Thanksgiving weekend may be over, but holiday weekend shopping is not yet over for the tech world — not until Cyber Monday comes to a close. With International Business Machines’ IBM Watson expecting 14%+ growth from 2014, Microsoft MSFT offering mega deals on its apps and Xbox One, Alphabet’s GOOGL Google promising charity for every use of Android Pay and going Star Wars-ey with its apps and services, everyone seems set for the holiday season.
Here are the top stories from the shorter week:
Facebook Instant Articles In Asia
Facebook FB followed up its U.S. launch of Instant Articles in May with an India launch in November. And similar to the U.S., where its launch partners included leading media houses like The Atlantic, BBC News, Bild, BuzzFeed, The Guardian, National Geographic, NBC, The New York Times and Spiegel, in India too, it has signed a deal with India Today, The Quint, Aaj Tak, Hindustan Times and the Indian Express. The U.S. and India are Facebook’s first and second largest markets, so launching in these countries makes the most sense.
But other Asian countries like Thailand and Vietnam are also big Facebook users. This could be why the company’s Singapore office is looking to hire support staff, as reported by the WSJ.
Despite publisher protests about the way Facebook distributes the articles and the social network’s restrictions on the number and quality of supporting ads, its media partners have jumped to 20 in the U.S. So even if the distribution platform is not so lucrative for publishers, it is quite a success for Facebook.
Moreover, this success can only increase as publishers with smaller means get on board. Facebook even serves the ads if the publisher agrees to part with 30% of the proceeds, which would be a good deal for new/smaller outfits.
Alphabet Testing Project Loon
Rumor and speculation seem to follow technology companies filing patents or requiring government permission for experiments and trials. And that’s exactly what’s happening with Alphabet right now.
Alphabet’s X Labs unit has filed a request to use frequencies of 71GHz to 76GHz and 81GHz to 86GHz, which are typically used for very high-speed data transfers (network equipment vendors would be exploring this range for 5G services). The company’s request spans all the 50 U.S. states as well as Puerto Rico and are a continuation of earlier tests done at Winnemucca, Nevada. And that’s about all the information that’s public.
But because the person filing the document is Astro Teller (heads X Labs and is in charge of Project Loon, drones and autonomous vehicles among other things), and because Winnemucca’s airport industrial park was apparently used as a temporary balloon launching facility, it’s being surmised that the filing is related to Loon.
The company’s earlier efforts were limited to 4G LTE services to remote areas in emerging markets like Thailand and Sri Lanka that either have low broadband penetration or topographies that aren’t conducive for wired connections. But these efforts look targeted at the future (high frequencies plus tests begin on Jan 1 and will continue for 2 years).
It’s now being speculated that the signals will be used for balloon-to-balloon transmission, while other methods will be used to transfer the signal to and from the earth.
|
Company |
Last 4 Days |
Last 6 Months |
YTD |
|
AAPL |
-1.25% |
-10.59% |
+6.73% |
|
FB |
-1.74% |
+31.03% |
+34.50% |
|
YHOO |
-0.51% |
-24.57% |
-35.29% |
|
GOOGL |
-0.65% |
+38.64% |
+50.00% |
|
MSFT |
-0.48% |
+13.73% |
+13.49% |
|
INTC |
-0.57% |
+2.71% |
-6.92% |
|
CSCO |
-0.87% |
-7.16% |
-1.18% |
Other stories you might have missed–
Corporate
Intel INTC Nabs Qualcomm Executive: Intel has hired former Qualcomm VP and co-President of its chip business Venkata Murthy Renduchintala, putting him in charge of a host of things including PC chips, software, services, platform engineering and IoT. He will head a new unit called Client and IoT Businesses And Systems Architecture Group. The lead role at Qualcomm will now go to Christiano Amon, who had previously shared the position with Renduchintala.
Yahoo Gets Warned of S&P Downgrade
Jet.com Raises Some Capital: ecommerce upstart Jet.com has raised another $350 million in cash in a finance round that values the company at over a billion dollars. Another $150 million could be in the offing. The latest round was led by Fidelity, but other illustrious investors include Google Ventures, Alibaba and Bain Capital.
