Routes with multiple stops are incredibly useful for a variety of reasons. When users have journeys that involve more than one destination, they can easily set up each stop within the Google Maps application. This allows the navigation app to provide detailed, step-by-step instructions guiding them to each location along their route.

Upon reaching a destination, users can simply tap the "continue" button displayed on their screen, prompting Google Maps to seamlessly transition to providing directions to the next stop on their itinerary.&nbsp; 
However, starting in late May, a significant issue arose with the multi-stop route functionality in Google Maps on Android devices. This problem was widely reported, with hundreds of users confirming the issue on Google's official forums.

The specific nature of the problem was that users who had set up multi-stop routes on their Android devices found themselves unable to proceed with their journey in Google Maps after arriving at the initial destination. While the "continue" button was visible on the screen, it was unresponsive to user input. As a result, the only workaround available to users was to completely close the Google Maps application and reconfigure their entire route from scratch.

Users who encountered this frustrating behaviour attempted various troubleshooting methods commonly used to resolve app issues. These included restarting their phones, clearing the app's cache and data, and even going so far as to uninstall and reinstall Google Maps. Unfortunately, none of these typical fixes managed to restore the correct multi-stop route functionality.&nbsp; 
Eventually, users were left with no choice but to end their current trip and start the navigation process anew.

Google promptly initiated an investigation into the issue shortly after the first reports began to surface. After thorough analysis, the company has successfully developed a solution to address the problem. The latest update to Google Maps for Android devices rectifies this glitch, with users confirming in the same discussion thread that the multi-stop route feature is functioning normally once again after installing the updated version.

For those wondering about the specific version they need to install, the simplest approach is to check for available updates on the Google Play Store and download the most recent release of Google Maps. The version believed to contain the fix for this glitch is 11.131.0102 build 1067550236. It's important to note the build number specifically, as the initial release of version 11.131.0102 did not include a fix for this particular issue. Users who installed the original version reported that the glitch persisted, but it was subsequently resolved after updating to build 11.131.0102.

Read More:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/autonews/eu-implements-tariffs-on-chinese-electric-vehicles-731369">EU implements tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles</a>

It's worth mentioning that this error exclusively affected Android devices. If you use Google Maps on an iPhone, you should not have experienced this particular problem (unless you encountered a different bug). In the event that the new Google Maps build is not yet available on the Google Play Store for your device, you may need to wait a few additional days for the update to appear. Google employs a phased rollout model for updates, ensuring that all devices in the production channel should have access to the update within a few days.

In the meantime, for those who prefer not to wait, there is an alternative option of using the Google Maps APK installer. However, this method involves a more complex process, including downloading the APK file and manually initiating the update. This approach may be suitable for more tech-savvy users who are comfortable with side-loading applications.

Routes with multiple stops are incredibly useful for a variety of reasons. When users have journeys that involve more than one destination, they can easily set up each stop within the Google Maps application.

