Amazon could be set to follow Facebook's footsteps into the Indian telecom market through a strategic investment in Bharti Airtel. Media reports said the US conglomerate could pay up to $2 billion for a 5% stake in the Indian telecommunications company. 

However, there is a catch as neither of the two companies were ready to confirm the move, each claiming that it is nothing more than rumours though Bharti Airtel made it appear as a routine conversation with one among the many OTT players to push Amazon Prime services to the mobile operator's 320 million subscribers. 

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Digital technology led consumer platform

The report appears plausible, given the sudden bout of interest in India's mobile services and eCommerce marketplace. Facebook set the ball rolling with a $5.7 billion investment in Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of India's largest enterprise Reliance. Reports of Google seeking to acquire state in India's second largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea surfaced thereafter. 

Amazon's latest move was reported by Reuters which cited unnamed sources to suggest that the discussions were in a very early stage for the planned investment. If completed this has the potential to turbocharge India's digital economy and generate competition for Jio, which currently is the market leader in mobile telephony and a growing eCommerce platform. 

Amazon needs a mobile partner

The digital technology-led consumer platform business in India appears to be catching the fancy of investors, given the fast growing mobile subscriber base and the potential of online retail growth. At last count, India boasted of 1.1 billion mobile subscribers and an internet economy that is valued at over $100 billion. 

For Amazon, which has pumped in more than $6.5 billion in India, a deal with a telecom company would make lots of sense, given that it would straightaway have access to their 320 million plus subscribers across the country. It would give them considerable heft to take on Jio Platforms which received over $15 billion in funding and is now valued at $66 billion. 

Bharti's first attempt at retail

From Bharti Airtel's point of view, this could be a match made-in-heaven after their failed efforts to enter the lucrative eCommerce business through a tie-up with Walmart. The duo parted ways in 2013 after a six-year alliance that came up when India allowed foreign direct investment in retail only through the equity partnership route. 

It was in August last year that India  relaxed norms around single-brand retail companies  can start selling online before setting up a brick-and-mortar store so long as they do have one within two years of starting digital sales. Bharti Airtel-Walmart entity had set up a store which accumulated losses of more than $36 million in 2011. 

Why Bharti could be desperate

Assuming that the talks are on and culminate in a win-win for Amazon and Bharti Airtel, it would be the latter's second attempt at entering the eCommerce business.  It would also help the duo take on Walmart, which acquired a controlling stake in Flipkart, Amazon's prime rival in India. Walmart paid $16 billion in May 2018 for a 77% stake in Flipkart, India's first eCommerce player, in what was then considered the world's largest eCommerce deal. 

There is also a financial reason for Bharti Airtel to negotiate stake sale at this juncture. As on March 31, 2020, the company had a net debt of roughly $13 billion and the company had reported a consolidated loss of $693 million in the January-March quarter of 2020.  

With Bharti Airtel claiming that the discussions are routine and Amazon refusing a comment on anything speculative in nature, it remains to be seen how this one pans out. The Reuters report also suggested that in case talks for a stake sale failed, the two companies could come to an agreement on sharing Amazon's services to Airtel's customers and vice versa. 

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A few hours after removing the Mitron App from Play Store for violating its spam and minimum functionality policy, Google has cracked down on India's top-trending 'Remove China Apps' mobile app. Google cited a violation of its 'Deceptive Behaviour Policy' as a reason for its removal. 

The app, developed by a Jaipur-based start-up OneTouchAppLabs, the Remove China app has been downloaded more than 5 million times since May.  Originally created as an educational tool, the app used its ability to identify the country of origin of apps on Play Store to help users detect and delete apps developed by Chinese firms. 

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Statement from Google VP 

“Earlier this week, we removed a video app for a number of technical policy violations. We have an established process of working with developers to help them fix issues and resubmit their apps. We’ve given this developer some guidance and once they’ve addressed the issue the app can go back up on Play,” Sameer Samat, Vice President, Android and Google Play, said in a prepared statement.

“This is a longstanding rule designed to ensure a healthy, competitive environment where developers can succeed based upon design and innovation. When apps are allowed to specifically target other apps, it can lead to behavior that we believe is not in the best interest of our community of developers and consumers. We’ve enforced this policy against other apps in many countries consistently in the past - just as we did here,” Samat said. 

A report published on TechCrunch says the app was removed under Play Store's deceptive behaviour policy which states that developers cannot make changes to a user's device settings or features outside of the app without the user's knowledge and consent. It can also not encourage or incentivise users into removing or disabling third-party apps on their devices. 

