Narayana Murthy forms JV with Amazon for new E-Commerce entity

N R Narayana Murthy, Infosys' co-founder and former Chairman has joined hands with Seattle based Amazon for an e-commerce joint venture in India.  It seems, after the IT industry, Murthy has his eyes set on revolutionizing the e-commerce sector.

Catamaran Ventures, which is Murthy’s private investment firm has decided to create a new entity by forming a joint venture with Amazon’s Asia unit. This new entity will have an aim of helping the small and medium businesses in India.

The joint venture is called Taurus Business and Trade services and will be operational in major cities and towns of the country. The partnership was officially formalized in May and Murthy’s Catamaran has the majority shareholding in the new entity. Catamaran has 51% stake in the partnership as administrated by India’s foreign direct investment regulations.

The new company will be offering services that will help offline sellers and SMBs in India to get online and reap the benefits of the fast growing online customer base in the country. The company would focus on the inclusion of SMBs into the digital economy.

Amazon made an entry into the Indian market last year with its Amazon Seller Services which provides a third-party marketplace for products. Indian laws do not allow foreign retailers to sell online directly.

Catamaran has previously also made investments in Yebhi.com, which is an online fashion portal. The company is  not doing so well since its two co-founders have quit in early 2014.

With a $3.2 billion worth, the Indian e-commerce is booming like never before and it seems its growth has caught the fancy of the global giants who are trying hard to reap in the fruits of this boom. Domestic companies like Snapdeal, Myntra, Jabong and Flipkart are targeting the gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2014. GMV is a term in online retailing which is used to indicate a total sales dollar value for merchandise sold through a particular marketplace over a certain time interval.

While the domestic players are aiming growth, the international players like EBay, Amazon, Walmart, Alibaba and Rakuten are eyeing their growth. Amazon Asia is making available logistics and backend support for the venture.

Narayana Murthy forms JV with Amazon for new E-Commerce entity

N R Narayana Murthy, Infosys' co-founder and former Chairman has joined hands with Seattle based Amazon for an e-commerce joint venture in India.  It seems, after the IT industry, Murthy has his eyes set on revolutionizing the e-commerce sector.

Catamaran Ventures, which is Murthy’s private investment firm has decided to create a new entity by forming a joint venture with Amazon’s Asia unit. This new entity will have an aim of helping the small and medium businesses in India.

The joint venture is called Taurus Business and Trade services and will be operational in major cities and towns of the country. The partnership was officially formalized in May and Murthy’s Catamaran has the majority shareholding in the new entity. Catamaran has 51% stake in the partnership as administrated by India’s foreign direct investment regulations.

The new company will be offering services that will help offline sellers and SMBs in India to get online and reap the benefits of the fast growing online customer base in the country. The company would focus on the inclusion of SMBs into the digital economy.

Amazon made an entry into the Indian market last year with its Amazon Seller Services which provides a third-party marketplace for products. Indian laws do not allow foreign retailers to sell online directly.

Catamaran has previously also made investments in Yebhi.com, which is an online fashion portal. The company is  not doing so well since its two co-founders have quit in early 2014.

With a $3.2 billion worth, the Indian e-commerce is booming like never before and it seems its growth has caught the fancy of the global giants who are trying hard to reap in the fruits of this boom. Domestic companies like Snapdeal, Myntra, Jabong and Flipkart are targeting the gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2014. GMV is a term in online retailing which is used to indicate a total sales dollar value for merchandise sold through a particular marketplace over a certain time interval.

While the domestic players are aiming growth, the international players like EBay, Amazon, Walmart, Alibaba and Rakuten are eyeing their growth. Amazon Asia is making available logistics and backend support for the venture.

Digiflip Pro launched as Flipkart's own branded tablet devices

Flipkart, the online retailer unveiled its own brand of tablets called Digiflip Pro on 26^th June. The company through this move has made an impressive entry into the fiercely competitive market of branded electronics in India.

The tablet has been launched under Digiflip, which is the online retailers’ in-house electronics and accessories brand. The Bangalore based company has huge plans of launching many such branded electronics in future. According to the company, Digiflip Pro XT712 is just the start in the fulfillment of these plans.

According to Michael Adnani, vice-president of retail and head of brand alliances at Flipkart, the company has one of the largest-user bases in India, this makes them equipped with unparalleled data that allows them to understand the nerve of the market and figure out what kind of products will be successful.

The Digiflip Pro XT712 has been attractively priced at Rs.9,999 and weighs very light at 285 grams. The seven inch tablet is currently only available in black and white variants. The tablet comes power packed with 1280x800 pixel high-definition resolution with IPS display, dual SIM 3G calling, 1GB DDR3 RAM, and 1.3Ghz Quad Core Cortex A7 processor.



With this kind of price range and brand name, the product can become a hot property in the market. Amazon has previously tasted huge success while trending the same path as Flipkart.  According to the Morgan Stanley Research Report, Amazon has sold Kindle e-readers worth $4.5 billion in 2013.

The report also estimated that the Seattle based e-commerce major will earn around $3.8 billion in digital media revenue in 2013. It also said that the kindle ecosystem will be a major contributor by contributing around 11 percent to Amazon’s total revenue and 23 percent to its operating profit.  The company recently launched its Amazon Fire Phone, which is its first Smartphone in the market. Flipkart is trying to ape Amazon’s path to success.

A good company is the one which provides good after service and it seems Flipkart is working hard to become one. The Bangalore based online retailer recently also announced that the company has a network of over 120 service centres  in over 100 cities to provide after sale services.

Digiflip Pro launched as Flipkart's own branded tablet devices

Flipkart, the online retailer unveiled its own brand of tablets called Digiflip Pro on 26^th June. The company through this move has made an impressive entry into the fiercely competitive market of branded electronics in India.

The tablet has been launched under Digiflip, which is the online retailers’ in-house electronics and accessories brand. The Bangalore based company has huge plans of launching many such branded electronics in future. According to the company, Digiflip Pro XT712 is just the start in the fulfillment of these plans.

According to Michael Adnani, vice-president of retail and head of brand alliances at Flipkart, the company has one of the largest-user bases in India, this makes them equipped with unparalleled data that allows them to understand the nerve of the market and figure out what kind of products will be successful.

The Digiflip Pro XT712 has been attractively priced at Rs.9,999 and weighs very light at 285 grams. The seven inch tablet is currently only available in black and white variants. The tablet comes power packed with 1280x800 pixel high-definition resolution with IPS display, dual SIM 3G calling, 1GB DDR3 RAM, and 1.3Ghz Quad Core Cortex A7 processor.



