Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” looks at the Pokéconomy, the multibillion-dollar businesses and opportunities that have sprung up in conjunction with Pokémon Go’s meteoric rise in the last month.
• Transaction times using EMV cards, or chip cards, are slowly getting faster, but mobile payments seem to be the real solution to the problem. On average, a chip card payment takes 13 seconds, while a mobile payment takes only six.
• Online giant Amazon has launched its Amazon Dash handheld shopping device in the UK. Customers can use Dash to scan a product’s barcode and order that product on Amazon. The device is currently available only in London.
• The Land Transport Authority of Singapore has been working on trials of automated vehicles for public transportation since last year, and has received eight national and international proposals, including one from the UK’s Delphi Automotive. Delphi hopes to launch a fully automated taxi service by 2022.