The partnership, according to a news release, will cover broadcast, digital and live events across India, serving business and financial news to one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

In a new agreement that commenced April 1, BloombergQuint will harness the unrivaled global resources of Bloomberg with Quintillion Media’s deep market experience to create a revamped business news channel and digital destination for India’s growing business audience.

“At Bloomberg, we’ve set out to build the leading multi-platform global business and financial media company. Currently, almost half of our digital traffic comes from outside the United States and this figure continues to grow. Partnering with Quintillion Media in India is a game-changer for the country’s digital and broadcast media industries, and for Bloomberg Media globally as we take our investment to an exciting new phase,” said Justin B. Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Bloomberg Media. “It was clear when we met with Raghav that we shared a common vision to create India’s premier digitally-led multi-platform business media company.”

Raghav Bahl, founder of Quintillion Media, said, “The combination of Bloomberg Media with Quintillion Media is a powerful one. It will bring a completely new brand of journalism and media experience to India’s increasingly sophisticated business consumer. We will deliver content via technology in a digital-first model that will redefine this space.”

The post Bloomberg Media Turns Sights Toward India appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

This week, Jon Stewart stunned the nation with his announced plans to leave The Daily Show later this year. For countless viewers, Stewart is the Walter Cronkite of this generation.

And he’s trusted by many more than some of the world’s leading news outlets. In fact, according to data compiled prior to Stewart’s announcement and the recent Brian Williams suspension, Stewart’s Daily Show was viewed as being more trustworthy than such media heavyweights as Bloomberg and The Economist.

To see just how trustworthy major media outlets are in the eyes of American viewers, check out the infographic from Statista posted below.

The post Jon Stewart More Trusted Than Bloomberg appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is opening a multitude of new retail stores in China. The proof? Apple is hiring a full slate of new managers to staff these new facilities in the works.

For now, we’re told that at least six new Apple stores are planned.

“The company is hiring for outlets in Tianjin, Chongqing, Wuxi, Zhengzhou, Shenyang, and Hangzhou, according to a recruitment advertisement on Apple’s website,” Bloomberg reports.

As you might expect, all of these Chinese cities currently lack an Apple-owned store.

Although it isn’t known when the stores in question will open, there’s an excellent possibility they’ll be open by the time Apple’s iPhone 6 arrives this fall.

The post Apple Picking Getting Easier in China appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In particular, Apple’s iPhone has surged in adoption in the last fourteen months. Bloomberg reports that Apple sold 1.6 million iPhones in Russia during the 2013 calendar year.

iPhone sales in the country doubled last year to 1.57 million, bringing in $1 billion, according to researcher IDC. That’s despite the fact that at midyear, none of Russia’s top three wireless carriers were selling Apple’s phones.

iPhone sales are expected to pick up further momentum as 2014 progresses.  And other hardware makers will benefit as well.

In 2013, 47 percent of mobile devices sold in Russia were smartphones, says Simon Baker, an analyst at IDC.

“Seeing flattening sales in the developed world, Apple is looking into the richer emerging markets,” Baker estimates. “Despite a slowing economy, Russians have a fairly good income and high propensity to spend it.”

The post Russia Warms to The Smartphone Revolution appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the inside track from sources close to the embattled Canadian smartphone maker, if the deal with Fairfax Financial to go private doesn’t work out, the company may break up.

BlackBerry Ltd. is more open to a breakup of the company amid concerns that Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. may be unable to line up funding or partners for a $4.7 billion buyout, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Various companies – including SAP AG, Cisco Systems Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. – recently approached  by BlackBerry advisers are said to be only interested in parts of the company.

“A breakup would let parties bid for BlackBerry’s most valuable pieces, such as its patents or enterprise network,” sources tell Bloomberg.

“If you break up the company, you’re going to get more than the company is worth right now,” said Sachin Shah, a strategist in special situations and merger arbitrage. “Breaking it up sounds more appetizing for all involved.”

The post Is a Breakup Possible for BlackBerry? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The venerable fast food king is now testing a mobile payment application in Salt Lake City, Utah and in Austin, Texas.

Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman for the company, says this effort could be the start of something big.

“We’re always looking at new technologies to make the McDonald’s experience better for our customers,” McComb said. “We are testing some of these technologies in a few markets, so it’s premature to speculate on the decisions we may make after the tests, but we’re excited to bring a cutting-edge experience in the future to our customers.”

