financing
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The Xbox Series S and X will be available on monthly payment plans
Microsoft will offer two-year financing for its next-gen consoles.
Google's latest search feature helps you buy a house
If you’re planning to buy a house, then congratulations and good luck — it can be a daunting process. To make it a bit easier, Google has teamed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to create a new mobile Search feature.
Apple Card users get 24-month interest-free financing on iPhones
Apple is giving Apple Card users an extra perk with the introduction of interest-free, 24-month financing on iPhone purchases. It announced the move on its earnings call. Along with the three percent cashback Apple Card offers on purchases from the company, that may seem a solid deal for folks who upgrade their devices often -- the people Apple is targeting with the financing option.
Faraday Future gets another lifeline to build EVs in China
Electric vehicle startup Faraday Future, which has been on life support for the past couple of years, has received a surprise cash injection from a mobile gaming company called The9 Limited. The9 will inject up to $600 million into Faraday, which it will use to build a new car called the V9 (based on its FF91 pre-production car) in China. The joint venture said it will build up to 300,000 EVs, with the first pre-production model scheduled to be arrive by 2020. It will also try to launch the FF91 into production in the US this year, Faraday said.
T-Mobile will start selling the Apple Watch September 25th
Well folks, it seems the rumblings were in fact correct. T-Mobile will begin selling the Apple Watch this Friday when it's also scheduled to hit shelves at Sprint. As you might expect, Big Magenta is offering some zero down and zero interest options (while supplies last, it seems) for two years to make Cupertino's wearable even more attractive. The payment plan only applies to the Sport models which are $349 (38mm) and $399 (42mm) if purchased at full price. When you do the math, that's $14.54 and $16.62 for 23 months with the final payment for each going up a few cents. If you'd prefer the pricier Apple Watch you'll have to shell out the entire $549 (38mm) or $599 (42mm) to take one home. Full details on the available models and band options reside at the source link below.
Indiegogo raises $40 million in second round of venture funding
San Francisco-based crowdfunding platform Indiegogo announced that it has raised $40 million in a second round of venture financing, following up on a $15 million Series A funding round in 2012. Indiegogo said in a statement that it plans to springboard off its Series B financing to focus on "making key hires, expanding globally and improving the user experience with a focus on mobile, personalization and trust." While the bulk of gaming-related crowdfunding projects turn to rival platform Kickstarter for support, a number of high-profile indies have found success with Indiegogo. Lab Zero Games earned almost $1 million when it debuted an Indiegogo campaign to fund the creation of DLC characters for Skullgirls last year, and the newly-launched Square Enix Collective will use the platform to fund new projects from developers Ruffian Games, Kitfox Games and Tuque Games.
Need money for a new Moto X? Motorola's got a financing fix for that
Google's all about getting you to spend, spend, spend money these days. While the search giant just announced a very plastic means of dipping into your Wallet, its Motorola arm's taking the financing route. Backed by Comenity Capital Bank, Motorola's offering users a no money down way to buy a Moto X or any of its other mobile wares -- so long as you pay it off within the promo period. Motorola Credit's pretty much the equivalent of signing up for a credit card -- just without the actual card -- so be mindful there are fine print strings attached, like a 29 percent APR. You also still have to go through the requisite approval process, but once that's cleared, you're free to spend above your means. But really, no phone's worth the potential debt, so think hard before you sign on the dotted line.
Tesla ups longest financing term from 63 to 72 months, guarantees highest resale value of any premium sedan
Last week, Tesla gave some good news to owners of its electric autos -- an unconditional warranty on Model S power packs and the availability of Roadsters and Model S's as loaner models should your EV be laid up for repairs. Today on a media call, Elon Musk announced a new financing option for would-be buyers and informed us that Teslas have a higher resale value than any other car. Because of this, Musk is personally guaranteeing that his cars will have a higher resale value than those from major luxury brands like BMW, Audi and Jaguar (which broadens the guarantee beyond the old one that had the value pegged to the residual value of a Benz S-class). Additionally, the company is now upping its longest financing option from 63 to 72 months to make it easier for folks to get in the driver seat.
Mobile Miscellany: week of January 21st, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a new smartphone from Xolo to India, HTC's crackdown on a custom ROM distributor and the UK's largest mobile spectrum auction to date. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of January 21st, 2013.
What do venture capitalists see when they look at games?
