Newz-MICROSOFT!

Microsoft in talks to buy stake in start-up 

networking site Foursquare

Foursquare spokesman Brendan Lewis said via email that the talks fall squarely in the 
'rumors and speculation' category.

Microsoft Corp is in talks with start-up social networking company Foursquare 
about a possible investment.
The talks are at an advanced stage, but Foursquare is also talking to other 
potential partners.
According to Fox Business, Foursquare spokesman Brendan Lewis said via
 email that the talks fall squarely in the ‘rumors and speculation’ category.
A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.
As social networking companies have come under increased scrutiny, 
particularly since the initial public offering of Facebook Inc, Foursquare 
has lost some of its luster.
Foursquare has raised a total of 112 million dollars, including a 41 million 
dollars convertible debt round in April, the report added.

Newz-MICROMAX!

Micromax aims to be top smartphone player by this Diwali

According to IDC figures for Q2 of 2013, Micromax stayed at No 2 spot and crossed the 2 million units mark in shipments.

Domestic handset maker Micromax today said it aims to become the number one player in India in the smartphone category by Diwali on the back of excellent demand for its Canvas series.

"As per the IDC figures for Q2, we are at number two with 22 per cent market share and given the growth we are seeing in the phablet category (Canvas series), we are aiming to be the top player by Diwali, which is Q3," Micromax Co-Founder Rahul Sharma said.

According to IDC figures for Q2 of 2013, Micromax stayed at No 2 spot and crossed the 2 million units mark in shipments. "The vendor is banking on the wave of phablet- driven smartphone adoption and is pushing the Canvas range of devices with bigger screens and compelling imaging capabilities," IDC said.

Sharma said IDC data substantiates its success, considering the fact that the maximum growth in Indian smartphone category has happened 5 inch-6.99 inch category which has grown 17 times year on year and the phablet share has steadily risen to 30 per cent of the smartphone market in Q2.

Micromax has increased its share from 18.8 per cent in the last quarter to 22 per cent.

"Micromax has crossed the 2 million units shipment mark in Q2 2013 and is poised to be the number one smartphone player in India by Q3. We hope to surpass USD 1 billion in revenues with our innovative product strategy, strong distribution and marketing focused on the Indian youth," Sharma said.

"We hope to cross 2.5 million units marks by third quarter of this year," he added. Without commenting on the number, Sharma said the company will continue launching new devices in third quarter also.

"With the kind of growth we are achieving, our strategy is working in right direction and going forward, we continue to stick to it," he added.

Sharma said not only in India, the company is among the top three players in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also and exploring new markets too.

NEWZ-SAMSUNG!

Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Announcement, specs, and details we know so far

Samsung's coyly written announcement spells out the Galaxy Note 3 debut.

(Credit: Samsung)

Rumors about the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet have been piling up for months, with leaks and details emerging on an almost-weekly basis.

Samsung has yet to reveal any official specifications, but there's plenty we think we know about the device -- and heaps we don't. Here's a collection of what's expected and what still remains uncertain for the Galaxy Note 3 "phablet."

What we know for sure:

September 4 reveal date
If official invitations that clearly point to the Note as the big reveal weren't enough, a Samsung executive confirmed the Galaxy Note 3's September 4 debut (alongside the Galaxy Gear smartwatch.)

What we think we know:

Bigger than ever

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be larger than its 5.3 and 5.5-inch predecessors. Samsung co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun claimed the Galaxy Note 3 will feature a 5.9-inch display. I put my money on that measurement, though the most recent rumors suggest it will have a 5.68-inch1,920x1,080-pixel display. Even earlier, conflicting rumors indicated that Samsung had been testing other screen sizes.

Some models will reportedly feature an LCD panel, whereas others will see Samsung's own Super AMOLED screen tech.

The form factor of the Galaxy Note 3 closely resembles the design of the first two generations.

(Credit: eTradeSupply)

Body shape
So far, leaked images suggest the Galaxy Note 3 will maintain the same design as the first two generations and will employ the same button layout. It would also make sense for Samsung to model the Note 3 off of its Galaxy S4 flagship design. While the screen size is larger, the overall footprint of the device is reported to stay the same.

Plastic bodyHigh-end hardware
The Galaxy Note 3 will most likely come with different CPUs and GPUs depending on the region, just as older models did. Some customers could be buying a Note 3 with a 1.8GHz Octa-core Exynos 5420 processor, while other phones might ship with aQualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset. Additional specs should include a 13-megapixel camera and a choice of 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of internal storage, which will also vary by market.

Nothing suggests that Samsung will stray from the same plastic materials found in the last few generations of Galaxy S and Galaxy Note models.

Latest Android version
The Samsung phablet is expected to run the latest version of Android, 4.3 Jelly Bean, with many of Samsung's own custom software touches.

Three colors
The Galaxy Note 3 will be initially offered in black and white with a pink version arriving a few weeks later.

In stores by September
The black and white colors should be made available in the days following the announcement; the pink version could arrive by late October. According to ePrice (translate), the global model will be offered on September 27 with preorders starting on September 16.

