Professional Documents
Culture Documents
VIDEO I INTERVIEW
Delve into
the world of
cryptocurrencies
A future that
is present
and past
The great novelty of these
currencies is its technological
development, the way money changes
hands: the intermediary disappears and
the customer has the ability to record,
secure and make the payment or collection.
It’s a peer to peer (P2P) model that makes unnecessary, at least in theory, the
presence of an intermediary. Behind Bitcoin there is a technological design
that allows disintermediation, point to point transmission, data encryption
and digital signing. Their transmission in the form of instant messages, with
popular apps like Telegram (or WhatsApp), allow to guess that such applica-
tions may soon play a leading role in virtual currencies.
VIRTUAL WALLETS
Such as Google Wallet, Apple Pay, etc.
VIRTUAL MONEY
They are credits in online gaming or
local currencies. They remind the days
of Second Life, back in 2003
MOBILE MONEY
Transmitted via mobile phones
DIGITAL CURRENCIES
Like bitcoins
Only the two last categories have the decentralized component that makes
virtual currencies revolutionary. However, these four branches coexist and
complement each other depending on their purpose. Its use is still scarce,
but their development is experiencing a boom of activity that involves en-
trepreneurs, startups, investors and accelerators. We are going through a
present of creative chaos, a maze of possibilities and expectations where it
is still unclear which is the dominant species, the king of the jungle who will
exercise the law of the strongest.
Offer a solution to
a problem and improve
an activity’s efficiency
A purpose for
Above all, its existence
it must be beyond financial
speculation A sufficient
better critical
than what mass
already
exists
Did anyone bet a dime on Google in 2008 when it launched Android? May-
be even less people than on Chrome OS, the operating system that aims to
reach hundreds of millions of computers around the world starting this year
and may sweep Windows off the map. Five years ago, the fate of Microsoft
could change. Steve Ballmer, then CEO of the company, criticized Google
for having two operating systems and described its strategy as unclear. His
own employee Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, corrected
him saying: “Android is a bet of the past, based on applications; Chrome is
the operating system of the future, when everything will be in the cloud.”
From today’s perspective, Ozzie was totally right about the strategy of his
then rival Google (although he lasted only two more months in Microsoft).
The entry
of banks in
the sector
(Potential)
bitcoin-based
success stories
The physical world in the 21st century has evolved into five major curren-
cies grouping more than 90% of transactions: dollar, euro, yuan, pound and
yen (in this order). There are more, but they aren’t relevant from a global
perspective and don’t have influence beyond certain territories. But with the
Internet this approach changes, as the ‘territory’ itself is global.
BITCOINS
It has already become a name associated with a range of products, the
same as Kleenex to tissues; Coca-Cola to any soda with certain taste, or
“Google it” for searches on the Internet. But the bitcoin protocol is also the
spark behind hundreds of initiatives and startups that can become poten-
tial successes. And they will reach that stage when they become part of the
daily life of users.
NAMECOIN
Of French origin (Gerald Boily and Vince Durham are linked to its design),
this bitcoin-based ‘currency’ is actually a domain registrar. It serves to gener-
ate a new set of protocols, localization and identification on the Internet of,
for example, the rightful owner of a website. Its features allow, among other
things, to speed up the tedious task of transferring a domain (without in-
termediaries), its registration, and reinvent the classic DNS (Domain Name
System) hierarchy that today configures any connected device, be it a web
or an app. Its structure and mode of operation is a clone of Bitcoin: limited
to 21 million units maximum and a progressive creation of them under the
mining mode.
DODGECOIN, LITECOIN
There are countless developments and versions of bitcoin, but if we have
to mention some of them, these two should be highlighted for two reasons:
they improve the safety of other systems (through complex strings and
previous encryption) and are more used than the rest in terms of activity
and transaction. Their issuing volume (maximum of coins in circulation) and
mining (creation of money) is less limited.
RIPPLE
If bitcoin transfers money in the form of computer code, Ripple does the
same but with credit. It is therefore a P2P credit system based on the bitcoin
technology and concept. Its users transfer among themselves these virtual
credits, with the objective of eliminating the intermediary (the bank). The
system itself and its users act as banks in the form of community. They are
the ones who record the debt, ensure that it has been returned (or not) and
allow to establish lender-borrower relationships among them.
