Daily News Digest- 27th Aug'14

Thought of the Day:

Today in History:

Following made the Headlines:

India:

• Telcos Agree on Mobile Banking Through SMSes: Mobile companies have been persuaded by the Modi government to share a slice of their infrastructure to pave the way for basic banking services through cell phones. Fund transfer, balance inquiry in savings account, change of PIN, mini statement, cheque book request, etc, will be possible with simple text messages from ordinary handsets and without accessing the Internet. In the past two months, ten telecom companies have signed pacts with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the payments gateway backed by the government, to facilitate the service. It will operate on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channel of the telcos -a simple interactive text messaging system that even allows credit and debit card transactions. However, the current plan is to restrict USSD to basic banking services, including low-value bill payments. “The primary reason for the delay in setting up this infrastructure was the apprehension of telcos that their business will be affected if they provide the USSD channel to the banking system. But Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) was justified in indicating that the communication channel should not be restricted...The service is available to anyone having a mobile phone or bank account,“ AP Hota, MD & CEO of NPCI told ET. Each transaction well cost the user Rs 1.50. According to Rajan S Mathews, Director General of GSM industry body COAI, telcos were hesitant to sign on as they felt USSD is an outdated technology which cannot support volumes. “Also, we didn't want to be reduced to dumb pipes...The initial interconnect charges which we were offered were very low. Then, Trai intervened and the charges were raised. Now, it is ensured that the charges will cover our costs... the banks will be mainly responsible for the quality of service, customer care, etc. We just provide access...This has been signed under request of Trai,“ he said. The USSD system can widen the scope of mobile banking transactions from “wallet services“ provided by telecom firms through a separate entity. While under wallet services, subscribers can carry out transactions like prepaid mobile charges, utility bill payments and money transfers among other things, the USSD enables inter-bank transactions. For instance, a subscriber of telco A with an account in Bank B can transfer money to a subscriber of telco C having an account with bank D. Here, telcos access NPCI's centralised system which is linked to banks. A senior banker ET spoke to said that mobile banking can be a more effective way to push financial inclusion than setting up ATMs in remote locations. While the USSD also enables card transactions (a service that can dramatically improve volumes), any such move could be resisted by telecom firms ¬ some of which have plans to apply to Reserve Bank of India for payment bank licence.

• Pepsi Asked to Cut Sugar Content: Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Tuesday asked PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi to bring down sugar content in its products, hours before Nooyi had a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Co May use Stevia 19 Nooyi apprised Modi about PepsiCo’s investments and other initiatives including social programmes in the country, a person familiar with the development said. “It was a courtesy call without any agenda,” the person said. PepsiCo had last year announced plans to invest 33,000 crore in India by 2020. According to a statement from the food processing ministry, Badal asked Nooyi to bring down the sugar content in PepsiCo soft drinks. The maker of Pepsi cola and Mountain Dew citrus-flavoured drink declined to comment on reducing sugar content in its soft drinks. A person familiar with the company said internationally PepsiCo is working on reducing sodium and sugar levels in its products as part of a stated global goal. In several developed markets, it has already started using Stevia — a zero-calorie sweetener that comes from a plant — as a substitute for sugar. The natural sweetener from a traditional medicinal plant grown in Paraguay and Brazil has not yet been brought to India because it has not got the nod from food regulatory authorities in the country. Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are likely to start using Stevia in India as soon as it is allowed in the country, the person said. According to the food processing ministry statement, Badal also stressed on the potential for providing healthy meals to children in her meeting with Nooyi and the PepsiCo boss said her company would strive to provide healthy and nutritious products for the Indian market.

