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Google Pay and PhonePe Hit Back Against New Government Regulation Regarding UPI Payments

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India’s move to cap digital payments within the nation has drawn flak from all quarters. Global tech mogul Google on Friday expressed its discontent regarding the new rule, which will make things difficult for its payment portal- Google Pay. India recently decided to put a cap on the amount or share of financial transactions facilitated by payment platforms. Google stated that curtailing the freedom of such platforms would hinder India’s growing digital payments economy. In this article, we will take a look at the new rule brought out by India, and how it can impact digital payments.

Google Pay and PhonePe Hit by India’s New Rule

Google’s criticism came as a result of a new rule passed by the Indian government. The National Payments Corp of India released a notice on Thursday regarding how third-party payment platforms will process only 30% of all UPI transactions from January 1, 2021. The NCPI is India’s flagship UPI payment-processing platform. The UPI framework has grown in popularity in India over the last few years due to its ability to facilitate easy and seamless transactions. The new rule will prevent third-party apps from cornering the market as it puts a threshold based on the total volume of financial transactions occurring within India.

Prevents Growth of Other Apps

Such a move will restrict the growth of other payment services, such as the ones offered by Google, Walmart, and Facebook. However, it will help accelerate the development of portals hosted by Reliance Jio and SoftBank’s Paytm, both of which have bank permits. As per NPCI records, over 2.07 billion UPI transactions were made in October. Walmart-owned PhonePe processed over 40% of such transactions, whereas Google Pay came in a close second. PhonePe processed over 83.5 crore transactions in October while, Google Pay facilitated around 82 crore transactions. They were followed by a dozen other platforms splitting the rest of the market share. Both GPay and PhonePe exceed the cap set by the NPCI and will receive two years to maintain compliance with the new laws.

Google Pay UPI
Image Source: studiobook.in

Reaction from the platforms

Sajith Sivanandan, who serves as the Business Head of GPay, said that such a move was very unexpected. He went on to say that it would have an impact on hundreds of millions of users, leading to a drop in the adoption of UPI payments in the country. However, the new laws will not have an impact on Jio Payments Bank and Paytm as they do not come under the category of third-party apps. Certain experts said that such a move gives stimulus to the theory that the government is pitting foreign players against Indians. They questioned the NPCI’s move to place a cap on third-party platforms and not all platforms on the whole. 

However, as expected, the spokesman for Paytm said that such a move would help grow the UPI infrastructure in India. They went on to say that the new rules would help de-risk and diversify the UPI transactions market in the country. PhonePe CEO, Sameer Nigam said that the company would try its best to ensure that the new rule does not disrupt UPI services for its customers. 

Facebook left behind 

The new rule came out right after NPCI finally permitted Facebook-owned WhatsApp to begin a payment service in India. The authority had cleared the roll-out of such a service in a limited capacity to over 20 million users. While the long-awaited approval came as a sigh of relief for the company, the new rule will inhibit their growth prospects. While WhatsApp has a customer base of over 400 million users, this new rule will create problems for the company. However, the company welcomed the approval by stating that the combination of WhatsApp and UPI would help India’s rural population participate more freely in the digital economy. 

Such a move has been in the works since 2019, wherein the cap was supposed to be at 50% in the first year, and reduced to 40% in the second year. However, the NPCI has gone ahead with a flat rate for the cap but giving companies two years to comply with the regulations.  Ram Rastogi, who is a former NPCI executive, stated that the new move would help foster healthy competition. He ventured to say that since PhonePe and GPay together accounted for almost 80% of the market, bringing in such a cap would help diversify the market. Furthermore, experts believe that such a move would also help the government prevent cybersecurity threats. Also, more competition would help make the market less vulnerable, while also allowing the authorities better controls over the market.

Arm

Arm promises better gaming experience and productivity with the launch of the new Cortex-A78C CPU

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Mankind can never meet the absolute best when looking for excellence. In this tech-driven world, everything we are developing becomes backdated too soon. The development in the sphere of science is taking place rapidly aiming to optimize the working condition of every single thing surrounding us. With that being said, computers and smartphones are two mostly used gadgets that undergo modification most often. Enhancing the performance of a machine and increasing its ability to do more work is the prime concern of the modern world.

So, here’s good news for the smartphone users that yesterday Arm has announced a new CPU variant that will fuel the next-generation flagship smartphones. This new CPU variant is Cortex-A78C that can be seen in laptop SOCs and it is responsible for making the system highly efficient.