With this kind of price range and brand name, the product can become a hot property in the market. Amazon has previously tasted huge success while trending the same path as Flipkart.  According to the Morgan Stanley Research Report, Amazon has sold Kindle e-readers worth $4.5 billion in 2013.

The report also estimated that the Seattle based e-commerce major will earn around $3.8 billion in digital media revenue in 2013. It also said that the kindle ecosystem will be a major contributor by contributing around 11 percent to Amazon’s total revenue and 23 percent to its operating profit.  The company recently launched its Amazon Fire Phone, which is its first Smartphone in the market. Flipkart is trying to ape Amazon’s path to success.

A good company is the one which provides good after service and it seems Flipkart is working hard to become one. The Bangalore based online retailer recently also announced that the company has a network of over 120 service centres  in over 100 cities to provide after sale services.

Move the phone and launch the app using ‘Launchsimply’'

'Launchsimply' is gesture based application launcher. It is the world's first 3D movement control system on android. It helps user launch apps with basic gesture without even touching the phone screen. Sujeet Kumar Mehta and Archana started the company which is now being carried forward by the former. He followed his passion to improve the mobile experience and developed this app."I started to build a solution for taking picture faster than any existing smart phone can deliver. That’s how I developed world's first mobile app to do 3d gesture recognition", he says.

Prayerapp wants to change the way users interact with their smartphones. It's a completely new technique to interact with the phone. The company, Prayerapp has developed gestures for camera message and music interfaces. The usage is so simple and natural that you wouldn’t want to search the app icons to launch them once you install this app.

Sujeet always had a keen interest in solving the problem and improving mobile uses and taking it to the next level. He always ended up making apps which can make a viable improvement in user experience and technology to make a sustainable and growing business. At the time of his graduation in 6th semester, he formed and managed a team to build 3D PC (Windows) Educational game "Crack Codes of Challenge". He is currently working with 'Commonfloor' for their android app.

Launched in 2012, this app has been installed in more than 5000 android devices. When asked about what made his start the company, he said-"‘I started to build a solution for taking picture faster than any existing smart phone can deliver. So I had developed world's first mobile app to do 3D gesture".

The gesture can also be updated with double touch once anywhere on screen to launch Camera, Music, and Message by performing defined actions. "It has the potential to bring another big revolution in mobile world after touch screen and keypad, it helped me take great real time photo and now I can open my music while on move and got to read my lovely message on my phone, great work.", said an app user.

An advice for future engineer entrepreneur from Sujeet is ‘understand business and validate your idea before burning your much important money and time.’ Based out of Bangalore, we believe this company will definitely build more innovative solutions which will take mobile experience to the next level.

Indian-American's Internet TV startup Aereo suspends services

An Indian-American innovator's video streaming service called - Aereo, suspends its operations yesterday, the internet TV startup suspensions is a result of United States Supreme Court decision to reverse the lower court decision which was in favor of Aereo, this decision gave a setback to the company.

Launched in 2012, Aereo is a technology company based in New York City that allowed subscribers to view live and time-shifted streams of over-the-air television on Internet-connected devices.

The US Supreme Court had ruled on Wednesday that Aereo had violated copyright laws by capturing broadcast signals on miniature antennas and transmitting them to subscribers for a fee.

Just after the decision CEO of Aereo - Chaitanya Kanojia posted a letter on website home page for its consumers - "As a result of that decision, our case has been returned to the lower Court. We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps. All of our users will be refunded their last paid month."



Major US cable broadcasters including ABC, CBS and Fox approached the Supreme Court, alleging that Aereo was an infringement on the current copyright laws. The broadcaster argued that Aereo's business model violated copyright laws and was a high-tech way to steal their programmes. Aereo countered that its service was a digital-age solution for watching free over-the-air broadcasting.

Aereo had fewer than 500,000 subscribers in about a dozen metropolitan areas. Aereo's customers used to pay $8 to $12 a month to rent one of Aereo's dime-size antennas that captured over-the-air television signals.

Aereo was using technology combining the well-known consumer antenna and DVR and the power of the Internet and cloud computing. It was actually providing a consumer the ability to use a remotely located individual antenna to access free-to-air broadcasts, make a personal copy of a program on a remote DVR and play back that copy only to him or herself. Using the cloud, Aereo was able to develop a smarter, more sophisticated antenna, purpose-built for the 21st century consumer.



However, the broadcasters on other hand are asking the Court to deny consumers the ability to use the cloud to access a more modern-day television antenna and DVR in order to protect what they believe are their most lucrative business models.

Aereo has even created a website called - ProtectMyAntenna.org, to provide information about these very important issues. It comprises various court briefs including ones written by policy and industry thought leaders such as the Consumer Electronics Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Public Knowledge, the Center for Democracy in Technology and others.

Google to launch cars running Android Auto software later this year

Google has come up with a great solution for all those phone lovers who can’t even put their phones down while driving. Google with its Android Auto gives you easy access to your messaging, media and navigation in a way that ensures you keep driving safely.

The first batch of cars running the Android Auto can be expected to hit the markets later this year. This was announced by the internet giant at its Google I/O event on Wednesday. The company has partnered with around 40 automobile companies so as to make this possible.

Android Auto is completely voice enabled and has been manufactured so as to help the developers. It does so by creating a seamless and safe solution for using connected devices while driving.



Android Auto works by connecting the driver’s Smartphone to a compatible car, its UI then displays on the car’s screen with quick shortcuts to location searches, navigation and suggestions. It also has a feature which enables the driver to send and receive text messages while driving by using the voice command features.

According to Google, Android Auto has been designed keeping safety in mind. Its simple and intuitive interface, integrated steering wheel controls, and powerful new voice actions minimizes distraction so that the driver can stay focused on the road. It automatically brings the user the useful information, and organizes it into simple cards that appear just when they’re needed.



With Android Auto, you can use the Google Maps on the go.  It’s easy to get to the destination with free voice-guided navigation, live traffic information, lane guidance, and more. Android Auto even lets the driver access and stream their favorite music with apps like Google Play Music, Spotify and Pandora.

Android Auto comes with the best in class speech technology which makes controlling everything with your voice easy and fast. It even lets you hit the road with your favorite apps. It lets you access your favorite apps and content in the car.

