Best truly wireless earbuds under Rs 6,000

<ul><li>Apple announced six new games for its gaming library including Arcade Originals and Timeless Classics.</li><li>The launch of these new games is spread over the month of April.</li><li>Here's the complete list of games launching this month.</li></ul>Apple has announced six upcoming games for <keyword id="7462995" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="apple-arcade" source="Orion">Apple Arcade</keyword> slated to debut in April. These new titles include a mix of classic and arcade originals with the best award-winning titles from the App Store. Coming this Friday, users can download Sonic Dash+ and Gear. Club Stradale and in the weeks to come, Apple will roll out Moonshot - A Journey Home, a game that can be played with simple drag and release. <br /><br />Check out all the upcoming games on Apple Arcade this month-<br /><br /><strong>Timeless Classics</strong><br /><strong>Sonic Dash+</strong><br /><strong>Developer:</strong> Sega<br /><strong>Release Date:</strong> April 8<br />            <div type="image" title="Sonic" msid="90711213" hostid="261"></div><br />Sonic Dash+ is the most advanced edition of Sonic the Hedgehog. Launched in 2013, the game is still a success and it has been downloaded more than 500 million times. The game is said to have balanced gameplay, in-game events, and offline mode. In Sonic Dash+ players from around the world can play against each other to find out who is the best runner. <br /><br /><strong>Pro Snooker &amp; Pool 2022+</strong><br /><strong>Developer:</strong> iWare Designs<br /><strong>Release Date:</strong> April 15<br />            <div type="image" title="Pro snooker" msid="90711227" hostid="261"></div><br />The simple click-to-play mechanics in Pro Snooker &amp; Pool 2022+ will give you a realistic feel. The game has full 3D rigid body physics and a simple interface that allows players to easily pick up the game. In addition, it has cue ball control allowing players to perform right spin, left spin, backspin, and much more. <br /><br /><strong>Construction Simulator 2+</strong><br /><strong>Developer:</strong> Astragon Entertainment <br /><strong>Release Date:</strong> April 15<br />            <div type="image" title="Construction Simulator" msid="90711232" hostid="261"></div><br />Get full control of your construction company. Users will get options to operate cranes, pour concrete, and load materials. Additionally, users will be able to access 40 original licensed construction vehicles.<br /><br /><strong>Prune+</strong><br /><strong>Developer:</strong> Joel McDonald<br /><strong>Release Date:</strong> April 29<br />            <div type="image" title="Prune" msid="90711239" hostid="261"></div><br />This game is all about taking care of trees. Just swipe the screen to grow and shape bonsai trees while protecting them from obstacles. In addition, Prune offers meditative, minimalistic gameplay along with a calming soundtrack.<br /><br /><strong>Arcade Originals</strong><br /><strong>Gear.Club Stradale</strong><br /><strong>Developer:</strong> Eden Games<br /><strong>Release date:</strong> April 8<br />            <div type="image" title="Gear Club" msid="90711317" hostid="261"></div><br />Get access to luxurious and stylish vehicles from Porche, Bugatti to MacLaren in Italian landscapes. You can participate in events, club races, or join clubs and collect rewards in the Carta Stradale race mode. You can also play against your crew member in a friendly competition to determine the Carta champion. <br /><br /><br /><strong>Moonshot - A Journey Home</strong><br /><strong>Developer:</strong> Noodlecake and Morsel Interactive<br /><strong>Release Date:</strong> April 22<br />            <div type="image" title="Moonshot" msid="90711344" hostid="261"></div><br />It is an adventurous physics-based game in which you will trek around a mysterious universe. It is a story-driven game that combines slingshot gameplay mechanics with navigational puzzles. Players will experience dangerous traps such as black holes, strange space phenomena, and aliens. <br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/meta-is-working-on-virtual-coins-for-its-apps-that-employees-have-nicknamed-zuck-bucks-a-report-says/articleshow/90709984.cms">Meta is working on virtual coins for its apps that employees have nicknamed 'Zuck Bucks', a report says</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/realme-gt2-pro-new-flagship-smartphone-launched-in-india-with-realme-book-prime-buds-air-3/articleshow/90705697.cms">Realme GT2 Pro flagship smartphone launched in India, alongside Buds Air 3, new Realme Prime Book laptop and more</a><br />

Apple announces six upcoming games slated to debut in April on Apple Arcade

<p class="drop-cap">Imagine you've spent billions of dollars building the world's fastest race car. Then you decide to put a young kid behind the wheel, only to see them crash the car into the walls of the track.</p><p>Not just once, but over and over again.</p><p>It's a dangerous proposition for the kid. You're giving them a powerful tool without teaching them how to use it.</p><p>Plus, it's really, really expensive.</p><p>Nevertheless, that looks to be the US intelligence community's approach to handling classified information.</p><p>The tangled views of Jack Teixeira, who was indicted Friday in connection with leaking hundreds of classified documents to a private Discord server, are still coming into focus. But one thing is already clear. At 21 years old, Teixeira is old enough to vote, drink, and serve in the armed forces. But his alleged behavior indicates that despite his training, he was little more than a child, three years into his first enlistment. An airman at a National Guard unit in Massachusetts, he seems to have spent much of his free time hanging out online, arguing with strangers, and venting stupid and reportedly racist opinions. A lot of them had to do with a war in Ukraine that he himself, by all appearances, knew next to nothing about. </p><p>Nevertheless, the United States government allegedly saw fit to make this young man a Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman, and grant him access to some of its most closely guarded secrets, the fruits of an intelligence apparatus that costs taxpayers some $90 billion a year. Why?</p><p>Part of the problem here has to do with basic math. Classification is a World War Two-era legacy system that was designed to regulate the flow of secret <em>paper — </em>physical documents carried around in pouches and bound with brass tacks or staples. Today, classification governs how an ever-expanding pool of employees and contractors at combatant commands, joint task forces, and three-letter agencies can access a shadowy global network of digital assets. There are classified phone systems, email systems, fiber optic cables, and a Wikipedia clone. There are special rooms called SCIFs for accessing and discussing this information. More than 2 million people hold security clearances that allow them to access the terabytes of data flowing through this global network. Each one of them represents a potential point of failure. Plus, they all have smartphones. A couple of generations ago, Daniel Ellsberg had to borrow a friend's photocopier to make copies of a secret Pentagon report for the media. When I visited Ellsberg's home in California, he showed me how he'd used a typewriter to reconstruct internal government documents one keystroke at a time. Today, a leak that would have taken Ellsberg months can be pulled off in seconds with a click-and-drag to a USB, or a few snaps of an iPhone camera.</p><p>The math has been stacked against the secret-keepers for a generation. But what's different about the Teixeira case is the apparent pointlessness. Earlier leaks were targeted public statements made by self-styled whistleblowers with discernible political motives. Whatever you might think of their views, they were actually trying to reveal perceived wrongdoing. Ellsberg's leak was intended to expose the Pentagon's privately pessimistic view of the Vietnam War. Edward Snowden showed how the NSA and phone companies were playing fast and loose with the Fourth Amendment. Reality Winner wanted to prove that Russian interference in the 2016 election was not, as certain Substack edgelords continue to claim, a complete fiction. Daniel Hale and Chelsea Manning wanted to give US voters an up-close view of the carnage inflicted by their democratically elected overseas killing machine.</p><div type="image" title="Jack Teixeira as a young man, in uniform." height="946" width="1262" msid="99515657" hostid="261"></div><p>Teixeira, meanwhile, allegedly did it not for country, but for clout. He was arrested Thursday and did not enter a plea at a federal court appearance the next day. According to reporting by the New York Times and Washington Post, his intended audience was a small circle of pseudonymous online friends. The scattershot trove of documents that he transcribed and later photographed were never supposed to circulate beyond this closed circle of two dozen Discord users. And Teixeira's alleged motives — a mix of braggadocio and a desire to "educate" his cronies about a war that he himself was observing from a keyboard, an ocean away — simply do not make sense beyond the confines of the shitposting chatroom environment that fostered them. Among other things, the Teixeira case is an instance of what social media experts had dubbed "context collapse," the accidental leakage of audience-specific content from insiders who understand it to a larger group of outsiders who do not.</p><p>So the last generation of leakers, right or wrong, could reasonably claim to be thinking grown-ups with articulable reasons for breaking laws that come with severe penalties. Teixeira hasn't yet made a public statement, but the early reporting suggests this was all done to simply feel more important than he was. </p><p>In the absence of a legible political argument from Teixeira, what's left is a case study in total systemic dysfunction. The nakedness of that meltdown offers an opportunity for some desperately needed reform. With Snowden and others, the country could argue about whether they were traitors for violating their oaths or heroes for obeying a higher set of Constitutional obligations. Their disclosures opened up an important and ongoing debate about how much information should be classified in the first place, and how concealing the underlying facts about critical questions in the name of "national security" tends to erode our democracy. </p><p>The Teixeira case exposes something entirely different, how the US classification system fails to deliver not only in a high-minded democratic sense, but also on <em>its own terms</em>, namely the ability to make a select group of people trustable in the keeping of secrets. Before, the debate was whether the size of the classified world tended to undermine democracy. (For the record, I believe it does.) Now, it's worth asking whether it's in the process of collapsing under its own weight – a possibility underscored by the apparent leak's emergence at an obscure Cape Cod outpost, far from the US military's core decision-making hubs. </p><p>Aside from the question of how many people have access to secrets, it's also worth considering how many of those supposed secrets belong on classified systems at all. Some of what Teixeira allegedly posted contains specific data about troop numbers and casualties; other items relay publicly reported information and read like front-of-the-book briefings from the Economist. The redundancy made me think of a story I had heard, about a 9/11 commissioner who was brought into a classified chamber and given a secret file. The commissioner opened the file, and out fell a packet of newspaper clippings. </p><p>"This is all already out there," the investigator said. "Yes," said his agency escort. "But now you know that it's true."</p><p>That story came to me secondhand, but it illustrates an important point about the risks of establishing a segregated realm of premium information. In addition to cutting the people off from the truth, it can put blinders on the national-security elite, cutting them off from the more obvious insights of our open-source reality.</p><p>The path to reforming the classification system begins with some simple questions: Who screened and trained Teixeira? How many others are out there — young men and women with few years and too much time on their hands? Did a low-ranking airman in the Massachusetts Air National Guard actually need to view Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented intelligence in order to do his job maintaining secret computer networks? Who was his supervisor? Who was tracking the whereabouts of the volume of secret files he appears to have sent to the printer? Who were his colleagues? Why didn't anyone have an inkling of what he was up to for months, not until the documents he allegedly transcribed and photographed started showing up on 4chan? Who is minding the store here?</p><p>If taxpayers are going to continue to shell out $90 billion a year for a bureaucracy that they're legally barred from knowing much about, they shouldn't feel like they're setting that money on fire. Voters can debate the intelligence community's values, its transparency, and its objectives. But at a bare minimum, the apparatus should actually <em>work</em>.</p><p><em><strong>Update:</strong> Chelsea Manning's name has been corrected. </em></p>

