Amazon, Flipkart festive season sale: Top five deals on premium smartphones

Both the e-commerce players have already unveiled the upcoming deals, which includes discounted prices, exchange offers, bank offers and no cost equal monthly instalments

Festive season is around the corner, and like every year, global e-commerce giant Amazon and home-grown e-commerce portal Flipkart are hosting their biggest sale ( Great Indian Festival and Big Billion Day sale, respectively) starting from October 10. Before the sale, however, both the e-commerce players have already unveiled the upcoming deals, which includes discounted prices, exchange offers, bank offers and no cost EMIs. While most of the deals are applicable on budget and midrange smartphones, premium devices such as OnePlus 6, Samsung Galaxy S9, Asus Zenfone 5Z, etc. would also be a part of sale deals.

Mobile Offer on Amazon

Here are deals on five premium smartphones to look out for during upcoming sale

OnePlus 6

This Amazon-exclusive smartphone was launched earlier this year in three RAM and storage configurations. Priced at Rs 34,999 for the base model with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, the OnePlus 6 would be available at a discounted price of Rs 29,999 – Rs 5,000 less than the original price. As a part of festive sale offer, Amazon would also be offering one-time screen replacement add-on worth Rs 12,000, along with several exchange offer and no cost EMI.

Samsung Galaxy S9

This flagship smartphone from the Galaxy S-series was also launched earlier this year at Rs 62,500. During the festive sale offer, Amazon would be offering flat Rs 19,510 discount, which brings down the effective cost of this smartphone to Rs 42,990. Amazon is also offering Rs 3,000 addition exchange value discount, along with nine months no cost EMI.

ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy S9+ review: King of low-light photos

Asus Zenfone 5Z

This Flipkart-exclusive smartphone was launched in three RAM and storage configurations – 6GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB – at Rs 29,999, Rs 32,999 and Rs 36,999, respectively. In the festive sale, all three variants would get an upfront discount of Rs 5,000, which would bring down the effective cost of all three variants to to Rs 24,999, Rs 27,999 and Rs 31,999. Flipkart is also offering 10 per cent instant discount to HDFC card holders, along with no cost EMI, mobile protection at Rs 399 and assured buyback value of 50 per cent, if exchanged within eight months, at Rs 199. As a part of sale offers, the company is also offering additional exchange value of Rs 3,000 on OnePlus devices. (more)

Amazon may buy 10% in Future Retail for $600 mn, expand offline retail biz

The move comes days after Walmart acquired a majority stake for $16 billion home-grown e-commerce firm Flipkart at a valuation of around $20 billion.

Looking to expand and consolidate its presence in the Indian offline retail market, American e-commerce giant Amazon is in talks with Kishore Biyani-controlled Future Retail to acquire a 10 per cent stake in it, according to a FactorDaily.comreport.

The report comes days after Amazon's global rival Walmart acquired a majority stake for $16 billion in home-grown e-commerce firm and Amazon's main rival in India, Flipkart, at a valuation of around $20 billion. With an increased burden of competition from Flipkart because of Walmart's entry into the sector, Amazon is looking to make inroads into the offline retail sector to enhance its position in India's retail space.

Here are some of the details of Amazon-Future Retail deal as reported by FactorDaily.com :

1. Future Retail's valuation: The deal values Kishore Biyani's Future Retail, the company that owns brick-and-mortar retail outlets like Big Bazaar and Easy Day, at about $6 billion (Rs 40,872 crore).

2. Deal value: Amazon may spend around $500-$600 million to acquire a 10 per cent stake in Future Retail, whose market cap is around $4 billion.

3. Coping up with the competition: After Walmart's backdoor entry into India's e-retail sector through Flipkart, competition is expected to get fierce in the country's e-retail space. To expand its base in the Indian consumer market, Amazon is looking to enhance its business profile through the offline retail channel.

4. Amazon in India: According to a Citi Research report, Indian e-commerce sector is expected to be worth $202 billion in the next 10 years. Amazon is expected to be a major part of this growth, with a 35 per cent market share. The current valuation of Amazon India is pegged at $16 billion.

