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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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Recent Editions

Google CEO Larry Page. Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

Google’s Next Telecom Move: Becoming a Wireless Carrier

By Amir Efrati · Jan 21, 2015 12:40pm PST · 1 comment
Google is preparing to sell mobile phone plans directly to customers and manage their calls and mobile data over a cellular network, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.  The new service is expected run on Sprint and T-Mobile’s networks, two people familiar with the product say. Google is expected to reach deals to buy... Google is preparing to sell mobile phone plans directly to customers and manage their calls and...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.

Determining the Message Behind Medium

By Tom Dotan · Jan 21, 2015 7:01am PST
In March 2013, Evan Hansen left his job as the editor of Conde Nast’s Wired.com to join Medium, the blogging platform started by Twitter founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone. In doing so, he left a relatively large media outlet with an established voice to join a high-profile startup many people have a difficult time defining. Nearly two years... In March 2013, Evan Hansen left his job as the editor of Conde Nast’s Wired.com to join Medium,...
Apus Group CEO Tao Li. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

An Android App Bubble or Something Else?

By Amir Efrati · Jan 20, 2015 12:51pm PST · 2 comments
Fast-growing caller-ID app TrueCaller, which is starting to attract attention in Silicon Valley, has joined a wave of so-called utility apps that have hooked themselves into hundreds of millions of smartphones by focusing on mundane features like saving battery life, offering wallpaper options or screening for spam calls. New high-fliers seem to... Fast-growing caller-ID app TrueCaller, which is starting to attract attention in Silicon Valley,...
True Software founders Nami Zarringhalam, left, and Alan Mamedi. Credit: True Software
Saved by a Call, True Software Builds Global Phonebook
By Amir Efrati · Jan 20, 2015 7:01am PST
True Software founders Nami Zarringhalam, left, and Alan Mamedi. Credit: True Software
Company to Watch

Saved by a Call, True Software Builds Global Phonebook

By Amir Efrati · Jan 20, 2015 7:01am PST
Truecaller, a caller-ID app that is among the fastest-growing apps in the world, typifies the reality that most tech startups sit on a razor’s edge; the difference between survival and death might be one phone call. For founders Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam, the fateful call came in April 2013. After raising about $2 million in the prior... Truecaller, a caller-ID app that is among the fastest-growing apps in the world, typifies the...
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Photo by Associated Press.
Exclusive

Google Nears Major Investment in SpaceX to Bolster Satellites

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 19, 2015 8:36am PST · 1 comment
Google is close to investing in rocket maker SpaceX, according to several people familiar with the talks, creating a formidable alliance in Silicon Valley’s accelerating Internet space race. The purpose of a deal, which is still in the works, is to support the development of SpaceX satellites that could beam low-cost Internet around the globe... Google is close to investing in rocket maker SpaceX, according to several people familiar with...
Terry Myerson, head of Microsoft's operating systems group. Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

Microsoft’s Latest Mobile Game Plan is Apps over OS

By Steve Nellis and Amir Efrati · Jan 19, 2015 7:00am PST
Microsoft on Wednesday will unveil the latest strategy to expand its share of the mobile computing market: leveraging its strength in PCs to lift sales of Windows Phone. In previewing its Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft will show a single code base inside the software that will allow an app to run well on phones, tablets and PCs, as... Microsoft on Wednesday will unveil the latest strategy to expand its share of the mobile...
The Takeaway

A Key Difference in How Chinese and U.S. Tech Cos. Approach Deals

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 16, 2015 10:30am PST · 4 comments
Here’s a riddle. Why do the biggest Chinese tech companies prefer to invest in companies strategic to their businesses while U.S. tech leaders prefer to acquire such companies outright? Tencent and Alibaba, for example, have bought partial stakes in everything from on-demand cab companies to peer-to-peer lenders to games. Mobile phone maker... Here’s a riddle. Why do the biggest Chinese tech companies prefer to invest in companies...
photo by Bloomberg
Tough Road for Online Video Vendors
By Martin Peers · Jan 16, 2015 7:01am PST
photo by Bloomberg

Tough Road for Online Video Vendors

By Martin Peers · Jan 16, 2015 7:01am PST
Online video consumption is exploding. But for technology vendors jockeying to help media companies distribute online video, it’s a brutal market right now. Sending digital video requires many steps, including making sure the video runs on multiple software and hardware systems, tagging the video so it can be searched, inserting ads and more. ... Online video consumption is exploding. But for technology vendors jockeying to help media...
Photo by Bloomberg

More Tech Firms Prove Online Ads Drive Offline Sales

By Amir Efrati · Jan 15, 2015 12:11pm PST · 1 comment
The online ad industry is inching closer toward a longstanding goal: helping retailers determine how online ads drive sales at their physical stores. Retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Williams Sonoma are increasingly using data about their customers to track their “path to purchase” from Web to store, thanks to new ad tech startups and... The online ad industry is inching closer toward a longstanding goal: helping retailers determine...
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. Photo by Bloomberg.