Jack Teixeira's alleged Discord leaks show why the US should stop showering Top Secret clearances on 21-year-old keyboard warriors

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11892960" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="facebook" source="Orion">Facebook</keyword> changed its name to <keyword id="12416504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meta" source="Orion">Meta</keyword> as a flashy way to plant its flag in the <keyword id="11121339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">metaverse</keyword> race.</li><li>But other companies have been developing this kind of technology already, well before Meta.</li></ul><p>What currently exists in the metaverse realm isn't much.</p><p>Take Decentraland, which launched in 2017 as <a href="https://www.readthegeneralist.com/briefing/decentraland">one of the earliest movers in the metaverse.</a></p><p>Many have compared it to Second Life, a 2000s-era virtual game that has been referenced as an early iteration of the pre-Zuckerberg, hyped-up metaverse. But Insider's Ben Gilbert <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-went-to-a-rave-in-the-metaverse-2022-1">went to a rave within Decentraland's virtual world</a> and concluded that it "felt like a game without anything to do."</p><p>What exists may be somewhat barren and awkward, but early entrants to the space want to be clear: Facebook, now known as Meta in an effort to declare itself a metaverse pioneer, was absent until now. </p><p>But Meta thrust the concept of a metaverse into a broader public discourse last year, much to the dismay of companies that had already been building it. And <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/current-and-future-metaverse-jobs-nike-facebook-roblox-2022-1">other major brands like Nike and Gucci</a> started piling on too, making the m-word into one of the most popular buzzwords of the moment.</p><p>Gimmick or not, some experts say it is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-meta-metaverse-splinter-reality-more-2021-11">"inevitable" next iteration of the internet</a>, one that adds spatial experience to our already digitally obsessed society. And while it may eventually become integral to our daily lives, just as the internet and the smartphone has, it's nowhere close to being so quite yet.</p><p>Neither is Meta's vision for it. And some, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-the-metaverse-golden-goose-2022-1">not all</a>, investors seem to agree.</p><p>A new metaverse-focused ETF is hell-bent on pouring cash into major players in the virtual gold rush, like Nvidia, Microsoft — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-buys-activision-in-a-nearly-70-billion-deal-2022-1?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">which just shelled out $68 billion for the gaming giant behind "Call of Duty"</a> — and Roblox.</p><p>It <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/metaverse-etf-mark-zuckerberg-meta-subversive-punk-roblox-microsoft-coinbase-2022-1">specifically doesn't want to invest in Meta.</a></p><p>"Facebook seems to be the antithesis of what actual consumers want their digital futures to look like," the fund's creator, Michael Auerbach, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-27/zuckerberg-trolling-etf-bets-on-everything-metaverse-except-meta">told Bloomberg</a> last month.</p><p>"We want to make sure this industry develops, without getting 'Zucked-up' from those who see the true potential of this space," Auerbach's co-creator, Christian Cooper, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/metaverse-etf-mark-zuckerberg-meta-subversive-punk-roblox-microsoft-coinbase-2022-1">said</a> in January.</p><p>Then there are, of course, concerns of Facebook's biggest plagues tainting its metaverse ambitions. Major advertisers told Insider's Patrick Coffee that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-parent-meta-to-make-its-metaverse-pitch-advertisers-react-2022-1">they're wary of establishing a presence within Meta's metaverse</a> endeavor given the brand safety risks posed by its Newsfeed, where controversial topics can live.</p><p>Even the action star behind one of Hollywood's most prolific examples of the metaverse, Keanu Reeves — who played Neo in "The Matrix" franchise — <a href="https://mashable.com/article/keanu-reeves-facebook-metaverse">has said Meta should keep its hands off the metaverse.</a></p><p>As much as Meta wants to declare itself the ultimate pioneer of the metaverse, others are rolling their eyes, having already been dabbling for years.</p><p><a href="https://www.inputmag.com/reviews/we-met-in-virtual-reality-documentary-shows-metaverse-vibrant-without-facebook">Input Magazine</a> highlighted that fact in a recent piece about a documentary called "We Met In Reality" — filmed completely inside a VR system called VRChat — about how the technology could coexist with the real world, not supplant it.</p><p>The documentary "makes it clear that people are already living in the world Meta's trying to sell," writes Input Magazine. "And they're doing it without abandoning the real, physical world, or inviting unknown levels of corporate oversight."</p>

Facebook changed its name to declare itself a metaverse pioneer — but it's years late to the party

