Apple Pay Heats the Race for Mobile Payments
Non innovators in the Business are giving Apple run for its money in Mobile Payment by Lobbying. Apple Pay’s impact on the payments world in the US and internationally has been felt in the Silicon valley where PayPal was separated from Ebay and in Emerging Markets where are we likely to see m-Pesa -like disruptions.
Apple’s mobile wallet Apple Pay is one of the 200+ digital wallets in the market. Most mobile wallets ventures have been unsuccessful because consumers and merchants are conservative in payment behavior. Apple Pay is likely to more successful than rival digital wallets as it (1) has a critical mass of partners across the payment value chain, including card networks, issuers, processors and merchants, (2) critical mass of US smart phone market (c40%), and (3) they should be (more…)
What Business is Nokia Focused after SmartPhone Spinoff ?
Post the sale of Nokia’s Devices(Mobile & SmartPhone) business to Microsoft, Finnish-based Nokia is targeting network infrastructure (Networks), location / maps (HERE) and intellectual property monetisation / advanced technology development (Technologies).
Going forward the Networks business will represent c.85%-90% of sales and comprise two reporting segments – Mobile Broadband (mobile operator radio and core network hardware / software) and Global Services (network implementation, managed services, customer (more…)
Bharti Infratel Riding Reliance Jio Network Expansion
Bharti Infratel [Telecom Tower & Infrastructure Company] together with Indus towers, has been gaining market share. Bulk of tenancy additions during the quarter came from data networks (by definition, this excludes the 3G loading sites which do not contribute to the tenancy number). This suggests that a decent amount of new 3G/4G site demand is coming up already (as against the expectation of 3G loading continuing on existing 2G locations continuing). Reliance Jio contributed significantly to qoq surge in additions reported by Bharti Infratel standalone [agreement with Indus signed end of 2Q]. However, strong 2Q volume growth did not translate into commensurate rev growth given late quarter tenancy pick up.
Bharti Infratel Fiber Backhaul
Mgmt said that Under its current IP-1 license, BIL / Indus are allowed to deploy only dark fiber, but to run active fiber business, it would have to come under current licensing regime that would result in 8% license fee payment to government. The differences between tower business and fibre business in terms of the pace of technological change, duration of contracts and pricing, that have forced the company to deliberate more on fibre business opportunity. Mgmt. acknowledged the need for fibre in the country given expected data growth, and therefore it would be looking at this opportunity much more (more…)
Wearable Tech Taking Off – Garmin Connect App Sees Increased Adoption
According to App Annie’s report “Spotlight on connected devices: Welcome to your wired life” the top five Health and Fitness apps for connected devices collectively grew over 2.3x in monthly downloads since August 2013.
As of August 2014, the Garmin Connect app is the #3 Health and Fitness app for connected devices, behind the Fitbit app and the Up by Jawbone app, and ahead of the Nike+ Fuelband app. We believe this implies (more…)
Which Way will India Go 3G or 4G-LTE ?
Despite growth takeoff, 3G penetration is merely 7-10% of the existing mobile subscriber base in India. One key deterrent to a broad based data adoption has been expensive 3G handsets. With the launch of Android One the USD 100 handset segment has seen more depth. With the availability of low-cost 3G smartphones, existing subscribers are unlikely to continue using 2G feature phones, opting instead to make the switch to 3G smartphones; in this respect, the trends over the last six months have been very encouraging. We believe the trend will now change in favour of low cost smartphones versus feature phones.
Furthermore 3G coverage is expected to improve; more so as incumbent telcos gear up to contest 4G launch by Reliance Jio. Given this first positive (more…)