The app gained popularity after several influencers in India mooted a boycott of all things Chinese amidst growing anti-China sentiment over fresh Sino-Indian tensions on a lingering border dispute. Taking to Twitter, the creator of this app shared a message to all those who downloaded it and offered a tip on how to find the country where any app on Play Store is developed. 

Chinese smartphones rule the roost

Given that India's booming smartphone market, the second largest in the world in terms of usage and production, is replete with Chinese brands is being pointed out as a reality check by economists and some members of the political parties opposing such social media hype. 

The issue is not limited to apps or the Play Store. In recent times, the ByteDance-owned TikTok faced public ire in India for removing a video created by an acclaimed influencer. The Chinese firm continues to grapple with the content moderation efforts that led to the latest outcry from a section of the social media. The video has since been reinstated with TikTok claiming its removal in the first place was part of a rigorous review process. 

Chinese investments in India's smartphone industry itself is worth millions of dollars with OnePlus, Oppo and Xiaomi being major contributors to this growing trend. In April, India had amended its foreign direct investment policy by enforcing tougher scrutiny of such proposals from Chinese companies. 

What caused the latest trend?

The latest boycott Chinese products was initiated by engineer-turned-educator Sonam Wangchuk who released a couple of videos that said deciding not to use products from a country is not akin to spreading hatred. The social innovator, who inspired a breakout character in a Bollywood blockbuster '3 Idiots', has seen his videos garnering millions of views on social media platforms. 

The Chinese media too has responded in kind to the social media response in India suggesting that by allowing "irrational anti-China sentiment" to continue, the government risks ruining bilateral relations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have continuously engaged with each other over the past six years on matters related to defence, border disputes and economic cooperation. 

Via: TechCrunch

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As lockdowns are being replaced by unlock across India, the importance of social distancing as a means to curb contact spread of Covid-19 assumes greater importance. Google has now stepped in with an augmented reality based app that could help maintain safe distance. 

The SODAR is currently available on Android phones. Users can simply open the Chrome browser and go to the webpage to get started. At present users do not need to download anything though it doesn't work on iOS or even on older Android devices. 

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The phone starts using the augmented reality of the map around your location and then does a superimposition of a two meter radius circle on the camera's view. So, once you are logged on, you are constantly monitoring the camera on your phone. 

While testing it out, I found the accuracy to be in the acceptable range though one did feel at times that it wasn't exactly two meters that the screen seemed to suggest. Of course, the choice to move away from a person is completely yours as SODAR doesn't give instructions or even blink warning signals in case of violations. 

Does it work better than the social distancing app called 1point5 (get it on Play Store) that the United Nations came up with to achieve the same outcomes? Most definitely as this app requires all users to be connected to Bluetooth, the same as India's own Aarogya Setu app. 

Google's SODAR doesn't require users to install anything nor people around them to carry their smartphones with Bluetooth switched on. The augmented reality uses WebXR to visualise a two-meter radius on the map and sets up a virtual ring on the screen using the camera. Will it consume battery life? Only as much as a camera does.

Does it all make sense?

How useful is this tool likely to be during the next phase of Covid-19 unlocking? Not very, I'm afraid as any person who is concerned about maintaining a safe distance would definitely not need their phone to tell them about the safety zone. That's why eyes are there for, isn't it? 

While the technology used is far better than what existing apps have come up with in the form of Bluetooth beacons, the fact remains that running the camera all the time through a crowded lane isn't exactly going to help users avoid contact. What's more it could prove a recipe for contact with others as the human body isn't exactly geared with equipment that auto-steers us out of harm's way. 

So, this one looks like an intellectual exercise undertaken by "Experiments with Google" that has created interesting and often eye-popping stuff using Chrome though not many of them have passed muster at usability level. 

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Popular file transfer service WeTransfer went off the radar for many across India today with reports coming in later in the evening that it has been blocked by the federal government. Responding to user complaints on social media, the company confirmed the block. 

Early reports suggested that the Department of Telecommunications issued an order blocking the Netherland-based company's file transfer service that is used to send large files (of up to 2GB for the free version) across the world using the cloud-based service. 

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A partial blockage

As we write this, while some internet providers such as Reliance Jio and Idea-Vodafone have blocked access to WeTransfer, others such as ACT Fibernet continue to allow sharing of files across two email IDs, a fact that was checked by us before writing this piece. 

The reason proffered by the federal government for taking this decision appears vague as the media reports merely say that it was done in the public interest and national security. It is unclear what specifically led to this decision at this precise moment. 