• Hero Aims to Sell 12 M two wheeler units by 2020: Hero MotoCorp is aiming to sell more than 12 million two-wheelers by 2020, or about double the number it achieved last fiscal year, as the company consolidates its No. 1 position in global two-wheeler sales. The company is building capacities, developing new bikes and expanding overseas for achieving the target. In the fiscal year through March 2015, it projects sales to grow at a double-digit pace over last year's 6.2 million units. The company expects at least 10% of the targeted volume for 2020 coming from overseas markets, Vice Chairman and MD Pawan Munjal said while delivering the keynote address at the Motilal Oswal Global Investors Conference in Mumbai. The company is looking for a location in southern India to set up its sixth local manufacturing plant, which would take its installed capacity to more than 12 million units. All four of its current factories are in northern India ¬ two in Haryana and one each in Uttarakhand and Rajasthan. It is building a fifth plant at Halol in Gujarat.

• Cox & Kings Bags Deccan Odyssey Deal: Travel company Cox & Kings has got a five year management, sales and marketing contract for the luxury train Deccan Odyssey from the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corp, an executive said Tuesday. “We are taking over the on board and off board operations of Deccan Odyssey,” he told ET. The contract, which also includes refurbishment of the train, can be extended by an additional five years. Cox & Kings will take over the management of the train from Oct 5. The train itinerary will be now sold exclusively by Cox & Kings individually and as part of its holiday packages. The travel company may increase amenities like additional spa cars in the train, the executive said. It will also enhance the network to include cities such as Shirdi in Maharashtra some cities in Karnataka.

• Adidas eyes e-tailing biz to protect retailers' margins: Sports footwear and apparel company Adidas Group is pioneering a new online model in India, which would be operational by the year-end. The move is aimed at protecting its trade partners' turf from the rampaging growth of internet shopping sites, and to open up a new channel of growth for itself as well as its retail partners. At present, the Adidas Group has its own e-commerce businesses in limited markets such as the US and the UK. While there has been a buzz around brick-and-mortar retailers such as Kishore Biyani's Future Retail, Reliance, DLF Brands, and the Birlas looking closely at the online model, there are few examples of any overseas consumer product company using the ecommerce route to garner a higher share of sales. Meanwhile, channel partners of various consumer product companies -including those in apparel, footwear, phones and consumer electronics -are putting more pressure on manufacturers as their margins come under strain because of heavy discounting by e-commerce players. “We are working on a closed marketplace model, which would be spearheaded by one of our retailers under the guidance of the company,“ Erick Haskell, MD, Adidas Group, told TOI. He also wants all his stores to have a tablet, connecting 80% of its retail universe. So if a product is not available in one city, it can be made available through another shop or city, thereby not losing out on any selling opportunity. He believes it will lead to better inventory management, considering there is varied demand depending on demographics. The idea of e-commerce came when the company was looking at expansions into the tier 2 and 3 cities but found that a lot of people in these cities order their products through the internet. So, it was a trade-off between store expansion and catering to that segment through another model. He realizes there is little headroom to manoeuvre since government rules do not allow a foreign company to operate in e-commerce, though most of them get funds from overseas to carry on their business. “We are going to play it very carefully as we don't want to be a brand in a wrong position,“ he said. The Indian e-commerce business has been conceptualized and designed keeping in mind the unique consumption habits of the online shopper in India.

• Vikram Bakshi asks McDonald's to return leased properties: The estranged Indian partner of McDonald's, Vikram Bakshi today asked the US food major to return all the prime properties leased to it for running restaurants. Concluding arguments on Bakshi's behalf at the Company Law Board (CLB), his counsel said that all the allegations brought against him by McDonald's were "unfair". According to Bakshi, the JV was formed for 25 years and he leased properties to run the restaurants. He himself has given his nine properties, including one at Regal, on lease to McDonald's. "... they should leave all properties for me," said S N Mukherjee, counsel appearing for Bakshi. On McDonald's allegation of Bakshi's running other businesses and not devoting proper time to the JV, he said the US food major was aware of the situation. "They have objection that you have 25 companies and not devoting proper time in JV. Its Bombay partner has 23 companies and for that he has been rewarded," Bakshi's counsel alleged. "These reasons do not stand, they are absolutely malafide," he added.

