Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Rakuten TV hat heute mit STARZPLAY den Start eines neuen SVOD-Dienstes innerhalb seiner Plattform bekannt gegeben. Der internationale Premium-Streaming-Dienst von STARZ bietet exklusiven Zugang zu Originalserien, von Kritikern gefeierten Filmen und Serien sowie Blockbustern.

Die Partnerschaft stellt einen weiteren Schritt in der europaweiten Wachstumsstrategie von Rakuten TV dar. Erst kürzlich wurden mehrere Kanäle von Drittanbietern in die Plattform integriert, um Zuschauenden eine breite Palette an Unterhaltungsinhalten nur einen Klick entfernt anbieten zu können. STARZPLAY wird dank der vorinstallierten Rakuten TV-App auf Smart TVs und gebrandeten Fernbedienungen bei den wichtigsten TV-Herstellern von nun an in Millionen von Haushalten in Europa verfügbar sein.

Rakuten TV-Kunden aus Deutschland, Spanien, Großbritannien, Italien und Frankreich haben nun die Möglichkeit, diesen neuen SVOD-Premiumdienst (Subscription Video-on-Demand) zu nutzen. Los geht es mit einer kostenlosen Testversion und einem Abonnement des Dienstes für nur 4,99 Euro pro Monat. Der Inhalt wird innerhalb der Rakuten-TV-App auf Smart TVs, im Internet und auf mobilen Geräten verfügbar sein.

STARZPLAY wird den Nutzenden von Rakuten TV Zugang zu einem exklusiven Premium-Programm mit einer Auswahl an Filmen und Fernsehserien bieten. „Diese internationale Partnerschaft bietet STARZPLAY eine aufregende Gelegenheit, unsere Reichweite auf dem Markt zu vergrößern und ein neues Publikum mit unserer riesigen Bibliothek an attraktiven Serien und Filmen bekannt zu machen“, sagt Superna Kalle, Executive Vice President, International Digital Networks bei Starz. „Wir freuen uns darauf, unsere Beziehungen zu europäischen Zuschauern durch Rakuten TV zu vertiefen.

www.film.tv/pressemeldungen/2020/...uten-tv-im-abo-50681.html

Rakuten Mobile chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani said that 4G and 5G networks are a key strategic issue, not only for developed countries but also for emerging countries. He added that security is also a key issue for governments in the space of 4G and 5G. ”Security is extremely important for them,” Mikitani said. “So, we have been talking with very big governments. We know exactly from where is coming each component of hardware and software and we can guarantee that the platform is extremely secure.

We can go down to the component parts of the hardware, and prove it is secure.” “I cannot mention who we’re talking to, but we’re talking with multiple governments about this,” Mikitani said.
RCP is aimed at offering solutions and services for the deployment of virtualized networks at speed and low cost by telecom companies, enterprises and governments around the world.

www.rcrwireless.com/20200608/wireless/...cations-platform-ceo

Order-for-pickup programs can be a logistical nightmare for retailers. Without a mobile app that features location tracking, most retailers have no idea what time customers will be arriving to pick up their online orders. That leads to frustration for customers when they’re faced with long wait times in their vehicles, and it can result in negative reviews being posted about the retailer online.

Rakuten Ready is hoping that its technology will put those retailers on a more even playing field. The ARRIVE Mobile App is designed for merchants of all sizes, giving those merchants the ability to understand when customers are in transit and notifications when they arrive. A store’s employees can then use this information to organize orders by projected customer arrival time, which creates a more seamless ordering and pickup process.

streetfightmag.com/2020/06/04/...kup-technology/#.Xt-kVLxxcdU

Rakuten, Inc. (Chairman and CEO: Hiroshi Mikitani, hereinafter “the Company”) announces that the procedures for the transfer of all shares in OverDrive Holdings, Inc. indirectly held by the Company and directly held by Rakuten USA, Inc., a wholly-owned, direct subsidiary of the Company, to Aragorn Parent Corporation (Representative: Richard Sarnoff) were completed on June 9, 2020 (EDT), as announced in the press release “Announcement of Agreement Regarding Transfer of All Shares of OverDrive Holdings, Inc.” dated December 25, 2019.

