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Mediatek expects more than 2 million Android One phones to sell in India

Posted by Unknown | Wednesday, September 17, 2014 | Posted in , ,




Buoyed by the initial response to Android One smartphones, chip maker Media Tek today said it expects as many as two million handsets to be sold this year in India, the world’s second largest market for mobile phones.

The Taiwan-headquartered company has partnered with US-based tech giant Google on Android One, an initiative to provide a family of high-quality, yet affordable Android devices for consumers in emerging markets like India.

Yesterday, Google launched three devices in partnership with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice under the Android One initiative. India is the first country to have the Android One handets, priced at Rs 6,399 onwards.

“We expect 1.5 to 2 million Android One handsets to be sold this year in India,” MediTek VP (US Business Development) Mohit Bhushan told PTI when asked about the his expectations on the sale of the handsets.

With prices starting at Rs 6,399, the hardware and software being provided on Android One will give users an amazing experience, he added.

The first set of Android One devices feature MediaTek’s MT6582 mobile System-on-Chip (SoC), which is based on quad ARM CortexTM A7 processors.

The processors deliver superior multi-tasking performance and excellent sustained performance-per-watt for a premium mobile experience.

When asked about the impact on Android One on the smartphone market, Bhushan said: “In the short term, there can be disruptions. But, this will eventually lead to handset makers not part of Android One to invest on innovating the mobile experience.”

He added that companies will have to realise that Android One will give users an unmatched device experience at affordable prices and for them to match it, they will have to follow suit.

With Android One, Google aims to win customers in the world’s fastest growing smartphone market with low prices and better quality software.

Currently, many affordable smartphones in India already offer customised versions of the Android operating system.

In case of Android One, the eventual software upgrades on the Android One phones would come directly from Google. This would give Google better control of the operating system and ensure users get a consistent service.

Reports suggest, an initial lot of Micromax Canvas A1 handsets, that were put up for sale on Amazon, were sold out.

PwC India Leader (Telecom) Mohammad Chowdhury said: “The festive season regularly sees an uptick in handset sales and we should expect this in the next few months. In particular there is hot competition in the segment priced from Rs 7,000 upwards.

With Android One, Google’s focus on India outshines its smartphone rivals

Posted by Unknown | Tuesday, September 16, 2014 | Posted in ,


Android boss Sundar Pichai at Google I/O

It’s a day after Google launched Android One internationally, but the focus of the event was squarely in India. Android One is supposed to be a global initiative but at the moment it has an Indian tinge that shows Google is focussing on the Indian market more than ever, and possibly more than anyone else.

For all its various services and kooky projects, the past few years have seen tremendous focus on mobile from Google. It makes sense seeing as mobile connectivity is the fastest growing segment when it comes to Internet and Google is all about the Internet. So we saw Android growing with new hardware partners on board and features that made it more accessible. Android rules the smartphone market today, running on over 80 percent of devices shipped last year.

As smartphones grew around the world, India and China emerged as the two fastest growing markets. But China is a wasteland as far as Android is concerned as many vendors eschewed Google Play services to align themselves with third-party services along with an open source Android base. This left Google out of the revenue pie in China.

To not see the same fate in India, Android One is here. Android One is how Google wants us to use Android, a version where its services are front and centre, and softwareupdates will flow for up to two years. More crucially Google controls the experience to a great extent, meaning users should have few complaints about performance even though the price would suggest they would do.

With Android One, Google is focussing on India more than any other smartphone player. Despite making noises about India being an important market, Google’s rivals such as Apple and Samsung have preferred to not put a great deal of resources into the India effort.

Apple acknowledged that India was a key market for iPhone and iPad growth, but has done little outside the buyback schemes and exchange offers for Indian consumers. Samsung has been guilty of constantly churning out mediocre re-iterations of existing phones and has been shown to be completely devoid of any understanding of the Indian market, which is moving to better value smartphones in the mid-range segment. Samsung has also not been able make its mid-range portfolio attractive in the same way as Micromax, Motorola or even Xiaomi. If anything, Samsung is busy promoting its own ecosystem, which has direct rivals to some apps in the Google Play platform.

Meanwhile, Google recognised the strategy to make sure India remained in the favourable Android camp. It’s hoping to emulate iPhone-like performance with Android One at basement prices, but also striking against Samsung’s focus on its home-grown apps. It’sadded key features to sweep the Indian market such as free subscription in Google Play NewsStand; free data usage for app downloads, offline YouTube support in a video-crazy market and regional language support to bolster the search user base through vernacular languages.

In his interviews following the launch, Google VP Sundar Pichai maintained that India is a crucial market for Google as it represents a swathe of people who are not connected or at least not connected to the main stem of the Internet.

Android One is the first step and Pichai said we should expect more India-specific developments from the company. Google has not just talked about how India is an important market, it’s shown it in a very precise manner and the first wave of Android One devices is only the beginning. More partners and better hardware is coming. At the moment, the three phones are not meant to please everyone. But the specific audience Google is targeting (largely first-time buyers) will scarcely get a better smartphone experience elsewhere.

