Snapdeal, Ola investors turn down SoftBank buyout offer

As SoftBank was finalizing deals to infuse capital in Snapdeal and Ola last month, it also made an offer to buyout shares of angels and some venture-capital investors in both companies.

 As SoftBank was finalizing deals to infuse capital in online retailer Snapdeal and taxi aggregator Ola last month, the Japanese internet and telecom giant also made an offer to buyout shares of angels and some early venture-capital investors in both companies, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Most of them said no. 

It may not have been an easy offer to refuse as some of these early investors are sitting on returns of 100 times their investment on paper. They, however, see the value multiplying further. 

"I haven't sold any shares so far. If someone is offering a valuation which I expect the company to reach in the next one-two years, then I can think about it," said People Group founder Anupam Mittal, one of the early backers of Ola. Investments like Ola come once in a lifetime, he added. 

Mittal's decision underlines what has become a norm, of early capital investors holding on to their winners in risk capital business where returns come from a few portfolio companies. According to data from financial research platform VCCEdge, Indian e-commerce and online businesses have seen 694 investments totaling $5.56 billion since 2011. But there have only been 45 exits worth $295 million in that time. 

Ola, which is competing with global giant Uber and others in India, has seen its valuation increasing more than 10 times in the last 12 months. When the company announced its second round of funding in November 2013, it was valued at $40-50 million, according to sources. In July this year, it was valued at around $180 million when Hong Kong-based hedge fund Steadview Capital led a funding round. The latest investment from SoftBank gave the four-yearold startup post money valuation of nearly $650 million, perhaps underlining why the early investors are holding on to their bets. 

Besides Mittal, Ola's early backers include investor Rehan Yar Khan, Powai Lake Ventures and Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. These angels had together pumped in Rs 2 crore in a few months after the company was founded in 2011. These investors are said to be sitting on more than 100 times their investment, which was primarily a bet on IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati's ability to execute their vision. 

"There was an offer from SoftBank to the angel investors but none of them sold. They feel that it's a multi-billion-dollar opportunity now and why should I sell even a single share today," said another person involved in Ola's fundraising. 

A SoftBank spokesperson said: "We are not able to comment on investment details beyond what has been announced." Snapdeal and Ola declined to comment. 

Sources indicated that early VC investors in Snapdeal, which had a post money valuation of nearly $2 billion in the latest round, are sitting on at least 8-10 times returns on the capital invested. These investors see potential for the company's valuation reaching $5-10 billion in the coming years. 

While none of the investors in Snapdeal is completely exiting, Bessemer Venture Partners, who invested in the company three years ago, has made a partial exit in this round. The VC firm sold less than a third of its holding. 

Bessemer had invested in the company in 2011 at a valuation of $170-180 million and could make a profit of around five-six times the investment, said sources. Bessemer managing director Vishal Gupta didn't respond to an email seeking comment. 

Sources familiar with SoftBank's deal making said it typically looks to buy 30-35% in a startup, and usually makes a secondary offer after an initial investment to meet the target. 

"Kunal (Bahl, Snapdeal co-founder) made a request to all the existing shareholders to sell some part of their shares to help SoftBank meet their shareholding requirement," said a Snapdeal investor on condition of anonymity. 

Some of the largest shareholders like Kalaari Capital are holding on to their investment."We believe in the long-term potential of Snapdeal. We are not sellers at the current valuation," said Vani Kola, managing director of Kalaari Capital. Her firm had invested in when Jasper Infotech, Snapdeal's holding company, was still in its early avatar of discount coupon startup Moneysaver in 2009. 

Limited partners, or investors in VC funds, say the venture market is just finishing its first cycle."Indian venture capital is still at the earlier stages of its evolution, with the first 10 venture-backed $1-billion-plus companies just created in India. Therefore, there are a few more years to go for us from now, before we see very good cash returns," said Anand Prasanna, managing director at Morgan Creek Capital. "This is not dissimilar to what we saw in other markets like China.
"

Behind Google's Europe woes, American accents

When EU politicians call for the break-up of Google, it can sound like sour grapes, the anti-American backlash of an aging Europe envious, and fearful, of the wealth and growing power of young US tech giants.

But should any American take time on Thanksgiving to scoff at Thursday's non-binding vote in the European Parliament, when lawmakers may urge EU regulators to get tough with the search engine Goliath, they should know that behind the EU antitrust probe of Google stand not only Europeans but US competitors.

Indeed, to many in Brussels it is Google's fellow Americans — such as Microsoft, Expedia and TripAdvisor — whose complaints and big-money lobbying have driven a four-year-old investigation by the powerful European Commission into whether Google abuses its dominance of internet searches to push favored web sites.