<ul><li><keyword id="6354504" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="reliance-jio" source="Orion">Reliance Jio</keyword>, <keyword id="15491" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="airtel" source="Orion">Airtel</keyword> and <keyword id="1553175" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="vodafone-idea" source="Orion">Vodafone Idea</keyword> have all reported their Q1 FY23 results.</li><li>While <keyword id="2003276" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="jio" source="Orion">Jio</keyword> leads in almost every important metric, its closest rival Airtel is still putting up a fight.</li><li>Vodafone Idea has made some moderate improvements, but it still has a very long journey to make to become financially healthy again.</li></ul>The Indian telecom market has become a three-way race with only two key players, a long time back. Backed by one of the top most Indian conglomerates, Vodafone Idea however has been languishing so bad, that its Q1 losses at ₹7,296 crore is more than that of the profits of top two players, Jio and Airtel, combined. <br /><br />In fact, Jio made nearly three-times the profits that Airtel did, despite having only 16% more subscribers than the latter – showing that the telecom war it started in 2016 has hurt the industry more than itself. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/vi-betting-on-tariff-hike-as-it-lost-over-10-million-every-day-in-q1-fy23/articleshow/93348828.cms">Vodafone Idea lost $10 million every day in Q1 FY23</a> – more than the profits of Jio and Airtel combined.<br /><br />        <div type="image" title="Airtel Jio Vodafone Idea net profit Q1 FY23." msid="93499393" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea&amp;#39;s net profit in Q1 FY23&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />While Jio is ahead of it in profits, the oldest player Airtel is still ahead of it in terms of margins. Airtel leads the pack when it comes to the amount of revenue that each subscriber contributes on an average (ARPU). <br /><br />While Airtel has been the market leader in this regard for a long time now, Jio is fast catching up, while Vodafone Idea is still far behind.<br /><br />        <div type="image" title="Airtel Jio Vodafone Idea ARPU Q1 FY23." msid="93499404" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea&amp;#39;s ARPU in Q1 FY23&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />Together, Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea account for over 1 billion subscribers – just marginally lower than the population of the US and Europe combined.<br /><br />        <div type="image" title="Airtel Jio Vodafone Idea 4G subscribers Q1 FY23." msid="93499412" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea&amp;#39;s subscribers in Q1 FY23&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />Jio’s decision to skip the 2G and 3G technologies and jump straight onto the 4G bandwagon is now helping it reap rewards that its rivals can only dream of. <br /><br />Airtel is its closest competitor in terms of subscribers, profits, ARPU and other metrics – and yet, despite having nearly 86% of the total subscribers that Jio has, Jio’s 4G subscriber base is more than double of Airtel’s.<br /><br />Together, Airtel and Vodafone Idea have less 4G subscribers than Jio – for every four 4G subscribers that Jio has, Airtel and Vodafone Idea together have only three.<br /><br />        <div type="image" title="Airtel Jio Vodafone Idea 4G subscribers Q1 FY23." msid="93499425" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea&amp;#39;s 4G subscribers in Q1 FY23&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />Why does this matter? For starters, this metric reflects how much data each subscriber consumes, and since data services are more expensive when compared to voice, it results in higher revenue and profits.<br /><br />This is visible in the average data consumption metrics, where Jio dominates with Airtel a close second, and Vodafone Idea a very distant third. It is also worth noting that Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s numbers are only applicable to subscribers who use data services – this does not apply to Jio, since all its subscribers are on 4G.<br /><br />        <div type="image" title="Airtel Jio Vodafone Idea average data usage Q1 FY23." msid="93499433" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea&amp;#39;s average data usage in Q1 FY23&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />Even in terms of voice usage, Vodafone Idea is far behind both Airtel and Jio.<br /><br />        <div type="image" title="Airtel Jio Vodafone Idea average voice usage Q1 FY23." msid="93499445" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea&amp;#39;s average voice usage in Q1 FY23&amp;lt;span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The road ahead for the telecom sector" comment="subhead" text="The road ahead for the telecom sector"><span data-til="noop">The road ahead for the telecom sector</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />Regardless of how telecom players performed in FY22, there is a wide consensus among analysts and the telcos themselves that tariff hikes are coming – both Airtel and Vodafone Idea have admitted this in their latest investor calls.<br /><br />“We expect ~15% tariff hike by telcos in the near term to compensate for near term cash outflows as most incremental 5G benefits of industry use cases are still at least two to three years away,” said a report by ICICI Direct.<br /><br />This is partly due to the fact that the 20-25% hike in November last year has been absorbed completely now, and telcos need to increase their ARPUs. The recent 5G spectrum auctions are also another trigger for telcos to hike tariffs as they seek to offset the large capex outlay.<br /><br />A report by IIFL Securities says that both Reliance Jio and Airtel could see a 12% growth in mobile revenue in the first six months of 2023 – the unsaid laggard is Vodafone Idea, which will continue to lose subscribers.<br /><br />“Post spectrum auction, we expect the relative positioning of top two telcos – Jio and Airtel – to get strengthened further with churn odds for VIL increasing as the services coverage/capacity of Jio/Airtel would be better,” the ICICI Direct report added.<br /><br />Analysts at Goldman Sachs sounded a bullish note, saying, “With our expectation of a tariff hike before end-CY22 and the additional benefit of lower SUC (spectrum usage charge) starting Sep ‘22, we forecast Bharti’s wireless segment to deliver 22% FY22-24E revenue CAGR.”<br /><br />A Nomura report also said a 4% tariff hike would be sufficient to cover for the 5G spectrum wins.<br /><br />There seems to be a growing consensus that Vodafone Idea will continue to weaken – with the 5G spectrum wins of Jio and Airtel, and Vodafone Idea’s relatively lackluster bids further cementing this theory.<br /><br /><div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Text"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/mukesh-ambani-is-all-set-to-do-a-jio-with-green-energy/articleshow/93432238.cms">Mukesh Ambani is all set to do a ‘Jio’ with green energy</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/indian-government-is-reportedly-planning-on-restricting-xiaomi-realme-vivo-and-oppo-from-the-budget-smartphone-segment/articleshow/93432631.cms">Indian government is reportedly planning on restricting Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo and Oppo from the budget smartphone segment</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/vi-betting-on-tariff-hike-as-it-lost-over-10-million-every-day-in-q1-fy23/articleshow/93348828.cms"><strong>VI betting on tariff hike as it lost over $10 million every day in Q1 FY23</strong></a><br />

