The Information

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi presenting an award to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Washington on Tuesday. Photo by AP.

Next Front in India’s E-Commerce War: Smaller Cities

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 8, 2016 11:57am PDT · 1 comment

Hoping to regain momentum in India’s tough e-commerce war, Flipkart is looking to partner with shopkeepers in India’s smaller cities. In doing so, Flipkart hopes to win over tens of millions of people not accustomed to shopping online.Flipkart will soon let people living in the country’s small and midsized cities get goods they... Hoping to regain momentum in India’s tough e-commerce war, Flipkart is looking to partner...

Nest CEO Tony Fadell. Photo by Bloomberg.

Former Nest Employee Takes Aim at Google’s Media Policy

By Reed Albergotti · Jun 2, 2016 7:00am PDT

A National Labor Relations Board complaint lodged against Google and Nest recently by a former Nest employee has raised the prospect that tech firms could be forced to change confidentiality rules to allow employees to talk publicly about working conditions.The complaint was filed May 17 by a former Nest product manager who was fired by Nest in... A National Labor Relations Board complaint lodged against Google and Nest recently by a former...

Google's Vice President of Product Management, Mario Queiroz, talking about Google Home at Google I/O this month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Home’s Little Secret

By Amir Efrati · May 31, 2016 9:07am PDT · 1 comment

When Google executive Mario Queiroz unveiled a new voice-controlled virtual assistant, Google Home, at the company’s developer conference this month, he left out a key detail: Home is a dressed-up version of Chromecast, the video-streaming device Mr. Queiroz’s team previously developed.The guts of Home, including its ARM-based... When Google executive Mario Queiroz unveiled a new voice-controlled virtual assistant, Google...

Elisabeth Murdoch. Photo by Flickr/Nordiske Mediedager.

Media Exec Joins Liz Murdoch’s Video Firm

By Tom Dotan · May 26, 2016 10:26am PDT

Elisabeth Murdoch. Photo by Flickr/Nordiske Mediedager.

Media Exec Joins Liz Murdoch’s Video Firm

By Tom Dotan · May 26, 2016 10:26am PDT

Former Vimeo executive Greg Clayman has joined Elisabeth Murdoch’s new company, Vertical Networks, which is creating original content for Snapchat, according to multiple people briefed on the situation. He will be U.S. president of the firm.Mr. Clayman left Vimeo, the IAC-owned video streaming site, in January. He previously worked at both... Former Vimeo executive Greg Clayman has joined Elisabeth Murdoch’s new company, Vertical...

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Eyes More Retail Dollars With “Shoppable” Video Ads

By Cory Weinberg · May 26, 2016 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

Facebook next month will start testing a type of video ad promoting products that users could tap and buy, a person briefed by the social network said. The ad format is the next step in Facebook’s strategy to prove to marketers its ads can drive consumer purchases, not just raise brand awareness.“Shoppable video ads,” as the ad... Facebook next month will start testing a type of video ad promoting products that users could tap...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Opening Siri, Developing Echo Rival

By Amir Efrati · May 24, 2016 1:23pm PDT · 3 comments

Apple is upping its game in the field of intelligent assistants. After years of internal debate and discussion about how to do so, the company is preparing to open up Siri to apps made by others. And it is working on an Amazon Echo-like device with a speaker and microphone that people can use to turn on music, get news headlines or set a timer.... Apple is upping its game in the field of intelligent assistants. After years of internal debate...

Photo by Bloomberg..

Following Facebook and Microsoft, Google Gets Messaging Bots

By Amir Efrati and Jessica E. Lessin · May 17, 2016 1:05pm PDT · 2 comments

Google is about to join the “bot” craze gripping Silicon Valley.Reports that Google was working on a way for people to use its smartphone messenger to chat with businesses—or Google itself—have circulated for months. But we’ve recently learned more details about the company’s messaging effort and that it is... Google is about to join the “bot” craze gripping Silicon Valley.Reports that Google...

Eddy Cue showing off Siri in 2013. Photo by AP.

Early Siri Engineer Departs Apple for GE

By Amir Efrati · May 11, 2016 11:23am PDT

Eddy Cue showing off Siri in 2013. Photo by AP.

Early Siri Engineer Departs Apple for GE

By Amir Efrati · May 11, 2016 11:23am PDT

One of the last members of the original Siri team has left Apple for General Electric, said two people with knowledge of the move.Darren Haas, 41 years old, quit a few weeks after another former Siri team member, Steve D’Aurora, decamped for GE.Political infighting has engulfed Apple’s engineering ranks after the company decided to... One of the last members of the original Siri team has left Apple for General Electric, said two...

Snapchat's VP of content, Nick Bell. Photo by Getty Images.

The Cost of Joining Snapchat’s Discover

By Tom Dotan · May 10, 2016 7:02am PDT · 1 comment

For media companies trying to gain or maintain a spot on Snapchat’s digital magazine section, Discover, the company has made one thing clear: Access doesn’t come cheap.For example, Snapchat requires some firms with channels on Discover, such as Vox Media and Tastemade, to pay Snapchat a guaranteed minimum amount of money over a... For media companies trying to gain or maintain a spot on Snapchat’s digital magazine...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

In Shift, Uber Seeks Bids for Cloud Business

By Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis · May 9, 2016 1:26pm PDT

There’s a new hot contract up for grabs in the cloud market: Uber.The ride-hailing company is taking bids from “public” cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft to handle a small but important slice of its infrastructure, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. Uber is already testing some... There’s a new hot contract up for grabs in the cloud market: Uber.The ride-hailing company...

