Google Under The Axe Of EU Law

The European Commission has accused the search engine giant for using undue advantage of its market dominance

Last week, the European Commission disclosed that after carrying out a probe against Google for almost a year it has finally concluded that the Internet search giant has been violating the antitrust laws of European Union. Consequently, the commission launched a formal antitrust against Google and its parent –Alphabet Inc., the commission also released a public statement explaining why the company has been charged for the offense.

According to EU, Google has been taking undue advantage of its dominant position in three inter-connected markets which is a hard blow on the competitors. The EU alleged Alphabet Inc.’s subsidiary for limiting certain Android aspects by make pre-installing Chrome apps and Google search in the Android powered mobile devices. In case any phone maker use any alternative version of Android then Google blocks the phone maker. Moreover, the EU has concluded that the tech giant has illegally paid mobile phone companies and device makers for the exclusive pre-installation of Google search.

On restricting the competition in Android, Google has said that the Android is an open-source which indicates that anybody can create the flavor which they like therefore the competition in this platform is very much open and is not restricted by the company.

Back in 2010 too, the EU had investigated Google’s online search practices and had accused the company for favoring its own website over the rivals –such as Yelp. That investigation was carried out for more than five years while Google offer different settlements which got rejected each time.

In April 2015, afterwards, the commission proposed that it was launching a formal case against the company which pertains only to Google shopping. In this new case, the EU is tirelessly involved in controlling the tech giant’s efforts to hold a strong position in transitioning from the search on desktop to search on mobile. The new case is two-fold: the address search launched in 2010 and the company’s efforts of bolstering the competition.

Google’s claim of Android being an open-source is partially true. Although the operating system is open source however there are few fragments of the software which are the exclusive property of the company under the version of “Apache Software License.” The code which is available on the open source may not necessarily come with all the functions which are generally available in the Google’s Android.

Moreover, according to the commission, the mere competition doesn’t mean that the company cannot be stopped for abusing its power. Under the compliance of European anti-trust law, the undue advantage of dominant position is a big no. The European Commission has expressed that the Google has dominance in three different markets which includes, “licensable smart mobile operating systems, app stores for the Android mobile operating system, and general internet search services.” According to EU, Google is taking the unfair advantage of its dominance when it requires the phone maker to install Chrome app and Google settings if they install Google Play on the phone. The commission believes that Google is playing this strategy to increase the searches done on Google on the mobile phones.

This is not an unusual action taken by the government in an attempt to curtail the stifling competition. The officials tend to establish a market with fair competition. Any firm which synchronizes its product in such a way that it influences a dominant product then it is highly likely to get the attention of antitrust inquiry onto itself. What steps will be taken by the Internet search giant will be unfold in the near future.

Can Facebook's Bots Take Over App?

The social networking giant intends of letting bots to replace the apps

According to Mark Zuckerberg, the consumers of the smartphones and the likes are in the whirlpool of the app overload therefore, last week he came up with an easy solution to the problem, dubbed as “chatbots.” The new technology is likely to revolutionize the way smartphones have been used currently, in addition to boosting Facebook’s and other Internet companies’ profitability.

Bots –or as officially called, chatbots –are the basic version of the software agents which normally comprehend what the users have said or typed and then provide a response accordingly –such as carrying out the task asked to do or answering the questions. The most popular bots are Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. However, the bots which Mr. Zuckerberg is looking forward to has sprung from the collaboration of escalating artificial intelligence techniques and popular text-messaging programs. If the Zuckerberg’s concept of bot can be transitioned into reality then the software will know what the users like, retain the information given by the users, and work together with the users to make the lives much convenient.

The first ever bot was built in 1960s and was dubbed as “Eliza.” She did extremely well in giving a reply to the questions entered into a computer terminal of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her answers doesn’t have clear details which made her appeared to be an “inexplicably shallow psychotherapist.”