Jio, Airtel could emerge stronger weakening Vodafone Idea further, say analysts

<ul><li><keyword id="139648" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="asus" source="Orion">Asus</keyword> has a long history of making laptops, catering to a wide range of users, right from students to professionals, gamers and creators.<br /></li><li>Asus also has several innovative ultrabooks in its lineup, with analogue dials to dual displays and space-grade durability, among other things.<br /></li><li>With the post-Covid boom in laptop demand now normalizing, we caught up with <keyword id="3468666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arnold-Su" source="Orion">Arnold Su</keyword> to understand the way forward for Asus and the laptop makers in India.<br /></li></ul>Asus is a well-known name in the world of computers. This three-decade old Taiwanese company has been stepping up the plate with its range of ultrabooks and notebooks for a diverse audience – gamers to professionals who carry laptops everywhere.<br /><br />Some of Asus’ recent additions in the laptop segment include innovative things like a dial designed for the creative users to a dual-screen laptop for multitaskers, to basic yet important stuff like high resolution OLED displays, and ultralight notebooks.<br /><br />“10 years back when I came to India, my channel partners, and my dealers asked me to paste a laptop image on the Asus logo and I asked them why they said so. They said nobody knows that ASUS sells laptops,” quipped Arnold Su, business head, consumer and gaming PC, <keyword id="669193" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Asus-India" source="Orion">Asus India</keyword>, in an interview with Business Insider India.<br /><br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="91519706" title="Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition review – a combination of interesting design and solid performance" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="On the demand boost due to the Covid pandemic" comment="subhead" text="On the demand boost due to the Covid pandemic"><span data-til="noop">On the demand boost due to the Covid pandemic</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />The Covid-19 pandemic changed the way people live in more ways than one – from being generally more aware about hygiene to changing the way they work. Lifestyles overall have undergone a drastic change.<br /><br />Work from home also forced companies as well as employees to upgrade their IT infrastructure, both in the cloud as well as in the homes. This created an unprecedented demand for laptops.<br /><br />According to data from IDC, the laptop segment in India underwent a massive expansion in 2021 as WFH continued and students had to study remotely. The overall shipments in 2021 stood at a little under 15 million, up from 10 million in 2020.<br /><br />Asus too benefited a great deal. Its total shipments in 2021 were a little under a million — which grew from 0.6 million in the year of Covid. Su says that the demand for new laptops was spread across segments – gamers, students and professionals alike.<br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="From gamers to creators and professionals – there’s something for everyone" comment="subhead" text="From gamers to creators and professionals – there’s something for everyone"><span data-til="noop">From gamers to creators and professionals – there’s something for everyone</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />Asus’ lineup of ultrabooks cater to a wide range – from gamers to creators and those who want a slim, powerful laptop.<br /><br />For instance, Asus Dial and its dual screen laptops are examples of laptops geared towards creators.<br /><br />For gamers, Asus has the ROG lineup with powerful processors and graphics cards, in addition to high refresh rate displays.<br /><br />For those who want sleek and lightweight laptops, Asus has the ExpertBook, Vivobook and Zenbook lineup across different price points.<br /><br />Su pointed out that Asus has seen a drastic increase in the gaming laptop segment, which used to have a volume of around 40,000 units in 2016. Fast forward six years, this number surged to 3-4,00,000 units. Su says that Asus sells 3 out of every 10 gaming laptops sold in India – thanks to the company’s ROG offerings.<br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="On the quirky-but-premium Space laptop" comment="subhead" text="On the quirky-but-premium Space laptop"><span data-til="noop">On the quirky-but-premium Space laptop</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />Asus has a knack of launching quirky laptops every now and then. It launched a laptop with a dial, called the ProArt StudioBook, and then there was the ZenBook Pro Duo with two displays, so you can multitask with ease. This, Su says, allows different people to meet their needs, even though sometimes the needs may be very niche.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="Asus ZenBook 14X Space Edition" msid="92221181" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Asus ZenBook 14X Space Edition&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />More recently, Asus launched the ZenBook 14X Space Edition, featuring a secondary display on the back that can be customized for different things. This, Su says, is a celebration of 25 years of Asus sending the first laptop to space, the P6300 and P6100.<br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="‘The Covid party is over for laptop makers’" comment="subhead" text="‘The Covid party is over for laptop makers’"><span data-til="noop">‘The Covid party is over for laptop makers’</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />While Indians bought millions of new laptops in 2020 and 2021, Su has a reality check, saying that “the Covid party is over for laptop makers”.<br /><br />“We have already started seeing a recession in PC demand in lots of countries, especially in Europe. In the past two years 2020 and 2021 we saw a very huge year-over-year growth – between 40-60% – that has now fallen to almost single digits,” Su said, stating that he is awaiting numbers from IDC.<br /><br />However, he maintained that he is positive and that the Indian market is still largely untouched by laptop companies, with around 90% of the Indian households not having a PC.<br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="On dealing with the semiconductor shortage" comment="subhead" text="On dealing with the semiconductor shortage"><span data-til="noop">On dealing with the semiconductor shortage</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />Su underlined that the semiconductor shortage resulted in Asus – and other laptop makers – being unable to meet the full demand in 2020 and 2021. But with the demand now normalising, Su says that Asus is now able to manage the supplies.<br /><br />“At this stage, to be honest, we don't see the supply chain issue because we are ready to increase our production capacity to the level that we are able to meet the current requirements,” he told Business Insider.<br /><br />He also added that Asus has kickstarted its work on the ‘Make in India’ project to avoid future supply chain challenges. <br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="On the competition from Chinese companies" comment="subhead" text="On the competition from Chinese companies"><span data-til="noop">On the competition from Chinese companies</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />With smartphone makers like Xiaomi and Realme now offering laptops, the traditional PC makers like Asus could feel threatened.<br /><br />However, Su welcomed the competition while underlining that Asus will stick to establishing itself as a brand known for quality – akin to Dyson, but not necessarily as expensive.<br /><br />“If we don't do this, then we will just fall into the price-cutting race. To the customer's mind they will not consider Asus [for its quality, but will only consider the price],” explained Su, while stating that Asus will continue to study their product strategy.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/asus-zenbook-14x-oled-space-edition-laptop-review/articleshow/91519706.cms">Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition review – a combination of interesting design and solid performance</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/asus-8z-flagship-smartphone-review/articleshow/92065913.cms">Asus 8z review – the ‘mini’ flagship phone that the Android world needs</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/poly-voyager-4220-uc-review-great-sound-long-battery-life-at-a-premium/articleshow/92058318.cms"><strong>Poly Voyager 4220 UC review – great sound, long battery life at a premium</strong></a><br />

INTERVIEW: From ‘nobody knows you sell laptops’ to the third largest laptop maker in India — the Asus India story

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Jeff J Mitchell / Staff / Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Is Black Friday over?</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/cyber-monday-2019">Cyber Monday</a> is increasingly posing a threat to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/black-friday-2019">Black Friday</a> as consumers opt to score deals on the Monday after Thanksgiving rather than the day after. </li><li><strong>As we move into the holiday shopping season, we took a look at several studies that predict major wins for Cyber Monday, and what this means for the future of Black Friday. </strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul><p>It's no surprise that Americans are shopping online more than ever before, and now the continued rise of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/cyber-monday">Cyber Monday</a> is posing a threat to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/black-friday">Black Friday</a>. </p><p>Though Black Friday as we know it first became a <a href="https://www.history.com/news/whats-the-real-history-of-black-friday">national phenomenon in the 1980s</a>, the term "Cyber Monday" wasn't coined until 2005, when Ellen Davis - senior vice president of research and strategic initiatives for the National <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="retail">Retail</keyword> Federation - <a href="https://www.rd.com/culture/history-of-cyber-monday/">noticed the trend</a> of retailers offering discounts from the then-nascent realm of e-commerce.</p><p>Since then, Cyber Monday has exploded in popularity, resonating with consumers who are ditching doorbusters in favor of making purchases from the comfort of their couches. As we move into the holiday shopping season, several studies predict major wins for Cyber Monday. Here's why it might mean the end for Black Friday. </p><h2>The widening divide between Black Friday and Cyber Monday</h2><p>This week, Business Insider and global technology company Morning Consult <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-holiday-shopping-plans-black-friday-cyber-monday-2019-11">published the results of a joint survey </a>that analyzed the holiday shopping behaviors of more than 2,300 adult Americans. One of our biggest takeaways was that across nearly all demographics - including age, sex, race, gender, and household income - shoppers prefer to make purchases on Cyber Monday.</p><p>Notably, the higher the income bracket, the more likely a survey respondent preferred Cyber Monday to Black Friday. Additionally, with the exception of Gen Z, shoppers across generations said they would rather participate in online sales on Monday rather than on Friday.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Shayanne Gal/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Part of the shift, according to a study by global consulting firm <a href="https://www.simon-kucher.com/en">Simon-Kucher &amp; Partners</a>, is that many consumers have started viewing Black Friday as a means for browsing deals, as opposed to Cyber Monday, when shoppers are making purchases with intent and "checking predetermined items off their lists [and] focused on purchasing specific products."</p><p>The study notes a growing "dichotomy" between how the two shopping holidays are perceived. Cyber Monday can be a second chance to score a deal that was missed on Friday or that the shopper hadn't yet decided on. According to Hubert Paul, director at Simon-Kucher, there is also a growing sense of fatigue with each passing year as holiday deals start earlier and earlier, ultimately impacting the way consumers engage with Black Friday. </p><p>"Instead of racing to be the first ones out there, retailers should consider investing time to understand what the top-of-mind products are and which deals resonate best for the upcoming holiday season," Paul wrote in a statement. "Retailers who do this well will be best suited to drive traffic to their stores and site when consumers are ready to shop."</p><p>Further pushing the divide: Several retailers have started posting more deals on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday, according to the e-commerce site DealNews. </p><p>"While Black Friday gets all the press, we actually posted 10% more deals on Cyber Monday last year - and 16% more deals that earned our Staff Pick designation, meaning they were among the best sales we saw," <a href="https://www.dealnews.com/features/cyber-monday/ways-cyber-monday-is-different-from-black-friday/">wrote DealNews contributor Elizabeth Harper</a>. </p><h2>Cyber Monday reigns supreme </h2><p>Even for retailers that have pivoted away from the Black Friday doorbuster in favor of online sales, shoppers are still leaning in favor of Cyber Monday.  </p><p>According to the <a href="https://www.adobe.com/analytics/adobe-analytics.html">Adobe Analytics</a> annual holiday shopping forecast, online shopping "will hit new highs" for the duration of the 2019 holiday shopping season. However, when looking specifically at individual shopping days, it estimates online sales will reach $9.4 billion on Cyber Monday as compared to just $7.5 billion on Black Friday. </p><p>In total, Adobe Analytics found that Cyber Week - the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday - is expected to bring in $29 billion online. Adobe contributed expected online sales growth to the rise of shopping on smartphones, and the advent of the "shopping mall in your pocket." </p><p>"Smartphone shopping will be responsible for almost 50% of retail holiday growth," Adobe Analytics wrote. "With retailers optimizing for mobile, money we spend per minute browsing on smartphones have increased by 63% since 2016 from 30 cents to 47 cents per min."</p><p>Still, Paul, the director at Simon-Kucher, said retailers can still identify strategies to make both days play to their favor, and a brand may be remiss to fully do away with the doorbuster. </p><p>"While the two holidays are turning more and more each year into a holiday shopping weekend, there are still distinct opportunities for retailers to capitalize on," Paul wrote in a statement. "We still see that Black Friday shoppers are more likely to seek deals in-store over online, which is likely because they've become accustomed to chasing after doorbuster deals." </p><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/payments-and-commerce-pro?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=ecommerce&amp;itm_campaign=payments-and-commerce-pro-2"></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-real-truffles-are-so-expensive-2019-10">Rare Italian white truffles cost over $4,000 per kilo - here's why real truffles are so expensive</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Black Friday is dying, and the rise of Cyber Monday may be to blame