Arm Powering more than the next generation smartphones

Earlier this year, the company has launched Cortex-A78 and along with that Cortex-A which has claimed that it increased the efficiency of the system by 20%. The processor broke its record as compared to Cortex-A77 it was successful in increasing the energy savings by 50%. The company claims that as Cortex-A78 is exclusively for smartphones, the new Cortex-A78C will always power on-the-go devices like always-on laptops.

In May 2020, the company’s new products were focused mainly on mobile solutions. The company launched ARM Cortex-A78 CPU, ARM Mali-G78 GPU, and ARM Ethos-N78 NPU. Apart from this, the company also launched the Cortex-X Custom Program that allowed customization of products that go beyond the conventional line of Arm products. With ARM Cortex-A78 CPU as the foundation, the company launched Cortex-A78C to build a secure computing solution as well. This new product will be a combination of Arm’s high-efficiency Cortex-A78 as well as the advanced safety features of the Cortex-A78AE CPU. We are looking forward to a CPU with enhanced performance along with scalability and security.

Arm
Image Source: cdn.ndtv.com

Features of the new Cortex-A78C CPU

The new Cortex-A78C will provide support for up to 8 big CPU clusters leading to more homogenous multi big core computing. As compared to the Cortex-A78, this new octa-core configuration will improve multi-threaded performance. This will meet the demand for digital immersion workload such as increasing the all-day gaming productivity. The new CPU has focused on making the gaming experience better and the capability of the system higher. So, when this CPU will combine with Mali GPUs, the all-day gaming will become much better as Mali-G78 provided much better graphic performance and battery life.

For having a better experience while working with datasheets, Arm has increased the L3 cache memory to 8MB. This will help in enhancing the performance of the professional applications as well as bring AAA gaming to the next-generation devices. Apart from the improvement in gaming life, the CPU will also provide updates for data and device security. To ensure security, a new feature called Pointer Authentication (PAC) has been introduced to minimize the attack surface by preventing the attackers from controlling the software control flow. This key feature also ensures data safety when installing a third-party app.

The Arm has committed completely to respond to the needs of all users. It understands the need for a different market and thus trying to deliver CPU designed for individual needs. So, it has taken a big leap from Cortex-A78 to Cortex-A-78C by not thinking only about smartphones but also on-the-go devices. The company still hasn’t made clear that exactly which are the devices that can be powered by the new Cortex-A78C CPU.

More about Arm 

The Arm is a semiconductor and software design company whose primary interest lies in designing ARM processors. It has an important role to play in the market of smartphones, computers, and other devices. It licenses the right to many companies to build systems using Arm cores and eventually coming up with the most efficient device. Recently, Arm has come into a partnership with the US Defence Department’s DARPA Agency. This gives the agency access to Arm’s technology for research purposes. This year, NVIDIA announced plans on acquiring Arm which would mark the biggest acquisition in the semiconductor industry to date. Many multinational tech companies use Arm’s processor. Some of them are Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Sony, HTC, Qualcomm, etc.

Micromax

Micromax banks on INdia to take on Chinese brands by making surprising announcements.

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Last month Micromax made a surprising announcement that they were making a comeback to the Indian smartphone market. Often regarded as a significant player in the budget-phone segment, Micromax was an Indian favorite a few years ago. The comeback rides on the hopes that Indians will prefer Micromax to the Chinese phones which now flood the market. The comeback pitch which they launched regarding their new releases also captured this sentiment beautifully. With the new phones out, here’s a quick look at how the company expects the Indian market to react.

Micromax Pitch for a New Future

Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma talked about his humble origins in Micromax’s advertisement for their new devices. During the ad, he spoke about how his father was an ordinary government school teacher. Since Micromax has always been an economical choice for Indians, the advertisement emphasizes the right emotions. The comeback pitch also focused heavily on nationalism and patriotism. Both these emotions have been on a high recently due to border skirmishes with the Chinese. 

The advertisement focused on Sharma, who has served as the brand’s face for years. Started by Vikas Jain, Rajesh Agarwal, Sumeet Kumar, and Rahul Sharma, Micromax took the market by a storm. The video also talks about the success the brand enjoyed and how it eventually lost out to Chinese competitors. He then goes on to reference the events at the border, with the Galwan issue being a hot topic recently. The emotional pitch makes it clear that Micromax hopes the current Anti-China sentiment will help it regain its foothold in the Indian market. With their new line named IN hitting markets, Micromax requires all the help it can get to muster a strong comeback.

What the Experts Think

However, industry experts seem to think that the Anti-China sentiment can only do so much for the company. While the idea might work temporarily, consumers still look for value when buying products. Off late, the Chinese products have been delivering the value that consumers seek and have hence become a hit. Therefore, to succeed, Micromax will have to match its competitors in terms of specifications and price. The Research Director at the International Data Corporation, Navkendar Singh, believes that unless they go head-to-head with the Chinese on quality, the brand will not be able to make an impact.