Google’s Android Auto will not have it easy. It will have to battle it out with Apple’s CarPlay for market space. Both the Android Auto and CarPlay are very similar in features and are expected to hit the market around the same time.

Google to launch cars running Android Auto software later this year

Google has come up with a great solution for all those phone lovers who can’t even put their phones down while driving. Google with its Android Auto gives you easy access to your messaging, media and navigation in a way that ensures you keep driving safely.

The first batch of cars running the Android Auto can be expected to hit the markets later this year. This was announced by the internet giant at its Google I/O event on Wednesday. The company has partnered with around 40 automobile companies so as to make this possible.

Android Auto is completely voice enabled and has been manufactured so as to help the developers. It does so by creating a seamless and safe solution for using connected devices while driving.



Android Auto works by connecting the driver’s Smartphone to a compatible car, its UI then displays on the car’s screen with quick shortcuts to location searches, navigation and suggestions. It also has a feature which enables the driver to send and receive text messages while driving by using the voice command features.

According to Google, Android Auto has been designed keeping safety in mind. Its simple and intuitive interface, integrated steering wheel controls, and powerful new voice actions minimizes distraction so that the driver can stay focused on the road. It automatically brings the user the useful information, and organizes it into simple cards that appear just when they’re needed.



With Android Auto, you can use the Google Maps on the go.  It’s easy to get to the destination with free voice-guided navigation, live traffic information, lane guidance, and more. Android Auto even lets the driver access and stream their favorite music with apps like Google Play Music, Spotify and Pandora.

Android Auto comes with the best in class speech technology which makes controlling everything with your voice easy and fast. It even lets you hit the road with your favorite apps. It lets you access your favorite apps and content in the car.

Google’s Android Auto will not have it easy. It will have to battle it out with Apple’s CarPlay for market space. Both the Android Auto and CarPlay are very similar in features and are expected to hit the market around the same time.

Complete Digest to new announcements made at Google I/O event

Google I/O wasn’t an event to be missed but if due to some reason you couldn’t tune into the action, there is nothing to worry at all. As we at IndianWeb2 bring to you a complete list of all the important things that were announced at the conference.

Around 6,000 developers attended 7th annual Google I/O developer conference. The crowd in San Francisco was joined by millions more watching on the livestream and 597 I/O Extended events, in 90+ countries on six continents.

Google estimated that more than 20 billion text messages sent every day. 1.5 trillion steps taken with an Android. And more importantly, a roughly estimated 93 million selfies.

This year Google brought loads of things in Android, apps, new chrome features etc. Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome & apps addresses the event along with and reveal interesting initiatives Google is taking up from this year onwards, this includes few interesting devices and Android wearable gadgets as well.

Below are all major announcements Google made at Google I/O event:

Android One

The annual developer conference started with the announcement of the Android One initiative. It is a program that aims at providing guidelines to those manufacturing Smartphones for the developing market so as to give a unified Android experience.

This initiative allows the internet giant the right to dictate some minimum hardware requirements for manufacturers all around the globe.

Under this initiative, Google has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

Android Auto

Android Auto is completely voice enabled and has been manufactured so as to help the developers. It does so by creating a seamless and safe solution for using connected devices while driving.

Android Auto works by connecting the driver’s Smartphone to a compatible car, its UI then displays on the car’s screen with quick shortcuts to location searches, navigation and suggestions. It also has a feature which enables the driver to send and receive text messages while driving by using the voice command features.

The Android Auto will be made available to the masses later this year. For this, the tech giant has partnered with over 40 companies which include Porsche and Hyundai.

Bringing work and play together

The tech giant also announced Android for Work program at the I/O event. It is a unique program which lets the app live in one place. It gives a wonderful opportunity to the user to connect his or her work with personal life into one single device.

Microsoft Office editing has become possible in the Google Docs due to Android from Work. Google in addition to this also announced a premium Google Drive for enterprise customers which will offer unlimited storage for $10 per month per use.

L Developer Preview  

The upcoming Android L release supports Material Design which is a new cross platform User Interface. It makes available the app developers with more precise tools so as to make customized typography, color and grid changes.

Material Design makes it possible for designers to add smooth animations at 60 fps using a prototyping tool, Polymer. Further, in order to help the designers in building a consistent feel and look, it has added a guideline.

In order to make developers learn a thing or two about battery life, Google also launched Project Volta. It will help them in identifying battery discharge patterns so as to increase the overall consumption.

With a 64-bit compatibility and a new Android Extension Pack to back 3D graphics, Google openly boosted about the L’s enhanced performance. Google has also ensured the best of security for L.

Android Wear

Google demonstrated its Android Wear at the Google I/O event. Users can swipe across Google Now Cards and supported applications from the paired Smartphone by using its touchscreen User Interface.

In order to create reminders, notes, alarms and more, the users can make use of the “Ok Google” prompt. Material design is also in attendance in this wearable platform.

A wearable counterpart is installed on the Smartwatch whenever the user installs an app from the Play store on their Smartphone. This is ensures that all the features are synced immediately.

The Moto360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are some of the Android Wear equipped products. Out of these, Samsung and LG are currently available in the Play store.

Google Cloud



Google also announced improvements to its Google Cloud engine. Developers can debug a live application which is running on hundred of servers using this platform. In addition, they can also set alerts or reminders to monitor performance of various events.

Appurify, which is a mobile test automation service, has been acquired by Google in order to optimize app testing and building.

The tech giant also introduced Cloud Dataflow, which will let the user create data pipelines for ingesting large data sets.

Android TV



Putting all the rumors to rest, Google finally unveiled its Android TV. Google with its Android TV has tried to combine all entertainment into one device. The TV lets the user watch live TV or stream content like cast information and related YouTube clips. The TV also promises a fluid search experience to the user.

The Android TV will be a joyride for casual gamers. Google supports games on the new TV and this gives the gamers a great chance to engage in their favorite mobile games on the big television screen.

Chromebook gets Android Apps

Now you can unlock Chromebooks with the help of your phone, this feature is similar to the new L update which permits the user to unlock their phone when using context and location.

To provide its users with a continuous experience, Android will now be sending notifications directly to the Chromebooks. Some selected Android apps have been made compatible on the Chromebook.

Google Play

Google Play now has a Games Profile feature with the saved games section. The section will have a screencap of the user’s game progress and leader boards. In order to encourage the gamers to set goals, it now has “Quests”.

Users will now be able to have a direct carrier billing for tablets which will let them charge everything at one place.

