Groupon Expands Local Commerce Platform to India, Israel and South Africa | Business Wire

Groupon has launched of Groupon India, Groupon Israel and Groupon South Africa by means of the firm's acquisitions of daily deal sites SoSasta, Grouper and Twangoo.

Groupon negotiates discounts with popular businesses and shares them with subscribers by means of free daily emails. The deals are activated only when a minimum number of people agree to buy, encouraging subscribers to share the promotion with family and friends.

By guaranteeing a large number of new customers, Groupon has created a new marketing vehicle for local merchants, and also has pioneered a new channel for mobile and local advertising.

Groupon Expands Local Commerce Platform to India, Israel and South Africa | Business Wire

Google Goggles "Reads" Ad Images

The Google Goggles 1.3 client for Android can scan barcodes almost instantly. But all versions of Goggles can now recognize print ads in popular magazines and newspapers.

"The next time you're flipping through the pages of your favorite magazine, try taking a picture of an ad with Goggles," Google says. "Goggles will recognize print ad and return web search results about the product or brand."

This new feature of Goggles is enabled for print ads appearing in major U.S. magazines and newspapers from August 2010 onwards.

Official Google Mobile Blog

IPhone May Cost Verizon $5 Billion in Subsidies in First Year

Verizon Wireless, set to get Apple Inc.’s iPhone Jan. 11 after four years of waiting, may spend $3 billion to $5 billion to subsidize customer purchases of the device in 2011 alone, based on the expected $400 per iPhone subsidy Verizon will absorb.

While the smartphone will help Verizon add more subscribers this year than rival AT&T Inc., currently the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone, it will also crimp profits, said John Hodulik, an analyst at UBS AG.

Hodulik said Verizon may sell 13 million of the devices with an estimated $400 subsidy this year, which would add up to a total of $5.2 billion. Of course, some observers say Verizon Wireless will not sell nearly that many devices.

Verizon will sell only five million to seven million iPhones in 2011, argues Dan Hays, PRTM director. Still, a hit to earnings of $2 billion to $5 billion in a single year suggests significant competition in the mobile business. Executives in non-competitive industries do not willingly sacrifice $2 billion to $5 billion in earnings.

IPhone May Cost Verizon $5 Billion in Subsidies in First Year - BusinessWeek

Intuit Mobile "Go Payment" Push: No Charge and a Free Card Reader

Intuit will offer its "GoPayment" mobile payment service with a free credit card reader and no monthly service fees to business owners who sign up by mid-February. “By offering a free card reader and no monthly service fees, we want to give more small businesses a head start in the New Year by enabling them to take mobile payments without any upfront investment,” says Chris Hylen, general manager of Intuit’s Payment Solutions division.

GoPayment is compatible with more than 40 popular mobile handsets and a range of credit card readers, Intuit says. This includes a free credit card reader from ROAM Data, which works on a variety of iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices, to make it easier for the cost-conscious new business owner to start taking mobile payments.

“We expect the point-of-sale mobile payments market in the U.S. to grow to $55 billion by 2015, up from an estimated $1 billion in 2010,” says Gwenn Bézard of Aite Group.

read more here

TV as "an App"

If you take a look at this sample Internet TV interface, you will almost immediately sense something important: entertainment video, with some important advances in content availability, could someday become an "application" accessed from an icon on a mobile or fixed device. 


That doesn't mean "application" in the sense of a program, but as a gateway or portal to an entire menu of streaming services. 


You can figure out why a cable operator wouldn't like that. 

Sling Media Subscription for Verizon Wireless 4G

Entertainment video might not wind up being the killer app for mobile 4G, but Sling Media seems to think it could be. Sling Media is offering subscriptions that allow users of some Verizon Wireless 4G smartphones the ability to watch their home TV on new 4G smartphones.

Some users might not think the offer is a reasonable way of using online video, but the offer has one important attribute: it probably is one of the first offerings that allows a Verizon FiOS TV user to watch all the "good stuff" he or she is paying for, on a mobile.

Sling Media - Sling Media Announces Subscription Offering for Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Customers

Amdocs: How the Business is Changing