Pokémon Go offers small-business opportunities

While drivers offer their service to drive budding pokémon trainers around for a hefty sum, small shop owners could also get a slice of the Pokémon Go craze.

An article in Business Insider offers a few suggestions for taking advantage of how the game is played.

The game generally picks out local landmarks around the player and turns them into either Pokéstops or Pokémon Gyms. These could be historical landmarks, tourist spots, houses, churches and even establishments. Shop owners can take advantage of this by setting down pokémon lures and watch the pokémon hunters trickle in.

One pizzeria owner commented on Reddit threads that putting down a lure has given his business a boost with the influx of adults and children walking in to look for pokémon. The adults ended up buying a slice of pizza and a drink until the pokémon lure ran out.

If near a Pokémon Gym, establishments could do giveaways of custom Gym badges, keep score of who’s currently in control, and take to social media to publicize updates on the Gym’s current status.

Finally, entrepreneurs could simply follow where the pokémon roams, in this case places near Pokéstops and plant a lure. One could open up a small refreshment stall, sell some trinkets, and whatever else business-minded folk can think of provided it’s legal and the proper paperwork has been done.

Pokémon Go is taking the world by storm and there is little sign of it dying down any time soon. Whether entrepreneurs can capitalize on this or not is entirely up to what their business instincts tell them.  Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net

Spotify reaches ‘100 million users’ milestone

Music streaming service Spotify has confirmed that its monthly active user base has sailed past the 100 million mark for the first time.

A report by Business Insider said the Swedish app’s user base has pushed into new markets and attained an outstanding statistical growth from 75 million to 100 million, despite facing stiff competition from the likes of Apple Music.

In a statement on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), Spotify officials said they were adding some 1.8 million users to their service every month and that 30% of these were paying subscribers.

Overall, the service now boasts over 30 million new subscribers, while the remaining 70 million users still tune into their free subscription.

Apart from the recent surge in user popularity, the company has also overtaken fellow European startup Skype as the continent’s most promising and highly valued application.

Regardless of its newfound success, the company is reportedly still not making much profit, as evidenced by a 10-percent revenue drop in 2015.

These losses can be chiefly attributed to the payments it makes to music labels, artists and music rights holders, the report said.

Spotify has the music-streaming industry’s biggest paid subscriber base,  but the vast majority still tune in free with commercial breaks.

The company, which was founded in 2006, is still paying 80 percent of its revenue and has not yet shown a profit as it spends to grow internationally. Khristian Ibarrola

source: technology.inquirer.net