Two years of Jio: How free calls, data catalysed India's digital revolution

When Mukesh Ambani launched Reliance Jio in 2016, the telecom industry was a multiplayer market, consumers were careful about their data usage and very few cared to consume video content on their mobile data network.

Cut to 2018, two years after Jio first introduced free voice calling and months of dirt-cheap data services, content is in demand like never before.

Content provider and OTT services like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Eros Now, Voot, Hotstar, Gaana and Saavn among many others have taken off in a big way.

Global internet giants Facebook, Google and Amazon are prioritizing Indian language services to attract internet consumers in far-flung rural areas who prefer content in local language than English.

“Jio has built a Digital Connectivity Platform of unparalleled capacity and a nation-wide reach. This has enabled Reliance to strategically reinvent itself as a Technology Platform Company,” the company said in a statement on completion of two years.

Listed retail companies likely to see muted revenue in June quarter

The June quarter could see revenues of listed retailers under pressure, with higher discounting by online players and corresponding offers from traditional retailers. Online offers and promotional activities were especially high in May.

Analysts at financial services entity Jefferies say that with two large global rivals (Amazon and, after the Flipkart acquisition, Walmart) controlling 70 per cent of online retail sales, the likelihood of a rise in online competition remains as they bid to drive market share. In addition to the online entities, Future Group ran aggressive schemes, with ...Read Full Story

Amazon now has customers in 100% serviceable pin-codes in India: Jeff Bezos

Amazon.in might be the most visited shopping site in India, but for Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of the technology giant, it is still Day 1 in what may be the second-most important market for the firm outside the US.

Bezos, in a letter to customers, said that Amazon now has customers in 100 per cent serviceable pin-codes in the country and is shipping packages from more than 50 fulfillment locations in 13 states.

From talking about how Alexa plays devotional songs in local Indian languages to Amazon India working closely with communities in rural areas, Bezos said that the online marketplace has now become part of the country's culture and has adapted all its services and offerings accordingly.

Stressing that Amazon India has captured the top spot for the last two years, Bezos pointed out that amazon.in is the most visited site in the country.

Amazon, which has completed five years in India, has managed to reach the top spot while taking on local favourites Snapdeal and Flipkart. Bezos, in a letter to customers, said that Amazon now has customers in 100 per cent serviceable pin-codes in the country and is shipping packages from more than 50 fulfillment locations in 13 states.

Bengaluru's Embassy Group partners with Amazon to power smart homes

As it marks its entry into the premium-affordable housing segment, Bengaluru-based real estate giant Embassy Group is turning to technology to woo customers in an effort to offer a truly differentiated experience from its rivals.
The company is dabbling with the idea of smart homes and has roped in Amazon to fit every apartment in its upcoming Embassy Edge project in North Bengaluru with Echo smart speakers and accompanying smart devices.
Homeowners will be able to control lights and appliances with their voice and will even be able to remotely monitor their homes through Amazon’s service. The project will have a little over 800 homes and will be completed in the next four years.
“Being the first in real estate to bring this integration of voice-enabled homes in India, we believe that this will revolutionize the residential sector. We will be replicating this concept in our other residential projects across micro markets,” said Jitu Virwani, Chairman and Managing Director, Embassy Group.
Virwani’s idea is that the company needs to do something different to modernise homes for the tech savvy buyers especially in a city like Bengaluru. The Embassy Edge project which will offer 1 to 3 bhk apartments at a cost ranging from Rs 3.6 million to Rs 8.1 million will largely target buyers working in the city’s IT and ITeS sectors.

4G smartphones at Rs 3,399: Airtel, Amazon tie up for affordable devices

India’s largest telecommunications service provider Airtel and Amazon India, on Friday announced a strategic partnership with an aim to jointly drive smartphone adoption across the country.

Millions of Indians can now become first time owners of a 4G smartphone or upgrade to an advanced 4G smartphone of their choice at an affordable price from amongst a wide range of devices starting at an effective price of only Rs 3399.

Flipkart deal wrapped, Walmart now eyeing deals in Brazil and Japan

The sun never sets on Walmart Inc.’s empire, thanks to its network of stores across five continents. But in the span of 10 days, chief executive Doug McMillon has begun dramatically redrawing the retailer’s map, and there’s likely more to come as it places bets to remain on top.

