Knowledge Update

New York, April 13 (IANS) Photo-sharing service Snapchat is launching a new location-based product that will allow businesses see whether people go to stores after seeing advertisements. "With the new ad product, 'Snap to Store', marketers will be able to use the tool to measure whether their ad campaigns on the Snapchat app actually drive users to specific locations, like stores, restaurants and movie theaters," The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The company has been testing its new product since last year with a handful of marketers, including Paramount Pictures and 7-Eleven. In terms of privacy, Snapchat says it only uses location data when people open the app and aggregates data from at least 1,000 Snapchat users into categories like gyms or restaurants, not specific venues. The company is also launching a dashboard that calculates incremental visitors as well as demographic information like age, gender and region. "Access to Snap to Store is available free to advertisers that reach a certain spending threshold with Snapchat, though the company declined to specify what that spending threshold is," the report added.

New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) Google has introduced Areo, one single app for food delivery and home services, currently live in Bengaluru and Mumbai on Android devices. "Areo lets users search for local restaurants and home services like electricians, plumbers, and painters, and schedule their deliveries or appointments through the app," the company said in its Google Play store. The app also provides customer reviews of the available companies, eateries to help you make informed choices from product quality to timeliness of service. The app has pay by card, netbanking or cash on delivery services.

​New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) Yahoo India on Monday unveiled Yahoo Storytellers -- a new content marketing solution to help brands and agencies in India meet high expectations and drive engagement among consumers. It will bring Yahoo's editorial expertise, extensive data and native advertising through Yahoo Gemini -- a marketplace for mobile and native ads. "With Yahoo Storytellers, we're offering a better way for brands to create powerful content that's informed by data and engages the right audience." said Gurmit Singh, Vice President and Managing Director, Yahoo India. Yahoo Storytellers will help brands build content consulting services, development of premium video, a full range of editorial content and influencer activations across social platforms. In India, Yahoo has partnered with multiple brands to help them create successful campaigns, including Accenture, Amazon, Madhya Pradesh Tourism and Tourism Australia, among others.

​New York, April 7 (IANS) Customers are more satisfied with Microsoft's Surface tablets than they are with Apple's iPad and tablets built by Samsung, LG, Amazon, Acer and Asus, a study by US-based marketing information services company J.D. Power said on Friday. According to J.D. Power 2017 US Tablet Satisfaction Study, Microsoft is the highest performer in three areas: variety of pre-loaded applications; internet connectivity; and availability of manufacturer-supported accessories. "The Microsoft Surface platform has expanded what tablets can do, and it sets the bar for customer satisfaction," said Jeff Conklin, Vice President, Service Industries, J.D. Power. Additionally, Microsoft has the highest performance in three styling and design attributes: size of tablet; quality of materials used; and attractiveness of tablet design. Customers who want the newest technology -- early adopters -- are picking up Microsoft Surface tablets instead of iPads. The US Tablet Satisfaction Study, now in its sixth year, measures customer satisfaction with tablets across five factors (in order of importance): performance (28 per cent); ease of operation (22 per cent); features (22 per cent); styling and design (17 per cent); and cost (11 per cent). The 2017 study is based on experiences evaluated by 2,238 tablet owners who have owned their current device for less than one year.

​Seoul, April 7 (IANS) The combined sales of Samsung Electronics new flagship Galaxy S8 series, which will officially hit the shelves later this month, are expected to surpass the 40-million-unit-mark, industry data showed on Friday. South Korea's brokerage houses estimated the sales of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus to be around 43-60 million units, Yonhap news agency reported. Eugene Investment & Securities Co predicted the highest figure of 60 million, while Mirae Asset Daewoo Co expected 51 million units. Samsung Securities Co, a financial arm of Samsung, forecast 45 million phones being sold overall. "As for the Galaxy S models, we can say that a figure around 35 million units can be considered to fall below expectations, while that above 45 million is robust," said Hwang Min-sung, a researcher from Samsung Securities Co. "This year's sales of the Galaxy S8 are not expected to beat the 48 million units posted by the Galaxy S7 last year," Hwang added.' Samsung launched S8 in two screen sizes -- the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus -- and will be available from April 21. The device has a bezel-less curved edge "infinity display" covered with pristine glass and a 12MP rear camera with multi-frame processing and optical image stabilisation. It has an 8MP auto-focus front shooter. Available in five different colours, the device has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core (2.35GHz quad + 1.7GHz quad) processor. For models that will be available in countries other than the US, Samsung has used Exynos octa-core (2.35 GHz quad + 1.9 GHZ quad) processor. The company has also upped the security feature with iris scanner, face recognition and fingerprint scanner -- moved to the back of the device -- to unlock the device.

