me to either enter in a PIN (if I was using a debit card) or simply press the Enter key for credit. After I pressed Enter, it took a second or two for the transaction to go through, and then I was done. Payments made with Wallet definitely require a bit more attention and processing time than Apple Pay, but it honestly wasn't significant enough to matter to me, at least most of the time (we'll get to an issue I encountered with Wallet later on).

I also went to try out Apple Pay at AT&T Park during the World Series. Major League Baseball worked with Apple and MasterCard to trick out both AT&T Park (home to the San Francisco Giants) and Kauffman Stadium (home to the Kansas City Royals) with NFC-enabled terminals mere weeks before the start of the Fall Classic -- AT&T Park was equipped with 114 terminals, while Kauffman Stadium has 226.

The league did this not only to introduce the nascent mobile payment system, but also to show off the tech so that other baseball parks would be open to installing it during the offseason and beyond. Adam Ritter, senior vice president of wireless for MLB Advanced Media, says that it eventually wants you to be able to use Apple Pay to pay for everything from food and merchandise to tickets via Apple Pay and the At the Ballpark app.

As I looked for a stand where I could buy some food, it was immediately apparent that not all vendors were equipped with NFC-enabled terminals. MLB tells us that it's still up to the individual vendor or business to agree to it and that they could still adopt them in the future, but that didn't quite help me last Friday, as I had to go from vendor to vendor to find one with Apple Pay. Once I did, I ordered a $6.75 Polish dog (ouch), and the payment went through as seamlessly as it did with all the other Apple Pay transactions I made before.

An hour later, I returned to the same vendor and tried to pay for an order of nachos with Google Wallet -- after all, MasterCard has said that the terminals should work with most NFC-based payment systems -- but it failed. After the phone beeped, I got an error message that suggested I check with the cashier. The cashier was a little befuddled, so I ended up fishing out my credit card to pay for it instead. Both Google and MasterCard tell me this should've theoretically worked, so my guess is that it was probably a glitch. Still, as far as the ballpark experience goes, Apple Pay (and normal credit cards) won out, at least for this one instance.

Which brings me to my primary sticking point with the mobile-payments concept as it stands today -- it's still only available in a few places. Over 220,000 locations in the US reportedly accept mobile payments, which sounds pretty impressive, but that's still only around 2.4 percent of retailers in the US.

Of course, this will probably change eventually. Since MasterCard and Visa are requiring a transition to EMV credit cards by October 2015, many shops will have to upgrade their systems to support so-called chip and pin technology (which already exists in much of the world), and will likely throw in NFC support as well. But for now, don't expect to pay for stuff at your local mom-and-pop store with your phone. Shopping at just Whole Foods and Walgreens was fine, but not being able to buy a burrito from the Mission (a San Francisco neighborhood famous for their taquerias)? That's just criminal.

Additionally, for the majority of people, the extra step of taking a card out from a wallet isn't seen as terribly tedious. At a number of retailers like Bloomingdale's and Macy's, even if you pay with Apple Pay or Google Wallet, you still need to sign for your purchase if it's over a certain amount (usually $25). Plus, I still need my wallet to carry my driver's license and there are still instances when only cash will do.

And it seems that NFC isn't even the only way to pay with your phone. CVS and Rite Aidmade headlines last week when they disabled NFC on their terminals to push their own in-house payment technology, called CurrentC. A method devised by the Merchant Customer Exchange, of which CVS, Rite Aid and Walmart are a part, CurrentC uses a rather convoluted QR-code scanning system to authenticate purchases.

This supposedly allows retailers to curb the transaction fees typically incurred by credit card companies (Of note, both Apple Pay and Google Wallet get some sort of fee per transaction; Wallet charges the merchants the regular credit card processing fee while Apple Pay charges the issuing bank). The barrier to entry to CurrentC appears to be much higher than either Apple Pay or Google Wallet, so I doubt it'll survive in the long run. But add that to the occasional machine glitch and you can see why most people will still want to clutch on to their wallets.

Still, despite my reservations about mobile payments, I deeply want it to succeed. Using my phone as a way to pay for things was just so freeing. I usually have my phone in my hand anyway, often to fill time while waiting in line in exactly the places where I would use it to pay for something. Having to take out a card from my wallet isn't that much of a hassle, but once I got a taste of paying for stuff with my phone, I couldn't get enough.

Also, mobile payments are arguably a lot more secure. Your actual credit card number is never handed over to merchants. Apple Pay uses a Secure Element chip that encrypts user data and assigns a unique device number to each phone, while Google Wallet transactions are made with a virtual prepaid MasterCard that's different each time. Mobile payments could therefore be the answer to the ever-present threat of data breaches and identity theft.

