03/02/12

 

This section is up-dated every Friday to include some of the industry news we think might be of interest to you.

 

Web

• TripAdvisor is in trouble with the Advertisng Standards Authority this week for some of its marketing activity which states its review are "trusted" but can actually be posted without any verification. The ASA has told TripAdvisor to rewrite its marketing materials after complaints from hotel operators that say they've been badly affected by bad reviews on the site. TripAdvisor has said the marketing materials affected are limited and have only been used a small number of times but the ASA still ordered the company to change the wording. Reviewers on the site have to sign a declaration saying they have no competitive interest in their reviews but there's no verification that this is the case.

• Amazon has warned of decreasing profits for the coming quarter after it posted worse-than-expected results for the quarter leading up to December 2011. The company posted net income of $177m for the last quarter, down from $466m in 2010, even though revenues were higher than the previous year at $17.4bn, a 35% increase. The declining income is due to investments the company has been making and they plan to continue to invest meaning next quarters numbers will be lower than expected as well. Shares dropped 8% in after-hours trading as investors reacted to the news.

• Sky is planning to launch its own Internet TV product in the first half of this year in response to growing competition from Lovefilm and NetFlix. The Sky offering will be available to all users, not just those with Sky contracts already, and people will be able to rent, download and stream movies from the site. Sport and entertainment shows are expected to be added at a later date. The launch is set to coincide with the launch of YouView, but this has been delayed a number of times. YouView is a joint-venture between the other major UK broadcasters and will offer the ability to stream and rent content via an Internet-connected set-top box. The Sky offering will be available through a range of devices and users can either rent on a pay-as-you-go basis or by subscribe to a monthly fee.

• Yahoo has launched an app search engine which can be accessed via their homepage. The service searches apps from both the Apple and Android stores and hopes to make finding the right app out of the 500,000-plus available easier for consumers. The results show the name, a short description and star rating for each app. Users can then filter by paid and free apps and then click 'send to phone' which will trigger a text message to your device with a hyperlink to the product in the relevant store. Advertisers can also purchase keyword advertising to highlight their apps in the search results.

Technology

• Sir Howard Stringer is to step down as CEO of Sony on 1 April to be replaced by the current vice president Kazuo Hirai. It has always been expected that Mr Hirai would take over as CEO since he was made head of consumer products and services last March. Sir Stringer will remain as Chariman of the company. Sony are expected to post their third quarter results this week but it's expected the company will continue to post losses, the fourth year in a row when this has happened. Sony has suffered from a strong yen, poor sales in its TV business, factory damage following the tsunami in Japan last year and data breaches in 2011.

• More executive moves were announced this week as the chief executive of Dixons Retail, John Browett, has moved to Apple. Mr Browett will join the company in April as vice president of retail. Apple plans to continue to expand its retail offering with customer service and engagement at its heart, Mr Browett will be tasked with growing this side of the business.

• Nokia posted a £1bn loss for the quarter up to December 2011, despite selling more than 1m units of its new Lumia handset. The cost of launching the product seriously affected their overall revenues as the numbers show but the company has said these figures are expected as it transitions the business to a smartphone-focused company. Operating profits for the Finnish company were also down and net sales revenues declined 21% year-on-year.