Facebook to roll out 'I'm a Voter' feature worldwide

Posted by Unknown | Tuesday, May 20, 2014 | Posted in ,




When Americans voted to renew President Barack Obama's lease on the White House in November 2012, more than 9 million citizens took to Facebook to click the "I'm a Voter" button, showing their online friends that they had cast a ballot.

The social media site plans to offer versions of the feature around the world for a slate of national elections this year, the company said on Monday.

The feature was available for voters in India as the world's largest democracy chose a new prime minister, Narendra Modi, in voting over recent weeks. Over 4 million Indian voters used the "I'm a Voter" button during the country's parliamentary elections, Facebook said.

For Facebook, this is another effort to integrate its services into the everyday life of people around the globe as it seeks to increase its number of users, particularly in emerging markets.

The button will appear for voters in next week's European Parliament and Colombian elections, and for citizens in South Korea, Indonesia, Sweden, Scotland, New Zealand, and Brazil later this year. It will also appear again for Americans, during November's midterm congressional elections.

By clicking the button, users broadcast their status as a voter to their network of friends, but do not reveal how their vote was cast.

Previewing the feature's worldwide roll-out, Facebook said it estimates nearly 400 million people will see the message in their news feeds this year - more than one third of its roughly 1.1 billion active users.

A 2012 study in scientific journal Nature found that in the United States' 2010 midterm elections, 340,000 additional citizens voted after seeing that their friends had clicked the button to indicate they had cast a ballot.

That election heralded the rise of the conservative Tea Party movement for smaller government, as Republicans swept into office and claimed the US House of Representatives from Democrats.

"There is a real social multiplier effect," said Andy Stone, a spokesman in Facebook's Washington office. "When people see on Facebook that their friends have voted, they themselves are motivated to vote."

Facebook shares were at $59.28, up 2 percent, in late US trading.

Is your boss a Facebook friend?

Posted by Unknown | Sunday, May 18, 2014 | Posted in ,



Think twice before you waltz with the bosses on social media; it could lead to heartache

Sushil Kumar wanted to be a ‘textbook’ boss, someone whom employees loved, not merely respected. He was chummy with them on the factory floor and also on the online space. All friend requests were accepted and likes and lols littered his home page.

One evening, he ticked off an errant employee with whom he’d had a fun-filled tweet session earlier that day, over a task not completed. The employee was upset that his social media ‘friend’ treated him like a regular employee. On the other hand, Sushil (name changed) felt his authority as boss was being questioned.

This is an increasingly common scenario. People break basic rules of social media etiquette and get friendly with people they should not get overly familiar with. Office and personal spaces have merged and boundaries have blurred. This makes it difficult for anyone to function in a professional manner, say etiquette experts.

Subodh Sankar, who runs Atta Galatta book store and café in Bangalore, says being friendly with employees in the online space comes with its share of perks and quirks. He once approved a sick leave application only to find the employee concerned posting a photo performing a paal abhishekam for his matinee idol! He let that pass, but another employee whose wall was full of porn found himself without a job.

“I have a lot of blue collar workers in my store and these are people who are discovering social media on their phone. They come from semi-rural backgrounds and take great pride in the fact that they are ‘friends’ with their boss. They delight in sharing news about their workspace on Facebook and Twitter. But, they know that in the work space, the boundaries are clearly demarcated,” he says.

These lines get blurred more often in new-age companies where there is no defined boundary. Ganesh Chandrashekar, senior editor, Wordplay Content, says that as a start-up company, they believe in being well connected outside of work as well. “The entire organisation is well connected through social media (FB, Twitter, Instagram…),” he says. However, some employees (“a dying breed”) feel the need to draw lines, he adds. Ganesh says the system works well only when there is a two-way trust. “I don’t stalk my employees online when they call in ‘sick’,” he says.

Former techie and now film writer G. Sai Shyam is friends with his current and previous bosses on Facebook. The trick to have a great relationship on social media is to not get down and dirty and attack someone personally, he says. “In fact, my current boss found me on Twitter.”

A place where many people slip up is when they start post work-related angst on social media, little knowing the impact it will have on their current and future job prospects. Sai says it does not help cribbing about work on social media. “You might have the liberty to vent about a bad day at work. But, does cribbing on FB help the situation? It’s better to discuss it with the boss face-to-face,” he says.

Sometimes, when you are posted in an alien land, it helps to build bonds, online and offline, with colleagues and bosses, says software professional S. Dasarathi. “When I was posted in the U.S., my social circle was very limited. I was friends with my manager on social media, and it was great fun. It helps that I never use FB to criticise anyone or post anything to do with my profession. It’s just a light-hearted extension of my life.”

However smooth such a relationship may be, it is best to respect boundaries. There is little need to be friends online with bosses, says life coach, grooming and image consultant Chhaya Momaya.

“It is necessary for bosses to keep a distance. It is important to be warm, but very often, being friendly is disastrous,” she says.

Social graces

- Refrain from making comments about work

- A boss is a boss, even if he is a ‘friend’ online

- Nasty posts have a way of catching up with you

- Your posts are a reflection of you. Create the right impression