PayPal acquires Swedish payments firm iZettle for $2.2bn
Businessam Staff
May 21, 2018
PayPal has bought iZettle, a Swedish mobile payments company that sells a card-reader aimed at small businesses, for $2.2bn (£1.6bn). The move boosts PayPal’s in-store presence at a time when competition in the online payments sector is increasing. The takeover comes less than three weeks after iZettle said it would list shares in Stockholm. At […]
Facebook earnings beat estimates despite backlash, shares surge
Businessam StaffApril 26, 2018
Revelations of the improperly handled data of 87 million users did nothing to stop Facebook Inc.‘s money machine. The data-privacy scandal involving Cambridge Analytica broke in mid-March, but the company appeared to shrug off those concerns with huge earnings and revenue beat in the first quarter. In a Wednesday report, Facebook FB posted $4.99 billion […]
MTN, Huawei to connect rural Nigeria with voice, broadband services
Businessam StaffApril 8, 2018
MTN Nigeria and Huawei have completed the commercial deployment of RuralStar 2.0 solution aimed at providing low-cost long distance voice and mobile broadband services for remote local rural areas. The RuralStar 2.0 solution would help link previously unconnected communities. Voice and data traffic of new deployed RuralStar 2.0 sites exceed expectation, revealing the enormous telecommunication […]
BlackBerry accuses Snap of patent infringement
Businessam StaffApril 4, 2018
BlackBerry accused Snapchat maker, Snap of using its patented messaging technology. This is similar to the company’s complaint against Facebook last month. The Canada-based software maker said Snap infringed on six patents issued in 2012 and 2014, two of which are among seven patents included in the suit against Facebook. Court documents show the infringement […]
Bharti Airtel in first quarterly loss since 2002 amid African unit posting improved figures
Businessam StaffApril 3, 2018
Bharti Airtel, the parent company of Airtel Nigeria, has been tipped by financial analysts in India to record its first loss in more than 15 years for the three months to end-March, as the impact of a price war in its home market continues to erode the bottom line. This is despite analysts saying its […]
Google, Apple in tight race to acquire most promising AI startups
Businessam StaffMarch 11, 2018
Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming an integral part of every tech company’s strategy, so it’s no surprise that big firms are ramping up their acquisition of AI startups. M&A activity has already seen a fivefold increase in the number of AI startup acquisitions — from 22 in 2013 to 115 in 2017. While the race […]
BlackBerry sues Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram over patent infringement
Businessam StaffMarch 7, 2018
BlackBerry Ltd on Tuesday filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Facebook Inc and its WhatsApp and Instagram apps, arguing that they copied technology and features from BlackBerry Messenger. Litigation over patent infringement is part of BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen’s strategy for making money for the company, which has lost market share in the smartphone […]
Orange, Apigate partner to strengthen digital application programming interface in Africa, Middle East, Asia
Businessam StaffFebruary 26, 2018
Orange, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators, and Apigate, a subsidiary of Axiata Digital have announced a new partnership to strengthen their respective application programming interface (API) hubs in Africa, the Middle East and Asia as part of their mutual ambition to advance global digital transformation. Through the partnership, announced Monday at the ongoing […]
Apple set to rejig its wearables, plans upgrades to AirPods headphones
Businessam StaffFebruary 22, 2018
Apple Inc. is seeking to bolster its wearables business as it is working on upgrades to its popular wireless AirPods headphones, according to Bloomberg reports citing sources familiar with the issue. Like with its mobile devices, the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, Apple is said to be planning to frequently update the AirPods with new […]
Telegram aims to raise $1.6bn before ICO even starts
Businessam StaffFebruary 22, 2018
Messaging app Telegram is expecting to collect a jaw-dropping $1.6bn from investors before its initial coin offering (ICO) even starts. Telegram is said to be running a second pre-sale (the first pre-ICO round raised $850m from a bunch of Silicon Valley heavyweight investors), and it’s looking to gather the same again, according to reports this […]