Amazon’s Fire smartphone looks set to light up mobile market June 18, 2014 Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos last night put Apple, Samsung and legions of online retailers on red alert with the launch of its new Fire smartphone, with the promise that the online giant would once again revolutionise shopping. Bezos, in a rare media appearance, demonstrated Firefly, a service that lets the $199 (£117) phone identify [...]
Tesco backs Blinkbox with Clubcard rewards in fight against Netflix and Amazon June 17, 2014 Blinkbox, the Tesco-owned TV and film streaming service, is introducing customer rewards to attract and retain customers. Tesco is putting the weight of its Clubcard loyalty scheme behind Blinkbox in a bid to stand out from rivals such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video. The scheme is the biggest tie-up between the two [...]
Amazon takes on Spotify with Prime Music service June 12, 2014 Amazon launched a music service yesterday that came free with its £79-a-year Prime membership programme, but offers a smaller selection of songs than Spotify. The new feature, Prime Music, allows subscribers to stream or download over a million songs without added fees or ads. This is one of many steps Amazon has taken in recent [...]
Barclays fears Amazon and Google threaten traditional banks June 10, 2014 Customers will soon use tech firms like Amazon, Google and PayPal instead of banks, Barclays’ chief Antony Jenkins said today, promising to innovate more to compete with digital giants. The sector is already being shaken up by new banks being established, and big firms like Tesco offering current accounts. But Jenkins believes the [...]
PayPal boss David Marcus out as Amazon starts rival June 9, 2014 THE PRESIDENT of payments firm PayPal has quit to join Facebook, parent company EBay said last night. David Marcus has led PayPal since April 2012, having joined when the firm took over his payments start-up Zong. He will leave on 27 June to lead Facebook’s messaging products. His departure was announced on the same day [...]
Amazon’s boss expected to lift lid on new phone June 4, 2014 AMAZON’S chief executive Jeff Bezos will host an event on 18 June in Seattle at which he is expected to unveil a smartphone capable of displaying a 3D interface controlled via body movement. In April Amazon launched the Fire TV, the online retail giant’s first foray streaming content into the living room, following its previous [...]
Netflix now more popular than iPlayer, 4OD and Amazon Prime Instant Video May 14, 2014 Netflix is now the second largest driver of online traffic in the UK and Ireland, just two years after it launched, and it now accounts for 17.8 per cent of traffic, according to new research. The television and movie streaming service is beaten only by YouTube’s 19.9 per cent share of traffic, according to Sandvine. [...]
The Peruvian Amazon: in search of the anaconda May 11, 2014 Steve Dinneen takes to the world’s second longest river to find its longest snake ON MY first morning on the Amazon the sun acted as a natural alarm clock, lighting up my room through gigantic floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river. As I came to, blinking through the fug of the previous night’s pisco sours, pink [...]
Amazon teams up with Twitter to launch tweet-to-buy service May 6, 2014 AMAZON’S customers can now order items from the online retail giant directly from Twitter. The Amazon Basket service lets users who have connected their Amazon and Twitter accounts to add items to their baskets just by tweeting the link of an Amazon product along with the #AmazonBasket hashtag. “When Amazon customers see an Amazon.co.uk product [...]
Amazon’s sales surge but costs continue to rise April 24, 2014 AMAZON’S sales soared 23 per cent during the first quarter to $19.74bn (£11.74bn), but were offset by a sharp increase in spending on technology, content and new warehouses as the e-commerce giant branches out into new businesses. Despite Amazon’s profits falling 19 per cent to only $146m, shares in the company showed a new lease [...]