E-Commerce Times

E-Commerce Times

• Pinterest Tacks On Brand-Friendly Features
  Pinterest on Monday announced new features and relationships with brands that will bring more functionality to its pins. The features, according to the social bookmarking company, will make the pins more "useful." Pinterest introduced its new features in a Monday blog post. Pins now show more information, so users have more than photos to help them determine interest.
  
  
• Marketing, Big Data Tech IPOs Get Rousing Market Welcome
  Marketo and Tableau Software are having strong launches as public companies, indicating investors are excited about the growth in enterprise software markets that target niches such as Big Data and marketing automation. Tableau Software, which designs data visualization software that helps businesses manage information, trades under the appropriate ticker symbol DATA.
  
  
• Virtual Testing Trims Real World Costs and Delivery Times
  When you're a top Internet service provider in Turkey, and you deploy scores of applications each year, you have to find an efficient testing method that ensures the apps are working properly across all infrastructures. TTNET, with six million subscribers, found that service virtualization was the best solution.
  
  
• When Mobile CRM Goes Too Far, Part 1
  The case for mobile CRM is an easy one to make. Smartphones are now ubiquitous, and the way most people work requires 24-7 accessibility. Also, not being tethered to a desktop to access customer records is a plus -- if not an outright necessity in some cases. For sales reps or anyone who interacts with customers in the field, mobile CRM is essential.
  
  
• Yahoo's 2013 Shopping Spree May Include Tumblr
  Yahoo is reportedly looking to purchase microblogging platform and social networking website Tumblr for $1 billion. Tumblr is considered one of the coolest companies on the Internet because of its appeal to younger users -- the very demographic that Yahoo, which recently characterized its users as aging, is now attempting to reach.
  
  
• Dell's Weak Q1 Earnings Throw Fuel on Buyout Fire
  Dell's quarterly earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations this week, leading to more questions about whether or not shareholders will accept Michael Dell's buyout offer and regroup as a private company. The PC maker reported a net income of $130 million, or 7 cents per share, during its most recent quarter.
  
  
• Google Wallet Takes on PayPal With Gmail Money Transfers
  In an effort to boost adoption of Google Wallet, Google this week added features to the service that allow users to send money as an Gmail attachment. The company is also trying to simplify the mobile payment process for consumers and businesses. As a way to market the new features, Google Wallet payments via Gmail are being sent out through invitations.
  
  
• InsideView Provides New Insights Into Sales Leads
  InsideView earlier this month debuted a new marketing offering housed on its InsideView CRM Intelligence Platform. This first iteration of InsideView for Marketing focuses on automated lead enrichment capabilities, said Marc Perramond, VP of product. It was built with an eye to enhancing a company's lead records with social, media and financial information.
  
  
• iOS Loses Market Share as Windows Phone Gains
  Android continues to rule the global smartphone marketplace with the OS accounting for 75 percent of shipments worldwide in Q1, according to the latest IDC report. Apple's once-dominant iOS had only 17.3 percent of the market. Windows Phone unexpectedly took third place from BlackBerry, which was relegated to fourth.
  
  
• Cisco's Data Center Sales Spark Q1 Earnings
  Cisco's quarterly earnings report beat Wall Street expectations this week, giving investors a hint of confidence in the constantly evolving tech industry. The networking company reported a net income of $2.48 billion, or 46 cents per share. That's up from the $2.17 billion it earned during the same time last year. Revenue was up 5.4 percent to $12.22 billion.
  
  
• Connecting With Key Influencers in the Industry Analyst Community
  If presenting to the technology industry analyst community is so important, why do most companies do such a poor job? I have participated in more analyst briefings over the last 25 years than I can remember. Companies all want the same positive result, but they all go about it very differently. Only a very few are well done and get good results. So what is the path to success?
  
  
• The Digital Desires That Bank on Bitcoins
  What's a Bitcoin? A Bitcoin is a form of digital currency whose creator called it "a peer-to-peer, electronic cash system." It is presently used where the parties to a transaction do not want to leave a digital trail, like credit card transactions, or any other trail for that matter. For this reason, the Bitcoin is presently mostly used for gambling, drug transactions, or speculation.
  
  
• Bloomberg Caught With Hands in the Customer Data Jar
  Bloomberg has been embroiled in scandal since news broke last week that its reporters were using the company's corporate terminals to monitor its customers' activities. The story began to unravel when news surfaced that Goldman Sachs had confronted Bloomberg over the possibility that reporters were accessing its account data.
  
  
• Microsoft May Pull the Plug on Xbox Points
  Microsoft may cash in its Points virtual payment system. The company reportedly will discontinue Points in favor of a cash-based system that will accept credit and debit purchases, as well as gift cards purchased at retail outlets. Microsoft Points are the virtual currency for Xbox Live. Players purchase points, which can then be used to buy games and content.
  
  
• VMware, Verizon Split Mobile Personalities
  VMware and Verizon on Wednesday jointly announced the availability of VMware Horizon Mobile, a dual persona solution designed to segregate corporate and personal information, on the LG Intuition and Motorola Razr M smartphones used by Verizon Enterprise customers. The dual persona system establishes a separate workspace for corporate data, while personal information remains separate and secure.