But to the social networking giant, bots are more modern than over half a century old technology –a new modification to apps. Moreover, they are a pathway to bring the company’s business partners closer to its over a billion WhatsApp and Messenger users, particularly born-to-chat millennial generation. Moreover, Facebook bots have an edge, they are being run on the background of social networking giant’s Messenger service. This indicates that there wouldn’t be any particular “app” to download. This is a win-win for both parties with users getting convenience while Facebook manages to have its own version of Silicon Valley iPhone maker’s prestigious App Store.

Last week, the Menlo Park, Calif. firm’s CEO, while addressing the organization’s F8 developer conference, opined that a majority of people didn’t like to install a new app for every new or existing service or business they have to interact with. He added that the company wants to enable the users to send a message to the business in exactly the same fashion as they “message their friends.”

The $309 billion organization is trekking on the trails of the Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat –the most popular Chinese messaging app. The app does allow the users to use bots in order to pay bills or shop. In the similar pattern, Facebook has introduced around 25 bots which are providing a vast range of services including, but not limited to, flower deliveries, weather forecasts, and news updates. Also, the users tap and send text messages instead of clicking, swiping or pointing.

This will bring in more revenue stream for the messaging business of the Californian social networking titan in which it has already invested a huge amount. Also, the company is in initial steps of checking out the concept of sponsored messages, and “chatbots” could be pivotal for that.

Although, the company, at the time being, is not looking at bots’ monetization however, many analysts see substantial potential of money generation from bots. According to Evercore Group LLC, the company is exposed to around $4 billion opportunity through its incentive of holding customer support through messaging world.

The initial run of the service has not been satisfactory but the company is hopeful of turning around the discrepancies and making the bots service better and better. Since bots are introduced with an intention of replacing apps, a considerable amount of time will tell how far their performance have come along.

Yahoo Value Expected To Rise, SunTrust Analyst

According to Bob Peck, the underappreciated assets of the company can raise the total valuation of Yahoo 

The Yahoo Inc. saga is getting ridiculous day by day from any point of view. Since the end of last month, the company is extending its deadline for the official submission of the bids for its core web and advertising business along with Asian assets. It announced in the beginning of the week to extend the deadline to April 18 once again. The latest suitors who are determined to propose an official bid are Britain’s Daily Mail and Verizon Communications.

When the matter initially started, Yahoo decided to spin off its core internet business, which was opposed by the activist investors and shareholders. The company wanted to spin off it into a separate entity but now the board of directors is approaching and inviting bidders to buy out its core business. The professionals value the assets of the search engine giant in between the range of $6 billion and $8 billion. A number of underappreciated assets can help Yahoo to reach a total valuation of $10 billion.  

Buy rating on the stock has been maintained by a reputable analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Bob Peck, while giving it a price target of $40 to $44. In a recent coverage of Yahoo, Mr. Peck underlined three assets in his opinion that can provide a lift to Yahoo’s valuation above $6 billion to $8 billion. The first underappreciated asset is the royalties which it will receive from the spinoff of its Yahoo Japan. Analysts believe that the revenue stream of Yahoo Japan was very much profitable which is also accountable for the 30% of Yahoo’s total advertising revenue so far.

Bob Peck also highlighted the revaluation of the company’s intellectual property as Yahoo still has nearly six thousand patents under its name that can easily raise the value up to $1 billion to $3 billion as per the estimates of analysts. Majority of these patents are available publicly hence, they can prove to be valuable assets for Yahoo considering the core business. On top of that, Yahoo can also include the real estate holdings under its business which would be close to $1 billion for an approximately 1 million square feet in real estate and buildings.

Yahoo has a lot on its plates now and it is not only concerned about selling its core internet business but the Asian assets are a bit of concern as well. Verizon is looking for a deal in which it will include the stakes in Yahoo Japan to improve its chances. On the other hand, Daily Mail wants a partner in conjunction that would come forward with the British newspaper to propose a deal.

Without the underappreciated assets, Yahoo is only worth at $6 to $8 billion but this will come handy for the board of directors that would take it to a mark that it wants. 

Analysts Pessimism On Microsoft's Windows 10 Revenue Growth

The industry analysts believe that Windows 10 revenue is likely to decline in the current year at least

According to the research firm, Gartner Inc., Microsoft Corporation’s Windows revenue is likely to see a decline of around 7.5% and fall at $13.5 billion due to harsh economic conditions, tightening IT spending, and rough foreign exchange rates.

