Alibaba's UCWeb looks to lead on Content with the launch of We-Media Reward Plan 2.0 investing initial amount of 5 Crore Rupees

UCWeb, now part of Alibaba group has announced the launch of We-Media Reward Plan 2.0 , a self creating content platform in India with an initial investment of Rs 5 Crores (50 Million INR). The group will be investing 2 Billion INR on driving content distribution in India in coming 2 years. It is worth noting that UCWeb's content distribution platfrom UC News which was launched last year in June has become one of the fastest growing app in country with a Monthly Active Users count of over 80 Million in India.

Announcing the initiative on his visit to India, He Xiaopeng, Co-Founder UCWeb and President, Alibaba Mobile Business Group said, “Dominance of mobile and digital proliferation is leading to an increased adoption of mobile internet and is making India ‘Digitally Ready’. UCWeb is realising its vision of “Serve half the population of the planet”, and we are moving forward to the era of “GUF” (Google, UCWeband Facebook). The investment falls under Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group’s targeted investment of $7.2 billion in content over the next three years.”

“Content consumption on mobile is rapidly rising while the We-Media ecosystem is still at a nascent stage. According to our data, there are at least 400,000 self-publishers in India already with a huge scope to grow the market, especially in the niche categories. UC Browser was launched with an aim to solve browsing-related problems while UC News and We-Media program aim to meet the increasing demand of varied content by users and build a well-established ecosystem. With our strengths in technology like Big Data AI and vast experience in markets like China, UCWeb will augment its focus on digital content aggregation and distribution in the world’s second largest internet market, India. We aim for UC We- Media to open a gateway to more opportunities in India’s content industry and emerge as the No. 1 content generation and service platform in 2017.” Xiaopeng added.

UCWeb is also upgrading its content and services portfolio by adding more short video-related content. Short Videos are fast becoming the most popular form of content consumed in China today and UCWeb sees huge potential for this concept here in India as well. UC News aims to provide upgraded content and services to its users and, going forward, will make significant investment in this category. According to the company’s latest Content Consumption Trends Report, video content has risen 30% in the last quarter alone. The company is in the process of setting up a separate team to handle the Short Videos section and is scouting for relevant partners to support this for UC News India.

“The latest data on UC News shows that we generated over 3,100 million page views in January, 2017 alone, which translates to 100 million page views daily. Moreover, we are experiencing a fast rise in the average time spent on UC News. As of this quarter, an average user spends over 23 minutes on UC News. Our strong user base number indicates the success of our strategy of moving ‘From Tool to Content’. We had said that content is booming and 80 Million MAUs of UC News is a clear reflection of that. Users are embracing diverse -digital content and their appetite for such content is being met by UC News”, said Kenny Ye, GM-Overseas Business, Alibaba Mobile Business Group.

We-Media Reward Plan 2.0 - A game-changer in the content ecosystem

Besides an upgrade in Ad revenue sharing model, We-Media Reward Plan 2.0 will open the door of opportunity to the most talented writers in the country. 1000 We-media writers will be recruited in India and Indonesia who will be able to earn at least INR 50,000 per month through the UC News platform. UCWeb has been setting new trends under the UC We-Media program where people get an opportunity to create, to write, share thoughts and engage with their followers on UC News. The Program saw an increase of 200% and 350% (MoM) in its page views of English and Hindi We-Media content respectively in the past quarter.

UC News is a big-data powered content distributor, serving as a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all popular categories that Indian users can consume on the go, with featured channels including news, cricket, technology, entertainment, movies, lifestyle, health, humor, etc. UCWeb’s strength in technology is helping UC News process millions of data request and content of massive origins everyday with the help of its 3 big data clusters set-up in India. The cluster combines over 5000 machines handling millions of data-request with a response time of less than 10 milliseconds for each, thereby boosting the content generation and distribution on UC News to meet the demands of 80 Million MAUs.

Late last year, Alibaba Holdings announced its new digital media arm, Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment, in a major reorganization of the company's entertainment assets. The transformation marked a total consolidation of Alibaba's media businesses, including video website YoukuTudou, UCWeb and Alibaba Pictures Group as well as the company's sports, games, literature, music, and the digital entertainment divisions. 

