India 8 • Nuclear Bits

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

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

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

Apple Partners with Malala Fund to Support Girls’ Education

Apple today announced that it is partnering with Malala Fund to help girls receive free, safe, and quality education. Apple will become the fund’s first Laureate partner, which will enable significant expansion of Malala’s effort to support girls’ education, according to the release issued by Apple today.

“We believe that education is a great equalising force, and we share Malala Fund’s commitment to give every girl an opportunity to go to school,” said Tim Cook. “Malala is a courageous advocate for equality. She’s one of the most inspiring figures of our time, and we are honoured to help her extend the important work she is doing to empower girls around the world.”

(Photo: Apple / Karen Kasmauski)

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO will be joining the fund’s leadership council and Apple will be helping Malala Fund by assisting with technology, curriculum, and research into policy changes needed to help girls everywhere attend school and complete their education.

Malala Fund currently runs the Gulmakai Network initiative in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Nigeria and help push for girls’ education in these countries.

January 22, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Apple is Hiring for 9 Different Positions for the Apple Online Store Engineering team in Hyderabad

Apple has updated its Jobs portal with a listing of 9 new available positions for its Apple Online Store (AOS) Engineering team based at its new development campus in Hyderabad, India. These listings were posted on the portal late evening yesterday, just days after the Indian Government approved 100% Foreign Direct Investment for Single-Brand Retail in the country, signaling a major win for Apple, who has been trying to open its own stores in India for a little over 3 years now.

Apple India is hiring for the following positions for the Apple Online Store team in Hyderabad:

Software Engineering Manager
Machine Learning Engineer
Software Engineer
Senior Software Engineer
Software Engineer in Test
DevOps Engineer
Engineering Project Manager
Platform Engineer
Senior Tech Lead

Some of the job descriptions included with these postings:

Today, the Apple Online Store (AOS) provides one of the best multichannel commerce experiences in the world, and operates in 37 countries worldwide.

At AOS, its Engineering team is responsible for the global eCommerce platform that serves millions of customers around the world. We are a team highly skilled Software Engineering Managers, Engineers, Analysts and Project Managers based in Cupertino, London and Singapore.

These nine job listings are specifically for the Apple Online Store Engineering team. There are other available positions currently listed for other teams and other departments, but these 9 jobs were all posted together late yesterday evening.

This development may or may not mean that Apple is preparing to launch an Apple Online Store in India, but one care surely hope. Whatever be the case, what’s certain is Apple is expanding its Apple Online Store Engineering team in Hyderabad, along with its Site Reliability Engineering team, Information Systems & Technology team, the Strategic Data Solutions department, and of course, the Apple Maps team.

January 20, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Union Minister Satyapal Singh Says Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is Scientifically Wrong

A PTI Report on Hindustan Times:

“Darwin’s theory (of evolution of humans) is scientifically wrong. It needs to change in school and college curriculum. Since the man is seen on Earth he has always been a man,” he said while speaking to reporters on Friday in Aurangabad.

Mr. Satyapal Singh here is an IPS-officer turned Union Minister. He is part of the system that runs the country. He is the former Police Commissioner of Mumbai and currently serves as the Minister of State for Human Resource Development (Higher Education).

Not only is his claim preposterous, it’s baffling for him to claim that something is “scientifically” wrong only because our ancestors didn’t see it happening.

January 20, 2018 ✚ Permalink

WhatsApp Introduces Its Business App for Small Businesses

People all around the world use WhatsApp to connect with small businesses they care about — from online clothing companies in India to auto parts stores in Brazil. But WhatsApp was built for people and we want to improve the business experience. For example, by making it easier for businesses to respond to customers, separating customer and personal messages, and creating an official presence.

So today we’re launching WhatsApp Business — a free-to-download Android app for small businesses. Our new app will make it easier for companies to connect with customers, and more convenient for our 1.3 billion users to chat with businesses that matter to them.

WhatsApp Business is a separate app, currently only available for Android and only available via Google Play in four countries — Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, U.K. and the U.S. The wider rollout is said to begin “in the coming weeks”.

The app is built on top of the core WhatsApp app, so it looks and works exactly like the WhatsApp app. The only difference is that you can setup a Business Profile and enable Greeting Messages, Away Messages and Quick Reply Templates. You also get statistical data about messages sent and received, but it’s pretty basic.

WhatsApp did not mention when they plan to release apps for other platforms.

January 18, 2018 ✚ Permalink