From SOPA to Microsoft’s expanded Xbox live platform to cloud-based content storage from Apple and Google, the fourth quarter in consumer electronics and media was all about the continued battle for digital living room dominance. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The fourth quarter may have lacked a dominating big-event product announcement like Q3’s Facebook platform extension or Q2’s unveiling of Google+, but the NewNet world continued to buzz along. In the battle for mind share, everyone wanted to be a platform. Meanwhile, consumer and social technologies continued to gain momentum, and new vehicles for content and service discovery presented both challenges and opportunities for NewNet companies. And it is hard to ignore the overcrowded but growing world of daily deals. This quarterly report analyzes these trends and others, and it also provides a near-term outlook of trends, technologies and companies to watch in 2012. Companies mentioned in the report include Amazon, Facebook and Socialcast. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Despite many challenges — from disappointing EV sales to the headaches in subsidizing solar — the cleantech sector survived 2011. Where is it headed next? It is clear that early-stage companies and ideas hold the keys to future growth, much like the first wave of Internet ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Today we know a bit more about how Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) plans to extend its business opportunities in the years ahead: mobile services will… Read more at paidContent »
Don’t expect the pace of change in web technologies to slow down in 2012. The web is far from dead. Social media may have anointed one huge player in Facebook, but even if there is little room for a start-from-scratch general-purpose social network, there are several companies creating useful alternative social graphs. Companies can leverage key technologies and trends in 2012 to earn revenue and gain share, whether that’s by leveraging HTML5 for rich cross-platform experiences, doing heavy data analysis or integrating collaboration tools across businesses.Companies mentioned in this report include Dropbox, Groupon, Twitter and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This is the fifth in a series of posts this week that will highlight key people, companies and trends to watch in 2012 in the sectors we cov… Read more at paidContent »
Call it the year of lessons learned, if not quite bubbles burst. In 2011, several trends in the connected consumer space that appeared inexorable at the start of the year seemed disorganized by the end. What does that mean for the next 12 months? From cloud-based media storage to daily deals to the fight for the digital living room, 2012 will be a year of consolidation and integration. Both entrepreneurs and investors will figure out that many once-promising standalone business models need to be grounded on more solid, integrated platforms to create real value. Companies mentioned in this report include Hulu, LivingSocial, Netflix and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The past year in mobile has been even more eventful than most of us would have predicted. Our appetite for mobile data grew dramatically; Google’s Android continued its march to worldwide dominance; Amazon joined the tablet bandwagon; and AT&T tried and failed to acquire T-Mobile USA, among many other things. All of that activity lays the groundwork for a very promising — and very challenging — 2012. This research note serves both as a review of the major trends and events of 2011 as well as a forecast for the coming year. Companies mentioned in this report include Millennial Media, Quattro Wireless and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full research note, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This is the fourth in a series of posts over this week that looks at the most significant developments of this year in the sectors that we c… Read more at paidContent »
The long-awaited IPO of social games giant Zynga has finally arrived, but those hoping for quick, early flips of the stock may end up having… Read more at paidContent »
Andrew Rhomberg thinks discovering new books online isn’t much fun. It’s great if you already know what you’re looking for, but if you’re ho… Read more at paidContent »
Major news outlets this week reported that merchants filed a lawsuit against Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) for tampering with electronic contracts. T… Read more at paidContent »
If there’s one thing that is acting as the pulse behind the growing entrepreneurial spirit in India’s cities, it’s the rise of the Indian middle class. I head off on a 2-week trip to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to capture the heart of this movement. Read more »
Google just updated its Google Shopper app for the iPhone with Google Offers purchasing and subscriptions. It’s the latest in a string of updates for Google’s iOS products, but each just does a better job of illustrating what we won’t see crossover from Android. Read more »
Back in June, paidContent reported how the UK’s advertising regulator had started reprimanding Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) after a growing number o… Read more at paidContent »
Online games powerhouse Zynga is shooting to reap $1billion in its IPO, according to an amended prospectus filed on Friday. The company behind Farmville, Mafia Wars and other games expects to offer 100 million shares of common stock at $8.50 to $10.00 per share. Read more »
After finding Groupon’s U.K. operation in breach of advertising rules nearly 50 times this year, officials are now referring complaints to regulators conducting a wider investigation into the company’s business practices. Read more »
How’s this for a happy Thanksgiving present? Groupon’s stock price sank Wednesday to the lowest point since its initial public offering earlier this month, closing at $16.96 a share, well below its $20 IPO share price — sparking pre-holiday buzz (and Schadenfreude) in tech and finance circles. Read more »
Gilt Groupe, the designer flash sales website, is reportedly set to start prepping an IPO next year. But as more consumer and retail companies get savvy to the web and mobile worlds, should IPOs of companies like Gilt and Groupon really be considered tech industry stories? Read more »
