Tech News

Apple to open the first online shop in Vietnam

In response to slow-moving iPhone sales in China, Apple announced on Friday that it would launch its first online shop in Vietnam the following week.

Only a few weeks have passed since the first Apple stores in India, in Mumbai and Delhi, were launched by the Cupertino, California-based business.

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is placing his bet on developing regions, where there are fewer iPhones and a younger age group, which will present more growth potential.

Also Read: UK restricts Microsoft, Activision from buying interest in each other

Apple did not specify when it will be opening actual retail outlets in Vietnam, which comprises a “100 million-person” population.

“We’re proud to be expanding in Vietnam,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of retail.
Source: finance.yahoo.com

Retail stores frequently open before they go online. Licensed retailers currently sell Apple gadgets in Vietnam, and the company has several suppliers who assemble its devices there for exportation.

During India’s holiday shopping season in 2020, Apple opened its first online shop there.

“We’re proud to be expanding in India and want to do all we can to support our customers and their communities,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail + People. “We know our users are relying on technology to stay connected, engage in learning, and tap into their creativity, and by bringing the Apple Store online to India, we are offering our customers the very best of Apple at this important time.”
Source: apple.com

Discounts according to a federal plan to increase domestic mobile manufacturing in India were granted in October for 16 companies, including prominent Apple suppliers.

After staging a protest over unpaid salaries in December of that same year, contract employees at Apple partner Wistron’s Bengaluru facility trashed the building. Apple placed the plant on probation before allowing it to resume manufacturing two months later.

In December 2021, after over 250 female employees who live in one of the business dorms received medical treatment for food poisoning, riots broke out at the Foxconn facility in Tamil Nadu.

The facility was shut down for more than three weeks when Apple discovered that the facilities did not satisfy the necessary standards.

The same year, the competition regulators in India request a probe into Apple’s in-app pricing scheme because it initially believed the iPhone manufacturer had broken several antitrust regulations.

Pegatron, a supplier of Apple, opened its first iPhone assembly facility in the Tamil Nadu province in September 2022.

Foxlink, an Apple vendor that makes iPhone chargers, temporarily ceased operations at its manufacturing factory in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh for several weeks in February 2023 after a significant fire caused a portion of the structure to collapse.

Suhani Jain

I am a student pursuing my bachelor’s in information technology. I have a interest in writing so, I am working a freelance content writer because I enjoy writing. I also write poetries. I believe in the quote by anne frank “paper has more patience than person

UK restricts Microsoft, Activision from buying interest in each other

An interim order prohibiting Microsoft and Activision acquisition has been issued by the UK’s antitrust watchdog. This comes weeks after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the regulatory body, decided to prohibit the $68.7 billion merger of the two companies.

Microsoft and “Call of Duty” creator Activision were required to obtain the CMA’s “prior written consent” prior to completing any acquisitions related to their respective businesses, according to an order released by the CMA on Thursday.

It is the latest action taken by the UK’s watchdog to increase supervision of the two businesses amid concerns that the competition will suffer as a result of the landmark agreement reached in January 2022.

Also Read: Twitter to soon allow calls and encrypted messaging

The primary worries of the regulator center on Microsoft’s potential for undue influence over a growing cloud gaming business in what would eventually become the largest takeover deal in gaming history.

The CMA barred Microsoft from buying Activision due to worries that the transaction will change the direction of the rapidly expanding cloud gaming business, resulting in less innovation and fewer options for UK gamers in the future, the regulator stated last month.

The CMA initially launched its investigation into the transaction in September 2022, with its initial notice regarding its worries coming in February.

Microsoft President Brad Smith disagreed with the CMA’s ruling from last month, saying the tech giant will appeal. He claimed that the CMA’s judgment revealed “a flawed understanding” of the market for cloud technology and that it demonstrated its choice to disapprove of a “pragmatic path” toward resolving any competition concerns.

Microsoft’s representative issued the following statement: “We remain firmly committed to this deal and look forward to presenting our case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.”

On January 19th, 2022, Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. However, the UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) expressed concerns that the acquisition could significantly reduce competition in the UK gaming market and ultimately lead to higher prices for consumers.

As a result, the CMA issued an interim order on April 5th, 2022, which temporarily prohibited Microsoft and Activision from integrating their businesses in the UK.

The proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft is one of the largest in the history of the video game industry. Activision Blizzard is a leading publisher of video games, with popular titles such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush.