Chromecast Update

The much needed Chromecast update is here. Now, you no longer have to be on the same Wi-Fi network to cast content to Chromecast. You can search the nearby devices and connect via the cloud.

A backdrop feature has also been added which permits background photo customization by drawing photos from the user’s library.

Google Fit

The conference also saw the launch of Google Fit. It is an open, multi-OS API platform for fitness related apps and devices. Google Fit is very similar to the recently announced Apple’s HealthKit.

Google Fit assembles all of the user’s fitness data into one single place. Google Fit has partners in  Withings, Adidas and Nike.

Complete Digest to new announcements made at Google I/O event

Google I/O wasn’t an event to be missed but if due to some reason you couldn’t tune into the action, there is nothing to worry at all. As we at IndianWeb2 bring to you a complete list of all the important things that were announced at the conference.

Around 6,000 developers attended 7th annual Google I/O developer conference. The crowd in San Francisco was joined by millions more watching on the livestream and 597 I/O Extended events, in 90+ countries on six continents.

Google estimated that more than 20 billion text messages sent every day. 1.5 trillion steps taken with an Android. And more importantly, a roughly estimated 93 million selfies.

This year Google brought loads of things in Android, apps, new chrome features etc. Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome & apps addresses the event along with and reveal interesting initiatives Google is taking up from this year onwards, this includes few interesting devices and Android wearable gadgets as well.

Below are all major announcements Google made at Google I/O event:

Android One

The annual developer conference started with the announcement of the Android One initiative. It is a program that aims at providing guidelines to those manufacturing Smartphones for the developing market so as to give a unified Android experience.

This initiative allows the internet giant the right to dictate some minimum hardware requirements for manufacturers all around the globe.

Under this initiative, Google has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

Android Auto

Android Auto is completely voice enabled and has been manufactured so as to help the developers. It does so by creating a seamless and safe solution for using connected devices while driving.

Android Auto works by connecting the driver’s Smartphone to a compatible car, its UI then displays on the car’s screen with quick shortcuts to location searches, navigation and suggestions. It also has a feature which enables the driver to send and receive text messages while driving by using the voice command features.

The Android Auto will be made available to the masses later this year. For this, the tech giant has partnered with over 40 companies which include Porsche and Hyundai.

Bringing work and play together

The tech giant also announced Android for Work program at the I/O event. It is a unique program which lets the app live in one place. It gives a wonderful opportunity to the user to connect his or her work with personal life into one single device.

Microsoft Office editing has become possible in the Google Docs due to Android from Work. Google in addition to this also announced a premium Google Drive for enterprise customers which will offer unlimited storage for $10 per month per use.

L Developer Preview  

The upcoming Android L release supports Material Design which is a new cross platform User Interface. It makes available the app developers with more precise tools so as to make customized typography, color and grid changes.

Material Design makes it possible for designers to add smooth animations at 60 fps using a prototyping tool, Polymer. Further, in order to help the designers in building a consistent feel and look, it has added a guideline.

In order to make developers learn a thing or two about battery life, Google also launched Project Volta. It will help them in identifying battery discharge patterns so as to increase the overall consumption.

With a 64-bit compatibility and a new Android Extension Pack to back 3D graphics, Google openly boosted about the L’s enhanced performance. Google has also ensured the best of security for L.

Android Wear

Google demonstrated its Android Wear at the Google I/O event. Users can swipe across Google Now Cards and supported applications from the paired Smartphone by using its touchscreen User Interface.

In order to create reminders, notes, alarms and more, the users can make use of the “Ok Google” prompt. Material design is also in attendance in this wearable platform.

A wearable counterpart is installed on the Smartwatch whenever the user installs an app from the Play store on their Smartphone. This is ensures that all the features are synced immediately.

The Moto360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are some of the Android Wear equipped products. Out of these, Samsung and LG are currently available in the Play store.

Google Cloud



Google also announced improvements to its Google Cloud engine. Developers can debug a live application which is running on hundred of servers using this platform. In addition, they can also set alerts or reminders to monitor performance of various events.

Appurify, which is a mobile test automation service, has been acquired by Google in order to optimize app testing and building.

The tech giant also introduced Cloud Dataflow, which will let the user create data pipelines for ingesting large data sets.

Android TV



Putting all the rumors to rest, Google finally unveiled its Android TV. Google with its Android TV has tried to combine all entertainment into one device. The TV lets the user watch live TV or stream content like cast information and related YouTube clips. The TV also promises a fluid search experience to the user.

The Android TV will be a joyride for casual gamers. Google supports games on the new TV and this gives the gamers a great chance to engage in their favorite mobile games on the big television screen.

Chromebook gets Android Apps

Now you can unlock Chromebooks with the help of your phone, this feature is similar to the new L update which permits the user to unlock their phone when using context and location.

To provide its users with a continuous experience, Android will now be sending notifications directly to the Chromebooks. Some selected Android apps have been made compatible on the Chromebook.

Google Play

Google Play now has a Games Profile feature with the saved games section. The section will have a screencap of the user’s game progress and leader boards. In order to encourage the gamers to set goals, it now has “Quests”.

Users will now be able to have a direct carrier billing for tablets which will let them charge everything at one place.

Chromecast Update

The much needed Chromecast update is here. Now, you no longer have to be on the same Wi-Fi network to cast content to Chromecast. You can search the nearby devices and connect via the cloud.

A backdrop feature has also been added which permits background photo customization by drawing photos from the user’s library.

Google Fit

The conference also saw the launch of Google Fit. It is an open, multi-OS API platform for fitness related apps and devices. Google Fit is very similar to the recently announced Apple’s HealthKit.

Google Fit assembles all of the user’s fitness data into one single place. Google Fit has partners in  Withings, Adidas and Nike.

Google to tie up with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to launch smartphones under $100 (Rs 6,000)

Google, the internet giant has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

This news was announced in Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday by the company’s senior vice-president Sundar Pichai. If experts are to be believed, this move by Google will shoot up the Indian brands popularity and credibility all over the world. It will also increase the already stiff competition in the entry-level Smartphone market of the country.

This initiative by Google has been named the Android One initiative. Under this initiative, the Indian handset-makers will be provided with hardware reference models so as to create high quality Smartphones that too at low cost.

According to Sundar, the Smartphones will be first unveiled in India and then launched globally. These phones can be expected to run a standardized version of Android which will permit faster updates.