Social media outrage

Earlier today, users took to social media asking what had happened to the service with some tweeting that the service was not working for them in specific areas. While we tried accessing the service via Ideas-Vodafone, we got the message "You are not authorised to access this webpage as per DoT compliance." 

On its part WeTransfer responded claiming that their service had been blocked in India and that the team was currently investigating the issue. "We hope to have more details soon. In the meantime, the best workaround is to use a VPN service to access our site," it said. 

Ban only for two webpages?

A report in the Mumbai Mirror claimed that the DoT order was passed close to two weeks ago where two specific webpages of WeTransfer was to be banned. The reasons related to a precondition in the unified license that applies to all internet service providers. Though, now how the entire service got banned today is still something that's not clear. 

In fact, the timing of the move appears to be intriguing as with several companies getting their staff to work from home, file transferring and sharing had assumed added importance during the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, even the federal government has been actively using WeTransfer for sharing press statements with the media.  

While there is concern related to how an entire service got blocked without clarity over the reasons behind it, enterprises may not be overly worried about transferring files as there's Google Drive and DropBox that can easily do the same task. 

Not the first time though

WeTransfer is not the only file transfer service to have been banned by the government of India. In 2011, the now defunct service MegaUpload too faced the ire of the administration after it was found that miscreants were uploading latest movies onto their server at the height of the cinema piracy episode in the country. 

In 2014, a court in Delhi ordered the closure of several file sharing services including Google Docs, Rapidshare and Sendspace following complaints filed by Sony network, the official broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup over illegal uploads of matches by similar miscreants. 

It appears as though a similar fate has befallen WeTransfer due to some isolated misdemeanours of a few of its users. 

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Internet service provider ACT Fibernet has announced a hike in the rental rates for its broadband plans starting from June. The increased rates would be implemented in only eight of the 14 cities where the service provider currently operates in. 

The company, which sent out circulars to customers including this author, says the revision would be dependent on the plans that users opt for, which mean that it would not be an across the board standard hike for all customers. When contacted by TechRadar India, the company said the hike would be in the range of 2 to 5%. 

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The cities where ACT Fibernet is increasing the rentals are Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi among the metros. The rental rates would also go up in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu besides in Guntur, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The revised prices as per plans are likely to be listed on the company website as well as their app over the upcoming weekend. 

Earlier this month, the company had reported a robust 40% spike in peak traffic, with more than 55% of this increase coming in the form of streaming. The company said the increasing demand for internet services was noticeable in tier-two cities as well as in the major metros, ostensibly resulting from the long-drawn lockdown due to Covid-19. 

In an email to subscribers, ACT Fibernet says the company has maintained the prices at a constant level for two years in spite of cost increases and investments required for enhancing the service. It referred to "unprecedented challenges" in the past few years leading to increased cost of operations, which eventually resulted in this price hike. 

Why the price hike?

The Bengaluru-based company had recently enhanced internet speeds to 300 Mbps with unlimited fair usage policy (FUP) to all customers who were working from home during the lockdown period. 

However, the fact remains that several individual users have also shifted from wired broadband to wireless where the cost is substantially lower with speeds that are reasonable enough if one were using it for emails and streaming media. As against an average cost of Rs.700 or so for wired broadband, users would spend less than half for some of the wireless schemes that are on offer from Reliance Jio, AirTel and Ideas Vodafone cellular services. 

From wired to wireless

With most households already having cellular plans that have un-utilised internet plans and even television viewing getting more and more personal, the tendency is for users to stick with the smartphones and its plans instead of having a wired broadband. 

A second scenario that is adding to the pressure on the wired internet service providers is the increase in streaming media where a household is now watching four different movies on four devices instead of just one connected to the television in the living room.

So, the internet service providers are left with little choice but to increase prices for their plans as either way they are bound to suffer in the none-too-distant future.

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Microsoft could become the latest global entity to seek a share of the Jio Platforms pie as the tech major is reportedly negotiating an investment worth $2 billion. Facebook and institutional investors have already pumped in over $10.3 billion dollars into the Mukesh Ambani-owned digital services company. 

A report in The Mint quotes sources close to the discussions to suggest that Microsoft, which had been discussing possible investments with several players in the digital services business, could acquire a 2.5% stake. Jio Platforms is a unit of India's most valuable company Reliance Industries.

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Facebook was among the first of the tech giants to commit itself to Ambani's dream of creating a monolith in the digital marketplace, including taking on Amazon and the Walmart-owned Flipkart on the eCommerce front with their Jio Mart, an online venture that went live just a week ago.  

If the discussions between Microsoft and Jio Platforms fructifies, it would mean that the world's most valuable company would own a small slice of India's most valuable company, which is currently valued at a whopping Rs.5 trillion, which roughly translates to a whopping $66 billion. 