• Anuja Chauhan of ‘Yeh dil maange more’ fame back at JWT to pep up Pepsi campaigns: Anuja Chauhan, who built a solid reputation in advertising ('Yeh dil maange more') before veering off into chick lit ('The Zoya Factor'), is returning to J Walter Thompson India as creative consultant. She will be part of the Power of One (Po1) team that the ad agency is putting together to work on the PepsiCo contract, the first time that JWT will have a group of people solely dedicated to the promotion of one brand. Chauhan is returning to advertising at the behest of PepsiCo, having worked on several campaigns for the company, including 'Mera number kab aayega' and 'Nothing official about it', apart from the one cited above. The agency set up the team about two months ago to work on the 15 PepsiCo brands that it handles. JWT has had the account for the last 25 years and it's the agency largest. Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT South Asia, said the agency has similar structure in other geographies which are formed "on the specific requests of clients, and depends on their scale and ambition." The Po1 team is headed by Babita Baruah, senior vice president and executive business director, JWT Delhi. Baruah, who recently took over the account from executive business director Saurabh Saxena, will be assisted by senior VP Mythili Chandrasekhar on the planning side. On the creative side, the account has been divided into three-cola, foods and juices--and placed under various executive creative directors. Commenting on this new initiative, Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, of which JWT is a part, said: "In creating "Power of One", JWT has brought together skills and capabilities from across our Group, for both foods and beverages, under one single unit to provide integrated solutions to PepsiCo's brands and businesses." Chauhan said she was "excited to be part of the team", which she describes as nimble and flexible. PepsiCo is upbeat about Chauhan's return. "It's great to have Anuja make a strong comeback on the PepsiCo portfolio," said Deepika Warrier, vice president of marketing at PepsiCo India. "She conceptualised the #BackToSchool video that we recently released digitally. It became a big hit overnight!"

International:

• Burger King buying Tim Hortons for about $11billion: Burger King confirmed Tuesday that it struck a deal to buy Tim Hortons Inc. for about $11 billion, a move that could help give the fast-food company a stronger foothold in the coffee and breakfast market. The corporate headquarters of the new company will be in Canada, which may also help Burger King lower its taxes. Such tax inversions have been criticized by President Barack Obama and Congress because they mean a loss of tax revenue for the US government. Burger King and Tim Hortons said the chains will continue to be run independently and that Burger King will still operate out of Miami. The tie-up could help each Burger King and Tim Hortons chains pose a greater challenge to market leaders such as McDonald's and Starbucks. It also reflects a desire by both companies to expand internationally. Burger King, which has about 14,000 locations, has been striking deals to open more locations in developing markets. The company sees plenty of room for growth internationally, given the more than 35,000 locations McDonald's has around the world. Tim Hortons has more than 4,500 locations, mostly in Canada. Back in the US, breakfast and coffee have been hot growth areas in the fast-food industry. Between 2007 and 2012, breakfast grew faster than other segment in the restaurant industry at about 5 percent a year, according to market researcher Technomic. But it has long remained a weak spot for Burger King. McDonald's led the category with 31 per cent of the market in 2012, while Burger King had just 3 per cent to 4 per cent, according to Technomic. Under the deal, Burger King Worldwide Inc. will pay $65.50 Canadian ($59.74) in cash and 0.8025 common shares of the new company for each Tim Hortons share. This represents total value per Tim Hortons share of $94.05 Canadian ($85.79), based on Burger King's Monday closing stock price. Alternatively, Tim Hortons shareholders may choose either all-cash or all stock in the new company. Tim Hortons stock rose more than 10 per cent in Tuesday premarket trading. Burger King's shares fell slightly.

