Libuda
: Only large-scale ORAN running in the world
The only large-scale ORAN running in the world is Rakuten
More than that, Rakuten is the only vendor who can claim first-hand, operational knowledge of running a large-scale network for telecom based entirely on open principles. They really did write the book on this. As CEO Micky Mikitani put it: “Everyone is talking about open RAN. But the only ORAN running in the world is Rakuten. We will be the front runner and the major player for this new standard – and profitable.”
Libuda
: Incremental cost of delivering the 1&1 network is
The incremental cost of delivering the 1&1 network is low, due to the investments already made in Rakuten RCP and establishing Rakuten Mobile.
In an earlier briefing, Tareq was at pains to remind the market that “Rakuten is not a telco. We’re an internet company”, positioning the 1&1 deployment as “Rakuten 2.0”. Characteristically, that’s both bold and perfectly clear, and precisely what the Rakuten-in-telecom mission has been about for a long time. Not just Japan. Definitely not just Japan. Miktani reinforced the point, telling investors that the incremental cost of delivering the 1&1 network is low, due to the investments already made in Rakuten RCP and establishing Rakuten Mobile.
Miktani is aiming for Rakuten to be a big player in the $150bn a year global telecom market. And the potential to upsell telco customers with a portfolio of existing Rakuten Group digital services is a differentiator that will appeal to other operators.
Libuda
: Rakuten ownerships in BlueVine and Currency Cloud
The Top 100 Financial Technology Companies of 2021 July 27, 2021
13. BlueVine Category: Business Lending BlueVine is an online lending service that caters to small businesses with invoice factoring, term loans, and conditional lines of credit. Providing support for those with poor credit who need short-term funding, the company has been helping people stay afloat since before the pandemic. The company’s policies have attracted over 450,000 small business owners. BlueVine has broken new ground with its completely free business checking account that advertise zero minimum balance requirements, monthly transaction limits, or monthly fees of any kind. Customers can also count on 1.0% interest on business checking balances up to $100,000. Eyal Lifshitz, BlueVine’s Chief Executive Officer, co-founded the company in 2013. Though based out of Redwood City in California, BlueVine has offices in Los Angeles and Jersey City, New Jersey.
86. CurrencyCloud Category: International Payments U.K.-based payment platform company CurrencyCloud has made waves as a foreign currency exchange automation innovator. Its technology cuts out the hassle and inefficiency of traditional cross-border payments through malleable APIs. Digital currency management is simplified with automated end-to-end payment processes and conversion services. With CurrencyCloud, clients can fund as many as 34 foreign currency wallets provisioned with real-time wholesale rates. Germinating from a small office in east London, CurrencyCloud has grown quickly into a 400-employee company that processes more than $1 billion per month in international payments. Chief Executive Officer Mike Laven guided the company from initial funding in 2012 to current-day international operations in New York, Amsterdam, Singapore, and Wales. CurrencyCloud’s most recent round of funding raised $80 million with new investors Visa and BNP Paribas joining the fold alongside extant shareholders such as Google Ventures. This year, Global Processing Services has teamed up with the company to further widen accessibility to cross-border payments and create an enterprise-grade, off-the-shelf, pre-integrated solution for financial translation needs.
Libuda
: Ein außergewöhnlicher Hardware-Move von Kobo
Kobo is doing something that is so out of character for them, with the advent of the Elipsa
Kobo is the global number two player in the e-Reader industry. The company has done a very good job over the years with international expansion and selling their devices in a retail setting. This allows customers to play around with the units before they buy them, this is something that Amazon has not really been able to solve, outside of the US, with their small footprint of bookstores.
