Asos is on the brink of breaking into China’s booming e-commerce market, further broadening the online fashion retailer’s global reach

October 23, 2013 7:50 am

Asos on brink of launching in China

By Mark Wembridge in Hong Kong

Asos is on the brink of breaking into China’s booming e-commerce market, further broadening the online fashion retailer’s global reach. Asos, which on Wednesday reported a near-40 per cent year-on-year jump in its annual revenues to £769.4m in the 12 months to August 31, said that its Chinese operations were “now in [their] final testing phase and will be launched imminently”. Read more of this post

The SingTel killer app that almost was; LoopMe’s launch scrapped following legal battle between firms that worked on it

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 24, 2013

The SingTel killer app that almost was

LoopMe’s launch scrapped following legal battle between firms that worked on it

JOYCE HOOI JOYCEH@SPH.COM.SG

Original launch date: SingTel’s LoopMe app, which saw a low-key soft launch earlier in the year, was slated for a global launch on Aug 15. – PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

[SINGAPORE] Earlier this year, SingTel came breathtakingly close to launching its very own hybrid of WhatsApp and Viber – an app called LoopMe. Its official launch was eventually canned, but not before it was held up for months after a legal brawl broke out between two firms that had worked on it. SingTel has declined to comment on LoopMe, but app stores have a record of LoopMe being offered for free as an “all-in-one communications app” by SingTel Idea Factory Pte Ltd earlier this year. The app has since been removed from the iTunes and Google Play stores. Read more of this post

vWill the Next ‘Golden Age of Television’ Take Place Online?

Will the Next ‘Golden Age of Television’ Take Place Online?

Oct 18, 2013 North America

In an industry first, the Netflix-only series “House of Cards” scored nine nominations — and three wins (for directing, casting and cinematography) — at the recent prime time Emmy awards. Netflix also scored nominations for a Netflix-only season of the sitcom “Arrested Development,” which previously aired on the Fox network. While “House of Cards” was shut out of the acting categories it was nominated in, the Netflix original series is prominent in the company’s strategy to transition from purely a distribution engine for movies, television and other content to a creator of its own programming. And Netflix has plenty of company — fellow distributors Hulu, Amazon.com and YouTube are also developing their own slate of programs. According to Wharton experts, the Internet and the power of data analytics are creating new opportunities for companies to define their audience and target programming to viewers’ likes and dislikes more closely than ever before. Read more of this post

Why Apple Is Embracing the Power of Free; A Shift to Giving Away Software Could Help Tie Users to Device Ecosystem

Why Apple Is Embracing the Power of Free

A Shift to Giving Away Software Could Help Tie Users to Device Ecosystem

DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI and IAN SHERR

Oct. 23, 2013 7:36 p.m. ET

Apple Inc., AAPL +0.98% famous for charging a premium for hardware, is embracing the marketing power of free. The company surprised the industry on Tuesday by saying it would make many of its most-popular software programs, including the latest version of its OS X operating system, free to many users. The move is a shot across the bow at rival Microsoft Corp. MSFT -2.37% But it can also help Apple tie users more tightly into its ecosystem of devices, applications and content. Read more of this post

The Biggest Mistake Companies Make With Social Media

The Biggest Mistake Companies Make With Social Media

Updated Oct. 23, 2013 11:38 a.m. ET

Companies often hear that they need to get on social media, but the path toward a vibrant Twitter or FacebookFB -1.47% feed is filled with lots of potential pitfalls.

With this in mind, we posed the following question to The Experts: What’s the biggest mistake companies make with social media?

This discussion relates to a recent Journal Report on Leadership in IT and formed the basis of a discussion on The Experts blog on Oct. 21.

Want to Screw Up Your Social Media? Keep Doing What You’re Doing.

