Thursday, 6 November 2014

Microsoft team up with Dropbox

Dropbox provide services in storing data on the cloud and Microsoft also provide cloud-computing services. Although, both are competitors of each other but they collaborated to provide services. This will allow users to access Dropbox directly from Office apps and edit office files from the Dropbox app. Dropbox is home to over 35 Billion office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
The deal has four main parts: Quickly editing Office docs from the Dropbox mobile app, accessing Dropbox docs from Office apps, sharing Dropbox links of Office apps, and the creation of first party Dropbox apps for Microsoft’s mobile offerings. The capabilities will first roll out on Dropbox and Office apps for iOS and Android Tablets and will be available on the web next year. Dropbox will also make its application available on the windows Phone and Windows tablets in coming months.

The joint venture brings Dropbox the credibility in the enterprise that it has been fighting for in recent months, while smoothing the sharp edges on Microsoft’s public image, proving that the Redmond based firm can play nicely with others. In early 2015, the integration will also extend to the two services web apps, and to the newly announced Dropbox for Windows Phone app. Dropbox has 300 Million users, out of which 70% are international, and a ton of them use Dropbox to get work done.

For Dropbox, the deal fits with its goal of attracting customers that are more corporate. The online storage power updated its business services in April and has sought to allay any security concerns by companies that block Dropbox from their networks for fear of any sensitive documents or information leaking out. In September, Dropbox announced another partnership, this time with Google itself, aiming to make security tech easier to use. The two firms created simply secure, which has the mandate to improve adoption rates of security tools such as two-factor authentication in the wake of the Snowden Revelations.

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Binatone acquire Gecko Maker Connovate

Binatone communications Group is a Hong Kong based consumer electronics and Personal Care Products Company. Connovate Technologies is a Bangalore based startup company and the maker of Gecko device. Gecko is a Bluetooth device. Recently, Binatone has acquired Connovate Technology for an undisclosed amount.
After this deal, Connovate will merge with Binatone subsidiary Hubble connected and will get access to the 1500 stores in United States and 1000 in Europe that Binatone has a presence in. Gecko will be bundled with home, pet, and baby monitoring solutions that Binatone sells under Motorola brand. Connovate becomes the first Indian Startup to have an exit in the inter of things domain, a technology that represents a truly connected world where all devices talk to one another.

Last year, in November Connovate had raised $135,410 through the crowd-funding platform Indiegogo. At the time, it had also received pre-orders for 7500 devices, mostly from US, UK, and Germany, including 500 from India. Gecko allows people to control and spot various objects around them using a smartphone. Besides tracking, the device can also be used to trigger a camera, change music using gestures, motion detection, and smart leash.

Connovate other product is Weight Smart, which is quite similar to FItbit Aria except that it uses Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi. The device comes with its own custom app using which a person can log weight and even connected to Run Keeper to create some actionable information from it. Gecko is a coin-size, square shaped device that connects with the smartphone via Bluetooth and allows users to control multiple things such as household items and electronic appliances through the smartphone.

Foreign companies are looking for acquiring startups in India to grow their business. Yahoo had acquired Bookpad a US based startup with operation in Bangalore. Facebook acquired Little Eye Labs Pvt. Ltd. in January. Google acquired Impermium, and Naspers Ltd. acquired online bus ticketing company RedBus in 2013.

Sunday, 2 November 2014

Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google

In January this year, Lenovo announced it was going to buy Motorola Mobility business this year from Google. Now this deal is signed, Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google in $2.91 Billion. While Motorola is now a Lenovo Company, the brand will remain a subsidiary based out of Chicago. Google bought Motorola in 2012 for $12.5 Billion, at the time stating that it was interested in its patent portfolio. Now, Google maintains most of the patents and passes on the handset business to Lenovo.
Motorola Mobility, a Google company, creates mobile devices and wireless accessories that simplify, connect and enrich people lives. The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovate product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones. This deal made Lenovo the world’s third bestselling smartphone maker after Apple and Samsung.

Lenovo is the world’s bestselling PC maker, a position it attained after the takeover of IBM’s personal computer business in 2005. Its smartphones are already selling in Asia and the Middle East, but they have not been sold in North America and Western Europe. Lenovo and Motorola together form the third largest smartphone player worldwide, pushing rival Xiaomi from the No 3 position to No 4, according to date from IDC.