“All of a sudden, everything is in play,” said Dave Marcotte, an analyst at Kantar Retail.

In less than two weeks, Walmart has agreed to cede control of its British business to a competitor and spend $16 billion to acquire India’s e-commerce leader in its biggest-ever deal, fending off Amazon.com Inc. The wheeling and dealing show how McMillon is focusing on high-potential markets like China and India, finding partners to help it battle online and cutting loose middling businesses. He’s got more work to do, though, and subpar markets like Brazil and Japan might be next on his list.

Walmart’s far-flung international units don’t get much attention, but they’re important as a source of cash, management talent and ideas that percolate into its core U.S. operations. Sales growth outside the U.S. once topped more than 10 percent annually, adjusted for currency moves, but it’s less than half that now as sluggish economies, store closures and fierce competition have taken their toll.

Flipkart will become Walmart today: Is that really good news for India?

When Carl Douglas McMillon, president and chief executive officer of Walmart Inc, arrives at the Embassy Tech Village headquarters of Flipkart in Bengaluru later on Wednesday to acquire India’s first-to-a-billion-dollars-startup, he will be accompanied by Walmart International’s Judith McKenna and CEO (commerce) Marc Lore. It will be a triumphal return to India for the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer which will be partnering Google’s parent Alphabet Inc in a deal estimated at $18-20 billion enterprise value – Walmart will own about 60 per cent stake, and Alphabet will get to own about 15 per cent of the online market place.

The passage of the past five years has obviously dulled memories. All recent media reports seem to have conveniently glossed over the history of Walmart’s previous foray into India, in partnership with Sunil Mittal’s Bharti group. Walmart in 2012 launched a global review of corruption after a New York Times report on bribery at the company’s Mexico operations. The review by its lawyers flagged India among the countries with the highest corruption risk. The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act forbids American firms from paying bribes. Almost on cue, in November that year, Bharti Walmart suspended a number of employees, including the chief financial officer, as part of an internal investigation into bribery allegations in the Indian operation. By June 2013, Raj Jain, the CEO of the India operations, quit after six years at the helm of the company. It did not take much time thereafter for the Walmart-Bharti JV to fall apart.

Flipkart's silent soldiers: Men who will lead the firm in its next innings

During the past two years and more, the baton of leadership at Flipkart saw quick change of hands. There were times when access to capital was considered the biggest constraint, as rival Amazon was continuing to splurge to march ahead. But Flipkart stay focused on to its core belief and execution capability, and the results are quite visible today, as it not only continues stay ahead in the race in almost every category, but global investors are also now more than willing than before to put their bet here.

The credit for this seemingly impossible feat could be given to a single man, but it’s better deserved by the team of top leaders who have worked relentlessly in the background to make this happen. In spite of its ups and downs, Flipkart has created a strong leadership pipeline as the country’s most valuable startup readies for the future with around 75-80 leaders who are now steering different key businesses and categories that have been instrumental to retain its leadership. Several of them have moved up the ranks as the company has grown, while others have been roped in from global giants Google, Amazon and Microsoft apart from large FMCG and consulting firms over the years.
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Vivo V9 with notch display appears on Amazon before its March 23 launch

China-based smartphone manufacturer Vivo is gearing up to launch the Vivo V9 in India on March 23. Amazon India, however, has published a dedicated page of the smartphone, confirming that the phone would be an Amazon-exclusive. The page also shows a picture of Aamir Khan, who has replaced Ranveer Singh as the brand’s official ambassador.
Based on Amazon India’s listing page, the Vivo V9 would sport a modern design with a ‘notch’ display. The smartphone would also sport a dual-camera set-up on the back, powered by artificial intelligence.
The specifications and features of the V9 are not official yet, but some leaks in the past have hinted the details mentioned below:
Vivo V9 specifications
The Vivo V9 is expected to sport a 6-inch fullHD+ (1080x2160 pixels) AMOLED, 19:9 aspect ratio screen with an iPhone X-inspired notch on top.

The phone is reported to use Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The dual rear cameras are expected to have 12-megapixel and 8 MP sensors, powered by a dedicated AI chip. On the front, the smartphone is reported to feature a 24MP wide-angle selfie camera, which also integrates AI for beauty mode and bokeh effect.

HomePod is no match for Alexa. Is Apple losing the smart speaker plot?