The Company expects to record a gain of about JPY 39 billion from the transfer of shares of OverDrive Holdings, Inc. in FY2020 Q2 consolidated results.

global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2020/0610_01.html

die Höhe des Verlustes in Q1/2020 auf, denn ich war davon ausgegangen, dass die Gewinne bei den Verkäufen von Pinterest und OverDrive in etwa die Kursverluste bei Lyft zum 30.3. (damals ca. 27 Dollar, inzwischen aber wieder bei ca. 40 Dollar) ausgleichen würden.

Denn zum Verkaufszeitpunkt hieß es: "„No price was disclosed in the KKR purchase, but Rakuten said it would recognize about $365.6 million in profit from the sale in the first quarter of 2020.“

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...to-buy-overdrive.html

Und ich weiß jedenfalls nicht, dass Rakuten bis zur heutigen Info diese Verschiebung von Q1 nach Q2 angekündigt hätte. Ich schließe daher nicht aus, dass es anderen ebenfalls so gegangen ist wie mir und die dadurch auch die Ertragslage schlechter beurteilt haben als sie ist.

"about JPY 39 billion in FY2020 Q2" schon in Q1/2020 bebucht worden, wie ursprünglich angekündigt, hätte in Q1/2020 das Non-GAAP OI JPY +21 bn betragen.

"Non-GAAP OI: JPY -18.1bn due to mobile business and logistics investment"

www.irwebcasting.com/20200513/9/50ec027f0c/mov/main/index.html

Das wäre zwar ein Ausgleich durch non-recurring-Erträge, aber auch das Minus ist ja durch non-recurring-Aufwendungen für   mobile business and logistics investment entstanden.

BTIG analyst Jake Fuller initiated coverage of Uber and Lyft with ‘buy’ ratings, with price targets of $47 and $52, respectively. Despite the hit both companies have taken as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the firm expects the sector to see a quicker recovery than in eTravel. The Final Round panel discusses.

finance.yahoo.com/video/...ing-space-initiates-204012573.html

Rakuten Launches Solutions to Support Offline/Online Hybrid Live Events by Combining Rakuten Ticket and Rakuten TV

- New system offers comprehensive one-stop support from ticket sales to live broadcasting. -

Tokyo, June 2, 2020 - Rakuten, Inc. today announced the launch of a new range of solutions for event organizers, artists and other content-based business operators designed to support hybrid live events held simultaneously offline and online. Launched today, the new solutions combine the strengths of Rakuten Ticket, a ticket reservation and sales website operated by Rakuten Group company TicketStar, Inc., and Rakuten TV, a video-on-demand service provided by Rakuten.

As part of these solutions, Rakuten will also support ticket sale promotions for event organizers and artists by leveraging consumer behavior analysis data based on its customer base of more than 100 million*1 Rakuten members in Japan. By providing the Rakuten Group’s services and experience in combination with these solutions, the company aims to diversify the revenue streams available to event organizers and artists. Going forward, Rakuten plans to provide comprehensive one-stop support for even more complex methods of content delivery, such as music streaming and merchandise sales, by coordinating with the various entertainment services provided by Rakuten.

In addition to providing new entertainment experiences for users, Rakuten will continue to work to solve the challenges faced by business operators in order to empower people and society.

global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2020/...=6&category=ec

The ascension of 5G has gained interest from a wider pool of vendors that hope to earn new business in telecom by supplying a 5G core, related services, and software. The playing field has expanded to include hyperscalers like Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Amazon Web Services (AWS); cloud vendors like Oracle and VMware; traditional RAN vendors Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia; and others focused on enterprises like Hewlett Packard Enterpise (HPE).

“The idea of open RAN was great, but also at the heart and the brains of the network is the core of the network, especially around 5G standalone architecture,” Rakuten Mobile EVP and CTO Tareq Amin said during a press conference.

