Astonishing! Freedom 251 Quadcore 1GB RAM Launched For Rs. 251 ($3.8)

Yesterday all hell broke loose when it became public that an Indian company called Ringing Bells was going tolaunch a smartphone for just Rs. 500 or $7!

Everyone, including us, were wondering that at this price, it will have extremely low feature set.

The company revealed the details of the phone, and no one could have imagined what was in store. The company launched the smartphone for just Rs. 251 or roughly $3.80. At that price even a sub-par spec'ed smartphone would have been a surprise.

But the Freedom 251 has specifications of a smartphone that currently costs over 20 times in the market. The smartphone is a 1.3 GHz Quadcore phone packed with 1GB RAM. Not only that, the screen is a 4-inch screen with qHD IPS display.

The phone has a very decent 8GB internal memory expandable to 32GB. On the camera front it has a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera and a VGA front.

With 1450 mAh battery, the smartphone will easily last you more than a day.

And that's not all – the smartphone also has the latest Android lollipop 5.1 OS and comes with 1 year warranty!

This kind of smartphone currently costs upwards Rs. 5000 – and Freedom 251 is priced at just Rs. 251.

We have no idea how it is possible – and honestly, it is quite hard for us to believe.

Whatever way we think, the manufacturing cost of this phone itself cannot be less than Rs. 2500 to Rs. 3000 – so it is wonder how the company Ringing bell is able to sell this at such a low price!

Possibilities

The company has not mentioned anything about how they are able to price the Smartphone so low – but we think, it could be done with some tie-ups with app companies as well as with Government. The smartphone comes preinstalled with apps like Swachh Bharat, Fisherman, Farming related apps among other things.

It is possible that Government may have provided subsidy and other app companies may have offered them compensation for preinstalling apps. However, even in that case, the price is astonishingly low.

We still have doubts in our mind, and we are sure there is some catch. We will need to wait and see the reason behind such a low pricing.

Now, having said that – one thing is sure, if consumers are really able to buy this phone at Rs. 251, it will change the entire mobile ecosystem in India. Other handset brands will be left high and dry because no one will be able to sell their phones which are priced 20 times higher.

And if Ringing Bells is able to supply the demand for these phones, we will see India and Indians change drastically. Suddenly, we will have a billion people carrying smartphones and that's really something!

[Check out more details here.]

The post Astonishing! Freedom 251 Quadcore 1GB RAM Launched For Rs. 251 ($3.8) first appeared on Trak.in . Trak.in Mobile Apps: Android | iOS.

Apple iPhone 4s, iPhone 5c finally discontinued in India

Apple iPhone 4s, iPhone 5c finally discontinued in India: Report

Apple has discontinued the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 5c in India to raise its average selling price. With this move, the iPhone 5s is now the cheapest iPhone in the country.

Apple sees India has one its primary drivers of growth in the coming decade, and with that in mind it has taken a step to arrest the falling average selling price (ASP) and increase profits. Apple has discontinued the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 5c, two smartphones that were available in India in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment, ET reports. The iPhone 4s was on sale in India for around Rs 12,000, while the iPhone 5c was available for around Rs 20,000. Both the smartphones had been discontinued in the US and most other markets.

By discontinuing the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 5c, the cheapest smartphone in Apple's India portfolio is the iPhone 5s. Back in December, Apple announced a price cut for the iPhone 5s, which brought the price down to Rs 24,999.

The likes of the iPhone 4s and iPhone 5c were important for Apple to take on strong competition from global Android smartphone vendors as well as local and Chinese players. But with that, Apple's ASP fell, and so did profitability. By discontinuing the cheaper models, Apple is pushing people to opt for newer models like the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. To boost sales, Apple recently also introduced attractive buyback offers for its latest iPhones with discounts up to Rs 25,000.

ALSO READ: Apple to set up a Rs 150 crore technology development center in Hyderabad

Apple has a paltry 2 percent market share in the world's second largest and fastest growing smartphone market, which is dominated by Samsung, Micromax and Intex. Even Xiaomi, which made a late entrance in the country has higher market share than Apple.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged the importance of the Indian market, which registered a 76 percent growth in iPhone sales during the recent quarter. The company is undertaking initiatives to make its presence felt in the market, which includes opening Apple Stores, as well as manufacturing and selling pre-owned iPhones in the country.