Also Read: EU antitrust regulators seeking more info on Apple Pay

Microsoft, on the other hand, is one of the world’s largest technology companies and has been expanding its gaming business in recent years through the Xbox brand.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for ensuring that mergers and acquisitions do not result in a reduction of competition in the market. The CMA has the power to investigate mergers and acquisitions and can prohibit them if it determines that they would harm competition.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Twitter to soon allow calls and encrypted messaging

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter Inc., provided information on upcoming improvements arriving on the social network on Tuesday, which includes calls and encrypted chat.

Musk hinted at “Twitter 2.0 The Everything App” plans a year ago, saying it would include functions like payments, long-form posts on Twitter, as well as encrypted direct messaging (DMs).

“Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number,” Musk said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Source: finance.yahoo.com

Also Read: Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy after SEC complaint

Twitter’s calling feature will put it on a level with other platforms for social networking such as Facebook and Instagram, which have similar characteristics.

Musk stated that commencing on Wednesday, a form of encrypted direct messaging will be accessible on Twitter, but he did not specify whether calls will also be encrypted.

a few days ago, Twitter stated that it will begin a purging process by deleting and archiving user accounts that had not been used for a while.

As reported by Hootsuite, Twitter had about 400 people working there in 2011 but today has over two times as many daily active users. The social media tool predicts that the number of monetizable daily active users, roughly 238 million people, will rise by 16.6 percent in 2022.

In an interview recently, Elon Musk disclosed that Twitter now only has 1500 employees, compared to the 8000+ individuals who worked there when he first bought the social media network. Even so, insiders at Twitter have claimed that the social networking site only has roughly 1000 staff members as a result of a recent wave of layoffs.

When existing contract workers are removed, two company-acquainted individuals claim that the workforce is much smaller compared to the 1,500 workers, CEO Musk had previously said BBC News remained on work. The multibillionaire didn’t specify whether or not these employees were part of his total.

Also Read: Qualcomm to acquire Israeli auto-chip maker Autotalks

Although Musk took the position of CEO previously this year, Twitter’s workforce has decreased by roughly ninety percent, as reported by Business Insider. The article added that the firm currently only has 500 engineers left.

the co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has acknowledged that Elon Musk is failing to improve the microblogging service. He has accused the Twitter board of pressing the “44 billion dollars” sale of the company to the chief executive officer of Tesla.

Suhani Jain

EU antitrust regulators seeking more info on Apple Pay

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

The European Commission announced on Wednesday that EU antitrust investigators are searching for additional details on Apple’s smartphone payment system, Apple Pay. This is an indication that the regulator is trying to plug any gaps in its allegations against the iPhone manufacturer.

A year ago, the EU antitrust authority alleged Apple conspired to make it hard for its competitors to establish competing solutions for Apple devices by limiting their access to its tap-and-go Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology, which is utilized for mobile wallets.

Also Read: Apple launches ‘buy now, pay later’ service in the US

“We can confirm the sending of requests for information,” a commission spokesperson said while declining to provide details.

Apple opted not to respond.

Apple has already mentioned the popularity of PayPal within its iOS smartphone OS as an alternative for users, along with rival MobilePay from Denmark, Swish from Sweden, as well as Payconiq from Belgium.

complainant Vipps and a mobile payment app from Norway claimed that NFC options are inefficient and uncompetitive.

It is rare for the commission to ask competitors and retailers for material now, three months afterward, Apple justified itself in an inquiry on February 14.

Following such hearings, the regulator normally makes its decision. If proven guilty of breaking antitrust regulations, the agency has the power to penalize Apple a maximum of ten percent of the company’s worldwide revenue.

Apple also debuted the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) scheme in the United States in March, posing an imminent danger to the fintech industry, which is currently dominated by companies like Affirm Holdings as well as the Swedish payment provider Klarna.

With its “buy now, pay later” support, Apple is attempting to enter the loan industry. As a result, the corporation has established guidelines regarding how it will accept transactions. If you’ve been a loyal client in the past, this is one important consideration.

The Apple Pay Later service, which was introduced a year ago but is still under testing, will assess consumers based on their purchasing patterns in addition to which Apple products they now own.

Also Read: What is Apple’s rapid security response?

The service, which enables users to make purchases and spread-out payments over time, will also check to see if users have applied for an Apple Card credit card or any additional cards, they have associated with their Apple Pay account.

According to the firm, Apple Pay Later will enable customers to split expenditures into four installments spaced out over six weeks without any interest or fees. It will first be made available to a small number of users to bring it out to everyone in the upcoming months.

Suhani Jain

Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy after SEC complaint

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Three weeks after being charged with running an unauthorized securities exchange by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), cryptocurrency trading platform Bittrex Inc applied for bankruptcy exemption on Monday.

