India's Jet Airways collapses as banks pull the plug - CNN

The once-mighty Indian carrier said in a statement Wednesday that it was suspending all flights after failing to secure emergency funding from the country's banks.

The airline has been struggling for months to stay in business and the announcement follows weeks of speculation over its fate.

"This has been a very difficult decision but without interim funding, the airline is simply unable to conduct flight operations," Jet Airways said in statement.

The carrier's collapse is the biggest in India since the failure of fugitive billionaire Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines in 2012. It's a huge blow to India's aviation industry as it struggles to meet soaring demand while keeping costs low.

It also comes at an inopportune time for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is seeking a second term in a national election due to conclude on May 23. Opposition parties have criticized his government for failing to bring down unemployment among India's millions of young people.

Jet Airways said it was informed late Tuesday by a consortium of lenders, led by the government-run State Bank of India, that they would not be able to provide more cash.

The company described the suspension of flights operations as temporary, but the absence of funding puts more than 20,000 jobs at risk.

"Above all, the airline would like to express its sincere gratitude to all its employees and stakeholders that have stood by the company in these trying times," it said in its statement.

Passengers would be informed about the closure via email and text messages, and would be able to claim a refund, it added. The airline's operations had already shrunk to 40 flights on five aircraft by Tuesday, according to local media.

The carrier was founded in the early 1990s by Naresh Goyal and went on to dominate India's airline industry, accounting for nearly 20% of passengers carried by Indian airlines in 2018.

Yet in recent years it struggled to cut costs to compete with newer budget airlines like IndiGo. Rising oil prices and the increased volatility of India's currency, the rupee, only made matters worse.

Goyal stepped down in late March as part of a planned $218 million bailout that handed control to the banks. But that bailout did not materialize, with Jet Airways saying Wednesday the banks were "unable to consider its request" for funds to keep it flying.

The banks will continue their search for a private investor to buy 75% of the airline. The deadline for bids is May 10.

"We are actively working to try and ensure that the bid process leads to a viable solution for the company," the consortium said in a statement shared by Jet Airways.

Etihad Airways, which acquired a 24% stake in Jet in 2013, has been touted as a possible buyer, but Abu Dhabi's national carrier has problems of its own after losing about $4.9 billion in three years.

Etihad said it would support passengers affected by the suspension of flights.

"We continue to work with Jet management, lenders and key stakeholders in the context of the lender-managed effort to restructure the company," an Etihad spokesperson added.

Jet isn't the only Indian airline in dire straits — the country's national carrier, Air India, is surviving on billions of dollars of taxpayer money after a failed attempt to privatize it last year.

Swati Gupta and Zahraa Alkhalisi contributed reporting.

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2019-04-17 16:59:00Z
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Daily Crunch: Apple and Qualcomm settle their patent dispute - TechCrunch

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.

1. Apple and Qualcomm are ending their legal battles

In a standoff that has been brewing since 2017, Apple argued that Qualcomm was charging too much for patent licensing. After Apple shifted to using Intel chips, Qualcomm moved to get iPhone imports banned in countries around the world for patent infringement.

The two companies have just announced a settlement, with both agreeing to drop all litigation with the other worldwide.

2. Stripe acquires Touchtech, updates APIs to prep for strong customer authentication in Europe

Touchtech Payments is a startup out of Ireland that works with banks to help them build and manage Strong Customer Authentication, a verification process that will typically require customers to provide two different forms of authentication in order to process transactions.

3. Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

For most of the interview, Dorsey outlined steps that Twitter has taken to combat abuse and misinformation, but the TED’s Chris Anderson explained why the company’s critics sometimes find those steps so insufficient and unsatisfying. He compared Twitter to the Titanic, and Dorsey to the captain, listening calmly to passengers’ concerns about the iceberg up ahead.

Billionaire Richard Liu, founder and chief executive officer of JD.com Inc., listens during an interview in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

4. Student sues JD.com’s billionaire CEO Richard Liu for alleged rape

Four months after local prosecutors decided not to press charges, a Chinese student has filed a lawsuit against JD.com founder and chief executive Richard Liu, alleging the billionaire businessman raped her in Minnesota back in August.