But until we can get it accepted at every merchant and figure out a way we can use the phone to securely carry our ID as well, it simply isn't going to replace your wallet.

Yet.

Credit:http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/week-apple-pay-google-wallet/

How Tight Is Smartphone Market? Xiaomi Joins Samsung, Apple in Top 3 for Only a Few Hours

Only three years after launching its first mobile device, China's Xiaomi leapt to third place in global smartphone shipments, trailing market leaders Samsung and Apple.

Those bragging rights lasted about 8 hours.

The press release from International Data Corp. at about 10 a.m. Beijing time heralding Xiaomi's rise to the top three in the third quarter, after more than tripling shipments in the period, was followed by one at 6 p.m. from Lenovo announcing the completion of its purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google.

Guess what? Closing the Motorola deal makes Lenovo No. 3,according to Lenovo and analysts at IDC and Strategy Analytics.

The back and forth in rankings highlights how competitive the global smartphone market has become. While Samsung and Apple sit at the top, with market share of 23.8 percent and 12 percent, respectively, the next three players were separated by just 0.2 percentage points before Lenovo absorbed Motorola, according to IDC.

Xiaomi had 5.3 percent of the global market in the third quarter, compared with Lenovo's 5.2 percent before taking over Motorola, while South Korea's LG Electronics had a 5.1 percent share. As this chart shows, the three of them -- before the Motorola news -- were practically in a dead heat in this period.

The race is already so tight that researchers can't agree on the rankings beyond the top three. Like IDC, data from Strategy Analytics has Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi in the lead in the third quarter, but rounds out the top five with LG in fourth with a 5.2 percent share and Huawei Technologies in fifth place with 5.1 percent.

Completing the Motorola acquisition should give Lenovo a bit of breathing room. A combined Lenovo and Motorola would have given it an 8 percent share in the period, putting it well ahead of Xiaomi and Huawei, according to researcher Strategy Analytics.

"With the addition of Motorola, the company is now the third-largest vendor globally in terms of smartphone unit shipments, trailing only Samsung and Apple," said Technology Business Research analyst Jack Narcotta. "Motorola’s stable of devices and intellectual property will help Lenovo corral the chaos in emerging markets such as China and India, allowing Lenovo to vault over Xiaomi, Huawei and LG and establish itself as the default choice for consumers seeking an entry-level or mid-tier Android smartphone."

Xiaomi wouldn't comment about its competitors, but Tony Wei, a spokesman, said the company was "proud of our remarkable growth."

One thing is clear. The fight is far from over.

One reason is that China, the world's largest smartphone market, has become saturated, forcing local vendors to look abroad, Lenovo Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing said in an interview.

"If you only play in China, that's not enough," Yang said. "You must win in the global market."

Look for even more volatility in those quarterly global smartphone rankings.

Credit:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-30/how-tight-is-smartphone-market-xiaomi-joins-samsung-apple-in-top-3-for-only-a-few-hours.html

THE APPLE PAY CHALLENGE: LESSONS LEARNED FROM MY WEEK WITHOUT A WALLET

IT'S NOT WITHOUT ITS GLITCHES--AND ITS ENEMIES. BUT APPLE'S MOBILE PAYMENT SYSTEM STILL FEELS LIKE THE FUTURE.

BY HARRY MCCRACKEN

A week ago, when Apple's Apple Pay service became available for the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, I decided to give it the most real-world test possible, by leaving my wallet at home and paying for a week's worth of stuff using only Apple Pay. Along the way, I wrote an initial post explaining the experiment and a midweek update.

The experiment ended on Monday, when I opened my sock drawer, retrieved my wallet, and ceremonially returned it to my pocket. Here's a final report on my week with Apple Pay, and what I learned:

THE QUALITY OF THE APPLE PAY EXPERIENCE VARIES.

My experiment was a success in that there was never an instance when I theoretically should have been able to use Apple Pay, but couldn't. And I never buckled and paid for anything with a card or cash. There were times, however, when Apple Pay felt like a needless complication, not a great leap forward.

Oftentimes, the technology was buttery smooth--especially at my local Whole Foods, where the transactions happened so quickly that it did feel a little like wizardry. But when I tried using Apple Pay at a McDonald's drive-thru, it was so unwieldy that I felt guilty about holding up the hungry motorists behind me.

