Netflix unveils mobile only subscription plan in India at Rs 199 per month

Aiming to come close to its rivals like Amazon Prime and Hotstar in India, American video streaming giant Netflix on Wednesday unveiled a mobile subscription plan for India at Rs 199 per month.

The plan will enable users to view content in standard definition (SD) on one smartphone or tablet at a time.

This is Netflix’s fourth Indian plan, in addition to the existing basic, standard and premium plans which are priced between Rs 499 and Rs 799.

“Our members in India watch more on their mobiles than members any other country in the world — and they love to download our shows and films. We believe this new plan will make Netflix even more accessible and better suit people who like to watch on their smartphones and tablets — both on the go and at home,” Ajay Arora, Director, Product Innovation, Netflix, told reporters here. Read Complete Article

Under TPV’s banner, Philips eyes spot among top 5 Indian TV producers

Taiwan-based TPV Technology is eyeing a slot amongst the top five television producers in India after it relaunched the Philips brand towards the end of last year.

Sony, along with Samsung and LG, make up 75 per cent of the market with Panasonic and other brands comprise the remaining market share. TPV, which will have its first year of full operations after relaunching the Philips brand, is aiming for a 8-10 per cent market share by the end of 2020.

Under an agreement, TPV has global licensing rights to manufacture and sell Philips branded TV and audio, while Philips receives royalty. Back in 2012, Philips and TPV Technology formed TP Vision where Philips had a 30 per cent stake and the rest was owned by TPV. It had licensing rights to develop, manufacture and market Philips branded TV sets in Europe, Russia, Middle East, Latin America and selected countries in Asia-Pacific. Later, in 2014, Philips sold its stake to TPV. However, in India, the agreement was inked last year.

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Waking up early? You may be less likely to develop breast cancer: Study

Women who wake up early may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than the females sleeping for longer hours, a study has found.

Using a technique called Mendelian randomisation, researchers analysed genetic variants associated with three particular sleep traits — morning or evening preference (chronotype), sleep duration, and insomnia.

They analysed databases of more than four lakh women from two studies — UK Biobank study and Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) study.

In observational analysis of UK Biobank data, morning preference was associated with a slightly lower risk of breast cancer (one less woman per 100) than evening preference, whereas there was little evidence for an association with sleep duration and insomnia symptoms.

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Smokers have more complications after skin cancer surgery, says study

Complications after skin cancersurgery may be more common in smokers and former smokers, a US study suggests.

Researchers examined outcomes after “Mohs reconstruction,” a procedure to remove a skin cancer lesion. Once the cancer is removed, often from the head or neck, surgeons may close the site using a flap made from surrounding tissue or a graft of skin taken from another area of the body.

For the study, researchers examined outcomes for 1,008 patients who had Mohs reconstruction with flaps or grafts, including 128 current smokers and 385 former smokers.

Compared to people who never smoked, current smokers were more than nine times as likely to have complications like infections, clots known as hematomas, uncontrolled bleeding or dead skin tissue. Ex-smokers were more than three times as likely to have these acute complications.

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Oppo K3 sale on Amazon India starts at 12 noon: Price, launch offers, specs

Chinese electronics maker BKK Electronics’ smartphone brand Oppo recently launched the Oppo K3 in India. The smartphone goes on sale today (July 23), exclusively on e-commerce platform Amazon India

. The phone boasts an elevating selfie camera, AMOLED screen, in-display fingerprint sensor, VOOC 3.0 fast-charging technology and Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 system-on-chip. It comes in two RAM and storage configurations — 6GB/64GB and 8GB/128GB — priced at Rs 16,990 and Rs 19,990, respectively.

As part of an introductory scheme, Amazon is offering a Rs 1,000 instant cashback in the form of Amazon Pay balance on both RAM and storage variants. The cashback brings down the phone’s effective cost to Rs 15,990 and Rs 18,990 for 6GB/64GB and 8GB/128GB variants, respectively. The phone also gets an instant discount of up to Rs 1,000 on Axis Bank debit and credit card transactions. Additionally, both the variants come bundled with additional benefits worth Rs 7,050 from Jio, discounts worth Rs 12,000 on OYO and gift vouchers worth Rs 5,000 from Lenskart. The phone is also eligible for no-cost equated monthly instalments (EMIs) of three and six months.