A survey was done by the IDC in July, soon after the border skirmish showed that though seven out of ten consumers asked for a non-Chinese phone, only two or three bought one. The most significant reason for this being that there aren’t many non-Chinese options in the market. Apple is not affordable to most Indians, leaving Samsung the most prominent choice for consumers. 

How to Make a Difference?

Since the sentiment is an emotional reaction, Rushabh Doshi who heads research at Canalys Research believes Micromax might make an impact. However, he is quick to point out that the brand lost against Chinese competitors before due to their quality and after-sales services. In the past, the company relied heavily on Chinese supply chains which also made procurement complicated. He believes that the only way they can make an impact is if they have a robust intellectual property to rival Chinese vendors. With the market’s 80% being accounted for by the top five players, can Micromax’s nationalist pitch make a difference?

Micromax’s Options 

Micromax
Image Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Realme has been able to make a space for itself within the market, proving that it is in fact, possible. However, the top five brands, which now include Realme, are pushing out smaller ones, such as Motorola, LG, and Nokia. Experts think that sticking to the budget INR 7000-8000 range might help the company. Since most of these brands exist within the highly competitive INR 10,000-20,000 range, avoiding this might help Micromax regain some market share. Also, the last few months witnessed a lot of people shifting to the budget category due to financial constraints. The sub-10,000 range has fewer players, with the major ones being Tecno, ITEL, Redmi, and Realme due to its low-margin characteristics. As a result, most experts believed that the November 3 launch would focus on budget-friendly options.

Micromax IN Series Launch

After much anticipation, Micromax finally launched the IN series in India yesterday. The brand released two new phones, IN Note 1 and IN 1b which fall within the INR 7000-11,000 range. The phones will go on sale on both the official Micromax website and Flipkart. 

Micromax IN Note

The phone is powered by the MediaTek G85 and features a 5000 mAh battery and runs Stock Android as its OS. The Micromax IN Note 1 has a base price of 10,999 and will house 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Meanwhile, the model that has 4GB RAM and 128GB storage will cost users INR 12,999. The phone will go on sale on November 24th through both Flipkart and Micromax’s official website. The phone features a relatively large 6.7-inch full HD display and comes with a punch-hole camera. The phone has a 48MP rear camera that has a 5MP for ultra-wide angle and a dual 2MP setup for Macro and depth sensors. In the front, the phone features a 16MP ultra-wide angle selfie camera.

Micromax IN 1b

This budget-friendly option from Micromax runs on a MediaTek G35. Like the more expensive model, this too features a 5000 mAh battery and will run Stock Android. This option will start at a base price of INR 6,999 and will have 2GB RAM and storage worth 32GB. The model that runs on 4GB RAM and offers 64GB storage will go for sale at INR 7,999. It features an HD+ display on a screen that is 6.5-inches in size and comes with a mini drop design. The phone comes with an AI Dual camera, that has an 8MP front camera and a 13MP primary camera with a 2MP depth sensor.

Both these phones will face stiff competition from the Redmi 9 series, along with ITEL and Tecno phones. So, we will have to wait and see whether the nationalistic sentiments help Micromax climb back to the top of the Indian market. Whatever might happen, it is good news that Indians now have an economical choice that is made-in-India when buying a new smartphone.

Airtel

Airtel Broadband, Postpaid Users Get Free Disney+ Hotstar VIP Subscription for a Year

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On 2nd November 2020, Airtel announced that Airtel Broadband is going to offer a VIP subscription of Disney + Hotstar to its broadband and postpaid users. The users have to install the Airtel Thanks App and it can be applied by using the same. The VIP subscription of Disney + Hotstar was previously provided by the company to the prepaid users only through different recharge plans. So, now the postpaid, as well as the prepaid users, can enjoy the VIP subscription.

This new subscription plan is applicable only for Airtel users. For broadband users, the newly launched offer is applicable for Rs 999 plans and above, and for postpaid plans, it is available for Rs 499 plans and above. You can find more plan related details on the operator’s page.

How to activate Airtel offer?

  • If you already have an eligible plan, first go to the Airtel Thanks app.
  • Then go to the #airtelThanks section from the Discover.
  • You will find the Disney + Hotstar option and tap on it.
  • From here you will be enabled to activate the VIP subscription and you can switch on Whatsapp update as well.
  • Also, this subscription will be automatically enabled if you recharge with a suitable pack, for example, Rs 401, Rs 612, etc.
  • After recharging you will receive a link in your SMS. Click the link and login to the Disney + Hotstar app.
  • Remember you have to log in using the same number you used for recharge.