5. Lyric raises $160M Series B led by Airbnb

Lyric is a hospitality platform for business travelers. The company secures its own inventory in multi-family residential buildings through partnerships with landlords. It then brings in its designers to beautify the place and pack it full of amenities, including coffee from a local roaster and a fully functional kitchen.

6. Twitter to launch a ‘hide replies’ feature, plus other changes to its reporting process

Speaking of Twitter and its attempts to improve conversational health: Twitter announced the “Hide Replies” feature is set to launch in June. This puts the original poster in control of which tweets appear in a conversation thread.

7. Netflix added 9.6M subscribers in Q1, with revenue of $4.5B

The earnings letter also says Netflix will be testing something new in Q2 by releasing weekly top 10 lists of popular content for U.K. viewers: “For those who want to watch what others are watching, this may make choosing titles even easier.”

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2019-04-17 16:31:36Z
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Why Apple was so upset with Qualcomm — and why it finally had to give in - CNBC

Qualcomm and Apple have settled a bitter legal battle over billions of dollars in royalties and licensing fees just as it went to trial this week in San Diego, California. As part of the settlement, all legal action worldwide between the two companies will be dropped, and Apple will buy Qualcomm chips again.

The dispute centered around modem chips, which allow the iPhone and other computers to connect to cellular networks. Apple buys modem chips from companies like Qualcomm and Intel.

As part of the companies' deal for those chips, Qualcomm forced Apple to pay licensing fees for the rights to use some of the core cellular technology Qualcomm had patented — a practice Apple hated. Apple felt Qualcomm was abusing its position as one of a limited number of firms who hold patents on critical cellular technology.

Qualcomm stock spiked on the announcement of the settlement. Over the past two days, the stock is up more than 38%.

Apple's stock, in contrast, was up about 1% , in line with the broader market.

The market reaction suggests a clear vindication of Qualcomm's business model, which is highly reliant on patent licensing. Apple has objected strongly to how Qualcomm conducts this business. But in the end it had no choice but to swallow its pride and go along.

Licensing patents is a critical revenue stream for Qualcomm. The fees from patent licensing were only 23% of Qualcomm's revenue in its 2018 fiscal year, but made up a majority of Qualcomm's operating income.

Specifically, Qualcomm's chip division, QCT, reported over $17 billion in revenue, but only $3 billion in operating income. Qualcomm's licensing division, QTL, reported $5.1 billion in revenue at a 68% operating margin, which works out to $3.5 billion in profit.

A specialized agency of the United Nations called the International Telecommunication Union ultimately defines what people in the industry call "standards" — or the official technical specs for telecom networks so that devices can work across borders and carriers. Qualcomm has a lot of patents that fit into these standards.

"Standards bodies have been informed that we hold patents that might be essential for all 3G standards that are based on CDMA," Qualcomm wrote in an SEC filing last November.

Thanks to these patents, Qualcomm has licensing agreements with over 300 companies.

Patent-holders are supposed to license necessary patents at a reasonable price and on equal terms to everybody, or what's sometimes called fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing.

But technology companies and governments often have different ideas about what constitutes fair and reasonable.

Apple's main objection was that Qualcomm forced it to license these patents even though even though it was already a big customer for Qualcomm's chips.

"The issue that we have with Qualcomm is that they have a policy of no license, no chips. This is, in our view, illegal," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in January.

Apple also objected to Qualcomm's pricing scheme, where it used the total sales price of an entire device to figure out what to charge, instead of the sales price of a modem chip. Eventually, the two companies settled on a royalty price of $7.50 per device, which Apple still thought was too high.

As Cook put it: "They have an obligation to offer their patent portfolio on a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory basis and they don't do that. They charge exorbitant prices."

Apple isn't the only party that's had problems with Qualcomm's business practices.

In 2009, South Korea's antitrust agency, protecting local companies like Samsung and LG, fined Qualcomm $200 million for abusing its market position in radio frequency chips, saying in a statement more recently that a "monopolist enterprise's abuse of its market position cannot be tolerated." The KFTC later fined Qualcomm again in 2016 for $854 million for what it said were unfair business practices.

In 2015, Qualcomm paid a $975 million fine in China to resolve another complicated antitrust dispute. As part of that agreement, Qualcomm was required to lower its royalty rates in China for handset makers like Xiaomi and Huawei.