Read More

Share your Fitness Funda/Mantra Creatively and Get Tango Fitness Tracker worth Rs 4990 at just Rs 8

Finland based Fitness accessories brand Tango has announced its very special offer on the occasion of Women's Day to attract the female fitness freaks in India. Tango Wellness is giving away the fitness trackers at dirt cheap price of INR 8 in India which is having market price of INR  4990.

Tango Wellness Fitness bands

How to avail the offer?

To avail this offer, women just need to write their fitness funda/mantra creatively and post it on Tango's Social Media Platforms. Shortlisted mantras will get the Tango wellness fitness trackers at just INR 8 which has a market cost of INR 4990. 

Social Media Pages where you can participate.

https://www.facebook.com/TangoWellnessIndia

https://twitter.com/Tangowellness

Commenting on this Women Day campaign, Tango India Head Bharat Nanda said, “India is emerging as a favorite market for health care products as people are getting more health conscious especially in the metro cities. To inspire women towards healthy lifestyle, this Women's Day, we are providing an exclusive offer and giving the fitness tracker at just INR. 8".

International Women's Day Campaign has already got huge momentum and has got more than 5000 registration within 4 hours of the launching the campaign. And the company is expecting to engage 5 lakh audiences.

The Tango fitness trackers are available on major E-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm and Tango World.

Read More

HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play : Specifications, Features and Price

Recently HTC launched its Flagship smartphones HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play. The HTC U series is named as such as it is focused on U (you), i.e. the consumers. The U series smartphones comes with advance Artificial Intelligence which is named as HTC Sense Companion. The HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play smartphones comes with beautiful 3D contoured, liquid surface , adaptive HTC U sonic technology for personalized hearing and a unique combination of MegaPixel and UltraPixel Camera technology in front camera to provide vivid light, details and color.

Mr. Faisal Siddiqui launching HTC U Play (Left) and HTC U Ultra (right) in India

The HTC U Ultra is priced at Rs 59,990/- where as the HTC U Play is priced at Rs 39,990. The HTC U Ultra sports a dual display similar to that on LG V20. The Dual display is supposed to give you all top information you need from your phone right on the top. The secondary display gives you access to the things you use most such as favorite contact, app, reminder, event notification and much more. Apart from this the HTC U Ultra comes with HTC Sense Companion, U Sonic and Voice recognition features. The smartphone comes with a 16 MP UltraPixel in the front and 12 MP UltraPixel main camera unit which is claimed to deliver less blur, fast focus and better photos at night. HTC U Ultra also comes with  BoomSound Hi-Fi edition speakers. HTC U Ultra and U Play comes in with a 64GB memory variant. The HTC U Ultra is available in three colors, which include Brilliant Black; Cosmetic Pink and Sapphire Blue. The HTC U Play with a 5.2” perfectly symmetric thin design takes brilliant selfies with 16MP rear and UltraPixel front camera. The HTC U Play is available in Iceberg White; Indigo Blue; Black Oil and Cosmic Pink Gold colors in the India market.

HTC is betting big on its AI aka HTC Sense Companion aims to become your personal companion in all sense, it is always learning from you and give suggestions based on Machine Learning Algorithms implemented in the software. It learns it all from you like suggesting you to wear warm clothes on a snowy day or to remind you to charge the phone if it determines you will need more juice until you reach home. Similarly the device also responds to your voice even when its asleep. It recognized your voice and respond to navigation, take or reject calls, snooze or dismiss alarms etc.

The HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play come with a one-year insurance that covers liquid damage and any physical damage to the phones. The customers also have an option to avail 7.5% cash back on the MOP value of both the phones using Standard Chartered Debit or credit card. This offer is valid from 6^th March ’17 - 31^st May ’17. HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play will be available in Indian market from 6th March ‘17 and mid-March ’17 respectively

Read More

Gurugram becomes second city after Hyderabad where Swiggy will make deliveries post mid-night

Swiggy, one of the most popular food delivery services in India announced extending its services in Delhi-NCR. Swiggy will start operations in Faridabad, Noida Expressway and Greater Noida. However, Gurugram where Swiggy is already operational since 2015 will be the second city in India after Hyderabad where Swiggy will start post mid-night deliveries up to 2 AM as opposed to 11 PM operational end time as of now.