Pichai while showcasing a 4.5 inch Micromax device with dual SIM slots, FM radio and expandable memory also added that Google is also currently working with Indian carriers so as to make these Smartphone users available with affordable data packs.

The first batch of these Smartphones can be expected to hit the Indian markets in somewhere around early September. In all possibility, these phones can be co-branded as the tech giant may not want to venture into the hardware business again after no additional follow ups on Nexus and selling off Motorola.

These Smartphones will take the low end phone market competition, where Samsung and Nokia are already functioning to an all new level.

Whatever may be the case, the customers are expected to gain considerably from the tech giants this move. The customers are expected to get more value and the overall experience is set to become better and faster as with the standard Google platform, the updates will be quicker.

Google’s this initiative has not come as a surprise, as everyone wants to reap in the fruits of the booming Indian Smartphone market. According to the data made available by IDC, the Smartphone market in India tripled itself in the first quarter of this year with 17.59 million devices being shipped compared to 6.4 million during the same time interval last year.

Top Image - [Flickr]

Google to tie up with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to launch smartphones under $100 (Rs 6,000)

Google, the internet giant has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

This news was announced in Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday by the company’s senior vice-president Sundar Pichai. If experts are to be believed, this move by Google will shoot up the Indian brands popularity and credibility all over the world. It will also increase the already stiff competition in the entry-level Smartphone market of the country.

This initiative by Google has been named the Android One initiative. Under this initiative, the Indian handset-makers will be provided with hardware reference models so as to create high quality Smartphones that too at low cost.

According to Sundar, the Smartphones will be first unveiled in India and then launched globally. These phones can be expected to run a standardized version of Android which will permit faster updates.

Pichai while showcasing a 4.5 inch Micromax device with dual SIM slots, FM radio and expandable memory also added that Google is also currently working with Indian carriers so as to make these Smartphone users available with affordable data packs.

The first batch of these Smartphones can be expected to hit the Indian markets in somewhere around early September. In all possibility, these phones can be co-branded as the tech giant may not want to venture into the hardware business again after no additional follow ups on Nexus and selling off Motorola.

These Smartphones will take the low end phone market competition, where Samsung and Nokia are already functioning to an all new level.

Whatever may be the case, the customers are expected to gain considerably from the tech giants this move. The customers are expected to get more value and the overall experience is set to become better and faster as with the standard Google platform, the updates will be quicker.

Google’s this initiative has not come as a surprise, as everyone wants to reap in the fruits of the booming Indian Smartphone market. According to the data made available by IDC, the Smartphone market in India tripled itself in the first quarter of this year with 17.59 million devices being shipped compared to 6.4 million during the same time interval last year.

Top Image - [Flickr]

ClearTax - A Y-Combinatar backed Indian startup, which lets you e-file Income tax returns

ClearTax is, a Delhi based startup that claims to be the easiest way to e-File Income Tax Returns in India. The company has an aim of helping people by preparing them to file their Income Tax Returns in the shortest time interval so as to maximize their tax deductions.

The company has been authorized by the Government of India for e-filing and since its inception in 2011; it has rapidly climbed the popularity charts in the country. In 2013, over 300,000 people made use of the website to e-file their taxes.

Archit Gupta started this company with his chartered accountant father Raja Ram Gupta. Archit was previously an engineer at Data Domain in Silicon Valley in India. This is the first time that a company which is only focused on the Indian market has joined Y Combinator. According to Gupta, this association has provided them access to resources which they couldn’t get in India.

The Indian government has a mission of making all tax filings online latest by 2016. ClearTax has a future plan of expanding beyond India but currently it only wants to focus on the booming Indian market in the sector.



Some 20 million people filled taxes online years ago in India, the figure rose to 27 million in 2013 and it is expected to cross 35 million in 2014. The estimated rate of increase in the number of online tax filers is 9 percent year over year.

ClearTax wants to change the notion of Indian people that taxes are a complex thing. They want to do this by their simple and accurate process.

The company is a product of ClearSharp Technology Pvt Ltd. ClearSharp itself is a very trusted name in the enterprise tax preparation and filing market.

The concept of e-filing is around 6 years old in India and in order to differentiate itself from other online tax services companies already in the business; ClearTax decided to regard e-filing as a “software problem”.

To use ClearTax, all one needs to do is upload the Form 16 onto the website and from there on the website will take over. The website’s software will automatically filter out relevant data; this means the users will not have to manually punch in any numbers or information.

ClearTax thinks its main competitor is the government itself. The government of India has its own online e-filing software but that is a tad difficult and complicated to use. ClearTax’s simple and easy interface gives its advantage over the government software.

ClearTax - A Y-Combinatar backed Indian startup, which lets you e-file Income tax returns

ClearTax is, a Delhi based startup that claims to be the easiest way to e-File Income Tax Returns in India. The company has an aim of helping people by preparing them to file their Income Tax Returns in the shortest time interval so as to maximize their tax deductions.

The company has been authorized by the Government of India for e-filing and since its inception in 2011; it has rapidly climbed the popularity charts in the country. In 2013, over 300,000 people made use of the website to e-file their taxes.

Archit Gupta started this company with his chartered accountant father Raja Ram Gupta. Archit was previously an engineer at Data Domain in Silicon Valley in India. This is the first time that a company which is only focused on the Indian market has joined Y Combinator. According to Gupta, this association has provided them access to resources which they couldn’t get in India.

The Indian government has a mission of making all tax filings online latest by 2016. ClearTax has a future plan of expanding beyond India but currently it only wants to focus on the booming Indian market in the sector.



Some 20 million people filled taxes online years ago in India, the figure rose to 27 million in 2013 and it is expected to cross 35 million in 2014. The estimated rate of increase in the number of online tax filers is 9 percent year over year.

ClearTax wants to change the notion of Indian people that taxes are a complex thing. They want to do this by their simple and accurate process.

The company is a product of ClearSharp Technology Pvt Ltd. ClearSharp itself is a very trusted name in the enterprise tax preparation and filing market.

The concept of e-filing is around 6 years old in India and in order to differentiate itself from other online tax services companies already in the business; ClearTax decided to regard e-filing as a “software problem”.

To use ClearTax, all one needs to do is upload the Form 16 onto the website and from there on the website will take over. The website’s software will automatically filter out relevant data; this means the users will not have to manually punch in any numbers or information.

ClearTax thinks its main competitor is the government itself. The government of India has its own online e-filing software but that is a tad difficult and complicated to use. ClearTax’s simple and easy interface gives its advantage over the government software.