Kobo first started developing e-readers in 2010 and have released 16 different E INK devices over the years. They have always put a priority on consumers and various e-readers hit different price points to cater to different demographics. Entry level devices such as Nia and Touch 2.0 were cheap and cheerful, aimed at people who were new to reading ebooks and did not want to spend over $100. Midlevel devices often had better resolution and industrial build quality and had features such as being waterproof. The Kobo Clara HD, Kobo Libra H2O and Glo HD are good examples. Over the past four years, Kobo has issued some premium e-readers that cost over $200 and range upwards to $350, depending on storage. The Forma and Kobo Aura One are their flagship models and aimed at demanding users who want the the very best.
Kobo is doing something that is so out of character for them, with the advent of the Elipsa. This is part e-note and part e-Reader. It comes with a capacitive stylus that is designed to edit ebooks, PDF files and freehand draw. Complex math equations can be solved automatically and they also have an advanced handwriting to text engine. Of course, the Elipsa taps into the entire Kobo ecosystem of digital content, you can read all of your favorite books, comics or graphic novels. Overdrive integration ensures that you can login to your local library branch and borrow ebooks. This is also Pocket, to read your favorite blog articles and Dropbox to save your edited PDF files and drawings.
Rakuten Pay conducts 10,000 points return campaign to 500 people every month for one year –Engadget Japanese version
August 25, 2021
On August 25th, Rakuten Pay announced the “1 year long! Monthly full return lottery campaign” for the smartphone payment “Rakuten Pay”.
When “Rakuten Pay” users enter the campaign, the full amount of points paid by “Rakuten Pay” at the actual store will be returned (up to 10,000 points) by lottery every month. The number of winners is 500 per month.
We will also carry out the first one-year joint campaign with “Rakuten Mobile”. “Rakuten Pay” app users can apply for a new rate plan “Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI” after entering the campaign, and if they use the super communication app “Rakuten Link”, the payment amount of “Rakuten Pay” in the current month and the following month will be 20%. You can receive points reduction (up to 1,000 points).
Rakuten’s Moves in the 5G Market Throw Down the Gauntlet in the CSP Ecosystem
23 days ago
In this newest episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, analysts Ron Westfall and Shelly Kramer discuss Rakuten’s moves in the 5G market and how the company is essentially throwing down the gauntlet for the rest of the CSP ecosystem. In this conversation, we cover the benefits of the early mover advantage for CSPs, along with the implications for the Open RAN segment and the overall 5G market developments of the last week.
Some of the things we touched in this 5G-focused webcast included:
Why Rakuten’s acquisition of $1B acquisition of Altiostar is a 5G game changer. Rakuten is raising the competitive stakes across the entire 5G ecosystem. With this $1 billion acquisition of an Open RAN specialist, Rakuten is providing a template for how Communications Service Providers (CSPs) can gain a strategic competitive edge in the cloud-based 5G ecosystem – own more of the software assets key to long-term 5G build and innovation.
Some highlights from the research out of IBM’s Institute for Business Value (presented in a recent episode of our show) on the serious advantages that exist for fast-moving CSPs in the current market. Find the research report from IBM Institute for Business Value here: The end of communications services as we know them, focused on how 5G and edge will help define who wins in the booming digital economy
The strategic impact on the overall Open RAN market segment of Altiostar agreeing to merge with Rakuten to lock-in its long-term competitiveness. As an independent Open RAN supplier, Altiostar was more vulnerable to any delays in CSP deployment of Open RAN technology as well as increasing pressure from incumbent RAN players, such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung, increasing their targeting of the Open RAN space.
How the Rakuten acquisition of Altiostar epitomizes the approach many CSPs should adopt, which is the strategic acquisition of telco-specific and cloud-specific software assets.
The market significance of Rakuten and 1&1 AG partnering to build Germany’s fourth mobile network based on a fully virtualized mobile network using Open RAN technology.
Why the formation of the Rakuten Symphony unit, combining Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP), Open RAN software, and Rakuten’s international telco solutions, can accelerate ecosystem adoption of Open RAN and Open 5G technology.
Libuda
: Alchimie deal expands Rakuten TV portfolio
SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 10.01 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER
Rakuten TV has signed a new agreement with Alchimie that will increase the range of themed channels on its platform.