The projection has been done even after the $431 billion organization expressed that its latest Windows 10 has had the best start among all the versions of the company’s flagship operating system, on the basis of the number of active devices being run on it.

The latest data of Gartner covers the sales of all Windows and not exclusively Windows 10’s. However, the firm’s chief forecaster, John-David Lovelock cited that the prediction of the Windows’ declining sales is on the basis of the weaker-than-expected sales of Windows 10 in 2016. However, he didn’t provide precise revenue figures.

Just earlier this month, the Redmond, Washington based firm announced that a massive 270 million devices had been running Windows 10, this made up an elevation of around 35% in comparison to the data provided by the company on January 4. Microsoft further elaborated that the performance of the latest Windows outperformed Windows 7’s –which had been the fastest-growing Windows version till now –by 145% in the similar span.

Industry analysts have reported that Windows 10 popularity and instant adoptability is due to the free downloads offered to the consumers and therefore it doesn’t add to Windows revenue.

Gartner, additionally, has also brought down its expectations for sales to corporate customers who transition to new operating system after paying for it.

Mr. Lovelock explained that companies that, last year, bought Windows 10 for testing the operating system are not likely to expand it company-wide until 2017. He added that other companies are simply postponing the adoption of the Windows 10 “until they start seeing better business conditions.”

However, he envisions that 2017 might have positive results for the sales of the new operating system but, the impending decline of PCs may negatively affect the sales growth of the Windows version.

Microsoft, however, didn’t provide specific reply to Gartner’s forecast and instead provided the rate of accessibility and acceptance of the Windows 10.

In an e-mail, the tech behemoth said that the latest version is “off to the hottest start in Windows history.” The company strengthened its statement by adding that, for the current year, the U.S. Department of Defense has promised to upgrade around 4 million devices to Windows 10. It further added that around half of company’s active enterprise consumers across the globe are running their devices on the new operating system.

However the analysts at Gartner are not softening their stance regarding the negative forecast of the Windows 10 revenue. The firm says that among many factors, “escalating political and economic challenges” are such that will hold back the sales of the operating system in the key emerging markets, particularly Latin America.

According to Mr. Lovelock, another pivotal factor of the declining revenue is that many companies are choosing to curtail their spending on the computers. The firm has projected that, in the current year, the global market for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, and other devices are likely to witness a decline of around 3.7% to $626 billion.

In the similar way, analysts from other industry are also pessimist relating to the revenue growth from Windows 10 enterprise version at least until 2017.

We Might Not See Microsoft Xbox 1.5

Microsoft is not interested in coming up with Xbox 1.5

Several rumors are circulating regarding the launch of the PlayStation SKU, so many analysts question what Microsoft Corporation is doing to keep pace? Will the software giant come up with Xbox 1.5 or not? Or if Sony is launching PlayStation 4K or 4.5 then does Microsoft also need to come up with a mid-generation upgrade in general?

When the same questions were directed to the head of the Window’s manufacturer, Mr. Phil Spencer, the answer was a clear cut no. during the recent Microsoft Build 2016 Conference, the head of Microsoft’s gaming console division made a statement, “I'm not a big fan of Xbox One and a half. If we're going to move forward, I want to move forward in big numbers. For us, our box is doing well. It performs, it's reliable, and the servers are doing well. If we’re going to go forward with anything, like I said, I want it to be a really substantial change for people--an upgrade."

It is quite obvious that Phil Spencer is not interested in messing with Xbox One at least till the time; they come up with another variant of the console. It might be possible that the company offers certain upgrades or come up with a sleek SKU in the times to come but so far the company has no interest in doing so. Thus, the question here arises that does Sony actually need to come up with PS$K since MSFT is not even inclined to altering its gaming console.

PS$ is undoubtedly the uncrowned king of the fraternity where it has been successful in selling 40 million consoles. The company constantly comes up with new games and gamers continue to invest on them as per their preference. Thus it seems like a sane idea by the company to come up with a sleek version of PS4 same as the PS3 and PS2.