Perhaps the biggest threat to Qualcomm is a battle with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which ended in a trial earlier this year. The verdict has not yet been released.

On Tuesday, Apple put all these objections aside and bought the patent license it was fighting for six years as part of the settlement.

Shortly after the deal between Apple and Qualcomm was announced, Intel said it would exit the 5G chip market, leaving Apple with one fewer option it could buy the part from. After the announcement, Nikkei and Bloomberg both reported that Apple had long been concerned that Intel could not meet demand for the parts.

The uncomfortable truth for Apple: Qualcomm is still the leader in wireless technology, and with next-generation 5G networks currently being built, Apple had little choice.

So Apple will make a one-time payment to Qualcomm, and will buy chips from it again. The companies have not yet disclosed how much Apple will pay and Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopftold CNBC he would not disclose the amount.

"The energy of the companies right now is let's figure out how to ramp up as quickly as possible," Mollenkopf said on Wednesday. "That's where the focus is, that's what we are excited about."

Qualcomm has indicated it will stand strong on its licensing policies when 5G networks start ramping up.

"We have informed standards bodies that we hold patents and pending patent applications that are potentially essential for 5G technologies and have committed to offer to license our essential patents for these 5G standards consistent with our commitments to those bodies," Qualcomm said in a filing last year.

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2019-04-17 15:42:03Z
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What Does Netflix Really Think About Disney and Apple's New Streaming Services? - The Cheat Sheet

The upcoming streaming battle among Disney Plus, Apple, and Netflix should have had a promotional poster mimicking Game of Thrones with “Winter is Coming.” In the real world, it’s really “Fall is Coming” considering Disney Plus will go live on November 12. Apple TV+ may have also gone live by this point, making the streaming world a much more complex place, but more fair with serious competition.

What we don’t know is how Netflix is prepared for this upcoming bombardment. They hadn’t made any comment until after the Disney+ and Apple TV+ announcements.

Take a look at what they said and if it’s complacency or complete assurance in having a strategic battle plan.

Netflix’s quarterly statement sounds confident

On April 16, Netflix released their quarterly statement and finally offered comment on the upcoming competition. Their financial reports show a clear gain each quarter since last year, bringing a total revenue of $4.5 billion to date.

This is an unsurprising success, mostly attributable to Netflix’s push for quality original programming. As they note themselves, there’s still room to grow considering they only represent 10% of the streaming audience. Their push for more globalized programming is going to become a strong focus in the second half of this year.

Is this really their battle plan to go up against Disney and Apple? In their “Competition” section of their report, they say they’re confident the competition won’t bring high churn rates. This is because they feel they’ve created a specific niche of programming people expect, which differs from the intended audiences of the other two companies.

Of course, many might look at this as just typical corporate speak with a faux happy face.

Netflix should still be worried about Disney’s binge-watch potential

Like Netflix, Disney Plus will be free of ads, contain original programming, and subscribers will be able to download all of the shows and movies on Disney’s service to watch offline. https://t.co/nz36hUbkU1

— news-journalonline (@dbnewsjournal) April 12, 2019

When you see what Disney+ is offering on their slate in the way of classics and originals, it’s truly awe-inspiring. The Marvel and Star Wars original shows they’re planning are enough to whet the appetite of any scrutinizing audience.

Just look at how ravenous the fans of Star Wars and Marvel Entertainment are alone. Disney will also have access to all the Fox material, meaning The Simpsons fans will be able to stream the entire series at will.

Combine this with every Disney classic available, and you have something that’s going to drive up binge-watch sessions.

With Apple also offering intriguing originals, many people might spend more time streaming on Disney Plus and Apple, leaving Netflix on the backburner.

The most likely scenario: Streaming develops into niches

You can also look at this new streaming competition as a way to segment audiences to find more of what they want. Not everyone can find a Disney product they want to see on Netflix. Apple and Disney won’t offer a lot of things Netflix already has and will have.

Also consider even more niche streaming services like Criterion Collection that offers independent and classic foreign films.

There isn’t a doubt most streaming service will cater to a particular demographic. Netflix may corner 18-34 adults. Disney will likely cater to the younger crowd, plus older who love the Disney classics. Apple may steal away some of the 18-34s, but all depends on the quality of the shows they promise.