IDC worldwide smartphone data showed Samsung leading with 23.8%, followed by Apple with 12%, Xiaomi with 5.3%, and Lenovo following closely with 5.2%, and LG with 5.1%. Lenovo has a very good business in India through the offline channel and Motorola is present only on line. Since its resurrection early this year, Motorola has sold more than two million smartphones, including the Moto G, Moto X, and Moto E. The Motorola-Lenovo combine intends to sell about 100 Million smartphones and tablets globally by the end of march next year, while Lenovo aims to bring Motorola back to profitability within four to six quarters.

Motorola will operate their Motorola solutions as a separate business and is not a part of acquisitions. Motorola business formally split in 2011.

Thursday, 30 October 2014

New Call Telecom acquired chat app Nimbuzz

New call Telecom is a young, dynamic telecommunication provider in UK. It was started in 2010. Recently, New Call Telecom acquired 70% stake in Mobile Instant Messaging and VoIP Company Nimbuzz for about $175 Million. Nimbuzz will now act as a unit of New Call Telecom. Nimbuzz had previously raised funding from Naspers and Mangrove Capital.

Founded in Netherlands by Evert Jaap Lugt in 2006, Nimbuzz shifted its corporate headquarters to Gurgaon in India a couple of years ago. It claims to have 201 Million subscribers in over 200 countries. In a month, the platform processes more than a billion voice-over-internet call minutes and in excess of 100 Billion besides operating one of the largest mobile advertising platforms in South Asia, Middle East, and North Africa regions.
The messenger claims it is the only multi-lingual solution provider, offering its service in more than 25 regional languages. It provides a single tool for making voice and peer-to-peer video calls, sending instant messages and sharing data via all major communications platforms. The company had earlier collaborated with Internet service provider Spectranet Hello IP to launch International-calling platforms for Indian users to make calls abroad for 1 paisa per second through this platform.

Last year Nimbuzz had entered a partnership with Cleartrip to enable travel bookings on its platform. Called the Cleartrip buddy, users can explore travel options as well as make bookings through it. On the app, users can do the preliminary search by adding basic information for their travel plans and for the actual transaction, they are led to a co-branded WAP page. New call will integrate the capabilities of the Nimbuzz platform along with a plethora of new apps with its Wi-Fi and home broadband service in India, and eventually in other parts of the world. Nimbuzz will also become an incubator for apps for New Call.


New Call is planning for more acquisitions in the Indian market in the fields of fixed line broadband, Wi-Fi, and e-commerce. This year, Facebook bought Whatsapp in Multi-billion dollar cash and stock deal while Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten bought messaging service Viber. Whatsapp dominates the Indian Messaging and chat app market and some of the other prominent players are Line, Tencent’s WeChat, and Bharti Softbank’s Hike. 

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Times Internet acquires Moneysights

Moneysights founded in 2009, by ex employees of InMobi, Mukesh Kalra, and Santosh Nalvani, was a digital platform where one could buy and manage investments products. In 2012, however, the platform had to close its operations due to lack of funding. Moneysights had earlier raised funds in June 2011 and Times Internet now buys it.
Times Internet is a unit of Bennett and Coleman and Co Ltd. was established in 1999 and operates a portfolio of web and mobile properties that engage millions of users globally. It is currently not clear whether Times Internet plans to revive Moneysights as a separate service or integrate the service to its existing properties like The Economic Times. It is not clear that whether Times Internet plans to keep Moneysights branding.

Moneysights will compete with Aditya Birla group MyUniverse that has a tie up with Network 18 financial information portal Money Control. Online insurance policy aggregator Policybazaar had also launched a financial advisory services platform called Paisabazaar in August this year. The platform sells loans, credit cards, and mutual funds among others.

In previous acquisitions, Times Internet had acquired a majority stake in coupon marketplace CouponDunia in May this year and had merged its deals site with TimesDeal with the company. It had also acquired restaurant-booking service DineOut in April this year. This was after TimesCity had tied-up with DineOut last year to offer table-booking service. it had also acquired Musicfellas.com an online market place for independent artists to sell their songs in February this year.


Times Internet had also invested in shorts, a mobile app for short top stories. It had also funded GradeStack, an online course for students. It also backed Skift.com, a New York based travel intelligence and information portal. Times Internet is a part of The Times of India Group.

Saturday, 18 October 2014

Future Group and Amazon Partnership

From being dismissive about the potential of e-commerce in India to joining hands with the sector, leading ‘brick and mortar’ retailing entities seem to have had a chance of thinking on the former. A week after Future group Kishore Biyani alleged that online retailers were indulging in predatory pricing, the company announced a partnership with Amazon India.
The two companies will jointly sell goods over the internet amid growing friction between online and offline retailers over heavy discounting. Future group will sell more than 45 own labels of apparel, followed by in-house brands in the home, electronics and food categories, while the US headquartered company will handle order fulfillment and customer service for the merchandise on its portal. Both firms will also develop a new line of products across categories to be exclusively sold at Amazon and Future Group’s retail stores.

