Heena Sharma Blog

  Short video platform TikTok emerged as the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide for September 2021 with more than 59 million installs. According to Sensor Tower, the countries with the largest number installs were from Douyin in China at 16 per cent, followed by the US at 12 per cent. Facebook was the second most installed non-gaming app worldwide last month with more than 51 million installs. The countries with the largest number of Facebook installs were from India at 29 per cent, followed by Indonesia at 7 per cent. Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger rounded out the top five most installed non-gaming apps worldwide for the month. Meanwhile, PUBG Mobile from Tencent was the top grossing mobile game worldwide for August 2021 with approximately $270 million in player spending, which represented 4.7 per cent growth from August 2020. About 61.4 per cent of PUBG Mobile's revenue was from China, where it has been localized as Game For Peace, followed by 9 per cent from

  For months, complaints from tech companies against Apple’s and Google’s power have grown louder. Spotify, the music streaming app, criticised Apple for the rules it imposed in the App Store . A founder of the software company Basecamp attacked Apple’s “highway robbery rates” on apps. And last month, Epic Games, maker of the popular game Fortnite, sued Apple and Google, claiming they violated antitrust rules. Now these app makers are uniting in an unusual show of opposition against Apple and Google and the power they have over their app stores. On Thursday, the smaller companies said they had formed the Coalition for App Fairness, a nonprofit group that plans to push for changes in the app stores and “protect the app economy”. The 13 initial members include Spotify, Basecamp, Epic and Match Group, which has apps like Tinder and Hinge. “They’ve collectively decided, ‘We’re not alone in this, and maybe what we should do is advocate on behalf of everybody,’” said Sarah Maxwell, a spo

  Digital wallet Paytm vanished from the Google Playstore on Friday, reportedly pulled down for being an "unregulated gambling apps", said CNBC-TV18 quoting Google. Paytm is India’s leading digital payments app, claiming over 50 million monthly active users. Twitter users were first to spot the app was missing from the Store "We don’t allow online casinos/support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting. It includes if app leads consumers to an external website that allows them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money/cash prizes,” said a Google statement quoted by CNBC-TV18. Read More

Social app Chingari , a desi alternative to Chinese TikTok, on Friday said it has crossed 10 million downloads on Google Play Store and content creators are making a beeline to join the app. It is now among the top two free apps on Play Store for more than a week now. "Our retention numbers and the app's daily engagement time are also witnessing a solid increase. Our team is working round the clock to provide all our customers with a seamless experience," said Biswatma Nayak, Co-founder. Earlier, the app reached three million downloads in just 10 days and garnered about 500,000 downloads in just about 72 hours. Read More

Amazon has announced that its customers in India can now access Prime Video through a dedicated app available on the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 devices. Using the new Amazon Prime Video for Windows app, customers are now able to stream Prime Video content online or download Prime Video content for offline viewing on their device. This feature only works through the app on the Windows 10 operating system and includes desktop PCs, laptops, and tablets. The online streaming experience will be the same as the current experience on the Prime Video website. Customers can find the new Amazon Prime Video for PC app through the Microsoft Store on their Windows 10 device. Read More

An Indian ban on downloading TikTok , one of the world's most popular mobile applications, has heightened industry worries that technology companies could now face increased scrutiny and regulatory challenges in one of their most important markets. TikTok, which allows users to create and share videos with special effects, has become a sensation in India, where it has been downloaded by nearly 300 million users so far, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower, out of more than 1 billion installs globally. Its runaway popularity has attracted criticism from some politicians, however, in a largely conservative society that can have a low boiling point for even moderately racy content. In the case of TikTok, 15-second dance clips and memes dominate the platform, although some videos do show youngsters, some scantily clad, lip-syncing and grooving to popular tunes. Local media have also reported several accidental deaths when users attempted to make videos with knives and gu