"The American companies are using the European Commission as a battleground among themselves," a senior EU official told Reuters. "They are the ones coming to us with complaints.

"They are the ones who are not happy when rivals present concessions and say these are not enough."

US companies like Microsoft, hit by a $700-million fine last year for foisting its flagging Explorer browser on PC buyers, are well aware of the Commission's power in the world's biggest economic bloc. It also may seem more aggressive than its counterpart in Washington, which last year dropped its own case inquiry into Google, concluding the firm had not broken rules.

Three attempts it made to reach a settlement were turned down by EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia, who agreed with Google's rivals that concessions it offered to avoid a fine of up to $5 billion were not enough. The case is now in the hands of Margrethe Vestager, who succeeded Almunia this month.

US tech firms "are all playing on a little playing field", said Bert Foer, head of Washington thinktank the American Antitrust Institute. "Naturally they're going to move fastest and farthest in jurisdictions that have more favorable laws.

"While there's not a whole lot of difference between American antitrust law and European antitrust law, there is a difference in enforcement style and aggressiveness right now. So it's not surprising that a lot of the fight is over there. And it's not surprising that a lot of the companies are American."

"It's simply not about one side of the ocean against the other," said Thomas Vinje, a partner in the Brussels office of London law firm Clifford Chance. He is advising FairSearch, a group of firms including Microsoft, Oracle and Twenga in their complaint against Google with the European Commission.


"Never has a competition case brought together such a geographical or industrial breadth of concerned parties. There's just never been anything like it," said Vinje. "Probably never has any company exerted so much power on so many key markets."

Transatlantic suspicion
That is not to say that there is no anti-US animus in Europe, among the public and some politicians. It is a fact Google, which declined comment for this article, highlights in portraying itself at times as caught in Transatlantic crossfire.

Last year's revelations of US spying on the digital doings of Europeans, including even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, heightened mistrust of US power in the digital world — though Europeans still use Google overwhelmingly to search the web.

Google suffered a setback this year when the EU supreme court upheld a "right to be forgotten", ordering it to block links to information if people request it. It also faces legal challenges over copyright fees, led notably by German publishers, and over a variety of privacy concerns.

READ ALSO: US voices concern over EU's proposed plan to breakup Google

Underscoring a sense of siege following the drafting of the resolution in the European Parliament, the US mission to the EU in Brussels issued a statement appealing for objectivity so that the antitrust case was not "politicized".

Vinje, however, said talk of anti-Americanism was overdone and accused Google executives of "pushing the line that its troubles are driven by anti-US sentiments in Europe" to gloss over what he said were real concerns about its business.

Antitrust lawyer Alfonso Lamadrid at the Brussels office of Spanish firm Garrigues said the legal troubles of Google, and other US firms, simply reflected their global success: "It is mainly because in most cases US firms are the allegedly dominant players worldwide. I wish more European firms were in a position to be subject to similar investigations in the US."

Michael Marelus, at the Brussels office of Anglo-American law firm DLA Piper which is not directly involved in the Google case, also played down the political elements of the EU inquiry:

"Politics is clearly and heavily involved in any statement made by the European Parliament and very much so in the parliament's call to consider unbundling Google," he said.

"It would however be unfair to say that US companies are being targeted as such ... It seems that parliament is taking an aggressive stand in considering unbundling Google in the hope of ultimately obtaining a more realistic commitment from it."

The resolution, being debated in parliament, was proposed by a German conservative and Spanish liberal. While the legislature has no power in the matter, and it does not single out Google by name, the call for the Commission to consider separating searches from other services is intended to increase pressure on antitrust chief Vestager to act quickly.

A Danish liberal, she has sole power to decide and has kept her own counsel. Fellow commissioners with roles in the digital market have given mixed signals, voicing concern about monopoly but also rejecting a break-up.

Backed by members of the main center-right and center-left parties, the resolution was expected to pass on Thursday in a vote scheduled after noon (6 am EST)
.

Motorola's price-fixing appeal rejected by US court

Judge Richard Posner said Motorola could not invoke US antitrust law because the "immediate victims" had been non-US subsidiaries that had bought most of the LCD screens that carried inflated prices.

A federal appeals court rejected Motorola Mobility LLC's bid to sue several Asian suppliers under US antitrust law for fixing prices of mobile phone displays sold to its foreign units. 

Wednesday's decision by the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago may lessen protections against inflated prices for US consumers who buy cellphones, computers and other products whose components are made outside the country. 

