Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV Merger Cancelled After being in talks for more than eight months, the merger talks between Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV have ended. The merger is not happening over valuation issues. A recent report said that Essel Group is looking for an all-cash deal so that it can buy back ZEEL, however, Airtel Digital TV is willing to have an all-stock deal. When we reported last time, it was said that the merged talks were in the hold, but a new report from Business Standard says the talks have ended and the merger is not happening....

Bharti Airtel, last year in October brought a new smartphone cashback offer for its users. The drive behind this offer was to incentivise customers in India to buy new 4G smartphones and then keep recharging with high-price Airtel plans. This way, Airtel would make its money, increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) figure and also onboard more customers to 4G in India. If you want people to form new habits or change something in their life, you need to give them an incentive....

Bharti Airtel is the only telecom operator in India which has taken the E-band spectrum from the government for backhaul services related to 5G. Telcos had said that the E-band spectrum is going to be very important for them once they start rolling out 5G. A large capacity backhaul is necessary to facilitate Indian consumers with a good 5G experience. But for that, the fiberisation of towers is necessary. Since fiberisation isn’t possible for every tower right away, the telcos can utilise the E-band spectrum (71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz) for backhaul because it is also very much capable of handling large capacity of data....

Even though Google has invested much lesser in Bharti Airtel as compared to Reliance Jio, the former will be able to give a strong competition to Reliance Jio’s affordable 4G device namely ‘JioPhoneNext’, said ICICI Securities in a note. The purpose of Google’s investment in both Jio and Airtel is different. With Airtel, the partnership with the search engine giant will focus on these key areas: 1) making the 4G devices more affordable through subsidies and not manufacturing own devices like Jio; 2) network use-cases with a heavy focus on 5G, and 3) Cloud infrastructure and services....

Puneesh Kumar, Head for Alexa India said, “India’s unique cultural and linguistic diversity has always inspired us to make Alexa more local and relevant for users in the country. Introducing Hindi made Alexa accessible to hundreds of millions of native Hindi speakers. We have made several improvements in Natural Language Understanding.”

Users will be able to stream content at up to 4K UHD resolution with support for Dolby Vision, HDR, and immersive sound with Dolby Atmos. This new Fire TV Cube comes with an HDMI port. When connected with a Set-Top Box (STB), users can simply say ‘Alexa, switch to DTH’, and the TV would switch to the STB content. There’s also USB port for easy connection with compatible devices. The Fire TV Cube comes with support for Wi-Fi 6 technology to ensure that you can get the fastest and smoothest experience....

The movie has been produced by Dharma Productions and also includes some big names, including Anil Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor. Manish Paul and YouTuber turned film actor now – Prajakta Koli is also in the film as an important character. JugJugg Jeeyo OTT Release Date

“The CMA became concerned that people might have tried to repair their phone or replace it because they weren’t aware the software update had caused the handset to slow down,” the watchdog said in a statement on late Wednesday. In addition, people were not able to easily find information about the health of their phone’s battery, which can degrade over time. After the CMA raised its concerns, Apple started to be more upfront with iPhone users....

Apple is aiming at expanding its Independent Repair Programme strategically worldwide, including India. The primary job of this repair programme team will be to take care of all the common issues of Apple devices and repair them. According to an IANS report, on Monday, the company said that the programme would enable repair teams and people to access genuine tools, parts, repair manuals, and diagnostics for all the out-of-warranty repairs....

Apple on Monday unveiled the iPadOS 14, the upcoming OS for iPad featuring new “compact UI” for several Apple’s own apps along with enhanced Apple Pencil experience. The iPadOS 14 was unveiled alongside iOS 14 at the first ever virtual Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). Despite Apple projecting iPadOS as a separate brand from iOS since 2019, the iPadOS 14 and iOS 14 share several similarities. The company highlighted that the new features of iOS 14 including the improvements to Maps, Messages and Safari browser will be available on iPadOS 14....

The new iPad mini and iPad Air come in silver, space gray and gold finishes. The devices (Wi-Fi models only) will arrive later in India. “The iPad family takes two big leaps forward with an all-new 10.5-inch iPad Air that brings high-end size, features and performance at a breakthrough price, and a major upgrade to the 7.9-inch iPad mini, which also brings Apple Pencil, Retina display and the A12 Bionic chip to the many customers that love its compact size,” informed Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing....

While the iPhone 12 was one of the biggest redesigns for iPhones in the last few years, iPhone 13 will come with some of the most-awaited and first seen features for iPhones. Things such as a high-refresh-rate display and more are expected to make their way on the iPhone 13 series smartphones. One area where Apple really needs to make strides to compete with Android smartphones is the battery segment....

According to MacRumors, Apple will add iPhone 6 Plus to its vintage product list starting from 2022. This means that the company has discontinued its cycle of production and sales in all markets. However, as a relief for the customers who continue to use Apple iPhone 6 Plus, authorised Apple service centres will offer repair for the product for up to seven years, subject to the availability of its parts....

Apple is contributing to the education system of India in its own way. The Cupertino tech giant is offering customers; not just limited to students but also the parents buying for their children, teachers, and educational staff at all levels free AirPods. According to an IANS report, the offer is already live for customers in India. Any eligible student going to college or a university for higher education can get the benefit of the offer from Apple....

When Apple Maps was first released, it received a lot of criticism for its errors. However, the firm has since made adjustments to the software, making it more accurate than before and a real rival to Google Maps. The corporation is now introducing a new function to Apple Maps that is absent from Google Maps, but users won’t like it. The business is getting ready to begin running commercials in the mobile application the next year....

“MDM does have legitimate uses, but it is incredibly risky – and a clear violation of App Store policies – for a private, consumer-focused app business to install MDM control over a customer’s device,” the iPhone-maker wrote. Research has shown that MDM profiles could be used by hackers to gain access for malicious purposes. “Parents shouldn’t have to trade their fears of their children’s device usage for risks to privacy and security, and the App Store should not be a platform to force this choice....

Apple, a globally major consumer electronics brand, was set to launch a new store for the Indian market. Apple currently has one online store in India. All the other stores physically present are with authorised resellers. The company was going to open a new store in August - September of this year. But it looks like that will not happen. Apple’s first flagship store in India has been pushed ahead a second time, said an ET Bureau report....

It has been rumoured that Apple’s suppliers are getting ready for the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops. The bulk production of these upcoming laptops, which are anticipated to have new 5nm chipsets, will begin in Q4 of 2022. Additionally, according to the research, the shipments of MacBook Pro laptops now being sold have already begun to decline. But among the other top six PC brands in 2022, Apple might still have the smallest fall....

The much-awaited Asus 8z smartphone was launched in India on February 28. The flagship smartphone from the maker comes at a price range where it competes with the likes of the OnePlus 9RT which was launched by the brand in January. Both the devices come with similar features as well as fall in the same price range. However, it could be tricky while making a purchase choice between the two devices....

Asus Zenfone Max M2 New Pricing It is worth noting that the Asus Zenfone Max M2 comes in two variants. The first variant of the phone comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. The old price of this variant of Asus Zenfone Max M2 was Rs 8,499 and the new price of the phone has been set at Rs 7,999 meaning a Rs 500 drop in pricing. The second variant of the Asus Zenfone Max M2 is the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant, the old price of which was Rs 10,499 and now it is retailing for Rs 9,499 thus signalling a price drop of Rs 1,000....