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Foxconn will now Assemble Top-end Apple iPhones in India

28Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Foxconn will now Assemble Top-end Apple iPhones in India

Apple will begin assembling its top-end iPhones in India through the local unit of Foxconn as early as 2019, the first time the Taiwanese contract manufacturer will have made the product in the country, according to a source familiar with the matter. Importantly, Foxconn will be assembling the most expensive models, such as devices in the flagship iPhone X family, the source said, potentially taking Apple's business in India to a new level. The work will take place at Foxconn's plant in Sriperumbudur town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, said the source, who is not authorised to speak to the media and so declined to be named. Foxconn, which already makes phones for Xiaomi in India, will invest Rs 2500 crore ($356 million) to expand the plant, including investmen...

Kishore Biyani Looks for an Opportunity to Create an Indian Amazon/Alibaba

27Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Kishore Biyani Looks for an Opportunity to Create an Indian Amazon/Alibaba

The founder of Future Group Kishore Biryani is looking forward to grab the opportunity to build an Indian Amazon or Alibaba. This has come up after the government has banned online marketplaces from selling products by companies in which they hold stakes and also curbed exclusive marketing arrangements that could influence product prices. “It’s a game-changer for us. This is not really a policy but more of a clarification and every retailer will have to adhere to it. They can’t build brands now,” said Biyani. Biyani, who’s never made a secret of his disdain for e-commerce rivals for their predatory pricing, said most online companies will have to contend with being just a marketplace that connects buyers and sellers through technology. “There was no chance we could have ...

Bike Tax Service Baxi Plans to Roll Out a Hyperlocal Delivery Model

26Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Automobile, News

Bike Tax Service Baxi Plans to Roll Out a Hyperlocal Delivery Model

Gurgaon-based 74 BC Technologies, which owned and operated bike taxi service Baxi, is reportedly in the process to launch a hyper-local delivery model. For this, the company has tied up with two major FMCG brands. Baxi had raised Rs 10 crore in 2015 from a host of well-known early-stage investors and is in the final stages of launching its hyper-local delivery service, which is expected to go live in January. The company has also partnered with home-grown consumer goods brand Patanjali Industries and dairy major Mother Dairy. As part of the pivot, Baxi will rebrand as B-fresh, and will deliver goods, across the dairy, fruits and vegetables, drugs and other household items to consumers spread across Gurgaon and certain parts of Delhi. “The idea was to tie up wit...

China’s Mobike CEO Resigns Due to Uncertain Future for Bike Sharing

25Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Automobile, News

China’s Mobike CEO Resigns Due to Uncertain Future for Bike Sharing

Hu Weiwei, co-founder of Beijing Mobike Technology Co Ltd, has stepped down as its CEO, placing more uncertainty on the future of the bike-sharing startup. The move followed shortly after Mobike's cash-strapped rival Ofo Inc came under fire for stalling on deposit refunds. Once touted as investor darlings, the two companies seem to be pedaling toward an unforeseeable future due to overexpansion and struggling to find profitable business models. Mobike said Hu resigned for personal reasons, and Liu Yu, president of Mobike, will take her place. Hu's departure means that most of Mobike's founding team members have now left the three-year-old company. In April, Mobike was acquired by China's largest provider of on-demand online services, Meituan-Dianping. In November, Wang Xing, CEO o...

Credit Info Firms Sharing Data with Fintechs irks Lenders

25Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Credit Info Firms Sharing Data with Fintechs irks Lenders

Banks have sought indemnity from credit information companies (CICs) for any legal issue that might arise over the latter sharing bank customer information with fintech firms. This is understood to have been conveyed to the four CICs — TU Cibil, Equifax, Experian and Highmark — by a senior official of the Indian Banks Association (IBA) in a meeting on Thursday. Earlier this month, representatives of banks had a meeting to discuss the issue of fintechs getting unbridled access to bank borrower information. Lenders had raised their concerns at the IBA and some wanted to take this up with the RBI. However, it was decided that a formal view would be sought from CICs through the IBA. In Thursday’s meeting, the CICs are understood to have conveyed to the IBA representative that laws do not...

Apple’s John Giannandrea Elevated as the Senior Vice President of ML & AI

22Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Apple’s John Giannandrea Elevated as the Senior Vice President of ML & AI

iPhone maker Apple has elevated John Giannandrea to the company's executive team as Senior Vice President of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy. Giannandrea, who joined Apple from Google in April, oversees the strategy for AI and ML across products and services, as well as the development of Core ML and Siri technologies. His team's focus on advancing and tightly integrating machine learning into Apple products is delivering more personal, intelligent and natural interactions for customers while protecting user privacy, the Cupertino-based giant said in a statement late on Thursday. "John hit the ground running at Apple and we are thrilled to have him as part of our executive team," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "Machine learning and AI are important to Apple's fut...