Eight channels, Humanity, Luxe TV, MMA TV, Big Names, Motorsport TV, Télézap, Explore by TVPlayer and Krime, will be rolled out across Ratkuten’s 42 country footprint.
“Partnering with Alchimie is another milestone in our European expansion and reinforces our commitment to deliver localised and relevant content to all audiences”, said Teresa López, Head of Content at Rakuten TV. “Thanks to Alchimie’s wide variety of content, our line-up expands, providing a broad range of choices for all tastes, from culinary to sports or documentaries”.
L’Atelier des Chefs, which has already launched as part of Rakuten TV’s new culinary channels’ expansion, is also available.
Libuda
: Rakuten plans a non-fungible token platform
Today Japans’s Rakuten announced plans to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) platform. The company might best be described as a digital conglomerate. Its roots are in retail where it operates online shopping sites, runs online rewards and loyalty programs around the world, and is also heavily involved in finance. Apart from rewards, for NFTs one of its most relevant activities is the company’s involvement in sports.
Rakuten is the shirt sponsor and key partner of FC Barcelona, one of the world’s biggest soccer clubs and former home of Lionel Messi. It also sponsors the NBA team Golden State Warriors, the Tennis Davis Cup and Tokyo Open, as well Japanese baseball team Rakuten Eagles, and ladies golf in Japan. It’s a big company with 100 million registered users in Japan and 1.4 billion globally.
In the spring of 2022, Rakuten plans to launch a marketplace for users to buy NFTs in various fields, including sports and entertainment such as music and animation.
And it intends to bring together various aspects of its business with NFTs, such as the ability to use rewards points, accumulate more points, and pay with a Rakuten ID. It explicitly mentions NFTs being awarded as prizes.
The Japanese firm started exploring blockchain back in 2016. In 2019 it partnered with Chinese blockchain startup Techrock, which authenticates goods. Meanwhile, Rakuten Securities is a founding member of the Japan Security Token Offering Association, which boasts most incumbent securities players as participants.
Libuda
: Dell'Oro bumps open RAN-revenue forecast 50%
I am sure, additional increases of the forecast will follow
Dell’Oro bumps revenue forecast 50% as open RAN gains steam
by Diana Goovaerts |
Sep 3, 2021 11:07am
Dell’Oro Group raised its open RAN revenue forecast by 50%, citing strong momentum behind the technology in the first half of 2021.
The analyst firm previously predicted cumulative open RAN revenue from 2020 to 2025 would hit as much as $10 billion. It now believes the figure could soar as high as $15 billion, with open RAN revenues accounting for more than 10% of the overall RAN market by 2025. The latter figure would mark an increase from open RAN’s expected 1% to 2% share of the market in 2021.
Stefan Pongratz, Dell’Oro Group VP and analyst, noted in May there was a five-fold jump in open RAN revenue in Q1 2021. He told Fierce on Friday momentum behind the technology has continued to grow. “The market is coming in at a faster pace than expected, especially in the APAC region, underpinned by a fairly rapid transition from proprietary RAN towards 5G Open RAN,” he said. “In addition, feedback from the suppliers suggest the pipeline is improving. This combined with the increased likelihood that more operators will demand their suppliers support the O-RAN specification forms the basis for the improved market sentiment and more favorable outlook.”
Libuda
: Rakuten startet Online-Supermarkt-Plattform
Rakuten startet in 2021 die Online-Supermarkt-Plattform "Rakuten Zenkoku Super" Freitag, 20. August 2021 um 13:53
TOKIO (IT-Times) - Der größte japanische E-Commerce Konzern Rakuten Group will noch in diesem Jahr eine Online-Plattform starten, die Supermarktketten den Einstig in das Online-Geschäft erleichtern soll. In einem ersten Schritt wird die Supermarktkette Beisia angeschlossen. Die Einzelhandelskette hat ihren Sitz in der Präfektur Gunma und betreibt 138 Filialen in Tokio und 14 weiteren Präfekturen in ganz Japan.