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Modern <keyword id="107265" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="witches">witches</keyword> are part of a vibrant subculture that has seen a recent growth in popularity.</li><li>Contemporary witchcraft is a pagan spiritual belief system venerating nature and observing seasonal festivals.</li><li>Insider spoke with a number of practicing witches about how they are shifting their spiritual practices during the pandemic.</li><li>Witches are holding their meetings via <keyword id="10296" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Zoom">Zoom</keyword> and other online platforms.</li><li>They are part of a unique economy and are finding creative solutions for keeping their businesses operating.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Modern witchcraft is a vibrant subculture that has undergone a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/witchcraft-juliet-diaz/605518/">highly-visible renaissance</a> in recent years, exploding across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p07003c1/witches-of-the-social-media-generation">social media</a>, redefining concepts of <a href="https://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/2221581/witchcraft-therapy-mental-health/">self-care</a>, and contributing to a <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2020/02/14/witchcraft-goes-mainstream-becomes-big-business/">robust economy</a> of the occult. Modern witches view nature as sacred, see deity as a diversified concept (gods and goddesses), believe in the practice of various forms of magic (defined by English poet and occultist Aleister Crowley as "the art of transforming reality in accordance with will"), participate in seasonal and lunar rituals, and engage with divination systems like astrology, tarot, the "I Ching," and runes, to try to gain insight about life's challenges. </p><p>While witches have plenty of options for quarantine entertainment, from the "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" to "Charmed", some have come up with creative solutions allowing for continued magic and ritual practice with their covens. Such engagement, not unlike a church or synagogue service for followers of Judeo-Christian religions, is part of the expression and socializing so important to spiritual communities. </p><p>Pat C. and Paul B. who own and operate <a href="https://artesandcraft.com/">Artes and Craft</a>, a brick and mortar witchcraft shop in Hartford, Michigan, held an online ritual for the Spring Equinox (witches call it Ostara). "We chose Facebook Live because people can view the session after the fact. Our Spring Equinox ritual had over 4,000 views with many local folks attending." The Order of Ganymede, a group of covens based in Boston, has been using GoToMeeting for video conferencing with members using a creative mélange of connection options: iPad, laptop, smartphone, and regular dial-in phone participation. "It has a great 'record' feature for a replay of the ritual for others, since we all know that time doesn't matter on the inner planes," says coven member Steve W. aka Delios, referencing the realm of dreams and what modern witches believe is the liminal space between life and death: like the concept of the fairy realm or the Otherworld in Celtic <keyword id="24504" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="culture">culture</keyword>. </p><p>Ally L., an artist and witch in upstate New York, says her group is holding sabbats (another word for coven meetings) via Zoom. "We each take turns reading things we've found in books we've hung onto for far too long without reading," she said. Like folks learning new instruments or perfecting their baking skills, the pandemic is inspiring witches to use their downtime productively, with many studying and working to gain new skills.</p><h2>Like college professors and other educators, witches are using technology for teaching, too.</h2><p><div type="image" title="tarot witch zoom" height="533" width="889" msid="75450931" hostid="261"></div></p><p>"Cooped up in their homes or on the front lines of the pandemic, folks are yearning for learning and a sense of connection," says Lauren O'Leary, aka Madame Onça, creator of the <a href="http://hardestworkingwomaninshowbusiness.com/tarot/">World Spirit Tarot</a>. O'Leary, a teacher, artist and tarot reader, designed the deck with colorful woodcut illustrations, updating older versions of tarot imagery with greater diversity of race and gender expression. She normally teaches tarot classes in person, but recently started offering weekly classes called "Kitchen Witchy Tarot" via Zoom. </p><p>Every week there is a different topic focus, on the week I phoned in, we discussed a handful of "scary" cards, including Death, the Devil, the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man, and the Tower. They're only "scary," Madame Onça explains, because popular culture portrayals of these cards imply dramatic outcomes; what she calls the "Hollywood gasp" that occurs when a character sees one of these cards in a movie. "The Death card means transformation," she reassures the dozen or so attendees (who represent a diverse mix of ages, ethnicities and levels of experience) "leaving old ideas or methods behind, discovering what hasn't been working and reinventing your path."</p><p>Students can pay for the class with sliding scale donation via Paypal: flexible pricing means more folks can participate. Like many other freelancers at the moment, O'Leary must pivot to online business practices. "In my face to face classes, I strive to remove the stigma around tarot by being warm and accessible, and to lower barriers to learning by being down to earth, frank and (hopefully) funny," she says. "Taking all that onto a digital platform, in a hurry, has required I adapt, adding a layer of technology, and learning to function simultaneously as teacher, intuitive, and techie. I've always been more of a folksy analog witch, so it's been a strange brew for me, but the response has been fantastic." </p><h2>Many witches are turning to digital platforms to continue connecting with audiences.</h2><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B-9ttPSHQGD/">Pam Grossman</a>, a New York witch and author of "<a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/waking-the-witch-author-pam-grossman-on-why-witches-are-having-such-a-huge-cultural-moment-18204873">Waking the Witch</a>," is collaborating with poet and Boston-based ritual performance artist Janaka Stucky, offering digital versions of their classes on <a href="https://www.pamgrossman.com/events/2020/5/2/online-occult-writing-workshop">occult writing</a>. Recently Grossman interviewed Lisa Marie Basile, author of "Light Magic for Dark Times" and editor of <a href="http://www.lunalunamagazine.com/">Luna Luna Magazine</a>, on her podcast <a href="https://www.instagram.com/witchwavepod/?hl=en">The Witch Wave</a>. She told Insider<em>,</em> "I've been practicing ritual journaling to cope with stress and anxiety" during the pandemic quarantine. "I set up a sacred environment (lights, sounds, fabrics) and simply write. I often let myself follow a train of thought down to its core. You'd be surprised what self-honesty can do for the spirit." She's held some Zoom gatherings with Luna Luna authors, sharing music, poetry, and ritual ideas. </p><p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, witches engage with the economy in unique ways, and the current economic slowdown during the pandemic is affecting their livelihoods just as it is other retail and service industries. Authors and teachers can engage online fairly easily, but retail shop owners face different challenges. Jenn F., owner of <a href="https://www.ravenmoonsoracle.com/">Raven Moon's Oracle</a> in Dubois, Pennsylvania, had to close her shop (which sells a wide array of products from candles, incense, and herbs, to crystals, jewelry, tarot decks, and books) temporarily because it is deemed a "non-life sustaining" business." But she is still doing online orders and shipping to customers.</p><p>Jacqui A., owner of <a href="https://www.thecauldronblack.com/">The Cauldron Black in</a> Salem, Massachusetts, has found the financial struggle to be challenging, "but this experience hasn't been complete doom and gloom. I've seen a major uptick in online service bookings for psychic readings, and our online class attendance has hit record numbers." Salem, known for its association with the Salem Witch Trials (though the actual location was Salem Village now known as Danvers), is a popular tourist destination, particularly in October, known as "<a href="https://www.hauntedhappenings.org/">Haunted Happenings</a>." It's hard to say if this multi-million dollar economic juggernaut will be open for business by the autumn.</p><h2>Witches who focus on healing, activism, and community engagement are working to help others weather this difficult time.</h2><p><div type="image" title="The Facebook page for the &quot;bind Donald Trump&quot; movement." height="898" width="2074" msid="75450933" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Witches also perform rites for social justice, as seen with the "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/OfficialBindTrump/">Bind Trump</a>" movement, that began in 2017, <a href="https://extranewsfeed.com/a-spell-to-bind-donald-trump-and-all-those-who-abet-him-february-24th-mass-ritual-51f3d94f62f4">aiming to</a> "bind Donald Trump and all those who abet him" through a ritual spell "performed at midnight on every waning crescent moon until he is removed from office. Byron Ballard, author and "<a href="https://www.myvillagewitch.com/author/bb/">Village Witch</a>" of Asheville, North Carolina, has referred to the difficulties of recent years as "Tower Time" (the Tower card of the tarot means destruction and comeuppance). She performs a Prayer for the Dead at sundown each day, made even more poignant for her by the fact that funerals and traditional burials are not feasible at this time.</p><p>Matthew Paolucci, professor of psychology at Sonoma State University, shared his thoughts about the ritual meditation he's been doing, aimed at benefiting the global community at large:  "My work is elemental and aimed at connection. For air, I ask scientists to bring clarity and evidence based truth, and for us to listen. For fire, I ask for hope, and the steadfast hearth fire to keep us safe at home. To water, I ask for tears. To the earth, I ask for a ground of sanity for us to walk upon." </p>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/witches-using-zoom-to-continue-rituals-spells-and-the-occult-2020-4">Insider</a>