The company has reported success with launching new slimmed down console versions. This makes it their tried and tested recipe to success. At this point it will almost take a year for the company to launch any version. Ironically, Xbox One on the other hand has a very saturated market with less than half the sales in contrast to PS4. However even then Phil is not bothered with Sony’s plan to come up with a mid-generation upgrade.

From a  distant perspective this information might make sense but the recent PS4 SKUs are relatively different from the launch models. The recent PS4 is matte; even the cover of the hard drive is matte. It features buttons that enable one to open the disc drive without the need of a touch interface. In just a matter of 2 years since it has been launched the company has made various alterations to it. However, if the software was tweaked then the case would have been in their favor. On the other hand, Xbox One remains to be same more or less since the launch. Thus any change that might be seen will be the coming year.

General Electric Has An Answer For Bernie Sanders

General Electric's CEO responded to the comments made by Bernie Sanders

General Electric Company’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Jeffrey R. Immelt has finally come upfront to respond to Senator Bernie Sanders- the Presidential Candidates remarks on his company. According to Mr. Sanders, General Electric has destroyed the “moral fabric of the United States.”

Washington Post recently published an article where Mr. Immelt responded to the remarks made by Mr. Sanders recently. The crux of the article was that Mr. Bernie Sanders Is extremely judgmental about General Electric and his perception about the company is wrong.

Mr. Sanders made these comments during an editorial board meeting of the New York Daily News. The Senator was asked for examples that portray greed in its worst form in the United States after which GE was mentioned to have crossed all boundaries.

The reason behind this statement was that the company has moved several job opportunities outside the country so that they can cut on the wages of employees to regions like India and Mexico. He stated, "What we have seen over the many years is shutting down of many major plants in this country, sending jobs to low-wage countries."

As a response, the CEO of General Electric explained that the industrial giant takes risks, invest, innovate and produce in ways that today sustain 125,000 US jobs.” He particularly mentioned about the company’s aviation plant situated in Rutland, Vermont which has been in operation since 1950s where the company has been making hefty investments that have accumulated to $100 million over the past couple of years. The company has not just hired but has come up with some of the best components for jet engines across the globe.

Mr. Immelt alos pointed out that the company has employed almost 1000 individuals at its Vermont Aviation plant whereas throughout the state, they have 340 employees catering health care. There are almost 200 facilities that are being run by the giant all over United State. Amongst them 15 services have surfaces in a time span of 15 years.

Jeffrey R. Immelt even talked about how Mr. Sanders is creating problems for the company merely because it has global footprints. It is natural for a company like GE to have global presence since it is rendering services in 180 countries.

Mr Immelt explained, “We are competing globally with foreign companies whose governments care whether they win and support them in innumerable ways. U.S. companies continue to wrestle with an outdated and complex tax code that puts them at a distinct competitive disadvantage.”

GE is certainly not the first company that has encountered criticism from Mr. Sanders. However, it is the first company to respond back to the allegations. The Presidential Candidate also targeted big banks such as JP Morgan recently.

In the end of the article, Mr. Immelt mocked Sanders by saying that it is easier to make such claims and promises during campaigns. However, it does not really bother them since they are in the business of real things since a long time and its prime agenda is to offer returns to stakeholders, employees and customers.

Twitter Cares About Its Visually Impaired Users

Twitter has made an update that will now enable assistance to its visually impaired customers

 Twitter Incorporation has a soft spot for its visually impaired users who had to use third-party applications and softwares such as Alt Text Bot. These users are no longer going to need to look for other application in order to use the social media platform but can now get assistance from the platform itself thanks to the new update.  This update makes it easy for the visually impaired audience to gain access to all kinds of trending stories without much hassle.

The social media network’s assistance for these users is now available for IOS and Android users via it mobile application. The partially blind users will now have the option to use alternative text service, which is going to make it very easy for them to share post and view content they desire. This step shows that the organization believes in fair treatment and that everyone has the right to access the site by giving them as many options as possible.