Amin described the deal with NEC as a “world-first activity” that will fuel open architecture, open source platforms, and collective innovation on critical network components and services. “It’s not about a vendor-operator relationship,” he said, but rather a collaborative effort to design and build an open RAN compliant 5G core.

www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/...omegrown-5g-core/2020/06/

2 days ago

Next year, Rakuten Mobile plans to deploy a standalone 5G core network developed together with NEC Corporation. Amin said that this core’s advanced microservices architecture, in which software can be completely self-contained, will give Rakuten Mobile automated elasticity. Once the new core is implemented, Rakuten won’t have “to worry about capacity anymore,” Amin explained. “That’s a thing of the past as the containers that you have manage themselves and … elastically grows based on demand.”

Although the new standalone 5G core will run in parallel with Rakuten’s existing core network for a period of time, Amin said the plan is for the new core to ultimately take over 4G functions. “We will take the 5G core, once built with all containerized functions and components, (we) will collapse all of the 4G functions, and in probably 14 to 16 months we are anticipating we will have one single converged core 100% pure cloud-native function on Rakuten Communications Platform,” he explained.

Other mobile operators are also working towards deploying standalone 5G networks, but the pace of adoption is set to vary considerably given the technical challenges involved. A survey of 150 operators conducted by Heavy Reading found that 16% of respondents plan to deploy this architecture in 2020, followed by a further 40% of respondents by the end of 2021. Noting that operators really need to have extensive 5G radio coverage to justify a standalone 5G core, Gabriel Brown described 2021 as the “takeoff year”, but cautioned: “I do think broad … global adoption may still be a few years out.”

rakuten.today/blog/5g-network-reliability-lightreading.html

Rakuten Travel and Rakuten Communications are working together to promote sales and operations of the new service “Anshin Stay IoT." By introducing this service, hotels and rental properties can fully automate their check-ins and reduce operational workload by as much as two-thirds.* As hotels continue to face the challenging situation presented by serious staff shortages and the impact of the coronavirus, Anshin Stay IoT is being used as one method to empower hotel operations.

global.rakuten.com/corp/innovation/rnn/2020/2001_011/

Click to watch the full report!

Rakuten: Good COVID-19 Play; Possibility of Further Upside and more
By Smartkarma Daily BriefsJune 14, 2020

Q1/20 financials upholds Rakuten as a COVID-19 beneficiary
Rakuten Inc (4755 JP)’s 1Q FY12/20 financial results upholds its position as a COVID-19 beneficiary. Hence, we expect the current rally in Rakuten’s share price to continue in the short run, driven by the enthusiasm over internet/e-commerce names during the pandemic. We believe further upside is likely once both the Logistics and the Mobile businesses start showing some positive results over the next few years.  

We conservatively expect Rakuten’s full-year OP excluding Mobile, Logistics, and Investment businesses to be around JPY110bn in FY12/20E. This translates into an EV/OP multiple of around 14.2x, which is on par with Rakuten’s 10-year historical average FY1 EV/OP multiple. This means, even at the current market price, investors are getting both the Logistics and the Mobile businesses technically “free of charge”.

www.smartkarma.com/home/daily-briefs/...er-upside-and-more-2/

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www.xda-developers.com/viber-messenger/

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www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/...ring-COVID-19.html

Viber vs WhatsApp: Which One is Better Suited to Your Needs in 2020
By Yasir Nawaz

June 3, 2020

The Case for Viber

Despite being a bit of a late entrant into the market, Viber has been quick to carve out a market share for itself. One of the primary reasons for its success in such a competitive market is the sheer number of functions it can offer. When it comes to Viber vs WhatsApp, the debate of which is easier to use is endless. However, Viber does have the upper hand when it comes to multifunctionality.
For instance, Viber allows users to carry out multiple types of communications such as in groups, communities, and entire broadcast lists. While WhatsApp can offer all these in one form or another, it is nowhere near as straightforward as Viber.

www.purevpn.com/blog/viber-vs-whatsapp/

Die VoD-Plattform Rakuten TV integriert den Streamingdienst Starzplay für Deutschland in sein Angebot. Der kann in den kommenden Wochen vor allem mit Serien wie "The Great" und "Normal People" punkten.

