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Y Combinator Startups Now Have A Combined Valuation Of $13.7 Billion, Up $2 Billion Since June
Oct 25, 7:43AM
Over the last several years, Y Combinator has established itself as a powerhouse by picking and helping out a number of winning startups that have gone on to have great success. That includes names like Dropbox, Airbnb, and Stripe, among others. Its success continues, as the total valuation of companies that have passed through the program continues to grow, now to $13.7 billion, or a full $2 billion above where it was just a few months ago.
Perfect Debuts At TechStars Seattle With A Video Life Blogging Service Built For Google Glass
Oct 25, 6:27AM
Perfect presented a video life blogging service for Google Glass today at TechStars Seattle Demo Day, making it the first company launching a service for the wearable computing platform to be part of the well-known startup program. The service is a refreshing take on Google Glass that gives people an arguably far easier way to make videos about their lives. Perfect softens the Orwellian image that Google Glass has as this all-seeing way to invade our privacy and make use all unwilling participants in a surveillance state.
Samsung Reports 26% Growth In Q3 Operating Profit, But Warns Of Slower Smartphone Sales
Oct 25, 4:09AM
Samsung reported that its Q3 operating profit surged 26% to 10.2 trillion won (about $9.6 billion), but continued to warn that its smartphone sales will slow thanks to increased competition. Its earnings growth was driven mainly by Samsung's chip business profit, which doubled to 2.06 trillion won, the highest in three years, thanks to stronger chip prices this year after a fire last month at one of competitor SK Hynix's Chinese plants created a shortage in a key component. 
The Surprisingly Small Decline In Microsoft's OEM Revenue In Its Fiscal Q1
Oct 25, 2:50AM
In Microsoft’s fiscal first quarter of 2014, Windows revenue from OEM partners fell 7%. That’s a noticeable decline, given that Windows revenue from third-party hardware partners is the most ‘Microsoft’ income that the company has. The decline, however, is somewhat blunted compared to what Microsoft anticipated. Here’s what the company said in its fiscal 2013 year-end wrap up, regarding the first quarter of fiscal 2014: “Excluding the impact of the Windows Deferral, OEM revenue (~65% of total) should decline mid-teens.” To see that decline come in at 7% means that the fall in OEM revenue for the quarter was around half of what the company expected. That’s surprising. Naturally, Microsoft doesn’t make predictions that it doesn’t think that it can’t at least meet, so the “mid-teens” estimate was likely somewhat conservative. But you don’t tell investors to expect a revenue decline of 15% or 16% in one of your key revenue streams if you don’t mean it. Oddly, there are some rays of light in the PC market, a place in the technology world that has had a damningly bleak year. Following the rollout of Windows 8, and its lackluster round of hardware that shipped with it, the PC market has recorded painful, repeated quarterly declines. In the third quarter, for example, the PC market contracted around 7.6%. That was a surprising beat for PCs. But that 7.6% decline in different context is slightly benign. In the first quarter of 2013, the PC market contracted by 13.9%. That was a rollicking moment, as it came in the first quarter following the release of Microsoft’s new operating system, and first line of tablets running its own code. Ouch. And yet, there are some encouraging signs. Microsoft won’t disclose new Windows 8 (8.1, etc) sales numbers, but it will tell you that October was the biggest month for Windows 8 activations yet. And Surface unit volume doubled in the recent quarter. And OEM revenue fell about half as far as it was supposed to. And the larger PC market is contracting slower than before. We are not at the bottom. But now I’m starting to feel that there will be a bottom, instead of a long inexorable decline. A 7% slip in OEM revenue for Microsoft is not clean. And it does hurt. But if it is indicator that the PC market is finally slowing its record declines, then we can view it as such.