Routes with multiple stops are incredibly useful for a variety of reasons. When users have journeys that involve more than one destination, they can easily set up each stop within the Google Maps application. This allows the navigation app to provide detailed, step-by-step instructions guiding them to each location along their route. Upon reaching a destination, users can simply tap the "continue" button displayed on their screen, prompting Google Maps to seamlessly transition to providing directions to the next stop on their itinerary. However, starting in late May, a significant issue arose with the multi-stop route functionality in Google Maps on Android devices. This problem was widely reported, with hundreds of users confirming the issue on Google's official forums. The specific nature of the problem was that users who had set up multi-stop routes on their Android devices found themselves unable to proceed with their journey in Google Maps after arriving at the initial destination. While the "continue" button was visible on the screen, it was unresponsive to user input. As a result, the only workaround available to users was to completely close the Google Maps application and reconfigure their entire route from scratch. Users who encountered this frustrating behaviour attempted various troubleshooting methods commonly used to resolve app issues. These included restarting their phones, clearing the app's cache and data, and even going so far as to uninstall and reinstall Google Maps. Unfortunately, none of these typical fixes managed to restore the correct multi-stop route functionality. Eventually, users were left with no choice but to end their current trip and start the navigation process anew. Google promptly initiated an investigation into the issue shortly after the first reports began to surface. After thorough analysis, the company has successfully developed a solution to address the problem. The latest update to Google Maps for Android devices rectifies this glitch, with users confirming in the same discussion thread that the multi-stop route feature is functioning normally once again after installing the updated version. For those wondering about the specific version they need to install, the simplest approach is to check for available updates on the Google Play Store and download the most recent release of Google Maps. The version believed to contain the fix for this glitch is 11.131.0102 build 1067550236. It's important to note the build number specifically, as the initial release of version 11.131.0102 did not include a fix for this particular issue. Users who installed the original version reported that the glitch persisted, but it was subsequently resolved after updating to build 11.131.0102. Read More: EU implements tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles It's worth mentioning that this error exclusively affected Android devices. If you use Google Maps on an iPhone, you should not have experienced this particular problem (unless you encountered a different bug). In the event that the new Google Maps build is not yet available on the Google Play Store for your device, you may need to wait a few additional days for the update to appear. Google employs a phased rollout model for updates, ensuring that all devices in the production channel should have access to the update within a few days. In the meantime, for those who prefer not to wait, there is an alternative option of using the Google Maps APK installer. However, this method involves a more complex process, including downloading the APK file and manually initiating the update. This approach may be suitable for more tech-savvy users who are comfortable with side-loading applications.

Google issues emergency update for Google Maps to curb error on Android Auto

A popular Chinese dating app for lesbians has been shut down, along with its website and main social media account, just as the gay community celebrates Taiwan&#39;s decision giving same-sex couples the right to marry, a first for Asia.

The app, Rela, set up in 2012, has around 5 million registered users, a cached version of its entry on Apple&#39;s iTunes site shows.

But users began noticing last week that the app, along with its Twitter-like Weibo account and website, was no longer accessible, according to users posting on Weibo under the hashtags #rela and #relahasbeenblocked.

The service was temporarily suspended due to an &quot;important adjustment in service,&quot; Rela told users on its WeChat app account.

&quot;Rela has always been with you and please await its return!&quot; it added, but gave no details of why it was suspending service.

&quot;This is discrimination against us lesbians,&quot; wrote one user on Weibo.

&quot;Not being able to open it feels like being jilted,&quot; wrote another.

It was not immediately clear why Rela has been shut down.

The company did not respond to an email seeking comment. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Internet regulator the Cyberspace Administration of China also did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment on Monday, which is a national holiday.

In the past, the government has blocked sites it deems could challenge Communist Party rule or threaten stability, including Western sites such as Facebook and Google&#39;s main search engine and Gmail service.

It is not illegal to be gay in China, although the country regarded homosexuality as a mental disorder until 2001. Many large cities have thriving gay scenes, but gay individuals still face a lot of family pressure to get married and have children.

Gay activists say deeply conservative attitudes towards homosexuality in some parts of society have contributed to occasional government clampdowns.

In April, another gay Chinese dating app, Zank, was also shut down after operating for about four years.

In a message on its Weibo account, which is still available, Zank said it had been accused by the internet regulator of broadcasting pornographic content and so had been closed down.

Still, gay dating apps are big business, even for Chinese companies.

Last week Beijing Kunlun Tech said it would buy the remaining stake in global gay dating app Grindr that it did not own.