09.06.2020 17:40

Seit Dienstag ist der internationale Streamingdienst Starzplay von Starz auf der VoD-Plattform Rakuten TV in Deutschland, Großbritannien, Spanien, Italien und Frankreich verfügbar. Bislang konnte man den Dienst per Webseite, App oder als Channel bei Amazon Prime hinzubuchen. Jetzt hat Starzplay eine weitere größere Plattform hinzugewonnen.

Starzplay bietet seinen Abonnenten für 4,99 Euro im Monat Originalserien und Filme. Am 18. Juni startet dort zum Beispiel die mit Elle Fanning und Nicholas Hoult top-besetzte Serie "The Great" über Katharina, die Große, von Showrunner Tony McNamara, der das Drehbuch zum Oscar-Film "The Favourite" schrieb. Eine andere in Deutschland mit Spannung erwartete Serie ist "Normal People", die von der BBC und Hulu produziert wurde, Traumeinschaltquoten in Großbritannien holte und als freizügige Liebesgeschichte nach einem Kultroman heiß gehandelt wird.

beta.blickpunktfilm.de/details/451211

Glovo opens new technical centre
Glovo opens Glover Technical Centre as part of investment in customer service enhancements that has brought 75 new jobs to Nairobi this month.

By Sid Chudasama February 25, 2020

Glovo, a technology company that links motorcycle riders to consumers wishing to buy and deliver products, has launched a new technical center in a bid to enhance its service levels to consumers and riders.

The new facility dubbed “Glover Center” and a 2nd new Glovo operations facility in Westlands are set to create 75 operations jobs directly and help to improve the efficiency of service for Glovo customers and riders.

Glovo can now provide faster and localised rider and customer support, and in turn faster deliveries. The move signals Glovo’s commitment to grow in Kenya by investing in its technology infrastructure.

www.cio.co.ke/glove-opens-new-technical-centre/

Lieferdienst Glovo steigert Umsatz um 30 Prozent
MM-Redaktion |@MM_Mallorca | 17.03.2020 10:57

Lieferdienste sind die Profiteure der Corona-Krise. Angesichts geschlossener Restaurants und Geschäfte nehmen deutlich mehr Inselbewohner ihre Dienste in Anspruch. Marktführer Glovo konnte seinen Umsatz in Palma de Mallorca in den vergangenen Wochen um 30 Prozent steigern.

Ein geringeres Umsatzwachstum verzeichneten die Marktrivalen Deliveroo und Just Eat. Glovo arbeitet zurzeit mit 50 Geschäften in Palma zusammen, jede Auslieferung bringt dem Unternehmen fünf Euro ein. Für den größten Einnahmezuwachs sorgen momentan Auslieferungen von McDonald's.

www.mallorcamagazin.com/nachrichten/...ca-umsatz-prozent.html

March 23, 2020 Kenyan News

lovo has announced partnership with Naivas Supermarkets to provide deliveries in the wake of the Covid 19 Global Pandemic.

The partnership will see Glovo offer free deliveries for orders above Ksh.1,000 from Saturday 21 March to Sunday 29 March 2020, and a flat rate delivery fee of Ksh.100 on deliveries above Ksh.1,000 from Monday 30 April to Sunday 19 April.

“As an on-demand delivery service, we can provide food, groceries as well as over the counter pharmacy products. We have an obligation to make these essential products as accessible as possible, especially for those citizens in need” said the company’s regional head of marketing Priscilla Muhiu.

kenyanwallstreet.com/...ners-with-naivas-to-offer-deliveries/

In a press conference this evening, Rakuten's CTO Tareq Amin described the company's NEC-supplied 5G core as containerized, cloud native and open.

In addition, Rakuten CEO Mickey (Hiroshi) Mikitani pointed out with distinct pride that he sees the two Japanese companies as challenging the status quo in the global wireless industry.

Rakuten has previously said it expects to spend around $5.4 billion constructing its 4G network and another $1.8 billion upgrading to 5G. The company has so far deployed 4,738 4G basestations and eventually hopes to deploy 45,000 4G basestations and some 35,000 5G ones to cover 96% of the Japanese population.

Rakuten's pending 5G launch will essentially cap the operator's transition from an ecommerce giant into a mobile network operator. But that doesn't represent the company's end goal.