Apple.com Now Selling $20 OS X Mountain Lion And Lion Redemption Codes For Older Macs
Oct 24, 11:39PM
Apple has begun selling OS X Mountain Lion redemption codes alongside OS X Lion for $20 each. Lion was previously available for purchase directly from Apple over the phone, but the company has decided to make it easier to purchase either version of the older OS X vintages directly online. The codes that you purchase can be redeemed on the Mac App Store to download and install OS X. We did some asking around about the thinking behind this particular arrangement and the nut of it is that Apple only offers one version of OS X at a time for purchase on the Mac App Store: the current one. But OS X Mavericks, though it does support some devices as far back as 2007, still has a lot of compatibility gaps for old Macs. If you’ve previously purchased either Lion or Mountain Lion, these are freely downloadable from the Mac App Store, but this new arrangement allows customers who may not (for some reason) have owned either one to purchase new copies. This will also allow users who have old Macs running Leopard or Snow Leopard to upgrade to “new-er” versions of OS X. OS X Mavericks was released to the public yesterday, and according to early reports from some tracking networks, it’s nearing 6 percent share of all OS X traffic in North America. Thanks Truck.
Apple, Microsoft And Free Software
Oct 24, 11:26PM
Apple announced this week that it will make its iWork suite of productivity applications free on new OS X and iOS devices. The company also made the Mavericks update to OS X free for all users, immediately. Microsoft recently released its Windows 8.1 update to Windows 8 for free, has begun to bundle its Office set of products with Windows RT, and now sells Office as a service through its Office 365 product. 
Microsoft Surface Unit Volume Doubled In Most Recent Quarter
Oct 24, 10:12PM
Microsoft today reported that its Surface line of tablets had revenue of $400 million in the most recent quarter. On its earnings call, the company stated that in the most recent quarter (fiscal Q1, 2014), Surface unit volume doubled from the prior quarter (fiscal Q4, 2013). 
Tweetbot 3 Makes The Case For 3rd-Party Twitter Apps With Bones-Deep iOS 7 Rewrite
Oct 24, 10:02PM
Today marks the launch of the full rewrite of Tweetbot for iOS 7. The app is a paid upgrade, which is available for $2.99 at launch and will go up to $4.99 after the initial sale. As one of the most popular third-party clients available for Twitter, the app has become the poster child for what outside developers brought to the Twitter equation. And with the iOS 7 update, it’s going to set another sort of precedent by showing what you can do with a truly bones-deep re-thinking of an app with Apple’s new aesthetic in mind. When iOS 7 was released, we saw a lot of updates come down the pipe that were little more than a re-skinning of iOS 7 apps. A nip and tuck here and there for sure, but only a few were stripped down and redone with Apple’s new indicators in mind. iOS 7 is all about physicality and far less about the illustrative pixel-perfect character of iOS 6. “We wanted to have a very clean and iOS 7 look to Tweetbot, with a strong focus on content. We used Physics and custom transitions to add that sense of joy that we add to our apps,” Tapbots’ Paul Haddad says of the Tweetbot 3 redesign. That sense of joy permeates the app, with subtle animations and wonderfully redone audio cues. Everything is lighter, brighter and more readable overall. Within a couple of days of using the new app it was nearly impossible for me to look at the old version of Tweetbot for any extended period. It felt dark, static and very, very old. Part of this is the natural effect that iOS 7′s ‘shock to the system’ has had on all apps, but a lot more of it is a careful re-evaluation of what makes Tweetbot work. Going from a very illustrative style to one that has to convey personality via subtle animations and clever uses of Apple’s new physics system is no small feat. Especially for an app as distinct as Tweetbot. The main timeline of Tweetbot 3 has a brand-new lighter look with a white background and crisp typography. The tweets obey Apple’s system-wide font-sizing controls under Dynamic Type Size if you want to fit more on the page. One major change that many will notice is that there is only a single directional swipe (right to left) to expand Twitter conversations
Zynga's Shares Pop Nearly 12% On Lower-Than-Expected Losses
Oct 24, 9:48PM
