Xiaomi, the No.1 smartphone brand in India with 26% market share in Q3 2019, is forging ahead with its diversification moves towards services, with a new offering, named Mi Credit, launched earlier this week that aims at simplifying access to credit for the youth. The new offering follows on the heels of the Mi Pay, …
Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform, is renewing its focus on payments, with a significant and unified push into payments. The move to launch Facebook Pay comes despite its previous failed attempts at cryptocurrency (read Calibra), and is yet reflective of Mark Zuckerberg’s thinking to monetize the vast social network by focusing on transactions …
At the Samsung Developer Conference 2019 for developers held at San Jose on October 29-30, 2019, Samsung powerfully articulated its value propositions for developers, whether it be through the wide device ecosystem offerings for consumers; or the enterprise device offerings, that come coupled with the secure Knox platform. ‘Connected Living’ was the central theme of …
Apple on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, reported its Q4 2019 earnings that beat analyst expectations, and continued to show that it is on the right path with its pivot to services, overshadowing iPhones that were down 9% year-over-year. For Q4 2019, Apple had forecasted revenue between $61-$64Bn, and in actual, achieved revenue of $64Bn and …
Netflix won 27 trophies at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, and trailed HBO, that got 34 awards. More importantly, despite pouring billions into original programming, Netflix is yet to win an Emmy for a best series. With Amazon Prime upping the ante, and a swathe of new OTT players betting big on original programming, …
Google has launched Google Play Pass, a new curated gaming subscription service, that is ad free, does not entail in-app purchases, and upfront payments. The Google Play Pass complements Google’s mainstreaming of gaming, and especially its upcoming cloud gaming service, Google Stadia. More importantly, the Play Pass ringfences Android users from potentially embracing Apple Arcade. …
Apple’s play across services software and hardware is refreshing. From the announcements at the Apple Special Event, there is a clear shift in Apple’s positioning. Apple has flipped the entire value proposition: Apple *now* offers an exciting ecosystem, and the devices are mere conduits to access them. This is different from the earlier stance of …
The Internationale Funkausstellung — more popularly known as IFA — is an annual flagship consumer tech trade show held at the Messe Berlin, and is very much akin in size and scale to the CES. In fact, the IFA is Europe’s flagship event, with a very sweeping canvas, that is in sharp contrast to the …
A few years ago, the smartphone market in India had a different complexion from the one now, with the likes of Micromax, Lava, Intel and Karbonn enjoying a healthy market leadership with their affordable mobile phones. Xiaomi had just entered the market, and other Chinese mobile brands were exploring their own forays into India. Circa …
Earlier this week, Samsung unveiled the new generation of Galaxy Notes: the Galaxy Note 10, Note 10+, a 5G model as well as a Verizon exclusive. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10 line-up, with some interesting, iterative innovations over its predecessor series, will appeal to traditional Samsung Note loyalists, and I anticipate a healthy competition with the …