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 5se in March, which would be an enhanced version of the iPhone 5s and come with a 4-inch display. It remains to be seen when Apple brings it to India as it could push the price of the iPhone 5s further down and bring it to the sub-Rs 20,000 level.

Line is shutting down former Microsoft service MixRadio

Line is shutting down former Microsoft service MixRadio

Japanese messaging app Line has announced it's closing its music streaming service MixRadio, a year and two months after it bought the business from Microsoft in December 2014. Line says its decision to close the Pandora-like service is due to the subsidiary's "overall performance" and "the financial challenges posed by the music streaming market." The difficult of making money while streaming music is something that's hurting even the industry's biggest players, including Spotify. And MixRadio picked a difficult strategy, offering free access to its radio streams and offline mixes supported by ads, and focusing solely on mobile — there was no web or desktop player.

The closure is not solely due to financial reasons, though: Line notes that the "priorities of Line Corporation" also played a part in the decision. In June last year, the company's CEO, Takeshi Idezawa, said that after years of trying to attract users globally, Line's main priority is Asia. The app has some 215 million monthly users, but 65 percent of these are in its four core markets: Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia. As TechCrunch notes, the company has been developing localized services for these countries, partnering with Indonesian motorbike taxi app Go-Jek, for example. Similarly, although MixRadio is being shut, the company continues to operate its Line Music streaming service in Japan and Thailand.

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Worldwide Android News 05/02/16 - Gionee, Huawei And More

Xperia M5 & M5 Dual Started Receiving Android 5.1 Lollipop

Sony has confirmed that the Android 5.1 Lollipop rollout for the Xperia M5 and M5 Dual has kicked off. The update brings better memory management, while there are some new features included here as well, and overall improvements to the OS. If the update did not hit your device just yet, be patient, it will roll out soon, and you can always manually check if an update is available through settings.

Gionee P5W Announced In India For Rs. 6,499 ($96)

Gionee P5W is the company's entry-level handset. This phone features a 5-inch 720p (1280 x 720) IPS OnCell display, along with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal storage. The phone is fueled by the MediaTek MT6735 64-bit quad-core processor, and a 2,000mAh battery is placed on the inside. The 5-megapixel snapper is available on the back of this phone, and a 2-megapixel shooter can be found up front. The phone is available in White, Black, Red, Blue and Yellow color options for Rs. 6,499 ($96).

Huawei G8 Gets A Rose Gold Variant In China

The Huawei G8 was introduced back in July in China, and a higher-end variant of this phone has been announced in September. That being said, Huawei has decided to introduce yet another color options of this device to their consumers, the Rose Gold Edition of the G8 has been introduced. The specs remain unchanged, this phone sports a 5.5-inch fullHD display, 3GB of RAM and it is powered by the Snapdragon 616 64-bit octa-core SoC. The 13-megapixel camera is placed on the back of this phone, and a 3,000mAh battery is located on the inside. The phone costs $380, in case you were wondering.

Helio P10-Powered Gionee GN9011 Gets Benchmarked

MediaTek's Helio P10 SoC will be one of the most used chips this year. It hasn't exactly been available out in the market for long, but judging how many smartphone manufacturers already released, or will soon release, Helio P10-powerd phones, we'll get to see this chip quite frequently out there. The Gionee GN9011 will be one such device, and a Geekbench listing revealed that it will also sport 4GB of RAM, and ship with Andriod 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

BlackBerry Priv Now Available Through Optus Stores In Australia

BlackBerry Priv is the company's current flagship, and their first Android-powered handset. This phone has been introduced last year, and it has now become available through Optus stores in Australia. There are various of tariffs at your disposal, in case you're interested in getting one of these, all you have to do is visit Optus. The BlackBerry Priv features a 5.4-inch QHD AMOLED panel, 3GB of RAM, and is fueled by the Snapdragon 808 64-bit hexa-core processor. The full qwerty physical keyboard is also available here, and the device looks quite interesting overall.