The war for your digital home is waging. Apple has finally followed Amazon, Google and Microsoft by launching a smart speaker with a voice-controlled artificial intelligence assistant. Yet even though the “HomePod” is another technological marvel, there’s a chance Apple is already losing the battle.

The competition isn’t just through the sound quality of the speaker – but the other things that users can do with it. The most common requests to AI personal assistants such as Apple’s Siri are reportedly to play music, read the weather forecast and set timers or reminders.

But the capabilities of these assistants are increasing at lightning speed. This doesn’t just rely on the sophistication of the artificial intelligence involved but also what other technology the assistant can link to. And given Apple’s tendency to reject open connections to other company’s systems, it may find it has some serious catching up to do.

OnePlus 5T review: 18:9 screen adds 1+ to capable mid-range flagship device

China-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus, after coming up with a few affordable flagship devices, has now set a new benchmark by launching two flagships in a year. The company recently launched the OnePlus 5T, a flagship smartphone that breaks away from OnePlus’ 5.5-inch display culture in favour of an ultra-wide 6-inch 18:9 aspect ratio screen.

In a way, OnePlus has indeed repeated itself in its upgrade experiement – the company had last year launched the upgraded flagship OnePlus 3T soon after coming up with the OnePlus 3. This time, the OnePlus 5T has come within five months of the OnePlus 5 launch.

But how worthy was the OnePlus 5 for an upgrade? And is the OnePlus 5T even a worthy upgrade of the predecessor? Business Standard reviewed the OnePlus 5T and compared its features with the OnePlus 5 to assess the upgrade quotient. Here are our observations:

Display
OnePlus’ choice of the future-ready ultra-wide 18:9 aspect ratio screen in the OnePlus 5T is a welcome move. However, continuing with a fullHD resolution seems to limit the otherwise perfect display. Competitors have long been offering quadHD screens in their flagships. With the new ultra-wide format screen in the OnePlus 5T, the quadHD screen resolution might have been a real upgrade.

The OnePlus 5T display offers good sunlight legibility, contrast ratio and saturation. It covers almost the entire front with minimal top and bottom bezels. Also, the screen is no more prone to ‘Jelly effect’, which had been seen in some OnePlus 5 units.

Camera
Camera is another area where the OnePlus 5T carries some tweaks from the previous version. The OnePlus 5T still sports a dual camera set-up – 16+20 megapixel. But, the 20-megapixel telephoto lens is now replaced by a new 20 MP camera of 27mm focal length and f/1.7 aperture – similar to the primary 16 MP camera.

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OnePlus 5T sold within 5 minutes during preview sale on Amazon

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus on Friday said it sold out its newly-launched OnePlus 5T within five minutes of the special one-hour preview sale on Amazon.

"We have seen unprecedented customer response to the early access sales, in India as well as globally. Hundreds of fans stormed our 'Experience Stores' in Bengaluru and Delhi," Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India, said in a statement.

"We are happy to announce that OnePlus 5T will go on open sale, starting on November 28, across all channels including Amazon.in, oneplusstore.in, select Croma stores and 'Experience Stores' in Bengaluru and Delhi," Agarwal added.

OnePlus 5T also broke the company's launch-day sales record and became the company's fastest-selling device in six hours, the company said.

The device marks the introduction of a 6-inch "Full Optic AMOLED Display" with an 18:9 aspect ratio to deliver a more immersive viewing experience.

The device features a new "Sunlight Display" that adapts automatically to harsh light.

OnePlus has moved its fingerprint sensor to the back of the device.

The OnePlus 5T comes with the same main camera as that of OnePlus 5 but also houses an improved secondary camera for superior low-light photography.

The device has super-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. The "Adreno 540 GPU" boosts graphical performance.

Google, Amazon ahead of Apple in artificial intelligence race: Fortune

Essentially a hardware-focused firm, Apple is falling behind in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) race with Google and Amazon racing ahead while embracing the open-source and collaborative approach in the emerging field of AI, Fortune reported.

According to Mohanbir Sawhney, McCormick Foundation professor of technology at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, sheets of glass are simply no longer the most fertile ground for innovation.

"That means Apple urgently needs to shift its focus and investment to AI-driven technologies, as part of a broader effort to create the kind of ecosystem Amazon and Google are building quickly," Sawhney wrote in Fortune.

According to him, Apple has reached its peak with "super premium" iPhone X and "does not represent the beginning of the next 10 years of the smartphone, as Apple claims".