New York, March 29 (IANS) After much speculation over its built and specifications over past few months, South Korean giant Samsung on Wednesday launched its flagship device, Galaxy S8, that has a voice assistant. The device comes in two variants with different screen sizes -- the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus - and will be available from April 21. Registrations begin from March 30. The device might be priced from $720 (approximately Rs 47,000). Samsung will release these devices in India in the coming months. Samsung also revealed Bixby, a smart voice assistant to rival Apple's Siri and Google's Assistant. With a perfect amalgam of voice, vision and touch, Bixby can search restaurants, take screenshots and even book a cab for you. The technology giant has used the best hardware and provided the best features available to date in the device. The device has a bezel-less curved edge "infinity display" covered with pristine glass and a 12MP rear camera with multi-frame processing and optical image stabilisation. It has an 8MP auto-focus front shooter. The device is IP68 rated, meaning it is water and dust resistant. The company has also upped the security feature with iris scanner, face recognition and fingerprint scanner - moved to the back of the device - to unlock the device. The home button has been shifted beneath the "infinity display". Available in five different colours, the device has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Octa core (2.35 GHz Quad + 1.7 GHZ Quad) processor. For models that will be available in countries other than the US, Samsung has used Exynos Octa core (2.35 GHz Quad + 1.9 GHZ Quad) processor. According to The Verge, while Galaxy S8 comes with a 3,000 mAh battery, the Galaxy S8 Plus is fitted with 3,500 mAh battery pack. The devices run on Android 7.0 Nougat and have USB-C and 3.5mm headphone jacks. The company also launched Samsung Connect app that would allow users to control a number of internet-connected home devices such as TVs or refrigerators. It also unveiled new Gear 360 camera. There's a lot riding on Samsung S8 devices due to the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Samsung ultimately killed that smartphone after two recalls, both related to issues with faulty batteries. Earlier this month, Samsung launched two new smartphones in 'Galaxy A' series -- 5.7-inch Galaxy A7 and 5.2-inch Galaxy A5 in India which were priced at Rs 33,490 and Rs 28,990, respectively. Samsung also joined the 'go digital' bandwagon, and last week unveiled Samsung Pay, the company's flagship mobile payments service, in India. At MWC in Barcelona this year, Samsung announced its innovative "I&G (Infill & Growth) Project" for Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd that will help expand both the current network capacity as well as network coverage.

​In today's era of stiff competition, when companies are looking for marketing opportunities everywhere, and trying to market their products even in started markets through innovative ideas, rural market presents a huge opportunity. Rural market is large both in terms of number of potential buyers and demand for products and services. Rural markets are growing very rapidly in emerging econoimies.

Shanghai, March 27 (IANS) A China-made wearable robot, which can help disabled people walk, is expected to enter the market in one to two years, the developer has said. The Fourier X1, developed by Chinese technology start-up Fourier Intelligence, was unveiled in Shanghai earlier this month, Xinhua news agency reported. Gu Jie, CEO of Fourier, said the Fourier X1 weighed 20 kg and applied industrial design into the exoskeleton. It can assist with walking for people who have had a stroke or spinal cord injuries. He said the company aimed to make the robot more affordable than foreign models such as Israel-made ReWalk and Japanese-made Cyberdyne currently on the market. Prices of the Fourier X1 robots are expected to be a third cheaper than similar foreign models, which are sold between 600,000 yuan ($87,000) and 1 million yuan ($1,45000) each. Gu said the company was working to test and improve the robot's various functions such as sitting, standing, walking and climbing stairs. The Fourier X1 has four motors, two for the hips and two for the knees, as well as four batteries inside that enable it to work for seven hours. China has 80 million disabled people, many of them unable to walk. The global market for walk-assisting exoskeleton robots is estimated to exceed $1.8 billion by 2020.

New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Marking its entry into the mid-segment smartphone category, domestic mobile manufacturing company Lava on Wednesday launched Z25 and Z10 smartphones at Rs 18,000 and Rs 11,500, respectively. Lava Z25 sports 5.5-inch 2.5D-curved HD IPS display. The dual-sim device is powered by an Octacore processor, supported by 4GB and 32GB on-board memory with 3020 mAh (ATL) battery. The phone runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0 operating system. The device sports 13MP rear camera and an 8MP selfie camera. "Lava Z25 and Z10 are packed with premium features of camera, fingerprint, design and durability that go well beyond the conventional boundaries in this price segment," said Gaurav Nigam, Product Head, Lava International. Lava Z10 sports a 5 inch 2.5D curved HD IPS Display, an 8MP rear camera and 5MP selfie shooter. It is also powered by Octacore processor and runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0 OS. This device has 2620 mAh (ATL) battery with 'Power Saver mode' and ‘Super Power Saver mode'. Lava Z25 and Lava Z10 will be available in select retail stores in Delhi from March 23 and in other cities in a few weeks' time, the company said.

New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) Chinese smartphone maker Gionee on Tuesday launched a new selfie-focused smartphone in India that comes with a 16MP front camera with selfie flash and houses a 4,010mAh battery. While the pre-booking for A1 starts from March 3, the price of the device is yet to be announced. "Today's generation views the world from their front camera and they live for creating and celebrating experiences out of moments," said Arvind R Vohra, Country CEO and MD, Gionee India, in a statement. The device is powered by 2GHz octa-core P10 Helios processor paired with 4GB RAM, has 64GB internal memory that can be expanded up to 256GB and runs on Amigo 4.0 on top of Android 7.0 Nougat. A1 is equipped with a fingerprint sensor and claims to unlock the phone in just 0.2 seconds. For humid conditions, the sensor unlocks the device even with moist fingers. A1 has a full-metal body made out of "A6000 aircraft grade material" that is used in making premium cars and aircraft. The 4G and VOLTE enabled smartphone also offers a host of amazing features such as Split Screen, Maxx Audio and Virus detection among other key features.