Bittrex which is based in Seattle stopped operating in the United States on April 30 while stating that Bittrex Global, which services clients outside of the United States, would not be impacted by the bankruptcy case. The non-American operations of the business are headquartered in Liechtenstein.

Based on a bankruptcy filing submitted in a Wilmington, Delaware court, Bittrex’s financial assets, and debts were in the range of 500 million USD to 1 billion USD.

Also Read: Qualcomm to acquire Israeli auto-chip maker Autotalks

According to Bittrex, U.S. users who hadn’t withdrawn money before April 30 still have crypto assets in their possession.

The assets in question are safe & secure, according to Bittrex, which also stated that it planned to seek the bankruptcy court seeking a brief reopening of account holders so that the cryptocurrency may be returned to customers.

Over the past twelve months, several businesses in the cryptocurrency sector have filed for bankruptcy. These failures were caused by a decline in asset prices, increased regulatory attention, and, in the scenario of the once-famous exchange FTX, criminal allegations.

the SEC filed a lawsuit against Bittrex, On April 17, saying that, William Shihara, its previous chief executive officer, had urged cryptocurrency asset issuers looking to list their tokens on the exchange’s website to take down any public declarations that would prompt regulators to look into the token sales as securities.

The cryptocurrency assets on Bittrex’s website weren’t securities or investment agreements, according to Bittrex, which has refuted the SEC’s accusations.

Although the SEC’s action is continuing, Bittrex has previously consented to pay the U.S. Treasury an amount equal to $29 million in penalties for apparent breaches of the country-specific regulations and the money laundering prevention law.

The Bureau of Foreign Asset Control under the Treasury Department was cited as Bittrex’s biggest unsecured creditor in its plea, owing the organization more than 24 million, USD.

Also Read: Google Rolls Out Passkeys to (Eventually) Kill Passwords

The majority of Bittrex’s other biggest creditors were cryptocurrency exchange users. Without mentioning them by name, Bittrex highlighted 16 users who have at least one million dollars in their respective accounts. As per the petition, the biggest existing Bittrex client account has assets at 14.6 million USD.

“The market downturn triggered by multiple failures in the crypto ecosystem became an outright collapse by the end of the year. These events have caused us to reset our strategy,” Bittrex co-founder Richie Lai told employees in an internal email leaked on Twitter.
Source: forkast.news

Suhani Jain

Qualcomm to acquire Israeli auto-chip maker Autotalks

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

In an attempt to grow its automotive-related business, Qualcomm Inc announced on Monday that it would be acquiring Israel’s Autotalks Ltd, a manufacturer of chips utilized for crash-prevention technology in automobiles.

The business claimed Autotalk’s technology would be integrated into its aided and automated driving solution, known as Snapdragon Digital Chassis, although declined to disclose the financial details of the agreement.

With more and more automakers outfitting their vehicles with driver-assistance mechanisms, Qualcomm reported in September of last year that the company’s automotive business” pipeline,” or possible future orders, increased by over ten billion dollars to 30 billion USD following its third-quarter earnings were released at the end of July.

Also Read: Nvidia short sellers lose $5 billion as shares rise more than 90%

The firm, which attributes the increase to its Snapdragon Digital Chassis product, is competing to gain that market share with Mobileye Global of Intel & Nvidia Corporation.

In the second quarter that concluded on March 26, earnings from the automotive business of Qualcomm increased 20 percent to 447 million USD.

In order to increase safety on the roadways, Autotalks manufactures specialized chips for use in V2X technology for communication for human-driven and autonomous vehicles.

“We have been investing in V2X research, development, and deployment since 2017 and believe that as the automotive market matures, a standalone V2X safety architecture will be needed for enhanced road user safety, as well as smart transportation systems,” said Nakul Duggal, senior vice president & GM, automotive, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Source: qualcomm.com

Licensing company, QTL, as well as the great bulk of the patent portfolio, are both parts of Qualcomm Incorporated. The engineering, R&D, and nearly all of the products and services businesses, which include the QCT semiconductor business, are all run by Qualcomm Technologies which is a Qualcomm Incorporated division, along with its other subsidiaries.

Also Read: IBM to pause hiring in the plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

Products with the Snapdragon and Qualcomm brands are made by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. or one of its affiliates. It Incorporated grants licenses for Qualcomm’s trademarked technologies.

With the help of Qualcomm, the entire globe may be smartly connected. With the help of their single technological roadmap, they can effectively expand the mobile revolution’s founding technologies, such as improved connectivity, efficiency, low-power computing, on-device ability, and others, to the upcoming next generation of smart devices with connectivity throughout industries.

Suhani Jain

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