Asia Bizz » Business

India secures second position of Facebook users in the world

sharjil s — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:48:28 +0000

Asia Bizz: Earlier it was Indonesia which claimed the second position leaving behind UK in terms of having the second largest number of Facebook users in the world after the US. But now it is India which has claimed the second position and left behind Indonesia.

As per February 1, 2012, India has a total number of 43,497, 980 Facebook users, while Indonesia has 43, 060, 360 Facebook users. In the past one year, Facebook has registered several users from India.

On January 1, 2011, the social network had a total of 16,915,900 users from India and by the end of 2011 the total exceeded 41 users which is a 144% growth rate. Within a year, the country jumped from number six position to number two in the Total Facebook Users Global List.

On the other hand, even the growth of the number of users from Brazil has been quite impressive. The South American country is now the fourth largest nation which jumped from number 13. In February 2011, Brazil had 13,409, 220 Facebook users and in February 1, 2012 the total number of users reached to 37,907,400 with a growth rate of 183%. However, US continues to be at the number one position in the world.

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NTT Communications announces completion of Singapore Serangoon Data Center

Nicholas — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:37:42 +0000

Asia Bizz: The construction of Singapore Serangoon Data Centre has been successfully completed. The completion of the construction was announced NTT Communications Corp (NTT Com).

The new data centre has been designed to serve the needs of the financial services industries and enterprises that need high power. The building has also been designed keeping in mind the low latency networks and a stable and secured infrastructure.

The completion of the construction was marked in a cornerstone laying ceremony by NTT Com, where the articles were placed in a time capsule. NTT Worldwide Telecommunications Corporation (NTT WT) carried out the construction and the services will be offered through NTT Singapore Pte Ltd .

Both the entities are wholly owned subsidiaries of NTT Com. NTT Com’s Data centres and Seragoon Data Centre in Hong Kong and Japan are strategically located in close proximity of the stock exchanges so as to provide low latency networks to the financial industry. The data centre also has the capacity to host high density racks of up to 12 kVA.

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Amazon.com enters Indian market through Junglee.com

Agatha Vyland — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:14:53 +0000

Asia Bizz: With the launch of Junglee.com on February 2, 2012, popular American online retailer Amazon.com is also entering the Indian market. Junglee.com is the toned down version of the global online retailer.

The best thing about the website is that users are allowed to compare prices of items, but the most actual purchases must be made through a network of third party retailers. The Indian shoppers can now shop for shoes from Reebok, clothes from Fabindia, computer gadgets from Microsoft India and luxury leather bags from Hidesign.

Some of the items like Kindle are sold directly by Amazon.com, but it will be subject to steep international shipping along with customs fees. Amit Agarwal, the vice president of Amazon.com, said in a statement that they are excited to give customers in India a single line starting point where they can shop from a wide range of products sold by the local as well as international retailers.

Agarwal added that online shoppers can also make informed purchasing decisions. The internet penetration in the country is low, but the online retailing is a fast growing business. In India, the e-commerce market is expected to grow from $10 billion in the year 2011 to $200 billion by the year 2020.

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Starbucks coffee price hike creates stir among Chinese netizens

Nicholas — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:49:11 +0000

Asia Bizz: The netizens in China are discussing the rising prices of the popular Starbucks Coffee. The Seattle-based coffee chain has increased the prices of its beverages in 500 of its Mainland China stores on January 31, 2012.

The coffee drinks, as well as one of its chocolate ones, are now costlier by 1 to 3 yuan so as to offset the operational costs. The information was given in a post from the company at the popular Chinese micro-blogging site on Tuesday.

The post of the company has become so popular and it has already been circulated more than 13, 000 times with more than 2,200 comments. The netizens are at large criticizing the increased costs of Starbucks coffees.

On the other hand, despite receiving several complaints about the increased prices, the sales of the beverages at Beijing have not been affected. One of the employees said that he did not observe any changes in the number of customers since the price hike went on in to affect. Customers who come regularly still spend money on the coffee despite the increased prices. Starbuck claims that the price hike is the first in five years in its mainland stores. The coffee chain even increased the prices in California as well as south Florida.

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Tele companies allowed to share 2G waves with conditions

Anita — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:08:00 +0000

Asia Bizz: The apex decision making body of the Indian telecom ministry, the Telecom Commission, has decided to allow the mobile phone companies to share spectrum. But the facility has been limited to the 2G spectrum only.

The second generation (2G) spectrum is widely used for vanilla voice services. This means that the telecom companies cannot share the 3G spectrum.

Earlier, telecom companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel and Idea Cellular had taken the Indian government to court after the companies were asked to terminate their 3G roaming deals. With this move, the companies had hopes that it would put an end to the controversy.

The companies have signed up 3G customers across the country on the bilateral roaming agreements which allows these firms to use each other’s air waves to offer high end data services even in the regions where the 3G spectrum is not available. The operators state they were not aware of the TC decision as the government did not announce it. The new condition to the sharing includes only the operators which have airwaves in a particular region can share it. And two companies can share air waves only if their combined holdings do not exceed more than the prescribed in the M&A norms.