Finally, Google Voice Search supports Indian Accent

India is an important market in the mobile world and it seems Google has finally realized that. On Tuesday, the tech giant announced that its voice search will now support Indian dialects and accents. This will work on the Google Search App for iOS, Android and Chrome browsers for laptops and desktops.

The voice search engine can transliterate the query the user asked in Hindi, as the language option is still limited to English only. Google can now finally correctly answer all the queries of its Indian customers ranging from the cricket scores to the latest movies that one can watch.

Google voice search

According to Sandeep Menon, who is the head of marketing for Google, India, Google’s this moves shows its commitment towards Indian market and how the company is continuously working hard to improve the Indian users’ search experience. According to Menon, the company is extremely happy that now its Indian customers will be able to get all the answers that they need and that too without any glitch or error.

At the announcement, the tech giant also mentioned that in order to accomplish this task, the company had to deploy around 700 volunteers all around India. The company has collected spoken utterances to create the specific language models that power English voice search in the Indian accent.

These volunteers were asked to read popular search queries in a variety of acoustic conditions such as out on a busy street, inside cars and in restaurants, in order to best reflect the real life conditions and the role that search plays in day to day life of users by connect them with relevant information.

The voice search is currently available in iOS devices like iPad and iPhone, Android phones having a version 2.3 or above and Windows computer through Google Chrome browser.

The knowledge graph has also been improved to display more relevant results in order to enhance the voice recognition. The voice recognition engine can understand certain Hindi phrases and words though a native voice search for Indian languages is still not available.

The tech giant has combined voice search with Google Now, which is a feature that displays information cards when demanded by the user, to offer them a smart virtual assistance to which they can order commands.

Finally, Google Voice Search supports Indian Accent

India is an important market in the mobile world and it seems Google has finally realized that. On Tuesday, the tech giant announced that its voice search will now support Indian dialects and accents. This will work on the Google Search App for iOS, Android and Chrome browsers for laptops and desktops.

The voice search engine can transliterate the query the user asked in Hindi, as the language option is still limited to English only. Google can now finally correctly answer all the queries of its Indian customers ranging from the cricket scores to the latest movies that one can watch.

Google voice search

According to Sandeep Menon, who is the head of marketing for Google, India, Google’s this moves shows its commitment towards Indian market and how the company is continuously working hard to improve the Indian users’ search experience. According to Menon, the company is extremely happy that now its Indian customers will be able to get all the answers that they need and that too without any glitch or error.

At the announcement, the tech giant also mentioned that in order to accomplish this task, the company had to deploy around 700 volunteers all around India. The company has collected spoken utterances to create the specific language models that power English voice search in the Indian accent.

These volunteers were asked to read popular search queries in a variety of acoustic conditions such as out on a busy street, inside cars and in restaurants, in order to best reflect the real life conditions and the role that search plays in day to day life of users by connect them with relevant information.

The voice search is currently available in iOS devices like iPad and iPhone, Android phones having a version 2.3 or above and Windows computer through Google Chrome browser.

The knowledge graph has also been improved to display more relevant results in order to enhance the voice recognition. The voice recognition engine can understand certain Hindi phrases and words though a native voice search for Indian languages is still not available.

The tech giant has combined voice search with Google Now, which is a feature that displays information cards when demanded by the user, to offer them a smart virtual assistance to which they can order commands.

'Neembuu Now’ to revolutionize TV, video streaming and entire entertainment industry

Shashank Tulsyan was frustrated when one of his favorite shows, Dragon Ball Z stopped airing and left the story incomplete. He came up with the idea to watch and download at the same time (also called super streaming). Thus Neembuu was born with their product 'Neembuu Now' for super streaming. The project started in 2008 while Shashank was in first year of his college. He started working full time on it in 2014 along with Davide Pastore (Italian Developer) and Ameya Paseband.

"I did not know much programming and I was just in the first year of my mechanical engineering. I didn't even know if it was possible that I was trying to do. But I thought that I should at least try, I have 4 years before the tensions of real life come and haunt me. In college, all I needed to do was get decent grades, pass and get placed." says Shashank.

While Ameya takes care of the marketing, business development, talking to investors, getting feedback from the users and all non-technical aspects. Davide Pastore develops support for websites like YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion etc on Neembuu. He is also working on the android version of the software.

"The Watch & Download technology that we have developed was big challenge and took 4 years to be completely developed. In total 6 years have passed in I have been working on this technology. It took 6 years just to make a decent prototype which people can download and try.", says the founder. "The challenges were exceptionally compounded due to the fact that we developed a highly scalable, future proof, Virtual Filesystem technology and Video virtualization technology. This is such a new concept that automatic spell checking software think it is a spelling mistake.", he joked.

What are the advantages of Super Streaming over normal streaming?

• When user forwards the video, previous buffer doesn't get deleted.


• When buffers collide they join. All this while the user watches the file as if it was any other file in his hard disk.


• Super streaming gives flexibility to user to use his favorite media player (VLC, gomplayer, any player they like).


• Super streaming works on any video format, not just mp4. It works on avi, rmvb, mkv all of them. In fact it is future proof, any new format created in future will also work in this platform.


• Before downloading a user doesn't know if the content of the video is interesting enough for him to download or not. So the user can always watch the file before completely downloading it.

"We wanted to block YouTube advertisements. There is a no video streamer out there which blocks YouTube advertisements. It either downloads the entire video, or streams the video with ads. Blocking ads is essential because in India, the internet speed is so less that sometimes buffering the content is impossible.", they said. They have successfully tested their software on TV. This allowed them to watch shows without TV advertisements. Using more than 10 technologies like Virtual Filesystem JPfm, Windows Kernel, FUSE on linux, Pismo file mont, libvlc, vuze api for their application they are also making a platform on which video apps can run.

How to use Neembuu Now software to create highly advanced video services with Google Chromecast device ?

Start Neembuu Now uploader, click the big yellow icon, the NeembuuVirtualFolder will open - Find your file which you want to cast to your TV. Copy the filepath of the file. The path typically looks something like this:

C:\Users\Shashank Tulsyan\.neembuu-now\release1\NeembuuVirtualFolder\BigBuckBunny_320x180.mp4

Open this file in chrome. The path will change to look like a URL, something like :

file:///C:/Users/Shashank%20Tulsyan/.neembuu-now/release1/NeembuuVirtualFolder/BigBuckBunny_320x180.mp4

Play the video in chrome itself and cast this Chromecast tab.