In its home market, Amazon had similar alliances with retailers such as Target Corp and Toys R US in the past decade though both sourced over time once the online seller gained scale and attracted other large brands. Following the India deal, Future Group’s four dozen own brands such as Lee Cooper, John Miller and Indigo nation will be taken off from online marketplaces where they are currently being sold.

It is also reported that Amazon is planning to open its first brick and mortar store in New York. The company main rivals in India are Flipkart, Snapdeal and other online stores. In the offline market, just three companies – Aditya Birla Madura Garments, Arvind Brands and Future Group either own or sell more than two dozen brands each, thus becoming the preferred options for any online player looking to partner retailers.


Industry insiders also said the Indian retailers move reflects a bid to expand into new distribution channels such as e-commerce in the search of growth. Last month, Snapdeal agreed to create Croma Flagship store on its e-commerce portal to sell electronics items including mobiles, tablets, and laptops. 

Sunday, 12 October 2014

HTC to launch Desire eye with 13 MP cameras

HTC formerly High-Tech Computer Corporation is Taiwanese manufacturer of Tablets and Smartphones headquartered in Taiwan. HTC has launched its new suite of imaging products at its event in New York. The new range consists of HTC Desire Eye Smartphone with two 13 MP cameras, HTC RE hand-held cameras, HTC eye Experience enhanced imaging software, and Zoe collaborative video editing community.
The Desire Eye smartphone sports a 13 MP camera on the front as well as on the backside armed with BSI sensors and comes with intelligent dual- LED Flash on both cameras. It has a 5.2-inch full HD screen, a 2.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, a 2 GB RAM, and Android Kit-Kat operating System. It features a dual-color, waterproof unibody design with a dedicated two-step camera key for focus.

HTC EYE experience takes mobile imaging software into a new league with unique features. The HTC Eye experience helps in video-conferencing, enables face tracking for up to four people in the same room, and allows each face to face to be cropped and positioned on the screen for maximum clarity. It also gives the option of screen sharing bringing desktop functionality to smartphone based video chat along with Split capture function. It combines photos and videos taken from front and back cameras into one split-screen image or video.

RE is a small handheld camera. RE features a built-in grip sensor that instantly activates the camera on pick up, eliminating the need of a power button. There is a single shutter button, which allows one tap to capture photos and a longer press for recording video. The app will also back everything up to phone or cloud automatically. In addition, RE will offer real-time video streaming to YouTube. The RE app will be available on both Android and iOS.


HTC also introduced its new Zoe collaborative video editing app, which allows users to mix photos and videos into stylish highlight reels, themes, and soundtracks that can be shared. Zoe is available free of charge on Android now and coming on iOS later this year. However, price for HTC Desire Eye are not disclosed but it is the first phone in mobile industry with 13 MP front and rear cameras.

Friday, 10 October 2014

L & T Technology to acquire Dell engineering services

Larsen and Toubro Limited is an Indian Multinational Conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company has business interest in engineering, construction, manufacturing goods, information technology, and financial services. It was recognized as the company of the year in Economic Times 2010 Awards.

Dell is an American privately owned Multinational computer technology based in Texas, United States. It sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, cameras, printers, and electronics built by other manufacturers. Company is well known for its innovation in Supply chain Management and E-commerce business.
L & T Technology services is going to buy Engineering services division of US based Dell Inc. The deal has got the nod of Competition Commission of India (CCI) and is waiting for approvals from US regulatory. This acquisition will help L & T establish itself as a premier engineering services provider by adding local delivery centres in North America. This strategic acquisition will strengthen L & T technology services global position in the $4 Billion transportation engineering research & development market.

Dell engineering services has delivery centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore, India. According to a comment mentioned by L & T chief executive Keshab Panda has said that the company will not spend more than $50 Million on any acquisition. In June this year, L & T Technology services acquired 74 percent stake in Thales Software India Pvt. Ltd. to grow its avionics Business. Recently, L & T said that it is planning to start its IPO process for both its technology subsidiaries i.e. L&T InfoTech and L&T Technology services by 2016.

This is the first acquisition this year in technical industry by an Indian company acquiring US Company. Other than this, Indian Internet firms are expanding their business internationally and one of them is Zomato. Jabong has already entered into UK market with a small office in London. Rocket Internet Printvenue is also entering into Australian and Singapore market. 