Flyme 5.1.3 Meizu MX5 Update Rolling Out To Indian Consumers

In case you own a Meizu MX5 and live in India, we have some good news for you, the Flyme 5.1.3 update has started rolling out your way. The update brings a number of optimizations to the OS (around 1000), and is around 817MB in size. In case you're interested, you can download it by clicking here, and you can check the full changelog here. This isn't the first Flyme 5 build available for the Meizu MX5, but it does bring quite a few improvements to the table.

Google Play Carrier Billing Hits Finland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, And Denmark

Carrier billing isn't available to every country which supports Google Play Store, but Google is constantly expanding its availability. The carrier billing has just rolled out to three new carriers in three new countries. It is now available in Finland through DNA, in Hong Kong through Smartphone, Maxis supports it in Malaysia, and H3G in Denmark. Keep in mind that the carrier billing should be live already, but if it's not, it will be soon.

Kalaari Capital launches Kstart, a unique seed program for early stage startups

Kalaari Capital, a leading Indian venture capital firm, on Friday launched Kstart, a unique seed program for the next generation of Indian entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas. Kstart aims to empower startups and accelerate disruptive ideas to become market-leading companies.

Led by MD, Vani Kola, Kalaari Capital has been investing in early-stage, technology-focused startups since 2006. The venture capital firm has $650 million in assets under management. Along with capital, Kalaari also focuses on a long-term partnership with entrepreneurs to help them unlock large value through disruptive innovation.

Kalaari had launched a new fund in 2015 worth $290 million. YourStory Research shows that the firm made 14 early stage deals in 2015 (58% of their deals being early stage). Kalaari has a diverse list of startups and now mature companies in its portfolio. Some of them across different sectors are –

Ecommerce– Myntra, Snapdeal, Power2SME, Industrybuying, Urban Ladder

Fintech– Instamojo, RKSV, Rubique

Digital Media– YourStory, Scoopwhoop, PopXo

Mobile– Robosoft, Haptik, Apps Daily, Magster, Swipe

Khosla Labs, Kyron Global Accelerator, Microsoft Accelerator and Google's recently announced 'Launchpad Accelerator' along with incubators and accelarator programmes run by educational institutions are other popular choices among early stage Indian startups.

As India grows into a global economic leader, Kalaari believes that India should look at startups for next-generation solutions that align disruptive ideas, large markets and capable founders. Transforming young companies into successful, scalable and sustainable businesses requires community, capital, partnership, continuous learning and access to resources. Identifying these opportunities and providing the required support for founders is important. Hence based on their experience in helping early stage startups, Kalaari's Kstart program is based on five key components:

Fair Capital: Raising capital is one of the biggest challenges in the entrepreneurial journey. Founders at the seed stage are especially vulnerable to dilution and deserve better choices. Kstart offers fair capital to founders (up to $500,000) via a convertible equity instrument.

Catalysts: Founders often do not have access to experience-based advice, committed guidance or open networks. Kstart brings together founders with the right set of mentors – called 'Kstart Catalysts '– to accelerate startup growth. Kstart Catalysts are also co-investors in the companies.

Partners: Seed-stage founders often face resource and technology constraints. Partners are a key element of the Kstart support ecosystem, who will provide portfolio companies with access to their platforms, technology and expertise.

Kstart Institute: High-growth startups have a need to invest in continuous learning and commit to up-skilling. Kstart Institute helps the portfolio companies focus on some of the most important aspects of building and growing a technology-driven venture. Dr. Anil K Gupta, Professor, University of Maryland, will guide the development of the Kstart Institute curriculum.

Respace: Respace is a dynamic and participatory space that Kstart portfolio companies are offered. Consistent with the Kstart philosophy that environment fosters creativity, Respace is an outcome of collaboration with 15 artists from around the world. These artists have pushed the boundaries of a traditional corporate space to foster peer-to-peer learning. The event space will host meetups, workshops and industry events

Startups can apply to the seed program at www.kstart.in

From horseless to driverless: the future of the car

A hundred years ago, cities such as London and New York had a major crisis. They were literally drowning under the manure of the thousands of horses that were used for transporting both goods and people. The arrival of the petrol-powered car saved the day, relegating horse-drawn carriages to a mere tourist attraction. Today the automobile industry is facing its own moment of disruption.