Zynga’s shares rose nearly 12 percent in after-hours trading on lower-than-estimated losses. Zynga posted a net loss of $68,000 on about $203 million of revenue, so they managed to stay roughly break-even. Their top line revenues are down 36 percent year-over-year as Zynga deals with disastrous losses in its user base on the Facebook platform. At the same time, they haven’t made as strong a transition to mobile gaming platforms as other com Daily active users are down to 30 million, or half of what they were a year ago. Monthly active users are similarly now less than half of what they were a year ago at 133 million. Today, they have just three of the top games on the Facebook platform by daily active users, a far cry from the days when they dominated the charts. Yet new CEO Don Mattrick argued to shareholders that he is making the changes necessary to return Zynga to its former glory. “We believe we are poised for future growth,” he said on the earnings call. “I am confident that Zynga is rewiring itself in a meaningful way that will strengthen the core of our business and put us back on track to achieve even more significant growth and progress.” Today, Mattrick just hired Clive Downie, from DeNA and previously Electronic Arts, to be its chief operating officer. Mattrick said in reorganizing Zynga, he’s flattened the management structure. Creative product leads now report directly to him. “Entertainment is an excellence business,” Mattrick said, adding that Zynga is aiming to build games “with the fit, finish and polish that truly engages a mass market audience.” In the last quarter, the company launched a number of new titles, including Fairy Tale Twist, Ninja Kingdom and Hit it Rich. In mobile games, they’ve launched 1 Word, which was with the KiK Messenger App, and CastleVille Legends. They also released New Scramble with Friends, Baseball Slam (3P), and CityVille KRE-O. While monthly payers declined to 1.6 million in the third quarter from 3 million the year before, the average bookings per daily active user rose to 5.5 cents from 4.7 cents. It also rose 4 percent on a quarterly basis. (That’s how much a daily active user spends on average on virtual transactions in Zynga’s games.) Zynga said that its revenue will decline even further in the fourth quarter to $175 million to $185 million — which is usually
Breather Aims To Launch Its Network Of On-Demand Rooms In New York In Early 2014
Oct 24, 9:43PM
There's no denying that New York is full of coffee shops and coworking spaces where a person can hunker down and get things done, but there's something to be said about a little privacy. And that's the gist of a buzzy startup called Breather. It wants to offer up an on-demand batch of stylish, carefully curated rooms for people who need to work or take it easy for a few moments. Or anything else, really. "Breather is all about peace and quiet on demand," founder and CEO Julian Smith told me. "But there are all these potential use cases that we can't expect; Breather is agnostic that way."
Amazon Reports Q3 Sales Of $17.09B, Up 24%, But Records Second Straight Loss
Oct 24, 9:27PM
Amazon managed to beat expectations in its third quarter, with net sales of $17.09 billion, and a per-share loss of $0.09, or $41 million. The street had expected Amazon to lose $0.10 per share on sales of $16.8 billion. In after-hours trading, Amazon is up a strong 7 percent. Investors are clearly heartened by what they see. As Blair Frank of GeekWire points out, however, this is Amazon's second straight quarterly loss, and the company expects to lose a stunning $500 million in its fourth quarter. 
TechStars Seattle Demo Day Showcases Google Glass Apps And More From 11 Startups
Oct 24, 9:11PM
Eleven startups will present this afternoon at TechStars Seattle. I am here to check them out and see which ones look promising. I have an enterprise slant but several from this group, like a lot of startups, have both consumer and business use cases. I’ll post my top picks later today. If you have any favorites, please mention them in the comments. Here’s the list. Everpath: Empowering online instructors to create and sell their own courses on their own web sites. Cuecard: Mobile-first forms that are transformed into apps that can be quickly deployed to an organization’s workforce. Wire.im: Photo and video messaging that is designed for instant feedback. Codementor: Instant help from expert developers. Sparktrend: A service that helps customers find the clothes they like based on the outfits they have seen on Pinterest. Shippable: A platform to help developers ship code faster One of the companies that started after the class was picked in August. ResolutionTube: A service that uses augmented reality to help technicians solve problems with collaboration tools such as video chat and whiteboards. Perfect: Video lifeblogging for Google Glass. Vetted: A curated marketplace for high-end independent professionals.The company was previously called Opinr. Designlab: Help people learn design by doing design. InsideSocial: A platform to help customers improve the impact social has on the metrics that drive their business.
