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KuaPay is banking on China to fatten its share of the mobile wallet market

KuaPay is banking on China to fatten its share of the mobile wallet market

By Tim Fernholz @timfernholz August 4, 2013

The mobile wallet business is crowded and tough to navigate, but Kuapay has a solution: find a monopolist and partner up. In 2014, the company will begin working with China UnionPay, the country’s sole payment processor, to tap into the sought-after Chinese market, which has more mobile users than any in the world. The big problem with using your cell phone to pay for physical purchases is that it’s hard to beat cash and credit cards for convenience. That means most mobile wallet businesses live and die with their partners—financial institutions, telecoms or merchants—which can put mobile wallet products in front of consumers, and give them a reason to use them with discounts and incentives. For an example, look no further than Square’s mobile wallet, which partnered with Starbucks to score a $25 million investment and placement in 7,000 locations in the US. Kuapay, which allows you to use your credit cards through a single, secure mobile app, lags behind its competitors, at least in the United States, where only 600 merchants are equipped to take its payments. But the company also has a presence in Spain, and in Chile, where CEO Joaquin Ayuso de Paul says it is the “official” mobile payments provider. What does that mean? It means that unlike in the US, where payment processors proliferate, in Chile the country’s payment processor has a monopoly, and Kuapay is its mobile wallet solution. Read more of this post

T.J. Maxx, others look past chaos to e-commerce bonanza

T.J. Maxx, others look past chaos to e-commerce bonanza

Sun, Aug 4 2013

By Phil Wahba

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Low-price retailer T.J. Maxx plans to open an online store this year, as does rival Saks Inc’s Off Fifth outlets, making 2013 the year technology may have caught up with the speed of fashion. For such chains, which feature clearance items, last-year’s fashions and overruns, their fast-moving and often unpredictable inventory has made selling goods over the web complex. “Retail is chaotic. Off-price retail is even more chaotic,” said Fiona Dias, a leading e-commerce expert and chief strategy officer at ShopRunner. Read more of this post

Shiny Chromecast Could Dim Cable TV; Chromecast offers a window into Google’s vision of making the Internet a platform for TV

August 4, 2013, 4:59 p.m. ET

Shiny Chromecast Could Dim Cable TV

Chromecast offers a window into Google’s vision of making the Internet a platform for TV.

MIRIAM GOTTFRIED

Even a simple innovation can sometimes help tip the scales toward revolution. Google, GOOG +0.26% along with technology peers like Intel, Apple and Microsoft, is vying to shape the future of TV. Its latest gambit: the introduction of Chromecast, a $35 device that plugs into a TV and allows users to view content from mobile devices or computers on the big screen. On its own, Chromecast won’t suddenly upend the bundled-TV business model. For now, only Internet content and video from YouTube, Netflix NFLX -1.18% and the Google Play store can be watched via the device. And it doesn’t include sports or live programming. Read more of this post

Future of Cable Might Not Include TV

August 4, 2013, 7:38 p.m. ET

Future of Cable Might Not Include TV

At Cablevision, Broadband Could Become Primary Offering Eventually

SHALINI RAMACHANDRAN And MARTIN PEERS

Predicting that transmission of TV will move to the Internet eventually, Cablevision Systems Corp. CVC +5.20% Chief Executive James Dolan says “there could come a day” when his company stops offering television service, making broadband its primary offering. His comments may be the first public acknowledgment by a cable CEO of the possibility of such a shift, long speculated about by analysts. It comes amid growing tensions between cable operators and channel owners over rising programming costs, highlighted Friday night when Time Warner Cable Inc. TWC -0.49% dropped CBS from its channel lineup in major markets such as New York and Los Angeles.