Next up for the company is the launch of its Rakuten Communications Platform (previously referred to as the Rakuten Mobile Platform). The platform stretches from the software powering its 4G and 5G antennas to the OSS and BSS systems handling its customer billing and activation systems to its edge computing and autonomous network management functions. Rakuten plans to sell the platform worldwide.

Company officials this week said Rakuten expects to have a RCP "proof of concept" launched by the third quarter of this year. The company believes customers will include enterprises, government agencies and mobile network operators – both new and old, and small and big – will be interested in purchasing its RCP.

www.lightreading.com/5g/...unwraps-necs-5g-core/d/d-id/761437

By Keith Dyer 4 June 2020
All that work to virtualise the core, gone within 14-16 months of cloud core launch. CTO also eyes an IMS-less future.

Rakuten will have a single converged core network within 14-16 months of launching its 5G cloud core, its CTO Tareq Amin told a Light Reading online event today.

the-mobile-network.com/2020/06/...nverge-its-4g-and-5g-cores/

RAKUTEN OR THE SERVICE EMPIRE!

For several years now, we have been talking about the emergence of life platforms, whose worthy representatives are the GAFAMs and BATXs. However, if we have to look for the most successful platform, it is neither in the USA nor in China. The answer lies in Japan and is called Rakuten. The fact While many of us in Europe know PriceMinister (renamed Rakuten France), behind it is Rakuten who bought it back in 2010. Rakuten is a Japanese giant with global ambitions (present in 40 countries) whose name is woven into the jerseys of FC Barcelona and the Golden State Warrior (NBA). Like Amazon, Alibaba and others, the Japanese giant has a veritable empire of services, operating in more than 70 different businesses including finance, health, distribution and telecoms. Rakuten has 1.5 billion members worldwide and is present in the lives of 90% of the archipelago’s 128 million inhabitants.

Rakuten does not want a heap of entities, nor a conglomerate, but a virtuous ecosystem that creates value. “Creating an ecosystem to serve our members is a very different vision from the traditional model of a global conglomerate. We are not just a collection of companies. We are passionate about creating a new, mutually beneficial environment in which our members, partners and businesses can all thrive.” Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Rakuten. Welcome to the service empire!

www.echangeur.fr/en/decryptages/rakuten-or-the-service-empire/

Chancen - und Vodafone sieht das übrigens auch so.

"SpaceMobile" Explored - Interview with AST & Science CEO Abel Avellan
JUNE 15, 2020

Rakuten attracted worldwide attention in March 2020 with the announcement of its investment in a venture to establish a space-based mobile broadband network, called "SpaceMobile," led by AST & Science. We sat down with the founder and CEO of AST & Science, Abel Avellan, to learn more about his company's revolutionary technology and the background behind its collaboration with Rakuten.

global.rakuten.com/corp/innovation/rnn/2020/2003_014/

Check out the full report above!

Investoren - finde ich das Investment nicht, denn Rakuten steigt ja nicht in die Raketenentwicklung ein, sondern AST bedient sich bei der Stationierung von Low-Cost-Satelliten aus den Angeboten von Rakaten-Dienstleistern.

AST & Science and our global partners are building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network to be accessible by standard smartphones. Called SpaceMobile, this ultra-powerful network will provide connectivity at 4G/5G speeds everywhere on the planet – on land, at sea and in flight.
For the first time ever, mobile subscribers will be able to automatically roam from land networks to a space network. Whether in the most remote location, on rural farmland or in the midst of a crisis or natural disaster, people will remain connected no matter what – without having to invest in expensive, specialized hardware.

ast-science.com/

“Meeting customers on the channels where they are shopping and buying is the key to connecting the dots, and delivering a seamless and consistent experience when they are shopping for cars. This crisis has also illustrated the importance of maintaining as many connections with the customer as possible. With a partner like Carousell, we’re another step closer to transcending the barrier between us and the consumer, closing the gap, and deepening our engagement with them in an environment that they are comfortable with,” said Ricky Tay, Managing Director of Volkswagen Group Singapore.

jumpstartmag.com/...ategory-with-digital-showroom-experience/