ETHEREUM
It aims to provide an alternative protocol based on blockchain to create
‘smart contracts’. It uses an integrated turing-complete programming lan-
guage which allows to write ‘smart contracts’ and decentralized applications
to create their own arbitrary rules for property, transaction formats and state
transition functions.
This protocol goes beyond ‘the currency’; it addresses decentralized file stor-
age protocols, decentralized computing, decentralized prediction market...
it also has the potential to increase the efficiency of the computer industry
and boost other peer-to-peer protocols.
COINBASE
A platform of reference for the exchange of virtual currency
“A currency that doesn’t depend on any country... you can be your own
bank and make transactions worldwide very easily and quickly. Or what’s
the same: you have the control and the reins of your own money.” This
is how Brian Armstrong defines the US startup Coinbase, a leading
platform in the field of buying and selling virtual currency which was
launched in 2012 as an alternative to the current monetary system and
is regulated by an algorithm and the trust of its users. The platform has
currently 2.5 million users.
In the United States, its exchange has conquered California and New
York, and its new service, Instant Exchange, is an insurance against vola-
tility as it allows users to send and receive payments in bitcoins eliminat-
ing the risk of exchange rates. When bitcoins are purchased or sent to
another person or company it is possible to pay for them immediately
Invest
Pay Friends
Convert USD to Bitcoin
and back through
your bank account Coinbase keeps your
bitcoin secure
Shop Online
using the local currency, and when received in the bitcoin wallet they
can be transformed directly into the local currency, avoiding future ex-
change rate variations. Licensed to operate in 25 US states, Coinbase is
transparent in all its operations against money laundering and its com-
prehensive identification model of customers prevents possible frauds.
GEMINI
Two key names in the Bitcoin ecosystem are related to this project: Tyler and
Cameron Winklevoss, the Harvard blond twins who became famous after
their appearance in the movie about Facebook as the architects behind the
social network. They are two of the biggest holders of bitcoins almost from
the beginning; that is, they were on top of the pyramid when the bitcoins
bubble and speculative fever exploded in 2013. Their fortune in bitcoins mul-
tiplied after investing several million dollars. Now they want to create a bit-
coins stock exchange to compete with other markets such as Coinbase and
provide liquidity to que currency incorporating large banks and Wall Street
hedge funds to the system. The Winklevoss have also invested in Xapo.
XAPO
Behind this brand is one of the key names in the birth of online banking 15
years ago: Wenceslao Casares. He was the founder of the online bank Pa-
tagon, which failed after its millionaire acquisition by the Santander Central
Hispano of Emilio Botín, José María Amusátegui and Angel Corcóstegui. The
project was ahead of its time, but nevertheless it ended up being the base
of Santander’s Openbank. With Xapo, Casares is at the forefront of bitcoin, as
a leader in virtual currencies storage and with its concept of ‘safe’. He has
also developed a currency and payment gateway for users and businesses.
Casares has garnered wide support, from the Winklevoss and funds such
as Benchmark, Fortress or Ribbit Capital (participated by BBVA). He is one
of the most experienced fintech entrepreneurs and achieved ‘exits’ with the
sale of his previous project, the financial security app Lemon, which he sold
to the US group Lifeclock.
COINFFEINE
It is a Spanish startup owned by Bankinter and other seed venture capital
funds. It’s still at a very early stage, but it has already shown its intention to
specialize in a particular area: become the bitcoin for the identification and
transaction of financial assets such as stocks, mutual funds, commodities,
warrants, options, futures... How? It remains to be seen how it does it, but the
concept of peer-to-peer transactionality enabled by bitcoin-style technolo-
gies provides a new system that, theoretically, makes unnecessary the pres-
ence of a depository or settlement agent, reducing the financial relationship
to the issuer and the investor.
KANTOX, PEERTRANSFER...
They are among the most successful specialized projects in the financial
scene. Born in Barcelona and Valencia, these two startups compete with
banks in two specialized finance segments: sending money or remittances,
and currency exchange for businesses. Behind both projects we find peer-
to-peer platforms using technologies similar to what bitcoin suggests for
transactions. If they remain as they are, there is not much to add, but both
startups can very well grow with additional services and gradually become
the banks of the future.