While Facebook pumped in $5.7 billion for a 9.9% stake, the other marquee investors added more than $4.33 billion. This includes $1.5 billion each from KKR & Co and Vista Equity Partners, $0.87 billion from General Atlantic and $0.75 billion from Silver Lake. 

However, the report suggests that there is no guarantee that the investment from Microsoft would go through though earlier this year Microsoft had partnered with Reliance Jio to set up data centres across the country. They had also done a deal whereby Jio would use Microsoft Azure's cloud service for enterprise customers. 

The Jio Platforms combine all of Reliance's digital and telecom initiatives that includes Jio Digital services offering mobile and broadband, apps, tech capabilities, big data etc. besides their investments in Hathway Cable, Datacom Ltd. and Den Networks. 

Meanwhile, reports emerged that Reliance Industries was preparing for an overseas listing of the digital business. Such an offering could take place within the next 12 to 24 months though the venue wasn't yet confirmed. A report published on ET claimed that  the timeline and the size of the public offering too were under discussion. 

Via: The Mint

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Apple is giving its Indian customers the capability to order customised versions of its entire range of computing devices. The configure-to-order and build-to-order options would be available for the MacBook Air (click to buy), Mac Mini, iMac and other computers. 

Under the scheme customers from India would be able to request custom needs such as enhanced memory and storage or inclusion of more powerful graphics cards when they purchase a machine from Apple. 

This is the first time that Apple would be offering customisation of their products in the Indian market, in spite of the fact that users in India had been requesting the CTO and BTO features that have been part of the company's package in several countries. Apple has never offered its entire bouquet of computing devices in the country and most upgrades were sought once the customers got their hands on the machines. 

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• 
  

Has it come too late though?

An official working for one of Apple's service delivery across the south of India believes that this move by the Cupertino-based tech giant should have come much earlier. "Take a look at the grey market operations and how much the company tends to lose because customers usually go to upgrade their Macs to these shops located in major cities such as Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad," the official says requesting anonymity. 

For Apple, India has shifted from being on the periphery in the first decade of the new millennium to being a key market. Tim Cook had said during an investor call late in 2019 that emerging markets led by India, Brazil, Thailand, Turkey and Mainland China had seen double-digit growth during the December quarter. 

What do the users get?

A notice on the Apple India website says customers interested to get upgrades or want to customise their purchases could get in touch with local Apple authorised resellers various options and calculate what they would have to pay for enhancing a graphics card or simply adding some memory to their preferred machine. 

The company is promising delivery within four to five weeks after orders are placed and payments made. In the past, customers had no choice but to go with base models of the computing devices, which means a MacBook Pro would only have 8GB of RAM. 

Would it really change things?

However, it remains to be seen whether the stiff pricing that Apple is quoting for such upgrades could still prove a dampener for many users. For example, the company is charging $400 for an extra 16 GB of RAM, but a trip to Bangalore's grey market could result in savings of up to 30-50% on such a deal. Of course, there is no warranty once you get the device opened by uncertified hands. 

How Tim Cook's Apple sees it differently

From the company's perspective, this only shows that Apple and its CEO Tim Cook are serious about India as a market. Cook had waxed eloquent about how customers in the country were boosting sales of both iPhones and iPads over most of 2019. 

That growth might have been driven by the multiple price cuts that Apple brought in for the iPhone XR, but the fact remains that Apple as a brand has matured enough for Cook to consider shifting production to India and also committing to open its own online stores in the country. 

The iPhone 11 series (click to buy) also saw good traction amongst the Indian customers, given that the device was priced aggressively and Apple followed a sound channel strategy to drive its sales. Immediately after this success, Apple announced that it would be bringing the HomePod smart speaker to India to compete with Google Home and the Amazon Echo. 

Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic may have stymied sales but the fact remains that Apple is bullish nonetheless and the next twelve months could see the company bringing more of its products and services to India. Who knows, Apple TV Plus could soon join the Bollywood bandwagon and take on Netflix and Amazon Prime. 

Via: MacRumors 

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Apple is serious about its decision to guard against monopolies around its supply chain involving the iPhone 12. The company was more than willing to look beyond China as a production base during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, it has decided not to risk having a single supplier for OLED displays and added LG to the existing Samsung. 

There were two reports doing the rounds about how displays for the iPhone 12 would not be left with Samsung, which has been a supplier for some years now. These reports categorically announced that LG would join Samsung in supplying OLED displays for the upcoming smartphones. 

