Apple Introduces (RED) iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

Apple has today introduced (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, which will be available for order on Apple.com starting April 10, 2018 (tomorrow) and in Apple Stores starting April 13, 2018 (Friday).

For 11 years, our partnership with (RED) has supported HIV/AIDS programmes that provide counselling, testing and medicine that prevents the transmission of HIV from a mother to her unborn child. So far, we’ve raised over US$160 million through the sale of our (RED) products. Every purchase brings us a step closer to an AIDS‑free generation.

These new (RED) models of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus) will be available in 64GB and 256GB versions for the standard non-RED pricing of $699/$849 and $799/$949 respectively. The India pricing has been announced as starting at ₹67,940/- and will be available in May.

April 9, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Navi Mumbai is the Fastest 4G City in India: OpenSignal Report

Peter Boyland, writing on the OpenSignal Blog:

Navi Mumbai registered average 4G speeds of 8.72 Mbps in OpenSignal’s latest measurements, which track average 4G download speeds among 20 of India’s largest cities between December and February. Elsewhere, second-placed Chennai saw its 4G speeds nearly double, jumping up from 4.4 Mbps in our last post in March 2017. At the other end of the scale, Allahbad was only city to register less than 4 Mbps with average speeds of just 3.5 Mbps.

Mumbai ranked fifth on that list with an average 4G speed of 6.97Mbps, followed by Hyderabad at 6.71Mbps and Delhi at 6.69Mbps.

March 14, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Music Streaming Service Gaana is Raising $115 Million Led by China’s Tencent

Eric Newcomer, reporting for Bloomberg:

The investment in Gamma Gaana Ltd. totals $115 million, and Times Internet Ltd., the Indian media and technology company that started the business, will also participate, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the information publicly and asked not to be identified. Tecent and Gaana didn’t respond to requests for comment. Times Internet declined to comment.

I’ve always liked Saavn, but may be it’s time to check out Gaana too.

February 28, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Distributors Will Start Selling Refurbished iPhones in India

Writankar Mukherjee, reporting for ETtech:

Top smartphone distributors, led by Ingram Micro and HCL, are entering the business of selling refurbished smartphones in the country where they will refurbish old handsets sourced locally and then sell them, which will help them bypass government restriction of sourcing old phones from abroad.

and

Ingram Micro is launching the refurbished handsets under its own brand focused on iPhone. The company, which will also offer six months warranty on these handsets, has tied up with third-party manufacturers such as Dixon Technologies for this, an executive said. The pricing will be 40%-60% lower than the current selling price for a new model.

I don’t know how to react to this.

February 27, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Google’s Tez App Gets Support for Bill Payments in India

Diana Layfield, VP, Payments & Commerce, Next Billion Users at Google, writes on the Official Google India Blog:

We’ll start with support for more than 80 billers, including national and state electricity providers, gas and water, and DTH recharge. These include billers like Reliance Energy, BSES and DishTV, and in total will cover all states and major metros in India. Tez also supports Bharat BillPay system, which lets you fetch the latest bill from your providers.

Competition is always good.

February 19, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Picking Apart the Crashing iOS String

Manish Goregaonkar has published this absolutely fascinating analysis of the iOS crashing bug that occurs when it comes across a particular text string.

So there’s yet another iOS text crash, where just looking at a particular string crashes iOS. Basically, if you put this string in any system text box (and other places), it crashes that process. I’ve been testing it by copy-pasting characters into Spotlight so I don’t end up crashing my browser.

[…]

I was pretty interested in what made this sequence “special”, and started investigating.

Even if you are not interested in the technical details, I urge you to go read it. The explanation about Indic scripts is incredibly interesting read.

February 16, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Google Fined $21 Million by Competition Commission of India for Search Bias

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine of ₹135.86 Crores (or about 21 Million USD) on Google in India.

In a 190-page order, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said Google abused its dominant position on three counts that largely relate to search, while no foul play was seen in case of advertising.

The fine imposed is 5% of the average revenue generated by the company in India over three years, which Google has to pay within 60 days.

February 9, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Apple Decreases Pricing of Apps on the Indian App Store As it Adjusts Pricing for Several Countries

App Store India Pricing January 2018

Apple has adjusted the App Store pricing for several countries this week to account for foreign exchange rate fluctuations and tax changes. App Store developers were notified of this change via an email earlier this week, as reported by 9to5Mac. Apple periodically adjusts the pricing on the App Store to account for these changes and the last major change for pricing of apps for Apple customers in India happened in January 2017 when Apple increased the pricing of apps on the App Store for India by around 25% to 32%.

App Store Pricing Adjustment for India

According to the email that Apple sent out to developers, the pricing for apps in India will decrease.

India: Prices will decrease for apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions)

As a consumer, it’s obvious to get excited upon reading that, but wait till you hear the new pricing that is now live on the App Store. The pricing of apps on App Store India has been reduced by Rs. 1. That’s right, apps will cost less by a whole Rupee going forward.

Here are the top pricing tiers now active on the App Store:

App Store India Pricing January 2018

App Store India Pricing January 2018

I’m not really sure why Apple decided to make this minor change to the pricing. I’m hoping that this ₹1 discount is just cosmetic — such that the pricing appears in line with the standard xx.99 way and that the change announced in the email is rolling out in the coming days with a notable change in the pricing.

What do you think about this change? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter @preshit or @nuclearbits.

[h/t @macpeercom]

January 26, 2018 ✚ Permalink