Bloomberg After building the world’s biggest clothing empire without using TV and billboard ads, the owner of fashion brand Zara is trying another way to market its dresses, jeans and jackets — video games. Spain’s Inditex SA is responding to the shift from physical stores to online sales by teaming up with Facebook and Instagram to develop “Pacific Game†to ...
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Facebook chats power a new $48bn market in social commerce
Bloomberg Samantha Proyrungtong, co-owner of an artisan food shop in downtown Bangkok, keeps three phones and a laptop glued to Facebook and Softbank Group-backed Line Corp.’s social-media app throughout the workday. She needs them not to hear from friends and relatives but to get orders from customers since her shop, Vivin Grocery, relies on chat applications for a big part ...
Read More »Spotify’s competition in Africa won hearts of listeners
Bloomberg A company that’s barely known in the US and Europe is the most successful online music platform in Africa — making it target number one in Spotify’s campaign to dominate the continent’s streaming market. Audiomack Inc. won the hearts of many Africans by allowing those without a premium subscription to download songs and listen offline. The feature lets customers ...
Read More »Apple faces supply shortage of iPad displays
Bloomberg The next-generation display destined to be a highlight of Apple Inc.’s upcoming top-tier iPad Pro is facing production issues that could lead to short initial supplies of the new device, according to people familiar with the matter. The Cupertino, California-based tech giant plans to showcase a new MiniLED display technology in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro set to be announced ...
Read More »Google business booms on Covid reopening; shares soar to record
Bloomberg Google’s results, showing a surge in ad sales related to travel and retail, offered a glimpse of online spending in a post-pandemic world: Businesses are boosting digital marketing to capture a public eager to resume something resembling normal life again. Google parent Alphabet Inc. said first-quarter revenue, excluding payments to distribution partners, came in at $45.6 billion, pummeling Wall ...
Read More »Microsoft posts $41.7bn sales in cloud-computing business
Bloomberg Microsoft Corp reported quarterly sales and profit that topped analysts’ estimates for a ninth straight quarter, lifted by booming cloud-computing demand. This time, investors weren’t satisfied. Sales in the period ended March 31 rise to $41.7 billion, the Redmond, Washington-based software maker said in a statement. That compared with the $41.1 billion average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg. ...
Read More »Twitter tumbles after digital ad sales disappoint
Bloomberg Twitter Inc tumbled 13% after the social media company posted a sluggish start to the year in its advertising business and gave a disappointing revenue forecast, a sign the social media service hasn’t fully capitalized on the digital advertising boom amid the pandemic like companies such as Facebook Inc. and Google. Sales were slow during the first months of ...
Read More »Huawei sales fall as sanctions hit phone business
Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co.’s revenue shrank for a second straight quarter after US sanctions devastated the embattled Chinese tech giant’s smartphone business. Huawei reported a 17% decline in sales to $23 billion in first three months of this year, the company said in a statement. That follows a 11% decline in revenue for the three months ended December. Its profit ...
Read More »Apple debuts faster iPad Pro with brighter screen, 5G option
Bloomberg Apple Inc. unveiled an updated iPad Pro with a faster processor, 5G connectivity, upgraded screen and new cameras, offering a more powerful version of its priciest tablet aimed at workers and students returning to offices and schools. The new models come in the same 11-inch and 12.9-inch screen sizes as the previous version, and they look nearly identical to ...
Read More »TikTok faces privacy lawsuit on behalf of children
Bloomberg TikTok faces a London lawsuit filed on behalf of millions of children in the UK and Europe over privacy concerns. The suit accuses the popular video app and its parent company ByteDance Ltd. of violating UK and European Union (EU) data protection laws. The suit seeks to stop TikTok from “illegally processing millions of childrens’ information†and demands any ...
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