This feature is not going to be automatic, meaning that users will have to go to the settings of the social media site and activate this service. This can be problematic for people who do not prefer going all the way to the settings to update this feature. If this feature was automatic, users might have complained, who are healthy, that they now have to go to the setting and deactivate the service, thus complains would have been shed light at under any circumstance.  Users can go to the settings and enable the feature called ‘compose image description’.

Twitter Inc. has made it easy for the visually impaired to add captions within the 420 character limit through alt text service. This technology is going to work through decoding through technology such as screen readers. Users will view the option of adding description each time they upload an image on their specific accounts.

The social media company cares about its special users and has proved it through this new update. It did this after an ample amount of research and analysis of how users were utilizing the platform, after which it concluded how it users were engaging. This will even aid the social media advertising organization attain more customers through eradicating limitations and boundaries. This should be considered as a smart and even to a certain extent a caring strategy.  

This is not the first step Twitter has taken to make improvements and attempt to overcome the struggle of increasing its sluggish user growth. The co-founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey even attempted to request developers to share ideas that can help improve the micro blogging site. Dorsey did this through starting the hashtag, HelloWorld, making the platform into a marketing site and mange to reach a wider audience. 

Amazon's Echo Will Be Able To Adjust Nest's Thermostats

The e-commerce giant has been working hard to make its Echo more blingy and it has been doing well so far.

Amazon Echo, the retail giant’s Bluetooth speaker, with the help of its voice assistant Alexa can adjust Nest thermostats to change house temperatures. Ever since its release, the e-commerce company’s hands-free device has been performing exceptional in the market as it lets users perform various functions simply with the help of voice-commands.

With the assistance of the Bluetooth speaker, users can simply activate ‘Alexa’ by calling the name and ask her to take the necessary measures to adjust the temperature of their homes/rooms. Through the Alexa app, they can integrate their Nest Thermostat to the Echo and then it is good to go. However, if the user fails to give proper instructions to Alexa, it is likely to adjust the temperature settings automatically by two degrees.

The retailer’s aim has always to been to promote a smart-home culture as it had already allowed its customers to control their home’s smart-lights or even playback music from the e-commerce platform’s cloud platform. With its latest new features, the company is making quite an effort to arm Alexa with a wide range of capabilities.

After the introduction of Echo’s Tap and Dot, Echo inspired speakers, it hinted to support thermostats via voice-commands. Furthermore, it can be concluded that Echo is really working on its game in the digital assistant market and is directly competing with Apple Inc.’s digital assistant as this point, Siri. This move is highly appreciated by the Bluetooth speaker’s owners, as the use of digital assistant in the market is growing rapidly to navigate smart home appliances.

To ensure that all Amazon customers have an Echo device, the company is allowing its customers to create their own device for a price of $60. It’s a tutorial that the online shopping company has posted on GitHub – however to follow the step by step tutorial, a user needs a background on programming and technology. Furthermore, the Nest Thermostats can be run by voice-commands given by Dot, Fire TV, Echo and Tap. In addition to that, the company is also working on adding further new features (commands) for the future.

Amazon stock is being traded in the market for $582.95 up by 2.34%. During the trade session, the stock was seen hit a high share price of $583.55 and at a low end of $567.08 while the trade session commenced at a share price of $567.11. The market capitalization of the e-commerce giant is at $280.90 billion. Furthermore, the earnings per share were reported to be at 1.24 with a price to earnings ratio of 470.07.

IBM's Another Cloud-Based Acquisition

In order to bolsters its cloud based business the tech giant has been making prudent acquisitions

According to the most recent news, International Business Machines Corporation has acquired a UK based privately owned company Optevia. Optevia is software as a services (SaaS) systems integrator and a specialist provider of Microsoft Dynamics CRM based solutions. The firm major focus is on UK’s public sector organizations including, but not limited to health, social enterprises, housing, central government, and emergency services. The financial amount of the acquisition remains undisclosed however it is confirmed that the US based company has become the part of Big Blue’s global business services division.