(Reuters)

The app has around 5 million registered users

A popular Chinese dating app for lesbians has been shut down, along with its website and main social media account, just as the gay community celebrates Taiwan's decision giving same-sex couples the right to marry, a first for Asia. The app, Rela, set up in 2012, has around 5 million registered users, a cached version of its entry on Apple's iTunes site shows. But users began noticing last week that the app, along with its Twitter-like Weibo account and website, was no longer accessible, according to users posting on Weibo under the hashtags #rela and #relahasbeenblocked. The service was temporarily suspended due to an "important adjustment in service," Rela told users on its WeChat app account. "Rela has always been with you and please await its return!" it added, but gave no details of why it was suspending service. "This is discrimination against us lesbians," wrote one user on Weibo. "Not being able to open it feels like being jilted," wrote another. It was not immediately clear why Rela has been shut down. The company did not respond to an email seeking comment. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Internet regulator the Cyberspace Administration of China also did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment on Monday, which is a national holiday. In the past, the government has blocked sites it deems could challenge Communist Party rule or threaten stability, including Western sites such as Facebook and Google's main search engine and Gmail service. It is not illegal to be gay in China, although the country regarded homosexuality as a mental disorder until 2001. Many large cities have thriving gay scenes, but gay individuals still face a lot of family pressure to get married and have children. Gay activists say deeply conservative attitudes towards homosexuality in some parts of society have contributed to occasional government clampdowns. In April, another gay Chinese dating app, Zank, was also shut down after operating for about four years. In a message on its Weibo account, which is still available, Zank said it had been accused by the internet regulator of broadcasting pornographic content and so had been closed down. Still, gay dating apps are big business, even for Chinese companies. Last week Beijing Kunlun Tech said it would buy the remaining stake in global gay dating app Grindr that it did not own. (Reuters)

Popular Chinese lesbian dating app Rela removed from internet

Google is offering a four-month free subscription on its music streaming service Google Play Music for new subscribers, allowing users to scan up to 50,000 songs from their music library.

Typically, Google offers a 90-day free trial when a user signs up, but the offer has been extended by one month, reported The Verge.

Users can listen to custom radio stations on their computer or mobile device using Google Play Music service.

However, users who use the free service face ads on their app, unlike those subscribers who pay around $10.&nbsp;

Such users can also listen to over 35 million songs, download music to listen offline, and get access to YouTube Red.

Though Google has offered similar deals in the past, it was not clear how long the deal would remain active.

(IANS)

Google offers a 90-day free trial when a user signs up for its music service, but the offer has now been extended by one month

Google is offering a four-month free subscription on its music streaming service Google Play Music for new subscribers, allowing users to scan up to 50,000 songs from their music library. Typically, Google offers a 90-day free trial when a user signs up, but the offer has been extended by one month, reported The Verge. Users can listen to custom radio stations on their computer or mobile device using Google Play Music service. However, users who use the free service face ads on their app, unlike those subscribers who pay around $10. Such users can also listen to over 35 million songs, download music to listen offline, and get access to YouTube Red. Though Google has offered similar deals in the past, it was not clear how long the deal would remain active. (IANS)

Google Play Music now offers free subscription for four months

Sweden&#39;s data protection agency banned King, the gaming company that owns Candy Crush, from collecting statistics on the ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientation of employees, even when used for promoting diversity.

The company defended its practice, saying it did not intend to discriminate against anyone and that employees were free to decide whether or not to provide the information to their employer, the agency said.

&quot;The information is collected on an individual level in order to see if, over time, sexual orientation or belonging to a specific ethnic group could have an impact on career opportunities,&quot; the agency said, after an investigation.

But Swedish law, which conforms to European Union regulations, bans the collection of this type of information without clearance from authorities, the agency said. In King&#39;s case, it would not be justified, it added.

The Swedish regulators also took issue with the company&#39;s claim that the information was collected on a voluntary basis, saying &quot;employees are in a relationship of dependency with their employer&quot;.

(AFP)

Company defended its practice saying employees were free to decide whether or not to provide the information

Sweden's data protection agency banned King, the gaming company that owns Candy Crush, from collecting statistics on the ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientation of employees, even when used for promoting diversity. The company defended its practice, saying it did not intend to discriminate against anyone and that employees were free to decide whether or not to provide the information to their employer, the agency said. "The information is collected on an individual level in order to see if, over time, sexual orientation or belonging to a specific ethnic group could have an impact on career opportunities," the agency said, after an investigation. But Swedish law, which conforms to European Union regulations, bans the collection of this type of information without clearance from authorities, the agency said. In King's case, it would not be justified, it added. The Swedish regulators also took issue with the company's claim that the information was collected on a voluntary basis, saying "employees are in a relationship of dependency with their employer". (AFP)

Candy Crush maker banned from gathering staff's ethnic data

Mobile phone apps took centre stage at Google&rsquo;s annual developer conference on Wednesday as the search giant announced new features for its digital assistant and its popular photo app while devoting little time to the Android mobile operating system.