Circuit Judge Richard Posner said Motorola could not invoke US antitrust law because the "immediate victims" had been non-US subsidiaries that had bought most of the liquid crystal display screens that carried inflated prices. 

While Motorola, a unit of China's Lenovo Group, claimed it paid the defendants more than $5 billion during a conspiracy that ran from 1996 to 2006, only 1% of the components were shipped to the United States. 

"Motorola's foreign subsidiaries were injured in foreign commerce — in dealings with other foreign companies," Posner wrote for a three-judge panel. 

"To give Motorola rights to take the place of its foreign companies and sue on their behalf under US antitrust law would be an unjustified interference with the right of foreign nations to regulate their own economies," he added. 

The defendants include AU Optronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, HannStar Display, LG Display, Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI, Panasonic's Sanyo unit, Sharp and Toshiba. 

Some LCD makers have pleaded guilty to US criminal price-fixing charges. Wednesday's decision limits the scope of Motorola's separate, civil lawsuit, which also alleged violations of state antitrust and consumer protection laws. 

The civil case had also drawn concern from the court that Motorola was trying to obtain US antitrust protections even as it shifted tax burdens to other countries. 

Motorola, which is based in Chicago, denied that accusation, saying it repatriated foreign profits and paid US taxes. 

Unfriended
"The court's opinion basically says that Motorola can't have it both ways," said Robert Wick, a partner at Covington & Burling who represents Samsung Electronics and argued the defendants' case before the 7th Circuit on November 13. "Motorola can't be a foreign company for purposes of manufacturing phones, but a US company when it comes to asserting antitrust claims." 

Motorola spokesman Will Moss said: "We disagree with the decision, and are considering our options." 

Posner said Motorola and its customers were only "indirect" purchasers of the LCD screens, and that Motorola's claims were barred under a 1982 law limiting antitrust claims against non-US companies to conduct directly linked to domestic commerce. 

Of the screens shipped to non-US factories, 42% were used in products sold in the United States and 57% in products sold elsewhere. 

The US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission had submitted a brief urging that US antitrust law did cover the price-fixing conspiracy. 

But Posner said the government stopped short of saying Motorola deserved antitrust damages, and merely sought assurance that US efforts to obtain criminal and civil sanctions against foreign companies for antitrust violations would not be impeded. 

"Motorola has lost its best friend," Posner said, referring to the government. 

A Justice Department spokesman said the government is pleased the court recognized the "propriety" of its efforts to protect US consumers from non-US price-fixing cartels. 

Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility for $2.91 billion in October from Google, which had purchased the company two years earlier. 

The case is Motorola Mobility LLC v AU Optronics Corp, et al, 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 14-8003
.

Google must apply 'right to be forgotten' globally: EU

European privacy regulators want internet search engines such as Google and Microsoft's Bing to scrub results globally, not just in Europe, when people invoke their "right to be forgotten" as ruled by an EU court. 

The European Union's privacy watchdogs agreed on a set of guidelines on Wednesday to help them implement a ruling from Europe's supreme court that gives people the right to ask search engines to remove personal information that is "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant." 

Google, which dominates internet searches in Europe, has been scrubbing results only from the European versions of its website such as Google.de in Germany or Google.fr in France, meaning they still appear on Google.com. 

"From the legal and technical analysis we are doing, they should include the '.com'," said Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, the head of France's privacy watchdog and the Article 29 Working Party of EU national data protection authorities, at a news conference. 

A spokesman for Google said the company had not yet seen the guidelines but would "study them carefully" when they are published. 

Pierrotin said the guidelines should be published on Thursday or Friday. 

Google previously said that it believed search results should be removed only from its European versions since Google automatically redirects people to the local versions of its search engine. 

The issue of how far to push the "right to be forgotten" has divided experts and privacy regulators, with some arguing that Google's current approach waters down the effectiveness of the ruling, given how easy it is to switch between different national versions. 

Wednesday's decision was another setback for Google, which is facing multiple investigations into its privacy policy and is mired in a four-year EU antitrust inquiry. 

The ruling has pitted privacy advocates against free speech campaigners, who say allowing people to ask search engines to remove information would lead to a whitewashing of the past. 

Pierrotin also said that notifying publishers and media outlets when their stories are delisted from search results would not be mandatory, as Google has previously argued. 

"There is no legal basis for routine transmission from Google or any other search engine to the editors. It may in some cases be necessary, but not as a routine and not as an obligation," she said.

Google's decision to notify press outlets and webmasters via email was criticized by regulators earlier this year for sometimes bringing people's names back into the open
.

Amazon Fire phone gets a price cut again

The price cut, which would last until December 1, is the second for the Fire phone.