Thursday, 9 October 2014

Wealth destroyed Mergers and acquisitions

To achieve scales, companies have to step outside and expand. These days a lot of Indian and global companies acquired and merged with other firms to expand their business. However, doing so may not necessarily add to shareholder wealth. India Inc has hardly been able to create value for its shareholders through its inorganic expansion abroad. Most of India’s big-ticket overseas acquisitions in the past five to seven years have corroded wealth. The reason for this range from high leverage taken to acquire a company, adverse changes in business cycle or failure to turn around a loss making unit. Here are some of the mergers and acquisitions that have destroyed wealth.
Tata Steel acquired Corus 4 times its size for $12.04 Billion in 2006. The valuation was more than one and a half times its initial offer and was paid monthly through debt. This European business for Tata was loss making until FY13 and has not shown strong signs of a turn around. Hindalco acquired Canadian company Novelis for $6 Billion in 2007 but the slowdown in Aluminum demand have led to the company stock stagnation at the same level. United Spirits had acquired UK based White & Mackay, in 2007 for close to 540 Million pounds. Diageo, in turn acquired USL, in 2012, which had to sell White & Mackay in 2014. Since then Stocks has fallen 18 percent.

In the past five years, India’s largest hospitality company Indian hotels consolidated operations have been impacted due to loss making international operations. For instance, Taj Boston losses have grown to Rs 523 crore from Rs 122 crore in past five years ending FY14. Tata chemicals $1 Billion acquisition of General Chemicals in 2008 has not really brought much cheer to its shareholders. Company market capitalization has not changed much since 2008. Suzlon, the world’s fifth largest wind turbine maker, continued to face challenging times after the debt funded acquisition of Senvion in 2007. Its debt serving ability hit a wall after global demand environment collapsed due to financial crisis.


Between 2010 and 2013, Fortis healthcare expanded inorganically, venturing into regions like Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and Canada. The acquisitions strained its finances and increased interest cost on the debt pile. Shifting focus from international market to the domestic market has helped the company return to black. These are some of the Indian companies whose wealth was destroyed after the acquisitions. However, in Software Industry, much of the wealth is not destroyed after the acquisition.

Monday, 6 October 2014

Google Project "LOON"

With the aim to connect the world by internet by 2020, global companies such as Google and Facebook have started their projects. Facebook is working on their solar powered aircraft projects, which will provide internet services across the globe where accessibility of internet is not there. In the same way, Google is working and testing on project “LOON” which aims to beams internet access from satellites back to earth.
Google’s plan to network together high altitude balloons to provide Internet access to the world by the end of this year in some parts of the world. The Loon balloons have been successfully tested in New Zealand, U.S., and Brazil. The balloons stay at 60,000 feet for around 100 days, powered by solar panels and use the same LTE data systems that smartphone use. The idea may sound bit crazy but there is a solid science behind it. You can know more about this project on Google Project Loon website. (http://www.google.co.in/loon/)

The balloons are moving by adjusting their altitude to float to a wind layer after identifying the wind layer with the desired speed and direction using wind data from the NOAA. Users of the service connect to the balloon network using a special internet antenna attached to their building. The signal travels through the balloon network from balloon to balloon, then to a ground based station connected to an Internet Service provider then onto the global internet.


The system aims to bring internet access to remote and rural areas poorly served by existing provisions, and to improve communication during natural disasters to affected regions. The project was begun in 2011 under incubation in Google X and was officially announced in June 2013. With these projects by Google and Facebook, it will increase number of internet users across the globe. This will affect online-based businesses and people can search for more information. E-commerce businesses will also get affected with increase in number of internet users. Indian Government plan of Digital India also seems to be possible if this project is successful across the globe. 

Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is the ability of a digital computer or computer controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristics of humans. It has been demonstrated that computers could be programmed to carry out very complex tasks.
Computers carry out difficult tasks very easily. Starting from software industry to the automobile industry artificial intelligence has created a major impact. Robots are used in making and assembling cars parts. Although, artificial intelligence has created a simple way of completing work and tasks but it has taken place of humans in industry, which had made a large impact on employment. Human made machines replaced many skilled labors. What lacks in Artificial Intelligence is the emotional quotient. Many movies had been directed on Artificial Intelligence such as “Robot” in Bollywood and “Artificial Intelligence” in Hollywood.