The modern car is a magical thing, combining utility, aspiration and exhilaration. After a television and refrigerator, it's what every new middle-class family aspires to. For the wealthy, a car is the ultimate and most conspicuous status symbol. A car is so much more than a means of getting around. A car is freedom, it is identity and an object of desire. Governments, too, love cars. Automotive companies with their supply chains account for 5% of all manufacturing jobs. This is why the automotive industry is so incredibly important globally. However, five trends are combining to create a major disruption.

First, half the world's population now lives in cities. Especially in developing countries such as India, the explosion of car ownership is putting a huge strain on both roads and the environment. Air quality, traffic gridlock, shortage of parking and noise pollution is becoming unbearable in many cities, such as Delhi and Bengaluru. Cities and citizens are beginning to push back. City planners are beginning to wake up to the need for vastly better public transportation. Many cities around the world such as Delhi and Mexico City are beginning to use license plate numbers to ration the number of days when cars can be used. European cities are establishing low-emission zones where non-electric cars cannot ply. Citizens in Bengaluru are beginning to protest against the unregulated growth of vehicles. In Beijing, a driver who wants to purchase a car must first enter a lottery and can wait two years before receiving a licence plate. Such restrictions on car use are likely to become more stringent as cities struggle to deal with the exponential increase in the number of vehicles.

The rise of the sharing-economy is another big trend. The success of sharing services like Uber, Ola and BlaBlaCar raise the question of whether it is necessary to even own a car. The convenience, ubiquity and affordability of such services is persuading more and more people to forego driving and even car ownership. Uber is experimenting with carpooling. This promises to make it even less attractive to own a car and may be a real solution to reducing traffic congestion.

The rise of autonomous vehicles or self-driving cars, pioneered by Google and now being emulated by others, poses another challenge. This is no longer science fiction; partially autonomous cars are being sold today by Volvo and Mercedes. Tesla just introduced a software update that enables its cars to park automatically. The potential here is mind-boggling. Zero accidents. Less traffic congestion. Elderly people and people with disabilities who are able to hop into a car. The challenge for car manufacturers is that it requires them to become software companies and take on the likes of Google and Apple or risk seeing their profits erode. There are many unanswered questions around safety, ethics, regulation and liability. And the really big question is whether driverless cars encourage more car ownership or more car sharing.

If these trends were not enough, car manufacturers have to worry about the mindset shift amongst young people who are far more fascinated by smartphones and social media than cars. Sociological studies show that a driving licence and leaping behind a wheel is becoming less important as a rite of passage into adulthood and that among so-called millennials and digital natives, there is less fascination in owning big-ticket items such as cars. This may be particularly true when young people struggle to find well-paying jobs and as urbanization increases. Car companies have to be watchful. Is this really a trend? Is it more a rich-country phenomenon?

Finally, there is the impact of emission standards. Rapidly worsening air quality in our cities will have a huge impact on the technology of cars. Diesel engines, hugely popular for their fuel economy, are out of favour not just in Delhi but in many parts of the world. Car companies are facing a challenge meeting new emission standards affordably, tempting an unspecified number to experiment with defeat devices. The leader in electric cars is Tesla, started by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. How much longer will it be possible to eke out fuel-efficiency gains from traditional combustion engines? Will the future car be all electric or hybrid and how fast will the mix change? All these questions add profoundly to the uncertainty faced by car companies.

There is no question that cars as we know them will be around for a long time. The real questions are some of these. With some of the most important innovations coming increasingly from technology companies such as Tesla, Google and Uber, what will it take for car companies to retain control of their destiny? At what point will a car become software on wheels? Second, will car companies embrace societal concerns such as air quality and traffic congestion and evolve innovative solutions or will they continue to merely grudgingly comply with regulations and legislation, thereby becoming victims of their own success? Is car ownership nearing a peak? Can the planet afford to have more people own more cars or is there a way to innovatively harness some of these trends to give billions of more people affordable and safe access to the joy and convenience of cars in a much more sustainable way?

Moments of industry disruption pose grave threats, especially to incumbents but they are also windows of opportunity to gain leadership for the next century. The key is to embrace fundamental trends rather than wish them away.