5. Amazon's previous investments in offline retail: Amazon had previously picked up a 5 per cent stake in Shoppers Stop for $26.35 million (Rs 179.25 crore).

6. Other buyers in the race: Amazon is not the only one eying a stake in Future Retail. Jack Ma's Alibaba and Walmart have also shown interest in it. Discussions are underway and any decision is yet to be taken.

7. What makes Future Retail a good investment target for Amazon? With a series of acquisitions, Biyani has consolidated Future Retail's business and it could be a perfect choice for Amazon to enter into the offline market. Future Retail has 773 stores across the country, Big Bazaar and Easy Day combined. As Amazon wants to build a food and grocery business, it can capitalise on the fact that Future Retail gets 35 per cent of its business from garments and grocery and has a large number of in-house brands in 68 categories.

HomePod is no match for Alexa. Is Apple losing the smart speaker plot?

HomePod isn't really a smart speaker - not yet at least. Siri currently can't deliver on one of the three most critical abilities

The war for your digital home is waging. Apple has finally followed Amazon, Google and Microsoft by launching a smart speaker with a voice-controlled artificial intelligence assistant. Yet even though the “ Apple HomePod ” is another technological marvel, there’s a chance Apple is already losing the battle.

The competition isn’t just through the sound quality of the speaker – but the other things that users can do with it. The most common requests to AI personal assistants such as Apple’s Siri are reportedly to play music, read the weather forecast and set timers or reminders.

But the capabilities of these assistants are increasing at lightning speed. This doesn’t just rely on the sophistication of the artificial intelligence involved but also what other technology the assistant can link to. And given Apple’s tendency to reject open connections to other company’s systems, it may find it has some serious catching up to do.

Apple’s HomePod is entering an already busy marketplace. Probably the most famous smart speaker is Amazon’s Echo, which runs the AI assistant Alexa. Because Amazon opened up its system for anyone to write software programs for it, Alexa now has over 25,000 specific capabilities or “skills” in its US version alone, up from 5,000 just over a year ago. It can now read out recipes, order a pizza, turn on the lights or tell jokes. Partly because it was the first major smart speaker released, Echo has a greater depth of capabilities than any of its rivals.

Google Home, which features the creatively named Google Assistant, can link to multiple Google accounts so you can check your calendar or manage reminders. But it also links to your Android phone so you can make calls through the speaker or view on a screen the results of internet searches you ask it to make.

Microsoft has partnered with electronics manufacturer Harman Kardon to create a speaker called Invoke powered by Microsoft’s Cortana assistant. It also allows you to check your calendar and reminders, as well as make Skype calls, but only for one Microsoft account. Its AI capabilities are also not nearly as developed as either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.

Apple is taking a different approach to its rivals, hoping to corner the higher end of the smart speaker market and encourage consumers to part with more money, as it has done very successfully with its other products. The HomePod delivers high quality sound using seven physical speakers arranged in a circle to create a virtual stereo effect, directing different parts of the sound in different directions.

OnePlus 5T sold within 5 minutes during preview sale on Amazon

OnePlus 5T also broke the company's launch-day sales record and became the company's fastest-selling device in six hours

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus on Friday said it sold out its newly-launched OnePlus 5T within five minutes of the special one-hour preview sale on Amazon.

"We have seen unprecedented customer response to the early access sales, in India as well as globally. Hundreds of fans stormed our 'Experience Stores' in Bengaluru and Delhi," Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India, said in a statement.

"We are happy to announce that OnePlus 5T will go on open sale, starting on November 28, across all channels including Amazon.in, Never Settle - OnePlus.net, select Croma stores and 'Experience Stores' in Bengaluru and Delhi," Agarwal added.

OnePlus 5T also broke the company's launch-day sales record and became the company's fastest-selling device in six hours, the company said.

The device marks the introduction of a 6-inch "Full Optic AMOLED Display" with an 18:9 aspect ratio to deliver a more immersive viewing experience.

