The digital platforms are responsible and accountable for ensuring the safety of 'digital nagriks', the minister said, adding that the government will respond to every instance of alleged misuse or alleged breach of users' privacy.
The country's two top telcos, Reliance Jio and Airtel, are working overnight to undertake one of the fastest global roll-outs of 5G services in any country just a month down the line. India might be late in the game (already 70 countries have some kind of 5G and there are 698 million 5G subscribers across the world), but it's moving at breakneck speed. In his speech at the Reliance Industries AGM, Mukesh Ambani unveiled his plan to roll out the fastest 5G network in the world, starting from four metros in October but hitting every town taluka and tehsil - there are some 5,600 of them - in the country in 18 months.
One reason why volumes have not increased in the retail segment is that users are not aware of merchants who accept digital currency.
Jiophone Next will be available from Diwali for Rs 6,499 per unit for customers wanting to buy the smartphone without financing option, Jio and Google said in a joint statement on Friday. Jio is also giving a finance option for the Jiophone Next where users can make an upfront payment of Rs 1,999 and pay the rest in easy monthly instalments spread across 18-24 months, the company said in a statement. "This is the first time that a phone in the entry-level category is getting a financing option.
Google's premium smartphone series Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will be around 15-21 per cent costlier in India compared to other countries, according to the prices revealed by the company. The company has started pre-booking the Pixel 7 at Rs 59,999 ($729.36) and Pixel 7 Pro at Rs 84,999 ($1033.27) on the e-commerce portal Flipkart. The devices would be available from October 13.
Ashish Narsale explains what a notch is and lists some top selling notch phones
As Google evaluates its response to two recent penalties slapped by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), here is a look at the app economy. Apps are bread and butter for mobile operating systems. India ranks second in the number of mobile downloads, with nearly 27 billion downloads in 2021, according to Deloitte. Accounting for 11.6 per cent of global app downloads, the Indian smartphone user spends over 4 hours a day on apps.
According to study author Victor Patterson, a neurologist from Belfast, UK: Two new smartphone applications, one of which was tested in India and Nepal, may help people detect epileptic seizures and get better stroke treatment,
The speaker identified himself as Amit Kumar from Lakhisarai at the Bapu Sabhagar auditorium where a function was organised to mark the inauguration of the 'fourth agriculture roadmap' of the state government.
With the Supreme Court turning down Google's plea for a stay on the CCI order, the tech giant on Friday said it is reviewing the details of the decision which is limited to interim relief and did not decide the merits of the appeal. The company said it remains committed to users and partners and "will cooperate with the CCI on the way forward in parallel with our appeal." In a setback to Google, the Supreme Court on Thursday endorsed the order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) declining to grant an interim stay on the imposition of Rs 1,337 crore penalty on the US tech major by the competition regulator for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the Android mobile device ecosystem.
As per sources, the MHA recommended the MeitY this week to ban and block these apps, and the ministry subsequently initiated the process as per communication.
Priced at Rs 14,999, it is probably the best phone in its price segment.
At present, 70% of the mobile handsets sold in India are imported.
The government will set up expert groups to explore the adoption of common chargers for mobile and all portable electronic devices, and submit a detailed report in two months, Consumer Affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said. The department of consumer affairs on Wednesday called a meeting with industry stakeholders. After the meeting, Singh said India can initially think of exploring shifting to two types of chargers, including a C-Type port.
Don't recharge your phone at public outlets -- carry a power bank instead. Avoid clicking on links sent by 'friends'. If you get into an online sexual encounter with a stranger and get blackmailed, refuse to pay up.
Qatar is expecting an unprecedented 1.2 million visitors during the Nov. 20-Dec. 18 tournament.
The Apple 'Far Out' event, which was one of the most anticipated tech events of the year, finally happened on Wednesday, bringing new gadgets galore including new iPhones, new watches and new AirPods. However, for those who missed it, worry not, here's the roundup.
'Movie theatres, despite their diminished stature, will continue to play a role in our culture. Just like cinema. After all, we have at least another big centennial to commemorate in our lifetime,' says Murali Kamma.
Both are designed for safety of women.
Nearly 33 per cent of the 424 parents who took part in a survey reported that their children were approached by strangers via online platforms soliciting friendships, seeking personal and family details and broaching up sexual advice.
The currency in circulation (CIC) declined by Rs 7,600 crore in the Diwali week, making it the first such happening in two decades, a report said on Thursday. This was made possible courtesy of a greater reliance on digital payments by people, the report by economists at SBI said, adding that the Indian economy is undergoing a structural transformation at present. They clarified that the Diwali week in 2009 had also witnessed a marginal Rs 950 crore decline in currency in circulation, but that was purely due to the economic slowdown amid the global financial crisis.
After a five-day long visit, Apple CEO Tim Cook left India with a note that he can't wait to return to the country. The visit of Cook coincided with 25 years of the iPhone maker's presence in India. Cook arrived in India on Monday. The visit started with the launch of the first official Apple store in Mumbai on April 18 followed by a second in the national capital on April 20.
