(TechCrunch) WhatsApp plans to let businesses on to its service before the end o

WhatsApp plans to let businesses on to its service before the end of the year

WhatsApp will finally take a step to becoming a platform after the Facebook-owned company revealed it will begin to integrate businesses services into its app before the end of this year.
The company first announced plans to connect its userbase — which stands at more than one billion — with businesses back in January, and it today it updated its terms of service in preparation for testing with selected users “in the months ahead.”
What kind of dialogue will WhatsApp facilitate between users and businesses?
The aim is to keep things useful, such as flight notifications, receipts or delivery tracking, although marketing messages are mentioned in the newest version of the company’s T&Cs:
We will explore ways for you and businesses to communicate with each other using WhatsApp, such as through order, transaction, and appointment information, delivery and shipping notifications, product and service updates, and marketing. For example, you may receive flight status information for upcoming travel, a receipt for something you purchased, or a notification when a delivery will be made. Messages you may receive containing marketing could include an offer for something that might interest you. We do not want you to have a spammy experience; as with all of your messages, you can manage these communications, and we will honor the choices you make.
The move is a very notable one given that WhatsApp has always taken a very aggressive ‘no spam’ approach to its business. “Marketing” messages and “an offer for something that might interest you” could fall into the category of spam if not done right, context is key here.
Back in 2012, CEO and co-founder Jan Koum threw shade a number of rival messaging companies which he claimed were “selling” ads to their users:
No one wakes up excited to see more advertising, no one goes to sleep thinking about the ads they’ll see tomorrow. We know people go to sleep excited about who they chatted with that day (and disappointed about who they didn’t). We want WhatsApp to be the product that keeps you awake… and that you reach for in the morning. No one jumps up from a nap and runs to see an advertisement.
Advertising isn’t just the disruption of aesthetics, the insults to your intelligence and the interruption of your train of thought. At every company that sells ads, a significant portion of their engineering team spends their day tuning data mining, writing better code to collect all your personal data, upgrading the servers that hold all the data and making sure it’s all being logged and collated and sliced and packaged and shipped out… And at the end of the day the result of it all is a slightly different advertising banner in your browser or on your mobile screen.
The irony here is that many of those in Koum’s firing line — WeChat, Line, and Kakao — weren’t pushing ads. They opted to make money by connecting businesses with users via “official accounts” that companies could pay to rent and promote. As we wrote before, the ability to reach users directly is a potentially a very powerful new tool — and it remains opt-in for uses. Actual banner ads are few and far between in the messaging space because they ruin the user experience and look alien inside chat, which is a highly personal and curated space.

It isn’t exactly clear whether WhatsApp’s ‘business communication’ push will be like official accounts, the company didn’t go into detail on the format. What it did say, however, is that it will begin sharing data, and in particular, users’ phone numbers, with Facebook — the company that acquired WhatsApp for a fee that ultimately rose to $22 million — which is a key way it hopes to make messages relevant and not spammy.
That’s quite a big admission, although WhatsApp users will be able to opt out of sharing their information with Facebook.
For those who go with the default, this is how your data will be put to work:
As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies. We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings. This includes helping improve infrastructure and delivery systems, understanding how our Services or theirs are used, securing systems, and fighting spam, abuse, or infringement activities. Facebook and the other companies in the Facebook family also may use information from us to improve your experiences within their services such as making product suggestions (for example, of friends or connections, or of interesting content) and showing relevant offers and ads. However, your WhatsApp messages will not be shared onto Facebook for others to see. In fact, Facebook will not use your WhatsApp messages for any purpose other than to assist us in operating and providing our Services.
These are major concessions for WhatsApp, but they are fairly inevitable. Facebook spent a lot of money acquiring the company, and while I believe that it wants to build rival chat app Messenger into the more feature-rich ‘WeChat-style’ chat/mobile portal service, it has a duty to monetize WhatsApp. Indeed, Mark Zuckerberg himself once said that monetization begins when a service reaches one billion users, so here we are.
There is a tendency to view this plan as negative, particularly given that other WhatsApp updates have added useful features to the service — such as encrypted communication and voice calls. On the positive side, the WhatsApp service will retain its focus on simplicity and usability, so don’t expect there to be many distractions from the existing messaging interface you see now.
But, of course, we don’t know for sure just yet.
WhatsApp has been fairly vague with its plans for now, so we’ll have to wait until it begins field testing business communications to learn more. Other apps have pioneered the business communications model for many years, but a colossal base of over one billion monthly users means this move promises to be the most impactful feature launch seen in the messaging space to date.