Modern-day witches are holding Zoom coven meetings to continue rituals, spells, and the occult

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Google</span></p><p class="caption">Google's Stadia promos show people gaming in both casual and competitive settings.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/google">Google's</a> Stadia is an upcoming video game streaming platform that will deliver many of the year's latest video games at 4K resolution with responsive controls.</li><li>While PC Gamers often invest $1,000 or more to build a computer that's capable of playing games in 4K, Stadia Pro will offer players the same level of visual quality for $10 per month.</li><li>Of course, owning your powerful PC has benefits beyond of playing games, but services like Stadia will make it easier for more people to experience top notch games with premium settings.</li></ul><p>For decades, high-end PC gaming has been a relatively exclusive club reserved for the those willing to invest $1,000 or more in building an expensive computer. The term <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"PC Master Race"</a> has become a running joke in the realm of online gaming, referring to the class of hardcore gamers who celebrate the superiority of their customized computers over ordinary video game consoles.</p><p>But as the years have gone on, the line between high-end PCs and powerful gaming consoles have become blurred and the most popular games are developed with both communities in mind. Now, thanks to constantly evolving cloud technology, companies like Google and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/microsoft">Microsoft</a> are ready to offer streaming video games with the same high fidelity graphics that gamers expect from a PC, but without the costly investment in hardware.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>"Doom Eternal"/Bethesda</span></p><p class="caption">The upcoming "Doom Eternal" will have intense graphics to match its wild gameplay.</p></div><p></p></div></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/stadia">Google's Stadia</a> will launch this November and promises 4K visuals for popular PC games like "Doom," "Tomb Raider," and "Assassin's Creed." Players will have to fork over $10 per month for Stadia Pro to get full access to 4K streaming, but Stadia will also offer 1080p streaming for free starting next year. Again, this means that gamers using Stadia wont need to invest $500 in a new console or more than $1,000 in a new PC to see the best possible graphics from their favorite games. </p><p>Of course, PC gamers have access to hundreds of millions of games, while Stadia users will be limited to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-stadia-games-and-features-announced-2019-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about 30 titles when the service launches.</a> Similarly, if you've already invested in a PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch, rebuilding your collection of games on Stadia probably isn't worth it for the small upgrade in graphical quality. Those home consoles also have exclusive games that aren't available on Stadia or PC.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-stadia-game-console-release-date-price-games-2019-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google just detailed Stadia, its ambitious attempt to upend the video-game industry and take on Xbox and PlayStation. Here's everything we know so far.</a></em></p><p>That said, Stadia has the support of major video game publishers and will become a regular destination for newly released games in the future. Google is also planning to develop its own exclusive titles for Stadia, but they wont be ready until later in 2020.</p><p>Buying and playing games on Stadia will require only a controller, an internet connection, and a computer capable of running Google Chrome. Google will also stream Stadia games to the Chromecast, and their Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a smartphones as well. Stadia plans to add the service to more mobile devices in the future.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Google</span></p><p class="caption">Stadia will be available on a wide range of devices, but you'll need an strong and stable internet connection to play.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>While Stadia is a convenient home solution, it also sacrifices much of the flexibility that comes with a powerful PC or standard console. You won't be able to trade-in your old game discs or lend them to a friend anf you wont be able to customize your games with modifications, an important caveat for many PC gamers. And because Stadia is a cloud service, you wont be able to access your games at all if you're offline, a far cry from the portable fun of the Nintendo Switch.</p><p>Streaming at 4K resolution via Stadia will require a strong and stable internet connection; Google recommends a 35 Mbps download for playing in 4K. Streaming at that quality will also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-stadia-data-usage-internet-streaming-requirements-2019-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">use about 15 GB of data per hour, </a>so players will have to be mindful if their internet service comes with a data cap.</p><p>Ultimately, with the technological breakthroughs of streaming services like Stadia and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-xbox-netflix-for-games-2019-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft's Project xCloud,</a> hardcore gaming will gradually become less about how much money you invest in your machine, and more about how much time you invest in your favorite games.</p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gamestop-video-games-gaming-survive-digital-future-2019-5">Now that Google and Nintendo offer digital video games, GameStop could have the same fate as Blockbuster</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Google's Stadia wants to make the hardcore world of PC Gaming more accessible for casual players