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Top 10 Best Android Tablets Buyers Guide: February 2016 Edition

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The United States Has The World's 55th Best LTE

People in the United States may think their LTE networks and coverage are fairly advanced in relation to developments on the world stage. A good amount of places may have smaller, more advanced networks and others may have bigger, more mature networks with lower speeds. Yet more countries may not have LTE at all, or may have tiny networks in place and still mainly rely on 3G. Most likely, given the age of the technology and how aggressively the U.S. carriers are competing, some may think it'd be safe to assume that the United States is among the top dogs for LTE in the world. While this isn't entirely wrong, the U.S. only ranks 55th in speed and 7th in coverage the world over. While these numbers are by no means meager, they're still far from the best out there.

OpenSignal has taken the liberty of compiling data from LTE countries around the world into a few charts and has ranked the countries on several different criteria to show the state of LTE advancement worldwide. The chart toppers' stats are a far cry from those near the bottom, showing a huge disparity in network quality worldwide. Singapore, for example, has LTE networks with speeds averaging a blazing 37 Mbps, or about 4.6 MBps. For reference, that's enough to download an average music file in literally 1 second, or a 2 gigabyte HD movie in less than 10 minutes. The U.S., meanwhile, averages 10 Mbps, less than one third of that blazing speed. Of course, it varies by network and area – an AT&T customer in a major metropolitan area may go above 50 Mbps at some times, but these numbers are about overall averages. In coverage, on the other hand, the United States earns its 7th place medal by offering LTE to 81 percent of the population. This still pales in comparison to the reigning champ, South Korea, who is able to offer 97 percent of its population LTE coverage.

The overall state of LTE worldwide, as shown by the reports, reflects a fairly mature technology that is starting to become ubiquitous enough to replace older standards, even in some emerging markets. There are many places, of course, that still rely heavily on older technology. Most of Europe, for example, has incredibly wide 3G coverage, but LTE coverage dipping into the low 50s and 40s in some areas, such as Ireland, with only 44 percent coverage. Network speed worldwide is also growing at an incredible pace, but that average is brought up sharply by some of the bigger players. The speed winner, Singapore, is a full 8 Mbps faster on average than the runner up, New Zealand. Some countries, on the other hand, have speeds as low as 3 Mbps, roughly equivalent to an average HSPA+ connection. As LTE continues to grow, the world averages are likely to improve at a steady pace. The introduction of 5G in 2020 and factors like Project Loon may change the game, but only time will tell.

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Google found a new way to keep you safe in its latest Chrome update

Exploring the sketchier regions of the Internet, you've undoubtedly run into sites so full of ads that it's nearly impossible to tell which buttons or links will actually take you to the content you're looking for. Yes, that one button might say “download,” but chances are that clicking on it will just take you to a site you really don't want to visit.

Thankfully, Google is stepping in to help.

DON'T MISS: Dollars and Sense: The iPhone is the only phone that actually still excites people

On Wednesday, Google announced via its Online Security Blog that Chrome has been updated to warn users when they're about to enter a site that features social engineering ads, i.e. ads that lie about what they really do when you click them.

Google will consider ads on a site to be social engineering when they:

• Pretend to act, or look and feel, like a trusted entity — like your own device or browser, or the website itself.
• Try to trick you into doing something you'd only do for a trusted entity — like sharing a password or calling tech support.

They've even included a few examples, which will likely look familiar to many of you (but don't worry, they're just image files, not actual social engineering ads):

Spend enough time on the Internet and you'll inevitably run into something along these lines. Many of you can probably pick up on a fake ad or download button by now, but it's nice to see Google stepping in to help those who can't.

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Whatsapp Raises User Limits For Group Chats

Whatsapp, the popular messaging service recently made the news because it achieved a significant milestone, there are over 1 billion people using this app actively every month. Facebook acquired this service about two years ago and while the service used to cost $1 for one year, last month, the company mentioned that they were getting rid of this subscription fee, which could only help it become even more popular. Recent stats mention that over 42 billion messages are sent or received each day, users share over 1.6 billion photos and 250 million videos daily and it has over 1 billion group chats.