Jet.com initially made money off $50 subscriptions, but in October it reportedly scrapped the fee to get more value-conscious customers on board. The company, which offers over a million household items has said that its September sales have jumped 65% to $33.2 million and the company intends to reach an annualized runrate of $500 million by year-end. It promises users the best deals and has an algorithm figuring out the best logistics of each order. No comments on profits yet.
Amazon AMZN Air Freight Service: Rumor and speculation say that Amazon is testing a drone delivery service to launch sometime next year. Operating out of Wilmington Ohio, the service is being referred to as the Air Transport Services Group (ATSG).
Motherboard’s Kari Paul and Baird’s Colin Sebastian seem very optimistic about the service with Sebastian also mentioning media reports about Amazon’s hiring people from within the small package industry in preparation for the launch. The global fulfillment market is a $400-450 billion opportunity, according to the analyst. Amazon is not new to the market since it’s been active with its fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program. So the company might just be the one to take on traditional players like FedEx and UPS.
Alibaba BABA Sells Stake: Alibaba is not interested in retaining its 7% stake in the merged company Meituan Dianping, which merged a few weeks back. The merger created the biggest on-demand services platform in China along the lines of Groupon or Yelp in the U.S. Selling its stake at this time makes perfect sense since the business is backed by Alibaba rival Tencent. Also, Alibaba, along with its financial arm Ant Financial have a new on-demand platform of their own called Koubei, in which they have jointly invested a billion dollars. The stake sale could raise $1 billion for Alibaba.
Legal/Regulatory
Google Is Serious About RTBF: In accordance with the EU’s ruling on a citizen’s right to be forgotten, Google has put out an official blog saying that it evaluated more than 1.2 million URLs on the basis of more than 350K requests (some requests contain multiple URLs) removing 42% of the URLs. It has taken into consideration the private/public status of the individual, the severity of the crime and whether the information serves the public interest.
Since judging each case on these merits is not an easy task, Google has a team of lawyers and other professionals at it and also a core committee to vote on particularly difficult cases. People aren’t that satisfied with the results however and at times the company has been criticized for making mistakes. At any rate, the sites with the maximum number of removals include Facebook, YouTube, Google Groups, Badoo, Google Plus, annuaire.118712.fr, Twitter, Wherevent and 192.com. The results are available elsewhere on the web but not on EU domains, something the EU is unhappy about and Google is protesting.
New Technology/Products
Facebook Tests Music Streaming: Facebook is testing what it calls “Music Stories” (30-second music videos from music services like Spotify) with a section of iOS users. The service allows friends to share a music clip with their friends. If successful, Facebook can go for a broader launch and also introduce other music services.
It has been rumored that Facebook has been in talks with music labels this year, but there are no announcements from the leading social network yet. At any rate, Facebook can afford to take things slow as it already has a roaring advertising business and a huge, engaged user base. This could be just one more reason to stay on Facebook, or more.
Xiaomi Tablet Gets Intel Inside: Xiaomi has used Intel’s quad-core Atom X5-Z8500 chip in its new 7.9-inch Mi Pad 2 tablet instead of the NVIDIA Tegra K1 it used in version 1. This is a very big win for Intel since Xiaomi is one of the leading brands in China. If all goes well, Intel can get into more Xiaomi devices (particularly its phones, which appear to be selling like hot cakes). Intel has been chumming up with Chinese players and the Chinese government, and it has also thrown a ton of money into its mobile push, so this isn’t a total surprise. But investors will cheer because Intel needs to stop subsidizing its chips if it’s to make any money in the mobile business.
Yahoo Versus Ad Blockers: Yahoo may have joined a host of other websites in blocking people that use ad blockers. Online Internet companies like Yahoo generate most of their revenue by selling ad impressions, so the inability to serve ads is tantamount to the inability to generate revenue. For the user, it is the same as using a service without paying for it. Some people in the U.S. with ad blockers installed weren’t allowed to access their email accounts until they put those programs on pause, so they let out their frustration on social media. Yahoo for its part said that it was a test tried out on a small section of its U.S. users and not a policy change (not yet anyway).