Long shots:

4K video recording
Recent rumors suggest that the Galaxy Note 3 could record Ultra HD (3,840x2,160-pixel) video, though the phone's most common storage capacities (16GB and 32GB) and low 4K television adoption -- the reason you'd care about 4K video capture in the first place -- give us pause.

Don't look for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to feature a flexible display.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Flexible display
Although Samsung has demonstrated this technology on multiple occasions, we don't see it finding a home on the Galaxy Note 3, and here's why.

Advanced camera features
Reportedly, Samsung had hoped to bring OIS (optical image stabilization) and shutter functions to the Note 3; however, new whispers say this won't show up until the Samsung Galaxy S5.

What's still up in the air:

How much memory
The Galaxy Note 3 could be the first smartphone to feature a whopping 3GB RAM (translate), a staggering amount to be sure, and a figure that could vastly improve performance.

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US carrier support
Since Samsung likes to offer its big device releases across numerous carriers, we should anticipate the same for the new Note model. With this in mind, we might expect Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular to make their own announcements officially backing the Galaxy Note 3.

Price
Perhaps the most important question surrounding the device, the cost of the Galaxy Note 3 still remains unclear. Historically, the Note series costs more than the flagship smartphones. In the US, expect it to come in around $250 with a two-year service agreement.

CNET will be on the ground in Berlin on September 4 to relay all the details. Check back with us then!

Biz-Twiiter!

Twitter appoints PIO Vijaya Gadde as general

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter's top lawyer, known as a champion of free speech, unexpectedly stepped down as the microblogging company moved closer toward a long-expected initial public offering.

Twitter declined to comment, but said Macgillivray would be replaced by Vijaya Gadde, who has been managing the company's corporate and international legal work. Gadde is a former senior director in Juniper Networks Inc's legal department.

Gadde has deep experience in corporate and securities law, while Macgillivray's specialty is intellectual property.

Twitter, which has more than 200 million active users, is widely expected to go public in 2014.

Alexander Macgillivray, known for fending off legal challenges toTwitter users' right to express themselves in pithy, 140-character messages, himself tweeted the news without giving a reason for the move.

But Macgillivray, who became Twitter's general counsel in September 2009, said he would continue to support the San Francisco-based company as an adviser.

Macgillivray, who has been credited with coining the motto that Twitter is the "free speech wing of the free speech party," helped shape Twitter's reputation as a champion for its users' rights over the years.

In 2012, Macgillivray's legal team fought a court order to extract an Occupy Wall Street protester's Twitter posts, and resisted when India's government asked Twitter to take down tweets considered inflammatory.

That same year, he publicly apologized after Twitter briefly suspended the account of a British journalist for posting the work email address of an executive at NBC. The journalist had been openly critical of the network's Olympics coverage, around which Twitter had built a massive marketing initiative.

"I think they're really aware of themselves as being a place for discussion, news and sometimes for dissent," said Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington, referring to Twitter.

As a result, the company has had a longstanding commitment for free speech and privacy principles, which would not easily be shaken by Macgillivray's departure, he said.

Twitter's public policy group, which previously reported to Macgillivray, will now report directly to chief executive Dick Costolo, the company said.

Macgillivray said in his blog post that after four years at Twitter he was looking forward to the change.

"I'm looking forward to engaging my various Internet passions from new and different perspectives, seeing friends and family without distraction, and just goofing off a bit. We should all do more of that," he tweeted.

Newz-APPLE!

Apple launches iPhone trade-in programme

The California company's trade-in program kicked off in the wake of unconfirmed reports of a September 10 event at which Apple will unveil new iPhones, with rumors ranging from a gold handset to a low-price version aimed at emerging markets. 

"iPhones hold great value," Apple spokeswoman Amy Bessette said in an email to AFP. 

"So Apple Retail Stores are launching a new program to assist customers who wish to bring in their previous-generation iPhone for reuse or recycling." 

She would not specify how much Apple is paying for old iPhones, but they can fetch $300 or so depending on the model at an array of websites or US consumer electronics shops that buy handsets. 

The Wall Street Journal earlier this month reported that Apple had asked its Taiwan-based supplier, Hon Hai Precision, to begin shipping two new versions of the iPhone in September, including a lower-cost model. 

Speculation has centered around whether Apple will shift its strategy of focusing on premium devices priced at the high-end of the market to include a lower-cost handset appealing to people with tight budgets. 

A survey by Gartner said Apple's share of the smartphone market worldwide fell to 14.2% in the second quarter, while Samsung's rose to 31.7%. 

Samsung has found global success with smartphones powered by Google's free Android software, which now dominates the market. 

As the smartphone market in the United States and other Western countries matures, companies may have better luck encouraging upgrades rather than reaching out to first-time buyers, according to Gartner analyst Van Baker. 

Motives for Apple's trade-in programme likely include keeping iPhone users loyal to the smartphones as well as the lucrative iTunes shop for digital music, films, and books. 

"Keeping people in the fold is what it is all about," Baker said. "The question for me is whether it will be competitive with programs that already exist in the market." 

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry saw the trade-in program as Apple delivering product management instead of product innovation. 