AMAZON COIN
The e-commerce giant is always in the front line when it comes to innova-
tion in retail. And if to do so it has to launch its own virtual currency, then
so be it. Amazon launched Coin in 2013 to provide discounts to users of its
digital content stores such as Kindle (books), Amazon Store (apps), Instant
Video or Music for series, films and audiovisual material. Even though it has
never provided figures regarding its use, the currency is still available for its
millions of customers in these key moments for the company.
Through its Prime program, Amazon is transcending the online world and
has become a logistics platform for its partners. Prime is a private sales club,
with users paying a subscription to receive multiple services. The latent pres-
ence of Amazon Coin can generate disruptive synergies in combination with
Prime. Don’t forget that the value of a currency is in its use, the number of
users and the size of the market of goods that can be purchased. Amazon
has more than 20 million different products for sale in its pages.
DROPCOIN
Another currency with a laudable goal: reward creators of content, at a time
when the absence of solid business models for small media prevents a
greater plurality of information. With just a click, this startup from Navarra
(Spain) offers readers of websites the possibility of making micro-donations.
The security
dilemma
P2P, strength
and weakness
Given this starting point, Bitcoin and other
virtual currencies would be far from being
immune and infallible.
Bitcoin from
its origins
2008
November
The first public appearance of
Bitcoin was in the mailing list
cryptography2, where a user
with the pseudonym Satoshi
Nakamoto announced that he
had been working on a new
system of electronic money.
Sources:
Bitcoin milestones
Bitcoin historical quotations: profits from mining
2009
February
A profile created in the P2P
Foundation website under the
name Satoshi Nakamoto posted
the message “Bitcoin open source
implementation of P2P currency,”
which opened the door to
participate in the network.
September
The domain Bitcoin.org
is registered.
October
The first currency
exchange rate is set:
1 dollar equals 1.3
bitcoins.
2010
May
The first commercial Bitcoin
payment is accepted. That
same month, a user pays for
a 25 dollars pizza with 10,000
bitcoins. That will be the most
famous transaction of the
currency when in 2013 its
price escalates to over 1,000
dollars per bitcoin.
2011
June
Wikileaks comienza a
aceptar Wikileaks starts
accepting payments
in bitcoins. The virtual
currency becomes
famous; it is now a
global issue and an
object of concern to
several governments.
November
The first major international
conference on Bitcoin is held in
Prague.
2012
March
The web hosting
platform Linode is
Summer hacked, suffering the
Coinbase, Peercoin and Ripple, three greatest theft so far
of the most important startups of of bitcoins to a group
the virtual currency ecosystem are of users (at that time
founded. In this fruitful summer, valued in more than
Bitinstant suggests creating bitcoin $ 200,000).
debit cards. There is a boom of
projects based on Bitcoin, focused
on the uses of the technology rather
than on its financial component.
September
There is a conference in London on the virtual
currency. The Bitcoin Foundation is created, acting
as a reference for the ecosystem during the
following years. WordPress, the most used platform
to create websites in the world, begins to accept
payments in bitcoins.
2013
April
The bubble starts to grow. For
the first time, Bitcoin goes over
$ 100, and in a matter of days
October it exceeds $ 250. The financial
Silkroad closes after an industry, starting with its most
FBI operation related to aggressive investors, sets its
drug dealing and money eyes on Bitcoin as its value
laundering. It is the first starts to surge.
seizure of bitcoins by
authorities, and therefore
there is a transfer of bitcoins
to a government account.
End of 2013
The Central Bank of China
prohibits the use of bitcoin
in its financial system. Other
countries such as Thailand
joined the ban, while other
December governments (Canada, Australia,
More than 5 million dollars in Japan...) opt for pragmatism:
revenue are registered through they allow their activity and
bitcoin mining in a single day. This tax the bitcoin like any other
record triggers the participation in financial asset. International
the ecosystem and attracts new agencies specialized in money
users. That same day, bitcoin marks laundering put the focus on the
a record of $ 1,151 per unit. bitcoin system.