In principle, the cashier was supposed to be able to hand me a portable terminal so I could do the Apple Pay gesture in my car. Instead, he took the phone from me, then handed it back and asked me to launch Passbook. That's an unnecessary step: The app pops up automatically when the phone nears the terminal. And then he had to hand it back twice more before the payment went through. (Fortunately, neither of us dropped my phone.)

Inside the same McDonald's at the counter, my iPhone 6 kept asking me to hold it closer to the payment terminal--even when I was pressing it up right against the sensor. Eventually, it worked, but if I'd had a credit card or a $5 bill with me, I would have given up on Apple Pay after the first error message.

Why my experience was inconsistent from store to store, I'm not sure. It might have something to do with the brand of payment terminal in use, or the cashier's familiarity with the process, or how deftly I held the phone and performed Touch ID authentication, or general kinks in the system. Or maybe a little bit of all of the above.

THERE'S NOT A LOT OF MARGIN FOR ERROR.

Apple Pay competes with using credit and debit cards the old-fashioned way, by removing one from your billfold and swiping it. And plastic is actually a pretty great way to pay for stuff: It's simple, quick, and reliable.

At its best, Apple Pay is better still, and more secure. (The store's payment system sees only a one-time transaction code for your purchase, not full details of your credit card.) But in any scenario in which Apple Pay works less than flawlessly--whether because of technical glitches, confused cashiers, or user error--it loses most of its advantage over doing a card swipe. If it turned out to be as clunky as I found it to be at my nearby McDonald's over the long haul, there wouldn't be any point in using it.

YOU NEED TO BE SURE WHETHER YOU CAN USE APPLE PAY OR NOT.

The only retailer I visited during Apple Pay's first week that was making an obvious effort to drum up interest in the service was Whole Foods. There was signage promoting the service at every checkout aisle, and it was even mentioned on the payment terminal's screen. Other stores I visited weren't yet playing it up--including the Apple Store itself.

Even if a chain is on Apple's list of official partners, it's not a given that you'll always be able to use Apple Pay. At my local Chevron station, I successfully bought gas--once I figured out that I needed to go inside and pre-pay at the register. But when I went back to the same station later in the week and assumed I knew what to do, I discovered that the cashier was ringing me up at a different register, without a contactless terminal. (When I told her that I had no way to pay other than with my phone, an expression flashed across her face that suggested she regarded me as a crazy person, but she politely started all over at the other register.)

That's another issue relating to the tiny window of time which Apple Pay has to be superior to swiping a card. If you have to pause and wonder if you can use Apple Pay, or be picky about which register you choose, it's already lost its edge.

RETAILERS COULD SCREW THIS UP.

In fact, CVS (where I successfully used Apple Pay several times) and Rite Aid already are doing their best to foil Apple Pay. By the end of the week, they'd disabled contactless payments altogether in order to prevent anyone from using Apple's service at their stores.

Both druggists, along with Walmart and others, are backing a competing digital wallet app called CurrentC, which isn't arriving until next year. It doesn't sound like much fun: To use it, you've got to turn on your phone, launch an app, and scan a QRC code at the payment terminal. And CurrentC isn't really an Apple Pay replacement, since it works with debit cards and bank accounts, not credit cards.

Apple Pay is never going to be the one digital wallet to rule them all, since it will only work on properly equipped Apple devices. But really, what retailers should be doing is welcoming a variety of payment options--not shutting some of them out even though the stores' registers are technically capable of accepting them. The odds seem far higher that CVS and Rite Aid will eventually decide to accept Apple Pay than that consumers will flock to CurrentC.

I'M STILL CAUTIOUSLY UPBEAT.

I cheerfully admit that I'm happy to have my wallet back. More than once during the week, I was in a store and realized at the very last moment that I'd forgotten that I could only shop at Apple Pay-friendly establishments. (I even asked my wife if she'd like me to buy her popcorn at a movie theater, and then had to sheepishly retract the offer.)

But even though my experience with Apple Pay wasn't perfect, and despite obstacles such as recalcitrant retailers, I had a good time using it. I expect to reach for my phone rather than my billfold quite often from now on--partly for convenience's sake, and partly for the privacy and security benefits of being able to pay a store without sharing any information about myself. And if mobile payments finally start to catch on--which seems likely to me--we could end up looking back on last week as the most important moment so far in the history of the technology.

Credit:http://www.fastcompany.com/3037660/the-apple-pay-challenge-lessons-learned-from-my-week-without-a-wallet?utm_source=facebook

The 100 apps that will change your life

Everything you want to know about apps... but were afraid to ask: The Mail runs down the 100 apps that will change your life

Apps are the neatly packaged programs that make your smartphone smart and your tablet more than just a nice, shiny toy. They’re digital tools designed to do a specific job. Here are 100 of the best, most useful apps around. Many are functional, some are just fun. 