The device features a new "Sunlight Display" that adapts automatically to harsh light.

OnePlus has moved its fingerprint sensor to the back of the device.

The OnePlus 5T comes with the same main camera as that of OnePlus 5 but also houses an improved secondary camera for superior low-light photography.

The device has super-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. The "Adreno 540 GPU" boosts graphical performance.

Amazon lent $1 billion to merchants to boost sales on its marketplace

Loans range from $1,000 to $750,000. Sellers have said interest rates are between 6% and 14%

Company News : Amazon. com Inc has stepped up lending to third-party sellers on its site who are looking to grow their business, a company executive said in an interview on Wednesday.

The e-commerce giant has doled out more than $1 billion in small loans to sellers in the past 12 months, compared with more than $1.5 billion it lent from 2011 through 2015, said Peeyush Nahar, vice president for Amazon Marketplace. Sellers have used the money to expand their inventory or discount items on Amazon, he said.

Boosting sales for third-party merchants is lucrative for Amazon, which takes a cut of transactions on its site.

It also has made a business out of handling more leg work for sellers, too. They pay Amazon to fulfill their orders and boost their placement in search results, without which sellers might struggle to grab shoppers' attention.

More than 20,000 small businesses have received a loan from Amazon and more than half of those have taken a second loan from the company, it said.

Loans range from $1,000 to $750,000. Sellers have said interest rates are between 6 percent and 14 percent.

Rivals, including eBay Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, now are doubling down on their marketplace businesses, but loans may help keep sellers close to Amazon's orbit.

"We do tell them it's to help them grow on the Amazon Marketplace," Nahar said.

Traditional lenders shied away from small merchants after the 2008 financial crisis, which created an opening for other sources of financing. While this exposes Amazon to additional credit risk, the company has near real-time data on sellers' businesses and access to their customer reviews, which are helpful in deciding whether to make a loan.

The loan program is invitation-only.

Amazon has issued loans to sellers in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan.

The company has said it would expand to other countries where it operates marketplaces, such as Canada, France and China. On the rollout's timing, Nahar said, "Stay tuned."

Sony Xperia XZ Premium with 4K screen launched in India at Rs 59,990

On pre-booking from June 2 to June 11, you get Rs 8,990 SRS-XB20 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker for free

Sony India has launched in the country its flagship smartphone, the Xperia XZ Premium, at Rs 59,990. The smartphone, the first to feature a whopping 4K display and a powerful 19-megapixel camera capable of recording incredible slow motion videos, had been unveiled during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017.

In terms of specifications, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium offers top of the line innards. The smartphone sports a 5.5-inch high dynamic range (HDR)-ready display, with 4K (2160 x 3840) resolution and covered with Gorilla Glass 5 for protection from scratches and accidental drops. Powering the device is Qualcomm latest Snapdragon 835 processor that features Snapdragon X16 LTE modem, which supports a speed of up to 1 Gbps, and Adreno 540 graphic processing unit (GPU) for smoother graphics.

Also Read : Micromax launches VoLTE-ready Yu Yureka Black with 4 GB RAM for Rs 8,999

The major attraction of the device is its 19-megapixel rear camera, capable of recording slow-motion video in 960 frames per second (FPS). There are multitudes of extra camera features for photography enthusiasts and professionals which make the Xperia XZ Premium a heavy-weight in its league.

The Xperia XZ Premium boots Android Nougat v7.1 out of the box and features 4 GB of RAM, besides 64 GB of built-in storage expandable via microSD card. The phone is fitted with a 3,230 mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 3.0 and an adaptive charging layer on top for quicker battery refill. The Xperia XZ Premium is IP65/68-certified, so it can withstand water and dust abuse with ease.

Pre-booking of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium will open from June 2 and go on till June 11. Sony is offering a SRS-XB20 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker, worth Rs 8,990, for those pre-booking the smartphone during the offer period. The smartphone will go on sale at all Sony Center, select retail outlets and Online exclusively on Amazon.com.