Kickstarter has gained a great deal of traction lately, but by and large new games are still funded the same way they've always been funded: by venture capitalists willing to shell out money in hopes of seeing a return on investment. That being said, the games industry looks at venture capitalists more as fountains of money than actual people, a necessary evil at best. A new piece penned by Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners sheds some light on what goes on behind the scenes when capitalists are approached for funding. Liew makes a point of mentioning that one of the features he looks for is the idea that the studio can turn out another good game after the first one, mentioning CCP Games and Jagex as both lagging behind. He also points out the power of community, noting that League of Legends gained much of its current popularity by completely taking over the DOTA community. While the piece is focused on gaming as a whole rather than just MMOs, fans of video games will no doubt find several points of interest within the full article.
Roku picks up financing from BSkyB, News Corp and more, keeps eye on the premium streaming crown
The little media streamer company that could, Roku, has gained some powerful friends in its latest round of financing, with $45 million in funds coming from the likes of BSkyB, News Corp and another partner who would prefer to remain nameless at this time, as well as previous investors Menlo Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners. While we leave you to ponder which company might be that unidentified source, Roku is simply continuing on, earmarking the money for use in building brand awareness, expanding internationally and much, much more. Also, that MHL-connected Roku Streaming Stick introduced at CES? It hasn't gone away and is still on track for launch later this year, with an eye towards providing a "Roku Inside" bundled experience for otherwise dumb flat-panel HDTVs. Roku's alignment with BSkyB (which reported a $10m stake in its earnings this morning, as well as the option to distribute its own branded Roku hardware) makes sense after the pay-TV giant launched Now TV recently with the hockey puck as one of its supported platforms, while CEO Anthony Wood tells us the fruitful partnership with News Corp had its root in the Fox News, Wall Street Journal Live and X-Factor channels it launched last year. Wood cites plans to make Roku "the TV distribution platform of the future", and this fifth round of financing -- larger than all previous rounds combined -- may help push it in this direction, check out a few more details in the press release after the break.
OpenFeint coming to Android
I've often wondered why, instead of creating their own social gaming platform with Game Center, Apple didn't just swallow up a successful third-party platform like OpenFeint. Now, it seems that Apple may have lost its chance: OpenFeint announced this morning, after another multi-million dollar round of financing led by Chinese gaming firm The9, that it will be extending its social gaming network to Android apps. The same features and services available to developers on iOS devices will soon be available to Android developers, and OpenFeint is launching on Android with a few major app developers in tow and support for Google Checkout and a few other services. Now, this may not mean much for those of us who only use iOS devices; OpenFeint will carry on as it has, and it will still integrate with Apple's Game Center as planned. However, it does mean that OpenFeint is no longer serving developers at Apple's whim; if there's something that Apple doesn't allow them to do that the Android platform does, they can still carry out those plans. Of course, it's a big step for Android as well; one more significant iPhone developer service is now available on Google's open source platform. It's a very interesting move by OpenFeint, and I don't think it's the last we'll see of major iPhone-based services opening up to the competing Android platform.
Boxee locks up additional funding, plots route from underground to mainstream
We're not sure how this affects the zero-dollar revenue goal for 2009, but popular media player software Boxee announced it has closed a $6 million round of financing including a new partner, General Catalyst. We'll let the money men assess value, the key point for users is how this affects the company's plan to take the platform from underground darling to mainstream hit - embedding the software in connected TVs, Blu-ray player, game consoles and set-top boxes. With a Windows alpha release in the bag and latest support from MLB.tv Boxee seems well on the way towards reaching larger audiences, CEO Avner Ronen says to look forward to the beta release this fall, more content deals and extending the App Store and API support. Our advice is to avoid tearing an ACL itself dancing on stage like another recent independent performer turned-mainstream star, what would you like to see from Boxee now that the company has more resources to provide it?
Booyah starts off slow, offers $1000 in contest
I've been playing with the hyped-up Booyah Society app for about a week or so now, and I don't think my reaction is too singular: it's not all that great. The idea is certainly a good one: take your real-life achievements and turn them into a game, complete with points and an avatar, but in practice, it's not quite there yet. Achievements are honor-based, which means you can make as many or as few points as you want just by punching anything in, and while the avatar is pretty nifty, it doesn't seem like there's that much to do with the little guy besides spin him around until he gets sick. That's not to say that the potential isn't still there -- the app's "Booyah" recommendations can give you some interesting things to do if you need them, and if they ever get the app using some actual iPhone mechanics (how about traveling a certain distance according to the GPS or playing a certain song or sound into the microphone?), it could be really addictive. But they're not quite there yet, and while we don't have any info on how many downloads they've gotten, the App Store rating is less than impressive at two-and-a-half stars.And they're not giving up yet -- they just announced a giveaway of up to $1000 over on Facebook. You'll have to log in to see it, but if you become a fan of their service and fill out a quick sweepstakes form, you're entered in to win a $500 Apple gift card for yourself, as well as a chance to give $500 to five more friends.Sure, the contest is blatant promotion (and it might even just be a shot in the dark to try and grab a Facebook audience). But what will be interesting here is to watch and see what happens with the app -- these guys have a legendary game development background (coming from Blizzard Entertainment), and at least $4.5 million in VC financing already. Whether they sink or swim, they're making for a very interesting case study of big-time development on the iPhone.