• Air New Zealand sees 30% earnings increase for the year: National carrier, Air New Zealand, has posted a 30% jump in pre-tax earnings for the year ending in June to NZ$332m ($277.4m; £167.7m). The firm's shares rose to a two-month high in New Zealand trade on the news. The report represents the third straight year of earnings growth, said the firm's chairman, Tony Carter. Net profit after tax for the period came to NZ$262m, up 45% on the previous year. Air New Zealand has 105 aircraft in operation, 49 of which are jets and 56 of which are turbo-props. In June this year, the carrier ordered 14 aircraft from European planemaker Airbus at a combined list price of about $1.5bn. The government-controlled carrier is the largest shareholder in Virgin Australia Holdings and was recently given approval to form an alliance with Singapore's national carrier, Singapore Airlines. Mr Carter said these alliances, in addition to new aircraft that were operating more profitably, would help the carrier continue to grow. Air New Zealand's share price has increased 40% in the last 12 months.

• Gap to Create 1,200 Jobs in New York: Gap Inc.’s distribution center in Fishkill, N.Y., will have a capital investment of $96 million, creating 1,200 jobs by June 2019, and expanding the current 2.3 million square foot facility. Empire State Development is providing Gap Inc. with $12 million in performance based Excelsior Jobs Tax Credits, tied to job creation and investment commitments. Shawn Curran, senior vice president of global logistics for Gap Inc., said, “As Gap Inc. continues to grow, we are expanding our Northeast distribution capacity through infrastructure development.” Ted Potrikus, executive vice president of the Retail Council of New York State, said of the investment: “It shows confidence in the state and retail economy going forward which is a great thing, and I think there is no bad news in any of this.” “I’m glad to see that retail is being recognized whether it is at the distribution center level or at the store level, that there is recognition that these are important jobs,” said Potrikus. “Sometimes retail gets pushed aside a little bit. They want manufacturing jobs, they want high tech jobs, but these are important positions. I think for any brand to be expanding and building in New York is a good sign for everybody.”

• Desigual H1 Profits Soar: Eurazeo’s latest fashion purchase Desigual reported a stellar first half. The Spanish fashion chain in which the Paris-based investment firm took a 10 percent stake in March said net income soared 48 percent to 66.4 million euros, or $90 million, in the six months ended June 30. Driven mainly by its women’s clothing line and accessories, sales vaulted 23.1 percent to 452.9 million euros, or $620.9 million. Dollar figures are converted at average exchange for the period in question. In the first half of 2014, the company opened 45 new stores and made forays into new markets including Peru, Brazil and Luxembourg. Known for its colorful designs, Desigual is now present in 109 countries via 450 retail stores, 11,000 multi-brand stores and 2,500 corner concessions in department stores.

• Lands' End Lands in House of Fraser: In its first brick-and-mortar foray overseas, Lands’ End has begun opening shops-in-shop inside the House of Fraser department store chain in the U.K. “This is such an interesting opportunity for us to increase brand awareness and drive new customers to the brand,” Edgar Huber, Lands’ End president and chief executive officer, told WWD. “We’re working on partnerships for Japan,” for Lands’ End’s next overseas brick-and-mortar venture, Huber said. The first Lands’ End shop-in-shop, 395 square feet in size, opened in the Norwich location of House of Fraser last week. Four other shops will open through September at the British retailer’s Lakeside, Birmingham, Bournemouth and Bristol locations. The shops are between 350 and 600 square feet. Lands’ End is also being sold on houseoffraser.com. Huber confirmed that freestanding stores are a possibility abroad as well. In the U.S., Lands’ End operates five regular stores, six outlets and 243 shops inside Sears stores. Lands’ End began trading as a public company on Nasdaq last April after it was spun off by Sears Holdings Corp. In September 2013, Lands’ End launched a global extension of its core e-commerce platform, allowing international customers to view pricing and place orders in 60 local currencies at landsend.com. Currently, the company distributes to more than 136 countries. The company has substantial operations in Germany‚ Japan and the U.K. as well as catalogue and e-commerce channels in Austria, France and Canada. 

