Startup Talk: PediSand Wins Today Show QVC Competition

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PEDISAND WINS TODAY SHOW QVC COMPETITION: Arkansas-based startup Pedisand has been announced as the winner in QVC Sprout’s Big Idea Competition. A national audience voted Pedisand as the best product through a competition on NBC’s Today Show on Wednesday morning. Pedisand is a hands-free foot file that is ergonomically designed to enable people to remove dead, dry, cracked, callused skin from their feet without the use of their hands. The Pedisand will remove and smooth dead skin while allowing users to maintain ergonomically-correct posture and eliminate wrist and hand stress. The product, created by two central Arkansans – Karmen Hart and Carolyn Jones – is manufactured by Poly-Tec Molding in Northwest Arkansas.

MOST CONSUMERS UNAWARE OF OCT. 1 ‘SMART CHIP’ CREDIT CARD DEADLINE: As the major credit card issuers prepare for the Oct. 1 deadline to issue EMV “smart chip” cards to account holders, a recent survey shows that more than half of U.S. consumers have no idea what an EMV or “chip” credit card is.

Harbortouch, a leading national point of sale (POS) system and merchant services provider, published the results of large-scale national survey investigating consumer awareness and usage trends of EMV or ‘chip’ enabled credit cards. The survey, fielded to nearly 18,000 U.S. adults in late August, found that 56% of consumers are unaware of what an EMV or ‘chip’ credit card is.

On Thursday (Oct. 1), payment networks including VISA and Mastercard, will shift responsibility for credit card fraud onto U.S. merchants who do not adopt EMV cards as their primary method of credit card payment. These smart chips embedded within EMV cards are intended to make credit card fraud less likely. While common in Europe and other regions around the world, the technology standard is just now being adopted in the U.S.

The Strawhecker Group (TSG) released data on Tuesday that represents EMV-readiness by merchant type. Among merchants in the retail category, 69% of shoe stores and 59% of department stores have EMV-ready terminals. On the lower end of the spectrum, 23% of stationary stores and 24% of book stores have EMV-ready terminals.

APPLE SELLS MORE THAN 13 MILLION iPHONE 6s IN THREE DAYS: Apple announced on Tuesday it had sold more than 13 million new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models, a new record, just three days after launch. iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available in more than 40 additional countries beginning Oct. 9, including Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Taiwan. The new iPhones will be available in over 130 countries by the end of the year.

“Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customers’ feedback is incredible and they are loving 3D Touch and Live Photos, and we can’t wait to bring iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to customers in even more countries on October 9.”

CENSUS BUREAU RELEASES NEW JOB CREATION DATA ON STARTUPS POST RECESSION: The U.S. Census Bureau has released a series of three new infographics from its Business Dynamic Statistics that provide annual data on establishments, firm startups and job creation and job losses.

The graphs address startups’ contribution to the total number of jobs over the last several decades, contrast net job creation by startups and the oldest firms over the last few years (including the Great Recession through 2013), and show employment in startups as a percentage of total employment by state in 2013. Click here to view more.

GE CONTINUES DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, ANNOUNCES DEDICATED CLOUD FOR APP DEVELOPERS: Industrial giant GE continued its leap into the technology sector with an announcement this week of new digital products and partnerships that will deliver more than $5 billion in revenue in fiscal 2016.

By 2020, GE said it expects more than $15 billion in software and solutions revenue driven by Predix, a recent launched dedicated cloud environment for app developers. By pairing digital technology with its domain expertise across industries like aviation, energy, healthcare and transportation, GE said it is transforming itself into the world’s leading digital industrial company, and new data has revealed a potential 20% increase in performance for its customers.

With the release of new software and products powered by Predix, GE said it is transferring its industrial domain and technology leadership to customers and paving the way for an industrial app economy worth more than $225 billion. “Industrial companies need to become digital to survive,” said Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE. “While the Internet has transformed consumer worth, industry has not yet seen its fair share. Industrial productivity, which averaged four percent per year from 1990-2010, has slowed to one percent in the last five years. We must turn information into insights and insights into outcomes.”

SPRINT BACKS OUT OF UPCOMING WIRELESS AUCTION, T-MOBILE MOCKS DECISION: The wireless industry is trying to figure out Sprint’s decision not to participate in the upcoming FCC 600 MHz spectrum incentive auction. The nation’s fourth-largest wireless company said after thorough analysis that it “has concluded that its rich spectrum holdings are sufficient to provide its current and future customers great network coverage and be able to provide the consistent reliability, capacity, and speed that its customers demand.”

After the decision, TMobile CEO John Legere made fun of Sprint’s decision on his twitter feed. “Tough times at @Sprint?! They are crazy to sit out this historic auction! Others will show up thanks to the reserve.”

The FCC has tentatively set March 29, 2016 as the start date for the 600MHz auction, which is intended to generate revenue to alleviate national debt and help to fund a nationwide first responder network. Most analysts say the auction is critical to the wireless industry because it will be one of the last times government will sell low-frequency air waves that help carriers provide lower-cost service and better in-building coverage in rural and suburban markets.