The app is updated constantly and sometimes it includes new features like voice calling, which just became available last year. In the latest update, Whatsapp is including a feature that could be very useful for those with large group chats. While before the app supported up to 100 users on a single chat, the updated app now supports a maximum of 256 users in a single chat group. This is enabled in Whatsapp version 2.12.367 or a more recent version. The app can be updated from the Google Play Store or those who desperately need that functionality can download the most recent version from the company's website, which is 2.12.437. The app is getting updated to include this functionality on iOS as well, and it is unknown if additional platforms like Windows Phone or BlackBerry would get support for additional users within a single group. After updating the app, users will be prompted with a notification in the group chat section to let them know about this change, but besides that, everything will still look and work just like it used to.

Since the number of group chats is quite large, this new feature could benefit lots of users, but let's face it, such large groups are hardly meant to be used by regular users. Businesses could benefit from larger groups, and it has been said that a way to monetize this service would be to charge them to use it, so businesses could end up creating focus groups and virtual get-togethers which certainly involves more people.

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Google Engineer Shows Off Android Smart Mirror Prototype

We now live in a world where your bathroom mirror can show you the time, temperature, and news headlines as you're brushing your teeth in the morning. Well, one Google staffer can, at least.

In a recent blog post, Google software engineer Max Braun said at some point late last year he realized he wanted his basic bathroom mirror to be smarter — like the one from that 2000 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie The 6th Day. After searching online, he couldn't find what he was looking for. So, he built it.

Using a two-way mirror, display panel, controller board, other components, and arts and crafts supplies, Braun rigged up something pretty fantastic. Now, when he's looking at his mug in the morning, Braun can glance over to the right and see the time and date displayed directly on his medicine cabinet mirror or look left for the current weather, a 24-hour forecast, and recent news headlines.

The code behind the user interface leverages some simple Android APIs like TextClock for the date and time, as well as Forecast for the weather and the Associated Press for news. He's also playing around with adding traffic and reminders to the interface.

"The idea is that you don't need to interact with this UI," he wrote. "Instead, it updates automatically and there's an open-ended voice search interface for anything else."

Braun said the project involved "quite a bit of experimentation and some dead ends" and his prototype is still a work in progress. The thing is currently powered by an Amazon Fire TV Stick, which runs an Android API that drives the UI. But Braun also experimented with using Chromecast and Nexus Player before putting together his "finished — yet by no means final" product.

Auto Expo 2016 - Polaris shows off its mantle with Stunning 2016 Indian Roadmaster!

Now that's what we call Legendary!! The Indian Chief Radmaster in the Blue Diamond clour shade!

Polaris India ruled second day of the ongoing Auto Expo 2016 at Greater Noida with the reveal of its thrilling range of automobiles. With brand and product portfolio with such diverse range of automobiles, the Polaris India stall beamed with its glorious offerings, made even more special by the presence of the new 2016 Blue Diamond Indian Roadmaster and Pearl White Indian Chief Classic along with the rest of the Indian Motorcycles 2016 range: - Indian Chief Dark Horse, Indian Chief Vintage along with the Indian Scout and Indian Chieftain.

Over the last one year or so, Indian Motorcycle has been consistently expanding its Indian presence and speaking at the reveal, Mr. Pankaj Dubey, Managing Director, Polaris India Pvt. Ltd. talked about the iconic American cruiser motorcycle makers India growth, he said, "India has become very important in our global plans and we are bringing in products that are built from the heart and have authenticity, grit and strength as additional bonus in its core and we have displayed the same attributes in this Auto Expo". At the reveal, he further said, "We showcased the best of today and tomorrow's automotive excellence through Polaris and Indian products and this has found resonance in discerning auto enthusiasts. Our showstoppers: The new Blue Diamond Indian Roadmaster and Pearl White Indian Chief Classic absolutely rocked the Auto Expo 2016 and generated a lot of interest. We are determined to bring the best to our customers in India.”

The star of the Indian Motorcycle display, the Indian Chief Roadmaster was originally manufactured from 1947-1953 and is known among motorcycling's most comfortable and durable touring bikes with an almost endless list of premium amenities for comfort, convenience and luxury. The other Indian Motorcycle display at the Auto Expo 2016 is the Indian Chief Classic is powered by Thunder Stroke 111 engine that churns out 139Nm@2600rpm of peak torque. The 49-degree V-Twin engine is the new heart of Indian Motorcycle and marks the first clean-sheet Indian Motorcycle engine design in seven decades.