There are a number of different forms of learning as applied to artificial intelligence. The simplest is learning by trial and error. Believe or not, we live in an era where we are surrounded by artificial intelligence at each step. Problem solving particularly in artificial intelligence, may be characterized as a systematic search through a range of possible actions in order to reach some predefined goal or solution. Problem solving methods may divide into special purpose and general purpose.


A special purpose method is tailor made for a particular problem and often exploits very specific features of the situation in which the problem is embedded. General purpose techniques used in AI is means end analysis. A step-by-step, incremental, reduction of the difference between the current state and the final goal. Recently In Japan, they created a robot which can play and talk like humans and can complete all tasks that a human body does. Android restaurants in China where robots are used to serve and cook food. In this way, Artificial Intelligence is one thing that people might see in open in India. However, it is there in some metros cities in India but still it will take time to spread on a large scale.

Monday, 29 September 2014

Yahoo buys Startup Bookpad

Acquisition of Indian software product startups by Facebook, Google, and Yahoo over recent months is the tipping points for Indian Entrepreneurs. Bangalore based Bookpad become the first Indian Tech Startup to be bought by Yahoo. The US Internet giant who is in line to reap about $9.5 Billion from Alibaba IPO has bought the firm in a deal worth around Rs 50cr. Yahoo has so far bought 100 companies.
Bookpad is competing with large companies like Google and Crocodoc in document viewing. It allows users to create and edit files from within their apps. It supports all popular documents formats and works on desktops as well as mobile devices. It runs on HTML 5. With this acquisition, we can expect Yahoo to bring Google Docs like features in its Yahoo Mail service so that users can edit and share documents. This means when you receive documents in the mail, you can open, edit, save documents on the cloud.

Yahoo bought seventeen companies after Marissa Mayer took over as CEO. Bookpad was originally named as Docspad, where users can create spreadsheets, slideshows, from the web and save them on cloud or in their mail. In January, Facebook also acquired Bangalore based Little Eye Labs. It became the first Indian Firm to be acquired by Facebook. According to some news, Walmart, Target, Microsoft, Thomson Reuters, and Goldman Sachs are among also looking for suitable matches.


Several global bodies are engaging with industry bodies like Nasscom and iSpirt to reach the right startups. According to a report, Google senior Vice President Sundar Pichai attended a roundtable organised by Nasscom, where he might with eight startups companies of his interest. Nasscom is also looking to organize the same roundtable for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who is set to visit India this month. A year before, US companies were not looking towards Indian companies but now most of them are looking towards Indian start-ups to grow their business.

Saturday, 27 September 2014

Zomato acquires Poland Gastronauci

Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah as Foodiebay founded Zomato in 2008. Starting with 1200 restaurants in and around Delhi, they quickly expanded to Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. In 2010, Info-edge invested $1 Million in the company. In 2010, it rebranded as Zomato to have a brand name that was short and easy to remember.

In the recent news, India based online and mobile restaurant search and discovery services acquired Poland’s leading restaurant service Gastronauci. This was Zomato fourth acquisition in last three months and they have now increased their presence in 16 countries. Ola Lazar founded Gastronauci in 2007. Zomato wants to be Google of food and presently they are in aim of covering Central and Eastern European Market.

Backed by $37 Million it raised from Sequioa Capital and Info-Edge in 2013 it acquired three more firms this year. These include New Zealand based restaurant service MenuMania in July 2014, Czech Republic based restaurant guide Lunchtime.cz, and Slovakia popular restaurant guide Obedovat.sk. Zomato now provides information over 260,000 restaurants across 16 countries. The market it operates includes UK, UAE, South Africa, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, Indonesia, Srilanka, and Qatar. It also operates across 35 cities in India.

In India, it provides information on over 60,000 restaurants. In the next one year, Zomato plans to enter into nine new markets these includes Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Vietnam, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, and Colombia. For Zomato the big markets are in US, Germany, Australia, Japan, UK, and Russia. Their competitors in other countries are Yelp, which is present in 28 markets, JustEat, which is present in 13 countries, and Open Table, which has its presence in 20 countries. The primary focuses of these companies are on food ordering and table bookings and they do not aid discovery like Zomato.


Zomato wants to first Internet based Indian brand out to India. The day Zomato did their fourth acquisition, Delhi based Website performance testing startup Wignify acquired US based Concept Feedback, a community platform of user experience experts for online. In the coming days we may see fashion and retail giant Jabong to operate in UK and Printvenue in Australia.

Thursday, 25 September 2014

Rocket's Indian Firms expanding Globally

Rocket Internet is one of the world largest e-commerce venture capital firms. Samwer Brothers started it in 2007 in Germany. The founders gained visibility through successful investments in eBay, Groupon, Facebook, Jabong, LinkedIn, and Zynga. The company business model is to find successful internet ventures from other countries and replicate them in emerging markets.

