PS3 Price Cut Hits India

Earlier on in the day we contacted Sony India regarding the PS3 price cut but didn’t get any answers since the relevant people were out of the country. Now suddenly out of nowhere I get a press statement regarding the PlayStation 3 price drop that by the way should be implemented today itself and it goes something like this:

For all those who have been patiently waiting, the new price for the PlayStation 3 80 GB model has been announced. The PlayStation 3 80 GB prices have been set at Rs 19,990, a clear 20% drop in price. To make the purchase even more attractive, the PS3 80 GB will be offered with two Free Games: Uncharted : Drake’s Fortune and GT5 Prologue.

Here’s what Atindriya Bose, head of Sony PlayStation India had to say, "We stand committed to develop gaming as a coveted interactive entertainment avenue for the Indians. The high adoption of Playstation by the Indian consumers will be further fuelled by the new prices and offerings before the Indian festive seasons. The new sub - 20K price on PS3 not only positions it as an attractive gaming console but makes it perhaps the best value for money Blu-Ray entertainment device for the family. "

So there you have it. A PS3 and two games for twenty grand. Are you happy with the price cut? Will you now go ahead and buy a PS3? Share you happiness or sorrow in the comments section below.

A very strange bit of information has been floating around with regard to Samsung’s recent launch of the Omnia HD i8910. At the reviewers meet I attended as well as included in the press kit I received we were told that the handset came equipped with a 1GHz CPU which was quite impressive of course.According to a report that was not entirely true. I decided to look into it myself and checked with my sources.

The truth actually is that the Omnia HD coming with a 1GHz processor is in fact not entirely true. Allow me to elaborate. A = the HD is equipped with a 600 MHz ARM Processor that’s a fact. B = It also however comes with is a 430Hz 3d Accelerator Processor. A + B = 1GHz of power and that’s the bottom line.

So perhaps Samsung should have been a little more explicit with the break up and of course this could also be a marketing strategy. Technically they aren't wrong either but they did specify a 1GHz Processor powering their 3D UI.

I’d very much like to hear your thoughts dear readers.

Microsoft's Bing Wins Share From Google, Yahoo

Microsoft Corp's Bing search engine continued to make small gains on rivals Google Inc and Yahoo Inc in the U.S. Internet search market in July, according to the latest data from research firm ComScore.

Microsoft, which launched Bing in early June, racked up 8.9 percent of U.S. Internet searches in July, up 0.5 percentage points from June. Google, the leader in the market, and Yahoo, the distant No. 2, both lost 0.3 percentage points of market share in July, to 64.7 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively. Late last month Microsoft and Yahoo finally signed an agreement to cooperate on Internet search advertising, with Bing powering searches on both companies' sites and Yahoo handling the ad sales. The deal has yet to be approved by regulators and likely won't take full effect in the market until early 2012.

Nokia Sees Sales Growth in India Despite Drought

Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker, does not expect a drought to hit its sales in India, its second-biggest market, and will expand a rural micro-finance offer for buying handsets.

Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said sales of Nokia's high-end smartphones
were also growing in India, the world's second-largest mobile market with around 430 million users and where nearly 60 percent of mobiles are Nokia phones
. Nokia is betting on markets such as India, where more than 10 million mobile connections are being added every month, at a time when global cellphone sales are falling as recession-hit consumers in emerging and developed markets rein in spending. Poor monsoon rains have pushed India to the brink of drought, which could crimp consumer incomes and spending particularly in rural areas where much of the industry's growth is coming from. Nokia executives however saw little impact on sales, saying people could use phones more as they cut spending on travel. "We don't think the market will slow down for mobility in rural India," D. Sivakumar, managing director of Nokia's Indian unit said. Nokia recently piloted a scheme in two states where it sold handsets on a weekly installment of 100 rupees ($2) over 25 weeks.

On Wednesday, the company said it would rollout the microfinance offer in 12 Indian states. Kallasvuo said India would remain one of Nokia's top growth markets, as 81 percent of the country's mobile users were in urban areas and they were driving demand for high-end phones. "India is very often perceived to be a low-end market. That is not the case," he said, adding Nokia's high-end phone models such as N97 and N86 were selling nicely in the country. In May, Nokia opened its online software and content store, named Ovi Store, hoping to follow the success of Apple Inc's App Store, and Kallasvuo said users India were among the top five in terms of downloads from the online store.