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Court ruling could spell doom for Google Search ads about rival brands
India's challenge to Google asks if your Search ad is misleading
In today's interconnected world, digital advertising serves as a linchpin for businesses. As companies strive for online prominence, they frequently find themselves navigating the complex interplay between advertising strategies and intellectual property rights. Recent events in India underscore this intricacy, while a broader look at the tech world, as we recently highlighted in a case concerning 4G technology patents, suggests that such challenges are not isolated.
This country’s new legislation will let you get rid of pre-installed bloatware on your phone
India reportedly wants to follow Europe’s example when it comes to uninstalling preloaded apps from phones
While it’s unlikely that anyone wants a phone that doesn’t offer any pre-installed apps, manufacturers of the best smartphones out there often go above and beyond. Rather than just offering a selection of essential apps to get you started, many phone makers have deals with services and app makers, which means you’re often looking at duplicated and unwanted services — and often enough, you can’t uninstall some or all of these. It looks like India wants to change this, along with introducing new security testing requirements for system updates.
Google reveals when its dev-friendly Play Store billing alternative will go live in India
Indian authorities recently fined Google $161 million for its ‘anti-competitive’ practices
Over the last few months, Google has been facing pushback from the Indian authorities because of its alleged anti-competitive practices in the South Asian country, where Android has a strong hold. Google had to cough up over $161 million in fines and didn’t receive any respite following its appeal to the country’s top court. The company is now forced to make some major changes to how Android functions for local users. In line with that, Google is now all set to allow developers to use their own billing systems.
Google’s making major changes to the way Android works in India
Auto-updating sideloaded apps, default search engine settings, and more
Google has come under the gun for anti-competitive practices in recent years. The United States Department of Justice filed a major antitrust lawsuit against the company over its digital ad dominance this week, following an earlier suit about alleged abuse of market share in the search segment. But it’s not just Google’s online presence facing legal scrutiny — the company’s Android policies were deemed monopolistic in India, and now, major changes are in store for the world’s largest mobile operating system.
Google's appeal to the top fails, has to break up how it licenses Android in India
Still on the hook for more than $160 million
Google has racked up antitrust lawsuits from around the world in the modern era as it has long outgrown its punkish startup origins to become entrenched in our society and protective of its incumbency. A recent legal battle with Indian antitrust regulators has proven particularly irritating for the search giant and, after a last-ditch appeal to the country's Supreme Court, the company has been forced to take a loss — another in a chain of recent legal surrenders.
Google makes last shot at keeping its apps and the Play Store together on Android in India
The company appeals an antitrust ruling that's about to take effect
The European Union has taken a number of steps to curb the power of Big Tech in its jurisdiction — Google in particular has been on the receiving end of steep fines over antitrust violations. The company is also facing similar pushback from regulators in India. Back in October last year, the Competition Commission of India slapped the company with a fine of $161.9 million for compelling Android device manufacturers to include Google apps if they sought to license its Play Store and associated services. Following a failed attempt at an appeal with the tribunal last week, the search giant is now seeking recourse from the Indian Supreme Court.
Smartwatches and wearables could be next in line for a universal charger mandate
India may follow in the EU’s footsteps, but lacks a clear timeline
Earlier this month, the European Union successfully gave USB-C's biggest holdout, Apple’s Lightning connector, a 2024 deadline for transition to the standard everyone else uses. Now, one of the world’s largest consumer electronics markets could follow suit, as the Indian government plans not only its own mandate for smartphones to support USB-C, but could also be mulling over a similar charging standard for wearable devices.
Google Search is going multilingual for the polyglot in you
Even voice-based searches get new bilingual tools
Google Search has been making strides towards being more inclusive of different languages and dialects. While it can already mix and match results from English and your native/second language, so far that hasn't extended to the handier knowledge graph cards. For the polyglots among us, Google Search is now looking to diversify its results page to include information in two languages, starting with Hindi as the second language. Additionally, Google’s voice search is also getting the ability to understand mixed-language queries.
The USB-C standardization wave may be coming to India next
It follows the EU's decision to mandate the port in future electronics
The legions who want to leave Micro-USB behind are rejoicing: the European Council recently approved the EU common charger initiative which mandates all commercially available electronics to feature a USB-C port by the fall of 2024. While notebooks and laptops have until the spring of 2026 to adopt these measures, smartphone manufacturers will have to adhere to the 2024 deadline. But that's not the only victory future-proofers are eyeing as India is also looking into a USB-C common charger program of its own following an inter-ministerial task force meeting between government officials, tech companies, and multiple trade associations.
How the Google Pixel 6a falls short against other midrange phones in India
Catering to the local needs isn't obviously a priority for Google
Google appears to be doubling down on the Indian market this year. First, it launched the Google Pixel 6a alongside other global markets, and recently it launched the Google Pixel 7 at a reasonable launch price. Google even corrected the Pixel 6a's price in India recently to bring that coveted Pixel experience to a larger user base.
Here's Google's rumored plan to prevent a Pixel 7 supply shortfall
Manufacturers in India could save the day
The Google Pixel 6 is one of the best Android phones available this year and the Pixel 7 launch is right around the corner, but Google isn’t resting easy. COVID keeps causing lockdowns in China, to say nothing of shaky international relations threatening to affect trade, and with new-Pixel-season just weeks away, it sounds like Google may be getting nervous about the ability of manufacturing to keep up with demand. The tech titan is now reportedly considering shifting as much as 20 percent of Pixel phone production to China’s neighbor, India.