Mit der neuen Plattform stellt Rakuten Supermarktbetreibern in ganz Japan ein System für den Betrieb von Online-Supermärkten zur Verfügung - einschließlich Bestellmanagement und Online-Zahlungen.
Libuda
: O-RAN capex will reach USD43 billion by 2030
O-RAN capex will reach USD43 billion and account for 76% of active RAN capex by 2030
In June 2021 STL published a capex forecast as its first attempt at estimating the value of the O-RAN market.
This O-RAN forecast is based on analysis of telco RAN capex and projected investment pathways for O-RAN. The assumptions are informed by public announcements, private discussions and the opinions of our Telco Cloud team. O-RAN capex will reach USD43 billion and account for 76% of active RAN capex by 2030.
Rakuten members have earned 2.5 trillion Rakuten Points
SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
Since September 2020, Rakuten users in Japan have earned an additional 500 billion Rakuten Points, taking the cumulative total to a staggering 2.5 trillion — equivalent in value to 2.5 trillion Japanese yen, or around USD 23 billion.
The Rakuten Points loyalty program has been around for nearly 20 years. So why has one fifth of all points been given out in the past 12 months?
Rakuten Points: Bringing an ecosystem together
One reason for this rapid acceleration lies in the Rakuten Ecosystem — Rakuten’s vast network of more than 70 services in Japan.
In one corner, Rakuten’s credit card business is growing like never before. In January 2021, users exceeded 21 million in Japan, with annual transaction volume topping 11 trillion yen — 1% of which is paid back to shoppers in the form of points. As of June, the total number of Rakuten Cards issued has surpassed 23 million.
In another, the recent launch of the Rakuten Mobile network has also seen a flurry of new point campaigns as the new carrier looks to attract subscribers — which recently topped five million.
At the same time, Rakuten’s e-commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba has seen astonishing growth as the stay-home movement encourages consumers to do more of their shopping online. The platform runs frequent sales and campaigns which allow users to earn more than the regular one point for every 100 yen spent — sometimes pushing the point-back ratio to over 40%.
Part of this point bonanza is thanks to Rakuten Ichiba’s innovative Super Point Up program, which rewards users with extra points on their purchases when they also use other Rakuten services — like the aforementioned Rakuten Card and Rakuten Mobile, as well as many other services such as Rakuten Travel, Rakuten Securities and Rakuten Bank.
In fact, it was revealed that nearly 74% of Rakuten users were reaping the benefits of the Rakuten Ecosystem by using more than one Rakuten service. Thanks to this, the average number of points earned per active Rakuten member has not just doubled, but tripled over the past 10 years.
More ways to earn, more ways to spend
The Rakuten Points loyalty program has been rewarding users of Rakuten services since 2002, allowing them to use their points across the Rakuten Ecosystem. But recent developments have boosted the program to new heights.
2016 saw the launch of the Rakuten Pay app, which allows users to spend their points not just on Rakuten services, but in place of cash at some five million supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants and other physical stores around Japan.
In 2018, Rakuten launched a service for users to effectively invest their points in the stock market, without the need for a securities account — an opportunity that five million Rakuten Point-lovers have jumped at. And since 2021, users have been able to exchange their points for cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin via Rakuten Wallet — free of charge.
With so many opportunities to earn and spend Rakuten Points, it’s little wonder that the program has been consecutively named the number 1 loyalty points program in Japan by overall customer satisfaction.
Acorns, The Largest Subscription Service In Consumer Finance, To Become Publicly Traded Company
-- 4+ million loyal everyday American subscribers, expected to grow to 10 million by 2025
-- 2X subscriber base growth since 2019, with high premium tier sign-up rates and attractive operating gross margins
-- Acorns to enter business combination agreement with Pioneer Merger Corp.
