InfiBeam : Amazon – Is Something Cooking?
We have been hearing ‘some’ rumours about Amazon acquiring InfiBeam to enter the Indian ecommerce space.
Leaving the rumor aside, InfiBeam’s new logo/interface speaks of a potential dance:
The site interface also imitates Amazon’s interface, color by color (does that remind you of Baazee/eBay deal?) and the rumour that we have been hearing is still at a ‘high’ level.
InfiBeam started with automobile segment and later expanded into mobile/electronics/lifestyle products. The company acquired Picsquare, in order to enter the gifting space.
Amazon’s India Connection | Need For Speed
As per regulations, foreign companies cannot enter into retail business directly (they can engage in B2B trading though) – and that’s precisely the reason why you won’t see Yahoo Shopping/Amazon running their operation in India.
FDI up to 100% permitted for e-commerce activities subject to the condition that such companies would divest 26% of their equity in favour of the Indian public in five years, if these companies are listed in other parts of the world. Such companies would engage only in business to business (B2B) e-commerce and not in retail trading
If you look at some of the successful ecommerce startups in India, many of them have an Amazon background (InfiBeam founder was part of Amazon M&A team, by the way) and all of these startups (like Flipkart/Pustak) are in a way, building an Amazon in India.
So why would Amazon let go of the great Indian opportunity?
While we don’t know the details of a potential deal between InfiBeam and Amazon, the logo and the entire site interface does make an interesting story!
What’s your take? Got inside scoop?
Recommended Read: Analysis of ecommerce industry in India.
About the author - Ashish Sinha is a Startup Mentor/Product Strategy Coach, and the founder/chief editor of pluGGd.in.
He has launched/managed couple of products (consumer as well as enterprise) in US and India, and now consults with startups/small businesses on their product/media strategy. He can be reached at: ashish (at) pluGGd.in [+91 98452 06443]
FYI -this logo has been around since the launch. The post is more about the rumour that we have been hearing
Nice catch Ashish, get us some more inside stories like this.
Am I seeing Indian Techcrunch in making (+ more than that)?
Rajeev
r u serious…? TC doesn’t even compare these days. twitter twitter twiteer…nothing more from TC.
pluggd.in has been awesome lately. Ashish, Manish, Naman, Arvind and guests bring in rocking opinions that are simply awesome.
Great analogy….
I don’t see cars, site appears like Amazon’s India version.
Amazon is different from Infibeam. Infibeam people has copied the colors and interfaces of Amazon. Amazon.com is the leading website in online shopping from many years. Infibeam just entered market to gain reputation easily as if they are a part of Amazon. Thats how they impersonated every thing on Amazon.
[...] Apple also intends to compete in the e-reader market so that pitches iPad directly competes against the kindle e-book reader. Kindle has a near monopoly in that segment so far. Granted iPad offers documents in color while kindle does not. But what tilts the scale in favor of kindle is the fact that it uses e-ink technology which renders pages just like a book, without any glare, making it a near-substitute for a physical book. Mac screens are beautiful to look at due to their higher resolution but they definitely have a higher glare which ends up straining your eyes. So, unless iPad switches modes between something like e-ink for reading and normal screen for regular usage, it would fall short of a kindle. Btw, while we are at it, has anyone heard about “infibeamPi”. This was apparently developed by an ex-Amazon employee but I was shocked to see how identical it was to a kindle down to the Amazon logo. Copyright infringement or is something cooking? [...]
I THINK AMAZON IS FUNDING TO INFIBEAM,,INFIBEAM IS NOTHING BUT THE AMAZON.AS INDIAM RULES NOT PERMITTING AMAZON DIRECTLY,THEY ENTER THROUGH INFIBEAM NAME