The Information

An attendee at this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Photo by Bloomberg.

Out of Sight at Mobile World, Facebook Still Looms Large

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 2, 2017 7:00am PST · 1 comment

BARCELONA—Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stayed away from this week’s Mobile World Congress, the telecom industry’s annual assembly, for the first time in four years. That lowered Facebook’s profile at the gathering but not its activity level. Behind the scenes, executives from the social network wooed telecom executives as... BARCELONA—Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stayed away from this week’s Mobile World...

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg.

AWS Takes Aim at Call Center Industry

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 28, 2017 7:01am PST · 6 comments

Alexa is coming to customer call centers.Amazon Web Services is preparing to sell software to help companies manage their call centers, based on software Amazon developed for its retail call centers, according to a person who’s been briefed on the plans. The new services also incorporate Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant to respond to... Alexa is coming to customer call centers.Amazon Web Services is preparing to sell software to...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

How Rizvi’s Clients Will Do on Snap IPO

By Alfred Lee · Feb 27, 2017 7:00am PST · 1 comment

When Snap goes public on Thursday, one of the investors closely watching the result will be Rizvi Traverse, the secretive firm that rose to prominence amassing large stakes in Twitter and Square. Chances are Rizvi will do well on the offering—and probably better than people who invested in Rizvi-arranged funds holding Snap stock.Rizvi put... When Snap goes public on Thursday, one of the investors closely watching the result will be Rizvi...

AWS CEO Andrew Jassy. Photo by AP.

AWS Taking On Microsoft, Google with Productivity Suite

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 24, 2017 7:01am PST · 7 comments

AWS CEO Andrew Jassy. Photo by AP.

AWS Taking On Microsoft, Google with Productivity Suite

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 24, 2017 7:01am PST · 7 comments

Amazon Web Services dominates the market for cloud server and storage services and has made inroads in other enterprise technologies like databases. Now it wants to become a more potent competitor in productivity apps, where Microsoft and Google are well established. AWS is working on upgrades to its WorkMail email-calendar app and its WorkDocs... Amazon Web Services dominates the market for cloud server and storage services and has made...

Lightspeed partner Jeremy Liew. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

How a Mountain View High School Cashed in on Snap

By Alfred Lee and Tom Dotan · Feb 23, 2017 5:01pm PST

Lots of people stand to make a fortune when Snap goes public next week, including co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy and early investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners. Then there’s Saint Francis High School, of Mountain View, California. An investment fund associated with the high school is believed to have been one of the... Lots of people stand to make a fortune when Snap goes public next week, including co-founders...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Severed Ties with Server Supplier After Security Concern

By Amir Efrati · Feb 23, 2017 3:44pm PST · 4 comments

In early 2016, Apple discovered what it believed was a potential security vulnerability in at least one data center server it purchased from a U.S.-based manufacturer, Super Micro Computer, according to a Super Micro executive and two people who were briefed about the incident at Apple. The server was part of Apple’s technical... In early 2016, Apple discovered what it believed was a potential security vulnerability in at...

Facebook's VP for messaging products, David Marcus, at F8 last year. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Messenger and “M” Are Shifting Gears

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 22, 2017 7:00am PST · 4 comments

After two years of trying to figure out ways to get commerce flowing through Messenger, with little success, Facebook is taking a new tack. Messenger is trying to find ways to inject buttons into conversations between friends when it thinks they intend to do things like make restaurant reservations, buy tickets to something or order food. The... After two years of trying to figure out ways to get commerce flowing through Messenger, with...

David Marcus, Facebook VP for messaging products. Photo by Bloomberg.

Bots and Humans Strain to Get Along on Messenger, Twitter

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 17, 2017 7:01am PST · 6 comments

David Marcus, Facebook VP for messaging products. Photo by Bloomberg.

Bots and Humans Strain to Get Along on Messenger, Twitter

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 17, 2017 7:01am PST · 6 comments

When customers started chatting with 1-800-Flowers.com on Facebook Messenger in recent months, they often received two different kinds of responses in the same thread. One would be an automated response run by a bot company that can serve up flower orders in a few taps. The other response would be from a human agent that signed his or her name,... When customers started chatting with 1-800-Flowers.com on Facebook Messenger in recent months,...

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Cruise’s Self-Driving Cars May Not Be as Smart as They Appear

By Amir Efrati · Feb 16, 2017 12:26pm PST · 3 comments

Cruise Automation, the General Motors-owned autonomous car startup, turned heads in the self-driving car world earlier this month. Test results filed with California regulators implied that its self-driving software might be more advanced than that of Mercedes, Tesla, Bosch and Delphi. The results showed that the company’s workers had to... Cruise Automation, the General Motors-owned autonomous car startup, turned heads in the...

Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim. Photo by Bloomberg.

China’s Tencent Eyes Indonesian Unicorn Go-Jek

By Juro Osawa · Feb 15, 2017 7:00am PST · 2 comments

The battle for Southeast Asia’s potentially huge mobile Internet market is getting intense. In the latest indication, Chinese Internet company Tencent Holdings is in talks about a possible investment in Go-Jek, Indonesia’s biggest mobile ride-hailing and delivery service, people familiar with the matter said.Go-Jek, backed by Sequoia... The battle for Southeast Asia’s potentially huge mobile Internet market is getting intense....

Photo by Jessica Stark.