Analysts and Apple fans have been watching whether chief Tim Cook will live up to the legacy of company co-founder Steve Jobs when it comes to wowing the world with culture-changing devices. 

"Tim Cook's Apple is very different from Steve Jobs's Apple," Chowdhry said. 

"This is not the thing customers are looking for." He said Apple lovers are more likely wondering "Where is my iWatch" and "Where is my Apple TV." 

Cook took over as chief of the Cupertino, California company in 2011 as Jobs stepped down to grapple with illness that took his life later that year. 

Cook is considered an operational mastermind with a relentless work ethic, and is believed to have played a leading role in the gadget company's turnaround. 

Cook was Apple's chief operating officer until his elevation to CEO. 

INDIANS LOVES PHABLETS !

Its official: Indian consumers love phablets

NEW DELHI: The latest numbers for Indian smartphone market are out. And, they show a steep growth in the phablet category in the country. According to market research firm IDC, the number of smartphones shipped in India has grown by over 200% in the last one year. It said 9.3 million smartphones were shipped in Q2, 2013, compared to 3.5 million in Q2, 2012.

The growth was particularly significant in the phablet (the phones with large screens) category. IDC said the number of smartphones that have a screen size between 5 inches and 7 inches grew by 17 times in the last one year. The phablets constituted 30% of all smartphones shipped in Q2, 2013.

Phablets, a term used by the technology journalists to describe the large-screen phones that started appearing after Samsung launched Galaxy Note, was recently added to online dictionary maintained by Oxford University Press.

Compared to Q1, 2013, the number of smartphones shipped in India registered a 50% growth in the second quarter of this year, IDC said in a statement. "As the largest feature phone market in Asia Pacific region and second largest for smartphones, India recorded a 21% growth YoY and a modest 4% growth quarter over quarter for total mobile phones," said an IDC spokesperson.

"The growth in the India smartphone market is driven by consistent performance by local vendors, who accounted for more than half of the total smartphone market in Q2, 2013. These vendors have been scaling up operations, owing to rising migration of the user base from feature phones to smartphones," said Manasi Yadav, senior market analyst with IDC India.

Samsung leads the list of biggest smartphone vendors in India with a market share of 26%. Micromax is second with 22% share, while Karbonn is third with 13% share. Nokia and Sony each have 5% market share, while other companies account for 29% of smartphones shipped in India.

"Samsung maintained its leadership spot in Q2, 2013, with the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Star bringing in huge volumes at the low end," noted IDC.

Smart phones starting from Rs.5499. Lowest prices in India.

Newz-INDIA!

Easy reforms done, we have more difficult ones to do, says PM

  

NEW DELHI, AUG 30:  

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that neither there is intention to re-impose capital controls nor there will be reversal of reforms.

In the meantime, he has urged people to reduce the appetite for gold and economise the use of petroleum products.

Macro-stabilisation process

Making a statement on the falling rupee and state of economy in the Lok Sabha, Singh said that macro-stabilisation process is under way and the fruits of recent measures will help the rupee to stabilise.

'Short-term shock'

Terming the recent volatility in rupee as a 'short-term shock', he said: "That is the reality of the globalised economy, whose benefits we have reaped. We need to face them.”

At the same time the Government will ensure that the fundamentals of economy remain strong, he added.

“We are faced with challenges but we have the capacity to deal with them,” he said, while seeking the support of all political parties in this situation.

Rupee depreciation

About the reasons for the sudden and sharp fall in ruppee, he said external factors were responsible for it.

"What triggered the sharp depreciation in the rupee value are certain external forces. Global factors like tension in Syria and prospects of US tapering its federal policy also had an impact," he said.

No reversal of policies

There is no question of reversing the policies just because there is some turbulence in the capital and currency markets, he said, adding that the “sudden decline in exchange rate is certainly a shock, but we will address this through other measures, not through capital controls or by reversing reforms''.

GDP growth

Talking about growth, the Prime Minister expressed hope that growth in the second half will pick up as the monsoon is good. He also mentioned that the Government will now have to undertake more difficult reforms.

“The easy reforms of the past have been done. We have the more difficult reforms to do such as the reduction of subsidy, the insurance and pension sector reform, eliminating bureaucratic red tape and implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST),” Singh said.

Not satisfied with the Prime Minister’s statement, the Opposition parties, including BJP, AIADMK, Left and SAD, staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha.

Tech-INTERNET Report!