Alongwith the display of the entire Indian Motorcycles Polaris India is also showcasing its range of world leading ATV's at The Auto Expo 2016. Among the listings some of them are, Polaris RZR XP Turbo and Polaris Sportsman 110.

The Polaris RZR XP Turbo tailor made to win rallies, is the most powerful bespoke product of Polaris and has the honors of bagging the pole position at several rallies like Rain Forest Challenge, Ultimate Desert Challenge. The Turbo is powered by the ALL-NEW! 144HP Polaris ProStar Turbo engine which has an integrated turbocharger and is specifically built to take extreme performance to a new level. The other Polaris ATV is the Polaris Sportsman 110, which is a recreational ATV intended for children of 12 years and above under adult supervision. The Sportsman 110 is a perfect option for thrill and adventure. With a host of safety features, the vehicle also offers electronic injected 112 cc engine, parent adjustable speed limiter, long-travel front and rear suspension and comes with an electric start.

Jabong may post $800 million GMV by December

Jabong may post $800 million GMV by December

New Delhi: Online fashion retailer Jabong, which is aiming to break even in the next three years, is expected to clock a gross merchandise value (GMV, or cost of goods sold) of over $800 million by December, the company's newly appointed chief executive and managing director Sanjeev Mohanty said.

The firm claims to have touched $66 million in GMV in January, with a 56% growth in gross orders and 59% in gross items. Jabong will be “within striking range” of the $1 billion GMV mark by year-end, Mohanty said on Wednesday.

The firm claims January 2016 has been its best month since inception in 2011. To be sure, January is among the best months for the entire apparel industry, thanks to end-of-season sales.

Mohanty is revisiting strategy and is putting in place mechanisms to cut costs and regain ground lost to rivals such as Myntra and marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart.

Jabong will increase its focus on the marketplace model from the inventory-led model, said Mohanty. Also, it will discontinue private labels and focus on increasing assortment across existing brands. Jabong currently gets over 10% of its business from private labels. The firm has private labels under Sangria, Lara Karen, Miss Bennett, Incult and Phosphorous brands. It plans to continue selling its Indian ethnic wear brand Sangria, which contributes about 70% of all private label sales. However, it will slowly pull the plug on the rest of its private labels.

“We plan to de-clutter the website and app, there will be fewer brands and we will focus more on curation and assortment across the brands. India has so many brands that we haven't tapped into,” said Mohanty. “Private label will be a strategy three years from now... We don't have the bandwidth right now for private labels.”

Jabong plans to introduce international brands from its owner Global Fashion Group's (GFG) portfolio within the next six months. Jabong also looks to increase its focus on its mobile app and website. According to Mohanty, the company in January saw 75% of its orders come from mobile and it expects to take it to 80% plus with in the next six to 12 months.

Jabong recently went through a senior management overhaul where the founding team of Praveen Sinha and Arun Chandra Mohan left the organization.

GFG is looking to pump in fresh capital into Jabong as it bets on the new team to turnaround the India business.

Jabong is one of the five fashion e-commerce companies operating within GFG, the fashion group for emerging markets that operates in 28 countries.

Apple must pay $625 million for infringing patents with FaceTime and iMessage

Apple must pay $625 million for infringing patents with FaceTime and iMessage

Apple must pay $625.6 million to a patent holding firm, a US court has ruled, for infringing on a number of its intellectual properties. A jury ruled unanimously in favor of VirnetX — which reportedly only makes money through suing for patent violations — agreeing that Apple had infringed communications protocol patents in its FaceTime, VPN on Demand, and iMessage services, as well as in the devices that used them.

This is the second time VirnetX has sued Apple for the use of these specific patents, after the company previously won a judgement of $368 million from the tech giant in 2012, and almost scoring a "running royalty" of one percent of iPhone and iPad sales. Apple was forced to redesign FaceTime after the jury ruled in favor of VirnetX, but that verdict was later thrown out in 2014, when an appellate court stated the decision was "tainted." This time around, VirnetX — regularly described as a "patent troll" — wanted $532 million, but bumped that figure up during legal proceedings as Apple continued to use the protocols in question.

