Daily News Digest- 6th Jan'15

Thought of the Day:

Today in History:

Following made the Headlines:

India:

• Surprise Gift for Flipkart's Mukesh Soon: Mukesh Bansal, who sold his fashion portal Myntra to Flipkart, is poised to assume a strategic role at India's largest online retailer with a decision expected as early as in the next two weeks, said three people familiar with the development. This development comes two months after Mukesh was handed a significant promotion. The back-to-back elevations are testimony to what was described as Mukesh's energy as well as his ability to think big and execute well by the sources who briefed ET on the proposed changes. The decision will be made when Flipkart's board meets in Singapore. “He (Mukesh) is climbing up the ladder quickly but what's about to come now will be a game changer,“ said a source without providing details about the new title or the exact role. Mukesh, who now oversees Myntra, the fashion and electronics businesses of Flipkart, as well as marketing, declined to comment.

• Eager to Join Billion Dollar Club, Myntra is Scaling Up Fast: Myntra, India's largest online fashion retailer, is looking to grow more than threefold in the next 15 months to hit the $1-billion mark (about Rs. 6,300 crore) in gross merchandise value (GMV) and thereby join the growing list of e-tailers including Jabong and Snapdeal that are clocking mega sales. “It's a matter of time that we will be a billion-dollar-plus company,“ said Ganesh Subramanian, chief operating officer of Myntra. “The area that we are working on is building the leadership, which will scale the organisation to the next level.“ The Bengaluru-based e-tailer, which is expected to close the financial year to March with ₹2,000 crore in revenue, will offer more value-added fashion services including sending a tailor to home, even as it looks to strengthen senior leadership team in the coming three months to help it scale up business. It is putting together senior executives across logistics and marketplace model and a team of 80 new executives, who will report to vice-presidents, is expected to be completed by the end of the fiscal.

• Fashion E-tailers Stay with Discount Formula in New Year: Flush with new rounds of investor funding, e-commerce companies Snapdeal and Myntra have kicked off their first sales of 2015, as they look to grab a larger slice of consumers' wallets. Snapdeal, the country's largest online marketplace, kicked off its `End of Season Sale' (EOSS) last week, with the company already claiming to see a 150% jump in sales, compared to its overall gross merchandise value (GMV) figures in the last week of December. “We expect to touch lives of about 5 million shoppers during winter EOSS 2015 from 8,000 cities and towns, with more than 20,000 sellers participating in the sale,“ said Amit Maheshwari, vice-president, Fashion at Snapdeal, in an email statement to ET. Company representatives, while refusing to disclose the average daily sales it records during nonsales periods, however confirmed that Snapdeal expects to cross $1 billion in GMV from its fashion and apparel category alone, by the end of the current fiscal.

• DoCoMo-Tata Stake Row Ends Up in Arbitration: NTT DoCoMo has moved the international court for arbitration in London to ensure that the Tata Group finds a buyer for the Japanese telco’s 26% stake in their Indian joint venture, Tata Teleservices, setting the stage for a potentially bitter separation for the six-year-old JV which was once emblematic of the promise of the country’s telecom sector. “DoCoMo submitted its request for arbitration to ensure that its right be exercised after Tata Sons had failed to fulfil its obligation, despite DoCoMo’s repeated negotiations with Tata Sons regarding the sale of its entire stake in TTSL (Tata Teleservices),” NTT DoCoMo said in a statement on Monday. It had moved the arbitration court on January 3, after the 90 business days it gave to the Tatas to find a buyer lapsed on December 3. A person familiar with the arbitration proceedings said the Tata Group will now file a reply and the search for arbitrators will begin. He added that the initiation of arbitration, which would proceed at a leisurely pace, meant NTT DoCoMo had preserved its legal options while providing time to the Tatas to come up with a solution.

• Videocon D2H to Sell 33.5% Stake to US-based SEAC for $300 M: Videocon D2H, the direct-to-home service provider arm of $10-billion Videocon Group, has entered into an agreement with Silver Eagle Acquisition Corp (SEAC), under which the US-based special purpose acquisition company will invest $300 million for about 33.5% stake, valuing the company at $900 million. According to people aware of the details, the transaction has been done through American Depository Receipts, bought and sold on American markets just like regular stocks, through which Videocon D2H will get listed on Nasdaq. The people added that SEAC's minority stake acquisition will allow American company's chief executive Harry Sloan and president Jeff Sagansky to come on the board of Videocon D2H. The agreement between the companies was closed on December 31, 2014. The investment proceeds will be used for reducing debt and expanding operations in India that will undergo the third and fourth phases of cable television digiti sation by 2016-end, offering large growth opportunities. Including the debt of ₹2,000 crore, company's enterprise valuation could touch $1.2 billion, sources added.