Tech:

• Even Online, Security Vigil for Jewels is a Gem of a Measure: When online jewellery site Caratlane received an order for a Rs 2.52-crore diamond ring — the single-largest sale by an Indian ecommerce firm — its founder Mithun Sacheti knew he had the wherewithal to make the transaction a smooth affair. He was no stranger to high-value deals and had put in place special arrangements for safe and secure purchases of jewellery online. “We are only concerned about the seriousness of the customer,” said Sacheti, 36, implying that the challenge of delivering was not such a big deal for him. Caratlane, he said, videographs a sale from start to finish and transports jewels in armoured vehicles. Caratlane also insures every piece of jewellery. The eight-carat clear diamond ring, which was bought for the engagement of an industrialist’s son, would have cost about 10% more in an offline store. “As people have become more comfortable shopping online, we have seen high-value transactions go up,” said Sacheti, chief executive of the three-year-old startup funded by Tiger Global. Bangalore-based rival Bluestone, too, has seen transaction values go up as online jewellery retail picks up. This has meant addressing specific client requirements. For instance, Caratlane’s Mumbai-based buyer, who wished to remain anonymous, had initially insisted that an escrow account be set up for the payment. “We were ready to set up an escrow account but once they spoke to the two references we gave, they decided to pay the entire amount in advance by cheque,” said Sacheti, whose family owns brick-and-mortar jewellery chain Jaipur Gems. In an escrow, the money is held in a third-party account until the transaction is completed to the satisfaction of the two parties involved. Sacheti said value of online transactions have been going up the past two years. Earlier, a sale of over 1 lakh would happen once a quarter, now there are at least five such purchases a day.

• Phone a Hit, Xiaomi Plans R&D in India: Xiaomi, China's largest handset maker which has created a stir with its flash sales strategy, has identified India as a key market and said it plans to set up an R&D and design centre in Bangalore that will focus on customising devices for local consumers. “In the next 12 months, we want to have built a significant presence here,“ Hugo Barra, vice-president for international operations at Xiaomi, told ET. “We want to have an R&D centre with an actual engineering team with designers, product managers and software engineers, who will build features for the Indian market within India, not just localise features.“ Barra, 37, joined Xiaomi in 2013 after a five-year stint at Google, including some time at its Android unit. Since joining Xiaomi in 2013, Barra has spearheaded the Chinese company’s successful expansion into international markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and now India. The company, founded in 2010 by eight partners, now plans to enter Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico. Xiaomi has so far sold 95,000 Mi3 smartphones, priced at 13,999, through six flashes sales within a month via ecommerce site Flipkart. It has been criticised for bringing in supplies at a tenth of the demand, leaving thousands of potential buyers miffed. Barra conceded that the company ran into production issues for its India-focused phones since hardware and antenna calibrations were different for the market, amounting to a physical difference in the devices meant for the country. Therefore, stocks meant for China or Taiwan could not be redirected to India, which meant the limited stocks ran out almost as soon as the flash sales opened. “India is the most different market that we’ve had so far, with the most heterogeneous requirements from a network perspective,” he said. The company is now focused on streamlining production at the backend in China to ensure a steady supply of devices, Barra said. The handset maker is trying to gain a stronghold in the surging but intensely competitive Indian smartphone market, where the cheapest device comes at 1,999. Xiaomi, popularly called the Apple of China, has made a name for itself offering phones mirroring Apple's user interface coupled with Android apps at around a fourth of iPhone prices, riding its cost-effective online sales strategy, a move that has taken it to the No. 1 vendor spot in China surpassing established players such as Samsung. The company is adopting the same strategy in India.