<ul class="summary-list"><li>As the electric-vehicle opportunity has evolved for startups and established automakers, it's become clear that an overall strategy is as important — if not more so — than getting cars to market.</li><li><keyword id="107096" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tesla">Tesla</keyword>, <keyword id="6372405" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="gm">GM</keyword>, and <keyword id="6355174" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ford">Ford</keyword> have each made moves recently that showcase their distinctive EV strategies.</li><li>In a nutshell: GM is developing an operating system for EVs, Ford is leveraging its icons, and Tesla continues to turn buzz into billions.</li></ul><p>The biggest mistake that auto-industry analysts and observers have made in the relatively short history of the modern electric car is to assume the consumer is all that matters. Demand, the flawed argument went, would bring buyers into the market and enable EV sales to explode. Competition would follow, and Tesla's first-mover advantage would erode.</p><p>That hasn't happened. EV sales remain a tiny percentage of annual, worldwide totals, a disappointment to electrification enthusiasts for the better part of a decade. Despite the arrival of compelling EVs from the likes of Chevy, Audi, and Jaguar, among others, Tesla continues to dominate.</p><p>However, the EV race has entered a new phase, with established automakers putting some serious money behind their ambitions. <keyword id="4581" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="general-motors">General Motors</keyword> plans to <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2020/03/04/gm-spend-billions-evs-autonomous-vehicles-2025/4950451002/">spend $20 billion on its electric future</a>, and CEO <keyword id="798973" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mary-Barra">Mary Barra</keyword> has repeatedly declared that the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/general-motors-pivot-to-electric-cars-begins-analysis-2020-3">automaker wants to shift decisively away from the internal-combustion engine</a>.</p><p>Last week, <a href="https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2020/09/17/ford-deepens-commitment-to-american-manufacturing.html">Ford announced a $700-million new factory</a> dedicated to building the all-electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup truck, scheduled to launch in 2022; interestingly, the plant will be part of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-factory-like-ford-plant-2017-8">Ford's legendary River Rouge complex in Michigan,</a> possibly the most famous auto manufacturing site in the history of the American industry.</p><p>Tesla is keeping pace. On September 22, the company and CEO <keyword id="6355315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk">Elon Musk</keyword> will hold a battery event in connection with the carmaker's annual shareholders meeting. It's possible that Tesla could reveal a new battery design, with the aim of vertically integrating its manufacturing, lessening a dependence on Panasonic to supply battery cells.</p><p>There is also a range of startups entering the fray: Rivian, Nikola, Fisker, and Lucid.</p><p>GM, Ford, and Tesla all ultimately have the same goal for their EVs: for them to perform as well as possible on the burgeoning EV market. But each are attacking that goal in different ways, with one common feature: a focus on not the much-debated competition they'll eventually have, but instead the creation of distinctive strategies.</p><h2>GM: Creating a pervasive operating system for EVs</h2><div type="image" title="GM EV Barra" height="1333" width="2000" msid="78205624" hostid="261"></div><p>Earlier this year, GM <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gms-new-ultium-battery-is-for-electric-car-gearheads-2020-3">unveiled its Ultium battery technology</a> and, at an event near Detroit, executives and engineers outlined how Ultium might evolve — especially in terms of limiting dependence on so-called "rare earth" elements such as cobalt.</p><p>More recently, GM has: <a href="https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/sep/0916-ultium-drive.html">showcased the Ultium powertrains</a> that will be paired with the battery tech for 22 electrified vehicles <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gm-details-22-electric-vehicles-plans-to-launch-by-2023-2020-3">slated to arrive by 2023</a>; revealed that it would be using <a href="https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/sep/0909-wbms.html">wireless battery management</a> to cut down on manufacturing complexity; and entered into <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gm-nikola-announce-2-billion-partnership-2020-9">a $2 billion deal</a> to produce a pickup for zero-emissions startup Nikola, the Badger, in exchange for an 11% stake in the company.</p><p>With Ultium, GM is in effect creating an operating system for EVs, sort of like an Apple iOS or an Android in the smartphone world. Speaking about the Nikola partnership at a recent RBC conference, Barra said deal "validates our technology [and] it allows us to have more people using the technology, which gives us the advantage of scale, which will help us drive costs down."</p><p>GM's big bet here is that Ultium will power not just its EVs, but potentially many other non-GM EVs. In addition to Nikola, GM has also partnered with Honda.</p><p>So ultimately, if you'll pardon the pun, GM could have Ultium inside a wide range of electric vehicles, to extend the operating-system analogy into the computer chip realm and borrow Intel's famous slogan. The upshot is that GM will control a critical part of the EV ecosystem.</p><h2>Ford: Building on the legacy of its icons</h2><div type="image" title="Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center Rendering" height="1081" width="2048" msid="78205627" hostid="261"></div><p>The electric F-150 plant at River Rouge is just the latest instance of Ford leverage its numerous in-house brands to support its own EV efforts. In 2019, the company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-mustang-mach-e-revealed-los-angeles-photos-features-2019-11">unveiled the Mustang Mach-E</a>, a critically important all-electric vehicle that supposed to begin deliveries later this year. </p><p>It was the first expansion of the iconic Mustang brand since the car debuted in 1964 and a clear indication that Ford wanted to lead with its strengths as it joins the EV hootenanny. The electric F-150 is another shining example: That full-size pickup nameplate has been at the heart of the the top-selling lineup of vehicles in the US for nearly four decades, the F-Series.</p><p>GM is a collection of brands — Chevy, Buick, GMC, Cadillac — so it makes sense for Ultium to join that lineup. Ford, on the other hand, is a collection of icons, such as the Mustang, the F-150, and River Rouge. So the logical way to turbocharge its EVs, if you will, is to leverage those icons to capture attention and generate excitement. </p><p>Ford's best, then, is that it can transition the accumulated greatness of the F-150 and Mustang from the gas-burning era to the all-electric one.</p><h2>Tesla: Riding wave after wave of buzz</h2><div type="image" title="Tesla Model 3_4" height="1406" width="2500" msid="78205630" hostid="261"></div><p>Tesla has been on an epic stock rally since the beginning of 2020, minting a market cap that has made it worth more than GM and Ford combined. Critics have pointed out that GM and Ford have been pretty steadily profitable since the Great Recession ended, and that those automakers sell millions of cars and trucks annually, while Tesla still hasn't sold 500,000 in a year.</p><p>But Tesla has the buzz, and it isn't afraid to use it. At the beginning of September, the company said it would <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teslas-5-billion-capital-raisewill-drive-the-auto-industry-crazy-2020-9">raise $5 billion by issuing new equity</a>, not long after it announced a 5-for-1 stock split. The raise would take its cash-on-hand position to about $14 billion, a historic high for the company, which is less than two decades old.</p><p>That's just one case of Tesla turning buzz into billions. The carmaker's entire future hinges on the passionate loyalty of its customers and significant growth in the number of customers in whom it can engender new levels of passionate loyalty.</p><p>Note that it isn't simply consumers with money to buy EVs whom Tesla is looking for; rather, it wants its owners to have an experience that drives beneficial buzz and continues a virtuous process of people loving their Teslas begetting more people who love their Teslas.</p><p>That buzz, not incidentally, extends to Wall Street, where investor enthusiasm is a vital type of currency — as demonstrated by the stock rally, which enabled the big capital raise.</p><h2>Different strokes</h2><div type="image" title="Ford Chairman Bill Ford" height="3408" width="5000" msid="78205637" hostid="261"></div><p>GM, Ford, and Tesla are proof that there are multiple strategies available to attack business opportunities. Why does this matter? Simple: If your strategic choice is successful, the strategy <em>itself</em> becomes valuable.</p><p>Classic examples would include Ford's creation of River Rouge from <a href="https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/ford-rouge-factory-tour/history-and-timeline/fords-rouge/">1917 through 1928</a>, developing a model of so-called "vertical integration" in manufacturing — a model that would endure until the 1980s, when it was displaced by "just in time" systems; and GM's ladder of brands, starting customers out with Chevy and sending them off to their final rewards in Cadillacs, with Pontiacs and Buicks in between.</p><p>In the 21st century, Tesla has become the first new US car brand to make it since Chrysler in the 20th century by assiduously and skillfully courting popular support. That game plan got it from making almost no vehicles in 2010 to selling more than 360,000 in 2019.</p><p>It's entirely possible that all three could succeed, in one form or another. But what's clear is that electric carmakers now need a lot more than a dream — they need a deeper think about how they can use what they've got to define a market whose potential could be enormous, but whose shape remains uncertain.</p>

Tesla, GM, and Ford all have vastly different approaches to succeeding in the EV market — here's how they compare