The validity of the newly launched offer

The one year VIP subscription will become unavailable if you downgrade your pack or port your Airtel connectivity to any other telecom network. On the other hand, your telecom services and the VIP subscription are independent of each other. It means that once your telecom services are expired you can recharge with any desired pack except the four Hotstar packs to reestablish your telecom services. This will not harm the 1 year VIP subscription which will be interrupted for the next 365 days.

Airtel
Image Source: gadgets.ndtv.com

Some users might also have the confusion if they need to subscribe to this offer separately if they already have Disney + Hotstar VIP subscription. The new offer launched via Airtel will work independently with your existing subscription.

Benefits from the Disney + Hotstar VIP subscription 

  • You will enjoy all the free and live sports like cricket, football, premier leagues, formula 1, etc.
  • All Disney movies (dubbed) especially kids movies (dubbed), any Indian movies, Hotstar specials, Star serials will be made available. You will also be able to watch the serials ahead of time they are broadcasted on TV.
  • But, one disadvantage of this one-year subscription is that you will not get any access to Hollywood movies, American TV shows, and Disney + Originals. So, choose your plan wisely.

The prepaid plans of Airtel

In August of this year, Airtel launched several prepaid plans which include the VIP subscription of Disney + Hotstar. So, if some people are not interested in the postpaid options or Airtel broadband, you can have a look at these offers. They are as follows:

  • Rs 401 pack will provide a 1 yr VIP subscription and 30GB data for 28 days.
  • Rs 448 pack will provide a 1 yr VIP subscription and 3GB/day for 28 days.
  • Rs 599 pack will provide a 1 yr VIP subscription and 2GB/day for 56 days.
  • Rs 2698 pack will provide a 1 yr VIP subscription and 2GB/day data for 365 days.

Apart from the VIP subscription and data pack, Airtel also offers 100 SMS per day, unlimited roaming, STD, and local phone calls. But, you should remember that these four packs are once in a year deal which means you will be able to recharge with any of these above only once in 365 days. Apart from this plethora of choices, Airtel from last month also started offering an “Add to bill” offer so that the broadband and postpaid users can add the Disney + Hotstar subscription to the monthly bill.

With all these new choices coming up, Airtel and Jio have become very strong competitors as they are providing very lucrative offers to the customer. Let’s see what is next for us in terms of enjoying more entertainment at a cheaper price.

Intel

Intel Announces New Iris Xe Max GPU with AI and Encoding Performance Boost

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Intel recently announced that its 11th Gen Tiger Lake Core CPUs would be the first to feature its Xe graphics. The new integrated graphics model and architecture will be a revolutionary technology, helping computers render more realistic images. While laptops powered by the new CPU go on sale around the world, Intel has more exciting news to share. The tech giant announced on Saturday that some of these laptops would also feature the Intel Iris Xe Max.  The company’s first discrete GPU, the Xe Max comes with some advanced features. Let us take a look at why this announcement has sent ripples through the tech world.

Surprise Announcements by Intel

Through a surprise announcement, Intel disclosed details regarding its first discrete GPU. The model can integrate with several laptops and help them improve their performance. Furthermore, Xe GPUs help accelerates graphics performance and other AI-based tasks. Enthusiasts first got word of the new model when Intel included it as a part of its brand overhaul way back in September. Since then, there has been a lot of speculation regarding the product and its specifications. Furthermore, the GPU also showed up in the specifications list put up by other laptop manufacturers, including Acer. 

New GPU Specs

The Iris Xe Max takes a lot of inspiration from the Xe-LP GPU, the integrated GPUs which power the 11th-Gen Tiger Lake processors. The product targets thin laptops that are light and work well in conjunction with the laptop’s built-in GPU. Such integration is possible due to Intel’s software, dubbed Deep Link. Some of the primary capabilities that can receive a boost due to such integration include AI inferencing and video encoding. The software titled Deep Link can manage the thermal headroom and power requirements of the GPU and CPU. Intel claims that it leads to a 20% improvement in CPU performance, similar to how the AMD SmartShift feature works.

Intel
Image Source: newsbreak.com

Furthermore, Intel promises AI-based content formulation that is seven-times faster than previous models. The combination of the 11th Gen Core i7 with the Xe Max can hence be a revolution. This new integration performs much better than the older sequence of a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 and Nvidia GeForce MX350 GPU. Also, the latest gear achieves 1.7 times better results when it comes to media encoding capabilities.