• Hike Messenger App Gets $65 m from Tiger and Other Investors: About a decade and half after Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel raised $60 million from Warburg Pincus, Hike, the instant messenger app company founded by his son Kavin, has raised $65 million from foreign investors led by New York-based Tiger Global. “I raised my first $60 million at age 42, Kavin has done it at 26.Sign of a changing India. A youthful and tech savvy India. A big congratulations to Kavin and his stellar team at Hike,“ Sunil Mittal told ET Tiger Global will acquire a minority stake in the company, but the exact percentage was not disclosed. Hike is backed by Bharti Softbank, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Japanese telecom firm Softbank Corp. Bharti Softbank has contributed “a small part“ of the $65 million funding, making it the company's third fund infusion in Hike, one of the people said. It had put in $7 million in April 2013 and $14 million in this March. “With the new investment, our focus will continue on developing innovative features to bridge the existing gaps in the messaging market in India,“ said the younger Mittal. Hike will use the funds also to expand its team from the current 100 people, as it prepares to take on rivals in a market where consumers are increasingly using Internet-based services to send messages. Hike is the largest mobile app based out of India, industry watchers said, with 35 million users, of which 15 million have been added in the past two months. Currently, it handles more than 10 billion messages a month of which over three billion are Hike stickers, the company said. Close to 90% of the app's users are from India and more than 80% of them are aged under 25, it says. Hike competes with a plethora of instant messaging apps including Whatsapp with 600 million users globally and 60 million in India, besides Facebook Messenger, Viber, Google Talk, China's We Chat, Japan's Line and Nimbuzz in India. It allows users without smartphones to communicate with other Hike users via free SMS, a feature that its rivals don't offer but is critical in India where feature phones still account for 71% of overall sales. Hike also pays for the messages that non-Hike users send to Hike users through bulk messages that the company buys from various mobile carriers. “The company's incredible traction, the rapid pace at which its team operates and its sharp focus are compelling,“ Lee Fixel, partner at investment firm Tiger Global Management, said in a statement. App makers worldwide find the Indian market extremely lucrative as smartphone usage is set to rise. Smartphone sales are expected to cross 80 million this year, almost double of last year's 44 million and about three times the sales in 2012.

• We are not looking for financing, says Snapdeal: Online marketplace Snapdeal today said it is well-funded and is not looking at financing to grow its business even as the burgeoning e-commerce market in India sees competitors raise billions of dollars to fuel expansion. Snapdeal, which has raised about $ 400 million since its inception, has invested about $ 100 million in logistics and operations to expand its presence in the $ 3 billion Indian eCommerce market. "We have so far raised between $ 300-400 million and of this, we have spent about $ 100 million on technology, logistics and operations. We still have huge funds left and so, we don't think we need to raise funds as of now," Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl told reporters here. A report by consulting firm Technopak pegs the $ 2.3 billion e-tailing market to reach $ 32 billion by 2020. The city-based firm had raised $ 100 million (about Rs 600 crore) in May from Temasek, BlackRock Inc, Myriad, Premji Invest and Tybourne, while in February, it had received funding worth $ 133.7 million (about Rs 830 crore) from its existing investor, eBay and others. On the other hand, its rival Flipkart on July 29 announced a $ 1 billion funding, which is the largest in the fledgling ecommerce sector. A day later, world's largest e-tailer Amazon said it will pump in $ two billion to bolster business here. Another report by consultancy firm PwC and industry body Assocham suggests that e-commerce firms are expected to spend up to $ 1.9 billion by 2017-2020 on infrastructure, logistics and warehousing. "These announcements have definitely helped grow interest in our firm. We get a lot more queries now," he said.

• Snapdeal partners with Tata Value Homes to sell affordable housing on its platform: Snapdeal, India's largest online marketplace, has entered into a strategic partnership with affordable housing company Tata Value Homes to sell the latter's apartments on its e-commerce platform. The development marks the first time an e-commerce company has tied up with a real estate venture, but also puts Snapdeal on a collision course with other property-focused online ventures that also sell real estate, such as CommonFloor, 99Acres and MagicBricks. "We saw an opportunity to provide to our customers the ability to buy great houses at great prices from a quality company like Tata Value Homes, and we went for it," said Kunal Bahl, cofounder and chief executive, Snapdeal. It is estimated that the real estate market in the country will reach $180 billion (over Rs 11 lakh crore) by 2020. In just residential property, the top eight Indian cities will see an additional demand of 2.8 million units in the next five years, according to property consultant Cushman & Wakefield. Bangalore-based CommonFloor raised Rs 64 crore from marquee venture capital investors Tiger Global and Accel Partners in January earlier this year, while Housing.com raised $18 million in April, in a round led by Helion Venture Advisors. However, both, Snapdeal's Bahl and Tata Value Homes, a 100% subsidiary of Tata Housing Development Co, executives refused to disclose the financial terms of the partnership. "Consumers trust our platform, and if something goes wrong, we will fix it," said Bahl.