Rocket Internet operates in more than 50 countries and has more than 75 ventures such as Zolando in Germany; Lamoda in Russia, Zalora in South East Asia, Iconic in Australia, global food delivery sites Foodpanda, and property listing sites Lamudi and Carmudi. In India, Rocket Internet operates Jabong and Printvenue. Rocket Internet wants to be world largest e-commerce platform outside the U.S and China. By the end of this year, Rocket Internet Group may close its initial public offering. It would be second e-commerce firm IPO this year, after Alibaba.

One of the Indian E-commerce firms Printvenue plans to start operations in Australia with a team of marketing, content, and sourcing. There is no competitive environment in Australia for the company. It will soon be seen in Asia-Pacific Region such as South East and Middle East too. Over the next four five years, Printvenue plans to venture into Europe, and Latin America. Printvenue is already operating in Singapore with a small team.

Earlier this month, German venture capital group decided to take online fashion retailer Jabong.com to a global platform by merging it with four other such businesses in Latin America, Russia, Middle East, South East Asia, and Australia. Jabong has also opened an office in London where a team of 15-20 people will design its private label. These steps of Rocket Internet taking portfolio companies global were always on its agenda and these are linked to upcoming IPO.


Its global online food-ordering firm, Foodpanda is continuously expanding into developing markets. Foodpanda is present in more than 45 countries across Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Latin America. After Jack Ma Alibaba, soon people will see Billionaires from Germany and Rocket Internet world largest e-commerce venture capitalist firm.

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Infosys ties up with Hitachi, Huawei, and Microsoft

Infosys is an Indian Multinational Corporation that provides business-consulting, information technology, software engineering and outsourcing services. It is India’s second largest IT services company. Infosys is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. Vishal Sikka is the current CEO of Infosys. It had widened collaboration with Microsoft, Hitachi Data Systems, and Huawei in a bid to expand offerings in Cloud Computing, Big Data & Analytics, Communication, Infrastructure, and Data Transformation segments.

The Bangalore based firm, which is a systems integration partner of Microsoft Corp, will also establish a global ‘centre of excellence’ for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning that will train over 1,000 engineers by the end of Fiscal year 2015. This collaboration will offer enterprises easy access to an analytics platform without the need of big investments and extended time to market. A recent report said that, Infosys is strong in delivering services but lacks innovation, hinting if its areas of execution became less significant, customers might switch.

The expanded partnerships with Hitachi Data systems will add to Company infrastructure and data centre transformation solution capabilities. Infosys would set up a centre to co-create pay per use solutions with Hitachi Data Systems. The new solutions will facilitate transition of clients IT infrastructure to Cloud based environments and will be tailored to meet the refresh cycles of enterprise data centres at lower costs. China has committed $20 Billion investment in India over next five years and has agreed to provide greater market access to Indian products in farm, Pharma, gems and jewellery sectors with a view to reducing trade gap.


Under the partnership with Chinese Huawei, the two companies will jointly develop IT solutions that combine Huawei Cloud Infrastructure and Infosys IT services expertise. The solution develops under this partnership will target enterprise customers looking to modernize their operations by leveraging and infrastructure.  Infosys Cloud Ecosystem Hub, a solution that help firms build and manage a unified hybrid cloud environment, will be integrated with Hitachi Unified Compute Platform to reduce time to market and simplify complex migrations. The combination will enable enterprises to move to a 100 percent virtualized environment with management, orchestration, and hypervisor integration.

Sunday, 21 September 2014

Microsoft buys Mojang

Gaming is a top activity snapping devices, from PCs and consoles to tablets and mobiles, with billions of hours spent each year. Microsoft has recently announced the purchase of Mojang. Microsoft is continuing to spend its overseas cash with its acquisition of Minecraft creator Mojang for $2.5 Billion. Games and gaming as one of the Microsoft’s biggest “digital life” categories in which the company planned to continue to invest.