Addressing an audience of thousands of developers in Mountain View, California, Google executives delivered a broad-based update to their product portfolio which also included a slate of new features for the Google Home speaker, a job search tool and even a set of new virtual reality headsets.

In a sign of the ongoing strategic importance of Google Assistant, the company&#39;s artificial intelligence-driven, voice-controlled digital assistant, Google announced it would make the product available on Apple&rsquo;s iPhone, making a play for the higher end of the smartphone market and challenging Apple&#39;s Siri feature on its own devices.

What&rsquo;s more, the assistant will soon be able to complete transactions and supply information about objects captured by the smartphone&rsquo;s camera, executives said.

But several analysts noted that the emphasis on the assistant and other apps like photos and maps, which run on many types of devices, resulted in the company&rsquo;s Android operating system -&nbsp;long the cornerstone of Google&#39;s mobile strategy -&nbsp;getting relatively little attention during the presentation.

That reflects a recognition by the search giant that the assistant and other apps will be increasingly important to its future, said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. The strategy helps the company sidestep some of the complications of developing new features for the vast Android ecosystem, where only a fraction of devices are running on the latest version of the operating system, he noted.

&ldquo;This is partly a concession to the fact that whatever they put into Android, most users don&rsquo;t see it for a couple years ... and a lot of their best, most attractive, most valuable users are going to be on other platforms,&rdquo; Dawson said. &ldquo;They need to put that functionality where users are.&rdquo;

The Google Assistant debuted last year on the company&#39;s own hardware, and Google has gradually extended the tool to devices from other manufacturers running on its Android operating system.

Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are competing to establish the dominant voice-powered digital assistant, which many in the industry believe will supplant keyboards and touch screens as a primary way that users interact with technology.

&quot;Humans are interacting with computing in more natural and immersive ways,&quot; Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the audience. &quot;We&rsquo;ve been using voice as an input across many of our products. We&rsquo;ve had significant breakthroughs.&quot;

The company is also gaining traction with its photo app, which now reaches 500 million users regularly, Pichai said. To drive greater usage of the app, Google will now make suggestions to prod users to share images and allow them to order physical photo albums.

Pichai also announced the company will expand its search engine with a new jobs tab that will allow candidates to filter postings by criteria such as wages and commute time.

Google, which gets most of its revenue from its dominant search engine, also released a host of new features for Google Home, a speaker released last year. Users will soon be able to make phone calls using the device, and the HBO Now streaming service, owned by Time Warner Inc, will be integrated as well.

While Amazon&rsquo;s Echo speaker has emerged as the most popular device in the category, Google repeatedly touted its ability to use artificial intelligence to identify multiple users, an edge it has over Amazon.

&ldquo;Google was putting forward a message about artificial intelligence and how they are including the technology in virtually every aspect of their products and services,&rdquo; said analyst Brian Blau of Gartner. &ldquo;They really pushed that message hard.&rdquo;

(Reuters)

Google executives delivered a broad-based update to their product portfolio which also included a slate of new features for the Google Home speaker, a job search tool and even a set of new virtual reality headsets.