Google Into Mortgage Broking: Google has teamed up with LendingTree and Zillow to offer comparison shopping for home buyers. It is currently offering over 300 mortgages from more than 75 lenders and users can start their search after answering basic queries about their requirements. The best part is, it’s a free service for users since Google picks up a fee from participating lenders. The service is only available in California right now and it’s not clear when other states will also enter the picture. Google has reportedly done broader trials of the service in the UK.
Google Starts Massive Ad Campaign for Star Wars: Google has tied with Lucasfilm and Disney to bring the Star Wars theme to pretty much everything you do on Google. So if you happen to choose a “light side or dark side,” Google will give your mail a matching skin and add Star Wars events to your calendar. Translate could begin to recognize languages in distant galaxies and Maps could include classic Star Wars vehicles. Searching for “A long time ago in a land far away” will display Star Wars content and Cardboard will also see VR-style changes. The promo will run up to Feb 1, so if you get tired of the Star Wars taking over your life before then, you can opt out at any time.
Google’s New Wearable: It’s a small lapel pin no bigger than a casino chip according to CNET. But with a simple tap it is activated to read your spoken query and transfer through Bluetooth to a nearby smartphone from where Google search picks up and sends the answer back along the same route. Neat, if everything works smoothly and also if it can work like a personal assistant, but we’ll know more only much later as the device is still being tested. Also, it better be pretty or it will be limited to only the geekiest of us.
M&A and Collaborations
Cisco Acquires Acano: Cisco has announced its intention to acquire London-based Acano for $700 million in cash and the assumption of equity awards and additional retention-based incentives for Acano employees, all of which will become part of Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group. Acano makes collaboration infrastructure and conferencing software, which in combination enable video conferencing between people using video systems from different vendors and across cloud and hybrid environments. Cisco has been investing in this area, well ahead of the trend of sharing video across networks and devices.
Microsoft-Volvo In AR Deal: Volvo will be using Microsoft HoloLens in its showroom, which will create holograms of security and other features of its cars. When prospective buyers wear a Microsoft HoloLens headset, they will be able to view the car in different colors from all sides and also try out the various features. They may also be able to take a test drive, all in augmented reality. The two companies also intend to collaborate in autonomous driving.
Some Numbers
Nomura Smartphone Predictions for 2016: Nomura analyst Jeffry Kvaal has reportedly predicted that smartphone sales will continue to decelerate next year to 12.9%, from 14.4% forecasted growth in 2015 and 28.6% achieved in 2014. Smartphones will grow from the 75% of total handset sales projected this year to 82% next year and 88% in 2017. Apple will go from 12% to 13% market share with Samsung going down from 20% to 18%. Microsoft and LG will also lose share. Chinese companies Huawei and Xiaomi will grow share. The top 5 vendors will be Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi in that order.
Google Gets Charitable: Google has partnered with DonorsChoose.org to support 6.4 million U.S. children with special needs. The search giant will donate a dollar for every purchase made through Android Pay and will close the offer when it reaches a million dollars. A million dollars to get as many Android users hooked on to the payment system doesn’t seem like a bad idea. But Android fans may use the service more than once, while novices and others may not use it at all. Google needs to get as many users as possible on to its own payment system, so hopefully it will publish numbers telling us how successful this campaign turns out to be.
Americans Are Big Googlers: comScore Media Matrix and Video matrix analytics says that 90% of unique online video views were on Google sites in October with 77% of all Americans visiting a Google website. Total unique visitors to Google video sites were 173.7 million followed by Facebook at 91.1 million and Yahoo at 56.9 million. Unique viewers include home, work, desktop and mobile users. Also, 95% of all digital media users (245.9 million) visited a Google property in October. Facebook had the second largest number of visitors (218.9 million), followed by Yahoo (210.9 million) Amazon (189.8 million), Microsoft (182.6 million), AOL (174.8 million), CBS (144 million), Comcast (143.3 million), Apple (140 million) and Mode Media (136 million).
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