Amazon has slashed the price of its Fire smartphone that stalled after launch early this year, becoming a drag on the US online retail titan's bottom line. 

The price cut, which Amazon said would last until December 1, is the second for Fire phone and is included in a set of holiday-shopping season deals announced for items including Kindle e-readers. 

Fire smartphones free of accompanying contracts with telecom carriers are available for $199 and come with a year-long membership to Amazon Prime subscription service which gives customers free shipping and access to music, videos and other online content. 

Fire phone hit the market mid-year at a price of $649 each without contracts, or $200 with multi-year telecom service deals. 

Unlocked Fire phone are compatible with GSM networks provided by US carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Metro PCS and Cricket. 

Seattle-based Amazon in September tried to ignite Fire sales by dropping the unlocked price to $449, and offering handsets for just 99 cents if bought along with a two-year service contract with telecom carrier AT&T. 

While some Amazon products and services have been popular, its smartphone market share has been "effectively zero," according to the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners consultancy. 

Amazon posted widening losses in the recently ended fiscal quarter, raising doubts on whether investors will support chief executive Jeff Bezos's strategy of putting investment ahead of profit. 

Amazon took a charge of $170 million for inventory, mainly for unsold phones. 

Some analysts believe that the US holiday season will test Amazon because traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are responding to the competition with offerings such as free shipping.

BlackBerry paying iPhone users to switch to Passport

 Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry is wooing Apple customers with a cash offer for trade-ins of iPhones for its new square-screened, keyboard-equipped Passport.

The promotion was announced late Monday and will be available starting next month until February 13, in Canada and the United States.

Customers who trade in their iPhones could receive up to $400 cash back depending on the model and condition of their trade-in, plus a $150 gift card.

This marks the first time that BlackBerry has gone head-to-head with Apple since the Canadian firm launched a turnaround plan last year aimed at stemming massive losses.

The Passport was launched in September.

Named for its approximate size to the travel document, the phone was designed to win back key corporate users after BlackBerry was effectively knocked out of the highly competitive consumer smartphone market dominated by Apple and Samsung.

Investors seemed pleased, pushing up the Waterloo, Ontario-based company's share price slightly in morning trading.

But analysts were more skeptical. Carl Simard of Medici called it a very "desperate move."

In September, BlackBerry reported it narrowed its loss in the latest quarter, and expressed optimism that its major restructuring and new business-friendly devices would help fuel a turnaround.

For the three months ended August 30, BlackBerry posted a loss of $207 million on $916 billion in revenues largely split between sales of services and software and more than two million smartphones.

The Canadian manufacturer pioneered the smartphone market but has struggled to keep up with competitors in recent years.

Last year, the company introduced the BlackBerry 10 operating system and new smartphones in an effort to regain ground lost to rivals such as Apple and others using the Google Android operating system
.

Lava in talks to buy Nokia's Chennai plant: Sources

Fast-growing smartphone maker Lava is said to be in talks to buy Nokia's Chennai handset factory, once the world's biggest but now non-operational. If a deal is struck, that could raise the possibility of thousands of former workers getting a chance at re-employment at the plant that had been regarded as a showpiece of India's manufacturing capabilities. 

The two companies have signed a nondisclosure agreement, people familiar with discussions told ET. "Lava's manufacturing team has already visited the plant and has done the assessment. It will make a proposal to Nokia mid-December after taking all aspects into consideration," one of the people said. "The tax issue needs to be sorted out before a final deal is sealed though." 

He was referring to the tax dispute between Nokia and the government, which had prevented the Finnish company from transferring the factory to Microsoft as part of a global $7.2-billion deal to sell its devices business to the US company. The tax row is in court and the factory is silent after Microsoft decided to stop using it from November 1 as a contract manufacturer for its devices, putting thousands out of work. 

Another person said a top executive of Nokia Finland's M&A team was recently in India to discuss the sale with Lava, which has moved up to the No. 3 spot among smartphone vendors in the July-September quarter from No. 4 in the second quarter, according to IDC. The Noida-based company, headed by co-founder and chairman & managing director Hari Om Rai, was set up in 2009 and sells devices under the Lava and Xolo brand names. 

"Nokia has already communicated to Lava that the ongoing tax and lease-related issues are being discussed with the authorities concerned," said the person cited above. "It has asked Lava to continue with the assessment since there are high chances that these issues would get resolved soon." 

A Nokia spokesperson said in an email: "With production at Chennai suspended, we would like to see the asset freeze imposed by the tax authorities lifted. This will allow us to explore potential opportunities for sale to a suitable buyer." 