-- Institutional investors including Wellington Management, TPG and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock have committed to an oversubscribed, upsized private placement at closing; combined public company expected to have over $450M cash balance at closing
-- Transaction assigns Acorns an expected pro forma, fully-diluted equity value of $2.2 billion
-- Public listing accelerates Acorns ability to build financial wellness system for everyday Americans who have saved and invested over $9.6 billion for the future
Libuda
: Rakuten Insurance setzt auf künstliche Intelligenz
DIE ALLGEMEINE KONTAKTSTELLE VON RAKUTEN INSURANCE FÜHRT KI IN CONTACT CENTER EIN
RAKUTEN INSURANCE PLANNING CO., LTD. (HAUPTSITZ: SHINJUKU-KU, TOKIO, PRÄSIDENT: SHOHEI SAKAI) FREUT SICH, KI IN SEINEM CONTACT CENTER EINZUFÜHREN, MIT DEM ZIEL, DIE SERVICEQUALITÄT FÜR KUNDEN ZU VERBESSERN.
Seit seiner Gründung im Juni 2019 bietet Rakuten Insurance Dienstleistungen aus einer Zentrale Beratungen und Anfragen zu Rakuten Insurance Group Life Insurance, Nichtlebensversicherungen und Haustierversicherungen sowie Änderungen des Vertragsinhalts an. Bisher akzeptieren wir neben telefonischen Verfahren und Beratungen durch Contact Center-Betreiber auch Verfahren über Websites und Smartphones.
DER IN DIESEM JAHR EINGEFÜHRTE KI-OPERATOR IST EIN SERVICE, BEI DEM KI-ROBOTER IM AUFTRAG VON BEMANNTEN BETREIBERN MIT KUNDEN SPRECHEN, UND SIE KÖNNEN IHRE IDENTITÄT NICHT NUR DURCH SPRACHERKENNUNG ÜBERPRÜFEN UND AN DIE ZUSTÄNDIGE KONTAKTSTELLE ÜBERTRAGEN, SONDERN SIE KÖNNEN AUCH DAS VERFAHREN ZUR ÄNDERUNG EINIGER VERTRAGSINHALTE NUR MIT SPRACHERKENNUNG ABSCHLIESSEN.
Auf diese Weise können Sie den Vorgang starten, ohne warten zu müssen, bis er zu einem bemannten Bediener führt. Sie können die Verfahren auch außerhalb der Geschäftszeiten des Contact Centers abschließen. Wir erwarten, dass die Auswahl der optimalen Vorgehensmethode aus Webseiten, Smartphones, bemannten Betreibern und KI-Betreibern nach Kundenkomfort und Verfahrensinhalten zu einer weiteren Verbesserung des Komforts für die Kunden führen wird. datum der einführung: freitag, 3. september 2021
führe ich darauf zurück, dass immer noch nicht alle Fonds, die nach der m.E. absurden Rating-Abwertung durch S&P aufgrund ihrer Vorgaben aussteigen mussten, ihre Operationen abgeschlossen haben. Andererseits zeigen mir die nur leichten Kursabschläge, dass andere die Hände aufhalten - und ich gehöre auch dazu.
Libuda
: Rakuten Viber today is fast-growing and profitable
Rakuten Viber Appoints COO, Ofir Eyal, as Interim CEO
By Viber Team
Rakuten Viber is announcing today the appointment of Ofir Eyal as interim CEO. Djamel Agaoua is stepping down after four and a half years as CEO, and Eyal will transition into the interim position from his role as Chief Operating Officer.
Eyal is a Viber veteran, first joining Viber as Vice President of Product in 2014 before his promotion to Chief Operating Officer in 2019. Before joining Viber, Eyal worked on Citibank’s flagship mobile trading app for its institutional customers worldwide.
In his previous roles at Viber, Eyal focused on user experience, customer success, content, and localization. Moving forward, he will lead Rakuten Viber’s ambitious campaign of product development, discovering new markets, and business opportunities as the company further establishes itself as a major and innovative player in the global messaging market.