Read more of this post

China Mobile launches own-brand smartphones

China Mobile launches own-brand smartphones

English.news.cn   2013-08-03

By Shen Jingting

BEIJING, Aug. 3 (Xinhuanet) — China Mobile Ltd officially entered the booming mobile terminal market on Friday as it unveiled its own-brand smartphone models. The China Mobile M701, a 5-inch screen Android-based smartphone equipped with MediaTek Inc’s 1.2-gigahertz quad-core processor, is priced at 1,299 yuan ($212). The China Mobile M601 is a 4-inch screen, dual-core Android smartphone that targets lower-end users with a price of 499 yuan. The two smartphones are produced by original equipment manufacturers, Hisense Group and Shenzhen-based BYD Co Ltd, respectively. They will hit the Chinese market through China Mobile’s online and offline outlets this month. Read more of this post

Apple’s ‘Mission Statement’ Is Making People Worry That The Company Has Gone To Hell

Apple’s ‘Mission Statement’ Is Making People Worry That The Company Has Gone To Hell

HENRY BLODGET AUG. 3, 2013, 11:41 AM 16,896 34

Where are we headed, Tim?

A tech-industry insider sent us the note below highlighting what Apple’s web site is describing as the company’s “mission statement.” The executive’s reaction to this mission statement was not positive. He took it as a sign that Apple has changed fundamentally — and for the worse — since Steve Jobs died. I don’t know what Apple’s official mission statement was when Steve Jobs was alive – but I’d be shocked if it was this pathetic piece of generic corporate mumbo jumbo drivel. It’s almost as if Tim Cook hated Jobs. The “mission statement” the executive was referring to is the paragraph below, which can be found on Apple’s investor relations site and at the bottom of Apple press releases: What is Apple’s mission statement?

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

If that really is Apple’s “mission statement,” it is indeed pretty lame. It’s not a mission statement so much as a list of product lines. And it would be hard to imagine a less-inspiring, more prosaic description of what Apple is (or used to be) all about. Read more of this post

The future of TV; Netflix, Google, Apple, and Intel think they can remake the industry, but there’s a lot of money and brain-power standing in their way

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2013

Don’t Touch That Dial

By ALEXANDER EULE | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Netflix, Google, Apple, and Intel think they can remake the industry, but there’s a lot of money and brain-power standing in their way.

Netflix is having a good summer. The Internet streaming service garnered 14 Emmy nominations last month, including a Best Actor nod for House of Cards star Kevin Spacey. Four days later, the company announced that U.S. subscribers to its video-streaming service hit 30 million.

Netflix shares (ticker: NFLX) are up 170% on the year, making them the best performer in the S&P 500. But it’s the future of TV that investors are really excited about, and Netflix is not shy about putting itself in the center, declaring on its Website, “Over the coming decades and across the world, Internet TV will replace linear TV….As Internet TV grows from millions to billions, Netflix is leading the way.” Read more of this post

China’s third-party payment market had total transactions reaching US$1.127tn in the first half of 2013; China UMS is the leader in the nation’s third-party payment industry, taking a market share of 46.3%, followed by Alipay with 17.8%

Third-party payment market in China worth RMB7tn so far this year

Liao Kuei-ju and Staff Reporter

2013-08-04

In the first half of 2013, China’s third-party payment market had total transactions reaching 6.91 trillion yuan (US$1.127tn), already achieving 66% of last year’s total, our sister paper Commercial Times reports, citing the China Electronic Information Industry Development Institute. The mainland is seeing slowing economic growth but its e-commerce industry has outperformed, with sales jumping more than 100% a year. To grab a slice of the pie, international credit card giant Visa in April began its certification program for third-party payment companies. On Aug. 1, Chinese third-party payment company Tenpay announced it will begin offering secure third-party payment services for international credit cards immediately. Read more of this post

With An Astounding $6 Billion Valuation, ServiceNow Has Become ‘The Next Salesforce.com’

With An Astounding $6 Billion Valuation, ServiceNow Has Become ‘The Next Salesforce.com’