Looks like the iPhone 11 series (buy it on Amazon) and the iPhone SE 2020 could well be the last devices from Apple to sport LCD displays. 

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A report published on DigiTimes said Samsung had obtained a larger chunk of the AMOLED panel orders required for the iPhone lineup during 2020. LG Display and BOE Technology were sharing the smaller parts.  

The report in the Korean website Elec said LG Display would be supplying up to 20 million OLEd panels for the iPhone 12 series this year while Samsung Display will get to produce 55 million units. In other words, we can safely state that Apple is hoping to sell 75 million units of its upcoming flagship when it launches later this fall. 

Rumours around the iPhone 12 have suggested four models, that includes three of varying sizes. This time it appears as though Apple is bidding adieu to the long-serving LCD panels for all its upcoming iPhones, preferring the jazzier OLED displays. 

In November last year, rumours surfaced about Samsung being the sole supplier of the improved Y-OCTA technology that includes the touch sensor within the display. This, the reports said, would render the iPhone thinner, lighter and possibly cheaper to manufacture and sell. 

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A year ago iPhone and iPad users received early reports that Apple's voice assistant Siri was listening in to their conversations. A full apology from the company followed as Apple sought to bring in sweeping changes. However, a year on, it appears as though nothing has changed and user privacy continues to be at risk. 

Thomas le Bonniec, a whistleblower who had blown the lid off Apple's secret around listening in to Siri recordings last year, has now written a letter to all European data protection regulators claiming that Apple has ignored fundamental rights and is continuing with its data collection program. 

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The letter, accessed by The Guardian, which broke the news last year, expressed concern over big tech companies "wiretapping entire populations" despite some robust data protections laws in the world. "Passing a law is not good enough: it needs to be enforced upon privacy offenders," le Bonniec has said. 

When the initial reports had surfaced last year, Apple had issued a statement in August apologising for "not fully living up to our high ideals" and followed it up with a software update in October. The update allowed users opt-in or out of voice recordings used for improving Siri dictation as well as to delete the stored recordings. 

In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook had taken to social media to share a video that detailed the company's security and privacy details in November 2019. 

Le Bonniec, who worked as a subcontractor for Apple transcribing user requests in English and French, says now that these recordings weren't limited to users but also involved families. It recorded everything from names, addresses to searches and conversations in the background, he says ascribing this as a reason for going public.

The problem isn't that Apple is continuing to wire-tap as this is not an isolated case. In the past Amazon, Facebook and Google have admitted to similar wrongdoings but the point here is that Apple has made privacy a selling point with the company's privacy page stating that "At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right."

Of course, the company did provide users with the ability to delete Siri recordings via the iOS 13.2 update, but these latest accusations by the whistleblower could cause some internal stirrings at the company's Cupertino headquarters. 

A new security challenge

In fact, security experts warn that Apple needs to be wary of another report around leaks of their upcoming iOS 14 operating system. A report on Motherboard says that leaked versions of the update are already with security researchers and hackers since February. It claims that someone obtained a development version of the iPhone 11 running iOS 14 and since then the codes have been circulating via Twitter. 

Security experts say that the real concern around this specific leak is that unlike others in the past, it has occurred several months before the release of the public beta version of the operating system that is supposed to arrive late in June. 

Here's how you can stay safe

In case iPhone and iPad users haven't made the security changes to keep Siri at bay, here is what you should be doing. Go to Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Improvement > Improve Siri & Dictation. Check the box and then again move to Settings > Siri & Search > Siri History. Now tap on 'Delete Siri & Dictation History'. 

You could also remove location tracking and third-party app integration with Siri for which you could visit Apple's privacy page right here. 

Via: The Guardian

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Looks like Motorola, the Lenovo-owned brand, is moving beyond the mid-price segment and making a strong return to the flagship smartphone space. Having launched the Edge and Edge+ (click to buy here) in April, the company seems to be all set to launch another mid-range device, the Motorola One Fusion Plus. 

Indications about the new device appeared on the YouTube Device Report page that has updated several new listings. One of them is the Motorola One Fusion Plus, a name that first came into prominence from leaker Evan Blass last month, predicting its launch sometime in Q2 of 2020. 

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The listing suggests that the new device comes with a 6.5-inch 1080p display and runs on Android 10. It boasts of a 5000mAh power plant and has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 processor under its hood. The page lists June 2020 as the release date. 

The Lenovo-owned company had launched both the Motorola Edge and the Edge Plus (buy it right here) in April, both devices coming with the latest chipsets, large batteries and multi-camera arrays and the 90Hz curved OLED displays. The Edge Plus is expensive while the Edge could be more affordable when it launches later this year. 