The two-wheeler mode in Google maps comes to India first as 70% of all the vehicles registered in the country are two-wheelers Technology News : Google is bringing in India-specific features on Google Maps to address unique challenges and opportunities, a senior company official said. " Google Maps is not just about navigating from point A to B. We have been building for India, addressing the unique challenges and opportunities, with the sole aim of making Google maps more comprehensive, accurate and reliable," Google Maps for India, Program Manager, Anal Ghosh said. Ghosh talked about innovating features for India specifically. The two-wheeler mode in Google maps comes to India first as 70 per cent of all the vehicles registered in the country are two wheelers, he added. "Two-wheeler mode in maps shows trip routes that use shortcuts not accessible to cars, buses and trucks. It also provides customized traffic and arrival time estimations,&quo

Traditionally focused on urban elites, LinkedIn has been steadily making inroads to smaller towns by offering differentiated products targeted for specific users. Technology News : Microsoft-owned social network for professionals LinkedIn has crossed the 50-million user mark in India, its second largest market globally, as its strategy to build localised products for the country begins paying dividends. With this, the company has doubled its user base in the country in the past four years. “Our members-first, localised approach has helped us cross the 50-million mark in India. We are at the beginning of an exciting journey, as we democratise opportunity for every member of the Indian workforce," said Akshay Kothari, country manager - India and Head, International Product, LinkedIn. Traditionally focused on urban elites, LinkedIn has been steadily making inroads to smaller towns by offering differentiated products targeted for specific users. For example, in 201

Google had recently rolled out an update for its Android messaging app enabling WhatsApp-like web operation for sending messages, emojis, stickers and pictures from computer Technology News : Global search engine and technology giant, Google has recently rolled out an update for its Android messaging app enabling WhatsApp-like web operation for sending messages, emojis, stickers and pictures from a computer. The app also gets several other features such as GIF search, smart reply, link preview, etc. that brings it on par with other instant messaging apps. Dubbed as ‘messages from web’, the WhatsApp-like web-based service allows users to operate Android messages app from notebook or computer. However, the feature is available as a part of the latest update, therefore, will not work in previous versions of the app. Interestingly, the messages app now also supports image attachments, stickers and emojis, which were earlier restricted to only internet-based instant messaging

The new video chat feature enables app users to chat and make video calls, even group video calls, from the Direct. Here is how the new features work                                  Technology News : Instagram, a photo-sharing social media platform owned by Facebook, on June 26 announced a new update that introduces the video chat feature and new camera effects for stories to the app. The new video chat feature enables app users to chat and make video calls, even group video calls, from the Direct. Here is how the new features work: Video chat Now, you can video chat in Instagram Direct, either with just one person or a group. To start a video chat, go to Direct inbox and open any message thread. Tap on the new camera icon, in the right corner, and your friends’ phones will ring. While on the video chat, you can minimise the video and multitask on Instagram to send messages and photos in Direct, browse feed and post a story. Instagram video chat The group video c

The YouTube is facing increasing competition from other platforms using more and more video Technology News : YouTube, often criticized for not compensating creators well enough, will allow them to set up paid channel memberships, the company said on Friday. Currently, the vast majority of revenue at the Google-owned service comes from advertising and that will remain a focus, said Neal Mohan, YouTube's chief products officer. "But we also want to think beyond ads. Creators should have as many ways and opportunities to make money as possible," he said. Viewers will pay $4.99 a month for channel memberships giving them access to exclusive content including livestreams, extra videos or shout-outs on channels with more than 100,000 subscribers. Creators will also be able to sell merchandise like shirts or phone cases directly on their channels, the company said. YouTube returns a small part of its advertising revenue to content creators who regu

With IGTV, Instagram, as it has done in the past, is copying features pioneered by others Technology News : Aiming to take on Google-owned YouTube, popular photo-sharing platform   Instagram   announced it would allow users to upload videos up to one hour in length, up from the previous one-minute limit, adding that it has hit the milestone of one billion users worldwide. "We launched   IGTV   (a button inside the   Instagram home screen, as well as a standalone app) at an event featuring many of the   Instagram   creators who'll make it great," the company wrote in a blog post late on Wednesday. Not just celebrities,   IGTV   will let all users be a creator and let them upload vertical videos through Instagram's app or the web. "It is a new app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favourite Instagram creators, like LaurDIY posting her newest project or King Bach sharing his latest comedy skit. While there's a standalone  