Turbine raises chunk of cash, working on new title?
In an interesting story from a company we haven't heard much about recently, Turbine (who you might remember from such MMOs as Asheron's Call, D&D Online, and Lord of the Rings Online) announced yesterday that they've raised $40 million in capital funding from Time Warner and the GGV Capital, amongst others. Says CEO and President Jim Crowley, "This is a truly exciting time for Turbine."While it's hard to argue with the fact that more money is a good thing, what is less clear is what sort of pitch the company made that warranted this infusion of sweet green moolah. Their release mentions a "growing portfolio of games" and bringing new titles to market, but this is the first we've heard of potential new development from the Massachusetts-based developer. One can't help but wonder what's next for Turbine. Mayhaps a superhero game to compete with the next biggest independent developer on the other coast? Only time will tell.
Dell engaged in misleading business practices, says NY judge
According to a state judge in Albany, New York, Dell and its financing arm "engaged in deceptive business practices related to financing promotions for its computers and technical support." The decision, which was just released yesterday, contained quotes from NY State Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi stating that the Round Rock mega-corp dabbled in "repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct, including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions and the terms of warranties, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and failure to provide warranty service and rebates." The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo last year, and while Mr. Cuomo was understandably delighted with the outcome, a Dell spokesman made clear that it didn't agree with the decision and it would be "defending its position vigorously." As for potential restitution for NYers, we won't know any of that until further proceedings are held.[Thanks, Nate]
APB's Walter Kong on financial flexibility
In a new interview with Walter Kong, the Senior Vice President of Business Development at Realtime Worlds, explains the logic behind his team's recent reacquisition of the publishing rights for their upcoming game All Points Bulletin. Their latest round of fund-raising, which netted them a cool $50 million, gives them the a much higher degree of flexibility than they would have had under Webzen, so they took the opportunity to go independent, for a while anyway.Kong explained that just because that just because they moved out from under Webzen doesn't mean they are necessarily looking to self-publish; they just want to keep their options open. What seems clear from the way they've handled themselves so far is that all the veteran blood, including CEO David Jones -- the brainchild of the Grand Theft Auto series, has made them shrewd in the ways of the business. Here's hoping they're as savvy at making their game as they are financing it.
Realtime Worlds grabs $50 million
Techcrunch is reporting that developers Realtime Worlds (makers of last year's Crackdown, which could be an MMO, and the upcoming All Points Bulletin, which we heard lots about at GDC) have picked up a whopping $50 million in funding from a round of investment capital, including lots of it from Maverick Capital.So good news for APB fans -- of course, it's just a fraction of that billion dollars that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick claims anyone will need to take on World of Warcraft, but $50 million buys a lot of artists, programmers, and servers, all things that a great MMO needs for a strong launch. APB is still in the development stages of course -- we've heard that it'll drop this year, though at this point (and with the extra cash going into a little extra development), we're probably looking at a spring 2009 release.
Realtime Worlds receives $50 million in real world investment
Realtime Worlds, the developer best known for Crackdown, raised $50 million in its third round of financing. The company is currently at work on the MMO All Points Bulletin in conjunction with Korean company Webzen. Realtime Worlds CEO David Jones was a creator on the original Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings back in the day. Although Crackdown was a great game, nobody is going to deny that the title did better because of its tie-in with the Halo 3 beta. APB should let us see how a Realtime Worlds title does without the assistance of Master Chief and the Halo army. [Via GameDaily]
Apple offers 0% financing on 'the Mac of your dreams'
If you've been waiting to order 'the Mac of your dreams,' perhaps a new 0% financing offer from Apple will be just what you need. Through June 30th, Apple Store customers who qualify for financing can purchase a Mac interest-free for 24 months. Oh, and Adobe Creative Suite 3 apparently goes well with Macs, so Apple's even allowing customers to lump a CS3 purchase (in addition to a Mac to begin with) into the no-interest financing deal.[Update: Woops, sorry guys. Turns out this is an offer targeted at business customers. This link should take you to more information at Apple's site, but commenters are right: there's a slight detail that Apple left out of the email to the tune of a minimum purchase amount of $5,000. I honestly don't know why I'm receiving emails from Apple that are aimed at business customers, but look on the bright side: most people's dream Mac probably costs nearly $5,000 anyway, right? Toss on Creative Suite 3 and you're basically there.But seriously: sorry about the mixup everyone.]