Since the start of 2014, Microsoft has acquired six companies, including Mojang. Of these six companies, four were headquartered outside the U.S. Mojang founders, Notch, Carl, and Jakob, are leaving the company. Minecraft, a construction game in which the players can build nearly anything imaginable, block by block, in a digital, Lego like world has spread like wildfire since its full release by developer Mojang in 2011. Minecraft is the top paid for app on both Apple Inc’s iOS and Google’s Inc Android systems and helped Mojang.
Microsoft has spent lavishly in the Nordic region in recent years, buying the handset business of Nokia for US $7.2 Billion in a deal, which closed this year. In 2011, it spent US $8.5 Billion on Skype, which has its roots in Scandinavia and Baltics. This was Microsoft’s sixth purchase this year. Microsoft is eyeing to capture the gaming and OS market. Development of Windows phones and eye-catching games will increase their market share. Let us look at Microsoft other purchases so far this year. Microsoft bought Parature in January 2014. It is a Herndon, Virginia based customer-case service provider, to bolster its Dynamics CRM line up.

In March 2014, Microsoft buys the Osterhout Design Group. However, they did not buy the entire Group, but may have bought $150 Million worth of wearable intellectual property from the San Francisco Company. In May 2014, Microsoft bought New Zealand based GreenButton, to integrate its technology into Azure to help manage computes intensive workloads in the cloud. In May 2014, Microsoft bought Capptain, a cross platform French mobile analytics vendor, and plans to integrate its technology with Azure for mobile-app dev.


In July 2014, Microsoft bought SyntaxTree, the French company behind the cross platform UnityVS game-development plug-in for Visual Studio. In July 2014, Microsoft bought InMage, a San Jose based disaster recovery vendor, to integrate its cross platform recovery/cloud continuity technology into Azure. According to news, Microsoft is planning to buy another non-U.S. based company by the end of this year. Microsoft is also working to purchase Israeli cyber security startup Aorato. Aorato is focused on improving the security IT infrastructure, including that of Microsoft’s Active Directory Technology.

Friday, 19 September 2014

Cognizant Buys Trizetto

Cognizant is a global leader in information technology, consulting, and business process services. It provide services such as claims processing, billing and call center operations to insurers, hospitals and some state run health care exchanges set up under President Barack Obama’s affordable care Act, as known as Obamacare. Colorado based Trizetto provides information technology services, including care management and the administration of benefits. 

Cognizant struck up its biggest deal, acquiring healthcare IT services provider Trizetto Corp for $2.7 Billion. It is the biggest acquisition in Indian IT sector. Healthcare is undergoing structural shifts due to reform, cost pressure, and shifting responsibilities between payers and providers. Trizetto will provide Cognizant to increase their market share. In 2008, Apax acquired Cognizant, a London based private equity firm. Trizetto was built up through 16 acquisitions in last 15 years, according to their website. It serves about 350 health care plans and supplies software to almost 245,000 doctors and other care providers.

Following this acquisition, Cognizant grip on the segment will increase further, leaving behind peers like WIPRO, Infosys, and TCS. At present, healthcare accounts for around 26 percent of Cognizant revenue, which is estimated to go up to 30 percent on integration with Trizetto. Cognizant and Trizetto have had a long-term relationship. This acquisition represents a great opportunity to integrate services across three horizons. Traditional IT services, high growth businesses like management consulting, business process services, and IT infrastructure services and will provide greater value to clients.


There are lot of acquisitions and changes going on in Indian Healthcare sector. E-commerce sector is focusing on providing medical facilities online. Companies like Ranbaxy, Cipla, and Sun Pharma are into manufacturing of new medical products. IT sector is all set to provide services to clients and hospitals. Tech giants are developing products which includes health apps or which can tell people health status. We can assume that technology is going to play a major role in Healthcare sector and it is going to benefit millions of people. It is estimated that Healthcare business is to grow at a rapid pace.

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Mobile Wallet

Mobile wallet is a virtual money wallet that can be used to make instant payments. Domestic e-commerce companies, such as Flipkart, plan to launch a wallet soon, while a few payment gateways, such as Paytm and Mobikwik, offer semi-closed wallets already. Telecom operators also offer this facility internationally. Apple Inc. also introduced an iPhone Wallet, which will have tie-ups with Visa Inc., Master Card Inc., and American Express Co.

Mobile wallet is going to next wave of change in the way people make payments. Let us see more about what is Mobile Wallet and how is it going to work? It is a virtual money wallet that can be used to make instant payments same as with a physical wallet. It is an application stored in cell phones, which enable users to make payments for utility bills, book tickets, transfer money, other such transactions. It can also be used to make e-payments while shopping, in physical stores or at e-stores.

Once an application is stored in the phone, a user is registered and knows your customer documents are submitted, a user can transfer money to this wallet and then make payments. Customer can provide any of his documents such as driving license, passport, voter identity card, Aadhaar card, and PAN card for identity and address proof. Bank account statement can also be given for address proof. The outlets where payments can be made depends on the wallet- closed or semi-closed. Closed wallets generally allow payments only at particular merchants, while semi-closed wallets allow payments to a group of establishments that have agreed to accept payments through the wallets.