Over the past fifteen quarters, the $145 billion company has been recording slumping sales. Therefore, the tech giant has decided to part from the lower-margin businesses and to shift the focus and investment on its five “strategic imperatives,” which include, analytics, cloud, social, mobile, and security services. The decision has been taken on the last year’s 10% annual growth of the abovementioned businesses premises. Additionally, the business sales accumulated to around a third of IBM full year sales. However, the abovementioned growth couldn’t offset the colossal decline of 8.5% to around $22.06 billion.

Therefore, in order to strengthen the strategic imperatives, the New York City, New York firm has been quite frantically acquiring cloud companies such as Optevia. Since the inception of the year 2016, Big Blue brought its plans in open about the buying of Ustream –the cloud-based video streaming company, Truven Health Analytics –cloud based healthcare data provider, another cybersecurity company Esilient Systems, in addition to three digital marketing companies. Additionally, in order to bolster its Watson AI and data processing platform, IBM acquired The Weather Company in the current year.

The recent acquisition of Optevia has strengthened the tech giants hold in the CRM market. According to the industry gurus, the tech giant anticipates a $23 billion opportunity from the CRM market and it further envisions that the cloud based CRM solutions can conveniently “surpass 50% of that total.” Furthermore, the tech titan believes that the acquisition of Optevia will assist Big Blue “establish itself as a premier SaaS and digital consultant and accelerate leadership in CRM solutions.”

The purchase of Optevia which deploys Dynamics for its clients can effectively help Big Blue and Microsoft Corp. in their CRM market shares expansion against Salesforce. According to the data purported by the research company, Gartner, Salesforce massively holds 18.4% of the global CRM market while Big Blue and Microsoft respective holdings in the market is mere 3.8% and 6.2%. The acquisition is also likely to boost the global business services revenue of IBM which, last quarter, slumped down by around 10% annually. The global business services make up around 20% of the company’s top line.

Standalone, the deal with the UK based company is likely to cultivate humungous growth for the tech giant’s global business services or strategic imperatives.  

IBM is trading fairly well in the market and on Thursday the stock closed at $147.98. $117 to $176 makes up stock’s 52 weeks range.

Netflix Inc. Is Up Against Piracy Websites Who Are Stealing its Content

The streaming media service has made a call to Google, requesting it to take down these links that are infringing its copyrighted content.

Earlier in 2016, the streaming media leader, Netflix Inc. announced that it will be banning the use of virtual private network and proxies that customers uses to gain access to libraries from other regions of the world. With the help of these VPNs and proxies, users are able to fake their locations so they can be able to watch shows and movies that have not been made available in their countries.

In addition, to stop these customers from ‘stealing’ from Netflix, the streaming media giant has now started to approach Google to take down sites that pursue uploading pirated Netflix original content series and movies. This is the first time ever that the video streaming company is going an extra mile to protect its copyrighted property.

Not more than three years ago, the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings had announced that the company is not interested in going after people who pirate its content and allow customers to streaming and download it via their website. However, now it seems that most of these websites that host pirated content are taking away customers from the organization that is not even close to accept on the streaming media provider’s front.

At that time, the CEO had also started that there is some kind of torrenting going on in the world and it happens all across the globe and through that the company just gets to know what is in demand and what the customers are watching most. It is taking alternate routes to stop customers from going onto using those shady avenues and instead become a paying customer for it.

Netflix wants you to follow the system, become a paying customer and allow yourself to watch series and movies through the official service. TorrentFreak reported that Netflix has started to report thousands of websites that allow users to stream and download its content. In partnership with anti-piracy company, Vobile, the streaming media service provider has issued to take down more than 72,000 such websites that are infringing copyrights of the official service provider.

However, the company has focused on taking down a number of its top shows which include Narcos, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. This act by the streaming media organization had only just begun in December 2015 and since then it has managed to issue thousands of notices. Its prime focus is on piracy websites which include vodlocker.com, putlocker.com and uploaded.net.

These moves by the organization has caused a mass outrage among users, however the company does not plan to stop. It’s simply at a point where it says ‘either you buy the service and watch the show or you don’t watch it at all’ which makes sense on its part since its spending millions of dollars of these original content shows. Even though it will not be able to take down all the pirated content from these piracy sites but it does believe that its increased efforts in this aspect might just help the service gain a number of new customers.