(TechCrunch) Apple may be building a Snapchat-like video app

After a failed attempt to go social with Ping in 2010, Apple may have a renewed sense of excitement over the social space, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Sources told Bloomberg that Apple is working on a video recording/editing app that would be similar in functionality to Snapchat, though there’s no mention of disappearing or self-destructing content in the report. Instead, the app is supposed to be easy to use with one hand for video recording, and users will be able to swipe between various filters or add drawings.

The main goal is that users will be able to create and edit videos within a minute.

One of the filters is said to be an Instagram-sized square, instead of the native rectangle on the iPhone, though Apple’s camera software already has that functionality built in. So…?

The ultimate hope is that people would use the app, which is being built by the same folks who built iMovie and Final Cut Pro, to create the content to share with other social networks.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is not clear-cut on when (or even if) this app will launch, or whether or not it will live as part of iOS or as its own standalone app.

For the first time in a long time, Apple’s iPhone isn’t shattering sales expectations quarter after quarter, so an enhanced focus on services business makes sense. However, you’d expect Apple to double down on existing, and potentially quite lucrative, businesses like Apple Pay, Music, and iTunes rather than diving into social, where so much land has already been claimed in the name of Facebook and Snapchat.

Then again, this report could be about a content creation app that complements social networks, as opposed to being its own full-fledged social network like the now-deceased Google Plus.

Or… this report could be about nothing. Apple is highly secretive, and it wouldn’t be the first time someone floated a rumor that never came to be.

We’ll have to wait, likely much longer than we’ll be waiting to see the next iPhone, to find out the truth.

NY Post : This ride-sharing app might actually challenge Uber, Lyft

Another New York City ride-sharing app is tailgating Uber.

Juno — a new app that charges drivers commissions of 10 percent of the total fare, less than half of what Uber and Lyft do — on Wednesday logged its 1 millionth ride since its invitation-only launch on May 10, The Post has learned.

That makes Juno the latest — and fastest-growing — challenger to Uber in the Big Apple, an increasingly crowded space for ride-sharing apps, which also includes Lyft, the carpooling app Via and others.

Beginning on Wednesday Juno was available to all.

The New York-based company lately has been booking rides at a clip of 100,000 a week, founder and Chief Executive Talmon Marco told The Post on Wednesday.

That number is still dwarfed by the 1.5 million weekly Big Apple rides logged by Uber, according to Uber officials.

Still, it’s impressive for an app that has been live for just 3¹/₂ months. The lifting of the invite-only restriction may accelerate growth.

Juno said it had amassed a 40,000-person waiting list.

By comparison, Lyft booked 280,000 rides last week, following a July that saw rides soar 380 percent from a year earlier, a source close to the company said.

Lyft was averaging about 160,000 rides per week in March, according to the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission.

Elsewhere, Via — the popular carpooling app launched in Manhattan two years ago — says it books about 200,000 weekly rides.

Juno’s out-of-the-gate charge has been fueled, in part, by a 25-percent introductory discount rate for passengers and lower commissions for drivers.

That said, Juno doesn’t plan to be a discounted app forever, Marco said, and it will be interesting to see if companies can keep up with Uber once the price advantage disappears or is cut back.

Passengers can also expect Juno to introduce surge pricing in the near future, said Marco.

Juno wait times, which can sometimes be several minutes longer than Uber’s or Lyft’s, are “a byproduct of the fact we do not have surge,” he said, as drivers who work under multiple badges take calls first from companies that use surge pricing.

There are now about 13,000 drivers who have signed with Juno, Marco said.

On July 20, Juno released 25 million restricted stock units to 9,000 qualified drivers. Eventually, 1 billion shares will go to drivers — equal to half of the company.

“We believe passengers will continue riding with us because our drivers are better, and they’re more motivated because we’re nicer to them,” Marco said.

In a statement, Uber said it is “always striving to make it the best earning opportunity in the industry,” noting it recently partnered with the Machinists Union and raised its minimum fare.

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:
  • GES +17.8%, TLYS +14.4%, WDAY +8.9%, EDAP +7.4%, SFUN +6.9%, TIF +4.3%, CRH +4.1%, SDRL +4%
  • BURL +3.8%, PDCO +3.2%, REX +2.1%, HEI +1.2%, WSM +0.8%, PVH +0.5%
M&A news:
  • PTX +7.6% (ticking higher; stock has been mentioned in takeover speculation earlier this week)
  • KZ +3.6% (receives a revised non-binding proposal letter to be acquired for $7.18/share in cash), .
Select metals/mining stocks trading higher: MUX +1.9%, GFI +1.8%, AU +0.9%, AG +0.6%, GOLD +0.5%, AUY +0.5%