JULIE BORT AUG. 2, 2013, 4:32 PM 2,648

It’s been over a year since ServiceNow’s IPO practically saved the post-Facebook IPO market single-handedly. In June 2012, with an opening share price of $18, the company had a jaw-dropping valuation of over $2 billion. (It was originally priced at $17 the night before the IPO.) And it and hadn’t even hit annual revenues of $100 million. Fast forward to this week: ServiceNow’s shares are trading at about $45, giving it a nearly $6 billion valuation. That makes it the fifth most valuable company in Bessemer Venture Partners new “Cloud Index” that tracks the 30 biggest software-as-a-service public cloud companies. At the time of its IPO, ServiceNow, which offers cloud apps that automate the help desk function for enterprises, was considered proof that the tech industry was in another bubble. But, it turns out, it was proof that ServiceNow is the next Salesforce.com, CEO Frank Slootman told Business Insider. Read more of this post

One Of The World’s Biggest Mobile Ad Companies Is In Huge Trouble And Has Stopped Paying Its Bills

One Of The World’s Biggest Mobile Ad Companies Is In Huge Trouble And Has Stopped Paying Its Bills

JIM EDWARDS AUG. 2, 2013, 10:46 AM 5,244 2

We first told you that Velti, the little-known but relatively massive mobile ad company, was in trouble back in June, when we demoted CEO Alex Moukas to 10th place on our annual ranking of the most important people in mobile advertising. The reason? The company cut about 300 of its 1,100+ jobs after Q1 2013 revenue collapsed 20% to $41 million. Velti is in the middle of a restructuring. Its stock, which once traded above $10, is now at $1.08. Its COO, Christos Kaskavelis, has been terminated. The company’s market cap is now less than its projected annual revenues. Read more of this post

The New York Times Company did the world of journalism a big favor today by finally disclosing the exact revenues of its digital business.

IT’S OFFICIAL: We Never Need To Worry About The Future Of Journalism Again!

HENRY BLODGET AUG. 1, 2013, 6:15 PM 10,620 24

The New York Times Company did the world of journalism a big favor today. The company finally disclosed the exact revenues of its digital business. The numbers were impressive. And they made clear that no one ever needs to fret about the future of journalism again. Specifically, the New York Times reported that the revenue of its digital business is now about $360 million a year. That’s composed of about $200 million of advertising revenue, which is basically flat, and another $150 million of digital subscription revenue, which is growing nicely. Assuming the digital subscription revenue continues to grow as the company rolls out new subscription products, which it will start to do next April, the New York Times Company should soon have a $400 million digital business. Why does that mean we never have to worry about the future of journalism again? Because a $400 million digital business is a healthy business, one that will support a large, talented newsroom. Even if the New York Times’ print paper, which still generates most of the company’s overall revenue of about $2 billion a year, were to shut down tomorrow, the company would still be able to fund an excellent newsroom. Read more of this post

Movie fans who were intrigued by director Peter Jackson’s use of high frame rates in “The Hobbit” are now getting a chance to see the superclear format online.

High frame rates debut online with special player

BY RYAN NAKASHIMA

AP

AUG 2, 2013

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – Movie fans who were intrigued by director Peter Jackson’s use of high frame rates in “The Hobbit” are now getting a chance to see the superclear format online. The second season of the YouTube Web series “Video Game High School” is being released online at 48 frames per second (fps), double the 24 fps that has been standard in movie theaters for the past century. The season’s second episode debuted Thursday after the premiere episode attracted nearly 2 million viewers. Online video programming is growing fast as major networks and small upstarts go after young audiences who increasingly watch shows on laptops, tablet computers and mobile phones. Laying claim to the high-frame-rate niche could help “Video Game High School” stand out in a crowded field. By capturing moving objects on camera at higher frame rates, filmmakers are able to cut down on blurriness because the camera’s shutter opens and closes much faster. That reduces the amount of time that an object moves across an open lens and gives each image, or frame, more clarity. The experiment is partly a way to explore how to use high frame rates creatively while also pioneering a new business model online. Read more of this post