CESARE MAINARDI : What’s the biggest mistake companies make with social media? They try to go social with the same old way of doing things. And going online with a “9-to-5,” traditional command-and-control mind-set is an almost certain recipe for disaster. Maximizing the potential of social media requires a real reboot in the mind-set of your company and how it connects with employees, users, customers and the broader public. The new recipe is dynamic, always-on, sharing-centric and participatory. And it requires fundamentally new capabilities. Read more of this post

Technology on the Thames; The number of technology companies in East London has roughly quadrupled over the last four years, to around 1,400, according to government statistics

October 23, 2013

Technology on the Thames

By MARK SCOTT

LONDON — Parts of this city have the outward signs of a budding high-tech scene. Run-down warehouses have been remodeled into gleaming office spaces. Some greasy diners have been transformed into trendy restaurants. And many wood-paneled pubs have become wine bars. Still, an important sign of legitimacy has been missing: a London start-up firm hitting gold on the public market. Read more of this post

Buffett Praises IBM Profit Prospects After Share Slump; Buffett said he doesn’t focus on results of an individual quarter and that all businesses have struggles. “Every company, including Berkshire,” faces tough periods. We’ve had a fair number of blips over time.”

Buffett Praises IBM Profit Prospects After Share Slump

Warren Buffett, who invested more than $11 billion in International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), said he is confident in the computer-service provider’s prospects after the stock slumped last week. “They will have record per-share earnings this year,” Buffett, 83, said in an interview on the “Charlie Rose” show, which aired late yesterday on PBS. “That can be disappointing if you expected more. But it is not a bad record, believe me.” Read more of this post

Android Who? The iPad Is Poised to Rule the Universe

Android Who? The iPad Is Poised to Rule the Universe

FARHAD MANJOO

Oct. 23, 2013 8:17 p.m. ET

There are two potential paths for Apple Inc. AAPL +0.98% ‘s tablet business: Call it the Amazing Scenario and the Super-Extra-Amazing-With-Whip Scenario. In the first, Apple’s iPad line continues to earn far more money than rival tablets, and likely remains the top seller in the category. But with increasingly intense competition from low-price devices, the iPad will slowly give up its dominance, eventually slipping to perhaps a quarter or less of the tablet market. This wouldn’t be disastrous for Apple. In this scenario, the iPad would be in the same place as its older brother the iPhone—spectacular earnings from middling marketshare. In other words, pretty amazing. Read more of this post

HTC scales back production lines as cash flow worsens

Updated: Wednesday October 23, 2013 MYT 12:03:11 PM

HTC scales back production lines as cash flow worsens

TAOYUAN, Taiwan:Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp has halted at least one of its four main manufacturing lines, accounting for at least a fifth of total capacity, and is outsourcing production as a sales slump puts pressure on its cash flow, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation. A Reuters reporter who visited an HTC factory at the company’s former headquarters in Taoyuan, about an hour’s drive from Taipei, saw loading docks shuttered and a sign on a locked lobby door that read: “Lobby is temporarily closed for use. Thank you for your cooperation.” Read more of this post

Edison’s revenge: The humble USB cable is part of an electrical revolution. It will make power supplies greener and cheaper

Edison’s revenge: The humble USB cable is part of an electrical revolution. It will make power supplies greener and cheaper

Oct 19th 2013 |From the print edition

FIDDLY cables, incompatible plugs and sockets, and the many adaptors needed to fit them all together used to be the travellers’ bane. But the USB (Universal Serial Bus) has simplified their life. Most phones and other small gadgets can charge from a simple USB cable plugged into a computer or an adaptor. Some 10 billion of them are already in use. Hotel rooms, aircraft seats, cars and new buildings increasingly come with USB sockets as a standard electrical fitting. Read more of this post

The Value Of Apple Weirdly Mirrors The Market For Smartphones As A Whole

The Value Of Apple Weirdly Mirrors The Market For Smartphones As A Whole

JIM EDWARDS OCT. 22, 2013, 4:24 PM 1,469 2

The enterprise value of Apple over the years mirrors the market for smartphones generally, according to an analysis on the Asymco blog. (Enterprise value is a way of measuring the total value of a company based on its market cap, debt and cash.) The Asymco folks suggest that, somehow, Apple is a proxy for the smartphone market as a whole, even though it doesn’t dominate market share. Here’s the chart:

