Apple’s ₹10 App Store Pricing Goes Live In India

July 17, 2015 Vaibhav Sharma 12 Comments

Apple recently introduced new pricing slabs for the App Store in ’emerging’ markets that let developers charge less than the standard 1 USD minimum that we have come to expect. Today a new section went up in the App Store that highlights some of these apps and games that are priced at just Rs. 10 i.e. less than one fifth of a Dollar.

The section includes some pretty useful apps, such as Pixelmator that otherwise sells for 5$. For anyone switching from Android, that will help ease the pain of buying new apps and rebuilding the library, but for someone firmly in Apple’s ecosystem, it’s like apps just went free.

One word of caution though, there still seems to be some backend issues that Apple needs to fix. For example the App Store showed me a ₹10 price, but I was actually billed the standard ₹60 when I bought the App, the price it’s on sale for currently (1$).

Apple, iOS, Tutorials

How to get Apple’s News app outside the US

July 10, 2015 Vaibhav Sharma 5 Comments

Apple today made available the first public beta of iOS 9, and with the beta comes access to Apple’s brand-new News application. However this application is only available in select countries such as the United States for now.

But since this is one of the headline features for iOS 9, it seems only fair that those of us outside the supported countries should also get access to it. Fortunately the fix is very simple, all you need to do is go to Settings>General>Language & Region and set the ‘Region’ to United States. Then simply reboot the iPad/iPhone and you’ll see the News app on the home screen.

Enjoy.

Apple, Apple Watch

Quick look: HDFC Bank’s Apple Watch App

July 2, 2015 Vaibhav Sharma Leave a comment

Banks making smartphone apps is all the rage these days, but the new frontier is wearables. One of the first banks in India to the party is HDFC, with its Apple Watch app.

The app works by first asking you to setup a watchbanking pin on the iPhone app, and then entering those 4 digits on the watch. Post that the app logs you in without having to enter the Customer ID or password, making the entire process very convenient. There is however, as always, a flip side to convenience. You cannot do a whole lot, and certainly not move money around right from the watch, as that would be a potential security nightmare; what with the app protected by just a 4 digit pin.

But there is still a lot of functionality that makes HDFC’s app a nifty addition to your wrist.

You can view account information for all your accounts – saving, current, demat, credit card and so on.
Recharge/Bill payment for pre-registered mobile numbers.
Request account statements and cheque books.
Locate the nearby ATMs and bank branches.
View messages from the bank and other offers.
Finally, hotlist lost debit cards.

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Apple, iOS

How to replace the ‘Connect’ tab in Apple Music with ‘Playlists’

July 1, 2015 Vaibhav Sharma 1 Comment

A component of Apple Music that really differentiates it from other solutions is its ‘Apple Connect’ functionality that lets you follow your favourite artists, in what feels like a mashup of following them on Twitter and Facebook, but in one timeline.

However, a lot of us simply won’t use it that much, and it would be so much easier if it were possible to replace that handy shortcut with ‘Playlists’, a tab you’ll use far more frequently. It is.

To do so goto Settings>General>Restrictions and enable restrictions, if you haven’t already. From that screen simply disable ‘Apple Music Connect’.

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Apple, Featured, iOS

Apple Music India: Detailed First Impressions

June 30, 2015 Vaibhav Sharma 3 Comments

After months of waiting, Apple Music is finally here. With a simultaneous launch across a 100 countries, Apple is really making a splash in the music streaming space. iTunes has long been the preferred destination for people looking to buy music, and Apple has had a huge catalogue, but the streaming business is a whole new game.

Enter the world of customised playlists, live radios, complex algorithms to learn what a user likes, and then offer similar music and so on. At the end, it also comes down to localisation. Music is far from a one size fits all ball game, infact, music is one of the most diverse mediums of expression, and Apple’s solution is to humanise it. Not rely on technology too much, but get real humans to curate music.

That said, here is a look at what Apple Music has to offer to the people of India. The subscription is far cheaper than the global eqvivalent of 9.99$, and is just Rs. 120 a month, with the family plan running Rs 190. This is just slightly more expensive than what Airtel’s Wynk, Saavn or the Gaana streaming services offer. However, the fact that it comes with a 3 month free trial, should be enough to get most people hooked, afterall it also brings the ability to download songs for offline listening, a must have for bandwidth cautious India.

Here is a first look at Apple Music India.

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