Group A2- Knowledge searchers- Source- Business standard

EMI, discount schemes help firms sell more smartphones

Firms offer discounts, payment plans to price-sensitive Indian buyers to improve marketshares

Tue, Mar 12 2013. 09 20 PM IST

·         Buyers began lapping up the handsets despite a weak economy.

·         Indians can now buy the Rs.45,500 iPhone5 (16GB) by paying only Rs.5,056 upfront and the rest in equal instalments.

·         Apple had begun offering price discounts on its older models, including the iPhone4 and 4S, in October, ahead of the launch of iPhone5 in the following month. As a result, Apple’s marketshare, which was pegged at less than 5% in India till the end of 30 September, has improved.

·         Sales of Apple’s iPhone, across all its models, have increased by over 50% sequentially in the October-December quarter.

·         Apple’s decision to add more distributors, cut prices of its older models and the introduction of the iPhone5 has also helped.

·         Rival Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd had followed suit on 1 March with its own finance scheme, which charges zero interest, no processing fee and requires no upfront payment for buying the Rs.37,380Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone.

Google pays $7 million to settle WiFi probe

Google’s Street View cars collected passwords and personal data from home WiFi networks between 2008 and 2010

Wed, Mar 13 2013. 04 06 PM IST

·          Google Inc. will pay $7 million to 38 states and the District of Columbia to settle an investigation into a controversial incident in which its Street View mapping cars collected passwords and other personal data from home wireless networks between 2008 and 2010.

·         The deal, details of which were reported last week, ends a nearly three-year investigation.

·         Google, the world’s largest Internet search engine, has said the incident was a mistake owing to a piece of experimental computer code included in the cars’ software. It said the data was not used in any Google services.

·         Google agreed in Tuesday’s deal to eventually destroy the data collected in the US. It is working with various European countries to determine how to handle the data it collected there.

·         Google did not acknowledge violating any US laws in the so-called assurance of voluntary compliance that it entered into with the states.

·         The $7 million fine, which will be split among the states involved in the investigation, represents a tiny fraction of Google’s roughly $50.2 billion 2012 revenue and its $10.7 billion in net income.

Product quality, safety gain more importance in India: report

TÜV SÜD’s study, the Safety Gauge, is based on independent global research commissioned by TÜV SÜD to investigate consumer and business attitudes towards product safety

Thu, Mar 07 2013. 10 49 PM IST

·         Product quality and safety are gaining more importance among consumers in India as multinationals such as Mondelez International Inc., the snacks maker separated from Kraft Foods Group Inc., French food and beverage maker Groupe Danone SA and German toy company Simba Dickie Group expand manufacturing and sales in the country.

·         The proportion of consumers who deem quality and safety to be important has increased to 64% from 48% in 2007, said the report by TÜV SÜD South Asia Pvt. Ltd, a safety certification and inspection services provider. Their numbers will rise in the years to come, giving rise to a parallel industry in testing, inspection and certification of products.

·         India has become the 20th largest exporting country and the target set for India’s merchandise exports is expected to double to $500 billion in 2013-2014. These exports will need to be tested for their safety to increase their global acceptance.

·         Even as consumer awareness of the need for product safety increases, Indian safety standards are behind those of the UK, the US and Japan and manufacturers have often been found to do just the bare minimum to meet the standards.

Marriott, Ikea team up to launch new hotel brand

Over the next 10 years, 150 low-cost hotels will be opened in 10 different countries, Marriott CEO says

Wed, Mar 06 2013. 01 17 AM IST

·         US hotel chain Marriott said on Tuesday it is teaming up with Swedish furniture giant Ikea to launch of new budget hotel brand in Germany and Europe, called Moxy Hotels.

·         Over the next 10 years, 150 low-cost hotels will be opened in 10 different countries.

·         In addition to Germany, hotels would be opened in Austria, Britain, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The very first Moxy Hotel would open in Milan at the start of next year.

·         The new brand was targeted at a young, price-conscious, well travelled clientele.

·         Separately, the US hotel group Starwood Hotels and Resorts said it plans to open 50 new hotels in Europe over the next five years, with particular emphasis on countries of the ex-Soviet Union and Turkey.

Nestle expects India to become its fourth biggest market by 2020

Nestlé’s Nandkishore on his firm’s focus on the emerging markets including India

Sun, Mar 10 2013. 11 44 PM IST

·          Nestle SA expects India to feature among its top five markets in revenue by the end of this decade as it prepares to launch a number of premium brands in the country

·         The Swiss food and beverage company’s local arm, Nestle India Ltd, contributes less than 2% to the overall turnover and doesn’t feature among its top 10 markets.

·        The expectation is that by 2020 India will be the fourth biggest economy in the world. We expect Nestle India to be the fourth biggest market for Nestle (by then), that’s the target.