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Mi 5th anniversary sale: Discount on Xiaomi phones, TVs and other products

Chinese technology company Xiaomi is hosting a sale to celebrate the fifth year of doing business in India. Dubbed the Mi fifth anniversary sale, the three-day discount festival started on July 23 at 12 am and will continue until 11:59 PM on July 25. The sale is currently active on the Mi online store, partner e-commerce platforms and offline stores, including Mi Homes and Mi Stores. As part of the sale, the company is providing discountsand other offers on several products, including smartphones, televisions and ecosystem products. Here is a look at the best offers:

Smartphones

Redmi 7: The company’s budget offering is available with a discount of Rs 2,500 on 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage variant. This brings down the phone’s effective cost to Rs 7,499.Redmi Note 7S: The most affordable smartphone with a 48-megapixel camera is getting a discount of Rs 2,000. It is now available at Rs 9,999 and Rs 11,999 for 3GB RAM/32GB storage and 4GB RAM/64GB storage variants, respectively.

Redmi Y3: This selfie-centric smartphone is available at a discount of Rs 3,000. The 3GB/32GB and 4GB/64GB variants are being sold for Rs 8,999 and Rs 10,999, respectively.

Disney India goes all out to serve ‘The Lion King’ with local flavours

After tasting success with its localisation strategy for The Jungle Book in the summer of 2016, Disney India has gone all out to market the latest live-action flick The Lion King.

With a sharp focus on localisation beyond Hindi, and ramped-up investments for the India release, the film expects to attract more footfalls and set the cash registers ringing in the post-World Cup weekend. The efforts are paying off, given the movie has collected Rs 11 crore (net after tax) on the first day, setting it up for a good run at the box office.

“The Lion King is high on nostalgia for most of us, and that has translated to robust advance sales. The film has started strong and is set for a very healthy weekend. Simba won’t have to wait to be king of the Box Office this weekend,” says Kamal Gianchandani, CEO, PVR Pictures, and chief of Business Planning and Strategy.

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How inflation played spoilsport in box office record of ‘Avengers: Endgame’

Marvel’s gambit to propel “Avengers: Endgame” to become the top-grossing movie of all time finally paid off. The studio re-released the final film in its “Avengers” series earlier this month with extra footage and a post-credit tribute in an effort to pass James Cameron’s 2009 film “Avatar” as the world box office record holder.

As of July 21, “Avengers: Endgame” had collected US$2.79 billion in worldwide ticket sales, edging out “Avatar” by around $500,000.

Marketing and bombast aside, however, the reality is “Endgame” isn’t even close to the real record-holder – nor is, for that matter, “Avatar.” The reason why gives me an excuse to offer a short lesson on inflation.

Why adjust for inflation

Prices from year to year cannot be directly compared with one another because the cost to buy things changes dramatically over time.

For example, in nominal terms, it costs more today to buy movie tickets, popcorn and soda and get to the theater than it did in the past, while it costs much less to call your friends and invite them to come along.

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TikTok parent ByteDance plans to set up international data centre in India

China-based ByteDance, the parent company of popular short video application TikTok, will set up a data centre in India, becoming one of the first social media companies to do so in the country, the company said in a statement shared exclusively with Business Standard.

“India is one of our strongest markets and we are happy to be part of the mainframe of Digital India in 15 languages. Since the launch of our platforms in India, we have stored the data of our Indian users at industry-leading third party data centres in the US and Singapore…We now believe the time has come to take the next big leap,” the statement read.

The company has set an internal target of 6-18 months to set up the data centre, Business Standard has learnt. The plan is part of the $1 billion ByteDance has recently committed to the Indian market over the next three years.

The move is also significant because of the Indian government’s ongoing focus on data localisation, as well as the increasing number of issues that TikTok is facing in the country.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ displaces ‘Avatar’ to become highest-grossing film

Avengers: Endgame, the concluding chapter in a Marvel superhero saga from Walt Disney, toppled James Cameron’s Avatar to become the highest-grossing film of all time.

Disney rereleased the film with new footage in late June for a final push as Endgame closed in on the record. It has now taken in an estimated $2.790.2 billion in theaters worldwide as of Sunday, the company said, ahead of the $2,789.7 billion accumulated by Avatar a decade ago.

Grabbing the No. 1 spot caps an extraordinary run for Marvel and Avengers in particular. The four pictures in the superhero mash-up averaged $652.5 million in domestic ticket sales, and the 23 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, dating back to Iron Man in 2008, rank as the top-grossing movie franchise.

The Marvel characters have continued their run of successes this summer with Sony’s Spider-Man: Far From Home dominating theaters now. As of July 14, the film had taken in $847 million in worldwide ticket sales.

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