After ordering via a mobile phone, customers can pick up food in stores, curbside or at drive-thru windows, according to notes from a June meeting of McDonald’s franchisees and company executives obtained by Bloomberg News. The system will also include special promotions, offers and a loyalty program.

“You have to look at the whole generation that’s coming up and I think we’re moving to a cashless society,” Bob Goldin, executive vice president at restaurant researcher Technomic Inc., tells Bloomberg. “It’s a worthwhile investment,” for McDonald’s, he says.

If McDonald’s mobile efforts go global, it will represent a massive new reach for mobile into the fast food arena, as the chain now has well over 34,000 locations worldwide.

The post Mobile Orders May Be The Future of McDonald’s appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to unconfirmed new reports, the world’s largest social network has plans to sell 15-second TV-style commercials starting sometime before 2013 winds to a close.

Based on speculation from unnamed knowledgeable sources, Bloomberg estimates that Facebook could sell the commercials on its site for as much as $2.5 million a day.

With Facebook, the idea would be to capitalize on the millions of users who actively check the site on a daily basis, including during the prime-time hours coveted by television advertisers.

As of the most recent quarter, 61 percent of Facebook members were using the site on a daily basis.

“Every night, 88 million to 100 million people are actively using Facebook during prime-time TV hours in the United States alone,” Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg confirmed last week during Facebook’s recent earnings call.

It goes without saying that if Facebook travels down this road, it could dramatically escalate competition with other leading social networks and platforms where video advertisements are fast-becoming “the norm.”

The post Facebook Poised to Launch Video Ads to News Feed appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Following Yahoo’s acquisitions of Summly, Tumblr, and most recently, GhostBird Software and startups Qwiki Inc. and Bignoggins Productions, Yahoo is supposedly now moving forward with an estimated $70 million acquisition of Xobni Corp., a developer of contact-management software.

“It’s impossible to know which acquisition will pay off, so better for Yahoo to make many acquisitions,” Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group LLC, tells Bloomberg.

Most of Xobni’s services will continue functioning normally through July 2, 2014, the company said on its website. Xobni CEO Jeff Bonforte, a former Yahoo executive, has moved to the company’s Sunnyvale headquarters along with his team.

Although Yahoo continues to surprise some with its selection of companies to acquire, Yahoo has definitely shifted to a  mobile-first focus. As a result, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer reportedly wants to cultivate an array of daily apps and services to “reinvigorate its offerings.”

The post Report: Yahoo Planning $70 Million Acquisition of Software Firm Xobni appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Last summer, Apple even suggested that Amazon is intentionally trying to trick and confuse consumers.

“Amazon has steadfastly refused to produce documents and information regarding the use of ‘for Android’ in connection with its service…” Apple argued in one of its many legal filings, arguing that “appstore” should only be used by Amazon if it reads “Appstore for Android.”
“Amazon has failed to produce a witness who can testify regarding the decision not to use ‘for Android’ with the Amazon Appstore Service outside the context of the Kindle Fire, despite clear evidence that Amazon frequently does not use ‘for Android’ in conjunction with its Service,” the argument from Apple continued.

In January of this year, lawyers for both companies were ordered by a judge to meet and, hopefully, settle the issue.

Meetings and phone calls have reportedly now taken place throughout the months of May and June and, according to Bloomberg’s published report Thursday morning, nothing has been accomplished that will preclude the need for a trial.

The Apple vs. Amazon trial is now set to begin August 19th.

The post Amazon, Apple to Lock Horns in Court August 19th appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to Bloomberg, the gathering occurred under an impenetrable veil of secrecy at Samsung’s Seocho office building in Seoul, South Korea.

Although speculation initially suggested that Facebook and Samsung are teaming up to produce a Facebook-branded mobile device, we’re told Zuckerberg’s paramount interest lies in new ways of boosting advertising sales from mobile devices.

Behind closed doors, the executives from both companies sat down to discuss a variety of “potential partnership” opportunities.

Facebook doesn’t have any comment on Zuckerberg’s trip, said Seikyu Hong, who represents the company in Seoul.

Facebook’s powwow with Samsung is generating plenty of talk today despite the understandable affinity both companies likely share with one another. Facebook, after all, is the world’s most popular social-networking site and wants users to spend more time engaged with Facebook on mobile devices. And Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones. It could easily be a perfect match for something big.

But we may have to wait a while to figure out just what that “something” really is.

The post Facebook, Samsung Meet to Discuss Mobile Partnership appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.