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NVIDIA announces first GPU social networking group in India

Nicholas — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:38:43 +0000

Asia Bizz: American global technology company in NVIDIA has recently announced the launch of an online platform dedicated to the GPU computing as well as high Performance computing users in the Indian market. GPU users will be brought together by the informal special interest group.

GPU users will come from all fields and experience levels in the country including researchers, academicians, scientists, system integrators, device manufacturers, service providers and all of the earlier adopters of GPU and HPC computing.

The NVIDIA supported group will have a core group of key academicians to moderate as well as lead discussions. The site will have a bank of case studies, research papers and also posts on the latest technological developments at NVIDIA and also in the global industry.

The new platform by NVIDIA will also encourage the users to engage in web conferences and group chats to interact with each other. The company will also periodically host live talk shows with the experts from the industry to throw light on the latest updates in the industry.

Vishal Dhupar, the managing director of South Asia NVIDIA said that everyone from the gaming enthusiasts working professionals and college students can apply the GPU to enable better graphics as well as faster computing.

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Maruti Suzuki launches new ‘A-Star’ in Indian market

Agatha Vyland — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:35:02 +0000

Asia Bizz: Indian auto giant Maruti Suzuki has rolled out the new version of its ‘A-Star’ in the Indian market on January 25, 2012. The retail sales of the new variant have begun from January 27, 2012.

The new upgraded version of the ‘A-Star’ has been priced between Rs. 3.67 and Rs. 4.47. According to the current price list on the company’s website, the new variant will be costlier on an average by about Rs. 1000.

Shashank Srivastava, the chief general manager of marketing at Maruti Suzuki India, said that the smart modifications have been made in line with the customer feedback with the help of which the overall look and feel has been changed for the comfort of the buyers.

The company has brought new interiors and have added new colours to the offering. Moreover, Maruti Suzuki has also introduced a new top end ZXi variant to the model. The new ‘A-Star’ is the fifth global model for the parent company Suzuki but has been manufactured at the Manesar plant in India.

Till now Maruti Suzuki India has sold more than 3.80 lakh units of the ‘A-Star’. The car has also been supplied to the global markets like Australia, Europe and South Africa.

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Tata Nano 2012 review

Nicholas — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:29:30 +0000

Asia Bizz: Since the launch of the world’s cheapest car Tata Nano, the Indian company has now come up with the latest version – the new 2012 version of Nano; though it looks identical to the older one, there are a few changes in the model and it seems to be receiving mixed reviews.

Tata zMotors has increased the power a bit to 38PS from the original 35PS. Due to this change, it has come in to direct competition with the Maruti Suzuki 800. While driving in the city, the small car does not feel short in power and even on the highway, the Nano shoots to a 100 with ease and without any hassles.

Tata claims that the new Nano will be the best in class aircon. Recently the car was tested on the roads of Mumbai and during the testing, there was a time with the aircon had to be actually switched off.

The LX version of the car comes with power windows in the front, air-conditioning and central locking. All the features are quite convenient and are found in most of the hatchbacks in the Indian market. The Nano has a good rear accommodation and for the driver, the experience can be described as cheap and cheerful. But there are still complaints with the steering wheel which many said was heavy to handle. The problem existed with the original Nano too.

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Toshiba bags major contract to supply steam turbine engines in US

Anita — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:56:57 +0000

Asia Bizz: The Tristate Generation and Transmission and Association Inc and Sunflower Electric Power Corp have joined hands with Tokyo-based company Toshiba in a major contract to supply a 971MW super critical steam turbine and generator for the Holcomb Thermal Power Plant in Kansas, USA. Toshiba International Corp is due to deliver the equipments by July 2014 and the plant operation is expected to start in 2017.

Toshiba has grabbed the major contract due to its supply record equipment reliability, competitiveness and technical capabilities. In the year 2009, Toshiba supplied the turbine and generator with equivalent specifications required at Holcomb at another major US utility.

In the past eight years, the company has supplied more than 90 steam turbine generators for thermal power plants, which also include plants which are under construction. Toshiba has also recorded the highest market share on an order base.

In the recent years, Toshiba has seen a remarkable upturn in terms of orders for the steam turbines for combined cycle thermal power plants. The company now expects the cumulative total of orders to surpass 100 units by the year 2014.

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Volvo hybrid buses to run on Bangalore roads

Agatha Vyland — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:43:09 +0000

Asia Bizz: Karnataka transport minister R Ashok announced on on January 23, 2012 that the new Volvo hybrid buses will soon be launched on the roads of Bangalore. The New Volvo bus was launched at the recently concluded Delhi Auto Expo 2012 in India.

The new bus will have a two month trial run in the IT city and the 105 seater bus is expected to run on the roads of the south Indian city from this month itself.

The preliminary reports have stated that the new bus cuts diesel fuel costs by 30 percent and even the emissions are significantly less. The officials state that the new Volvo 7700 hybrid has an electric as well as a diesel engine which can be used individually or jointly.

The battery to drive the motor is charged through re-generative braking. The officials also revealed that the engine shuts off when the vehicle is stationary and does not start again unless the bus reaches 15-20kmph due to which it has become fuel efficient. The minister said that the new bus depot will be established at Challakere, Tumkur, Mysore, Hassan and Udupi under the public-private partnership. A divisional workshop will also be set up on Puttur.

On January 24, the foundation stone will be laid at the outskirts of the city.