• ITC Infotech Eyes Acquisitions to Become $1-billion Company: ITC Infotech is planning a strategic shift to acquire firms in North America and Europe as part of a strategy to build the mid-sized business of Kolkata-headquartered conglomerate ITC into a billion dollar, or about ₹6,300 crore, a year operation and more than triple its workforce over the next five years. The company has identified acquisition targets and expects to complete a deal in the next six months, said managing director and CEO Sushma Rajagopalan. “Our strategy is to have both a scale acquisition and several strings of pearl acquisitions, which will give us differentiated scale. Acquisition targets will support established verticals such as retail, airlines, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) and lines of business such as data, infrastructure, testing, ERP (enterprise resource planning), supply chain, product engineering services and cus tomer experience,“ she said. Rajagopalan, who took over as the CEO in November, has been given complete autonomy by ITC chairman YC Deveshwar to turn the IT business into a growth driver for the consumer goods-tobacco-hospitality conglomerate.

• IvyCap to Invest in Beauty & Grooming Online Retailer Purplle: Mumbai-based venture capital firm IvyCap Ventures has decided to invest in Purplle, a beauty and grooming website, that sells cosmetics and fixes salon appointments, reflecting investors' growing interest in niche online players targeting women consumers after backing online lingerie and jewellery retailers. Both IvyCap and Purplle confirmed the investment, but refused to disclose the size of the deal. IvyCap typically in . 15-30 crore in each of its deals.vests ` Vikram Gupta, founder and managing partner at IvyCap Ventures, said majority of the buyers on internet will be women in the coming days and they can create big categories. In September last year, his firm had invested in women's online apparel brand eShakti.com. While large players such as Flipkart and Jabong cover beauty and cosmetics, Gupta said: “This category is not just about selling products, but being a one-stop destination for all your beauty and grooming needs, which includes offering advice and reviews.“

• Near.in That Helps You Find Services Raises Rs 1.8 crore: Gurgaon-based Near.in, which helps users discover service providers like plumbers, make-up and tattoo artists in a locality, has raised Rs 1.8 crore from a marquee set of investors including Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com, and Manish Vij of adtech firm SVG Media. Other investors include CEO Prashant Tandon and CTO Gaurav Agarwal of Healthkart.com, Akash Agarwal, global vice-president of the mobile division of enterprise software maker SAP Labs. CEO Himanshu Aggarwal of education firm Aspiring Minds and Kevin Parikh of consulting firm Avasant also participated. “We believe this is the next big thing after ecommerce. So, we approached entrepreneurs who have successfully run internet companies to invest in the company,“ said 35-year-old CEO Lomesh Dutta. Near.in was founded by Sunil Goyal, Dutta and Akshay Khanna in July 2014, at about the same time Amazon was planning a similar initiative in the United States. Before Near.in, Lomesh and Sunil had co-founded Wirkle, a mobile application development firm that was acquired by Silicon Valley-based Location Labs in 2011.

• For 2017 Car, Maruti Invites Bids in 2015: Maruti Suzuki's Japanese parent has invited request for quotations from vendors for car projects planned to be build out of its proposed wholly-owned Gujarat plant, ahead of its Indian subsidiary obtaining a crucial consent from its minority shareholders. The carmaker has indicated a timeline of mid-2017 for the first car to roll out from its Gujarat plant. The construction of the plant has started and the project, codenamed YCA, is expected to begin its proto-type production in January 2017, with real production to begin by May same year, ET has learnt. The YCA project is nothing but a new generation Wagon R, which will be available in both the existing 5-seater version and the additional seven-seater version to compete with the yet-tobe launched Datsun Go+. The crucial shareholder vote will take place once the Companies Act is amended, which requires the consent of only 50% of the minority shareholders, much less than the current 75%.

International:

• Advertisers to Get a Glimpse of Apple Watch: At this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, mobile-marketing firm TapSense plans to release an Apple Watch ad-buying service. The service will provide a first glimpse of how businesses can serve up ads on the watch, even though the gadget will not be available until later this year. Apple declined to comment on the use of its watch by advertisers, and will not attend CES officially.

