Tag Archives: reservations

Yelp gobbles up SeatMe, an emerging competitor to OpenTable

Posted on by

Yelp gobbles up SeatMe, a competitor to OpenTable

Yelp just made its partnership with OpenTable very, very awkward with the announcement that it'll purchase a competing reservation service known as SeatMe for $12.7 million. The 16-person operation, based in San Francisco, runs a web and app platform that focuses on restaurants and nightlife activities. According to TechCrunch, SeatMe sent an email to its current customers in the wake of the announcement, with a promise that the service will continue operation. Meanwhile, Yelp is positioning the acquisition as a compliment to its existing offerings, which suggests that the company may bide its time before re-evaluating its partnership with OpenTable. If anything, it looks like Yelp's getting very serious about reservations and appointment bookings, and that could mean a more convenient future for you.

Filed under:

Comments

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Yelp

Groupon takes on OpenTable with ‘Groupon Reserve,’ bundles reservations with coupons

Posted on by

Groupon takes on OpenTable with 'Groupon Reserve,' bundles reservations with coupons

Not satisfied with simply locking down your discount mountain-climbing lessons and hot stone massages, Groupon announced Groupon Reserve this morning, which aims to bundle time-based discounts with restaurant reservations. Groupon's tapping Savored.com's reservation tech to handle the heavy-lifting behind the scenes -- the service is already live in 10 markets, including New York City and Los Angeles, and seemingly goes after OpenTable head-on.

Of course, Groupon Reserve isn't quite the same service as OpenTable. With Reserve, you plug in a time, party size, date and city, and you're offered a variety of restaurant options with discounts, whereas with OpenTable you're simply plugging in the aforementioned info and looking for a spot. Though Groupon Reserve only handles restaurant reservations thus far, the plan is for "spas, salons and hotels" in the coming months; ambiguous options from "top beauty, product, travel and entertainment brands" are also in the cards. Groupon Reserve will reach international shores and even more US cities "by the end of 2013." Now if you'll excuse us, we're arranging a more affordable date at Butter. We're pretty fancy.

Filed under: ,

Comments

Tesla behind on Model S production goals, aims for extra cash with stock sale

Posted on by

Tesla behind on Model S production goals, aims for extra cash with stock sale

Sure, topping off a Model S in 30 minutes with a Supercharger is awfully handy, but production delays of the sedan will keep some future owners away from quick charge times -- and most importantly -- their cars for a little while longer. In a freshly published filing with the US Securities Exchange and Commission, Tesla revealed that it hasn't reached its goal of producing 400 Model S vehicles a week, which places them four to five weeks behind their 2012 delivery expectations. To date, just 255 of the autos have rolled off the assembly line, 132 of which have made their way to new homes. According to the Palo Alto-based outfit, ramping up production has been slower than expected for a number of reasons, including supplier delays and taking a deliberately measured pace for quality assurance purposes.

Before the year draws to a close, Musk and Co. anticipate meeting their goal of churning out 400 cars each week, and a total of 20,000 by the end of 2013. Currently, the automaker has racked up around 13,000 reservations and thinks it'll be working to fulfill even more throughout 2013. As a result of the manufacturing lag, the firm has slashed its revenue forecast by as much as $200 million, estimating it'll rake in anywhere from $400 million to $440 million this year. In an effort to add cash to its coffers, the company is putting up roughly 5 million shares of stock for sale. Who's buying, you say? Tesla mentioned its CEO Elon Musk is interested in putting down a cool million bucks.

Filed under:

Tesla behind on Model S production goals, aims for extra cash with stock sale originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 21:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wall Street Journal  |  sourceTesla Motors  | Email this | Comments

Xiaomi Phone 1S ships August 23rd with avalanche of backorders

Posted on by

Xiaomi Phone 1S hands-on

You know you're doing well when even your warmed-up, older smartphone is triggering queues before it's on sale. Xiaomi has just promised that the Phone 1S will reach the market on August 23rd, but with 200,000 units to share -- a slight shortfall when there are 1.3 million reserved phones. The company hasn't said how quickly it will catch up to the backlog for its revived Android flagship. We hope it's soon; it wouldn't do to have customers still waiting for the 1S by the time the Phone 2 rolls around in October, after all. We'd say it's a nice problem to have, and it bodes well for sales of the true sequel.

Filed under:

Xiaomi Phone 1S ships August 23rd with avalanche of backorders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 20:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceXiaomi (Facebook)  | Email this | Comments