Apple launched the iPhone X globally on Friday.
Players pursue innovation along a vector of differentiation until the vector runs out of steam.
"When that happens, the focus of innovation shifts to a different vector and new market leaders emerge. We have seen this pattern several times in mobile phone innovation over the past three decades," Sawhney said.

The vector of differentiation is now shifting from hardware to AI and AI-based software and agents.
"As AI-driven phones like Google's Pixel 2 and virtual agents like Amazon Echo proliferateaToday's smartphones will likely recede into the background," he stressed.

Flipkart beats Amazon in festive season sales, captures 50% market share

Flipkart beat Amazon in sales during this year's festive season by a huge margin, reported the Economic Times. The Indian e-marketplace captured 50% of the festive market, while the American e-commerce behemoth trailed as the runner-up with a 35% share.

The Indian e-commerce market is reported to have grown by 40% in value over the last year. Online sales during the September-October festive season is estimated to have increased to $2.9 billion from $2 billion last year.

Amazon is said to have pocketed just Rs 2,500-2,700 cr during its Great Indian Festival Sale in September as compared to Flipkart's Big Billion day jackpot of Rs 5,000 cr, according to Livemint. (However, ET reports that Flipkart may have sold only Rs 4,300 cr worth of products, a number that is still way ahead of Amazon India's)

Livemint quotes Manish Tiwary, vice president (category management) at Amazon India as saying, “Amazon.in remains the largest marketplace and the fastest growing one in Indian e-commerce landscape. The recently concluded Great Indian Festival has been our biggest shopping event till date with a remarkable spike in customer acquisition from tier-II and tier-III cities across India, with 85% of new customers coming from these areas. We saw a tremendous customer response across categories—from high-value products such as smartphones and appliances to everyday essentials such as shampoos, biscuits and pet supplies.”

Amazon unveils new Echo devices to compete against Apple, Google

Manage the spinned words as you want..

Amazon.com Inc on Wednesday announced a variety of new voice-controlled Echo gadgets, as it gears up for new opposition in the class from Apple Inc .

At a press event at its Seattle headquarters, the arena's largest on-line store showcased new Echo devices, one tailor-made for gaming and one for phone calls. It additionally announced the small, round Echo Spot, suit for video-calling from a bedside table.

Amazon additionally announced the Echo Plus, aiming to make it less difficult for clients to put in connected homes so that it will command home equipment through voice.

"there's no apps. there's no abilties. It simply works out of the container," Senior vice president David Limp stated, contrasting the Echo Plus with the clever-home setup on preceding gadgets. The Echo Plus will cost $149 in the u.s..

The statement comes after Apple introduced its $349 HomePod speaker earlier this 12 months, marking its first move into a very new area in more than two years.

Apple has leapt ahead of friends within the beyond when it launched competing gadgets, and lots of are already acquainted with its voice-powered Siri assistant.

Amazon edges past Microsoft to become world's leading IaaS cloud provider

Amazon become the main supplier inside the Infrastructure-as-a-provider (IaaS) public Cloud services marketplace in 2016 with 44.2 per cent share, leaving Microsoft, Alibaba, Google and others a ways at the back of, marketplace studies company Gartner stated on Wednesday.

according to Gartner, the global IaaS public Cloud marketplace grew 31 consistent with cent in 2016 amounting to $22.1 billion -- up from $16.8 billion in 2015.

Amazon served the maximum customers across the broadest variety of use instances, from Cloud-native startups to mid-marketplace corporations to huge organisations.

"The market for Cloud services is developing faster than certainly every other IT marketplace today, with a great deal of this increase coming on the price of the traditional, non-Cloud services," stated Sid Nag, studies Director, Gartner, in a announcement.

"even as Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-carrier (SaaS) also are exhibiting sturdy growth, IaaS is expected to expose the fastest boom over the following 5 years," Nag delivered.

but, Gartner anticipated that Amazon will witness boom erosion in proportion as the non-hyperscale vendors struggle to provide fee thru their services, at the same time as other IaaS marketplace leaders will see an growth in increase.

Amazon's Great Indian Festival vs Flipkart's Big Billion Days: Online sales begin today

It is time again to loosen your purse strings! With attractive deals and huge discounts across various categories on offer, almost all major e-commerce platforms are geared up to commence their sales for the festive season.