• US retailer Burkes Outlet launches e-commerce website: Burkes Outlet, a leading off-price home and apparel retailer in the US, has launched its new e-commerce website. Closely aligned with the company's strategic vision for growth and expansion over the next decade, the new website offers a clean, modern design with easy-to-navigate functionality, $5 flat-rate shipping, and a content-rich website experience, the company said in a statement. Burkes Outlet's new website allows customers to discover new brand name products across a broad range of categories, including home, apparel, and electronics. The e-commerce platform also provides its users with an experience that emphasizes the thrill of shopping in a new store every day. With its new website, Burkes Outlet aims to provide new merchandise and the experience of shopping in a new store every day to online users. The new website also provides social media integration and direct links to Burkes Outlet's Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube pages, where company and product updates will appear on a regular basis.

• Lie Sang Bong Opens Meatpacking District Store: Lie Sang Bong’s new 2,000-square-foot store in the Meatpacking District has undulating ceilings and a serene art gallery inside. It’s the designer’s first unit outside his native Korea, where he operates 19 stores. Lie had a successful business in Paris for 12 years before showing his collection at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. When he was asked to design outfits for Lady Gaga and Rihanna, he decided it was time to open a store in New York. “We were searching for a store space in Paris, but felt that we wanted to expand our clientele in the U.S. instead,” said Nana Lee, director of Lie Sang Bong. “We have European, Asian and Middle Eastern clients. New York is where everyone comes. It’s the capital of fashion. Customers understand trends and are artistic here.” An area in the store, which is located at 30 Gansevoort Street, is devoted to a display of archival pieces from Lie’s collections from the last 10 years, including a dress that’s in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

• Black Friday Reshapes Holiday Selling in U.K.: Black Friday has changed the nature of Christmas holiday retail in the U.K. for better and for worse, according to the managing director of British department store chain John Lewis. The store reported its biggest sales ever during the final week of November fueled by the relatively new American import of Black Friday. “This year confirmed the new shape of trade for Christmas, with an early peak at the end of November driven by Black Friday and last minute gift buying,” Street said Monday in a trading update that focused on the five weeks to Dec. 27. Total sales in the period were 777 million pounds, or $1.19 billion, up 5.8 percent compared with the previous year. Compared with two years ago, total sales were up 13.4 percent. Street said the last week in November was the biggest for sales in the store’s 150-year history. Sales were up 22 percent on 2013, with the store’s Web site notching a 300 percent increase in traffic during the early hours of trading on Black Friday.

• European Brands Dominate Online Luxury Survey: European brands appear to have a firm, tightening grip on luxury fashion in cyberspace that’s leaving little room for U.S. players. In an analysis of more than 95 million social-media mentions of luxury brands spanning the globe and covering two years of data through September, Mountain View, Calif.-based social-media analytics firm NetBase Solutions Inc., in its “Brand Passion Report,” ranked no U.S. fashion brands in the top 10 while just one, Coach, made the top 15. Coach did slip five places to number 15, although it fared better among U.S. consumers, moving down a single spot to number 10. In the global rankings, Louis Vuitton moved up one spot to top the list, Chanel three spots to number three and Burberry one slot to number four (Apple, while not a fashion brand, ranked second). Hermès fell one notch to number five, Gucci was down three to number six, and Rolex, the leader in the 2013 rankings, fell seven spaces to number eight. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton — in mentions separate from those for Vuitton or even Moët Hennessy (number 38) — fell to number nine, while Christian Dior, up three slots, closed out the top 10.

• Target CEO $47 Million Retirement Shows Gap With 401(k) Workers: The gap in the U.S. workplace between the highest and lowest paid has been growing for years. Far less noticed has been the growing gulf in retirement pay. While the very top often continue to receive executive pensions as well as other benefits, most workers are left only with their 401(k) plans. CEO compensation at large U.S. companies was 204 times higher than the pay of workers on average in 2013, up 20 percent since 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And the retirement benefits divide “perpetuates income inequality into old age,” said Paul Hodgson, a corporate governance consultant who has researched executive compensation. Some industries illustrate this trend more starkly than others. Big retailing chains, with their armies of lower-paid floor workers and their elite executive ranks, can be especially emblematic of the retirement gap.

Tech:

• All of Sony’s 2015 Bravia Smart TVs will run Android TV: Unlike Samsung, which is switching to it’s own homegrown OS on its TVs, Sony is going the other direction and adopting Google’s open Android TV platform. During the Sony CES keynote today, the company confirmed that all future Bravia Smart TVs will run Android TV as their software platform. This also means that all Sony TVs are able to be used with Google’s “cast” technology that was announced today. Google announced Android TV back at I/O in June 2014 and Sony adopting the OS for direct integration is a huge win for the company’s second attempt at creating a TV platform.