Credit:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2810346/Everything-want-know-apps-afraid-ask-Mail-runs-100-apps-change-life.html?ito=social-facebook

Apple Pay isn't magic, and it isn't 'private'

Summary: Apple's new iPhone-based payment system may offer advantages, as will any similar product from competitors. But adding in a smartphone doesn't add privacy, it removes it.

By Stilgherrian

"With Apple Pay, you can use iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to pay in an easy, secure, and private way," begins the Apple Pay security and privacy overview. Well, sort of. It depends on what you mean by "private". As with any commercial product, the brochure is glossier than the reality.

When it comes to security, Apple Pay is certainly a step up from using a raw credit or debit card number. Assuming, of course, that everything has been implemented correctly and is bug free. That happens all the time, right?

Much of the architectural work has been done in conjunction with banks and credit card processors. As explained in thisinfographic from MasterCard, the iDevice doesn't store the card number, but rather the device-specific Device Account Number (DAN). If some other device attempts to authorise a transaction using that DAN, it won't work.

If the device is lost or stolen, just that single device's DAN needs to be cancelled, not the card number itself. There's no need to contact everyone who had that card number. That's one of the real ease-of-use advantages, along with the potential for easy integration with other smartphone apps — not the idea that taking your phone out of your pocket, logging in, and waving it over an NFC terminal is somehow easier than taking a card out of your wallet and doing the same. Besides, a card never runs out of battery, and is still needed for low-tech merchants.

When it comes to privacy, Apple doesn't get to see what you bought, and the merchant doesn't get to see your card number. "Apple Pay doesn't collect any transaction information that can be tied back to you. Payment transactions are between you, the merchant, and your bank," says Apple's guide.

In fact, some merchants have complained that Apple Pay is too private. Well, too private for them. As US sandwich shop chain Panera Bread told Bloomberg Businessweek, Apple Pay users still have to swipe their loyalty card to be recognised. "Obviously, that's not where we want to be," Panera's executive vice president for technology and transformation Blaine Hurst said. "Why can't I just walk up to a cashier with my phone and all that information magically appears?"

But to call such a transaction "private" is to stretch the meaning of the word beyond breaking point.

The time, location, and value of your financial transactions are still known to Apple and to your card provider — and to every other business they might share that data with. The merchant knows what specific goods or services were purchased for that amount, but not who bought them. But all that is true only if no one does any data matching — either directly between the participants, or by providing the data to data brokers such as Acxiom, Equifax, Experian, or Datalogix, or by collaborating with any of the companies connected with the many, many data-logging apps already on your smartphone.

Given the volume of data being collected and shared these days, supposedly anonymous transactional data can easily be re-identified.

In a recent data-matching exercise, Anthony Tockar of Neustar Research analysed a database of New York's taxi journeys to find the home addresses of frequent visitors to Larry Flynt's Hustler Club. To find their names would be an easy second step. Just "working late", eh?

As International Business Times wrote in its report on this research, "It takes just one or two other pieces of information to turn seemingly anonymous tranches of metadata into precise and specific information about millions of individuals — and not just those who are famous."

In recent years, other researchers have found that they could re-identify 40 percent of individuals in a DNA study and re-identify Netflix users from their movie ratings.

Now add to this mix the facts that almost every retail business has security cameras covering their cashiers, and that face-recognition technology is getting very, very good.

Apple Pay may not give merchants any data that allows them to compile a log of everything that a particular customer bought, but their security systems can help. If the customer then happens to do anything in-store that provides a timestamped and geotagged log entry in a data stream that can be cross-matched, bingo! Anonymity disappears.

Businesses may love being able to do this, of course. But how will it stand up under increasingly tough privacy legislation, or what customers themselves will put up with once they figure out what's going on?

Either way, the idea that Apple Pay transactions are somehow "private" needs to die.

Credit:http://www.zdnet.com/apple-pay-isnt-magic-and-it-isnt-private-7000035059/

13 Apps For Transforming Your Phone Into The Ultimate Toolkit

Dark Sky

By STEVEN TWEEDIE

Dark Sky.

The best utility apps are designed to make your hectic life a little bit easier, and maybe even more enjoyable.

From apps that makes budgeting beautiful to ones that let you know the exact minute it's going to rain, there's something for every lifestyle.