Interestingly, Neembuu is also in the process of developing a Neembu TV dongle to compete with Google Chromecast and the world wide ordering of their prototype will start shortly. Shashank mentioned, ‘User have a lot of expectations. They need everything. They are not ready to compromise with anything. Neembuu allows watch & download.

People need power to ONLY download as well. They want Neembuu to support more websites. They want Neembuu on mobile, on their tablets. They want better User Interface. They want better integration with browser. They want unified search, playlists, ability to queue downloads like traditional downloaders. They want us to release the experimental bit torrent version to general public. The demands just don't stop. However it is good input, it shows that people like us for one thing, they want us to do a lot more.’ He recommends the future entrepreneurs to validate before making anything and also to target less features and release more often.

In the first 3 months, there were a 1000 downloads and more than 1TeraByte of data streamed using Neembuu. Their earlier product called Neembuu Uploader (it is just opposite of downloader), does a 1/4 million uploads per month and had 1400% usage growth rate in the last quarter.

Bangalore Startup 'Townista' lets you do amazing things near you

Are you one of those who is forced to sit at home on weekends as you find it increasingly difficult and lazy to chalk out an evening for yourself? If the answer to this question is yes then Townista has come as a savior for you.

Bangalore based internet startup Townista has a mission of adding the much needed spice into your social life by getting you out of your bedrooms and making you explore your city. Founded by Snehal Nimje and Paras Jain in the last week of May this year, Townista is a Bangalore based startup. Townista helps you to discover amazing restaurants, places, events and recommend activities near to your location. Townista is currently available for Bangalore and nearby location.

There are tones of websites that list experiences, events, activities but they have no credibility to the quality attached with them. With Townista you can discover amazing fun activities which you can easily do in your city.  They have experiences and activities for foodies, creative minds, play enthusiasts, pub-hoppers, outdoor nomads and almost everyone. Townista makes use of smart algorithms to show only those activities that are relevant and amazing for you.



At Townista, it is believed that each city has something different and unique to offer because of its people and culture. They have an aim of bringing all these unique and different experiences into the lives of its users.

Townista doesn't burden you with an overload of information. It tells you only those activities that are amazing and might interest you. It helps the user to arrive at better decisions faster.

Townista is actually a bootstrapped startup and they have started with a meagre investment of less than 5 lakhs and most of it is being used for content creation and development. The startup has chosen Koramangala, which is the heart of Bangalore as its launchpad. Koramangala gets its uniqueness from its people who come from different parts of the country to settle here.  According to them, if a company can be successful here, it can then be successful in any part of the world.

A user usually spends around eight minutes and visits six pages per session on an average; these are great figures for a startup. These figures are effectively growing with each passing day.

Townista is currently targeting people who are financially independent, experimental and are always searching for better options to spend time with their friends and loved ones.

The services is available free of cost for people who list their products/services with Townista. The company currently earns revenue through ‘featured activity’.

Townista is team of five members, out of which two are IIT Bombay alumni founders and the other three are employees. It also has plans of launching a mobile application soon.

Bangalore Startup 'Townista' lets you do amazing things near you

Are you one of those who is forced to sit at home on weekends as you find it increasingly difficult and lazy to chalk out an evening for yourself? If the answer to this question is yes then Townista has come as a savior for you.

Bangalore based internet startup Townista has a mission of adding the much needed spice into your social life by getting you out of your bedrooms and making you explore your city. Founded by Snehal Nimje and Paras Jain in the last week of May this year, Townista is a Bangalore based startup. Townista helps you to discover amazing restaurants, places, events and recommend activities near to your location. Townista is currently available for Bangalore and nearby location.

There are tones of websites that list experiences, events, activities but they have no credibility to the quality attached with them. With Townista you can discover amazing fun activities which you can easily do in your city.  They have experiences and activities for foodies, creative minds, play enthusiasts, pub-hoppers, outdoor nomads and almost everyone. Townista makes use of smart algorithms to show only those activities that are relevant and amazing for you.



At Townista, it is believed that each city has something different and unique to offer because of its people and culture. They have an aim of bringing all these unique and different experiences into the lives of its users.

Townista doesn't burden you with an overload of information. It tells you only those activities that are amazing and might interest you. It helps the user to arrive at better decisions faster.

Townista is actually a bootstrapped startup and they have started with a meagre investment of less than 5 lakhs and most of it is being used for content creation and development. The startup has chosen Koramangala, which is the heart of Bangalore as its launchpad. Koramangala gets its uniqueness from its people who come from different parts of the country to settle here.  According to them, if a company can be successful here, it can then be successful in any part of the world.

A user usually spends around eight minutes and visits six pages per session on an average; these are great figures for a startup. These figures are effectively growing with each passing day.

Townista is currently targeting people who are financially independent, experimental and are always searching for better options to spend time with their friends and loved ones.

The services is available free of cost for people who list their products/services with Townista. The company currently earns revenue through ‘featured activity’.

Townista is team of five members, out of which two are IIT Bombay alumni founders and the other three are employees. It also has plans of launching a mobile application soon.

UIPreneur to provide handcrafted & affordable design resources

Arun Pattnaik was looking for an organized, curated collection of beautiful plug-and-play chunks of design for a client. After checking out CreativeMarket, GraphicRiver, ThemeForest he realized that the companies online had more of a market than a collection. So he along with friends from Delhi and Chennai started a project called UIPreneur. It’s still a stealth startup being built under the hood.

We asked him what makes UIPreneur so different, and he said "The main difference is that we're trying to be very affordable and startup friendly. UIPreneur has a simple membership system which allows you to download everything we build for a small annual payment. Unlike the existing marketplaces, you don't pay a per-product price. Apart from that, we're trying to put more categories so you get a one-stop-shop while building your project. We're trying to build all things creative – PSD elements, icons, mascots, vector graphics, stock photos, HTML/CSS themes, plug-and-play jQuery animations, WordPress/Ghost themes & anything else we can build". The users surely would find a lot of value in this.



The site is being built on Ruby-on-Rails and they plan to have a lot categories, while keeping the quality high. "It needs a lot of creative manpower", he added. With the aim of helping fellow designers, they want to start small and stay small. "This is the only way we will be able to maintain quality" said Arun. With their product launch coming up soon, they have done some market surveys and the response has been very good. Once launched, they would collaborate with content producers on different design marketplaces who could also build products for them.