Eyal and Agaoua worked closely together to support the company’s successful audience growth and introduce new sources of monetization. Rakuten Viber today is a fast-growing and profitable company committed to investing in new product features.
Since its launch in 2010, Rakuten Viber has become a leader among global communication apps. The company also set the foundations for future development as a multi-purpose platform, adding payment capabilities and community-building features for businesses and celebrities. Rakuten Viber continues to add exciting new features, exemplified by its recent collaboration with Snap to bring AR Lenses to the app and support content creation.
“I am proud to assume the role of interim CEO to guide and guard Viber’s vision towards our next challenges. Above all, I aim to maintain the high standards and innovative spirit established by my predecessor Djamel, in his exceptional contributions to the company. I would like to thank him for the past four years,” said Eyal. “I have a deep sense of appreciation for and obligation to Viber’s mission and our users, and I believe we are more ready than ever to deliver on the promise of our technology.”
Viber-Messenger: Kann er WhatsApp & Signal einholen?
Der über¬wie¬gend in Asien und Osteu¬ropa verbrei¬tete Messenger Viber schickt sich an, auch in Deutsch¬land dem Platz¬hirsch WhatsApp Markt¬anteile abzu¬jagen. Ob und wie das gelingen kann, darüber unter¬halten wir uns mit Nadav Melnick, VP Product von Viber. Von Alexander Kuch 05.09.2021 09:18
Viber ist eine der wenigen Messa¬ging-Platt¬formen, die es geschafft haben, profi¬tabel zu sein, indem sie nicht dem WhatsApp-Geschäfts¬modell folgen - wir sammeln keine Daten und sind voll-ständig GDPR-konform. Viber ist ein Dienst, der als VoIP-App begann und allmäh¬lich um Dinge wie Text¬nach¬richten, Sprach¬anrufe, Grup¬pen¬nach¬richten und Grup¬pen¬video¬anrufe, voll¬ständig synchro¬nisierte Desktop- und Mobil-Apps und vieles mehr erwei¬tert wurde. Wie andere Dienste ist auch Viber End-to-End-verschlüs¬selt, verfügt aber über einzig¬artige Funk¬tionen wie AR-gesteu¬erte Selfie-Lenses (in Part¬ner¬schaft mit Snap¬chat), Gruppen-Video¬anrufe und eine "Commu¬nities"-Funk¬tion, bei der es sich im Grunde um ein soziales Netz¬werk handelt, in dem Menschen auf der ganzen Welt bestimmte Themen von Inter¬esse disku¬tieren können.
Recently, ABI Research issued a report noting that private network deployments are expected to generate revenue of over $64 billion by 2030. Much work has been done to establish the standards and lay the groundwork for how private networks can be operated. However, at this stage, the reality is that the ability to deploy a private network remains cost-prohibitive for the majority of enterprises today. Specifically, enterprises face two significant challenges: the overall cost of radio access network (RAN) equipment and maintenance and the cost of spectrum licensing.
Thankfully, these challenges are being addressed. The first by a growing ecosystem of open telecom vendors developing a number of interoperable solutions, including Open RAN, that provide best-of-breed selection and greater flexibility for network design and deployment.
Open RAN solutions, along with 3GPP combinations, bring full openness and a path for enterprises to ease into multi-vendor IoT platforms. Open RAN with open API supports artificial intelligence and machine learning through the implementation of a RAN intelligent controller (RIC). This further enables simplification of operation and low-cost maintenance, allowing MNOs the ability to increase their focus on the development and delivery of new connectivity services for new market segments.
Operators Confront Souring Private Networks Position
Matt Kapko | Editor August 24, 2021 11:04 PM
„Pearson remains optimistic about the outlook for private 5G networks, as he highlighted a recent report from Polaris Market Research that projects the private 5G networks market to reach $13.92 billion by 2028, representing a nearly 41% compound annual growth rate.“
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