Facebook's VP for Messaging Products, David Marcus. Photo by AP.

Despite Stumbles, News Outlets Flock to Messenger

By Cory Weinberg · May 9, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

When Mic internally tested a Facebook’s Messenger “bot” to send out news articles last month, employees didn’t tap and chat with it much. So the Millennial-focused site changed course and will soon release a Messenger bot that sends people photos for a daily caption contest. An early test sent out a picture of Barack... When Mic internally tested a Facebook’s Messenger “bot” to send out news...

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Photo by Bloomberg.

Sports Networks Want Instagram to Install Video Fence

By Cory Weinberg · May 5, 2016 7:00am PDT

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Photo by Bloomberg.

Sports Networks Want Instagram to Install Video Fence

By Cory Weinberg · May 5, 2016 7:00am PDT

Instagram’s efforts to become a hub for user-generated and professional videos have hit a snag: its lack of a fence. Instagram doesn’t have so-called “geofencing” capability, allowing it to cordon off the videos posted on the app for viewing only by users in particular countries. That is stopping some sports broadcasters... Instagram’s efforts to become a hub for user-generated and professional videos have hit a...

Mashable founder Pete Cashmore. Photo by Flickr/Josh Hallett.

Mashable’s Costly Path to Video

By Tom Dotan · May 4, 2016 12:58pm PDT · 10 comments

As this week’s Newfront digital video ad presentations in New York highlight, most news sites have been building up video production in the past couple of years. It’s a way to tap the $70 billion in TV ad dollars some think could switch to digital in the coming years. But as sites are discovering, video is also hugely expensive to... As this week’s Newfront digital video ad presentations in New York highlight, most news...

An Uber ad on a taxi. Photo by Flickr/Alper Cugun.

Uber Bolsters its Marketing Ranks

By Amir Efrati · May 3, 2016 12:40pm PDT · 5 comments

Uber has hired its first vice president of growth marketing, Kellyn Kenny, signaling that it may be stepping up its marketing war against Lyft.Ms. Kenny, whose appointment was confirmed by the company, was most recently a top “brand strategist” at Capital One, the credit card and financial services firm. Prior to that, she worked on... Uber has hired its first vice president of growth marketing, Kellyn Kenny, signaling that it may...

Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Reddit’s Ad Push: Two Steps Forward, One Back

By Amir Efrati · Apr 28, 2016 7:01am PDT

Reddit’s ad business is beginning to take off, though not as quickly as some at the company had hoped.The online news aggregator and discussion forum recently projected internally that it would boost revenue to more than $20 million this year, from single-digit millions last year, according to one person with direct knowledge of the... Reddit’s ad business is beginning to take off, though not as quickly as some at the company...

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum. Photo by Bloomberg.

How WhatsApp Will Tiptoe Into Business

By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Apr 27, 2016 10:01am PDT · 2 comments

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum. Photo by Bloomberg.

How WhatsApp Will Tiptoe Into Business

By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Apr 27, 2016 10:01am PDT · 2 comments

WhatsApp is planning later this year to offer banks, airlines and other businesses the ability to send one-way messages to customers, people familiar with the plans said. It will be WhatsApp’s first official move to lure businesses onto the messaging app.WhatsApp has said it would soon start testing business accounts, but it’s now... WhatsApp is planning later this year to offer banks, airlines and other businesses the ability to...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Facebook and Baidu Are Becoming Fast Friends

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 25, 2016 7:02am PDT

Facebook’s own apps may be banned in China, but the company has a powerful tool to forge closer ties with large Chinese app publishers: its mobile ad network.Apps such as China’s Baidu, Cheetah Mobile and APUS have quietly joined the largest sellers in Facebook’s network. Those apps—which range from mobile games like... Facebook’s own apps may be banned in China, but the company has a powerful tool to forge...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Preps New Corporate Incubator

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · Apr 24, 2016 8:37am PDT · 1 comment

Sundar Pichai has a new plan to stop Google employees from jumping ship to start companies: Create a startup incubator within Google. Dubbed “Area 120,” the incubator will be overseen by long-time Google executives Don Harrison and Bradley Horowitz, according to people familiar with the project. The two discussed the new group at a... Sundar Pichai has a new plan to stop Google employees from jumping ship to start companies:...

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman

Ex-Reddit Exec Quietly Launches ‘Positive’ Reddit Rival

By Amir Efrati · Apr 22, 2016 11:34am PDT · 1 comment

The former second-in-command at Reddit who was pushed out of the online news aggregator last year has launched a competing site of his own, with a focus on “healthy, positive communities.”Dan McComas, who was known to be critical of Reddit’s inflammatory discussion groups related to topics like race or overweight people, is... The former second-in-command at Reddit who was pushed out of the online news aggregator last year...

Eddy Cue. Photo by Bloomberg.

Infighting Slows Apple’s Cloud Engineering Efforts

By Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis · Apr 21, 2016 7:02am PDT

Eddy Cue. Photo by Bloomberg.

Infighting Slows Apple’s Cloud Engineering Efforts

By Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis · Apr 21, 2016 7:02am PDT

Political infighting within Apple’s engineering ranks is holding back the company’s efforts to fix technical problems that have plagued iCloud and iTunes, say people with direct knowledge of the situation. Two engineering teams working on new internal cloud-computing infrastructure to power Apple’s Web services are in open... Political infighting within Apple’s engineering ranks is holding back the company’s...