Collen Kriel

Collen Kriel is a beat writer for SiliconANGLE covering consumer technology with a focus on mobile. He has a passion for words, the Internet, the Web and all things tech. He endures a minor fascination with people who define themselves by the brand of smartphone they own. Prior to writing for SiliconANGLE he worked as an account executive in the IT industry, directly for, or in association with companies like Mimecast, IBM, VMware and Micros. He is an avid traveller currently making his way around South East Asia

Latest from Collen Kriel

Apple ordered to pay $532.9M as jury finds it guilty of patent infringement

In a ruling late Tuesday night, Apple Inc. was ordered to pay $532.9 million after a Texas federal jury found it guilty of patent infringement. Patent licensing firm Smartflash LLC alleged that the iPhone maker’s iTunes software utilized technology it holds three patents for. The final amount  Apple was ordered to pay is roughly two-thirds ...

Visa Europe introduces ‘tokenization’, paves way for Apple Pay and rivals

Announced on Tuesday, Visa Europe’s move to introduce tokenization to member banks by mid-April could pave the way for Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay and competing mobile payment services to be introduced into Europe earlier than expected. Tokenization provides consumers with a more secure way to use their credit cards at retailers via smartphones. The service ...

Apple Genius Bar to get IQ bump

Apple Inc. is gearing up to change how walk-in Genius Bar appointments work in its retail stores in an effort to improve the overall customer experience. Sources familiar with the company’s plans told 9to5Mac that the new initiative, called “The new Concierge”, will roll out in Apple U.S. stores starting March 9th. The new Concierge ...

With iOS 8.3 Siri learns new languages and emojis become more diverse

On Monday Apple Inc. rolled out iOS 8.3 beta to developers. Along with the usual bug fixes, the update includes support for more diverse emojis and new languages for Siri. The iOS emoji set now includes same-sex families and users have the option to change the skin tone of the traditionally white emoji characters. The ...

Rumor: Apple poaching Samsung’s battery experts

Apple Inc. is apparently poaching Samsung Electronics Co.’s experts in next-generation technology including those specializing in signal- and visual processing management. Anonymous officials in the employ of the South Korean tech giant spoke to The Korea Times and also claim that Apple’s recruiters are targeting Samsung employees with expertise in battery technology. “Some of our ...

Apple to invest $1.9B in two European data centers, biggest and greenest project ever

On Monday, Apple Inc. announced plans to build and operate its first ever data centers in Europe. The company will invest 1.7 billion euros ($1.93 billion) to build two data centers powered by renewable energy. The facilities will be located in Ireland and Denmark and will be used to run services such as iTunes, iMessage, ...

Google Wallet, Softcard and wireless carriers join forces against Apple Pay

In January, rumors surfaced that Google Inc. was in talks to acquire NFC-based mobile payments service, Softcard. On Monday, Google officially announced that it had purchased “technology and intellectual property” from Softcard to improve its own mobile payments service, Google Wallet. Softcard, formerly known as Isis Mobile Wallet, is owned by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile ...

Apple plans to produce electric car in 2020, hired auto experts to deliver

This past week has yielded a flood of rumors suggesting that Apple Inc. is working on an electric car. It is not the first time rumors of an electric car from Apple have done the rounds, but this time there is significantly more evidence supporting the notion.   Apple wants to produce an electric car ...

Latest OS update brings Android apps to BlackBerry 10 handsets

Yesterday BlackBerry rolled out a major software update, giving BlackBerry users on BlackBerry 10 devices such as the Q5, Q10, Z3, Z10, and Z30 access to over 200,000 Android apps as well as features such as Blend and a Siri-like competitor called Assistant. The update, BlackBerry OS 10.3.1, now allows users to access both the ...

Apple poached engineers for own battery division, says electric vehicle battery maker

A123 Systems, a lithium-ion battery maker for electric vehicles and other sectors, has filed suit against Apple Inc. for poaching key engineers to build its own large-scale battery division. Filed in Massachusetts on Tuesday, the complaint (via 9to5mac) names five employees who have gone to work for Apple since June last year and alleges that some ...