• Apple to begin selling SIM-free iPhones in the US: Apple will begin selling SIM-free iPhones in the United States tomorrow, according to a report from 9to5Mac. Until now, Apple has sold the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the US with a carrier contract or on T-Mobile, but starting tomorrow users can get their iPhone without that commitment. 9to5Mac says the pricing will be the same as the T-Mobile iPhone 6 / 6 Plus and will be available in-store and online.

• Lenovo Gets Into Wearables With VIBE Band: 2015 is going to be the year everyone throws their hats into the wearable ring and Lenovo doesn’t want to be left out of the party. The company today announced it’s new VIBE Band that sports an E Ink display and a seven day battery life. The band can show notifications from your phone for calls, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and more, but with no more than 150 characters. The VIBE band also tracks fitness, but only monitors the basics like steps and sleep. It’ll work with iOS and Android devices running 4.3 and above out of the box. The VIBE band will cost just $89, which makes Lenovo’s new offering extremely competitive considering the Pebble is priced at $99. It’s not clear when the VIBE band will be available for purchase, however.

• Samsung Takes Google Challenger to Smart TVs as Smartphone Flops: Samsung Electronics Co's challenger to Google Inc software is moving from phones to big-screen TVs as the South Korean company tries to capitalise on the burgeoning interest in smart homes. The world's biggest maker of TVs will unveil the first sets powered by Tizen software at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, and all the Web-connected models it sells this year will run the operating system. The company also may demonstrate at CES how the TVs communicate with its washing machines, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners. The controlling Lee family is trying to reinvent Samsung as a purveyor of Internet-connected appliances to grab share of a market that may be worth $7.1 trillion by 2020.Samsung wants to generate revenue from Tizen applications and services just as Apple Inc and Google do from their operating systems, and the Suwon-based company is emphasising TVs and consumer electronics after falling a year behind schedule on a Tizen-based phone.

• Google Will Soon Let You Cast Audio to Internet-connected Speakers: Google today launched Google Cast for audio, which will let users send music directly to internet-connected speakers, just like it already does with video and images on TVs. In fact, using Cast for audio will be just like using Chromecast today when the first compatible speakers start to arrive “in the spring”, Google said. Tapping a button on your favorite music or radio app will launch the service on your speaker, and also just like Chromecast, this functionality will be available across the Web, Android and iOS platforms. Google said Denon, Sony and LG would be among the first device makers to build products that support the new feature, with more to follow later in the year.

• CES 2015: LG tries again with curved smartphone: Electronics firm LG has shown off a second version of its curved smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show. The LG G Flex 2 is smaller than its predecessor and its display can now handle high-definition images. The "self-healing" coating on its rear has also been improved to quickly repair any scratches it suffers. Gadget-watchers were divided over the phone, with some praising its performance while others were unimpressed. LG has not said when the phone will go on sale nor said how much it will cost.

• Google Glass to Soon Get a Competitor: San Franciscobased Osterhout Design Group (ODG), which develops smart glasses for the military, is set to roll out a consumer-friendly version this year, Forbes reported. Under $1,000, the smart glasses can display hd video, record video and lay visuals over the real world. ODG’s glasses have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a global navigation satellite system and sensors for figuring out where you are looking. The number of page views on Reddit in 2014.The website had 54.9 million posts and 535 million comments last year.

• Galaxy A3, A5 Launching Today?: Samsung is all set to launch Samsung Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 in India on January 6, according to reports. Both phones have metal bodies. Galaxy A3 has a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED qHD display powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 quadcore processor with 1.5GB of RAM, while Galaxy A5 has a 5-inch Super AMOLED HD display, powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 quadcore processor paired with 2GB of RAM.

• Facebook buying Wit.ai, moves deeper into speech recognition: Facebook Inc. is acquiring Wit.ai, a developer of speech-recognition software, as the social- networking service seeks to expand its artificial-intelligence technology. The 18-month-old startup’s tools power hundreds of applications to detect spoken words. Facebook didn’t disclose terms of the purchase, which Wit.ai announced on its blog on Tuesday. Wit.ai raised $3 million in October from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Partners, SV Angel, New Enterprise Associates, A-Grade, Eric Hahn, Alven Capital and TenOneTen. Facebook chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg stepped up investment and research into artificial intelligence last year, after opening a lab and hiring Yann LeCun from New York University to lead the effort. The Menlo Park, California-based company is aiming to better understand the content and sentiment of its users’ posts, including photo, video and audio. Wit.ai, based in Palo Alto, California, makes an artificial-intelligence system that lets developers add voice recognition to programmes. In recent tests conducted by Chinese Web-search provider Baidu Inc., Wit.ai’s speech recognition was found to be more accurate than cutting-edge systems from Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and came close to systems developed by Baidu and Google Inc.