How Snap Discovered Android

By Tom Dotan and Amir Efrati · Feb 14, 2017 7:02am PST

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel rarely appears in public or gives interviews. But in recent months, he could be found on Reddit, responding to complaints from Snapchat users about persistent problems with the Android version of the app.In one exchange last fall, Mr. Spiegel promised “[s]ignificant Android performance improvements coming early next... Snap CEO Evan Spiegel rarely appears in public or gives interviews. But in recent months, he...

Huawei consumer business chief Richard Yu at CES last month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Huawei Sold More Phones but at Less Profit

By Juro Osawa · Feb 10, 2017 7:00am PST

Huawei consumer business chief Richard Yu at CES last month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Huawei Sold More Phones but at Less Profit

By Juro Osawa · Feb 10, 2017 7:00am PST

Last year, China’s Huawei enlisted Hollywood A-listers like Scarlett Johansson to help market its flagship phone in Europe and elsewhere. The campaign worked. Its handset shipments grew nearly 30% despite virtually no growth in the overall smartphone industry globally. There was only one problem: Profits dropped. The world’s... Last year, China’s Huawei enlisted Hollywood A-listers like Scarlett Johansson to help...

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. Photo by Bloomberg.

Former Cisco Execs Reunite to Form New Networking Startup

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 9, 2017 11:20am PST · 1 comment

Plans by four former Cisco executives to create a new startup have come together with the registration last month of a company called Pensando Systems. The company may develop a new kind of chip for networking and storage, said a person close to the startup, although product plans haven’t been finalized.The new company, whose name is... Plans by four former Cisco executives to create a new startup have come together with the...

Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Photo by Bloomberg.

Alibaba’s Ant Financial Raising Money for Global Expansion

By Juro Osawa · Feb 8, 2017 11:29am PST

China’s most valuable online finance company is on an acquisition spree to build a global powerhouse stretching from India to Texas. To fund its overseas deals, Ant Financial Services Group—an affiliate of online shopping giant Alibaba Group—is in early discussions with bankers to raise more than $3 billion, possibly by issuing... China’s most valuable online finance company is on an acquisition spree to build a global...

Snap co-founder Bobby Murphy (left) and Google's Urs Hölzle in 2014. Photo by Bloomberg.

Behind Snap’s Marriage to Google and the Cloud

By Amir Efrati · Feb 7, 2017 7:01am PST · 17 comments

Snap is the biggest consumer internet company to be built from scratch on top of cloud computing infrastructure it doesn’t own. That makes it an important symbol for the public cloud industry led by Amazon, Microsoft and Google, all of whom would like future Snaps to grow up on their clouds.Last week Snap disclosed in its IPO filing that... Snap is the biggest consumer internet company to be built from scratch on top of cloud computing...

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet. Photo by Bloomberg.

NetEase Offers Google a Way Back to China

By Juro Osawa, Shai Oster and Amir Efrati · Feb 6, 2017 9:01am PST · 1 comment

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet. Photo by Bloomberg.

NetEase Offers Google a Way Back to China

By Juro Osawa, Shai Oster and Amir Efrati · Feb 6, 2017 9:01am PST · 1 comment

Ever since Google left mainland China nearly seven years ago, it’s been looking for a way back in. The latest hope is a proposed tie-up to launch Google’s mobile app and digital-media store in China with NetEase, one of the country’s first internet brands.NetEase has approached Google to form a joint venture to launch the... Ever since Google left mainland China nearly seven years ago, it’s been looking for a way...

Snap's chief strategy officer, Imran Khan, in September. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Matters and What Doesn’t in Snap’s S-1

By Tom Dotan and Amir Efrati · Feb 1, 2017 7:53pm PST · 2 comments

The first stage of Snap’s roadshow for investors is set to begin after the public release of its S-1, detailing its IPO offering, which could happen by the end of this week. The subsequent pitch to investors will rely both on the user growth, engagement, and financial figures (some of which The Information has learned, including last... The first stage of Snap’s roadshow for investors is set to begin after the public release...

Google Vice President Carl Schachter in 2013. Photo by Denisse Springer, Lotus Eyes Photogrphay

Senior Google Cloud Exec Departs After Reorg

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 1, 2017 4:02pm PST · 1 comment

Carl Schachter, a Google vice president who was one of the public faces of its cloud computing business under Diane Greene, is leaving the company, The Information has learned. The move came as a surprise to many at the fast-growing Google unit, as Mr. Schachter had been promoted in 2015 and received additional responsibilities late last year.... Carl Schachter, a Google vice president who was one of the public faces of its cloud computing...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Snap Is Working on Smarter Lenses

By Tom Dotan · Feb 1, 2017 7:01am PST · 2 comments

Snap is working on a new version of its Lenses product that lets people overlay images onto landscapes in the real world, not just faces. The new technology is a notable expansion of the object recognition within Snapchat’s Lenses, one that could lead to more ad-friendly products.The new Lenses are currently being tested on Snap’s... Snap is working on a new version of its Lenses product that lets people overlay images onto...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

How Snap Is Guarding Against IPO Lawsuits

By Alfred Lee · Jan 30, 2017 7:01am PST

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

How Snap Is Guarding Against IPO Lawsuits

By Alfred Lee · Jan 30, 2017 7:01am PST

In the world of corporate law, Snap will set a precedent with its expected IPO. It will likely be the first company to go public with a novel legal defense against an increasingly common kind of IPO-related lawsuit, one sparked when a company’s stock price falls after the public offering. Snap added a provision to its charter last October... In the world of corporate law, Snap will set a precedent with its expected IPO. It will likely be...