2014
February
Mt.Gox, the largest exchange
market for bitcoins, shuts down.
It unleashes a wave of panic in
the price of Bitcoin, which falls
to 500 dollars, 50% less than a
month before.
Summer
Some of the most important
startups in the bitcoin
ecosystem raise important
rounds of financing for
their development. The
ecosystem starts to become
professionalized.
2015
Hitos de bitcoin.
Citi response to the HMT Call for Information on Digital Money. Diciembre 2014.
Finance Magnates.
CoinDesk.
in this
published over the course of the period
based on its relevance to the Banking
issue
industry. The summaries were prepared
by the editorial board. Further
information is made available for
each given topic.
2 Technology trends
In the following section,
we outline the upcoming
technologies that will chan-
ge everything, with predic-
tions on what may come of
them in financial industry.
3 Innovación
Core Banking
Platform 80% of banks will replace
their core systems
New Formats
within five years
Mobile Banking According to the Invigorating Banking report,
sponsored by Five Degrees and done by Finextra
Research, there is strong support for core system
Social Business replacement and renovation. 83% of respondents
believe that their bank’s technology can no longer
Mobile Payments support their needs, and another 89% think it is
inevitable that banks quickly modernize technological
processes to avoid losing market share.
Customer-
Thus, four out of five banks believe they will have to
Centricity replace their core banking system within the next three to
five years. In addition, nearly 90% are in favor of including
Brands & SaaS or cloud-based services as part of the infrastructure,
Branding according to this survey among bank executives.
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform New challenges and
opportunities for banks
New Formats
New technologies have already been the engine
of transformation of business models in different
Mobile Banking industries, and therefore the vast majority of banks
are trying to deal with “the inexorable trend towards
Social Business the digital market, which is changing the behavior
of users and leading to the emergence of new
disruptive competitors and new business models.”
Mobile Payments
According to a publication of the Unacc, this
new group of companies is challenging the
Customer- established system reinventing different parts of
Centricity the ecosystem of financial services: from Square,
as a disruptive payments services company for
Brands & points of sale, to ZestFinance, which uses Big Data
technology for credit rating operations, or Simple,
Branding rethinking the user experience in retail banking.
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
Core Banking
Platform Millennials prefer
mobile banking
New Formats
According to research conducted by Gemalto, 92% of the
young millennials have a mobile phone, 42% have a tablet
Mobile Banking and 38% have both devices. In addition, seven out of 10
connect to the Internet more than two hours a day, and almost
Social Business four of every 10 millennials spend more than five hours.
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform Social business… a
profitable enterprise
New Formats
The concept of ‘social business’ developed by
Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen
Mobile Banking Bank and Nobel Peace Prize, refers to a self-sufficient
company in financial terms, which aims to achieve a
Social Business social objective, whether related to the protection of
environment, the promotion of science or arts, etc.
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform Barack Obama orders
the use of Chip&Pin
New Formats
cards
Mobile Banking This measure recently approved in the US will
favor the mobile payment sector and European
providers. It should be noted that in the United
Social Business States the majority of cards still use magnetic
strips, a format much less secure than the
Mobile Payments Chip&Pin, widely established in Europe.
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform The Iceberg Theory applied
New Formats
to customer experience
The Iceberg Theory, based on the minimalist
writing style of Ernest Hemingway, sustains
Mobile Banking that the heart of a story has to lie below the
surface, and shine through. This theory is behind
Social Business the premise that a good customer experience
requires a lot of work: if the strategy is really well
designed, the client won’t see all the effort.
Mobile Payments That is: you have to address all the problems and
find solutions before the user detects them, or
Customer- at least before he perceives there is something
Centricity wrong. The challenge is to make invisible all
your work in order to truly put the customer
at the center of the corporate strategy.
Brands &
Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Brands &
Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform Discover the
crowdfunding
New Formats
ecosystem
Mobile Banking Entrepreneurs are one of the big beneficiaries
of the rise of the P2P financial ecosystem,
as it responds to their needs and demand
Social Business for project funding in the initial stages. It
is at this point when investors come into
Mobile Payments scene, becoming a peer-to-peer alternative
to the traditional financial market. In fact,
in these early stages of funding these
Customer- investors are often called Friends & Family,
Centricity as they are part of the core group who
believes in the entrepreneurial project.