Xiaomi Redmi 4 sale begins on Amazon: All you need to know about the device

The Redmi 4 is a capable smartphone with a perfect screen size and resolution. Watch hands-on review

Xiaomi's latest budget offering, the Xiaomi Redmi 4, went on sale at 12 noon on Tuesday, exclusively on Amazon India. In the first flash sale that had taken place on May 23, the smartphone had seen a huge interest from buyers and registered a record sales number of a whopping 250,000 units within the first eight minutes.

According to Amazon. in, the Xiaomi Redmi 4 had recorded more than 10 million hits per minute on the site, after having received some 2.3 million ‘notify me’ alerts from customers since the launch announcement on May 16.

The dual-sim budget smartphone with VoLTE capabilities is the latest offering from Xiaomi and offers an all-round performance. The Xiaomi Redmi 4 smartphone is available in three storage and RAM options – 16GB/2GB, 32GB/3GB and 64GB/4GB -- which makes it a perfect smartphone option for people moving from feature phones to smartphones or those preferring budget smartphones with ample storage and RAM.

The base model of the device, with 16 GB of storage and 2 GB of RAM, is priced at Rs 6,999.

Business Standard reviewed the device to check how it matched against its tall claims. Here is a detailed review of the device:

The made-in-India Redmi 4 smartphone is the latest addition to Xiaomi’s entry-level Redmi series and succeeds the popular Xiaomi Redmi 3S and 3S Prime, the smartphone that has recorded the highest ever online sales numbers in India – 4 million units in just nine months – according to the company. Read more

क्रिकेट जगत में क्रांतिकारी परिवर्तन लाने वाले इंडियन प्रीमियर लीग के 10वें साल में कई बदलावों की दरकार महसूस होती है

क्रिकेट जगत में क्रांतिकारी परिवर्तन लाने वाले इंडियन प्रीमियर लीग के 10वें साल में कई बदलावों की दरकार महसूस होती है

पिछले साल इंडियन प्रीमियर लीग (आईपीएल) शुरू होने से पहले ट्वेंटी-20 क्रिकेट के इस टूर्नामेंट को बेहद सख्त इम्तिहान माना जा रहा था। ऐसा मानना गलत भी नहीं था क्योंकि मार्च के आखिरी दिनों में जब यह टूर्नामेंट शुरू हुआ था, उस समय भारत के खिलाडिय़ों को एक के बाद एक दिग्गज अंतरराष्टï्रीय टीमों के खिलाफ बीस-बीस ओवरों के मुकाबले खेलते हुए तीन महीने हो चुके थे। उन तीन महीनों में भारत ने ऑस्ट्रेलिया और श्रीलंका को टी-20 मुकाबलों में धूल चटाई और बांग्लादेश में टी-20 एशिया कप में खिताबी जीत भी दर्ज की। उसके बाद भी उन्हें आराम नहीं मिला और टी-20 विश्व कप में सभी से दो-दो हाथ करते हुए टीम सेमीफाइनल तक पहुंचने में कामयाब रही। उसके बावजूद आईपीएल बेहद मनोरंजक एवं रोमांचक रहा।

उस आईपीएल की खास बात यह थी कि उच्चतम न्यायालय की तरफ से नियुक्त न्यायमूर्ति आर एम लोढ़ा समिति की सिफारिशें आने के बाद वह पहला आईपीएल टूर्नामेंट था। खास बात यह भी थी कि उस टूर्नामेंट से ठीक पहले चेन्नई सुपरकिंग्स और राजस्थान रॉयल्स की दिग्गज टीमों को टूर्नामेंट से बाहर कर दिया गया था। उनकी जगह दो नई टीमों राइजिंग पुणे सुपरजाइंट्स और गुजरात लॉयंस को शामिल किया गया था। ऐसी सूरत में 2016 के टूर्नामेंट की कामयाबी को लेकर चिंताएं होना लाजिमी था। चिंता उस समय बढ़ भी गई, जब उसे शुरुआत में टेलीविजन पर उतने दर्शक नहीं मिले, जितने उससे पिछले सालों में मिलते आए थे।

