Amazon starts 1-hour delivery in NYC
NEW YORK — Amazon will begin offering one-hour delivery from local stores in New York City as competition in the delivery arena increases.
The service, offered in the city’s Manhattan borough, is part of Amazon’s Prime Now delivery service and will initially include grocery chains DAgostino and Gourmet Garage and bakery Billy’s Bakery, with service from Italian food marketplace Eataly beginning shortly.
The service is available only for members of its $99 annual loyalty program and via Amazon’s Prime Now app. It’s free for two-hour delivery and $7.99 for one-hour delivery.
Prime Now, which offers one-hour delivery on some of Amazon’s own products, is available in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, New York City, Miami and Austin, Texas.
The move comes as Uber is testing local delivery service, and delivery service Postmates has begun working with restaurants such as McDonald’s and Starbucks.
— The Associated Press
In push for ads, Spotify to add videos
Spotify Ltd., the world’s largest subscription musicstreaming service, will add video content to attract more advertising revenue and fend off competition from Apple Inc. and Google Inc.
Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek announced the new offerings at an event last week in New York, highlighting content from the online media outlet Vice, along with Comedy Central. The videos will complement the Swedish company’s lineup of songs and other audio programming.
Spotify joins other online-content companies looking to video to accelerate advertising growth because marketers spend more for the spots than for audio, print, photo or text promotions. Facebook Inc. has expanded its use of video, as have Twitter Inc. and publishers like The New York Times Co. and Conde Nast Inc.
Most of Spotify’s more than 60 million users around the world listen to its free, advertising-supported musicstreaming service. The company makes most of its money from subscriptions, which cost $9.99 a month in the U.S.
Of the more than $1 billion in revenue Spotify generated in 2013, less than $100 million came from advertising, The New York Times reported in November. The company isn’t profitable, the newspaper said.
— Bloomberg News
Heckler & Koch bonds rise to 5-month high
Heckler & Koch GmbH’s bonds rose to the highest level in more than five months last week after the German gunmaker said an increase in U.S. consumer sales helped boost revenue.
H&K’s $330 million of 9.5 percent bonds due May 2018 gained 2.7 cents on the euro to 79.1 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s up from a three-year low of 63.7 cents reached April 22 after Germany’s Defense Ministry said it was reviewing its use of the company’s G36 rifle.
Investor sentiment improved as H&K said revenue rose 32 percent to $48.7 million in the first quarter, according to an earnings statement sent to bondholders Tuesday and obtained by Bloomberg News. The Oberndorf-based company’s sales dropped almost 30 percent last year as the German government delayed its export licenses to countries in the Middle East.
— Bloomberg News
Google: Phone-service invites take time
Users eager to sign up for Google Inc.’s new wireless phone service are getting put on hold.
The company said it probably would take until summer to send invitations to everyone who signed up for Project Fi, according to messages sent to users last week.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company, which announced plans for the low-cost mobile service last month, said on its website that people who want to sign up should get a response in 30 days or less. Google has enrolled some customers and said it would make it easier for people to check their status in the coming weeks.
Project Fi is one of Google’s latest efforts to expand its reach into mobile as it seeks new ways to spread the adoption of the company’s services and its Android mobile operating system.
“We’re sending invites as quickly as we can, while ensuring a high-quality experience,” the Project Fi team said. “Given the number of requests we’ve received, we currently estimate that it will take until mid-summer to get to everyone.”
The service, which will switch between cellular and Wi-Fi connections as needed, is being offered through Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. wireless networks across much of the U.S. Google said it would charge $20 a month for basic features, such as talk and text, and $10 a gigabyte for data.
— Bloomberg News