The listings on the YouTube Device page was first noticed by XDA Developers, who were quick to point out the wrong image attached to the so-called Motorola One Fusion Plus, since it was obviously that of the Motorola Edge in Solar Black. And the image uploaded against the Motorola Edge is clearly that of another device. 

Of course, one cannot be sure that the image shown against the Motorola Edge could be the One Fusion Plus. XDA Developers further points out that the only other device from the brand that has a 64MP camera is the Motorola One Hyper but the image isn't that of the particular model either. 

So, what exactly does the image indicate? It suggests a flat display, a pack of four rear cameras with a 64MP primary sensor, a USB Type-C port and headphone jack and possibly a fingerprint sensor at the back. The render doesn't give many more details of the device. 

However, XDA Developers suggests that the device, code-named "liberty" , has model numbers XT2067-1 and XT2067-2. It is rumoured to have 64/128GB of internal storage with multiple cameras including Samsung's 64MP ISOCELL Bright GW1 as the primary shooter on it. 

The report says both the models have been certified by the FCC and is expected to launch in two colours - Cloud and Sugarfrost - across India, the Middle East, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. 

And, there is every possibility that alongside the launch of the One Fusion Plus, one could also see the cheaper Motorola One Fusion, which is rumoured to have a 6.5-inch display with the Qualcomm 710 processor, 4/6GB of RAM and internal storage of either 64 or 128GB. This device would  also run on Android 10 and come with 5000mAh batteries. 

It is only a matter of time before more details of these smartphones emerge as YouTube has already leaked enough to kindle interest in the market. 

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Two months after India relaxed its Covid-19 related lockdown restrictions, Amazon India is facing a sharp surge in online shopping. This has necessitated the additional hiring of 50,000 temporary workers in their fulfilment centres and for delivery. 

In a blog post, Amazon's senior executive Akhil Saxena says that the company wants to continue helping customers across India get everything they need so that they continue to practice social distancing. Indian eCommerce companies faced major disruptions in the early days as India locked itself down from March 25 to curb the spread of Covid-19. 

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The temporary hires would function out of Amazon India's fulfilment centres as part of their delivery network, the company said while reiterating its commitment to India's workforce, which in recent times have faced job cuts due to the pandemic-related lockdown that largely kept people indoors. 

The move of hiring temporary workers during such a time would also help keeping as many as possible working during tis pandemic while providing a safe work environment for them, Saxena, who is the company's vice president for customer fulfilment operations in APAC, MENA and Latin America said. 

The temporary hires will work in Amazon's fulfilment centres and as part of its delivery network, the company said, making the announcement at a time when various other companies in the country have been forced to cut jobs as they try to tide over the health crisis.

On Thursday, Amazon India had also announced the launch of its food delivery operations in select parts of Bengaluru in what is perceived as a direct competition to the likes of Zomato and Swiggy. The announcement came at a time when the food delivery business was seeing large scale layoffs including 1600 employees by Zomato.

A spokesperson for Amazon India said the decision was based on customer feedback seeking delivery of prepared meals on Amazon in addition to shopping for all other essentials. "This is particularly relevant in the present times as they stay home safe. We also recognise that local businesses need all the help they can get, the spokesperson said. 

The service would be initially available in the four localities of Mahadevapura, Marathalli, Whitefield and Bellandur covering 100 restaurants that include franchises such as Chai Point, Chaayos, Faasos, Mad Over Donuts and Box8. Orders in these postal codes can be placed through the Amazon app and will only be visible to customers in these areas. 

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India's gaming market has the potential to grow in the years ahead, thanks to cheaper bandwidth and availability of smartphones across several price bands. However, most of this growth continues in the mobile space as gaming consoles are priced beyond the means of most casual gamers. 

India's software trade body NASSCOM says the mobile games market would touch 628 million users and could be worth more than a billion dollars over the 2020-21 timeframe. It stood at just $290 million in 2016 and represents a robust growth over four years. The country also accounted for the largest number of game downloads at 2.8 billion during the first half of 2018. 

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The growing number of gamers was quite evident for Epic Games as they witnessed a large number of logins from India for Fortnite, which can easily be downloaded on iOS and Android. The game is today considered the best-seller with over 350 million registered players and has generated more than $2.4 billion in revenues for the company. 

India is already among the top five in the world of mobile gaming and is heading into the top three with total value estimated to ramp up substantially as well. A Cint survey done in 2018 revealed that a quarter of the respondents spent between one to three hours a week playing video games. And amongst them 35% were women who played five times each week. 