लेकिन दो हफ्ते के भीतर ही इस टी-20 लीग का खुमार एक बार फिर पूरे मुल्क पर चढ़ गया और टीवी रेटिंग एक बार फिर चढऩे लगीं। टूर्नामेंट खत्म होने पर पता चला कि लीग के दर्शकों की संख्या साल भर पहले के आंकड़े से तकरीबन 88 फीसदी बढ़कर 36.12 करोड़ तक पहुंच गई थी। टूर्नामेंट के पहले साल यानी 2008 के संस्करण में दर्शकों की संख्या से तुलना करें तो 2016 में तकरीबन ढाई गुना दर्शक आईपीएल को हासिल हुए थे। दर्शकों के साथ ही विज्ञापन से होने वाली कमाई के मामले में भी प्रदर्शन बहुत शानदार रहा। पिछले साल आईपीएल को प्रायोजकों के विज्ञापनों ने तकरीबन 1,100 करोड़ रुपये की आय हासिल हुई थी। इन आकंड़ों ने एक बार फिर साबित कर दिया कि आईपीएल अपने रास्ते में आने वाली तमाम बाधाओं से पार पाने में कामयाब रहा है। Read More

Flipkart's largest unit posts hefty revenue growth, cuts losses

Any reduction in losses could mean the return of investor confidence, something Flipkart needs badly

Breaking News : Flipkart India Pvt Ltd, the largest unit of India's biggest e-commerce marketplace, was able to increase revenues by 43 per cent and cut losses by over 34 per cent in the financial year 2015-16 as investors began to mount pressure to see tangible results.

The Flipkart unit posted a revenue of Rs 13,177 crore for the 12 months that ended March 2016, compared to the Rs 9,226 crore in revenue it posted in the year ago period. Losses shrunk to Rs 544.6 crore, from Rs 826.7 crore in the corresponding periods, according to regulatory documents filed by the company.

While losses for its cash-and-carry business were down, it was offset by the higher losses posted by Flipkart's marketplace arm, bringing the total loss of the company to Rs 2,850 crore. The combined revenue for the two units stood at Rs 15,129 crore for the financial year.

Flipkart has set up a complex holding structure, with several entities listed in Singapore, making it hard to ascertain the exact revenue and loss figures.

Despite hefty growth in revenues in the previous financial year, investors continued to punish Flipkart's valuation. After a series of markdowns by mutual fund investors, Morgan Stanley set a valuation of just $5.58 billion for the three months that ended September. Flipkart had enjoyed a peak valuation of $15.2 billion, making it among the top valued start-ups in the world.Read more.

Flipkart lists 'Amazon exclusive' OnePlus 3 at Rs 18,999

Of late, Flipkart hits the controversy by putting up a banner listing the sale of OnePlus 3 smartphone, which is exclusive to Amazon India, for under Rs 20,000 during the big billion sale, which started today i.e. on December 18.

While the listing brought a lot of attention from prospective buyers, it came as a shock to OnePlus CEO, Carl Pei who took to Twitter asking Flipkart’s co-founder Sachin Bansal to clear the ambiguity around the sale of OnePlus 3 on Flipkart.

The tweet saw no reply from Flipkart or from Sachin Bansal and soon Amazon India took to Twitter to warn customers to buy OnePlus 3 from Flipkart ‘on their own risk’.

.@_sachinbansal brother, what's this? We're exclusive with @amazonINpic.twitter.com/0QBoyagoXz

— Carl Pei (@getpeid) December 16, 2016

There is still a lot of ambiguity around the issue, but for Flipkart things are as normal as they ever were. The company has put up a sale of OnePlus 3 device at Rs 18,999, which will start at 4 pm (IST) on December 18. On product page, the device details ‘1 year warranty’ on smartphone and ‘6 month warranty’ on accessories.