We've collected the best of the best in this unique mix, and we tossed in a few lesser-known surprises to show what modern apps can do.

Dark Sky tells you exactly when it's about to rain (or snow).

Dark Sky

Dark Sky does one thing very well: It tells you exactly when inclement weather, like rain or snow, is going to happen. The app is beautifully designed and features a precipitation timeline that lets you know minute-by-minute predictions for when you can expect rain.

Price: $3.99 (iOS)

Level Money helps you budget your spending in an easy and elegant way.

iTunes

Level Money links to your bank account to help you know how much you can spend today, meaning you never have to manually input your purchases. It takes into account your income, monthly spending habits, and how much you're trying to save. If you spend more than you should on a given day, the app will adjust and tell you to spend less the following day.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

FlyCleaners lets you choose when to have your laundry picked up and dropped off.

iTunes

FlyCleaners is great for when you're just too busy to find time to do your laundry. The app lets you choose when to have you laundry picked up, and your first time they provide free bags. Your laundry is then whisked away, and you can set a time on the app to have it dropped off when it's finished.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Sky Guide is a beautiful astronomy app that works like magic.

Sky Guide

You don't have to know anything about astronomy to use Sky Guide. You just aim your phone or tablet at the sky and Sky Guide will highlight the constellations, stars, and planets high above you, displaying details about each. If you want to try locating things on your own, you can use the app's built-in compass to guide you.

Price: $1.99 (iOS)

Venmo makes it easy to instantly pay people quickly and securely.

iTunes

Venmo lets you pay your friends using your smartphone. It's a great tool to have if you need to split a check or you just owe someone money. The app connects to your bank account, and the Venmo's secure 256-bit encryption and Verisign certification means you don't have to worry about your money getting lost in transaction.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

1Password and LastPass will make sure you never have to remember a password again.

App Annie

1Password and LastPass are two competing services that remember all your passwords for you across all your computing devices. With a special browser extension, you just have to remember one "master password" and the apps will do the rest, helping you fill in your login and password details. It's a hassle-free way to keep all your passwords safe and secure.

1Password available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android 

Price: $7.99 (iOS), Free (Android), $49.99 (Mac and Windows)

LastPass available for: iOS, Android, and Windows Phone

Price: Free

Timeful learns your behaviors in order to help you change your habits.

Timeful

Timeful is an intelligent calendar app mixed with a to-do list. The app's algorithm learns how you get stuff done and smartly suggests ways to build new habits and get things taken care of, all on your own terms.

Price: Free (iOS)

Yahoo Weather is the best-looking weather app out there.

Yahoo

Yahoo Weather is an award-winning weather app that is elegant, informative, and plenty useful. The app is packed with gestures, and displays photos that match your location, time of day, and current weather conditions.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Square lets you accept credit-card payments anywhere.

YouTube

Square is the best way to accept credit-card payments on the go through your smartphone or tablet, using a small square reader that plugs into your device's headphone port. It's a great option for small businesses that don't want to work directly with credit-card companies, and the service charges you 2.75% to process transactions for Visa, American Express, MasterCard and Discover. The best part is that you can sign up free and Square will send you one of its credit-card readers at no charge.

Price: Free (Android, iOS)

Hyperlapse from Instagram transforms your shaky footage into a stunning time-lapse.

App Annie

Until recently, to create smooth time-lapse videos, you needed expensive tripods and stabilization gear. Luckily, Hyperlapse from Instagram uses its image-stabilization techniques to smooth out shaky footage, and the results are impressive. It's great for capturing sports moments, car rides, weather, crowds, and journeys on foot.

Price: Free (iOS)

Skype is an easy and free way to video message.

Skype

Skype is still the best way to video-message people, and voice calls and video calls to other Skype users are free. And since Skype works on multiple platforms, it's an easy way to IM or video conference without having to worry about what device everyone is using.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Google Chrome is the best mobile browser.

App Annie

Google Chrome for mobile is great because it's lightning fast, easy to use, and syncs with your Chrome web browser on your laptop or home computer. It also lets you keep open an infinite number of tabs, and it can reduce your data usage by up to 50%.

Price:Free (iOS, Android)

Humin acts like your digital butler.

Humin

Humin is an app that remembers all the tiny details about how and where you met someone, so you can focus on the moment instead of remembering. All you need is someone's number, and Humin will do the rest. You'll then be able to search through your contact using familiar phrases like "met last week" or "lives in Brooklyn."

Price: Free (iOS)

Credit: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-utility-and-productivity-apps-for-iphone-and-android-2014-10?op=1#ixzz3HJiO2rzc