INDIA IS NOW WORLD’S THIRD LARGEST INTERNET USER AFTER U.S.&CHINA

India has bypassed Japan to become the world’s third largest
Internet user after China and the United States, and its users are significantly younger than those
of other emerging economies,global digital measurement and analytics firm comScore has said
in a report.
India now has nearly 74 million Internet users, a 31 per cent
increase over March 2012, the report says.
The numbers are lower than other recent estimates, possibly reflecting comScore’s methodology that only factors in
PC and laptop-based Internet usage.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) pegged
the number of Internet subscribers in India at 164.81 million as of March 31, 2013,with seven out of eight accessing
the Internet from their mobile phones.
The comScore report, on the other hand, puts mobile and
tabled-based Internet traffic at just 14% of the total.
“Mobile phone based Internet usage is a key component of
Indian Internet usage, and I’d say the recent growth is being
driven by mobile Internet usage,”
Nilotpal Chakravarti,
spokesperson of the Internet and Mobile Association of India
told The Hindu on Thursday. In addition, many Netizens were
using dongles to access the Internet.
Three-fourths of India’s online population is under 35 as against just over half worldwide,
the comScore report, India Digital Future in Focus 2013, says,
possibly reflecting India’s more recent improvements in literacy.
Men under 35 and women between 35 and 44 are heavier
users. But women account for less than 40 per cent of all Indian users, a far lower sex ratio than
that of other countries.
A quarter of time spent online is on social media, the comScore report says, and another 23 per
cent on email.While Google sites have the most unique visitors, Net users spend the most time on Facebook,which is at second place as far as
unique visitors are concerned.
Yahoo, Microsoft and Wikimedia sites follow in unique visitor numbers.
Among social media sites,Linkedin and Twitter are the next
most popular, while Orkut is in decline. Google is by far the most popular search engine,accounting for 90 per cent of all
searches in India.
Online retail is on the rise, with domestic retail sites being the
most popular, the report notes.
For online travel websites too, domestic websites are the most popular, the Indian Railways’
website being by far the most popular destination. Yahoo is
also the most popular site for news.
The locus of online dominance has moved steadily towards Asia,
which now accounts for 41% of all Internet users; from having
66% of all users in 1996, the United States now accounts for just 13%.
China has the world’s biggest online presence; Its Internet
users outnumber Indians by a ratio of 5: 1. Brazil’s Internet
presence grew faster than India’s over the last year.

MICROSOFT BULLET!

WHO WILL HEAD MICROSOFT AFTER
BALLMER? INDIA’S SATYA NADELLA?

NEW DELHI: Microsoft has announced that Steve Ballmer will
retire within 12 months and the company is already looking for his replacement. There are a number of possible candidates
who can replace Ballmer. One of them is Satya Nadella, a long-time Microsoft executive who currently looks after cloud and enterprise division within the
company. For a company that is putting in lot more resources into cloud-
based offerings in a bid to catch up with Google, India-born
Nadella seems to be a strong contender for the CEO post.
On the biography page of Nadella, Microsoft says, "The
Cloud OS platform not only powers all of Microsoft's Internet
scale cloud services (including O365, Bing, SkyDrive, Xbox Live,
Skype and Dynamics) but also fuels global enterprises around
the world to meet their most challenging and mission-critical
computing needs."
As a man looking after the company's cloud offerings,
Nadella may turn out to be the strongest internal candidate for
Ballmer's job. It also helps that he has experience with dealing in enterprise services and business
clients, which make most of the money for Microsoft. The software giant needs a CEO that doesn't rock the enterprise boat by focussing too much on consumer products, where
Microsoft is struggling.
Before joining Microsoft in 1992,
Nadella was at Sun Microsystems. A native of Hyderabad, Nadella has a bachelor's degree in
electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master's
degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin and a
master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.
Mary Jo Foley, a long-time Microsoft watcher for ZDnet,
recently wrote "Nadella definitely
has cross-unit knowledge" to become a CEO.
Other internal candidates who could be picked as CEO are
executive vice president of marketing Tami Reller, COO Kevin Turner and executive vice president Tony Bates.
Microsoft had announced that it
is looking at both internal and external candidates to replace
Ballmer. Stephen Elop, an ex-Microsoft executive who now
heads Nokia, and Sanjay Jha, who earlier headed Motorola, are also
considered strong contenders.
Long-time Microsoft watchers believe finding a replacement for Ballmer will not be easy. Peter Bright, who writes on Microsoft for ArsTechnica, wrote that Microsoft needs a CEO who probably doesn't exist.
"Steve Ballmer's replacement needs to bridge both the
consumer and the corporate worlds. That person needs to
have the influence and persuasiveness to redirect and focus the company's efforts
when necessary, as Bill Gates did in the 1990s amid the rise of the world wide web and the Internet. He or she also needs to
have the vision to devise compelling, market-defining
products that resonate with consumers, as Steve Jobs did at Apple, but without Jobs' hostility
to the enterprise. Rather than Ballmer's overwhelming
confidence in the company's products, Ballmer's replacement
needs the same critical eye that Bill Gates demonstrated," he wrote.
What goes against Nadella is that he doesn't seem to have the sort of technology vision that Microsoft needs right now to
match the likes of Apple and Google in the consumer space.
Technology world is full of start CEOs and even though Ballmer
was not Bill Gates, he had enough of pull to give Microsoft a
personality.
Microsoft's competitors have
some big names as CEO. Apple has Tim Cook, who may not be
an innovator like Steve Jobs but has a unique style of leadership and is authoritative. Google has Larry Page, who is considered an excellent manager as well as a visionary. Yahoo Has Marissa
Mayer. Amazon has Jeff Bezos.
And Oracle has Larry Ellison. All of these are star CEOs.
Microsoft would want a CEO that could match the leadership that other companies have. But finding such a CEO may not be
easy.

