Lenovo announced three new Android-based tablets. The tablets included a pair of 7” tablets, the A1000 and A3000, and a 10” tablet, the S6000. Each of these tablets are running Mediatek CPUs, which suggests they will target first time tablet buyers, and/or emerging markets. Previous tablets have been larger NVDA Tegra and Intel Atom-based.
Month: March 2013
InfoEdge Banking on Pick up in Recruitment – LinkedIn Still Not a Threat
Info Edges Job Speak Index has indicated a pick-up in the past two months, driven by an improvement in hiring trends at software, BPO (business process outsourcing), and pharma companies. Info Edge gets around 80% of its revenue from the recruitment business (primarily naukri.com), which has seen slower growth in the past 2-3 quarters due to the weak macro-economic environment and low business confidence. We expects hiring activity to pick up in FY14 as offshore IT services spending should increase driven by a relatively stable macroeconomic environment, relative stability in large client organisations, and regulatory deadlines that will force installations and/or upgrades of IT systems in key sectors, such as banking.
Channel checks with IT company management and leading HR
Telecom Spectrum Prices Falling
Wireless Spectrum prices in India peaked with the 3G auction [2100 MHz] at Rs 33,501m/Mhz (pan- India), driven largely by policy uncertainty around license renewals and future availability. Telecom Spectrum costs since then are rapidly falling and stand at Rs 23,786m/Mhz (pan-India) for the 1800Mhz band. They are likely to fall further since auctions have failed in key markets, which would necessitate a further reduction in reserve prices.
The government is obligated to auction the entire spectrum
SmartPhone and Tablet Sales Weaker in Feb-2013
February sales were generally weaker. Except for fewer working days, the shortfall from Largan primarily reflected sluggish iPhone 5 shipments; the weakness at Wintek was due to softer demand on Apple legacy products including iPad 4 and iPhone 4S; the softness at Ichia reflected model transitions (i.e., Blackberry) on top of labor supply shortage. iPhone … Read more
LG Smartphone shipment to surpass 10mn units in 1Q13
LGE’s smartphone shipments will grow strongly every quarter in 2013F, thanks to well-timed launches of its various smartphone series – Optimus G, F and L. LG Optimus G-Series SmartPhones (USD 600) Following Optimus G shipments of 1mn units in 4Q12, we expect strong shipment of the G series in 1Q13F. LGE will ship over 1mn … Read more
Open Table Restaurants + HomeAway Vacation Rental Listings
OpenTable shows inventory at the end of February is tracking up 1% q/q in North America (vs. our 3% q/q est.) and International inventory is flat q/q (vs. our 4% q/q est.). Separately, The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant (NRA) Performance Index increased to 100.6 in January from 99.7 in December. Aggregate vacation rental listings on … Read more
Booking.com hotel count + Linked In Job Posts Grow
At the end of February, Priceline’s Booking.com had roughly 277.4K hotels on its site, and, at the 3 month avg. run-rate of 8K net new hotels per month, Booking.com appears on track to exceed our estimate for 281K hotels by the end of 1Q. Of the three key quarterly metrics (hotels, rooms per hotel and … Read more
Will New Facebook Feeds Open Doors for Advertisers ?
Facebook presented a revamped News Feed at a press event today, offering several upgrades: 1) Richer, more visually engaging stories; 2) Content-specific feeds; 3) Platform-consistent experiences. Advertisers may benefit as more screen real estate will become available for News Feed, allowing in-stream ads to become larger and more engaging, similar to high-CPM “takeover” ads on other websites.
Making feeds more consistent and content-specific should improve the News Feed
2G GSM Spectrum / License Expiry in Next 3 Years
Since the expiry date for licenses in several circles will come up in Nov-14, the government will have to take the decision for auction of renewal spectrum prior to that. The following Chart Shows License / Spectrum Expiry Dates for Incumbents – Airtel, Reliance GSM, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular in the next 3 years 900MHz … Read more
How Technology Neutrality Pose Tisk to 3G / BWA Spectrum Holders ?
In India, the government has allocated 2100 MHz and 2300 MHz spectrum bands for 3G and BWA (4G) services, respectively. These are relatively inferior frequencies and require more tower sites/tenancies to provide coverage in a specific area compared to 900 or 1800 MHz spectrum. According to the new telecom policy, the telecom operators can deploy … Read more