Brands & But beyond these figures we find
Branding professional investors: business angels,
crowdlending platforms and even donors
Crowd Finance or prospective clients who buy in advance
the product or service. Hence, to give
coherence to this new model are emerging
App Ecosystem P2P technology platforms in different
versions: crowdfunding, crowdlending,
equity crowdfunding, donations
Gadgetology or rewards, etc.
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform Fansino, the winning
app of the Mobile
New Formats
Premier Awards
Mobile Banking Despite being in its beta phase, Fansino has
been the winning application at this year’s
Mobile World Congress. It is a music-related
Social Business app that helps connect artists with their fans.
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform Apple Watch is in stores
Australia, Canada, China, Spain, France, Germany,
New Formats Hong Kong, Japan, United Kingdom and United
States are among the first countries to sell Apple’s
Mobile Banking new device, its smartwatch, a high precision
gadget offering ‘groundbreaking’ features for
health and sports. The Watch is available online
Social Business or by reservation at Apple Stores and Apple
Authorized Resellers in China and Japan.
Mobile Payments
“Apple Watch begins a new chapter in the way we
relate to technology and we think our customers
Customer- are going to love it,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO,
Centricity when presenting the device. It allows users to
send messages, read emails and answer incoming
calls on their iPhone directly from the wrist. It
Brands & offers up to 18 hours of autonomy and comes
Branding with a unique charging solution that combines
Apple’s MagSafe technology with inductive
Crowd Finance charging to connect quickly and easily.
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
Core Banking
Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
‘Social banking’, a new
Customer-
Centricity banking experience
Branches, online banking, mobile banking... these
Brands & are concepts that are more or less common
among bank customers. However, the so-called
Branding social banking is increasingly gaining strength
as a new experience in the interaction between
Crowd Finance customers and banks. If until now banks used
social networks to monitor and analyze the
behavior of their users, services, customer care
App Ecosystem and, above all, strategies of brand marketing,
now they are beginning to design and develop
Gadgetology financial services designed for social networks.
An example: the Indian bank Kotak Mahindra has
launched Jifi, a service which integrates social
New Banking networks to attract new users. It’s the fusion of
Concepts Twitter and Facebook with traditional banking.
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform The Data spring
Madrid was this spring the city of Big Data, bringing
New Formats together various organizations and initiatives: the Inno-
vaChallenge Data Week, the Big Bang Data exhibition
Mobile Banking and the cycle ‘Vivir en un mar de datos’ (Living in a sea
of data), among others. It was an intense program of
activities which involved a large number of organiza-
Social Business tions and initiatives to explore and reflect on the crea-
tive, social and political practices that arise around this
Mobile Payments culture of data.
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform Stress in the office can
cause panic attacks
New Formats
across the company
Mobile Banking As the world economy continues its
transformation, it is important to maintain a
level of balance within the workplace. The
Social Business challenge is to promote an environment
free of stress in the office in order to achieve
Mobile Payments balance, engagement and productivity.
Brands &
Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
Trending issues
In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have
been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The
summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each
given topic.
Core Banking
Platform The TechShop movement:
how to learn electronics,
New Formats
welding or carpentry
Mobile Banking TechShop was founded in 2006 by Jim Newton
and Ridge McGhee, a professor of robotics and
a science adviser who were inspired by the
Social Business lack of access of their students to the tools and
equipment required for robotics. The challenge
Mobile Payments was to give people access to machinery and
technology normally only open to specialists.
Customer- Anyone can join this movement and have access to
Centricity multiple tools: computing machines, industrial sewing
machines, oscilloscopes, laser cutters, 3D printers and
all kinds of welding equipment, etc. These groups offer
Brands & training on the use of each tool, but the key of the
Branding learning process is that once you have mastered the
basics everything really depends on you: Do It Yourself.
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking
Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
EACH SECTION EXPLAINED
Crowd Finance
A process where small amounts are money raised for a
definite purpose, Crowd finance sources funds collectively
from individuals. In other words, the money comes from a
wide range of individuals and not from a single entity. Read
more about it here.