Other news:
  • XCOM +23% (after closing more than 50% higher on the day Wednesday)
  • NYMX +15.5% (after closing more than 80% higher on the day Wednesday)
  • PBMD +11.6% (receives European patent grants for its IMP731 antibody)
  • BLDP +10.6% (received notification from the U.S. Department of Commerce that its family of fuel cell propulsion systems are now designated as EAR99 compliant, creating a path for commercial export and deployment in a variety of civilian unmanned vehicle applications)
  • MNGA +6.6% (announces that the Pinellas County Fire Department's teams of emergency responders have chosen MagneGas2, and the MagneTote as their preferred metal cutting tool)
  • TOPS +4.3% (after 20% move higher Wednesday)
  • CSIQ +3.6% (in sympathy with peer SFUN (earnings))
  • MYL +3.3% (announces that the EMA has accepted for review Mylan's Marketing Authorization Application for a proposed biosimilar Trastuzumab; also announces initiatives to ease access to EpiPens)
  • HMY +3% (announced that an application for a special mining lease for the Wafi-Golpu project was submitted today to the Mineral Resources Authority in Papua New Guineag)
  • SEED +2.4% (continued strength after strong move yesterday)
  • BLRX +2.1% (establishes JV with I-Bridge Capital, a Chinese venture capital fund focused on developing innovative therapies in China)
  • GEO +1.3% (Geo Group executes Letter of Offer with HSBC Bank Australia providing for a bank guarantee line and bank guarantee/standby sub-facility in an aggregate amount of $76.8 mln )
  • VRX +1% (continued strength)
  • CRM +0.9% (following WDAY results)
Analyst comments:
  • NFLX +1.4% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair)
  • RIG +0.7% (upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup)
  • CREE +0.5% (initiated with a Buy at ROTH Capital)

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:
  • SIG -13.4%, DG -8.5%, DLTR -7.3%, HPQ -5.6%, JKS -5.6%, SBGL -5.5%, EURN -4.4%
  • SHLD -4.1%, MOV -4.1%, FLWS -1.1%, ORPN -1.1%, TECD -0.8%
Other news:
  • XGTI -8.9% (files for ~833.3K share common stock offering by selling shareholders)
  • CRC -4% (light volume - S&P downgrades California Resources Corp. to 'SD')
  • REN -2% (light volume, announces that Nicholas J. Sutton will retire as CEO, Richard F. Betz Named Successor CEO Effective January 1, 2017)
  • MNTA -1.6% (following late strength on Copaxone ruling; Mylan confirms invalidates two of Teva's Copaxone 40 mg/mL Patents Via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Inter Partes Review proceeding)
Analyst comments:
  • INFN -3.9% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup)
  • OZM -3% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup)
  • S -1.5% (downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Buckingham Research)
  • EXPR -0.6% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS)

(StatNews) Mylan may have violated antitrust law in its EpiPen sales to schools,



Schools across the country keep EpiPens in their nurses’ offices in case a student has a severe allergic reaction. For years, Mylan Pharmaceuticals has been selling the devices to schools at a discounted price, giving them a break from rising costs. But the program also prohibited schools from buying competitors’ devices — a provision that experts say may have violated antitrust law.

Mylan’s “EpiPen4Schools” program, begun in August 2012, offers free or discounted EpiPens to schools. Over 65,000 schools receive free EpiPens through the program; an unknown number of schools buy the epinephrine auto-injectors at a discount. Laws in at least 11 states require schools to stock epinephrine, and keeping a stockpile is incentivized by federal law across the country.

As of last year, the EpiPen4Schools discounted price was $112.10, according to company documents. That is about a quarter of the cost charged to pharmacies at the time, according to data from Elsevier’s Gold Standard Drug Database.

However, in order to qualify for that price, schools had to agree they would “not in the next twelve (12) months purchase any products that are competitive to EpiPen(R) Auto-Injectors,” the agreement stipulates. (In the course of STAT’s reporting, this agreement was removed from the EpiPen4Schools website.)

A Mylan spokesperson said this requirement is no longer part of its program, and did not say when the requirement was dropped. STAT found such language on EpiPen4Schools order forms dated August 2014 and June 2015.

“It is illegal to issue a discount on the condition the customer not acquire a competitor’s goods — if the effect may be to substantially lessen competition,” said Herbert Hovenkamp, a University of Iowa law professor and antitrust expert.

At issue is the notion of an exclusionary contract, which requires a customer to promise not to deal with a competitor. Exclusionary contracts are a common tactic for keeping a lock on a market, Hovenkamp said.