Zynga Poaches DeNA's Clive Downie As New COO
Oct 24, 8:30PM
The management shuffle at Zynga continues as new CEO Don Mattrick fills the executive ranks with longtime colleagues and friends from the industry. He’s poached Clive Downie from Japan’s DeNA to be the company’s new COO. Downie has been in the gaming industry for more than 20 years, with 15 years of experience at Electronic Arts overseeing franchises like FIFA Soccer, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor and Command & Conquer. After Electronic Arts, Downie joined Neil Young at ngmoco (which was short-hand for next-generation mobile company). Ngmoco was an early iOS developer that Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA ultimately acquired for up to roughly $400 million in cash and stock. DeNA bought the startup as part of an effort to duplicate the company’s success in the West through creating a dual game distribution platform and first-party game developer. (Ironically, Zynga was also an interested bidder in the deal several years ago.) While at DeNA, Downie oversaw the development of the Mobage gaming platform and managed a number of first-party gaming studios in San Francisco, Vancouver and Chile. Downie, who will report directly to Mattrick, takes the role after David Ko left the position two months ago. He has a tough job ahead, as Zynga is in the process of resetting its entire product pipeline. He had mysteriously resigned from DeNA earlier this week, and DeNA West’s chief financial officer Shintaro Asako took over his role.
Microsoft Crushes FQ1 Expectations With Revenue of $18.5B, EPS Of $0.62, $400M In Surface Top Line
Oct 24, 8:06PM
Microsoft reported its fiscal first quarter results today, with revenue of $18.53 billion and earnings per share of $0.62. Analysts had expected the first quarter of Microsoft's fiscal 2014 to generated revenue of $17.8 billion and earnings per share of $0.54. Microsoft's net income was $5.24 billion, and its operating income was $6.33 billion. Microsoft ended the quarter with just over $80 billion in cash and equivalents. It remains exceptionally wealthy. Though, keep in mind that most of that cash is overseas.
Twitter To Offer 70M Shares Priced At $17-$20 Per Share To Raise Up To $1.4B In IPO
Oct 24, 8:06PM
Twitter will offer 70 million shares in its initial public offering, and will price them at $17-$20 per share, according to an amended S-1 filing. Twitter’s IPO pricing range was rumored to drop today, several weeks after it announced plans to go public. The $20 pricing indicates that Twitter could raise as much as $1.4 billion with this IPO or $1.6 billion, including the over-allotment option — which accounts for around a 13 percent stake in the company overall. Twitter notes that underwriters have an option to purchase 10,500,000 more shares if the IPO is exceeded at the IPO price less discount. “Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the common stock. It is currently estimated that the initial public offering price per share will be between $17.00 and $20.00,” the amendment reads. “Our common stock has been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TWTR". At the maximum $20 price per share, Twitter would have a valuation of close to $11 billion, which is lower than the close to $15 billion that had been rumored. This could set the stock up for a springy landing when it hits early next month. That could help Twitter avoid the public perception issue that Facebook faced when its high-priced shares flopped on initial offering. Several of the company’s directors and executives are sharing stock. Chairman Jack Dorsey is selling roughly .6 percent of the company and will own 4.3 percent after the offering — making his share worth around $434 million. Co-founder Evan Williams is selling 1.6 percent of the company and will own 10.4 percent after the offering. Williams will be worth just over $1 billion if the shares go at a median price of $18.50. CEO Dick Costolo will own 1.4 percent of the company after IPO. Twitter’s road show begins tomorrow and will wrap up in two weeks, after which it will set an official price. How about it, are you going to buy? http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/24/twitter-to-offer-70m-shares-in-ipo-priced-at-17-20-per-share/?preview=true&preview_id=904832&preview_nonce=39006075f2
This Is What Instagram Ads Look Like
Oct 24, 7:12PM
Instagram has just released the first images of what its ads will look like. Last month the company announced Sponsored Photos and Sponsored Videos would begin appearing in people's feeds from brands they don't follow, stressing they'd be beautiful like magazine ads. Now you can judge for yourself.