Realme GT Neo 3 review: A phone that earns its racing stripes
However, there’s more to the Realme GT Neo 3 than just the super-fast charging
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For Realme, the GT Neo 3 represents a more affordable yet sportier alternative to its top-end GT 2 Pro. While the phone does make a few trade-offs to get to the sub-₹40,000 price bracket, it also gets one feature that you probably haven’t even seen on a flagship phone. The GT Neo 3 can charge at an astonishing 150 watts, which can juice up half the battery in merely 5 minutes! This insane charging speed may be the highlight of this phone, but there’s much more that it gets right for its price.
Battlegrounds Mobile India gets banned after government order
The PUBG revamp receives the same fate as its predecessor
PUBG, or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, was named the "Mobile Game of the Year" in 2018 at The Game Awards. It was one of the most popular games in India where it competed for the top grossing action game spot against the likes of Garena FreeFire and Call of Duty: Mobile. However, the game has had constant run-ins with Indian authorities. It was banned in 2020 along with another 117 China-based apps for violating Indian user privacy by illegally transferring their data to locations outside India. Now, its revamp, Battlegrounds Mobile India, has also been banned from Android and iOS devices in the country.
ExpressVPN hopes to skirt India's new cybersecurity law by taking its physical servers offline
Will authorities go on a hunting expedition?
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On April 28th, the Indian government issued new rules demanding all VPN (virtual private networks) service providers to store user data for at least five years — even after customers have deleted their accounts or canceled their subscriptions — under the pretext of tackling cybercrime. The law is to go into effect in later this month and noncompliant businesses could face up to a year in prison. While it remains unclear whether this law applies to international providers doing business in India, ExpressVPN is taking no chances and has made the decision to remove servers on Indian soil from its network.
The Pixel 6a marks Google's return to India, but its success hinges on one key factor
With the Pixel 6a, Google has a better chance of making headway this time
The Pixel 4a came a few months late to India, but that didn’t keep it from becoming an instant hit— something you don’t often get to say about Google phones—by striking the value sweet spot. But that was two years ago, and the South Asian country hasn’t seen a Google phone since. After a two-year hiatus, the wait is about to end: the budget Pixel 6a will make its way to India in the coming months. There couldn't be a better time for the budget Pixel phone to re-enter the Indian market, but its success hinges upon one key factor.
Xiaomi executives threatened with arrest and violence by Indian regulator during investigation
The company is under investigation by the ED for violation of foreign exchange regulations
Xiaomi dominates the Indian smartphone market thanks to its expansive product portfolio and the massive popularity of its Redmi Note series. The company has remained the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world's second-largest mobile phone market despite stiff competition from Samsung and Oppo-owned Realme. The Chinese smartphone maker also garnered terrific brand rep through extensive marketing and social initiatives in the country. Things have taken a turn, though, as the Enforcement Directorate last week seized over $725 million (Rs 5,551 crores) in Xiaomi's bank accounts. At the same time, the company says ED agents threatened violence against its executives and that it has been aggrieved.
VPN providers are ordered to store user data for 5 or more years in India
A new directive is undermining the anonymity of potentially vulnerable users
The Indian government has published a directive that will force VPN providers and crypto exchange platforms to store user data for at least five years, even when customers have since terminated their relationship with the companies in question. Decision makers at businesses who don’t comply with the new ruling could face up to one year in prison, with it going into effect in late June 2022.
Realme 9 review: Good enough doesn’t make the cut
Not burdened by 5G, the Realme 9 4G makes for a ‘better’ phone, but it still can't keep up
Realme adheres to one primary strategy: bombarding the budget segment with tons of phones. Sure, it gives buyers plenty of options to choose from, but not without added confusion. That is the case with Realme’s 9 series, which has already seen six handsets in just a couple of months (all closely priced), including the newly launched Realme 9 — a 4G-only variant of its 5G sibling. Without the 5G tax, Realme is able to beef up several other aspects of the phone, from display quality to the charging speed. However, these improvements don’t necessarily stand up to other phones from Xiaomi, Samsung, and even from Realme itself.
The term “CE” in OnePlus’ cheapest Nord lineup stands for Core Edition. The new OnePlus Nord CE 2 indeed emphasizes the essentials of a modern budget phone, offering a decent screen and performance, along with impressive 65W charging speeds. But in doing so, the CE 2 misses out on a few features that users in India have come to expect from phones of this category. When brands like Xiaomi and OnePlus’ sister brand Realme can provide superior, well-rounded packages, doing the bare minimum just isn’t enough even when you control expectations with terms like Core Edition.
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Xiaomi's first smartphone launch of 2022 is here, and it's called the Xiaomi 11i 5G. It has a lot in common with the Redmi Note 11 Pro, which was introduced in China back in October 2021, but the 11i 5G is destined for India. Its biggest highlight is the blazing-fast charging technology that fully juices up the battery in just a few minutes. As has always been the case with smartphones in the Redmi series, you also get a lot of other goodies - including a 120Hz AMOLED display and multi-band 5G connectivity - all at a very reasonable base price of INR 24,999 (about $335). But even though Xiaomi's latest offering stands quite well on its own, it doesn't exactly stand out.