Reuters: India antitrust probe finds Apple abused position in apps market

Aditya Kalra, reporting for Reuters:

An investigation by India’s antitrust body has found that Apple exploited its dominant position in the market for app stores on its iOS operating system, engaging “in abusive conduct and practices”, a confidential report seen by Reuters showed.

and

The CCI’s investigations unit, in its 142-page report which is not public but was seen by Reuters, said Apple wields “significant influence” over how digital products and services reach consumers, especially through its iOS platform and App Store.

“Apple App Store is an unavoidable trading partner for app developers, and resultantly, app developers have no choice but to adhere to Apple’s unfair terms, including the mandatory use of Apple’s proprietary billing and payment system,” the CCI unit said in the June 24 report.

Apple has been facing increased scrutiny in recent times in many parts of the world, some of which have forced the company to make important changes to its billing system on the App Store. While I’m off the opinion that Apple’s billing policies are too staunch, they’re in no way a dominant player in the market where Google’s Android and similar billing policies have traditionally held strong ground.

July 12, 2024 ✚ Permalink

Amazon buys MX Player

Manish Singh, reporting for Techcrunch:

The two firms reached a definitive agreement for the deal on Wednesday evening, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The deal values MX Player at less than $100 million, far short of the $500 million valuation at which the streamer raised its last capital, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the companies are yet to publicly comment on the deal, told TechCrunch.

Amazon is acquiring some assets of MX Player, but not the entire firm, which also counts Tencent among its backers.

MX Player has some of the most obscure web-series content that I’ve seen, but also has some good hits like Ek thi Begum, Aani Kay Hava, Pandu, Indori Ishq, etc. From what I’ve seen, MX Player is much more popular in the semi-urban and rural towns than in the metros, so I can see why Amazon was interested in the deal.

June 6, 2024 ✚ Permalink

IMAX and Miraj Cinemas are Reviving the Iconic IMAX Wadala Theatre in Mumbai; Relaunching it with ‘IMAX with Laser’ System

Miraj Cinemas and the IMAX Corporation this week announced a new partnership that would bring three new ‘IMAX with Laser’ theatres in India.

This deal marks the first-ever collaboration between the two companies and IMAX’s largest expansion in India in five years. Miraj Cinemas will add three new IMAX systems to key locations across India, including one in Mumbai – set to open in 2024 – one in Jaipur, and a third location to be determined at a later date.

As part of this deal, Miraj Cinemas are reviving IMAX Wadala, the first IMAX screen to launch in India, back in 2003.

IMAX Wadala had long been my favorite place to watch English action films, but over time I simply stopped going there. The theatre has seen a lot of neglect in its last years, probably due to its geographic location. It changed ownership multiple times, going into the hands of Anil Ambani-owned BIG Cinemas in late 2000s. BIG Cinemas was acquired by Carnival Cinemas in 2014, which took over its operations and tried to keep it running. However, the screen, the IMAX projectors, and the speakers were ill-maintained and affected the overall movie experience. The theatre ultimately ceased operations in 2023.

I’m excited to see what Miraj Cinemas does with it. I’m yet to watch a film in a theatre equipped with IMAX with Laser system, so I’m definitely looking forward to this launch.

April 12, 2024 ✚ Permalink

boAt Investigating Suspected Customer Data Breach

Jagmeet Singh, reporting for TechCrunch:

India’s largest audio and wearables brand boAt is investigating a possible data breach after hackers advertised a cache of alleged customer data online.

A sample of alleged customer data was uploaded on a known cybercrime forum, which includes full names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses and order numbers. A portion of the data that TechCrunch reviewed appears genuine based on checks against exposed phone numbers.

The hacker said the breach happened in March, which led to the compromise of the data of more than 7.5 million customers.

7.5 million is a high number, but considering how much data privacy is valued in India, I don’t see this making the news beyond this week.

April 12, 2024 ✚ Permalink

Pegatron may sell India iPhone plant to Tata

Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra, reporting for Reuters:

Pegatron, opens new tab is in advanced talks to hand over control of its only iPhone manufacturing facility in India to the Tata Group, said two sources with direct knowledge, marking the Taiwanese firm’s latest scale back of its Apple, opens new tab partnership.
Under the deal, which has received the backing of Apple, Tata plans to hold at least a 65% stake in a joint venture that will operate the Pegatron plant near Chennai city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with the Taiwanese firm providing technical support and holding the rest, one of the sources said.

Tata already operates an iPhone assembly plant in the neighbouring southern state of Karnataka, which it took over from Taiwan’s Wistron (3231.TW), opens new tab last year, and is also building another in Hosur in Tamil Nadu, where Pegatron is likely to emerge as its joint venture partner.

April 8, 2024 ✚ Permalink

A Review of BSG Stay, Turtle Beach, Morjim Hotel in Goa

This past week, I went on a small, long-pending, post-Diwali vacation to Goa. It was splendid, and gave me a much-needed break from the routines. We spent our time in North Goa, in Morjim. Although the trip was fantastic, we had a terrible time at the hotel stay we had chosen, which was ‘BSG Stay, Turtle Beach, Morjim‘. While it’s a good-looking hotel in the pictures, the ground reality is vastly different. A whole lot of things went wrong in our experience and I wanted to post a review about it on Google. Unfortunately, Google won’t publish the review I wrote for this listing, so I’m posting it here instead. Hopefully it’ll help someone in case they are considering booking a stay at the BSG Stay Hotel at Morjim, Goa.

BSG Stay, Morjim (Goa) – A Detailed Review

Terrible place and piss poor service.

This place has decent quality rooms, but a lot of stuff is broken or not working and it goes unfixed for days due to the hotel’s bad service. Hot water system? Not working. Jet spray? Not working. Toilet seat? Broken. This is going to be a long and detailed review, so bear with me till the end as I cover some important points that you shouldn’t miss.

(more…)

November 22, 2023 ✚ Permalink

Tata to make iPhones in India

Manish Singh, writing for TechCrunch:

Tata Group will start making iPhones in India for the local and global markets, India’s Deputy IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday, after the Taiwanese firm Wistron entered a deal with the salt-to-tech conglomerate.

Tata Group has acquired Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Pvt for $125 million, the Taiwanese firm said in a stock exchange filing. Wistron said it finalized the deal after strategic considerations in response to the reshaping of the firm’s global manufacturing strategy.

October 27, 2023 ✚ Permalink

IFFI 2022 jury head calls The Kashmir Files ‘propaganda, vulgar movie’

All of us were disturbed and shocked by the 15th film, The Kashmir Files. That felt like a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival.

Yikes!

November 29, 2022 ✚ Permalink