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Box Targets Multinationals With Amazon, IBM Cloud Options

Expanding internationally, Box ( BOX ) will team with IBM ( IBM ) and Amazon ( AMZN ) Web Services to offer large companies online data storage in Europe and Asia. Some governments have strengthened consumer privacy regulations by mandating that data be stored locally. AWS, part of e-commerce giant Amazon.com, and IBM will provide data center storage facilities to Redwood City, Calif.-based Box. IBM acquired data center operator SoftLayer in 2013. IBM and Box in 2015 partnered to develop new applications and jointly market products and services. The IBM relationship has enabled Box to target larger business deals, analysts say. The “Box Zones” service will initially offer multinational customers the option of local data storage in Ireland, Germany, Japan and Singapore. Box says that it may expand the service to “dozens” of countries . Box operates three data centers in Silicon Valley. Box stock edged up 1% in afternoon trading on the stock market today . Shares in the online data storage and file-sharing service provider’s stock have slipped 13% in 2016. Box has a low IBD Composite Rating of 27 out of a possible 99. The company vies with Microsoft ( MSFT ), though it’s now a partner for Office 365 products. It also counts as rivals Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google and privately-held Dropbox.  

Apple Music, Pandora Stoke Digital Music In Face Of ‘Value Gap’

Buoyed by Apple ( AAPL ) Music, Spotify and other subscription streaming services, sales of digital music vaulted past physical music sales for the first time in 2015 to become the main revenue stream for recorded music, according to a new industry report released Tuesday. But there’s also a widening “value gap,” as music listening on Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned video wing YouTube and other free, legal sites don’t bring as much revenue for the industry, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry trade group said. Digital music sales worldwide contributed 45% of industry revenue in 2015, overtaking the 39% share from sales of CDs and other physical formats, the IFPI’s report said. “After two decades of almost uninterrupted decline, 2015 witnessed key milestones for recorded music: measurable revenue growth globally; consumption of music exploding everywhere; and digital revenues overtaking income from physical formats for the first time,” the IFPI said. The group added that “revenues, vital in funding future investment, are not being fairly returned to rights holders. The value gap is the biggest constraint to revenue growth for artists, record labels and all music rights holders.” Revenue growth came from subscription music streaming services such as Apple Music, Pandora Media ( P ) and Spotify. Others in the subscription sector include Amazon.com ‘s ( AMZN ) Prime Music and Google Play Music. Besides its free YouTube site, Alphabet subsidiary Google in December launched YouTube Red, a video-subscription service that offers ad-free and offline viewing. Music download sales dropped 10.5% in 2015, the report said, while sales of CDs and other physical formats fell 4.5%. The so-called “value gap” arose because some major digital services “are able to circumvent the normal rules that apply to music licensing,” the report said. “User upload services claim they do not need to negotiate licenses for the music available on their platforms, or conclude licenses at artificially low rates, claiming protection from so-called ‘safe harbor’ rules that were introduced in the early days of the Internet and established in both U.S. and European legislation.” IFPI CEO Frances Moore said in a statement that safe harbor rules were designed for the Internet of the past and “should no longer be used to exempt user upload services that distribute music online from the normal conditions of music licensing.” Apple, Alphabet and Amazon stocks were all up a fraction in afternoon trading in the stock market today . Pandora stock was up 2%, near 8. Image provided by Shutterstock .

Apple Watch Sales Could Tank This Year With No Big Redesign

Apple Watch sales are likely to tumble this year as the company prepares a second-generation smartwatch that is only a modest upgrade over the original version, respected Apple ( AAPL ) analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities said in a note Monday. Kuo predicts that Apple Watch sales will fall by more than 25% this year, according to 9to5Mac . He estimates that Apple will sell fewer than 7.5 million watches for the full year, compared with 10.6 million units last year when the watch was only available for eight months. Kuo argues that the Apple Watch lacks killer applications, and the hardware has room for improvement. Limited battery life and reliance on the iPhone for functionality are two knocks on the Apple Watch, he said. The next version of the Apple Watch is likely to be an “S model” refresh, with only incremental changes to the device, which will look basically the same, he said. It is seen launching this fall along with the iPhone 7. Kuo doesn’t expect a major redesign of the Apple Watch until 2017. But Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White disagrees. In a note Friday, he said Apple Watch 2 could be 20% to 40% thinner than the current model and might be launched in June at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Last month, market research firm IDC predicted that Apple would ship 14 million units of its smartwatch this year, compared with an estimated 11.6 million units in 2015. Apple’s biggest competition in smartwatches comes from manufacturers using Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Android Wear operating system, IDC said. Image provided by Shutterstock .