One piece of reality to this is Netflix’s report is said to be slightly disappointing based on their expectations. If this sounds strange based on the billions they’re making, even a slight decrease could spell bigger trouble further down the line.

Netflix will likely be OK, with some acquisitions down the road

It’s going to take a decade to see how this emerging streaming landscape really pans out. Should Disney and Apple eat into Netflix profits over time, we could see Netflix bought out by a major conglomerate later. Disney even tempted the idea of buying them at one point a few years ago before formulating Disney+.

Netflix should take this competition seriously and begin to plan out strategy long beyond this year. We have a feeling they have since they aren’t known for being complacent from the inside.

Conversely, when you’re raking $4.5 billion a year, it’s easy to become stuck in a creative rut when you have the assumption your reliable audience will always be there.

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https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/what-does-netflix-really-think-about-disney-and-apples-new-streaming-services.html/

2019-04-17 15:23:24Z
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Netflix stock slightly dips again after post-earnings rally - CNBC

Shares of Netflix were dipped more than 1% Wednesday morning following a short rally after the company reported Q1 revenue, earnings and subscriber numbers that beat Wall Street expectations. The drop shaved about $1 billion from Netflix's market cap, which hovered around $155 billion.

The stock initially took a slight dip of 1% after hours Tuesday after providing light guidance for the second quarter of 2019. While Netflix reported earnings per share of 76 cents compared to the 57 cents analysts expected, according to the Refinitiv consensus estimate, it said it only expects EPS of 55 cents in the second quarter compared to the 99 cents analysts had forecast.

Netflix also reported revenue of $4.52 billion compared to $4.50 expected, per Refinitiv. The company added 1.74 million domestic paid subscribers in the quarter compared to the 1.61 million expected, and 7.86 million internationally, compared to the 7.31 million forecast by FactSet.

The strong subscriber numbers seemed to have allayed some analyst's concerns over the potential threat of new streaming services including Disney's.

"NFLX's first quarter earnings may be controversial to some — mostly because of the light second quarter [subscription] outlook — but we think there's much more to like here than not," J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a note following the report. "We continue to believe that Disney+ will not be a major threat to NFLX subscriber numbers given NFLX's quality & quantity of content, & that Netflix/Disney+ will not be an either/or decision."

Netflix addressed its new competition in its letter to shareholders Tuesday, calling out both Apple and Disney by name.

"We don't anticipate that these new entrants will materially affect our growth because the transition from linear to on demand entertainment is so massive and because of the differing nature of our content offerings," the company wrote.

During Netflix's live streamed earnings interview following the report, Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said the public will soon get more information about the company's viewership numbers.

"Over the next several months, we're going to be rolling out more specific granular reporting, first to our producers and then to our members and of course to the press over time," Sarandos said, adding that Netflix will "be more fully transparent about what people are watching on Netflix around the world."

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Watch: Netflix's Q2 earnings is going to slow down due to season and pricing, says analyst

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2019-04-17 13:30:11Z
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2020 Toyota Highlander hits New York with one-two punch of looks, efficiency - CNET

The Toyota Highlander seems destined to live forever. With solid reliability and a price tag that won't send families scurrying away, it's a very strong midsize family SUV, and its sales have reflected that. However, we always found its complement of tech to be a little lacking. Now, at the 2019 New York Auto Show, Toyota's rolled out the redesigned 2020 Highlander, and yes, there's some good tech in there.

Most of the Highlander's fancy new tech is possible because Toyota is moving the SUV to its TNGA-K platform. If TNGA is looking like a familiar set of letters to you, that's probably because Toyota has spent the last few years transitioning nearly its entire lineup of unibody vehicles to one flavor of it or another.

For 2020, the new Highlander will offer two powertrains. The first is a relatively standard 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine that makes 295 horsepower and 263 foot-pounds of torque. This engine uses Toyota's D4 dual fuel injection system which utilizes both direct fuel injection and multiport fuel injection (and which we first saw on the Toyota 86 née Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ twins). This engine, bolted to the standard eight-speed auto is good for 22 miles per gallon.

Where things get really interesting is with the optional hybrid drivetrain. Toyota remains the undisputed king of hybrid tech, and it's really flexing its muscles there with the new Highlander. Rather than the Hybrid Synergy Drive that we're all used to, Toyota is debuting a next-generation system that it calls Predictive Efficient Drive.

