Weekly Wrap-up: Airtel Surprises, Jio Airtel Fight, BHIM App, Aadhaar Linked Mobiles & More…

It is Monday morning and yet again time to do a quick wrap-up of the posts published on trak.in last week. If you were offline for any reason, this is a great way to catch up with all the tech buzz from last week.

By April 2017, Apple will be assembling iPhones manufactured by Taiwan’s Wistron Corp. in Bengaluru. Priyank Kharge, IT Minister of Karnataka, confirmed the same by the discussions he had with representatives from Apple.

Samsung is going to launch its own payment platform, Samsung Pay in India very soon. A very popular platform in Korea, South-East Asia and the US, Samsung Pay is a preferred choice for Android users in these countries.

After TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal) dismissed Airtel’s plea accusing Reliance Jio of “predatory” pricing, the country’s leading telecom operator has now filed a complaint with CCI (Competition Commission of India) in hopes of getting some

As per a high level proposal created by the Ministry of Transport, around 50 lakh electric vehicles would be introduced on Indian roads by 2020, thereby completely transforming the transportation and energy landscape of India.

Uber has now started to pilot uberHIRE in a few cities of India. This new service from Uber will allow users to hire a cab for 12 hours within these cities for any purpose that requires more than an hour or so. Pune, Mumbai, Kochi, Vizag and Chennai have been picked up initially for starting the operations.

If automation leads to more productivity, reduction in errors, then is there any real reason for opposing it, even if it means a reduction in employment? A recent case study from a Chinese factory forces us to ask this question, in a hard way.

BSNL is trying to stay ahead of the competition ever since Reliance Jio announced its free data and unlimited voice offering. Now, the state-run telecom operator has slashed its data tariffs to offer 1 GB 3G data at just Rs. 36.

BlackBerry has forged another relationship with an Indian company, Optiemus. A Delhi-based telecommunications based company, Optiemus Infracom Limited will help the Canadian company build handsets, market and distribute them in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Chaitanya Karamchedu from Portland, Oregon, an NRI student has devised an innovative way to convert salt water into drinkable water, and if some serious research is done in this regard, it can actually solve the water crisis of this world.

Now, Google has added a feature to the AMP integration in Google Search that allows users to access, copy, and share the canonical URL of an AMP document. Now not only will the websites load faster on your mobile, as Google taps into its cache, but it will also allow you to share the URL of the original article.

During a hearing, Govt. of India has informed Supreme Court that every mobile phone in India would be linked with Aadhaar database within a year. Besides, a plan has been proposed which will make Aadhaar based KYC every time a pre-paid mobile user recharges his or her mobile.

Alibaba is leaving no stone unturned for strengthening its presence in India. The Chinese giant is now looking at offering affordable data services and even internet to Indians via partnerships with telecom operators. The company is also planning to invest $200 Million in Paytm’s online marketplace business.

Airtel has launched Airtel Surprises, a new service for existing users who will get additional free data and movies. Airtel is offering as they are celebrating crossing of 2 million subscribers in India

A strange case of diplomatic logjam is being witnessed right now, especially within Finance Ministry. While on one hand is the freedom of expression provided by our Constitution, there is the issue of following ‘service book’ regulations, when it comes to performing Govt. duty.

Now, Youtube has finally added what the creators had been requesting – mobile live streaming. It was almost like Facebook and Instagram pushed this platform to go for it. Now, anyone with greater than 10,000 subscribers can start a live stream on their smartphone through the YouTube app.

Vizio, an American electronics company which claimed $3.1 billion revenue in 2014, and is about to be acquired by LeEco has actually broken the Omerta here by collecting sensitive user data without informing or intimating the users. Worst, this data was converted into dollars by selling the same to the advertisers.

Considering the integration of these services on one platform, Reliance has announced P2P payments on Jio Chat through Jio Money. FreeCharge had launched a similar service last year to allow instant transfer of money between two people, while HDFC launched ‘OnChat’ last month for transferring money through Facebook Messenger.

As per reports coming in, Govt. is all set to implement some major amendments in this particular section of IT Law, which will make conducting raids easier, and more transparent.

The fight between Reliance Jio and Airtel for the lack of PoI (Point of Interconnection) does not appear to be settling any soon. Bharti Airtel claimed of providing 35,000 PoIs to Jio, which is more than double of what it requires for its 72.5 million subscribers, but Jio claims otherwise.

Japan is forcing the Indian workforce to look East, instead of West for better life, and better career. But can tiny Japan match the scope and dream of American green card?

Looking at calamities in the past, Facebook has decided to add the much needed ‘Community Help’ feature that lets people find and give help such as food, shelter, and transportation after a crisis.

The Government has followed left of the center economic policies which invariably see businessmen and anyone having wealth as someone who should be exploited and squeezed for more and more taxes by introducing surcharges.

A fan tweeted Elon Musk asking him about plans on entering India and the tentative dates we can expect the company to launch their vehicles. Elon Musk replied that the company targeting this summer, which means sometime around June to August 2017.

Termed as ‘Airtel Surprises’, the offer provided Airtel broadband customers with free additional monthly data on their existing plans. All the users have to do is to logon to Airtel Broadband Surprises portal and unlock their surprise.

If we literally believe what Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal just said at IAMAI Digital Summit in Delhi, then Patriotism As A Strategy (PaaS) will soon become a norm in Indian corporate sector.

BHIM App, which was launched on December 30th by PM Modi is making slow but steady progress. In Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh informed the nation that Rs 361 crore worth of transactions have been successfully processed by UPI-powered BHIM App till date.

Google, Yahoo and Bing all have pledged to reduce the piracy on their search engines that are accessible to billions around the world. These companies are close to striking a voluntary agreement with entertainment companies to tackle the appearance of infringing content links in search results, reports TorrentFreak.

YouTube Go, is finally available for download on the Google Play Store. Currently, the app has been launched only in India, considering it is a growing market and there are lots of users. The app promises extremely less data consumption, perfect for the Indian internet scenario

Pune will soon become World’s 1st city to have a city-wide WiFi connectivity, which won’t be free but based on a freemium model. Some of the biggest technology & infrastructure companies like Google, IBM, Larson & Toubro and RailTel have joined forces to implement the same.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is becoming a common enemy of all e-commerce firms, and the mere mention of GST is doing something which no-one could have ever done: Uniting them and forcing an alliance.

Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), a not-for-profit organisation which provides legal assistance and creates awareness about the legal issue has found that Internet was shut down for record 62 times since 2012.

Under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY), Govt. has announced slab-based subsidies which can actually save Rs 2.4 lakh for any first time home owner, if he is earning less than Rs 18 lakh per annum.

Recently, Ola and Uber have removed any kind of incentives for the drivers, dropping their earnings by almost 60-70%. Because of this, Ola and Uber drivers in Delhi-NCR have gone on a strike since Friday, 10th February.

Also, do check out our up-to-date Indian Startup Funding & Investment Chart that gives you details of close to 3000 funding deals that have been struck since January 2015