Mobile phone apps took centre stage at Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday as the search giant announced new features for its digital assistant and its popular photo app while devoting little time to the Android mobile operating system. Addressing an audience of thousands of developers in Mountain View, California, Google executives delivered a broad-based update to their product portfolio which also included a slate of new features for the Google Home speaker, a job search tool and even a set of new virtual reality headsets. In a sign of the ongoing strategic importance of Google Assistant, the company's artificial intelligence-driven, voice-controlled digital assistant, Google announced it would make the product available on Apple’s iPhone, making a play for the higher end of the smartphone market and challenging Apple's Siri feature on its own devices. What’s more, the assistant will soon be able to complete transactions and supply information about objects captured by the smartphone’s camera, executives said. But several analysts noted that the emphasis on the assistant and other apps like photos and maps, which run on many types of devices, resulted in the company’s Android operating system - long the cornerstone of Google's mobile strategy - getting relatively little attention during the presentation. That reflects a recognition by the search giant that the assistant and other apps will be increasingly important to its future, said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. The strategy helps the company sidestep some of the complications of developing new features for the vast Android ecosystem, where only a fraction of devices are running on the latest version of the operating system, he noted. “This is partly a concession to the fact that whatever they put into Android, most users don’t see it for a couple years ... and a lot of their best, most attractive, most valuable users are going to be on other platforms,” Dawson said. “They need to put that functionality where users are.” The Google Assistant debuted last year on the company's own hardware, and Google has gradually extended the tool to devices from other manufacturers running on its Android operating system. Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are competing to establish the dominant voice-powered digital assistant, which many in the industry believe will supplant keyboards and touch screens as a primary way that users interact with technology. "Humans are interacting with computing in more natural and immersive ways," Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the audience. "We’ve been using voice as an input across many of our products. We’ve had significant breakthroughs." The company is also gaining traction with its photo app, which now reaches 500 million users regularly, Pichai said. To drive greater usage of the app, Google will now make suggestions to prod users to share images and allow them to order physical photo albums. Pichai also announced the company will expand its search engine with a new jobs tab that will allow candidates to filter postings by criteria such as wages and commute time. Google, which gets most of its revenue from its dominant search engine, also released a host of new features for Google Home, a speaker released last year. Users will soon be able to make phone calls using the device, and the HBO Now streaming service, owned by Time Warner Inc, will be integrated as well. While Amazon’s Echo speaker has emerged as the most popular device in the category, Google repeatedly touted its ability to use artificial intelligence to identify multiple users, an edge it has over Amazon. “Google was putting forward a message about artificial intelligence and how they are including the technology in virtually every aspect of their products and services,” said analyst Brian Blau of Gartner. “They really pushed that message hard.” (Reuters)

Google I/O 2017: Here's everything announced at the annual conference

Snap&nbsp;shares plunged on Wednesday after the owner of Snapchat reported slowing user growth and revenue in its first earnings report as a public company. It missed&nbsp;some Wall Street estimates as it competes with copycat messaging apps.

Shares tumbled 23 per cent in after-hours trading to wipe some $6 billion from Snap&#39;s market value, a reversal for the company after a red-hot March initial public offering that was the biggest for a US&nbsp;tech company since Facebook&#39;s 2012 debut.

The stock fell to $17.66, just above its IPO price of $17.

&quot;Some investors were hoping Snap would surprise them with big numbers in its first quarterly report&quot;, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said.

He added, &quot;The fact that they failed to live up to expectations, let alone exceed them, disappointed people.&quot;

The performance echoed slides in Facebook and Twitter after they posted debut scorecards following their IPOs. Twitter shares cratered 24 per cent the next day, while Facebook&#39;s tumbled 11 per cent, still the biggest-ever one-day losses for both.

Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel sought to reassure investors during an earnings call, fielding a dozen questions that ranged from strategy to how it would deal with competitors.

He also did not shy away from one query that allowed him to take a feisty jab at Facebook.

&quot;If you want to be a creative company, you&#39;ve got to get comfortable with and enjoy the fact that people are going to copy your product if you make great stuff,&quot; Spiegel&nbsp;said.

Making a comparison to the search industry, Spiegel added: &quot;Just because Yahoo has a search box doesn&#39;t mean they&#39;re Google.&quot;

Snap said its daily active users (DAUs) rose 36.1 per cent to 166 million in the first quarter from a year earlier, marking a slowdown from the 47.7 per cent rise for the fourth quarter and 62.8 percent jump for the third quarter that the company reported in its IPO filing.