Nokia and Lava declined comment on any talks they might be having. 

While there are no valuation estimates available, the Indian tax department had pegged Nokia's fixed assets including the factory and a few sales offices at Rs 586 crore in the Delhi High Court last December. 

"The valuation would have gone down by 10-12% considering depreciation," said the second person quoted above. 

At its peak, the factory was the world's largest mobile phone manufacturing plant with 8,000 permanent employees working three shifts producing more than 15 million phones a month. ET recently reported that Nokia will renew the factory's licence by the end of November so the machines run occasionally and are kept in working condition, allowing the company to sell it off as a functional unit without too much of a cut in valuation. 

A third person said Nokia is also open to leasing out the plant to contract manufacturers. "The plant's machinery can also be used for making other electronic equipment such as tablets or personal computers after some tweaking," he said. 

Nokia had approached Celkon Mobiles for a possible lease arrangement, said executive director Murali Retineni."We've not given it serious thought," said the Celkon executive. 

The person cited above said Celkon may not need the kind of big capacity that the factory offers, given its volumes. 

Buying the plant, however, makes sense for Lava, among the fastest-growing phone makers in India. It aims to start domestic manufacturing next year due to the rapidly increasing cost of labour in China. Lava has already said it plans to spend Rs 500 crore on local manufacturing operations over three years. 

The company was earlier in talks with Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Vivo for setting up a manufacturing unit, but this fell through. The company is hoping the Nokia deal works out but will otherwise set up its own plant, land for which has already been earmarked, people said. 

"Being one of the fastest-growing handset vendors, Lava has witnessed growth in both their brands — Lava and Xolo," IDC said in its latest market report on India released on Wednesday. 

Lava is set to cross $1 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) revenue by the end of the current financial year, sharply higher than the Rs 2,909 crore it posted last year. It was the first Indian phone vendor to introduce its own user interface or skin, Hive, riding on the Android OS. Convergence Catalyst's founder analyst Jayanth Kolla said this is a "strong product differentiator" for Lava devices in India
.

Jack Ma wants to father many India investments

Fresh from fund-raising success, Alibaba founder says he wants to globalize and help more small firms use his services to do business.

 Alibaba's Jack Ma has given the clearest indication yet that the world's largest e-commerce group is ready for a bigger play in India's online retail industry, likely making the country one of the fiercest battlegrounds for global consumer internet companies. 

Ma, speaking at an event organized by business grouping Ficci, pledged to invest 'more' in India, and he told ET that he would be back again soon, signaling Alibaba's interest in diversifying its business here. 

"We will invest more in India and work with Indian entrepreneurs and technologists to improve the relationship of the two nations and to improve the lives of human beings," said Ma, Alibaba's founder, who is China's wealthiest man with an estimated net worth of $30 billion (Rs 1.8 lakh crore). 

"I was a college teacher. The internet changed me and it changed China. India is a great nation with so many young people, and the internet will change India too," he said at a 'business cooperation' conference involving his home province Zhejiang in eastern China. 

Flipkart, founded by IIT-Delhi graduates Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, is the market leader in India, but it is dwarfed by Alibaba, which only sells to businesses here, as well as US-based Amazon, which is scaling up retail operations rapidly. In its latest round of funding, Flipkart was valued at $7 billion, compared with a market capital of $155 billion for Amazon and $282 billion for Alibaba. 

"They (Alibaba) will disrupt the market. Look at what Amazon did. That is exactly what Alibaba will do. Lot of noise and immensely deep pockets," said Avinash Raghava, co-founder and fellow at technology think tank iSpirt. 

In September, Alibaba listed on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $25 billion in the largest public market debut in history. 

Just a day after Flipkart won $1 billion in funding in July, Amazon vowed to invest double that amount in India, illustrating the importance of a market where 300 million people are already online out of a population of 1.2 billion. Nomura estimates that India's e-commerce market will be worth $43 billion by 2019, of which online retail will account for $23 billion. 

Ma told ET that he is meeting several Indian entrepreneurs, but did not provide details. But Kunal Bahl, the founder of Snapdeal that competes against Amazon and Flipkart, is one of them, according to people aware of the specifics of Ma's visit. Japan's SoftBank is an investor in both Alibaba and Snapdeal. 

"Yes, I am meeting some businessmen, and will be back in India soon," Ma, 50, said. 

India does not allow foreign investment in online retail, but Alibaba's model of not owning inventory but only providing a marketplace means it will face no policy roadblocks in India. 

"He was absolutely gung-ho about India and wants to invest heavily here. He is already in talks with several Indian companies. We asked him to also involve companies that make hi-tech products in India and assured him of a stable policy environment," said a senior government official who interacted with Ma. 