Most of the gamers were in the 18-24 age bracket and their favourite game was PUBG, which was then estimated to make $7 million in revenues each month from India. Today, that number is definitely higher, given that the Covid-19 forced people to stay indoors for close to two months. 

Quentin Staes-Polet, general manager at Epic Games and in-charge of India and southeast Asia feels that the gaming market continues to be nascent with the developer community yet to discover the gaming behaviour of enthusiasts in this part of the world. 

In a chat with The Indian Express, Staes-Polet believes India's gaming market has shown signs of robust growth ever since bandwidth became cheap and easily available to a wider audience. "This is something that has transformed the market dramatically in a very short period of time," he says. 

However, there are several challenges. For starters, global game developers haven't really attuned to the Indian gamer behaviours. As the official from Epic Games says, the peculiarities of the region is what makes it both interesting and challenging. But, if they focus on high-quality, top-notch gaming experience, India has a low average revenue per paid user amongst the global markets. 

A report from Newzoo market research said late last year that the APAC region had generated 47% of total revenues for game developers in 2019 and this number is bound to grow in the coming years. A Chennai-based game developer says that this is quite the right time for companies to get their acts together as before long, the best in the business would be making a beeline for Indian gamers. 

With smartphone penetration growing rapidly, and data consumption estimated to grow 60 times between now and 2025, Indian gamers can look forward to better experiences and game developers to more revenues from this neck of the woods. 

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India's federal government toned down its directive over compulsory use of the Aarogya Setu app for several categories of citizens. The move comes a day after the country's cyber security agency warned of online scamsters of using the app for phishing attacks. 

But, that is not all. A lobby of pharmacists representing over 850,000 retail outlets in India have petitioned the government to delink the Aarogya Setu Mitr portal from the app, claiming that foreign-funded and illegal e-pharmacies were using the Aarogya Setu app to advance their business interests in the country. 

Not fair, chemists lobby tells PM

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the All Indian Organisation of Chemists and Druggists expressed concern that the tracing app was used to advance the business interests of foreign-funded pharma chains. 

"The Aarogya Setu Mitr website being linked to Aarogya Setu application is a matter of greater concern since the faith reposed by the public in the said app is being betrayed by allowing illegal e-pharmacies to operate in India," the statement said. 

Phishing in lockdown times

On the phishing attacks, market research by Check Point revealed that over 192,000 coronavirus-related cyber-attacks per week had occurred over three consecutive weeks with numbers growing by 30% in the latest period. 

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) says in its latest alert that phishing attacks have seen a significant rise around the Aarogya Setu as well as video conferencing apps such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Scamsters were impersonating WHO, HR departments of companies and digital influencers to spread fake references of a neighbour or an acquaintance being infected. 

“Threat actors are taking the interest of users related to Coronavirus and performing threats. New phishing domains are created which are centred around the subject such as "relief package", "safety tips during corona", "corona testing kit", "corona vaccine", "payment and donation during corona". Threat actors trick users through phishing emails and messages based on the above subjects,” CERT-IN says. 

The advisory went on to warn users to watch out for phishing domains, spelling errors in emails and websites as well as unfamiliar senders. CERT-IN said users should also not download or open any file received via email or SMS. 

Government tones down

Meanwhile, India's Federal Home ministry toned down its May 1 directive on who should download the Aarogya Setu app compulsorily. Instead of insisting that all staff in offices should get the app on their phones, the latest directive has put the onus on employers to ensure that Aarogya Setu is installed on a best-effort basis. 

In other words, those having smartphones can instal the apps whereas others need not do so. District authorities have also been given similar suggestions. In the previous notification, the ministry had asked local authorities to "ensure 100 percent coverage of Aarogya Setu app among residents in containment zones," a factor that is missing from the more recent order. 

Meanwhile, a report in The Hindu refers to a database maintained by the MIT Technology Review whereby it appears as though the Aarogya Setu poses significant risks to user privacy as compared to similar apps in other countries. However, the report says that similar apps in China and Turkey pose greater risk than the Made in India app for contact tracing. 

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E-commerce companies including Amazon and Flipkart besides vertical e-tailers like Lenskart will be able to deliver non-essential items across India starting Monday, save for areas designated as containment zones. 

In a notification earlier today, the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Federal government issued a notification extending the Covid-19 lockdown till May 31 but with a series of relaxations including allowing delivery of non-essential items. 

However, online sales would be restricted to containment zones across India where only essential goods would be permitted. These zones, to be demarcated by the states, will be strictly monitored with no movement allowed except for medical emergencies and supply of essential goods, the notification said. 