Instagram Rolls Out Three Fresh Features to its Stories Format

20Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News, Tech

Instagram Rolls Out Three Fresh Features to its Stories Format

Photo-sharing social media platform Instagram has launched new features that change the way you interact with the people you follow on the platform. With the new updates, the users will now be able to use the questions sticker for music recommendations in Stories. A person's followers will now respond to question sticker with a song from the music library. These responses will appear right above the list of people who have viewed your Story and you can tap on it to play the track. Also, you will be able to share their response to your Instagram Story as well and while doing that, you’ll be able to capture a photo or video as the music plays in the background. Moreover, there will be new effects in the music mode that "respond to the beats and sounds of a song." It must...

Tinder Fires Comms Head & other Employees who Sued the Company

19Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Tinder Fires Comms Head & other Employees who Sued the Company

The popular dating app Tinder has reportedly fired its vice president of marketing and communications Rosette Pambakian, as well as other employees who sued Tinder’s parent company Match Group and its controlling shareholder IAC. A Match Group spokesperson confirmed that a number of Tinder employees have been terminated, though they did not identify them or say how many were involved. With this, the lawsuit was filed by Tinder co-founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen and other executives. Some, like Rad, had already left Tinder, while others like Pambakian and Badeen, were still employed at the time. In the suit, the group alleged that IAC and Match Group had manipulated financial data in order to lower the company’s valuation. They also alleged that Greg Blatt, w...

MakeMyTrip Takes Five Firms to Court for Using Deceptively Similar Names

18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

MakeMyTrip Takes Five Firms to Court for Using Deceptively Similar Names

India’s popular travel company MakeMyTrip has taken a strict action and taken five travel and tourism websites to court for allegedly using similar sounding names. These companies include MakeMyYatra, MakeMyJourney, Make My Happy Journey, Pick My Trip and Superb MyTrip. MakeMyTrip alleged that these companies are not only using "deceptively similar sounding names" but also, some of them have copied its logo as well. The travel company also stated that it has spent almost 46% of its revenue, or 1,264 crore, (out of total revenue of 2,759 crore in fiscal year 2017-18) on advertising and marketing the MakeMyTrip brand in FY 2017-18. "Till further orders,the defendant, its partner, directors, shareholders or proprietors as the case may be, its assigns in business, franchise...

Electric Vehicles can Likely be Charged at Homes and Offices Soon

17Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Electric Vehicles can Likely be Charged at Homes and Offices Soon

Electric cars and scooters can now be charged at homes with priority access to electricity from power utilities. According to the report, new guidelines were issued on Friday by Anoop Singh Bisht, under secretary in the power ministry, to all Union ministries and departments and the chief secretaries of states and Union territories. The power ministry early this year issued a notification clarifying that setting up charging stations for electric vehicles will not require a separate licence under the Electricity Act of 2003. Further, it has been reported that the government has asked public charging stations to install both Japanese and Chinese charging technologies for electric vehicles since they have been unable to select one . This will likely raise costs of charging statio...

Starbucks to Add Delivery Services to more than 2,000 Stores Through Uber Eats

15Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Starbucks to Add Delivery Services to more than 2,000 Stores Through Uber Eats

The most popular coffee store Starbucks is expanding its partnership with Uber Eats to more than 2,000 stores in the United States next year, about a quarter of all of the company’s locations in the country. Starbucks first launched its program, Starbuck Delivers, as a pilot in September, serving people in Miami and Tokyo. Its coffee delivery roots actually began in China through a partnership with Alibaba and on-demand food delivery service Ele.me. The company also piloted a delivery service through two supermarkets in Shanghai and Hangzhou. It’s an experiment that appears to have had some success. Starbucks Delivers has reached 2,000 stores across 30 cities in China since launching three months ago, the company said at its investor conference Thursday.Now it’s taking what it learne...

Google Maps to Show Nearby Lime Bikes and Scooters in 13 Locations

14Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Automobile, News

Google Maps to Show Nearby Lime Bikes and Scooters in 13 Locations

The technology giant Google has partnered with scooter hiring company Lime to show nearby bikes and scooters in 13 cities worldwide. If there’s a Lime vehicle available nearby, Google Maps will show you how long it will take to get to the vehicle, the estimated price of the ride and total journey time. Similar to the Uber integration in Google Maps, tapping on Lime will open the Lime app. If you don’t have it installed, you’ll be directed to the Apple App or Google Play store. This is now live in Auckland, New Zealand, Austin, Texas, Baltimore, Md., Brisbane, Australia, Dallas, Texas, Indianapolis, Ind., Los Angeles, Calif., San Diego, Calif., Oakland, Calif., San Jose, Calif., San Antonio, Texas, Scottsdale, Ariz. and Seattle, Wash. Google says additional cities are in the works. ...