BBM For Windows Phone Now Available

BBM for Windows Phone is now live at the Windows Phone Store. Supports devices running on Windows Phone 8 and up. A closed beta has been running for a few weeks now. LINK

Pinterest Buys Icebergs, a Creative Collaboration Startup

Pinterest has made a fifth acquisition aimed at strengthening its team – the startup Iceberg, which “built technology to improve online visual curation and organisation of projects”. Size of the deal is undisclosed. Icebergs services will be soon stopped and the founders will join Pinterest. Pinterest had raised $200M in May and $764M in total as of now. LINK

InMobi to Shutdown its App Distribution Platform

“App Publish”, InMobi’s Android app distribution platform launched in 2013 will be shutting down on 4th of this month. The platform enabled developers to publish apps across 130 Android app stores. With the termination of services, all apps published via the platform will be unpublished from the app stores. They are trying for a solution to this. LINK

Airtel Crosses 300 Million Subscriber Mark

Bharti Airtel has crossed 300 million subscribers on its mobile, fixed line and DTH services. It had crossed the first 100 million in 2009 and 200 million in 2012. It is said to be the largest global consumer brand originated in India with operations in 20 countries. LINK

Apple to Buy Radio App Swell for $30 Million

Multiple resources report that Apple is close to buying the radio app Swell for about $30 Million. Swell’s iOS app created personalized streams of various podcasts and shows.The Swell app is to be shut down this week.Much of the Swell team is to join Apple. This deal is yet another in the string of content apps that Apple have picked up over the past few months. LINK

Russia Announces Contest to Crack Tor

The Russian interior ministry has made an offer of $110,000 to Russians who can crack the anonymity of Tor users (the anonymity network). The purpoted aim is to “ensure the country’s defence and security”. Tor was originally set up by the US Naval Research Laboratory and the US Department of Defense remains one of its biggest backers. LINK

Zomato CMO Alok Jain Quits

Zomato CMO Alok Jain has quit 10 months after his appointment. A replacement haven’t been announced yet. Zomato was trying to become a global brand and had stated plans of expanding to 22 new countries across Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and the Americas. Recently, they launched in Chile and acquired a New Zealand-based online restaurant guide. LINK

BrutPOS Virus Targeting Indian POS Counters

CERT-In, the national agency in charge of securing the Indian Internet domain has issued an alert against ‘BrutPOS’ – a virus of the Trojan/Botnet family which attacks Point of Sale (POS) business counters. The infection carries the potential of stealing all of a card’s data. The agency has recommended to keep the POS softwares updated, admin access denied and vigilant against bruteforce attacks. LINK

Flipkart Raises a Massive $1 Billion, Amazon to Invest $2B

Flipkart has confirmed that it has raised a fresh $1 Billion in a round led by existing investors Tiger Global and Naspers along with GIC, Accel, and DST Global, at a $7 billion valuation. This is the largest investment raised by an Internet company in India and probably one of the largest globally as well. This takes the total Flipkart has raised so far to $1.75 billion. “This investment helps us think really long term and take big bets” – Sachin Bansal. Acquisitions are expected to continue. LINK 

Following this, Amazon has announced that it plans to invest $2B in India. Link

Amazon India Opens Fulfillment Center in Chennai. Four More to Follow.

Amazon India has opened a fulfillment center in Chennai. Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Tauru (outskirts of Gurgaon) will soon follow. This will take the tally to seven, including the existing ones in Mumbai and Bangalore. LINK