Apple Watch sales take dive in quarter
Apple Watch sales fell 55 percent in the second quarter, dragging the global market for such devices lower, as potential customers hold off for an update coming later this year, according to a report from market intelligence firm International Data Corp.
Apple Inc. sold 1.6 million watches in the second quarter of this year, down from 3.6 million units a year earlier, IDC said. Global smartwatch sales fell 32 percent to 3.5 million units.
While Apple held on to its position as the industry leader, with 47 percent of the market, it was the only company in the top five to see a decline. Samsung Electronics Co. saw its market share more than double to 16 percent.
"Consumers have held off on smartwatch purchases since early 2016 in anticipation of a hardware refresh, and improvements in WatchOS are not expected until later this year, effectively stalling existing Apple Watch sales," International Data analyst Jitesh Ubrani wrote in the report.
Apple Watch is the company's first new hardware product since the iPad's 2010 debut and is a key part of Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook's strategy to find new areas of growth as sales of the iPhone slow. Apple is expected to introduce an updated operating system and an Apple Watch 2 this fall, promising new features and better performance.
-- Bloomberg News
Worry over Visa deal hits PayPal stock
PayPal Holdings Inc. stock dropped the most in four months on concern about the cost implications of a new agreement between the digital payments company and Visa Inc.
The companies announced an agreement Thursday in which PayPal will stop discouraging customers from linking accounts to Visa cards and share more data with the card network in exchange for "long-term Visa fee certainty" and help with in-store payments.
Analysts pushed PayPal executives late Thursday for clarity on the costs associated with pushing more payments through Visa's card network.
The deal ended years of acrimony between the companies that escalated as PayPal's transactions volume soared and Visa expanded into PayPal's turf of online payments and digital wallets. Analysts liked the easing of tension between the companies but expressed concern about the potential hit to PayPal's profitability.
PayPal shares dropped as much as 9.2 percent to $36.43 in trading Friday. Shares closed at $37.42, down $2.71, or nearly 7 percent, on the Nasdaq exchange. Shares have traded as low as $30 and as high as $41.75 over the past year.
-- Bloomberg News
Solar energy firm's owner gets 2 years
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The owner of a Missouri solar energy installation company has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in a $1.4 million fraud scheme.
Trevor Dryden, 36, also was ordered Thursday in Kansas City to repay the $1.4 million to a local utility and the U.S. government for rebates he wrongly received.
Dryden pleaded guilty in February to charges the he fraudulently obtained the rebates and made false statements.
Prosecutors said Dryden, who owned a St. Joseph company named U.S. Solar, was involved in fraudulently obtaining rebates from Kansas City Power & Light by overstating the number of solar panels installed.
A U.S. Solar co-owner, Richard Schonemann, pleaded guilty last year to his role in the plot and is to be sentenced Aug. 8.
-- The Associated Press
Comcast to offer prepaid cable, Internet
Comcast Corp., the nation's biggest cable company, plans to sell prepaid TV and Internet service to customers without requiring them to go through a credit check or sign a contract, waiving restrictions in an effort to sign up more subscribers.
The new "pay-as-you-go" service will let customers sign up for service for seven or 30 days at a time after paying a one-time fee for equipment, according to a statement late last week. Comcast will introduce the service later this year in five states -- Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Indiana -- and across its entire coverage area by the end of 2017.
With the change, Comcast could attract new subscribers at a time when growth in the pay-TV business has slowed. Normally, Comcast requires customers go through a credit check, pay a deposit and show proper identification. That leaves out potential subscribers who have poor credit, lack documentation or don't have bank accounts.
The Philadelphia-based company's plan is similar to a strategy used by the wireless industry to reach lower-income customers.
-- Bloomberg News
Facebook testing offline video in India
Facebook Inc. is piloting a feature in India allowing users to save videos to watch offline, chasing a similar program from Google's YouTube, as the companies attempt to crack a market ridden with poor Internet connectivity.
The move followed feedback from users in the country citing poor video experiences because of limited mobile coverage, Facebook said in a statement.
YouTube introduced offline video in 2014 to cater to Indians crazy about watching Bollywood song sequences, cricket snippets and comedy sketches. Despite the cost of downloads, an estimated 40 percent of data consumption on phone networks is video, said Nikhil Pahwa, editor of the New Delhi-based Medianama.com, which monitors news on the digital industry.
Facebook, which has 142 million users in India, said the new feature helps users get through the lag between downloading and playing a video by saving it for later, similar to the YouTube feature.
-- Bloomberg News
Netflix reaches Star Trek deal with CBS
Netflix Inc. will stream all episodes of CBS Corp.'s new Star Trek series to subscribers outside the U.S. as it furthers its global ambitions by acquiring the international rights to a blockbuster franchise.
Each episode will be available to Netflix subscribers in 188 countries within 24 hours of airing on CBS. In addition, all 727 existing episodes of the Star Trek library will be offered on Netflix around the world by the end of 2016, the companies said in a statement Monday.
In November, CBS announced it was bringing back Star Trek with a Web series that would run exclusively on its $6-a-month All Access subscription service after a special broadcast preview in January 2017. In the U.S., the show will remain exclusive to All Access subscribers. In Canada, Bell Media will have the rights to air the show on TV and online.
The deal is another sign that TV networks like CBS have found a revenue stream by selling shows internationally and to streaming video services like Netflix, despite concerns that bolstering online platforms is threatening the U.S. pay-TV business.
The pact may also help Netflix further its growth overseas.
-- Bloomberg News
SundayMonday Business on 07/25/2016