On May 4, the federal government had allowed E-commerce platforms to deliver non-essential goods to green and amber zones while it was decided to extend the lockdown till May 17. Several states had petitioned the federal administration to relax the restrictions in order to restart business activities that had been paralysed since India went into lockdown on May 25. 

With the previous relaxations, E-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart had started accepting orders for smartphones and other electronic devices on pre-booking. However, for those residing in red zones, these bookings appeared as "not delivered" or accompanied by a message stating that the area was not serviceable now. 

Amazon India had revealed then that the Covid-19 impact had contracted the business considerably as the US giant was only allowed to sell essential items including groceries, and sanitary products. 

A report on ETTech.com quoted a Snapdeal spokesperson as saying that the company was equipped to start serving customers across India, resulting in thousands of small and medium online sellers to start rebuilding their businesses across cities and towns. 

However, under the latest order, cab-hailing companies Uber and Ola have not been permitted to resume full services. Both these companies have been off the radar for close to two months and are being allowed only essential travel activities, which comprise less than 3% of their total business. 

The latest move would come as a sigh of relief for smartphone manufacturers who have announced several launches including the OnePlus8 and Apple's mid-price offering the iPhone SE 2020 among others. 

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In a first for on-demand movie streaming service in India, Amazon Prime Video has acquired the rights of seven Indian movies that would directly release on the OTT platform. Three of the movies are in Hindi, two in Kannada, one each in Tamil and Malayalam and a bilingual in Tamil and Telugu. 

Besides the Amitabh Bachchan - Ayushman Khurrana comedy Gulabo Sitabo, the Hindi movies include the biopic of Indian mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi with Vidya Balan in the lead. The other movies that Amazon Prime has acquired include Tamil drama Ponmagal Vandhal, Law and French Biryani (both Kannada), Sufiyum Sujatayum (Malayalam) and Penguin (a bilingual in Tamil and Telugu. 

The seven movies would be released over the next three months with Gulabo Sitabo scheduled to a global premiere on June 12, the company said in a prepared statement. 

Prime Video subscribers would not have to pay any additional fee for watching these movies, which should just be what the doctor ordered for movie buffs in India who have been facing a nationwide lockdown since March 25 that also left close to 10,000 single screen and multiplex theatres in the country shut down. 

Though the move is a welcome step for filmmakers and viewers, the theatre owners haven't taken kindly to it. Two of the largest multiplex chain owners PVR and INOX, which together account for 1,500 screens in India have released media statements suggesting that they were alarmed by the digital-only release of films. 

“Such acts, though isolated, vitiate the atmosphere of mutual partnership and paint these content producers as fair-weather friends rather than all-weather life-long partners. Needless to say, INOX will be constrained to examine its options, and reserves all rights, including taking retributive measures, in dealing with such fair-weather friends,” said INOX in a statement.

A big win for Amazon

Amazon provides Prime Video in its $13-a-year plan that reaches 4,000 cities and towns in India and over 200 other countries. Though the company does not share numbers of its subscribers, the fact remains that since the lockdown, the 40-plus OTT platforms have all reported growth in subscriptions.

In a prepared statement, Gaurav Gandhi, Director and Country General Manager of Amazon Prime Video India, said “Indian audiences have been eagerly awaiting the release of these 7 highly anticipated films and we are delighted that Amazon Prime Video will now be premiering these movies for our customers – who can enjoy watching these from the safety and comfort of their homes and on a screen of their choice.”

There is no mention of how much the company paid to acquire the rights for these movies, though there were indications that it wasn't a big one. Ronnie Lahiri, the co-producer of Gulabo Sitabo told Huffington Post India that it was a win-win for both though there was no insane amount that they received from Amazon Prime.

Vijay Subramaniam, director and head, Content, Amazon Prime Video, India, told Reuters in an interview, that he did not see acquisition costs going up for the streaming platform.

He added: "There will be a reset in the way that producers and studios think about their portfolios".

Tamil movie Ponmagal Vandhal is scheduled to release on May 29 and stars Jyothika, Parthiban, Bhagyaraj, Pratap Pothen and Pandiarajan. It is a legal drama written and directed by JJ Frederick and produced by Suriya and Rajsekar Karpoorasundarapandian. 

Penguin is a bilingual written and directed by Eshavar Karthic with national award winning actor Keerthy Suresh in the lead. The movie is scheduled to release on Amazon Prime Video on June 19. 

Could this be the the harbinger of many more movies hitting the OTT platform without having to go for a theatrical release? Or will things normalise once the lockdown is removed and cinema watching becomes a celebration rather than something that one does sitting behind closed doors? 

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