The diminutive Ma, who wore a black blazer but not a tie, stood apart from his fellow Chinese delegates, who were more formally dressed for the occasion. 

Alibaba.com India e-commerce, the Indian unit of Alibaba, made a profit of around Rs 1 crore on sales of Rs 20 crore in the year ended March 2013, according to the latest financial numbers available with the Registrar of Companies. More than 1.3 million suppliers are listed on Alibaba's Indian website, second just to its home market China's 8.2 million. 

"Sellers from India are ranked just behind Chinese traders. Our platform was never designed for them (Indian SMEs), but their capabilities in taking advantage of opportunities is fantastic, and we have to build platforms to ensure more of them use it," said Ma, who launched his company from his apartment in 1999. About PM Narendra Modi, he said, "I have heard the Prime Minister's speech and it is very passionate and inspiring." 

A former tour guide who is the son of musician-storytellers, Ma said there were 4.3 lakh Chinese consumers currently buying products, varying from chocolates to tea and spices, from Indian sellers on the platform. 

"Over the next three years, one of the key strategies for Alibaba is to globalize and to make sure that we can help more small businesses around the globe use our services to do businesses," he said. R Chandrasekhar, the president of software and services grouping Nasscom, said Alibaba expanding its India presence is good news for domestic businesses. "A company that brought e-commerce to doorsteps of Chinese consumers holds many lessons for Indian e-commerce ventures which are relatively new to the game and have a long way to go," he said
.

'India will be a priority market for Apple Watch'

India will be a priority market for Apple's first wearable device, the Apple Watch, which is expected to hit the domestic market by early February.

The bullishness of the Cupertino-based company comes from initial market studies that show the Apple Watch has the potential to become a bestseller in India, after iPhones and iPads. 

Apple also proposes to engage Indian developers to create apps for the device and is firming up the launch, according to two senior executives aware of the company's plans for India. 

"Apple is bullish about the success of the Apple Watch in India since it already has a base of more than 4 million iPhone and iPad users who are initially the potential target," said one of the executives. 

An Apple spokesman said the Apple Watch will be launched globally in early 2015 and there is no further update. 

As per estimates, the price of the Apple Watch will be about Rs 28,000-35,000, which will be more than the cost of wearable products sold by rivals Samsung and Sony. The device will be compatible with the iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, which run the latest operating system. 

"At such a price point and limited reach only to latest iPhone users, the volume uptake will surely be small, but the Apple Watch launch will boost the awareness of smart wearables as a product category and make it a buzzword in India like Apple iPad did to tablets as a product category four years ago," said Counterpoint Research senior analyst (devices and ecosystem) Tarun Pathak. 

According to Counterpoint Research, the wearable market in India is still very small, at 1 lakh units this calendar year, but Apple Watch is expected to give it a boost next year, when it is expected to grow five times. The researcher expects several new vendors will launch affordable smart wearable products next year. 

PlanetM Retail chief executive officer Sanjay Karwa expects the Apple Watch to give a boost to the market, which has become subdued after Diwali. 

"A new gadget like Apple Watch will get traction by virtue of its loyal customer base which is now a sizeable number in India," he said. 

Apple last week rolled out the software that will help developers to come up with new apps for the Apple Watch. The company is hopeful the Indian base of developers will roll out local apps to expand the appeal of the device in the domestic market. 

Apple is set to launch its latest tablets in India this weekend. According to authorized e-commerce seller Infibeam, pre-order demand for the latest iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 has been encouraging and is expected to exceed levels reached at last year's launch of iPads. Demand for the new iPhones -iPhone 6 and 6 Plus -too has not come down and supplies have become regularized
.

Twitter is now tracking the apps you download

Twitter said it is now tracking what other apps its users have installed on their mobile devices so it can target content and ads to them better.

 Twitter said it is now tracking what other apps its users have installed on their mobile devices so it can target content and ads to them better. 

Twitter Inc said that users will receive a notification when the setting is turned on and can opt out using settings on their phones. On iPhones, this setting is called "limit ad tracking." On Android phones, it's "opt out of interest-based ads." 

San Francisco-based Twitter said it is only collecting the list of apps that users have installed, not any data within the apps. It won't collect the app lists from people who have previously turned off ad targeting on their phones. 

Besides advertising, Twitter said knowing what apps people have downloaded can improve its suggestions on what accounts to follow and add relevant content to their feeds that isn't advertising. 

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that people sometimes have conflicting views on privacy. About 80% of Americans who use social networking sites are concerned about third parties, such as advertisers, accessing data that they share on the sites, according to the poll. At the same time, most are willing to share some information about themselves in exchange for using such services for free.