Biz Report_SAMSUNG MOBILE LEADS!

SAMSUNG BEATS NOKIA TO EMERGE No.1 IN INDIA: REPORT


MUMBAI: Buoyed by high demand for smartphones, the
mobile handset market in India is
estimated to have grown by 14.7% in 2012-13 to touch Rs
35,946 crore, according to a Voice&Data Survey.
The market grew from Rs 31,330 crore in FY'12 with Korean
electronics maker Samsung dethroning Nokia from the top
position this year, the survey said.
The 18th annual survey 'V&D 100' covered over 30 mobile handset companies doing
business in India across categories like feature phones,
multimedia phones, enterprise phones and smartphones.
The survey attributed Samsung's rise in Indian market to its rich product portfolio catering to customers of all budget categories.
"Samsung handset prices range from Rs 1,500 to Rs 50,000 and come in varied screen sizes.
These two factors helped the company grab customer's
attention, besides the product quality and new features," it
added.
The survey said Samsung ended the year with revenues of Rs.11,328 crore in 2012-13 as compared to Rs 7,891 crore in
FY'12, a growth of 43.6%. It also became the market leader with 31.5% market share.
On the other hand, Nokia, with 27.2% market share, dropped to the No 2 spot.
In the 12 months ended March 2013, Nokia's revenues from
Indian operations were placed at
Rs 9,780 crore as compared to Rs 11,925 crore in FY'12, as per the survey.
"Nokia's drop in market share started when the company failed to sense the need of a dual-sim
phone for the Indian consumer,and the same was tapped by the Indian players years ahead of global players like Nokia," it
added.
Nokia's Lumia series phones that witnessed huge growth globally
in the initial phases could not draw much attention in India.
The survey said Apple's revenues
grew 417.2% to post revenues of Rs 1,293 crore in FY'13 as
compared to Rs 250 crore in the year ago period.
Though India was never a focus market for the Cupertino-based smart devices maker till some
years back, in the last two years,the iPhone maker has started
making inroads slowly. "In the last fiscal, Apple made
some disruptive changes in its sales strategy, which paid off.
Appointing Ingram Micro and Redington as the national
distributors for their entire sales,and offering EMI schemes to the consumers to buy the most coveted Apple product changed the game for them," the survey
said.
Apple now enjoys 3.6% market share in India having the smallest number of handset models in its
portfolio.
Homegrown handset maker Micromax captured the third
position with 8.7% market share.
In FY'13, Micromax posted revenues of Rs 3,138 crore as
against Rs 1,978 crore in FY'12, a growth of 58.6%.

NOKIA'S BIGGEST SMARTPHONE- LUMIA 625

NOKIA’S BIGGEST SMARTPHONE
LUMIA 625 ON PRE-ORDER FOR Rs.19,499

NEW DELHI: Nokia Lumia 625, the biggest smartphone in the company's portfolio, is set to
arrive in India soon and pre-orders for the device have already begun. Online retailer
Flipkart has started taking pre-orders for this smartphone at Rs
19,499 and suggested that it will be launched in the last week of August. The phone will come
with free e-books from Flipkart and 3G data from Tata Docomo.
The Finnish manufacturer is also
expected to release the Lumia 925 in India around the same
time. It has already started taking
pre-orders for the aluminium-bodied handset via its official
partner at Rs 34,169. Other e-commerce websites are taking
advance bookings of the device for approximately Rs.32,500.
It is reported for the first time that the Nokia Lumia 925 and
Lumia 625 will hit the stores in August.
Lumia 625 features a 4.7-inch screen, the biggest for a Lumia
handset, but is a mid-range device. It has a LCD display with
800x480p resolution and 201ppi pixel density. The screen features the Super Sensitive Touch
technology that allows users to use it while wearing gloves.
Under the hood is a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM and Windows Phone 8 operating system. The company has included 8GB internal storage in the phone, along with microSD support up to 64GB.
The soon-to-be-launched Lumia 925, launched in May this year, is a flagship device with an
aluminium body and better camera than the Lumia 920. This
phone appeared on Nokia India's website in May, accompanied by a price cut for Lumia 920, the current top model for the company in India.

Newz_CELKON SMARTPHONE!

CELKON CAMPUS A20 WITH ANDROID 4.2 LAUNCHED FOR Rs.5,299

After launching the Celkon Signature One A107+ phablet
recently, Celkon Mobiles has announced the launch of another budget smartphone, the Campus A20.
The Celkon Campus A20 features 4-inch WVGA display with
480x800 pixels resolution. It is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 256MB RAM. The
device runs on Android 4.2 Jelly
Bean. The Celkon Campus A20 is a dual-SIM device with GSM+GSM support. There is a 3.2-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-facing camera. It also includes 512MB internal storage that can be expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.
The device is backed by a 1500mAh battery. Connectivity options on the device include a 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth, 3G,GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi and Micro-USB.
Celkon A20 is now available for a price of Rs. 5,299.
After forging a formidable reputation for itself in the feature phone segment, Celkon has now turned to the smartphone segment.
The company launched the Signature One A107+ for Rs.7,299 last week. It sports a 5-inch display with 480x800 pixels resolution. The device runs on
Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. It is powered by 1GHz dual-core
processor and comes with 512MB RAM. There is an 8-megapixel rear camera at the back with LED flash and a 1.3- megapixel front-facing camera.
The dual-SIM smartphone (GSM
+GSM) also supports dual standby and comes with 4GB of internal storage capacity expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.
Connectivity options on the phone include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,
3.5mm audio jack, EDGE, GPRS and GPS. The phone comes with a 2100mAh battery.

