Author Archives: Scalper1

PayPal Restructures Braintree Developer Program; Staff Cuts Reported

PayPal ( PYPL ) subsidiary Braintree is rejiggering its developer program, shifting some staff to other departments, with PayPal telling IBD Friday that a branded developer group isn’t needed. The changes at Braintree  included staff cuts , The Next Web reported. Braintree powers payments for a roster of clients that includes startups such as alternative accommodations provider Airbnb, ride-hailing app Uber, and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) competitor Jet.com. Reached by telephone Friday afternoon, a PayPal spokeswoman did not confirm layoffs. She said that the changes had nothing to do with the company’s performance and issued the following statement: “Developer advocacy has become an integral part of the PayPal and Braintree businesses, and is at the core of everything that we do. As such, having a branded developer advocacy group is no longer necessary.” The team most recently known as Braintree_Dev will no longer operate under that moniker, and some members of the team will be integrated into developer facing roles throughout Braintree. Additionally, as we build the next generation of developer facing programs, we will not be bringing BattleHack back in 2016, but will be back soon with information on upcoming programs and events.” BattleHack is Braintree’s hackathon — an event where software developers compete to create a product during the duration of the event, which is presented for judging at the end. There is sometimes a prize associated with a win, and in Braintree’s case it was $100,000. We’ve decided to rethink #battlehack 2016 & are working on new initiatives to engage with you all. Follow @braintree for future updates. — braintree_dev (@braintree_dev) March 9, 2016 Like PayPal — which has been aggressively marketing itself as “new money,” Braintree is also advertising in tech hubs around the world. PayPal, an IBD Leaderboard stock, was up more than 2% in afternoon trading on the stock market today . Today’s rise shores up its hold above a 38.62 buy point. Volume was 70% above average and the stock is in buy range. PayPal acquired Braintree in 2013 for $800 million. The acquisition also included Venmo, a peer-to-peer payments app popular among millennials. Venmo competes with similar products such as Square ( SQ ) Cash.

Amazon Alexa Seen Topping Apple Siri, As Voice Commander

Siri, the virtual assistant Apple ( AAPL ) released nearly five years ago, may be topped by  Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and its own spin on said tech, Alexa, an analyst says. MarketWatch cites analyst James Cakmak of Monness, Crespi & Hardt as saying that Alexa could overtake Apple’s assistant Siri because of its integration with Amazon’s Echo speaker that takes voice commands, and its integration with other home brands. Cakmak sees Alexa increasingly looking headed toward industry-standard position, the report says, especially with the opening of third-party device interoperability. On Jan. 4, Cakmak had  downgraded Amazon from a buy to a neutral rating, citing competitive pressure in 2016. Amazon.com stock was up more than 1%, around 565, in afternoon trading on the stock market today . The company has an IBD Composite Rating of 73, where 99 is the highest. The stock touched a six month low of 474 on Feb. 9, but has since rallied nearly 20% since. Amazon Echo’s Killer App: Alexa Amazon’s Alexa is able to hail rides from Uber, play music, set timers, and manipulate smart devices in homes, such as the Nest thermostat from the Google unit of Alphabet ( GOOGL ), among other functions. On Friday, Capital One Financial ( COF ) announced that it was adding a “skill” — what Amazon calls features — to Alexa, that would let its customers interact with their financial information with voice commands. Capital One said in a statement emailed to reporters that their customers can do things like check their credit card balance, and make payments via Alexa. Several Amazon devices offer Alexa : the original Echo speaker, the smaller Echo Dot with a scaled-down speaker, and the Amazon Tap that requires pressing a button before Alexa can respond to requests. Google and Microsoft ( MSFT ) also offer voice-controlled virtual assistants. Speaker Rival Sonos Slashes Jobs Faced with rising competition from Amazon, Wi-Fi streaming speaker maker Sonos is cutting staff and pivoting to work on voice-controlled features, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Sonos is a partner to Apple and other music providers. “ We’re fans of what Amazon has done with Alexa and the Echo product line,” Sonos CEO John MacFarlane said in a blog post Wednesday. “Voice recognition isn’t new; today it’s nearly ubiquitous with Siri, OK Google and Cortana. But the Echo found a sweet spot in the home and will impact how we navigate music, weather and many, many other things as developers bring new ideas and more content to the Alexa platform.” He called Alexa/Echo the first product “to really showcase the power of voice control in the home” and said Sonos will “invest what’s required” to bring voice-controlled music experiences into the home and to market “in a wonderful way.”