Smartwatches:
a new way to make apps
“For all of its technological marvel, the Apple Watch is still a
smartwatch, and it’s not clear that anyone’s yet figured out what
smartwatches are actually for. “ This phrase from Nilay Patel, a
journalist from The Verge , pretty much sums up the current
state of wearable technology. It’s hot, fashionable, everyone talks
about it, but we still don’t know exactly what do we need it for.
The Watch has just been launched with prices ranging from 350 to
15,000 dollars. It’s still too early to know whether it will start a
revolution just as the iPod, iPhone and iPad, but many large
technology companies were waiting for Apple to present its new
gadget to start experimenting with such devices.
With this in mind, they have created an application that offers quick
information about the state of public transport, which with a simple
tap on your wrist notifies you when you have to get off the train and
gives you the departure times of buses and trains without having to
take the phone out of the pocket. Furthermore, they claim that “using
a wearable app may also be safer” because “city dwellers are
generally walking too fast, crossing streets, using stairs, jostling
through crowds.”
Jorge Gutiérrez also believes that “there is no room for many gestures” on
smartwatches, but he considers the crown one of the great features of Watch.
“A finger on a smartwatch covers around 60 or 70 percent of the screen,
and 80 or 90 percent of the information,” he says. “I believe that all the in-
teraction you can move from the screen to the crown will be a success, and
I would be surprised if other manufacturers don’t begin to incorporate this
type of control.”
So, will we all end up wearing technology? Pedro Piñera says “it’s a mystery.”
“The iPad was criticized when it was launched, but Apple makes good qual-
ity products. It is possible that iPhone users also want this device”, he says.
Jorge Gutiérrez believes they will become “usual” devices, but he doesn’t
think they will be “as ubiquitous” as smartphones. “In their current form they
are going to be targeting high income customers, and won’t have as much
penetration”.
bbvaopentalent.com
After the close of registration, this year will be
remembered by the global character of its en-
tries, as more than 650 startups from over 60
countries from all around the world have en-
tered BBVA Open Talent.
USA UK 48
166 Spain 143
Mexico 47
Colombia 57
InnovaQuotes,
an app to inspire you
Discover #InnovaQuotes, your personalized quotes
generator. It’s an app from BBVA Innovation Center’s
Facebook page that has been awarded on this year’s
Digital Awards with the recognition of Best Campaign on
the Social Networks. In this app you can find hundreds
of quotes that will grant you the necessary inspiration for
innovation and entrepreneurship.
More than a year ago, BBVA Innovation Center began to share via social
media all sorts of “inspiring” content in the form of quotes. The motivating
nature of the content secured Twitter and Facebook users’ interaction.
After a long time sharing them, and given the positive reviews of these in-
spiring quotes, at BBVA Innovation Center we wondered: why not create an
app that helps you find the perfect quote for the right moment?
On June 24th this app was awarded the Best Campaign on the So-
cial Networks award on the 2015 edition of the Digital Awards. These
awards, organized by OMExpo and eCOMExpo, recognize the best digi-
tal marketing and e-commerce solutions of the year.
WEB
Mobile banking
The transformation towards digital banking generates
new business models. It is the era of mobile banking.
Innovation startups innovadoras as Simple, Moven,
GoBank, Fidor Bank are leading the way to mobile
banking, financial institutions without branches that are
causing a digital transformation in banking.
Cloud services
Many business services are already cloud-
based, but do you know how to make the
most out of them? The average citizen
is not much aware of the existence of
cloud-based services, but businesses
are increasingly choosing them over
the traditional ones. Cloud computing
is progressing at increasing speed. It
seems unstoppable, and its influence will
be perceivable on every aspect of our
everyday lives.
Virtual Reality
Total immersion in a world increasingly within your
reach. Virtual reality has outgrown its sci-fi dream status
to become an innovative trend on which companies are
increasingly betting on. “It helps the decision-making
process in a world that doesn’t exist yet.” This is one
of the core values of virtual reality, the trend that has
seen many companies accross different sectors, from
architecture to communications, place a bet on it. It is
no longer a matter of videogames.
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