Twitter Announces NBC's Vivian Schiller As Head Of News Partnerships
Oct 24, 7:10PM
In a tweet today, Twitter announced Chief Digital Officer of NBC Vivian Schiller as head of its News Partnerships. Schiller will be leaving NBC News at year’s end and joining Twitter in January. Schiller had been rumored as the choice for Twitter’s head of news for some time, including a report from All Things D earlier this month that she was a ‘lock’ for the role. Excited to join @Twitter as Head of News in January. Leaving @NBCNews at year’s end. Grateful to my beloved colleagues for 2+ great years. — Vivian Schiller (@VivianSchiller) October 24, 2013 Schiller has been at NBC Universal since 2011 and has held positions at the NYT, Discovery and NPR. Twitter began formally searching for a candidate for the position in April of this year. The original job posting noted that the person in the position would be “responsible for devising and executing the strategies that make Twitter indispensable to newsrooms and journalists, as well as an essential part of the operations and strategy of news organizations and TV news networks.” Twitter is in the process of making sure that people continue to view it as a source for news. It’s currently experimenting with a breaking news notification account called @eventparrot and recently expanded its emergency alerts program. A large portion of Twitter’s development efforts over the past few months have been centered around big media partnerships with TV and sports organizations. But one of the earliest codified uses of Twitter beyond ‘here’s my lunch’ was breaking news. It was a natural jump from daily minutiae to daily news and then news by the minute. One of the prime early examples of this was the “just felt an earthquake” tweets that outpaced most traditional methods of alert. Twitter also began getting recommendations from governments for use during emergencies. For some, Twitter is viewed as the biggest, most powerful unified conduit for real-time news that we have. Now, Twitter needs to convince news organizations to use it in a way that will benefit both parties. And that’s Schiller’s job. Image: All Things D
Tesla Snags Apple VP Of Mac Hardware To Lead New Vehicle Development
Oct 24, 6:53PM
Apple VP of Product Design Doug Field is leaving the company for Tesla according to a press release from the automaker today. Field will head programs that will drive the development of new vehicles for the electric car maker. The hire was first spotted by CNBC. "Doug has demonstrated the leadership and technical talent to develop and deliver outstanding products, including what are widely considered the best computers in the world," said Elon Musk, Tesla co-founder and CEO in a statement issued today. "Tesla's future depends on engineers who can create the most innovative, technologically advanced vehicles in the world. Doug's experience in both consumer electronics and traditional automotive makes him an important addition to our leadership team." Field says that he had never seriously considered leaving Apple. He began his career as a development engineer at Ford but says that he left the auto industry in “search of fast-paced, exciting engineering challenges elsewhere.” “As the first high tech auto company in modern history,” says Field, “Tesla is at last an opportunity for me and many others to pursue the dream of building the best cars in the world—while being part of one of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley.” Field has been with Apple for over five years and worked in Mac hardware. Before that, Field was VP of Design & Engineering and CTO at Segway. Apple hired Segway robotics expert John Morell last year but it’s unclear what he’s working on. Tesla has other Apple DNA on staff, as its VP of Sales & Ownership George Blankenship came from Apple where he was its Vice President of Real Estate.
Pricing Engine Data Shows Lower Costs For Businesses That Advertise On Bing
Oct 24, 6:35PM
Pricing Engine, a company that guides small businesses through the process of buying online ads, is presenting its first report today (at the Street Fight Summit New York) on data from its customers. That data is already an important part of its business, because Pricing Engine (which CEO Jeremy Kagan demonstrated for me last week) compares the performance of its advertisers to related companies and is able to provide recommendations, as well as a report card. (Companies with a similar approach include AdStage.)
Messaging App Line To Go Public In 2014 On The Tokyo Exchange, Report Says
Oct 24, 6:14PM
According to Nikkei, Line, a popular messaging and call service, intends to go public in 2014 on the Tokyo stock exchange. The company is expected to go public at a valuation between $800 million USD and $1 billion. According to Serkan Toto, Line has 270 million registered users. It isn’t clear what percentage of that user base is active on a monthly basis. Twitter, a company that is also set to go public shortly, has around 230 million monthly active users. The comparison matters are both mobile-focused communications applications. And Twitter could go public at an IPO valuation of as high as $20 billion, if scuttlebutt is to be believed. We can’t be too perfectly sure, but it would seem that Twitter is being valued much higher on a per-user basis. Line as a company has been at the forefront of the rising profile of so-called ‘over-the-top’ (OTT) messaging services that have quickly grown in recent years. Others include Viber and KakaoTalk. Essentially, they replace the native SMS and call capabilities that come in smartphones. It has become a massive market. Line’s 270 million users are only a fraction of the larger OTT communications market. When Line goes public, it could clear the way for other OTT applications to follow suit. Top Image Credit: Joi Ito
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