Sony working on e-paper watch

Sony is developing a watch made out of electronic paper for release as soon as next year in a trial of the company’s new venture-style approach to creating products.

Sony Corp is developing a watch made out of electronic paper for release as soon as next year in a trial of the company's new venture-style approach to creating products, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The watch's face and wrist band will be made from a patented material that allows the entire surface area to function as a display and change its appearance, the people said, asking not to be named because it hasn't been announced. The device will emphasize style, rather than trying to outdo more technological offerings like Apple Inc's watch and Sony's own SmartWatch, they said. 

At stake is more than a win against Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. A decade of cost reductions and job cuts has soured Sony's culture of innovation, once celebrated for the Walkman and the Trinitron television. Chief executive officer Kazuo Hirai formed a business creation division this year under his direct control to fast-track promising products, and the watch is one of the effort's first results. 

"The innovation programme is very important, but it will take time and require some risk-taking," said Sadao Nagaoka, a professor at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo who studies innovation and serves as an economic adviser to Japan's Patent Office. "It's not that Sony ran out of new ideas, but rather, it's taking too long to restructure, and gigantic losses have starved new businesses of funds." 

New ideas
Hirai's new division is aiming to come up with products and services that don't fit the mold of Sony's existing businesses. 

Besides the e-paper watch, the group is developing technology building blocks designed to help professionals and amateurs rapidly create prototypes of new products. The MESH project — for make, experience and share — is a collection of sensors, light-emitting diodes and buttons encased in colorful blocks smaller than a pack of chewing gum. The devices are linked wirelessly and can be operated via a tablet interface, friendly to people without programming or engineering skills. 

The division also includes Sony's Seed Acceleration Program, which was set up so any employee with a good idea can pitch for venture financing. Would-be entrepreneurs make their proposals either to other employees or to a panel of outside experts, in which case their pitch remains anonymous, said one of the people. The startup process includes an audition, incubation and implementation stages that emphasize speed and profitability. 

Teams of up to five people face off every three months and can include outsiders, according to an internal newsletter published in July. Those that pass have at most six months to prepare a business plan and may work on the ideas full-time. The final product could fall under an existing division or become an independent company. The first round, held in June, attracted 187 applications, of which 80 passed to the next stage, according to the document. 

Litmus test
Koji Kurata, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Sony, declined to comment when reached by phone yesterday. 

The e-paper watch will be a litmus test for Sony's new division. Though the market for wearable technology is still small, with only 22 million of the gadgets sold worldwide this fiscal year, the industry is set to grow fivefold in the next five years, according to MM Research Institute Ltd. More than half of all wearable devices already target the wrist, with competition Fitbit Inc's rubber band-like fitness trackers to the $780 luxury Veldt timepieces. 

Focusing on appearance may help distinguish Sony's new product from the crowd of devices serving as a second screen for smartphones. The company's own SmartWatch acts as a music player remote control, while Samsung's Galaxy Gear offers hands-free calls. Both push e-mail and Facebook notifications and require a phone. 

General ugliness
Consumers surveyed by Nomura Research Institute cited the general ugliness of wearables as the third-biggest obstacle to adoption, after price and weight. Apple, which hired celebrity designer Marc Newson in September, will offer a choice of stainless steel, aluminum and 18-karat gold when its watch goes on sale next year. 

"Smartwatches don't sell now because there is little reason to buy one, since your smartphone can do it all anyway," said Taichiro Nakayama, a senior consultant at Nomura Research in Tokyo. "Many people choose their watches based on the brand and design. Convincing them to replace what's on their wrist now is no mean feat." 

Hard things
Hirai has struggled to turn the company around as he faces rising competition in mobile phones and games, and soft demand for televisions and cameras. Sony is set to pile up more than 1 trillion yen ($8.5 billion) of losses since 2010. 

Hirai sounded an optimistic note when he addressed investors in May, saying the innovation programme will create new businesses while also nurturing young talent. He said it will become "the driving force for our new Sony." 

A Sony engineer who participated in the programme said it has created a stir among younger employees, though there are still hesitations about trying something that may fail. He chose to pitch his project to a panel of outside experts rather than putting it up for a public vote, in part because he didn't want his bosses to know he was trying to leave. The engineer, who asked not to be named because he's not authorized to talk about the programme, said his proposal didn't get funding. 