The slowing rate of growth was in line with an estimate from JPMorgan, which accurately expected 166 million DAUs for the first quarter. Monness, Crespi, Hardt &amp; Co Inc had pegged them even higher at 173 million.

Snap&#39;s March IPO priced above the company&#39;s target range as investors put aside concerns about&nbsp;lack of profits and voting rights to get a piece of the action. The IPO raised $3.4 billion and gave the company a market valuation of roughly $24 billion, and shares surged 44 per cent in their first day of trading.

Facebook, which made a $3 billion bid for Snapchat in 2013, has upped the ante by offering camera-related features similar to Snap on its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp. The company said in April that Instagram Stories alone had reached 200 million daily active users.

Snapchat&#39;s growth was faster than Facebook, however, which said its overall daily user base grew 18 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter, as well as Twitter, which reported growth of 14 per cent in DAUs from a year earlier.

Revenue disappointment

Like many other Silicon Valley businesses, Snap is closely tied to its young founders.

Spiegel, who received a stock-based bonus worth nearly $600 million for taking the company public, is 26, and co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Bobby Murphy is 28. The company, though, has brought on others with more experience, including Chairman Michael Lynton, former chief executive of Sony Corp&#39;s movie and music businesses. A lot is riding on Spiegel to build products that delight people, said analyst Greenfield. &quot;The future of Snapchat is on Evan Spiegel and his team to out-innovate everyone else. Time will tell whether that&#39;s possible,&quot; he added.

Snap&#39;s revenue jumped nearly four-fold year over year to $149.6 million but fell short of the average analyst forecast of $158 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue was also down from the fourth quarter of 2016, a seasonally stronger period for ad sales, when it was $166 million.

Revenue was &quot;a relatively disappointing number,&quot; Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser said. &quot;To their credit,&quot; he added, &quot;they did guide towards a number that would be lower, which it was.&quot; Average revenue per user was 90 cents in the first quarter, Snap said, up from 33 cents the same quarter a year earlier but below the $1.05 per user in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Snap&#39;s net loss widened to $2.21 billion, or $2.31 per share, in the first quarter, from $104.6 million, or 14 cents per share, due to stock-based compensation related to the IPO.

Although the figure of $2 billion in total stock-based compensation was known ahead of time, investors were surprised to see all of it show up in a single quarter rather than spread out over time, said Eric Kim, managing partner at Goodwater Capital. &quot;It is an eye-popping number for sure,&quot; he said.

Snapchat launched in 2012 as a mobile app that allows users to send photos, known as snaps, that vanishes within seconds. The company rebranded as Snap Inc last year, and moved into the hardware space with Spectacles, its colorful sunglasses that record short videos to post on Snapchat.

Users created more than 3 billion snaps daily on average during the first quarter, up from more than 2.5 billion during the third quarter of 2016, the company said. Snap receives some revenue from branded or sponsored filters and lenses, but depends on advertising dollars for the bulk of its overall revenue.

Digital marketing firm eMarketer in March had trimmed its 2017 US&nbsp;advertising revenue forecast for Snap by $30 million to $770 million, citing higher-than-expected revenue sharing with the company&#39;s partners.

The total US&nbsp;digital advertising market is meanwhile expected to reach $83 billion, according to eMarketer, up nearly 16 per cent from last year.

(Reuters)

A reversal for the company after a red-hot March initial public offering that was one of the biggest for a US?tech company