Daily deal aggregator Yipit is finally available on mobile with a new iPhone app. The app provides users with a mobile version of Yipit’s My Deals feature, which personalizes deal recommendations from its base of more than 800 providers and serves up the top offers. Read more »
Those who think the IPO market is in the pits have short memories. Data from the last 20 years shows the bubble of the late 1990s was the exception, not the rule, when it comes to IPOs. That’s why they called it a bubble. Read more »
Investors are not the only ones who see Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) as a money maker these days. In a lawsuit filed today, a California company is… Read more at paidContent »
The jump in Groupon’s offering price for its IPO, and the first day’s trading in the stock, says a lot more about the current bubble-style investment climate and an overheated stock market than it does about the potential value of the group-buying company. Read more »
There may be hundreds of competitors out there, but Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) this week has confirmed itself as the biggest daily deals site of t… Read more at paidContent »
Looks like Groupon will go public on Friday morning at $20 per share, giving it a valuation of $12.6 billion for its online coupon business. Let’s compare it to some of the greentech startups and big energy firms and try not to get disturbed. Read more »
It’s confirmed: Groupon has set the final price for its impending initial public offering on Friday at $20 per share, giving the company a total market capitalization of $12.6 billion. That’s higher than the Chicago-based daily deal website’s previous planned share price of $16 to $18. Read more »
Groupon is set to make its debut on the stock market any day now, with several reports saying the IPO will take place by week’s end. But some analysts say that Groupon does not deserve the $11 billion valuation at which it’s set to debut. Read more »
Groupon is facing an ugly brew of consumer, employee and intellectual property lawsuits. This messy legal landscape is yet another wild card… Read more at paidContent »
Exclusive: There are lots of great summer internships at Silicon Valley startups. But top engineering students often pass them up for the money and name recognition companies like Google can provide. So Kleiner Perkins has partnered with InternMatch to attract top-flight students to its portfolio companies. Read more »
After Groupon spurned its $6 billion offer last year, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) decided to launch a deal-of-the-day site of its very own. It looks… Read more at paidContent »
Groupon has filed suit against two former employees who have recently joined Google. In a lawsuit filed in Illinois last week, Groupon accuses former employees Michael Nolan and Brian Hanna of taking information they learned at Groupon to their new sales jobs at Google Offers. Read more »
Qwiki, the San Francisco-based search startup, may be going through a rough patch. Qwiki’s two top technical executives and at least one early engineer left abruptly last week, sources say, after major disagreements with the CEO over the company’s future product strategy. Read more »
Groupon will sell 30 million shares in its upcoming IPO, priced at $16 to $18 per share. The company estimates its net proceeds will be $478… Read more at paidContent »
Groupon is moving forward with a scaled back initial public offering and is showing some better progress toward profitability. The company said that it will sell 30 million shares at $16 to $18 million a share, which would raise up to $540 million. Read more »
Everyone in flash sales seems to be having problems right now, from Groupon to Gilt. But the new boss of the American spin-off from Europe’s pioneering Vente Privée explains why things will be different for him. Read more »
Groupon is planning an IPO of around $500 to $700 million in the next two weeks, according to reports in DealBook and the Wall Street Journa… Read more at paidContent »
Last quarter’s big headline in social media and real-time technologies came from Google, which launched Google+, its first social tech product that seems legit. In the third quarter, things were back to normal. Google+ is still growing, but Facebook’s platform update dominated the news. And as Google+ passed 25 million users and won some raves from the digerati, its competition with Facebook intensified. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Zynga, Salesforce, BranchOut and Foursquare. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The third quarter of 2011 was a busy one in the connected consumer segment. Netflix shot itself in both feet with its clumsy public handling of a price hike and spin-off of its DVD business this quarter — though the move may eventually pay off. Facebook, meanwhile, unveiled a major revamp of its news feed and user profile features, including the addition of real-time sharing of activity, while Amazon delievered its new $199, tablet-like Kindle Fire and posed perhaps the strongest challenge yet to the iPad’s overwhelming dominance of the tablet market. Finally, and despite the hopes of the cord cutters out there, the traditional pay-TV business remains as stubbornly undisrupted as ever. Companies mentioned in this report include Hulu, LivingSocial and Spotify. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Unorthodox accounting metrics are not new to Groupon. In the latest instance, the daily deal site says it isn’t happy that some “clever peop… Read more at paidContent »
Spending in the mobile advertising space will be approximately $4 billion worldwide this year, so despite perceptions to the contrary, we can safely assume it’s an area to watch in the coming years. To get a clearer picture of mobile advertising’s future, it helps to first explore the current landscape — the key drivers and players involved today. With these as a backdrop, a five-year outlook such as this comes into greater focus and leads to a discussion of the major players to watch as 2016 approaches. Companies mentioned in this report include Foursquare, LivingSocial and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