Celkon Campus A20 key specifications:

¤ 4-inch WVGA display with 480x800 pixels resolution

¤1.2GHz dual-core processor 256MB RAM

¤512MB internal storage,expandable up to 32GB through microSD

¤3.2-megapixel rear camera VGA front-facing camera

¤Dual-SIM (GSM + GSM)

¤1500 mAh battery

¤Android 4.2Jelly Bean

Newz_INCREDIBLE CHINA!

CHINESE CO. XIAOMI SELLS 1 MILLION
SMARTPHONES IN 90 SECONDS!!!

LONDON: A Chainese smartphone reportedly sold 1, 00,000 units in
90 seconds and its makers believe that it is like a combination of Apple, Amazon
and Google.
Xiaomi, the company who made the Hongmi smartphone,
announced that a further 7.45 million devices had been
reserved adding that they tend to build as many devices as they
believe will sell in a given year.
The Hongmi, the name meaning Red Rice costs just 83 pounds
with a hardware that includes a 4.7-inch screen with a resolution of 720x1280p with a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, the
Independent reports.
There is only 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory but the total memory can be expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card and the device also has 8-megapixel rear camera and a
1.3MP front camera with usual gryos and accelerometer sensors.
The catch is that this device can not be used outside of China as it only supports TD-SCDMA 3G Xiaomi Founder and CEO Lei Jun said that the company selling mobile phones is like Amazon selling Kindles, however, he
pointed out that it is not right to compare it with Apple because
people may say it looks bit like Apple but it is really more like Amazon with some elements of
Google.
Xiaomi which still accounts for 5% of the Chinese smartphone market expects to sell 20 million smartphones by the end of the
year, the report added.

NewZ_SAMSUNG!

SAMSUNG SMARTWATCH COMING IN SEPTEMBER

Samsung Electronics plans to introduce a wristwatch in
September that can make phone calls, play video games and send
e-mails , potentially beating its archrival, Apple, to market with a piece of technology that moves mobile communications beyond the smartphone.
The watch, called Samsung Galaxy Gear, would be shown off
"around the time" of an electronics industry trade fair in
Berlin that begins September 6, a person briefed on the matter
said. Samsung has scheduled a media event for September 4 at which it is also expected to introduce the Note III, a new
version of its "phablet," a cross
between a phone and a tablet.
Apple reportedly plans to show off its first wrist-worn device,
expected to be called the iWatch, at a Sept. 10 event in Berlin.
Neither Galaxy Gear nor the iWatch will be the first watch
phone on the market. Sony recently introduced a second-
generation version of its smart watch, a gadget that works in
conjunction with a smartphone in the user's pocket. Other smart devices like the Pebble Watch and
the I'm Watch have also been sold for some time.
For Samsung, the idea is also not entirely new. The company
introduced its first watch phone in 1999. Still, the category of
smart watches remains underdeveloped, as none of the existing devices have captured
the imagination of consumers.

Biz_NewZ!

48% OF TOP iPAD APPS ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR ANDROID TABLETS

Nearly half of the top free and paid iPad apps are unavailable
for Android tablets, underlining the fact that most apps come to Apple’s iOS mobile platform months or years before they
arrive on Android and many of them never make it to Android at
all. Of the most popular iPad apps
on the market, thirty percent are not available for the Android platform at all, while another
eighteen percent are available for Android phones with no Android tablet version. If anything, the app chasm is getting worse for
Android even as Android tablet marketshare grows.
The tablet app data from Canalys is explainable by two separate problems besieging the Android
tablet market. The first is that developing Android apps is exceedingly difficult due to the
fragmented hardware across the platform; app developers have to write the “Android version” of their app a hundred times or
more in order to make it compatible with the hundreds of
randomly varying Android hardware models from dozens of vendors, none of whom have any quality or consistency guidelines they’re required to follow. That stands in sharp contrast with the
fact that app developers only
have to write their iOS apps a handful of times: once for the
iPad, once for the current iPhone,and perhaps once more for the older shorter iPhone.
The second problem is the fault not of Android hardware makers,but of Android users themselves.
Android users are far less likely to spend any money on apps
than their iPad counterparts,taking away the financial
motivation for app developers to want to even bother making an Android version. Many popular free apps only exist in the hopes of being able to upsell a fraction of those users to a more
advanced paid version. And the
unwillingness of Android users to open their wallets for apps
means there’s little incentive for app makers to crank out an Android version other than to silence the complainers.
Instagram came to Android nearly two years after it had
been available on the iPhone and iPad. Popular mobile game Dots just came to Android this week,
four months after it came to iPhone and iPad. The trendy
video app Vine had a six month gap before its Android version
arrived. And the Canalys list reveals that such waits are the norm at least as often as not.
With the startling lack of popular free or paid apps available for Android tablets, why do people keep buying them? Ostensibly,because while many of them are junk hardware with substandard
specs, they come with
exceedingly low price tags. But those are the last people who are
going to turn around and spend any money on apps, which is
why such a high percentage of mobile app developers don’t
bother with Android at all –regardless of marketshare.
Google hopes to fix the lack of popular apps on its Android
platform by offering more competent Android devices like
the Nexus 7 tablet. But as long as it continues also licensing the
Android platform to mercenary vendors looking to crank out the cheapest junk possible, app developers will continue to treat
Android users – and particularly Android tablet users – as second class citizens.