"Sony's trouble is not just with targeting the right technologies — they also have problems in terms of management, corporate governance and so on," said Keun Lee, a professor of economics at Seoul National University who writes about disruptive innovation. "Tapping diverse sources for knowledge and communicating across the company's silos can be one source of recovery.
"

Samsung seeks to block Nvidia chips from US: Report

Samsung has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission seeking to block chips made by Nvidia Corp from the US market, Bloomberg reported.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission seeking to block computer-graphics chips made by Nvidia Corp from the US market, Bloomberg reported. 

Samsung had accused Nvidia of infringing several of its chip-related patents and for making false claims about its products, counter-suing after Nvidia filed a suit against the company in September. 

The Korean company's lawsuit came after Nvidia accused it and rival Qualcomm Inc of infringing patents on its graphics-processing unit (GPU). 

Samsung, which had filed the lawsuit in a US federal court on November 4, is seeking damages for deliberate infringement of several technical patents, including a few that govern the way semiconductors buffer and use data. 

The Bloomberg report said that the ITC complaint also named computer-parts manufacturers Biostar Microtech International Corp and Elitegroup Computer Systems Co.

Twitter: India among our fastest growing markets

"India is one of our fastest growing markets and we will be investing more here," Twitter VP, global media, Katie Jacobs Stanton said.

Buoyed by the rising penetration of internet in the country, a top official from Twitter has said that India is one of the fastest growing market for the website.

The US-based social networking platform said it will be investing more in India, which industry body IAMAI has predicted will surpass the US by December this year in terms of internet users.

"India is a big market for us. It is one of our fastest growing markets and we will be investing more here," Twitter VP, global media, Katie Jacobs Stanton said at a conference.

She added that 78% of the traffic on Twitter now comes from outside the US, signifying the growing importance of emerging markets.



According to its latest quarterly report, for the three months ended September 30, 2014, Twitter had 284 million average monthly active users (MAUs) spanning nearly every country.

Users outside the US constituted 78% of its average MAUs, but the international revenue, as determined on the basis of the billing location of its advertisers, was only 34% of its consolidated revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2014.

Stanton further said: "India is a growing market, which can be ascertained by the fact that the Lok Sabha elections generated about 60 million tweets."



Speaking at a discussion on whether social media is killing big media, she said Twitter is a tech company in the media business.

"We are not here to put media out of business. In fact, journalists were the first users of the median to break and consume news," Stanton added.

London Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands said the paper had turnaround at a time when print has been declared doomed, but added that like other organizations, the paper is on a multi-platform format.

Both Stanton and Sands agreed that social media has been a game changer for the way the media operates, with the latest proof being Prime Minister Narendra Modi breaking the news of president Barrack Obama's India visit as the chief guest for the Republic Day on Twitter
.

Indian-American's internet TV startup files for bankruptcy

Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia said the court decision created "regulatory and legal uncertainty" that proved insurmountable.

 Aereo Inc, the online video streaming company backed by media mogul Barry Diller, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The Chapter 11 filing on Thursday night came five months after the US Supreme Court said Aereo violated broadcasters' copyrights by capturing live and recorded programmes on miniature antennas and transmitting them to subscribers who paid $8 to $12 a month.

That decision effectively forbade New York-based Aereo's business model, an attempt to offer a less-expensive alternative to cable television.

Chief executive officer Chet Kanojia said the court decision created "regulatory and legal uncertainty" that proved insurmountable.

"A little over three years ago, the team at Aereo set out to build a better television experience for the consumer," Kanojia said in a blog post. "We knew we had touched a nerve, had created something special, and had a built something meaningful for consumers."

Ultimately, he said, "the challenges have proven too difficult to overcome."

In a filing with the US Bankruptcy Court in New York, chief financial officer Ramon Rivera said getting protection from creditors should provide "necessary breathing room" for Aereo to sell its assets, recapitalize or restructure.

The privately held company had been trying to persuade regulators to declare it eligible for a license available to cable systems, but Rivera said the timing was "uncertain."

Lawton Bloom, a principal at Argus Management Corp in New York who specializes in restructurings and crisis management, was named Aereo's chief restructuring officer.

Kanojia owns 42.32% of the company, and Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp holds 23.3%, according to Aereo's bankruptcy petition. Aereo had raised about $95.6 million in equity financing.

An IAC spokeswoman said Diller was not available to comment.

The 6-3 Supreme Court decision was a victory for broadcasters such as CBS Corp, Comcast Corp's NBC, Walt Disney Co's ABC and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's Fox network.

Aereo suspended its streaming service, which it said had been available in 11 US metropolitan areas, three days after the decision. On November 12, it laid off 74 employees, leaving 14.

In court papers, Aereo said it had about $20.5 million of assets and $4.2 million of debts
.