Amazon has decided to stop telling third-party sellers on its platform that they cannot offer lower prices on competing websites, a source said on Monday. The source gave no details on the decision. The decision comes in the wake of a letter from Senator Richard Blumenthal arguing that the practice would “stifle market competition and […]
How voice is becoming the fastest way to go online
Did you know Sundar Pichai still has panipuri cravings? Students of the Brihanmumbai municipal school in Andheri’s DN Nagar are now privy to that savoury secret after the Google boss’ visit here last week. And when a student asked Pichai what it takes to be an engineer, the boy next doorturned-Silicon Valley pin-up said, “Do […]
Amazon’s Alexa boasts of 80,000 apps, but there’s no guarantee users will find them all
By Matt Day Kevin Deakin and his colleagues at his online trivia startup had just gotten their hands on an Echo smart speaker that Amazon was passing out to developers in 2016. They made it less than a block from the company’s Seattle headquarters before coming to a decision. “We looked at this device and […]
Social media rage can put creativity in ads at stake
Social media experts and advertising agencies feel criticism of marketing campaigns that involve society or religious issues could hinder creativity. Two ads by Hindustan Unilever, one of the country’s biggest advertisers, have drawn intense criticism over the past week on social media with calls for a boycott of all its brands. While a Brooke Bond […]
Fintech lenders pivot to UPI as most prefer it for loan payment
Fintech founders may be rueing the lack of ‘standing instructions’ on the updated version of Unified Payments Interface, but the application in its present form is emerging as the preferred gateway for consumers to repay loans. Multiple fintech entrepreneurs ET spoke with said they are either in the process of bringing in UPI as a […]
Yatra bid offer a "generous" one, if successful, will make us the undisputed number one in India: Ebix CEO Robin Raina
Ebix Inc Chief Executive Robin Raina said that the Atlanta-headquartered company’s bid on Monday, to acquire Nasdaq-listed domestic online travel major Yatra Online, was “generous” one, with the potential deal likely to provide a “great outcome” to shareholders of both companies. Speaking to ET over the phone, Raina, CEO of Ebix, which has a market […]
Uphill task awaits EC as election content deluge looms large
The Election Commission will find it a daunting task to check circulation of fake news and hate speech during the upcoming general elections, considering nearly a third of the 900 million voters use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, multiple stakeholders say. While announcing the election dates on Sunday, EC had said […]
Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy backs B2B e-commerce firm Moglix
Flipkart chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy has invested an undisclosed amount in B2B industrial goods marketplace Moglix in an individual capacity. This investment comes after the company raised $23 million in Series C funding led by Accel Partners US and existing investor International Finance Corp (IFC) in December last year. At the time, Moglix founder & […]
Facebook plans US-like election war room in India: Report
Facebook is planning to start an operations centre in Delhi that will monitor election-related content on its platform to prevent the spread of fake news ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha election, reports Mint. Shivnath Thukral, director, public policy, India and South Asia, Facebook told the publication that the centre will coordinate with the company’s […]
Amazon drops products from its desi Global Store
Indian consumers will find it hard to buy goods from the US directly via Amazon’s Global Store in India because of the recent FDI norms for online retailers that were implemented from last month. Launched with much fanfare in late 2016, Amazon’s Global Store has become virtually non-existent here with a sharp fall in the […]