Reliance Jio is reportedly planning to acquire Haptik, India’s homegrown Conversational AI platforms, in a deal worth >US $29M. What does the Haptik acquisition portend for Reliance? How does this acquisition sit within the string of recent acquisitions by the company? What does Reliance’s moves imply for India’s e-commerce future? First, the backstory. Haptik …
At its Show Time keynote, Apple announced a new App Store bundle for gaming named Apple Arcade. Unlike Google’s bet on cloud gaming via its Stadia, Apple Arcade integrates with the App Store, and enables users to subscribe to games available through the App store. Users could play games across devices, including the iPhone, iPad, …
At its Show Time keynote, Apple announced Apple Card, its credit card offering, in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. Make no mistake. Apple’s fintech move is significant. The Apple Card strategy is to lure millennials away from traditional credit card play, to new, exciting experiences in financial services, delivered on iPhone apps. Some key …
At its March 25 “Show Time” event, held at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, Apple showcased its new bet on digital subscriptions as a potential revenue driver across TV, Gaming, Finance, and News. The Apple announcements can, for the most parts, be termed incremental in nature, with Apple building and refining on the existing …
HTC, one of the most premium brands in India in the last decade, shut shop in India in mid-2018. From a technology innovation perspective, HTC ranked pretty high up, but could not match it with a similar innovation in its business or go-to-market perspective. Its market in India nose-dived since it was either too late …
Smartphones are growing taller, and taller. From 18:9, the next generation of smartphones are aiming for 21:9 screen aspect ratio displays that promise true cinematic and flawlessly rich gaming experience. But, in doing so, are they becoming tough to manoeuvre? Over the past couple of years, tall 18:9 aspect ratio screens on phones made the …
At Day Zero of the MWC 2019 at Barcelona, there were some interesting contrasts: While Huawei made a bold bet on Foldable Smartphones, Nokia showcased its Computational Photography chops (in collaboration with Light Labs) with its five rear camera innovation. One key standout hit was Microsoft, who crashed the party, with a renewed pitch for …
Spotify has made a sharp pivot to new frontiers, beyond just music. By acquiring two podcast businesses, Gimlet Media Inc., a popular podcast network, and Anchor, a platform providing tools for creators, Spotify is recognizing the potential for non-music content, and staking a claim on the future of podcasting. Both acquisitions are prudent as well. …
To satisfy the global demand for meat at a fraction of the environmental impact, Impossible Foods developed a far more sustainable, scalable and affordable way to make meat, without the catastrophic environmental impact of livestock. At the recently concluded CES 2019, Impossible Foods’ next-generation, plant-based meat — which rivals ground beef from cows for taste, …
Earlier this week, Hike, founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, announced unbundling its content and services into new applications. While Hike would continue to be a messaging app, the other services, including video, news and associated services would be hived off into separate apps. Key takeaways emerging from hiving off Hike from a ‘super app’ into …