Apple Targets Microsoft Office With Free Apps; Apple Exploits Microsoft Hesitation on Office

October 22, 2013

Apple Targets Microsoft Office With Free Apps

By BRIAN X. CHEN

SAN FRANCISCO — At an event meant to feature its latest iPad tablet computing devices, Apple on Tuesday took aim at one of the biggest and seemingly unassailable businesses of its rival Microsoft, its Office software for tasks like word processing and spreadsheets. Apple said iWork, a set of applications for Macs, iPads and iPhones that essentially duplicates what Microsoft’s Office offers customers, would be free to anyone who bought a new Macintosh computer or mobile device from Apple. Each Apple app used to cost $10 apiece.  The latest version of the Macintosh operating system, Mavericks, will also be free. Read more of this post

China’s betting big on HTML5 mobile apps. Will the US be next?

China’s betting big on HTML5 mobile apps. Will the US be next?

BY HAMISH MCKENZIE 
ON OCTOBER 22, 2013

400 million users. More than 10 percent market share in 10 countries. Market leading positions in India and China. And UC Web, the leading mobile browser in China, is betting it all on HTML5. Today, UC Web announced that Amazon is launching an app on its brower’s open platform, which acts like a de facto operating system. In UC Browser, users will be able to open the Amazon “light app” and shop on the site just as they would if they were using a native app, or visiting the website itself. While the retail giant is one of the first global brands to add an app to the platform, UC Web already has more than 1,800 app partners. Read more of this post

Asia messaging apps seek to upend rivals with marketing might

Asia messaging apps seek to upend rivals with marketing might

5:04pm EDT

By Sophie Knight

TOKYO (Reuters) – In the battle to become the global messaging app of choice, China’s WeChat and Japan-based Line have brought out some large marketing guns – TV ads featuring soccer star Lionel Messi, for instance – that have powered promising bursts of overseas growth. The big bucks strategy stands in stark contrast to other messaging apps, or even apps in general, which spend little on marketing. U.S. rival WhatsApp eschews advertising altogether and has instead relied on word of mouth to become the dominant chat app in many Western countries. Read more of this post

Where Startups Shop for Finance Talent: EBay Emerges as a Training Ground for CFOs

Where Startups Shop for Finance Talent

EBay Emerges as a Training Ground for CFOs

EMILY CHASAN

Updated Oct. 21, 2013 9:04 p.m. ET

Meet the eBay EBAY -0.21% Mafia.

That is the tongue-in-cheek name for the at least 20 executives who have become chief financial officers in Silicon Valley and beyond over the past three years after training in the big e-commerce company’s finance department. Many of these eBay Inc. alumni stay in touch with one another, regularly sharing tips about the growing pains of startups and initial public offerings, while waxing nostalgic over a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon at a trendy San Francisco restaurant. Read more of this post

Netflix Drops on Valuation ‘Difficult to Justify’

Netflix Drops on Valuation ‘Difficult to Justify’

Netflix Inc. (NFLX), the second-biggest gainer in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index this year, fell the most since October 2012 after Bank of America Corp. analysts called its valuation “difficult to justify.” The stock, which has more than tripled this year, dropped 9.2 percent to $322.52 at the close in New York, the biggest drop since Oct. 24, 2012. The shares reversed after jumping as high as $396.98 after hours yesterday following quarterly results that showed Netflix’s video-streaming service passed the premium cable-TV network HBO in U.S. paid subscribers. Read more of this post

Apple Unveils New IPads Amid Crowded Tablet Market

Apple Unveils New IPads Amid Crowded Tablet Market

Apple Inc. (AAPL) introduced new iPads in time for holiday shoppers, as it battles to stay ahead of rivals in the increasingly crowded market for tablet computers. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook debuted a new iPad mini with a high-definition screen, as well as a thinner and lighter design for the larger tablet named the iPad Air. The iPad Air goes on sale on Nov. 1, starting at $499. The iPad mini will be available later in November for $399 and up, higher than the previous model’s starting price of $329. Read more of this post