Xe Max GPU Tech

The Iris Xe Max has around 96 execution units which most top-end GPUs nowadays have. However, the model has a higher max clock speed that reaches up to 1.65GHz. The Xe Max also leverages Intel’s SuperFin transistor tech to derive its faster processing speeds. As a result, the GPU can reach PCIe 4.0 speed to establish a connection with a CPU. The model also features a 4GB LPDDR4X memory that has a bandwidth of 68GBps. Making use of its outlets, the model can run up to four displays simultaneously. The outlet ports of the same will feature a DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0B, and internal eDP. The model also supports both variable-rate shading and adaptive sync.

Gaming Capabilities of the Xe Max

When it comes to gaming performance, the Iris Xe Max compares to Nvidia GeForce MX350. Hence, gamers can run relatively modern games with ease at frame rates greater than 30 fps at 1080p at either medium or low settings. Also, Dell, Acer, and Asus have announced a line of laptops that will feature the new GPU. Here’s a quick look at the latest laptops that will feature the Iris Xe Max and will go on sale in November.

  1. Acer Swift 3X
  2. Asus VivoBook TP470
  3. Dell Inspiron 15 7000 

Intel had promised to launch such a discrete GPU this year. The move came as a way to overhaul its discrete graphics power and capabilities. To make this dream a reality, Intel took the help of Raja Koduri, who served as AMD’s head of Radeon graphics. Furthermore, the company revealed plans to release a high-end gaming GPU that supports hardware ray tracing. The future of gaming is here, and Intel is planning to do everything in its power to stay on top!

apple

Apple reportedly ‘Setting Up’ efforts to build a Google Search alternative

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With the recent launch of iOS14 and iPadOS14, users have noticed that the queries show search results without Google Search. This is an indication that Apple is trying to build its search engine and has no further plan to use Google Search as the default search engine. Since the user queries can be answered without the support of Google, it can be said that Apple is making a pretty fast and impressive development on the way to its own search engine. This Cupertino Company with efficient search capabilities in iOS14 and iPadOS14 has proved that it will be soon ready to challenge Google’s search engine and replace it for once and all.

If we go a little backward in time we can connect the dots as Apple earlier this year posted job openings for search engineers. So, Tim Cook was determined for a long time to create the company’s default search engine followed by incorporating it in the latest version of iOS, that is, iOS14. Now, when users type a query on the home screen it displays a direct link to the websites without opening in Google Search.

Why is Apple creating a new search engine?

Recently, the relationship between Apple and Google has gone sore thus bringing the two under antitrust scrutiny. The US antitrust authorities have threatened the payment made to Apple by Google for securing the position of default search engine on iPhones and iPads. The web search capability of Apple’s smartphones always plays a major role in deciding the overall in-house development of the company. So, if they can successfully make an alternative search engine, it will increase the value of the company and make it independent of Google Search. According to some industry experts, Apple is creating its search engine mainly to attack Google. The former has not made any major official announcement regarding the search engine but where there is smoke there is fire.

Strategies and plot twists

In 2018, Apple hired John Giannandrea, Google’s head of search to improve the existing AI capabilities of the company and to boost the performance of Siri, the virtual assistant. John came with eight years of experience in working with the Google search engine. John’s hiring along with the recent opening for search engineers will create a very strong team for the development of an alternative search engine. So, if the relationship between Google and Apple comes to an end in terms of the Google search engine, Apple will not face any adverse situation.

Apple

After the case launched by the US Department of Justice last week, Bill Coughran, Google’s former engineering chief, said that Apple already has a credible team if they want to go for developing a more general search engine. Many search marketing experts also noticed that the activity of Applebot has increased ridiculously in recent weeks. Applebot is iPhone’s web crawler and the increased rate of crawling means that it is trying to gather more information from the internet. In the new iOS14, Apple’s home screen shows a list of search suggestions generated by Apple’s search engine and not Google. The search result is based on AI thus showing results according to the common queries.

Will apple become a strong competition? 

Standing up to Google as a strong rival could take years, but currently, Apple has shown excellent developments with the alternative search engine. Apple has both a good team of engineers and capital to sign up for a long-term investment. Since the beginning, Apple has focused more on developing every bit of its product in-house starting from the smartphones to the watches. It wants to create a very strong integration between the hardware and the software components. But, for a long time, Apple was stuck with Google’s search engine. Though Apple still has the option to choose between keeping Google Search as the default search engine or become its rival, the stakes are high for the latter option.

Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s former head of advertising, said that to build a search engine it should have 20bn-50bn pages in its active index. Along with this, the system has to rank the pages within milliseconds when the user runs a query. It will be extremely difficult for Apple to create a search engine as big as Google but it is not impossible.