But using such a contract while also having a dominant market share may hinder competition, which he explained can be an antitrust violation. Last year, EpiPen made up 89 percent of the epinephrine auto-injector market, according to IMS Health, a market research firm.

Schools might have to buy more auto-injectors in that 12-month window for a variety of reasons: they might use the auto-injectors and need to replace them, or the devices might reach their expiration date.

Earlier this week, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called on the US Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible antitrust violations in the pricing of the EpiPen.

In response to Klobuchar’s letter, an FTC spokesperson said that “the Commission takes seriously its obligation to take action where pharmaceutical companies have violated the antitrust laws, and it will continue to closely scrutinize drug market competition on consumers’ behalf.”

The fact that Mylan used to have such a stipulation may still be problematic, said Harry First, a professor at the New York University School of Law, who specializes in antitrust matters.

“It’s like the bank robber saying ‘Don’t worry, we don’t rob banks anymore,’” First said. “But if you make such a change, it casts doubt on why you needed to have such a requirement in the first place.”

The inflation-adjusted list price of EpiPens has increased by about 450 percent since 2004, according to Elsevier data. That rising price has become an issue for schools. John Torre, public information officer for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, said that the district is worried that the price of EpiPens sold through Mylan’s discount program might change.

Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia’s largest district with over 180,000 students, orders about 1,100 EpiPen 2-Paks each year at the discount price offered by Mylan, Torre said.

The district also receives about 400 EpiPen 2-Paks for free each year from the company. These agreements contain no restriction on a district purchasing auto-injectors from other companies.

Torre said that the district is “closely monitoring the Mylan situation” and “actively exploring alternative vendors to meet our needs for the annual supply of epinephrine.”

At least 11 states have laws mandating that schools stock epinephrine, according to the advocacy group Food Allergy Research and Education (which receives funding from Mylan). As of July 2016, all other states — except Hawaii — allow, but don’t require, schools to stock epinephrine that can be used for any student experiencing anaphylaxis.

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers

Gapping up: NYMX +36%, EDAP +29.1%, GES +21.8%, TLYS +16.4%, XCOM +14.8%, BLDP +11.1%, WDAY +10.1%, PTX+9.1%, PBMD +7.1%, BURL +5.1%, TIF +4.5%, TOPS +4.1%, CSIQ +3.6%, MYL +3.5%, CRH +3.5%, PDCO +3.2%, MOV+2.6%, GFI +2.5%, SEED +2.4%, SDRL +2.4%, MUX +2.2%, REX +2.1%, VRX +1.6%, CRM +1.5%, HEI +1.2%, AUY +1.1%,RIG +1%, GG +1%, SHLD +1%, NFLX +0.9%, GOLD +0.8%, AG +0.6%

Gapping down: XGTI -17.9%, SIG -13.4%, DG -7.4%, HPQ -7.3%, JKS -6%, JKS -6%, SBGL -4.9%, EURN -4.3%, REN -1.5%,CRC -1.3%, STM -1.3%, EXPR -1.3%, SHPG -1.2%, FLWS -1.1%, FCX -1%, DB -0.8%, SSL -0.8%, TECD -0.8%, OAS -0.7%, BCS-0.7%, NVS -0.6%

>>> BPER expected to table offers for for Banca Marche and Banca Etruria today

BPER expected to table offers for for Banca Marche and Banca Etruria today

BPER, the listed Italian banking group, is expected to table offers today 25 August for Banca Etruria and Banca Marche, Italian-language daily Milano Finanza reported.

The unsourced report said that the BPER board is expected to meet today to approve the bids.

The report said that BPER is expected to offer a total of EUR 300m for both banks.

The report noted that Banca Marche and Banca Etruria are two of the four “good banks” restructured in a government-backed bailout. The other two lenders are CariFe and CariChieti, the item said.

Milano Finanza daily edition

>>> Mediaset Premium shareholder Telefonica rules out increasing stake

Mediaset Premium shareholder Telefonica rules out increasing stake 

Telefonica [BME: TEF], the Spanish telco, is understood to have ruled out increasing its stake in Mediaset Premium, the pay-TV arm of Italian media group Mediaset [BIT: MS], Italian language daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

The report cited sources close to Telefonica that noted it had indicated its 11% stake was not strategic and it was more likely to sell the holding than boost it. There had been speculation Telefonica might act as a strategic investor as part of moves to solve a dispute between Vivendi [EPA: VIV] and Mediaset after Vivendi backed out of a deal to acquire Mediaset Premium, it added.

Mediaset Premium has a valuation of EUR 756m, as previously reported.

The original article appeared in print: page 22


Source Il Sole 24 Ore