• Apple said to prepare new 12.9-inch iPad for early 2015 release: Apple Inc.’s suppliers are preparing to manufacture the company’s largest-ever iPad, with production scheduled to commence by the first quarter of next year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new iPad will have a screen measuring 12.9 inches diagonally, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public. Apple currently produces iPads with 9.7-inch and 7.9-inch displays. The Cupertino, California-based company has been working with suppliers for at least a year to develop a new range of larger touch-screen devices, said the people. Trudy Muller, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment. Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook is working to shake up the iPad line. Sales of the tablets, which are Apple’s second-biggest product by revenue after the iPhone, have declined for two straight quarters amid a lack of new models and as consumers have instead gravitated to smartphones with bigger screens. Apple’s suppliers recently started manufacturing an updated 9.7-inch-screen iPad, and were also set to enter production of a new version of the iPad mini, people familiar with the plans have said, with the devices set to be available later this year in time for the holiday season. Apple is also increasing the screen size of the iPhone, people with knowledge of the plans have said. The company is holding an event on 9 September to debut new bigger-display iPhones, the people have said. Those smartphones went into mass production in July, Bloomberg News reported in June.

• Mozilla's first low-cost smartphone on sale in India: Mozilla, a company best known for its Firefox browser, has launched a new low-cost smartphone in India that will retail for 1,999 rupees ($33; £19.90). The phone is only for sale on India's online shopping site, Snapdeal. The Intex Cloud FX runs on Mozilla's Firefox operating system and as such it will be the first low-cost device running that system available in Asia. India's emerging market is regarded as the world's fastest growing for low-cost smartphones. Various emerging markets across Asia are seen by mobile device manufacturers as the key remaining areas for massive growth. "With the launch of Intex Cloud FX, we aim to enable the masses to get smartphone experience at the cost of a feature phone," Mozilla said in a statement. Analysts expect these types of low-cost smartphones to give users in emerging markets an affordable opportunity to upgrade from so-called feature phones - or phones that do not easily access the internet. But they are not designed to rival devices such as Apple's iPhone or Samsung's Galaxy phones.

• Verizon Unveils QR Code Logins: Verizon is providing QR code logins as part of its Universal Identity Services portfolio to improve online security and do away with the reliance on user names and passwords. Data breaches commonly involve lost or stolen user names and passwords, the number-one way computer systems are compromised. Consumers can enroll for the Universal ID directly from participating Web pages. After registering, users can download to their smartphone a mobile app that can scan the QR code on a login page. Once a user’s identity is confirmed, the individual is considered authenticated to the Web site. Should additional security be required, the QR code can be used in combination with a PIN number or password. Tracy Hulver, chief identity strategist for Verizon, said, “With Verizon’s QR code login, we are making progress in protecting users without increasing the hassle, headache or expense for the user and the enterprise.” According to Verizon, the QR code login helps to reduce fraud and phishing attacks, and can reduce unnecessary expenses associated with help desk support and password resets. In a Verizon study in April on data-breach investigations, the report noted that the most common attack patterns in retail involve point-of-sale intrusions, Web application attacks and payment card skimmers. The study noted that there were 467 security incidents in 2013 in the retail industry, with 148 of those incidents resulting in confirmed data loss. Last year’s retail data breaches include attacks on the systems at Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. LLC and Target Corp., where at least 40 million to as many as 100 million consumers who shopped at the discounter between Black Friday and Dec. 15 had their personal data stolen. The breach also prompted Target to step up initiatives on security enhancement, including adopting chip and PIN technology. And on Friday, the Department of Homeland Security estimated that more than 1,000 U.S. business have been infiltrated by malicious POS software. The issue of data breaches has been the subject of several Congressional probes and hearings.