We’ve long believed that most Indian software developers are fit only for Coolie, repetitive tasks.

Ask them to develop a decent consumer or small business application and most of them fall flat on their face.

Those with long memories will remember that even the “great” Tata Consultancy Services failed to make much headway with the EX accounting application (Tally made mincemeat out of Ex).

So it was with great trepidation we purchased our first iPhone 3G application from Apple’s App Store - a 99-cent India News application.

After playing with the India News application from muthuka.com developed by Muthu Arumugam (originally from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu), our verdict on the app: A Pathetic Piece of Shit.

Overview
When you press the India News icon on the iPhone 3G, the application opens into the Headlines category of News.

In all, there are four navigation tabs at the bottom, Headlines, Business, Sports and More (opens into a dozen categories like Cricket, South Asia, Entertainment, Golf and a few others).

What’s Wrong with the India News application?

1. Selection of News is Horrible - A Korangu (monkey in the South Indian language of Tamil) would do a better job of picking the stories.
2. Plain Copy of Reuters India Stories - We checked four categories - Headlines, Business, Sports and Bollywood. Every single story was sourced from Reuters although the developer claims that India News provides latest news from various news feeds on a daily basis.
3. User Interface - Unappealing, Dull and Not Good

Let’s review our complaints in Continue Reading…

Apple has put out the first update to the iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2.0 software.

The new version 2.0.1, which users can get via iTunes, provides a bunch of enhancements and fixes.

iPhone 3G

Here are some of the enhancements, according to AppleInsider:

* Contacts are more responsive
* Makes future backups faster
* Keypad loads quicker
* Users can now drag an app icon across multiple pages in one motion
* Screen rotation in Safari browser is smoother
* Changes in the calibration of the iPhone’s reception “bars” while connected to a 3G network to reflect a stronger signal than before

Apple’s music and movie store iTunes is well on its way toward establishing world hegemony in the realm of digital media.

According to the latest numbers from market researcher NPD, iTunes continues to remain the #1 music retailer in the U.S., a position it reached earlier this year.

Here are the Top Five Music Retailers in the U.S:

1. iTunes - Offers music, movie & TV show downloads 
2. Wal-Mart - Physical CDs and downloads
3. Best Buy - Physical CDs and downloads
4. Amazon.com - Physical CDs and downloads
5. Target - Primarily CDs

Apple claims the iTunes Store has sold over five billion songs.

iTunes is said to feature the world’s largest music Continue Reading…

Sony is acquiring German media company Bertelsmann’s 50% stake in music label Sony BMG, which will be renamed as Sony Music Entertainment Inc. (SMEI) for $1.2 billion.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer said the acquisition would let Sony achieve deeper integration between the wide-ranging global assets of the music company and Sony’s products, operating companies and affiliates.

Bertelsmann said it’s gearing the business of its Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) towards music rights management.

As part of the transaction, Bertelsmann is Continue Reading…

Pathetic doesn’t even begin to describe the Indian broadband subscriber numbers.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the total broadband subscriber base in India reached 4.38 million by the end of June 2008 compared to 4.15 million by the end of May 2008.

The TRAI defines broadband as speeds greater than or equal to a puny 256 Kbps.

Broadband Subscribers in India (in million)
June 08   June 07   Mar 07   Mar 06
4.38          2.52      2.34     1.35

When other countries like Korea, Japan and Continue Reading…