Snap shares plunged on Wednesday after the owner of Snapchat reported slowing user growth and revenue in its first earnings report as a public company. It missed some Wall Street estimates as it competes with copycat messaging apps. Shares tumbled 23 per cent in after-hours trading to wipe some $6 billion from Snap's market value, a reversal for the company after a red-hot March initial public offering that was the biggest for a US tech company since Facebook's 2012 debut. The stock fell to $17.66, just above its IPO price of $17. "Some investors were hoping Snap would surprise them with big numbers in its first quarterly report", BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said. He added, "The fact that they failed to live up to expectations, let alone exceed them, disappointed people." The performance echoed slides in Facebook and Twitter after they posted debut scorecards following their IPOs. Twitter shares cratered 24 per cent the next day, while Facebook's tumbled 11 per cent, still the biggest-ever one-day losses for both. Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel sought to reassure investors during an earnings call, fielding a dozen questions that ranged from strategy to how it would deal with competitors. He also did not shy away from one query that allowed him to take a feisty jab at Facebook. "If you want to be a creative company, you've got to get comfortable with and enjoy the fact that people are going to copy your product if you make great stuff," Spiegel said. Making a comparison to the search industry, Spiegel added: "Just because Yahoo has a search box doesn't mean they're Google." Snap said its daily active users (DAUs) rose 36.1 per cent to 166 million in the first quarter from a year earlier, marking a slowdown from the 47.7 per cent rise for the fourth quarter and 62.8 percent jump for the third quarter that the company reported in its IPO filing. The slowing rate of growth was in line with an estimate from JPMorgan, which accurately expected 166 million DAUs for the first quarter. Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co Inc had pegged them even higher at 173 million. Snap's March IPO priced above the company's target range as investors put aside concerns about lack of profits and voting rights to get a piece of the action. The IPO raised $3.4 billion and gave the company a market valuation of roughly $24 billion, and shares surged 44 per cent in their first day of trading. Facebook, which made a $3 billion bid for Snapchat in 2013, has upped the ante by offering camera-related features similar to Snap on its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp. The company said in April that Instagram Stories alone had reached 200 million daily active users. Snapchat's growth was faster than Facebook, however, which said its overall daily user base grew 18 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter, as well as Twitter, which reported growth of 14 per cent in DAUs from a year earlier. Revenue disappointment Like many other Silicon Valley businesses, Snap is closely tied to its young founders. Spiegel, who received a stock-based bonus worth nearly $600 million for taking the company public, is 26, and co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Bobby Murphy is 28. The company, though, has brought on others with more experience, including Chairman Michael Lynton, former chief executive of Sony Corp's movie and music businesses. A lot is riding on Spiegel to build products that delight people, said analyst Greenfield. "The future of Snapchat is on Evan Spiegel and his team to out-innovate everyone else. Time will tell whether that's possible," he added. Snap's revenue jumped nearly four-fold year over year to $149.6 million but fell short of the average analyst forecast of $158 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue was also down from the fourth quarter of 2016, a seasonally stronger period for ad sales, when it was $166 million. Revenue was "a relatively disappointing number," Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser said. "To their credit," he added, "they did guide towards a number that would be lower, which it was." Average revenue per user was 90 cents in the first quarter, Snap said, up from 33 cents the same quarter a year earlier but below the $1.05 per user in the fourth quarter of 2016. Snap's net loss widened to $2.21 billion, or $2.31 per share, in the first quarter, from $104.6 million, or 14 cents per share, due to stock-based compensation related to the IPO. Although the figure of $2 billion in total stock-based compensation was known ahead of time, investors were surprised to see all of it show up in a single quarter rather than spread out over time, said Eric Kim, managing partner at Goodwater Capital. "It is an eye-popping number for sure," he said. Snapchat launched in 2012 as a mobile app that allows users to send photos, known as snaps, that vanishes within seconds. The company rebranded as Snap Inc last year, and moved into the hardware space with Spectacles, its colorful sunglasses that record short videos to post on Snapchat. Users created more than 3 billion snaps daily on average during the first quarter, up from more than 2.5 billion during the third quarter of 2016, the company said. Snap receives some revenue from branded or sponsored filters and lenses, but depends on advertising dollars for the bulk of its overall revenue. Digital marketing firm eMarketer in March had trimmed its 2017 US advertising revenue forecast for Snap by $30 million to $770 million, citing higher-than-expected revenue sharing with the company's partners. The total US digital advertising market is meanwhile expected to reach $83 billion, according to eMarketer, up nearly 16 per cent from last year. (Reuters)

Snap shares plummet as investors mark down first earnings report

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