While e-commerce giant Flipkart and the online retail platforms it owns -- Jabong and Myntra -- will start with their five-day-long "Big Billion Days" sales from September 20, Amazon India's "Great Indian Festival" will begin exclusively for its "Prime" customers on the same day at 12 p.m.

However, the festival sale for all customers of Amazon India will be from September 21 to 24.

"For the first time ever, the Great Indian Festival will start early at 12 noon on September 20 only for 'Prime' members," Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Category Management, Amazon India, told IANS.

"We expect more customers to join the digital ecosystem and shop with us during this festive season. With expanded selection and a robust logistical support system, we are ready to handle the massive customer traffic that we are bound to receive this season," Tiwary added.

Amazon India will offer deals across several categories, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, large appliances, baby products, clothing and accessories, beauty products, home and kitchen products, furniture and stationery products.

Amazon opens India's first fashion imaging studio 'Blink' in Gurgaon

After the successful launch of the Fashion Studios in New York and London, Amazon launched the largest standalone Fashion Imaging Studio, Blink in India in Gurgaon.

Spread over 44,000 sq. ft. with state-of-the-art digital imaging facility, the studio is first of its kind in India and only third of its kind globally by Amazon, said a statement.

In addition to 16 individual high-tech photography bays, the studio also has a large editorial suite, video editing facilities and creative spaces.

Established as a Center for Creative Excellence, the studio will enable Amazon Fashion to creatively collaborate with Fashion brands and partners to produce lakhs of high-quality images for its fashion merchandise every year.

"At Amazon, we are always thinking about how we will raise the bar, how we will redefine the way the customer discovers, engages with, and shops for fashion online. All of our efforts we've made for this studio in terms of technology, scale and talent are designed to deliver high-quality imagery that inspires and educates our customers," said Arun Sirdeshmukh, Head, Amazon Fashion India.
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Amazon Echo's shorter, slimmer model to take on Apple HomePod

Aiming to regain the top spot in smart speaker space, Amazon is reportedly working on a new flagship Echo speaker that will be slimmer and better than its predecessor.

According to a report in Engadget, the updated model will be "shorter and slimmer", akin to three or four stacked Echo Dots.

The move is seen as Amazon's attempt to better Apple HomePod that was launched in its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

The new Echo would offer better sound using several tweeters instead of just one -- similar to the HomePod that will sport seven tweeters when it ships this December.

Amazon is also planning to improve Echo's microphone technology as well as the design.

If Amazon can stick to a $180 price tag, it will retain at least one advantage over the HomePod, which will sell for $349, the report said.

28 hours a week: Indians spend 7X more time on smartphones than on TV

Indian  consumers spend as much as 28 hours a week on their smartphones, seven fold more than the time they end up spending in watching programmes on television as more users access internet on their mobile phone.

According to the Mary Meeker report, released on Wednesday night, the delivery of  entertainment, education, healthcare and marketplaces is being reimagined in India with the mobile phone emerging as the primary device for access to consumers.

In education sector, the report said education technology firm Byju’s has shown 15 per cent improvement in the quality of learning by accessing content on smartphones. In the healthcare sector, prices of laboratory tests have dropped by 50 per cent due to the aggregate inventory maintained by startups such as 1Mg and Portea. Customers made savings of around 20-30 per cent due to drug comparison on these platforms.

As far as payments are concerned, the unified payment interface (UPI) and use of Aadhaar is yielding results in areas such as the direct benefit transfer and instant money transfer schemes.

Users spend nearly half their time in watching entertainment content, while around 4 per cent of the time is invested on social networks and search engine sites such as Facebook and Google. News and media content remained low on priority at 2 per cent.

Around 4 per cent of the time is spent on online shopping from marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart.

This could potentially help Indian consumers take a gaint leap away from traditional formats as users stream content on their smartphones, aided by the massive rollout of 4G services by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio.

Launch of Jio in India has accelerated internet adoption by bringing down data prices to 17 cents per GB of data in March, from $2.7 in September last year.

People spend just two hours on print, a primary vehicle for consumption across India for decades, as multimedia content on smartphones account for a majority of their lives. Most of the content they consume is shared on platforms such as ShareIt and WhatsApp.

According to the report, there are around 355 million internet users in India, which is second only to China. Nearly 80 per cent of the useer access internet through their phones.
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