Twitter’s Uphill Struggle To Become A Media Firm

By Tom Dotan · Jan 15, 2015 7:01am PST · 2 comments
As Twitter looks to turn a corner after several quarters of sluggish user growth and executive shakeups, the company is resolved to become a media platform. But even what counts as its biggest hit with media partners isn’t yet a significant money maker. Twitter has succeeded at getting media companies and sports leagues to embrace its platform,... As Twitter looks to turn a corner after several quarters of sluggish user growth and executive...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

Inside Adobe’s ‘Burn the Boats’ Bet

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 14, 2015 10:01am PST · 6 comments
Plenty of companies talk about changing their business models to adapt to new technologies, but few actually pull it off. Netflix shifted from DVDs to streaming, and Apple survived the transition from the personal computer business to mobile.  A possible new success story: Adobe Systems. In 2013, amid lagging sales, CEO Shantanu Narayen... Plenty of companies talk about changing their business models to adapt to new technologies, but...
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Bandwidth Problem That Deserves More Attention
By Martin Peers · Jan 14, 2015 7:01am PST · 4 comments
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Bandwidth Problem That Deserves More Attention

By Martin Peers · Jan 14, 2015 7:01am PST · 4 comments
This past Sunday night I sat down with my wife and daughter to watch a movie on Amazon Prime. What could have been a fun experience turned into a chore, however, as the film stopped repeatedly to buffer, for some stretches, every few seconds. This was the second time in a few weeks we’d had this experience, the last time being when we bought a... This past Sunday night I sat down with my wife and daughter to watch a movie on Amazon Prime....
Art by Tom Dotan.
Data Point

YouTube Creators Near Their Audience Limits

By Tom Dotan · Jan 13, 2015 10:00am PST
The world of YouTube creators is reaching maturity, revealing an interesting pattern. For a medium that has threatened to replace television, the YouTube audience has started to look TV-like. Different channels are approaching different subscriber ceilings based on their genres. And that pattern could make online video more appealing to... The world of YouTube creators is reaching maturity, revealing an interesting pattern. For a...
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg

Cloud Giants’ Strength Is Their Achilles Heel

By Steve Nellis · Jan 13, 2015 7:00am PST
The conventional wisdom is that the biggest cloud computing providers like Amazon, Microsoft and Google have an unstoppable lead because they’re big enough to buy superior custom hardware straight from suppliers. But some are beginning to question how durable the big players’ hardware advantages really are. Some investors and entrepreneurs argue... The conventional wisdom is that the biggest cloud computing providers like Amazon, Microsoft and...
Art by Sam Lessin.
Modest Proposals

Native Advertising: A Convenient Pitch I’m Not Buying

By Sam Lessin · Jan 12, 2015 11:08am PST · 4 comments
There is a lot of attention around native advertising these days. Up-and-coming media companies like BuzzFeed and Vice are hauling in huge valuations against business models around branded content, namely writing content for advertisers that resembles stories on their sites. Venerable media houses like The New York Times, with its “T Brand... There is a lot of attention around native advertising these days. Up-and-coming media companies...
Global Race For Real Estate Ad Dollars Heats Up
By Martin Peers · Jan 12, 2015 7:00am PST

Global Race For Real Estate Ad Dollars Heats Up

By Martin Peers · Jan 12, 2015 7:00am PST
In the next month or so, the Federal Trade Commission is expected to decide whether to allow online real estate hubs Zillow and Trulia to complete their $3.5 billion merger. The decision will send ripples through a multi-billion dollar ad market involving everyone from Google to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and possibly even Facebook. While Zillow... In the next month or so, the Federal Trade Commission is expected to decide whether to allow...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Decoded

By Matt Vascellaro · Jan 9, 2015 11:54am PST
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The Takeaway

Don’t Be Fooled by Boatloads of Cash

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 9, 2015 7:01am PST
You hear it a lot in the technology sector these days. Company X is flailing, but don’t worry: “They have a lot of cash. They’ll figure it out.” Cash in the bank, the theory goes, can reverse a company’s fortunes by helping it buy its way to relevance. And tech companies have plenty of it, even deducting the stockpiles stuck overseas they aren’t... You hear it a lot in the technology sector these days. Company X is flailing, but don’t worry: “...
Samsung’s mobile CEO J.K. Shin. Photo by Bloomberg.

Samsung’s Mobile Moment of Truth

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 8, 2015 11:14am PST · 1 comment
This week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas often felt like the Samsung Electronics Show. The world’s largest consumer electronics company showed off a giant television, a slew of “Internet of Things” connected devices and an oven that cooks two dishes at once. (Don’t all ovens do that?) But the spectacle was all a sideshow for what... This week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas often felt like the Samsung Electronics Show....
Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad. Photo by Bloomberg
Selling Outside the Startup Box
By Steve Nellis · Jan 8, 2015 7:01am PST · 2 comments
Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad. Photo by Bloomberg

Selling Outside the Startup Box

By Steve Nellis · Jan 8, 2015 7:01am PST · 2 comments
Last spring, HR automation platform Zenefits realized it had a problem: It was too reliant on other young tech companies as customers to keep up its growth rate. Not wanting to be typecast as a service provider for startups, Zenefits deliberately looked outside of tech for new business. While finding non-tech firms harder to sign up than... Last spring, HR automation platform Zenefits realized it had a problem: It was too reliant on...