Technology

Weixin (WeChat) Vs Kakao Talk

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Weixin users are young and educated. For example, 74% of the users are between 20 and 30 years old. University students and white-collar workers constitute over 90% of its user base. According to Tencent, it will begin testing various business models. Entertainment, such as mobile game and e-commerce, may become the viable monetization channels for … Read more

Tencent Pushing TenPay Via Weixin(chat)

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Tencent has continued to make progress with Weixin [its chat service which has 300 mn users] membership. By scanning the QR codes, users can become members of different merchants, and enjoy various discounts and benefits. Merchants can target customers with particular promotions and will be informed of the acceptance rate of such campaigns. Budget hotel … Read more

TRAI’s Insane Recommendation on 700MHz IMT Wireless broadband

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TRAI has released its recommendations on advanced wireless broadband services in the 700MHz band. Key recommendations are (1) FDD to be used in 700Mhz. (2) Spectrum available is 698-806Mhz. (3) A 45x2MHz configuration recommended in the 700MHz band. This effectively implies that only one operator (new/old) can win the spectrum. While the exact configuration is … Read more

InfoEdge Banking on Pick up in Recruitment – LinkedIn Still Not a Threat

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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

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Open Table Restaurants + HomeAway Vacation Rental Listings

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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

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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 ?

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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

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2G /3G 4G Spectrum Allocation Map

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There are 8-10 voice operators in India in most circles. In addition, there are four new operators holding the LTE spectrum in the 2.6GHz band. Top operators own 6.2-10MHz of 2G GSM spectrum and 5MHz of 3G spectrum, which is lower than that in most markets. India continues to see double-digit minute growth, and data … Read more

Government May Miss Spectrum Collection Target Yet Again

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For FY14, the government is looking to raise Rs 400 bn from the telco sector (both recurring revenue and one-off payments). As per the budget document, the one-off payments relate to receipts from auction of 1800, 900 MHz & 800 MHz and one-time spectrum charges as recommended by TRAI. We estimate the targeted one-off amount … Read more