It has been announced that Telefónica, Spain’s largest telecom company, will accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. A crypto payment feature has been added by Spain’s largest crypto exchange, Bit2Me, to Telefónica’s Tu.com website, enabling its customers to make purchases with crypto. Furthermore, the telecom company has also invested in Bit2Me with further details expected to be released in the near future.
It was also announced recently that Telefónica had entered into a partnership with Qualcomm, the chip maker, in order to collaborate on several metaverse-related initiatives together. With this agreement, Telefonica will be able to deploy experiences using Qualcomm’s technology through its network infrastructure, which serves as a platform that the company’s technology will be integrated into.
In Telefónica’s view, the combination of immersive devices with powerful networks, as well as the development of decentralized Web3 technologies, has many potential benefits. There is a tremendous opportunity to create new customer experiences by bringing the digital and analog worlds together, re-imagining commerce, entertainment, and communication in the Metaverse, as a result of this agreement.
Snapdragon Spaces is a platform that Qualcomm Technologies has introduced to enable developers to unleash the full potential of wearable augmented reality, utilizing industry-leading technology, a cross-device SDK, and an open XR ecosystem. As a result, developers will be able to develop innovative experiences that will lead the next generation of immersive technology. The company will integrate this technology into initiatives that will be developed through its Metaverse Hub, an area dedicated to Web3, augmented reality, and metaverse initiatives.
XR will bring a new dimension to the digital and real world, enabling people to communicate, do business, socialize and entertain themselves in new ways. We are preparing for this future, building the infrastructure, upskilling the teams, evolving our services and putting in place the partnerships which will enable us to bring innovative new devices and services to customers. Qualcomm Technologies has played a critical role at each stage in development of our industry and our collaboration with Snapdragon Spaces will help to drive growth in the emerging XR ecosystem and realize the next evolution of the internet, the Metaverse.
Daniel Hernández, VP Devices & Consumer IoT of Telefónica
XR will redefine how we live, work and socialize. At a crucial time in the technology’s development and roll-out, we are excited to be partnering with Telefonica to grow the active communities developing the ecosystems of the future through Snapdragon Spaces, which we believe will unlock the power of XR and take it to the next level.
Dino Flore, Vice President, Technology, Qualcomm Europe, Inc
It’s not new for these two companies to be interested in the metaverse and augmented reality technology. In May, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said the metaverse would be a big opportunity for the companies involved. Recently, the company signed a deal with Meta to develop metaverse-specific silicon.