It is more convenient to use it than a web based payment method such as paying through a website. The payment can be made over a mobile network as well as through a message using the unstructured supplementary service data platform. Users can make payments without using cash, debit cards, and credit cards, while in a store. This protects users from card data being misused through phishing and cloning. Since the application requires a Mobile personal Identification Number (MPIN) to make transactions, even if the mobile is stolen or lost, without the MPIN, a transaction will not be possible.


Daily and monthly limits to the number of transactions are the big hurdle while making big purchases. It cannot be used at all outlets is also a worry. Mobile wallet will have money stored in it, it will not earn any interest, while money in a bank savings account earns 4-7% interest, depending on the bank.

Monday, 15 September 2014

Twitter partners with TV channels in India

Television partnerships are a key way in which the company is looking to monetize its user base globally. Last year, it paid $67 Million for Bluefin Labs, a startup that uses analytical to tie social media charter to television. In order to increase its user base globally, San Francisco based company, Twitter Inc. is speeding up its partnerships deal with television channels in India.

The move is expected to help Twitter, as it increases the conversation around hit shows and helps the channels by getting new viewers to tune in. The company also launched its Amplify product, which helps networks monetize content, last month with Star Sports and Vodafone. Twitter already has a tie up with Airtel DTH, which allows customers to view tweets on their television screen. More deals in the space are underway. The channels are also using Twitter to discover more audiences for their shows, for instances shows like Roadies, Big Boss, and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa etc. promote tweeting to boost viewership. Star Plus is debuting the promo for the Aamir Khan hosted Satyamev Jayate on the site by asking fans to tweet with a hashtag.

Apart from this, Twitter Inc. has announced its plans to raise $1.3 Billion in its first debt offering by issuing convertible senior notes. Until now, Twitter has made around 41 acquisitions. Twitter has recently introduced new product experiences, launched new web profiles with a number of new advertiser tools. The firm has also acquired three companies as Gnip, TapCommerce, and SnappyTV. The company has also acquired mobile advertising startup Namo Media for a deal amount of around $50 Million. The company has launched “pay by tweet” service with American Express and “Keyword Targeting ad feature.” It had collaborated with WPP to increase its advertising revenues and offers text based password recovery service.


Second screen devices such as Tablets, Ultrabooks, and Smartphones are likely to be principal force behind social TV experiences. TV and video content providers such as cable companies have a great opportunity to target heavy users with Social TV in order to reduce potential churn. Twitter had also added a new video sharing feature on Mobile with two of the World Cup Advertisers Visa, and Adidas.

Saturday, 13 September 2014

Snapdeal ties up with Mapmygenome

The cutthroat competition in the Indian e-commerce market has seen many websites try to outdo each other by offering unique services. Snapdeal seems to be super aggressive as far as expansion is concerned. After cracking partnership with Tata Value Homes, the Delhi based company has tied up with Mapmygenome India to offer DNA testing services.

Founded in 2012, Mapmygenome India is a company that offers a range of services to paint a picture of one’s genetic makeup and suggest ways to lead a better and healthier life. The services offered on Snapdeal include Cardiomap, Genomepatri, Mycalmbeat, and Webneuro. With this service, customers will be able to order personal genomic tests, which will help them identify the ideal lifestyle to lead a healthy and fit life. Mapping the genome aids in predicting, preventing, and treating a number of diseases. Mapmygenome offers tests in between Rs 1,000 to 25,000.

Cardiomap evaluates if you are at risk to heart diseases or diabetes based on your genetics. The service costs Rs 12,000 on Snapdeal. Genomepatri is the most expensive of the lot, priced at Rs 25,000. It essentially studies one’s DNA and suggests ways to change one’s lifestyle to lead a healthier life. Mycalmbeat, priced at Rs 5,000 is described as a personal stress reduction monitor that decreases stress and increases focus on personalized slow breathing. Webneuro, priced at Rs 1,500 is a web based 30 minute test that assesses the cognitive strength and weaknesses of individual. The collaboration will help both companies in reaching out to out 25 Million+ members across the country and enable them to understand the gene-disease interaction better.


Snapdeal has also announced its entry into the hospitality segment with 50,000 products across brands like cookware and bakeware, dining and serving and bar & glassware among others. Last month, Snapdeal raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Ratan Tata. Earlier this year, it had raised $133 Million led by eBay along with Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital, and Saama Capital.