The ability to book an Uber through Maps allowed users to avoid the official Uber app Technology News : Google has reportedly killed the ability of direct   Uber ride booking from inside   Google Maps   without giving any reason. The feature allowing users to book   Uber   rides through Google Maps   was added in January last year, with which users could enter a location, identify their route, check   Uber   prices and request a ride without leaving the Maps app. On one   Google Maps   Help page, Google simply says "you can no longer book   Uber rides   directly in Google Maps", Android Police reported late on Monday. Uber integration was pulled from Google Maps on iOS earlier than on Android, according to the report. The ability to book an Uber through Maps allowed users to avoid the official Uber app, which has previously been criticised for its aggressive location tracking.

Through the AutoPay feature, users can link their credit or debit card for an Ola ride in the PhonePe app once, and the ride-fare would automatically be paid at the end of every ride Technology News : Flipkart-owned digital payments firm PhonePe has tied up with homegrown cab aggregator Ola, where users can book a cab or an auto using a micro-app built on its payments platform. The company has gone live with three such micro-apps, including that of redBus and Metro services, and plans to go live with 5 to 10 more in the ongoing quarter. “Ola’s scale and reach, topped with our AutoPay feature will enable greater convenience and control to our users while making payments seamless,” said Rahul Chari, co-founder and chief   technology   officer, PhonePe. The company, which has built its payments platform primarily on top of the National Payments Corp of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), crossed the 100-million user milestone last month. Through the AutoPay f

Sony Joy will be the vice-president of Truecaller Pay Technology News : Phone number search engine Truecaller on Wednesday announced a strategic investment into the payments space in India by acquiring Chillr, the country’s first multi-bank payments app. Truecaller co-founder and chief strategy officer Nami Zarringhalam said the founders of Chillr — Sony Joy, Anoop Sankar, Mohamed Galib and Lishoy Bhaskaran — will join Truecaller. Sony Joywill be the vice-president of Truecaller Pay. Zarringhalam said the company intended to leverage its full reach of over 150 million users in India as well as its 300-plus existing partnerships in the country. “By acquiring Chillr, we are reaffirming our commitment to mobile payments and strengthening our plans to raise its adoption amongst our user base,” Zarringhalam said. He, however, did not disclose the amount paid and the terms and conditions for acquiring the Chillr, which was launched in 2014. Truecaller has 65 emp

Without updates, Telegram would not work properly with the latest version of the iPhone operating system and it was out of compliance with the new European data privacy law                                                                                                                                                                                                           Technology News : Apple   has prevented the   Telegram   messaging service from updating globally ever since   Russia   banned the service and ordered   Apple   to remove it from its online store, Telegram's chief executive and founder claimed on Thursday. Pavel Durov   said on his Twitter and   Telegram   accounts that while the application was available from Apple, Telegram   has not been able to deliver technical updates to installed versions of the product anywhere. He wrote that without updates, Telegram would not work properly with the latest version of the iPhone operating system and it wa

The messaging app will partner HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to process the transfers, and State Bank of India will join once it has the necessary systems in place Technology News : Facebook   is set to offer its   WhatsApp   payment services to the whole of India as early as next week in an attempt to win market share, even though its partners aren’t all ready, said people familiar with the matter. The messaging app will partner HDFC Bank,   ICICI Bank and   Axis Bank   to process the transfers, and State Bank of India will join once it has the necessary systems in place, the people said.   Facebook   was aiming for a full rollout with four partners but decided to go ahead with just three as its rivals were racing ahead, the people said, asking not to be named as the information isn’t public. The entry of   Whats app   into India’s payments space has been likened to We Chat, which reshaped payments in China when it expanded beyond messaging. The pilot ver