Amazon Raises Free-Shipping Minimum to $35; eBay to Expand Same-Day Delivery

Amazon Raises Free-Shipping Minimum to $35; eBay to Expand Same-Day Delivery

Online Retailers Shake Up Strategies Ahead of Holiday Season

GREG BENSINGER

Oct. 22, 2013 7:34 p.m. ET

Online retailers are shaking up their delivery offerings on the eve of the holiday shopping season. EBay Inc. EBAY -0.21% ramped up its rivalry with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +1.87% over same-day delivery with an acquisition and plans to reach 25 markets by next year. Meanwhile, Amazon raised the minimum order size required for most U.S. customers to qualify for free shipping. Read more of this post

Starbucks Links Coffee Makers to Web Fueling $27B Market

Starbucks Links Coffee Makers to Web Fueling $27B Market

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), famous for giving away Wi-Fi that links customers to the Internet, now wants to apply Web technology to its own operations by networking coffee makers, refrigerators and other appliances. Over the next year, Starbucks said it plans to double the number of its Clover coffee-brewing machines, which connect to the cloud and track customer preferences, allow recipes to be digitally updated and help staffers remotely monitor a coffee maker’s performance. Also in the works: connected fridges that indicate when a carton of milk has spoiled. “We are investing in different technologies to make it easier for our baristas,” Marianne Marck, a senior vice president for the Seattle-based company, said in an interview. Read more of this post

HTC Said to Plan Smartwatch as Cher Wang Rallies Workers

HTC Said to Plan Smartwatch as Wang Rallies Workers

HTC Corp. (2498) is developing a smartwatch that uses Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software and can take pictures, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cost, functions and sales strategy for the watch are still to be decided before it’s released by the second half of 2014, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. Chairwoman Cher Wang gathered workers at a town-hall style meeting today to tell them the Taiwanese smartphone maker needs to improve its customer focus, Chief Marketing Officer Ben Ho said in an interview. Read more of this post

Asia, Where Mobile Games Flowered, Extends Its Reach

October 21, 2013

Asia, Where Mobile Games Flowered, Extends Its Reach

By ERIC PFANNER

TOKYO — When SoftBank, the Japanese telecommunications provider, announced last week that it had agreed to buy a 51 percent stake in a Finnish mobile game company for $1.5 billion, many people in both industries reacted with disbelief. Suddenly Supercell, a three-year-old game developer in Helsinki with only 100 or so employees and two successful games, was worth $3 billion. The investment in Supercell, the developer of Hay Day and Clash of Clans, reflects the growing global ambitions of Asian companies like SoftBank in mobile gaming, the fastest-growing part of the game business. Read more of this post

Is Smart Wi-Fi Router the Next Big Thing in China?

Is Smart Wi-Fi Router the Next Big Thing in China?

By Tracey Xiang on October 12, 2013

Smart Wi-Fi router HiWiFi confirmed that it had risen some ten million dollars in Series A funding from Innovation Works and GGV Capital. It is rumored that famous Chinese angel investors, Zhou Hongyi and Lei Jun, and Baidu showed interest in it too. The gadget caught our eye because of a built-in app that helps users in mainland China visit web services inaccessible here. More than 20 thousand pieces have reportedly been sold since July launch.

Read more of this post

Omnichannel Alchemy: Turning Online Grocery Sales to Gold

Omnichannel Alchemy: Turning Online Grocery Sales to Gold

by Chris Biggs and Julian Suhren

OCTOBER 02, 2013

Ask most industry executives about the prospects for online grocery shopping, and you’ll encounter hesitancy, if not skepticism. Ask consumers—especially younger, more affluent consumers and families—and they’ll tell you that they are excited by the idea. They wonder why the industry has been slow to deliver. Online grocery shopping has yet to take off in most countries for many reasons—cost, logistical complexity, and the prospects for profitability key among them. There’s also the fact that many of the business’s early pioneers went bust. We believe that the prevailing doubtful view is about to hit its expiration date. We expect the global online grocery market to reach $100 billion by 2018. (See Exhibit 1.) Based onnew consumer research in eight countries¹, as well as on our experience with leading companies around the world, we also believe that establishing profitable online grocery operations is not only possible, it is essential for those that want to continue to grow and maintain market leadership. Early movers will seize a significant competitive advantage over those that come late to the game.