NewZ-FACEBOOK!

FACEBOOK TO TEST MOBILE PAYMENTS SERVICE

Facebook plans to test a mobile payments service that lets users
make purchases inside mobile
applications using payment information they have added to
their account on the social network.
Facebook Inc. said Thursday that it is working on a "very small test" and the company says there
is no set schedule for making the service available to users. The
service would use payment information that shoppers store
on Facebook to automatically complete checkout forms of certain mobile apps. Then, the
app would process the purchase.
Spokeswoman Tera Randall said in an e-mailed statement that
Facebook has a "great
relationship with PayPal, and this
product is simply to test how we can help our app partners
provide a more simple commerce
experience."
The test, she added, won't involve moving payment processing "away from an app's
current payments provider, such
as PayPal." Nonetheless, shares of PayPal's owner, eBay Inc. declined on
news of the potential
competition. The stock closed down $1.05, or 1.9 percent, at $
53.18.
Facebook's stock closed down 9
cents at $36.56. Forrester Research analyst Denee Carrington thinks Facebook will face a challenge in offering
mobile payments even though the company has been building up its database of users' credit cards.
"Consumers want safe, seamless
and convenient mobile payments
and there are a growing number
of competitors that consumers trust more — such as PayPal, Visa
(V.me) and others," Carrington said in an e-mailed statement.

NewZ_Apple iPhone!

APPLE iPHONE 5S: HERE'S WHAT TO EXPECT!

Monday, Aug 12, 2013

Ever since Apple purchased biometric security firm AutheTec,
word on the street has been that the next iPhone will have a finger print scanner.
Apple's iPhone launch is the most anticipated tech event of the year, and it won't be any different this time either. All
Things D has already reported that Apple will host an event on
September 10 to unveil the iPhone 5S and considering their
track record we are inclined towards believing it. Read on to find out the new features we expect in the next iPhone.
Fingerprint scanner
Ever since Apple purchased biometric security firm AutheTec,word on the street has been that
the next iPhone will have a finger print scanner.
Yesterday, there was more evidence to suggest the same
and a report indicated that Apple will integrate it in the home button of the device which will
have a convex sapphire glass to
provide scratch resistance.
Earlier, references to the fingerprint scanner were found
in the fourth beta of iOS 7, which were removed in the latest
version.

More colors :
While the design of the phone is expected to remain the same
there is talk about more color options, in particular a gold
model. That would sure catch the fancy of many.

More power :
Standard incremental upgrades like a newer faster A7 CPU, a
more powerful GPU are expected.
The screen can also be upgraded in terms of contrast, black levels
or viewing angles, but a resolution bump is not expected.
Apple could go for a different display technology altogether
and it could possibly look at incorporating Sharp's IGZO
displays.

Camera:
One of the major upgrades Apple is expected to do in the iPhone 5S is the camera. Leaks have
already indicated a new camera module, which could even mean the megapixel count going up to
13-megapixel. Component leaks
have also indicated a dual-LED flash module. The sensor could be bigger with f/2.0 aperture,which would mean better low light photography. There is no word on whether it will have optical image stabilization or not,but we would be surprised if it
does not. Apple had also mentioned that iOS 7 would support video recording at
60fps, so we expect some cool slow motion video tricks coming to the iPhone 5S. Apart from that,
Apple has already implemented filters to the camera app.

Improved voice :
recognition Apple could improve the
microphones in the iPhone so that Siri detects human voice
better and call quality and audio on videos is improved. Siri will be
much improved irrespective of hardware improvements as
Apple has improved it in iOS 7.

Better Battery life:
We could expect a larger battery that would deliver a lot more juice than the current model. This
would be needed considering iOS 7 now packs full multitasking unlike the tombstoning
technique used in iOS 6.

Cheaper iPhone:
The biggest feature of the new iPhone will probably be a new
model dubbed the iPhone 5C. We have already seen multiple
pictures of an Applesque smartphone toting a colourful polycarbonate shell. It would probably be on par with the iPhone 5 in terms of specs, but
will be wildly cheaper. This model
will probably replace the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S which have
proven to be immensely popular
in developing markets like India.