Reliance Jio may not ask for a premium for its 5G services in the initial stages of the launch, according to sources in the company. The company will roll out 5G commercial services in four cities -Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata - around Diwali this month and slowly ramp up the processes for other cities, too. A senior executive, when asked whether Jio will charge higher tariffs for 5G against 4G, said: "In the initial stages, customers have to adopt 5G, then they will have to find value in the service, and then one can look at monetisation."
In March this year, Worldline India launched Vabox (Voice Alert Box): merchants will now get instant audio alerts on the settlement of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments via QR codes in languages of their choice when customers check out. "They needn't worry whether the amount has been credited to their account," says Gulshan Pruthi, the firm's executive vice-president. The French payments giant will roll out 500,000 Vaboxes in the initial phase.
Apple was a fringe player in all key categories like smartphones, notebooks, and tablets till recently. But with the last quarter's record-breaking performance, the brand has established itself in the country's price-sensitive consumer electronics market.
Shares of telecom services providers - Reliance Industries (parent of Reliance Jio), Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea - have shed up to 23 per cent so far in the current calendar year as growth in the wireless subscriber segment begins to plateau amid higher tariffs and rising costs of smartphones. By comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex, and sectoral index BSE Telecom have dipped 1.8 per cent, and 12.6 per cent, respectively, ACE Equity data shows. However, analysts expect the trend to reverse soon as telecom services providers focus on the next leg of growth -- fixed broadband (FBB) segment.
Britain secretly obtained vast amounts of communications data from Pakistan to identify terrorists by hacking into routers in the country made by an American firm, according to whistleblower Edward Snowden.
It also promised financial assistance of Rs 24,000 annually to all dependent widows and single mothers, two free LPG cylinders to all the beneficiaries of the PM Ujjwala Yojana and 24x7 power supply.
Most brands are trying to make it big in the sub-Rs 15,000 range.
Home-grown companies, including electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firm Dixon Technologies and mobile device maker Lava International, have started exploratory talks with Chinese sub-assemblies and component players for setting up joint ventures (JVs) in the country. Sources in the industry say many domestic companies have also had preliminary discussions with original design manufacturers (ODMs) in China to look at a JV model for manufacturing smartphones. Key ODM players in mobile devices in China include Longcheer, Huaqin, and Wingtech, which has already set up a plant in Tirupati.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio on Friday announced deferring the roll-out of the JioPhone Next - the low-priced smartphone it has developed with Google - to Diwali. The phone was previously to be launched on September 10. Ambani at the shareholder meeting of his flagship Reliance Industries in June, had stated that the JioPhone Next will be available for purchase on September 10.
Rediff.com's Ashish Narsale handpicks some of the latest gadgets that are immensely useful.
Overall mobile phone production was about 68 million in 2014, increased to 100 million in 2015 and 350-400 million in July 2016.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday launched a new service, which will enable over 40 crore feature phone users to undertake digital payments in a secure way. The service christened UPI (unified payments interface) '123PAY' is a three-step method to initiate and execute services for users which will work on simple phones which do not have an internet connection. Das said, as of now, the multifaceted features of UPI are mostly available only on smartphones, which excludes people from the lower rung of the society from an economic perspective, especially in the rural areas, from accessing the popular service, even though the smartphone prices are going down.
Walmart-owned digital payments firm PhonePe has decided to halt its proposed acquisition of Goldman Sachs- and Xiaomi-backed ZestMoney, a Bengaluru-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform. The deal, which was poised to fetch anywhere between $150-200 million and $300 million, has hit a snag over lapses in due diligence, disagreements over valuation, sustainability of the business, and shareholding structure of ZestMoney, according to people familiar with the matter. The collapse of the deal is also being attributed to a slowdown in the financial technology (fintech) sector in the midst of a funding winter, difficult regulatory environment, and macroeconomic uncertainty, informed other sources.
Slapped with a second hefty fine for anti-competitive practices, Google India on Wednesday said it remains committed to users and developers and is reviewing the antitrust body's order to evaluate next steps. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Tuesday slapped a Rs 936 crore fine on Google for "abusing" its dominant position on its Android mobile app store and ordered it not to prevent app developers from using third-party billing or payment processing services in India. That penalty came just days after a Rs 1,337.76 crore fine was imposed on it for abusing the dominant position of its Android smartphone operating system. Commenting on Tuesday's CCI order, a Google India spokesperson said Indian app developers have benefited from the technology, security, consumer protection, choice and flexibility that Android and Google Play provide.
There will be two variants on sale -- namely the F77 and the F77 Recon, priced at Rs 3.8 lakh and Rs 4.55 lakh (ex-showroom) respectively.
Focus on building closer connections with your partner by speaking more frequently without electronics in the room to get the most out of chats., advises Sybil Shiddell, country manager-India for Gleeden, a discreet extra marital dating Web site.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Wednesday declined to grant interim relief to Google seeking a stay on competition watchdog CCI's penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on the tech giant for abusing its dominant position with respect to Play Store policies. The appellate tribunal has directed Google to deposit 10 per cent of the fine before its registry in the next four weeks. A two-member bench comprising Justice Rakesh Kumar and Alok Srivastava issued notices to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and other respondents and posted the matter for hearing on April 17, 2023.
Start your digital detox today before irreversible damage to health and mental complications stalk your life, advises Ramesh Menon.