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Apple Says Initial Quantities of iPhone 7 Plus Sold Out

15Sep By reutersNo Comments

News

Apple Says Initial Quantities of iPhone 7 Plus Sold Out

Initial quantities of the iPhone 7 Plus have sold out globally as Apple Inc prepares to roll out its new gadget in stores, the company said Wednesday. Supplies of the larger size of Apple's new phone have been exhausted in all shades, and the smaller iPhone 7 has also sold out in the new jet black color, the company said. Customers who enter Apple Stores Friday, when the gadgets hit shelves, will not be able to purchase the sold-out phones on site, but they can continue to place orders for their desired models online, Apple said. "We sincerely appreciate our customers' patience as we work hard to get the new iPhone into the hands of everyone who wants one as quickly as possible," Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in a statement. Apple launched the new phones at a San Francisc...

LeEco Like Xiaomi Will Assemble smartphones in India, Invests $7 Million

31Aug By AdityaNo Comments

News

LeEco Like Xiaomi Will Assemble smartphones in India, Invests $7 Million

Joining peers such as Xiaomi, Vivo and Gionee, Chinese handset maker LeEco will assemble its smartphones in India, investing Rs 50 crore in the facility. Set up in partnership with Compal Electronics, the facility in Greater Noida will have an initial capacity of 60,000 units a month. This will be ramped up to 2,00,000 by the end of December. "We have partnered with Compal for the facility and will start with the assembly of Le2. We will invest Rs 35 crore to start with and have earmarked another Rs 12-15 crore for the ramp-up," LeEco COO Smart Electronics Business Atul Jain said. He added that the facility, spread over 2,00,000 sq ft, will provide jobs to nearly 200 people. "India will be a global export hub... We are already there in China, Hong Kong and will soon star...

BlackBerry to Raise $605 Million From Shareholder Fairfax, Others

28Aug By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

BlackBerry to Raise $605 Million From Shareholder Fairfax, Others

Troubled smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd said it would raise about $605 million by selling convertible debentures to shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd and other investors. The Canadian company will also redeem on Sept. 2 roughly $1.25 billion worth of outstanding debentures carrying a coupon of 6 percent, it said on Friday. The new debt that BlackBerry plans to issue will have a coupon of 3.75 percent and will be due in November 2020. If all of the new debt is converted into stock, it will represent about 11.57 percent of BlackBerry's outstanding shares, the company said. FairFax, led by well-known contrarian investor Prem Watsa, is BlackBerry's second largest shareholder with a stake of about 8.9 percent, according to Reuters data. Once a dominant force in smartpho...

22Aug By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Gionee to Spend Rs 400 Cr on Marketing

Handset maker Gionee will spend around Rs 400 crore on marketing and branding activities over the next few months to capitalise on the festive season demand. The Chinese company, which plans to launch four new smartphones by mid-October, also aims to expand its market share in India to 7-10 per cent by next March. "We had earmarked a budget of Rs 600 crore this year and we have utilised one-third of it till now. About Rs 200 crore will be pumped in the festive season and the remaining amount will be used in the latter part of the fiscal towards various marketing and branding efforts," Gionee India MD and CEO Arvind Vohra said. He added that the company will also launch 4 smartphones, priced between Rs 9,999 and Rs 24,999 by mid-October. Gionee India has also signed up Bollywood act...

Home-Grown Jivi Mobiles to Invest Rs 200 Cr in Mobile Manufacturing

22Aug By AdityaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Home-Grown Jivi Mobiles to Invest Rs 200 Cr in Mobile Manufacturing

Home-grown mobile phone maker Jivi Mobiles plans to invest up to Rs 200 crore in setting up a new manufacturing unit in Lonavala with initial production capacity of 5 lakh units per month. "We are selling around 3-3.5 lakh feature phones per month. By Diwali, we expect to reach sales of 6 lakh units a month. Based on demand, we expect to sell 10 lakh units per month by 2017-18 for which we are setting up additional plant in Lonavala with investment of Rs 180-200 crore," Jivi Mobiles CEO Pankaj Anand said. Jivi at present has a mobile assembly unit in Delhi where it produces 3-3.5 lakh mobile feature phones per month. "We could have opted for a contract manufacturer but due to issue of quality control and supply issues, we have started our own unit in Delhi with investment of Rs 150 cr...

Two lakh ‘Freedom 251’ handsets are ready, says Ringing Bells

24Jun By NitishNo Comments

News

Two lakh ‘Freedom 251’ handsets are ready, says Ringing Bells

IANS: The world's cheapest smartphone at Rs 251 (less than $4) is here, finally. Its makers, the Noida-based startup Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd, say they have made it possible despite allegations from various quarters that such a phone would not see the light of the day. Even an FIR was lodged against the company. According to Ringing Bells' Founder and CEO Mohit Goel -- sitting comfortably in his Sector 62 office here, the company has been able to keep its promise to consumers. "We are ready with nearly two lakh 'Freedom 251' handsets. We will start delivery from June 30," Goel told, adding that once he is done with this first phase of delivery (of two lakh phones), he will open registration again for those who wish to buy the handset. The company had in mid-February this year planned to ...