Swiggy Food Delivery App

Srivats TS, Vice President, Marketing at Swiggy said, “Customers from NCR who travel to Delhi have experienced the customer-friendly benefits of Swiggy, like choicest restaurant options, lightning fast delivery, no minimum order among others. As we introduce Swiggy in Faridabad, Greater Noida and Noida Expressway, these customers can now enjoy the benefits of Swiggy delivery in their areas as well. At the same time, restaurant partners in these locations will benefit from Swiggy’s growing customer base and increased order volume.”

Swiggy deliveries are fast, hassle-free and reliable. The new service allows Swiggy to deliver from some of NCR’s favourite restaurants across various price points. “Greater Noida and Faridabad have a lot of good restaurants. Customers love the food variety here. But both were constrained by quick and reliable delivery limitations. We have seen our Delhi and Gurugram restaurants expand their reach with Swiggy. Now, we also get the Swiggy advantage to connect with our patrons in Faridabad,” said Kabir Advani, MD of Berco’s, known for its delectable Chinese and Thai cuisine restaurants across NCR.

This is part of Swiggy's ongoing plan to expand service area and extend service timings in the National Capital Region. Hundreds of restaurants from Noida, Faridabad, Greater Noida, Noida Expressway and Gurugram have come on board to reach customers, who have come to prefer Swiggy for its reliability and experience. 

In Gurugram, where Swiggy has been available since 2015 and connects food lovers to over 800 restaurants, there has been a growing demand from customers to extend delivery timings. In response to their love and appreciation for Swiggy, the company has extended its operating hours from 11 pm to 2 am. Many restaurants, that deliver orders post mid-night, have joined hands with Swiggy to leverage the assurance and experience Swiggy delivers to customers. This is the second location, after Hyderabad, where Swiggy will make deliveries past mid-night.

Read More

Decoding OPPO's upcoming Breakthrough smartphone photography technology '5X'

OPPO Mobiles is now one of the leading handset maker company in China as well as India, its world's 4th largest selling brand. OPPO has established itself as a global player and its innovations have surely grabbed the attention of users and critics alike. 

True to its campaign 'OPPO Camera Phones' spirit, OPPO is set to unveil its next breakthrough in smartphone photography code named project '5X'. 

Speaking about the technology, Mr. Sky Li, VP, OPPO, MD of International Mobile Business & President of OPPO India, said, “OPPO’s relentless pursuit of perfection without compromise has given birth to a remarkable technological breakthrough that will change how the world perceives smartphone photography.”

Sky added, “This remarkable achievement is the result of an extensive, year-long R&D process, combined with OPPO’s unparalleled expertise in smartphone imaging technology. We chose MWC to unveil the ‘5x’ technology with the belief that we can inspire the industry to aim higher, and continue to create pioneering products that give amazing experiences to consumers.”  

OPPO is well known for its premium build smartphones with a strong emphasis on Camera of the phone, the name '5X' suggests that it can be related to the optical zoom capability of a phone. We have seen ASUS Zenfone Zoom with '3X' optical zoom. Extending that to '5X' will be interesting to see. Our speculations seems to be in right direction as the image for the event which is part of the official press release states 'So close you can feel it'. This further confirms that OPPO's next breakthrough project has something to do with the zoom capability of the smartphone.

Going by example ASUS Zenfone Zoom we now know that its pretty difficult to fit a complex lens mechanism in smartphones of today's era. On the other hand OPPO is well known for its well built slim profile smartphones. Now Is OPPO working on a better zoom enabled smartphone? May be that's what we can infer from whatever information we have as of now, but it would be interesting to see if they compromise on the form factor of the phone to that and if yes upto what extent. So if you are nearby you can experience it first hand on Feb 27, 2017 in OPPO’s booth at MWC is D31 in Hall 3, if not than don't be disappointed we are here to bring all the news to you just keep watching this space. 

Read More