We asked Arun if he ever had doubts about his work, and he said ‘Yes, very often. You can’t work on a startup without thinking of taking risks. The fear of being proven wrong stays with you all the time. The challenge is to get over it and see if you actually fail. That’s how you learn. You cannot know if you’re right or wrong unless you go out there and do it.’

And one advice he give the future entrepreneurs is "Once you get praised for something done well, you should move on quickly to build better things than dwell in the success"

Come back to us for an update and launch coverage and in the meanwhile, check their website - http://uipreneur.com and get notified when it will be out for public release. UIPreneur is sending some exclusive FREE INVITES to people who sign up now.

Myntra set to launch incubators for fashion entrepreneurs

Myntra.com which was recently acquired by Indian e-comm giant Flipkart is all set to launch first of its kind fashion incubators in India for enrepreneurs, companies and brands that deals in fashion merchandises.

The combines entity of Flipkart-Mynta will look to select at least 3-5 such brands annually which can later be retailed on other platforms- online and offline, said a top executive from the company. In typical venture capital-style investing, the Flipkart-Myntra will select fashion entrepreneurs, give them a platform to retail and after six months to a year pick up equity stakes for up to a million dollars in the best performing brands.

The first batch of this fashion incubator is expected to roll out in July this year which will get on board as many as 20 such entrepreneurs.

Abhishek Verma, business head at Myntra said they've roped in mentors for the first batch of the incubator. We've got fashion designers, entrepreneurs and successful names from the business of apparel to be a part of the programme.

"The idea is to create sizeable indigenous fashion brands by mentoring young entrepreneurs who do not have access to capital, supply chain and distribution platforms," said Mukesh Bansal, CEO, Myntra & SVP, Flipkart Fashion. We want these budding designers to operate as independent entities in the long-term selling to even our rival e-tailers, Bansal told to TOI.

The move made by Myntra is to make its e-commerce dominance in India more stronger and to counter Amazon India's huge inventory. Flipkart is already one leading as e-comm player in consumer electronics and mobiles however Myntra is all about fashion clothing and accessories and now that Flipkart and Myntra is one entity after later's acquisition by former.

'Capital Float' a SME loan provider get $2 mn funding from Aspada

Capital Float, a Bangalore based online platform that provides working capital finance to SMEs in India has raised $2 million (Rs.12 crore) from Aspada Investment Company. The company works with SMEs across a variety of sectors, including manufacturing, services, and e-commerce and is led by Gaurav Hinduja and Sashank Rishyasringa, who both returned to India to start Capital Float after completing their MBAs at Stanford University.

"Small businesses are the key to India's sustained growth, yet most lack access to mainstream bank finance and cannot easily access working capital and short term debt. As a result, many are forced to resort to borrowing from friends and family, supplier credit, or high interest loans from informal sources to meet the day-to-day funding needs of the business," said Gaurav Hinduja.

"The majority of SMEs today operate with cash cycles of 60 days or longer, with few institutional options for working capital finance. By investing in technology, we've lowered the costs of customer acquisition and credit decision-making, and developed a methodology for timely and transparent financing that can benefit a vastly underserved and unorganized segment," explained Sashank Rishyasringa.

Capital Float offers loans ranging from Rs 3 lac - 30 lac, with terms between 1 - 12 months. Capital Float is the trade name of Zen Lefin Pvt. Ltd., a non-banking finance company (NBFC) registered with the RBI. The company is headquartered in Bangalore.

"Capital Float possesses an outstanding founding team that has built a sophisticated platform that is unique within the Indian small business lending segment. There are numerous global proxies of enormous scale in this model, and we believe that the Capital Float team can build a world-class organization that can alter the market for SME finance in India and beyond," said Kartik Srivatsa of Aspada Investment Advisors.

The Aspada Investment Company which is also based out of Bangalore, is backed with a significant commitment from the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF). Aspada has also invested in end-to-end fresh vegetable supply chain company, Lawrencedale Agri Processing, which operates in South India to aggregate fresh produce at the farm gate and sell to retail consumers in major markets under the LEAF brand; ThinkLink Supply Chain Services, a provider of turnkey project management, design, skill development, and staffing services in India's logistics and supply chain sectors; NeoGrowth Credit, a merchant cash advance business that provides loans to small merchants in India; and Schedulers Logistics, an end-to-end cold chain logistics provider. In addition, Aspada also oversees the portfolio of the SONG Fund, an early stage venture capital firm funded by the Soros Economic Development Fund, Omidyar Network, and Google.

Google to announce Android TV on Google I/O event

Google, the tech giant is all set to announce some interesting news in its upcoming Google I/O. If the rumors are to be believed, the company might unveil its new TV platform Android TV at the June event.

Google is all geared to fight for its space in your living room with its new product. While Google has been successful in most of the fields that it has ventured into, be it the mobile front or Android OS front but unfortunately it hasn’t been that lucky with the TV front. With this product, Google is aiming to nail that screw too.

It’s a platform and not hardware.

Google’s Android TV won’t be like any other TV or device; it would rather act as platform which could be used by manufacturers of set-top boxes and TVs to bring streaming services to Television.

Google had previously launched Google TV which combined the best of both TV and web at the Google I/O of 2010. Some major companies even announced TVs with Google TV immediately after its launch but somehow due to some reasons the Google TV didn’t taste that much success.

Google TV is different from the Android TV in various ways.  While Google TV basically focused on the combination and unison of the existing pay television services with apps. Android TV, on the other hand focuses on Android based video games and online media services.

A boon for Gamers

The Android TV will be a joyride for casual gamers. Google supports games on the new TV and this gives the gamers a great chance to engage in their favorite mobile games on the big television screen.

Roku 3 and Amazon’s Fire TV already make available gaming functionality. Amazon Fire TV even has a separate gaming controller. With Android TV coming into the market, this area can expect to see a lot of competition.

Probable Partners

For Google TV, Google partnered with Samsung and LG in 2010. LG is most likely to be a partner again with the Android TV, as the company is itself in the process of developing its own ultraHD TVs and webOS Smart TV. Companies such as Sony and Haier may be left behind in the consideration for partnership as they don’t have their own platforms.

Easy and Simple Interfaces

The TV will have a horizontal set of scrolling cards which will basically represent different type of content like games, movies, apps and TV shows. There will be a universal search bar where you can either type or speak your search term.

It remains to be seen if Google is able to hit the jackpot in TV industry with its new Android TV.