24Jun By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

News

Nokia Appoints Sanjay Malik India Head

Nokia today announced the appointment of Sanjay Malik as the head of Indian market, effective August 1. Malik is currently Head of Network Implementation (NI) at Nokia Global Services and is credited with efficiently driving growth and delivering strong performance both in terms of revenue and operational efficiency, the company said in a statement here. In his new role, he will lead customer operations, drive the business growth strategy and superior customer engagement services for the India market. He will be based in Gurgaon. Previously, he was heading Bharti GCBT (Global CBT), where he led the transformation of the business by enhancing customer satisfaction, market share and business results across India and Africa, the statement said. He joined Nokia in 2000, and takes o...

Apple Will Have to Re-submit Its Application For Opening Retail Stores in India

22Jun By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

News

Apple Will Have to Re-submit Its Application For Opening Retail Stores in India

US technology giant Apple Inc will have to re-submit its application for opening single brand retail trade stores in the country and issues concerning "cutting edge" technology will be settled by the concerned administrative ministry, an official said. In light of the changes in the FDI policy announced yesterday, the official said, Apple will have to submit fresh application for opening single brand retail stores to seek exemption from local sourcing norms. Under the modified single brand FDI policy, companies using cutting edge technology will be exempted from meeting the local sourcing norm for first three years. Thereafter, in the next five years the company will have to meet the domestic sourcing norm at an annualised average rate of 30 per cent. "After a proposal comes to th...

India Opens The Door For Apple Stores in New FDI Rules

20Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

News

India Opens The Door For Apple Stores in New FDI Rules

Apple Inc could open its first stores in India and might eventually start manufacturing in the country under new foreign investment rules for retailers outlined on Monday. The new rules exempt foreign retailers for three years from a requirement to source 30 percent of the goods sold in company-owned stores locally. That would allow Apple, which currently sells its iPhones, iMacs and iPads through resellers, to set up its own shops in India, ending months of uncertainty for the California-based company that had first applied for store licenses in January. India is the world's fastest growing large smartphone market with sales expected to rise over 25 percent this year. For Apple, which has less than a two percent share in the smartphone market in the country, gaining a bigger footp...

Uber’s Rival in Pakistan Uses Rickshaws, Low-Tech Phones

20Jun By reutersNo Comments

Story

Uber’s Rival in Pakistan Uses Rickshaws, Low-Tech Phones

As taxi hailing giant Uber enters Pakistan, a little-known local competitor is counting on a mix of new ideas and old technology to tap what could be a big chunk of the market: low-income residents who travel in rickshaws, not cabs. Known as Rixi, the Lahore-based service hails rickshaws instead of cars. Its platform is not smartphones, but older SMS phone messaging that allows nearby drivers to bid for any user's business. Pakistan has more than 130 million cellphone subscriptions, but only 21 percent subscribe to data packages, and, while the proportion is rising, there are opportunities across emerging economies in Asia to tap a relatively low-tech customer base. In Thailand, Taxi Radio uses calls and text messages to put cabs and people in touch and is popular with those without s...

Nokia Signs $1.5 Billion Framework Deal With China Mobile

14Jun By reutersNo Comments

BUSINESS

Nokia Signs $1.5 Billion Framework Deal With China Mobile

Nokia has signed a 1.36 billion euro ($1.5 bln) one-year framework deal with China Mobile, the Finnish company said on Monday, easing fears that it would lose market share while it merges operations with Alcatel-Lucent. Shares in the company were up 0.2 percent as of 1120 GMT versus a Helsinki bourse down 1.42 percent. Nokia's network equipment sales fell more than expected in the first quarter as buyers held off due to the Alcatel integration process.China Mobile is Nokia's biggest customer in China. "In the light of this announcement, China is not the market which one should be very worried about this year. They've managed to hold on to the positions of old Nokia and old Alcatel," said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies, who holds a 'buy' rating on the stock. He added that N...

Micromax Said Will Earn Money In India and Burn Money in China

4Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Micromax Said Will Earn Money In India and Burn Money in China

India’s home-grown mobile phone giant Micromax is looking east. Micromax Informatics has successfully seen off Chinese rivals on its home turf, which is now being hailed as the world’s most important smartphone market. But to realize its lofty ambition to be a top five global handset maker by 2020 the Gurgaon-based company will also need to sell in China. That’s exactly what Micromax plans to do, Co-Founder Vikas Jain revealed during an on-stage conversation at the RISE conference in Hong Kong. India’s smartphone market is rapidly catching up with its larger neighbour. Shipments grew 135 percent in the two years until December, five times the rate of growth in China, according to data from IDC. Micromax, which churns out over 30 new handset models a year and also makes tablets and tel...