Predictive Efficient Drive is a smart hybrid system in that it monitors and learns driver habits and compares that with GPS data for upcoming roads to decide when to best utilize the electric portion of the drivetrain for maximum efficiency. It's pretty cool, but what's cooler is that Toyota is claiming that the hybrid Highlander will offer its owners 34 miles per gallon combined. That's unreal in a big SUV and a 17% increase over the previous-generation hybrid.

The new Highlander pulls some of its styling cues from the recently refreshed RAV4 -- and that's not a bad thing.

Toyota

Outside, the new Highlander grows a little bit (2.36 inches in length, to be precise) but manages to look slimmer than the car it replaces. This is mostly down to the new, more aggressive styling, which we like. We also like that Toyota has worked to make this new design functional, tuning the side mirrors and even the taillights to reduce wind noise at speed. For 2020, the Highlander can now be had with its first-ever 20-inch wheels. There is also a unique set only available as an option on the top-level Platinum trim level.

The Highlander hasn't given up any ground in the interior room category either. It's still cavernous enough to haul all your kids and their crap around or swallow up a full Ikea-shopping trip's worth of flat-pack furniture with no complaints.

The Highlander's L and LE trim levels feature a standard second-row bench seat which means that, in total, it'll seat eight people. The XLE and Limited trim come with captain's chairs in the second row for a total capacity of seven people, though you can swap them for a bench. The top-level Platinum trim comes with captain's chairs in row two, and you are unable to switch those for a bench because luxury.

It doesn't matter which trim level you choose, though, if what you care about is safety tech. All 2020 Highlander models come standard with Toyota's SafetySense 2.0 ADAS suite. SafetySense 2.0 includes features like automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert with steering assist, automatic high beams, lane tracing assist and road sign assist. Other safety features that aren't part of SafetySense are optional depending on your desired trim level, and these include blind-spot monitoring, parking sonar, and something called parking support braking.

The interior on the top-tier Platinum trim benefits from a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, while lesser models get an eight-inch unit.

Toyota

Inside, things get better still. The Platinum trim level gets a 12.3-inch touchscreen in its center console -- one of the largest in the segment -- and all other models get an 8-inch unit. The latest version of Toyota's infotainment platform also supports Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Amazon Alexa as standard. It's about time Toyota.

Toyota hasn't given us any information on expected pricing or a potential on-sale date, but we are betting that the former will be pretty reasonable and the latter will be sometime later this year.

New York auto show 2019

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2019-04-17 13:32:00Z
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Qualcomm CEO on Apple settlement: We're not going to disclose how much the deal is worth - CNBC

A day after settling a multibillion-dollar battle with Apple, Qualcomm's CEO told CNBC he looks forward to working with the iPhone maker, but he would not disclose how much Apple agreed to pay.

"The reality is two great product companies, it's a natural position for them to work together and want to work together," Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said.

Mollenkopf said the company will not disclose the payment Apple agreed to in the settlement. Following the announcement of the settlement on Tuesday, Qualcomm said it expects incremental earnings per share of $2 as product shipments ramp and it starts providing 5G chips to Apple.

Shares of Qualcomm were up more than 12% in early trading on Wednesday following a 23% rally on Tuesday after announcing the deal.

The legal battle had centered on a royalty dispute between the two companies. Apple claimed that Qualcomm was abusing its position as a dominant supplier by charging high prices as well as licensing fees for its patents. The chipmaker claimed Apple withheld payments it had agreed to. The settlement announcement came just as trial proceedings were beginning in San Diego, where each company sought billions in damages.

Despite the bitter legal dispute, Mollenkopf said Qualcomm and Apple are now focused on their products and working together.

"The energy of the companies right now is let's figure out how to ramp up as quickly as possible," Mollenkopf said. "That's where the focus is, that's what we are excited about."

Now that this dramatic chapter is behind Qualcomm, Mollenkopf said he is excited to focus on new opportunities, including 5G.

The 5G space opened for Qualcomm even more on Tuesday after Intel announced it would drop out of the 5G smartphone market, citing an unclear path to profitability.

"There's a lot of opportunity for us to go after that and we hope to have the ability to do even more," Mollenkopf said.

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Watch: Apple, Qualcomm settle royalty dispute

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2019-04-17 14:28:04Z
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