OnePlus 3 at Rs 18,999 is a deal that will stupefy many but with all the controversy surrounding it worth to take the risk and buy it from Flipkart?

OnePlus 3 smartphone with fast charging technology now in India

OnePlus 3 smartphone with fast charging technology now in India

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus on Wednesday launched its flagship device OnePlus 3 with 6GB RAM and a unique dash charge feature that gives 60% of battery in a flat 30 minutes.

Threat to several flagship devices, the Rs 27,999 smartphone is available on Amazon .in starting from June 15. The device is also available on the pop-up stores located at The Collective in New Delhi (June 15) and Mumbai (June 17) and Indelust stores in Bengaluru (June 18).

"OnePlus 3 delivers the ultimate experience that our customers already love about our products," Pete Lau, Founder and CEO, OnePlus, said in a statement.

The dash charge feature charges the smartphone even when a user is gaming or working on it. The feature shifts the heat generated while charging back to the adapter, thus keeping the device cool.

"Dash charge has set a new standard for the fast-charging technology. It's a flagship smartphone inspired by -- and made for -- our fans," Pete added.

The device has Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.2 Ghz, 6GB LPDDR4 RAM, a 16MP rear camera with optical stabilisation and a smart capture feature. It sports an 8MP selfie camera with Smile Capture feature.

The smartphone incorporates a fingerprint scanner that unlocks the device in 0.2 seconds, the company said. Read More.

IPL viewership on Hotstar doubles in 2016

STAR India’s online video streaming platform Hotstar has more than double its reach (unique viewers) for IPL in the past one year. For all the games played until the play-offs (between April 9 and May 22), 80 million people used the service, compared with 35 million a year ago.

The cash-rich Twenty20 tournament came under STAR India’s digital ambit in 2014 when it was made available on starsports.com. Last year, Hotstar was introduced, helping viewers see the tournament on the new app.

The network seems to be on track to achieve the target of reaching100 million IPL viewers this year. “We have seen the adoption of Hotstar as primary screen increase significantly among the urban affluent youth. At 80 million (unique) viewers before the play-offs, I expect the platform to add another 15 to 20 million in reach over the last leg of the tournament,” says Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar, STAR India.

Total IPL watch time on the app has gone up by 60 per cent over 2015. The key to increasing the reach, according to Mohan, lies in the data-rich experience. Additionally, the application streams live scorecard and analysis before and after the match, as well as between the innings.Read more.

Movies & cricket serious business for Apple CEO Tim Cook's future India plans

Apple chief Executive Officer Tim Cook's visit to India, mixing plenty of leisure with work, has set off comparisons with other tech giants.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's trips to the country in 2014 and 2015 lasted for about two days. Microsoft chief Satya Nadella will come at the end of this month only for a day, the same as the duration of his previous official visit in November 2015.

Google's Sundar Pichai was in the country for two days last year. Bill Gates' first visit as the CEO of Microsoft in 1997 was short - barely two days.

Apart from limiting the number of days in an official visit to two or three, CEOs of large multinational corporations have mostly stuck to business on such trips - meeting business and political leaders, interacting with students on college campuses, and doing big-ticket launches.

Perhaps, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was a little out of the box as he went on a road show in a supply truck wearing a sherwani and waving a $2-billion note (that's the investment committed in the India market so far) in Bengaluru in September 2014. Bezos also spent almost a week in the country. But while onlookers may wonder how Cook had the time to experience even cricket and Bollywood, travelling thousands of kilometres within the country, those in the know pointed out it was more about business than just fun for the American tech giant executives.

If Apple is to stay in India, surely cricket and Bollywood cannot be ignored, seems to have been the thought behind Cook's just-concluded visit.

"He came to India with a very serious road map. Bollywood and cricket were surely on his mind for future business prospects," said film-maker Mukesh Bhatt, who was one of the people to interact with Cook when he was in Mumbai.

He said Cook spoke to everyone on the sets of Raaz Reboot, a film produced by brothers Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt, with humility and like an ordinary man. "He was moved to see that Apple devices were being used in the shoot."

Read More.