Read more of this post

Smartwatches Pose 1970s-Style Threat to Swiss Industry

Smartwatches Pose 1970s-Style Threat to Swiss Industry

In the 1970s, Switzerland’s watchmakers were almost put out of business when they underestimated the importance of the quartz watch. Though the industry recovered and is even prospering, today it faces a new technological challenge from “smartwatches” such as Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)’s $299 Galaxy Gear. As with quartz four decades ago, the devices are being met with a shrug. According to a survey by consultants Deloitte, two-thirds of executives in the Swiss industry say smartwatches pose no threat. Read more of this post

With Amazon’s Kindle Worlds, fanfiction authors can now earn money from their formerly not-for-profit enterprise

Updated: Thursday October 17, 2013 MYT 11:58:23 AM

Playing in other worlds

BY ELIZABETH TAI

With Amazon’s Kindle Worlds, fanfiction authors can now earn money from their formerly not-for-profit enterprise.

I CONFESS: I’m an occasional reader of the weird, wacky and wonderful of fanfiction where people write stories based on their favourite TV shows or books. Some do it so well that it might’ve been another episode of the series. Others go in directions that would probably be unauthorised by right holders: relationship pairings that would raise eyebrows, crossovers with other TV shows, gender swaps, male pregnancies… Read more of this post

With gargantuan revenue, Amazon’s recent profits have been slim to nonexistent. In its quest to become the world’s bazaar, are earnings beside the point?

October 21, 2013

Sales Are Colossal, Shares Are Soaring. All Amazon.com Is Missing Is a Profit.

By DAVID STREITFELD

SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly every day, Amazon announces a new venture. It just bought an online education company and introduced a payment mechanism for Internet retailers that competes with PayPal. It started selling wine for the first time in New York, updated its line of tablets, gave the go-ahead to three new comedy pilots and began a design competition for its fashion division. It is setting up mini-warehouses inside suppliers like Procter & Gamble to ship goods faster. But one thing it will not be announcing this month: a significant profit. Who cares? Amazon lost money in 2012, and analysts are anticipating another loss when the company releases its third-quarter results on Thursday. Yet the stock is at a record high. Read more of this post

Twitter arrives on TV in India with Airtel deal

Twitter arrives on TV in India with Airtel deal

October 21, 2013

by Pankaj Maru

Technology and platform convergence is the next big thing that businesses are looking for – whether it be mobile and internet or internet and TV. It’s all about a revenue stream for the future. Airtel Digital TV, an arm of Indian telco Bharti Airtel, revealed today that it has integrated Twitter with its digital TV offerings for the first time. With this new form of convergence, users can actually tweet while watching TV and can view tweets related to their TV shows as well. It launches tomorrow at no extra charge to subscribers. Read more of this post

The TV Industry is Consolidating Like it’s 1999

October 21, 2013, 5:01 PM

The TV Industry is Consolidating Like it’s 1999

KEACH HAGEY

The use of so-called “sidecar” agreements to let TV station owners get around FCC media ownership rules has been going on for two decades. But, as the WSJ reports today, the role of these agreements in the rapid consolidation of the TV industry in the last year and a half has begun ringing alarm bells in Washington. Just how fast is the TV station business consolidating? The anti-media consolidation group Free Press has an exhaustive report out today painting a detailed picture. The group writes that 2013 is on track to be the biggest year for broadcast television consolidation since 1999, with 211 full-power stations changing hands in the first eight months of this year. Read more of this post