News Update Times

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Tech giant Facebook is planning to launch a digital wallet this year to allow users to store cryptocurrencies, a senior company executive said in a recent interview. David Marcus, head of Facebook´s crypto unit, told The Information news site that company leaders “feel pretty committed” to launch digital wallet Novi this year.

Marcus said he would have preferred to release Novi alongside Diem, a digital currency tied to the dollar that the company is also developing, but Diem’s timing was uncertain. “In theory, Novi could launch before Diem, but it would mean launching without Diem and that is not necessarily something that we want to do,” Marcus told The Information.

“It all depends on how long it is going to take for Diem to actually go live and that´s not something I’m personally looking after.”

In 2019, Facebook had said it planned to introduce a cryptocurrency that at the time was called Libra. The project, however, faced regulatory resistance over concerns about security and reliability. In December 2020 Libra changed its name to Diem and moved its operations from Switzerland to the United States as part of a “strategic shift.”

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Canada’s e-commerce giant Shopify Inc said on Tuesday it was partnering with TikTok to work on a feature that would let shoppers buy directly from the social media app.

Shopify merchants who have a TikTok business account would soon be able to add a shopping tab to their profiles for the first time ever, the company revealed in a blog post.

The pilot version is currently available to users in the U.S. and UK and the company will launch in additional regions in the coming months. Social media giants including Facebook Inc, Alphabet’s YouTube and Twitter have recently been investing heavily in shopping features to drive sales growth.

The companies are vying for a piece of the so-called social commerce industry, which relies on users’ ability to discover and buy products through social media apps and is expected to balloon to $50 billion from $36 billion in annual sales by 2023 in the United States according to research firm eMarketer.

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp’s (1810.HK) second-quarter revenue rose a record 64% from a year earlier, it said on Wednesday, announcing the purchase of an autonomous driving startup as it prepares to expand into the competitive market.

Sales reached 87.8 billion yuan ($13.56 billion), up from 53.54 billion a year earlier and beating analyst expectations of 84.53 billion yuan as the company grew its share of the global smartphone market and expanded its ‘IoT’ product footprint.

Net income reached 6.32 billion yuan, up 87.4% year on year and above analyst expectations.Global smartphone shipments ranking rose to No.2, firmly establishing the Xiaomi brand in the premium smartphone market with its products.

According to the details , Xiaomi saw its second-quarter revenue rise a record 64% from a year earlier, it said on Wednesday, In the second quarter of 2021, Xiaomi’s total revenue amounted to RMB87.8 billion, representing an increase of 64.0% year-over-year; adjusted net profit for the period was RMB6.3 billion, an increase of 87.4% year-over-year. Total revenue and adjusted net profit both reached record highs in the quarter demonstrating the excellence of the business model and the robustness of its operations.

Mi’s smartphone business continued to exhibit significant growth in the second quarter of 2021, highlighted by record-breaking smartphone revenue and shipments. Smartphone revenue amounted to RMB59.1 billion in the reporting period representing an increase of 86.8% year-over-year. The Group’s global smartphone shipments reached 52.9 million units representing an increase of 86.8% year-over-year. According to Canalys, Xiaomi’s global smartphone shipments ranked No. 2 for the first time in the second quarter with a market share of 16.7%.

Meanwhile, the Group’s smartphone shipments in mainland China market also grew rapidly. According to Canalys, in the second quarter of 2021, our smartphone market share in mainland China rose to 16.8% from 10.3% in the second quarter of 2020, ranking third with a 35.1% year-over-year increase in smartphone shipments, the highest growth rate among major players in the market.

According to third party data, in the second quarter of 2021, the market share of Xiaomi’s smartphones in mainland China with prices between RMB3,000 and RMB4,000, RMB4,000 and RMB5,000, and above RMB5,000, witnessed a year-over-year increase. In the first half of 2021, the global shipments of our smartphones with retail prices at or above RMB3,000 in mainland China and EUR300 or equivalent in overseas markets exceeded 12 million units, surpassing the total of around 10 million units shipped in 2020.

Revenue from internet services reached record high, user base in key overseas markets continued to expand. Xiaomi’s internet services segment maintained its growth momentum. In the second quarter of 2021, revenue from internet services amounted to RMB7.0 billion, reaching a record high and representing an increase of 19.1% year-over-year.

The Group also continued to leverage its online channels overseas. In the first half of 2021, it sold more than 10 million smartphones via online channels in overseas markets, excluding India, representing an increase of over 60% year-over-year. Robust growth underpinned by relentless focus on technological innovation and talent development

Xiaomi remain steadfast in its pursuit of technology advancement which strengthens the backbone of its business. In the second quarter of 2021, Xiaomi recorded RMB3.1 billion in research and development expenses representing a year-over-year increase of 56.5%.