Both cases were tried in the East Texas Federal District Court, a region notoriously friendly to patent owners. The company has used courts in the district to go after other big tech firms in the past, suing them for infringement of its wide range of patents — in 2010, the company scored $200 million direct from Microsoft in an out-of-court settlement, and in 2014, it successfully sued for $23 million from Skype.

Karnataka is the only state we are investing in: Kamal Bali, MD, Volvo India

Karnataka is the only state we are investing in: Kamal Bali, MD, Volvo India

At day two of the 'Invest Karnataka 2016', Global Investors Meet, Kamal Bali, MD of Volvo India, as a part of the 'Auto and machine tools' panel spoke about Volvo Group's journey in India and how Bengaluru (and Karnataka) has played an important role in it.

Karnataka – the obvious destination

While giving an overview of Karnataka's growth that had contributed 5.68 per cent to India's GDP in 2014-15, Kamal highlighted that Karnataka was the obvious choice for Volvo to setup and continue its operations because of the investor-friendly government that is quite accessible and supportive at all levels.He said,

Karnataka is the only state we are investing in. Bengaluru's X factor is its cosmopolitan nature, climate and access to great talent pool and educational institutions. Presence of leading IT, telecommunication and heavy machinery companies along with excellent telecommunication network and optical fibre connectivity through the state add to its appeal.

17 years in Karnataka

Volvo Group had established its 'Group Truck' factory in Bengaluru in 1998 and expanded its operations with a new value truck in 2014. The company also established a Volvo bus factory in 2007 and in 2013 had expanded its footprint by 100 per cent. For their progressive industrial policy for 2014-19, the company aims to achieve an industrial growth of 12 per cent per annum.

It also aims to increase its GDP contribution to the manufacturing sector of Karnataka from 16.87 to 20 per cent by the end of the policy period. The company's other goals include attracting investments to the tune of five lakh crore and creating employment opportunities for 15 lakh people.

Success in Karnataka and in the Indian subcontinent

Volvo believes that their success in Karnataka (and India) is because their goals were aligned with the national and state priorities such as developing environment-friendly products, helping urbanisation, ensuring safety standards and contributing to skill development. With their logistics, telematics, truck technology and IT services, the company aims to create a 360 degree footprint and 'Make in India'. Volvo currently has manufacturing setups in Hosakote, Peenya, Bengaluru, and Pithambar in MP supported by 3,500 employees and 400 sales and services personnel.

Apart from manufacturing and distributing in India, Volvo also exports its construction equipment to Latin America, South America and other parts of Asia. Their buses are currently being exported to South Africa, South Asia with Europe in the pipeline. Volvo aims to enable quicker superior quality infrastructure development by building better road technologies. They also help power the Indian navy and coastguard.

Through different competitions like 'Volvo Operator Idol competition' and 'Volvo fuel watch challenge' the company aims to improve safety standards and fuel efficiency among its operators and drivers.

Through its Volvo-GMR partnership, the company helps trains unemployed youth to become operators at sites in Hyderabad, Delhi and Volvo CE demo centre in Bengaluru. RAASTA Academy provides consultation in better road building and offers postgraduate programmes and trainings in road technology.

Future plans

Volvo believes that the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself. Their long-term vision is to become the leader in sustainable transport solutions. To achieve the same, the company is keeping cognisance of five trends they believe will shape the future:

Digitisation.

Economic power shift from west to east.

Widening economic disparity.

Changing relationships between us and the planet.

Pace of urbanisation.

Volvo's future plans for Karnataka include utilising hybrid technology in buses that can potentially save 40 per cent fuel, decrease emissions and carbon footprint by 50 per cent and provide passengers a more enjoyable journey. Kamal ended his session with some proposals that could make Karnataka an unmatched global destination.

Ease labour laws and related compliances to promote a spirit of fairness in employment generation, productivity and sustainability.

Augment infrastructure availability by decongesting roads, improving infrastructure of airports and sectors like power and sanitation.

Reduce tax-related compliances by facilitating introduction of goods and services tax (GST) and simplifying transfer pricing (TP).

Enabling skill development through better public-private partnerships and improving effectiveness of single-window clearance.