16 best affiliate programs to earn income from your website or through email marketing

You have a website and you want to make money. There are various ways on how you make money through your website. One among them is affiliate programs. Choosing the best affiliate programs would be key to maximise your income.

What is an Affiliate Program?

As per Wikipedia, Affiliate program is type of performance based marketing in which the business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. So, you need to have a website and you need to sign-up for affiliate marketing programs.  In case any visitor clicks on the Ad provided in your website and signs up for theirservices, affiliate Program Company would pay the commission to you.

Do you need to own a website to earn money through affiliate programs

For some of the affiliate programs, you need not even own a website. You can do this with email marketing by enclosing necessary affiliate links in the email and when user clicks on the links and signup for necessary services, affiliate program’s would pay the commission to you.

There are various best affiliate programs in India and globally. Some of the top affiliate programs are discussed below.

Matrimony Best affiliate programs in India

1. Bharat Matrimony.com: Bharat Matrimony is recognized as a no.1 matrimony portal in India. Bharat Matrimony affiliate program has the following features which offers a high returns

1. For every high quality free profile that is referred to Bharat matrimony, they pay a fixed amount.
2. For every high quality paid profile that is referred to them, they pay 25% of the revenue share which is applicable for first payment. It does not apply for subsequent renewals.
3. The payment is released as soon as your earnings reach Rs 200

2. Shaadi.com – Shaadi.com is one of the leading matrimony portal in India. The affiliate program has the following features which offer a high returns For.

1. Every profile that is referred to them, they pay 75% of the revenue share + another 25% bonus opportunity for a total of upto 100% commission
2. The payment is released as soon as the earnings reaches Rs 990 for Indian webmasters. However for an International Webmaster, the balance should be Rs 5,000 (USD 100).

3. Lifepartnerindia.com: This is similar like shaadi.com/bharatmatrimony affiliate programme. The revenue share would be 50%. This is a growing matrimony company
4. Shaadiexpress.com: Shaadiexpress.com is also similar to other matrimony affiliate programmes. However, for every high quality profile they pay Rs 25 as motivation amount. For every paid profile, you would get 30% of membership amount.

Domain / Webhosting best affiliate programs

5. Godaddy.com – Godaddy.com is a leading domain registration and webhosting company in the world. Godaddy pays upto 30% as commission for the products purchased by each referral.
6. BIGROCK.in – This is leading domain registration and webhosting company in India. The domain registration affiliate commission ranges between Rs 30 Rs 50 and webhosting plans affiliate commission ranges between Rs 750 to Rs 1,000. There are various other products in BIGROCK where you earn affiliate commission

Best Travel affiliate programs in India

7. Makemytrip.com: Makemytrip is a leading provider of air tickets, hotel booking and holiday packages. Any traveler you refer to them and the sale is paid, you would get a good commission. The amount of commission depends upon various parameters.
8. Yatra.com : Yaatra.com is also a leading provider of airline tickets, hotel booking and holiday packages. Any traveler you refer to them and the sale is paid; you would get a high commission. 30 day cookie duration is also available here.
9. Travelguru.com: This is a leading hotel networking company offering several holiday packages. You can earn an amount of Rs 300 per hotel booking made through your referral. They indicate that a webmaster can earn as much as Rs 75,000 if you refer 5 hotels per day for 30 days period.

Best Pay-per-click (PPC) affiliate programs

10. Google Affiliate Network : This is a well known PPC affiliate network where one can earn commission by “Pay per click’. Several webmasters earn good commission from Google throught this program. In India and China, a website need to complete 6 months period to apply for this programme as per Google guideline policy
11. Zhakkas.com – This is another pay per click program affiliate program. The webmaster gets commission upto 3 levels. The earning ratio is as follows:

1. Level- 1 – $ 0.01 (per click you deliver)
2. Level- 2 – $ 0.03 (per click you deliver)
3. Level- 3 – $ 0.05 (per click you deliver)

Other best affiliate programs

12. Amazon.com: Amazon affiliate program offers good commission. They have variety of products like books, electronics, apparels, music, clothing etc. The commission ranges between 4% to 8%.
13. Indiatimes.com: Indiatimes also have wide range of electronics, apparels, books, accessories, jewellery etc.  which are sold online. Each sale referred through your website to Indiatimes.com, will earn a preset commission. However the success lies in promoting the products which are relevant to your website, else you end up wasting your time by promoting them without any sales
14. Fens n petals.com: This is India’s no. 1 flowers and gifting portal. It connects among 500 Indian retail florists.

1. 20% commission on sales referred through your website
2. 30 days cookie period. This means that any person whom you are referred, makes another sale within 30 days, you will get paid for subsequent sales within 30 days period. This would boost up your commission.

15. Careerbuilder.com: This is another good affiliate program in India. They pay Rs 20 for each job application received.
16. Shareasale.com: There are 3 ways you can earn affiliate commission here. Pay per sale, Pay per lead and pay per click. There are over 2500 merchants who sell the products through the shareasale.com. This is one of the best bet for earning good affiliate commission if you are promoting multiple products.

Conclusion: There are several affiliate programs offered in India and globally. Choose a best affiliate program which is relevant to your blog to earn more income through commission.