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Brat</span></p><p class="caption">Rob Fishman</p></div><p></p></div></div>For teens, YouTube and Netflix are already the new TV - and the race is on to see which entertainment companies will make a killing in that future.</p><p>In fall 2016, YouTube and Netflix both outstripped cable TV in daily video consumption among US teens for the first time, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-more-popular-than-cable-tv-for-teens-2016-10">according to a survey by Piper Jaffray</a>.</p><p>That is a shift that Rob Fishman is trying to capitalize on with his new entertainment startup, Brat.</p><p>Teenagers used to watch the WB all week, Fishman told Business Insider in a recent interview. "That's all disappeared in the era of social <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword>," he said. "There's no monoculture. No shows everyone watches."</p><p>Netflix might have scored that type of hit with "13 Reasons Why." But Netflix aside, Fishman thinks there's an opening in the free digital realm, particularly on YouTube, to make scripted shows with good production value, starring digital talent - some of whom bring their own built-in audiences and massive social media footprints to the table.</p><p>Fishman isn't the only one to look in this direction. Early digital video powerhouses that focused on young people, like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brian-robbins-ceo-of-awesomenesstv-stepping-down-2017-2">AwesomenessTV</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fullscreens-premium-tv-strategy-profile-2017-2">Fullscreen</a>, have moved in recent years more toward original show production and owning content (versus taking a percentage as a multi-channel network).</p><p>Fishman said he won't get anywhere near talent management. "We are studio, network, and channel," he said. "We don't sign or manage."</p><h2><strong>The Brat Pack</strong></h2><p>Right now, Brat is focused on creating YouTube shows for its channel (which since the summer has grown to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdnJJrDUl-y_ryelLMslxkQ">around 635,000 subscribers</a>). The first shows center around a fictional high school called "Attaway High," the location for which was an actual high school that Brat originally rented for three weeks to shoot.</p><p>"Everything has nostalgic, aspirational quality," Fishman said. Brat shows include technology like smartphones, but aren't hyper focused on it. The themes are meant to have a timeless quality, like the 80s "Brat Pack" movies that the company cribs its name from. The stars of those iconic films were not just the jock or cheerleaders, but those who marched to their own beat, Fishman said.</p><p>Brat's breakout hit is "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KWgLc2m0ps&amp;feature=youtu.be">Chicken Girls</a>," about three girl friends who "have been dancing together forever," which has gotten over 5 million views an episode on YouTube in its first season, and will be getting longer episodes starting on Halloween.</p><p>"All these kids live vicariously through those characters," Motoki Maxted, who performs in another Brat show about a high school newspaper, said of "Chicken Girls."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Brat</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>'Second-class citizens'</strong></h2><p>Stars like Maxted - who has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/moretoki">over a million YouTube subscribers</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/motokimaxted/">3.6 million Facebook likes</a> - are a key to Brat's strategy.</p><p>"They have bigger individual audiences than an entire TV network," Fishman said. And yet Fishman said traditional entertainment companies often treat digital media talent as "second-class citizens."</p><p>Fishman should know. His last company, Niche, helped social-media stars make money from brands, and sold for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-buys-niche-an-ad-network-for-vine-stars-2015-2">around $50 million to Twitter</a>. (Fishman's partner in Niche, Darren Lachtman, recently joined Brat.)</p><p>But that doesn't mean all YouTube stars can make it as traditional actors. "There's no secret algorithm," Fishman said. You can't just plug in numbers and get a hit.</p><p>Being a YouTube "personality is completely different than getting a script and acting," Maxted said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Brat</span></p><p class="caption">Motoki Maxted</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>Smart money</strong></h2><p>The big question when anyone is launching a venture in the digital entertainment space is, "How the heck are you going to make money?" Teen audiences might be shifting away from TV, but that doesn't mean the money is.</p><p>Fishman said he wants Brat to be smart about how and when it makes money - and he has a bit of runway, having raised <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/7/24/16020130/brat-rob-fishman-niche-video-kristen-hancher-musically">$2.5 million</a> from investors.</p><p>"We are not talking about programmatic ad dollars," Fishman said. "We need to make big brand [deals]." He could also see licensing to platforms like Netflix, or Facebook, or Snapchat, and so on. ("It's not about being dogmatic about format," he said.)</p><p>But that's in the future. First he has to make Brat into something that young people love and keep returning to.</p><p>The sentiment of careful brand building is echoed by Maxted when he talks about his personal goals. "YouTube is my baby, I don't bother too much with sponsors," he said. "Facebook I do brand deals." You can't try to grab optimum monetization at any cost.</p><p>"I think a lot of people are more focused on attention, versus longevity," Maxted said. "They don't care about the end goals."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Brat</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-tom-steyer-releases-ad-video-donald-trump-impeachment-2017-10">A billionaire spent $10 million on an ad calling for Trump's impeachment</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A founder who sold his last startup for ~$50 million wants to make iconic TV for teens in the YouTube era

<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-world-congress-2015"></div><p></p></div></div>HTC's recently appointed chief marketing officer Idris Mootee isn't your typical CMO.</p><p>He officially joined HTC last month, not from another big consumer brand but from Toronto-based designed agency, Idea Couture. He wears cool orange-framed spectacles. If you ask where Mootee is currently living, he'll refer you to the movie "The Terminal" and pull out his array of different driving licenses and passports that symbolize his globetrotting lifestyle. <a href="http://www.mootee.typepad.com/">He has a blog</a>. And sitting down with Business Insider at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Mootee also admitted: "I'm not an easy guy to work with." His PR rep quickly jumps in: "That's not true!"</p><p>But bringing on board the kind of person that is willing to shake things up is exactly what HTC needs right now. Its market share has slumped since its heyday of the popular Desire smartphone back in 2011. And beyond the realm of the smartphone, the company is making a huge, brave bet on virtual reality with its partnership with gaming company Valve to create the Vive headset.</p><p>Mootee believes he has the strategy and the company has the right set-up in place to move the HTC brand away from its long-running "Quietly Brilliant" strapline to becoming truly "brilliant." And he thinks it's been hidden inside the company all along.</p><h3>Mootee the rebel and Robert Downey Jr.</h3><p>An example of Mootee's rebellious nature is the story behind the creation of the TV ad for the new HTC One M9, which was unveiled at MWC on Sunday.</p><p>Mootee, HTC's multi-million dollar brand ambassador Robert Downey Jr., and the Hollywood actor's wife Susan Downey Jr. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/robert-downey-jr-wrote-the-htc-one-m9-tv-ad-script-2015-3">all worked together on the script themselves</a>, sending it back and forth between them. But when it came to the visuals, Mootee decided RDJ (as the company calls him internally) wouldn't feature, but would instead narrate the ad.</p><p>Mootee told us: "You know people in the company are not going to like it because they will say we just paid a lot of money for the world's most famous, most expensive, highest earning star, and I say I don't want to show your face. That's the campaign."</p><p>Instead, Downey Jr. acts as the brand's "storyteller" and the ad serves as the metaphor not just for the device, but also where Mootee wants to take the HTC brand.</p><h3>Here's the TV ad, which was unveiled at the HTC One M9 launch event in Barcelona on Sunday. The ad starts at around 0:05.</h3><p></p><p>Mootee, who has actually been acting as a brand consultant to HTC for some time but was convinced to step away from his other projects by HTC chairwoman Cher Wang to go full-time at the company ("She has some very special power," Mootee said), thinks HTC needs to move on from its marketing of the past.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/htc-robert-downey-jr-ad-2013-8">Remember the first, odd Robert Downey Jr. $1 billion campaign</a> that played around with the HTC acronym? "Hipster Troll Carwash," "Humongous Tinfoil Catamaran," "Here's To Change." That kind of thing isn't going to happen again.</p><p>"I think in the past we announced the model, finding expensive celebrities, spending a lot of money...people liked us because we were loud and funny, but that won't work [now,] that was the 1980s...I asked who we are. If we don't ask that question, then what do we sell on? The best product is not enough," Mootee said.</p><p>"What we used to tell people was that we were 'Quietly Brilliant.' That was a long time ago, that was before probably your time and before my time too - I was very young then - I think that kind of reflected our aspirations, but the word 'quietly' doesn't really create. You don't want to be too quiet," he added.</p><p>But HTC does want to be brilliant. And in a period of soul searching about what the brand stands for, Mootee may be taking a little bit of inspiration from Apple on HTC's quest to achieve greatness again.</p><h4>Here's that 2013 "Here's To Change" ad</h4><p></p><h3>Apple wants to make a dent in the universe. HTC wants to power human connectiveness</h3><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Mootee said HTC is never likely to outspend the likes of Apple in terms of marketing budget, but it thinks it can stand out with its raison d'être.</p><p>He explained: "There's a great company that creates great computers and, maybe, depending on who you ask, its a trillion dollar company. Those people walk into Cupertino for a reason: Because they want to make a dent in the universe [<a href="http://www.changemakrs.com/Aurora/we-are-here-to-make-a-dent-in-the-universe-3">, a famous Steve Jobs quote</a>.] They were very successful to bring the imagination of people into the company. That's very important for us as a brand too."</p><p>HTC was founded in the 1990s and started out by manufacturing notebook computers and some of the first touch handheld devices. It also made the world's first Android smartphone as well as the first Microsoft-powered smartphone. That's why, at its core, Mootee believes HTC stands for "powering human connectiveness."</p><p>"It's not about routers and phones, it's about the emotion of getting people breaking down barriers and getting people closer together," he added.</p><p>That idea is reflected in the campaign but also upcoming digital activity involving RDJ, which is due to be launched at SXSW next month.</p><h3>"The company used to fly with one engine...now the plane is flying with three engines."</h3><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The TV ad already out is quite Apple-like and as you're compelled to listen as you watch the slick visuals depicting people all over the world connecting emotionally. But that doesn't hide from the huge uphill challenge HTC faces.</p><p>HTC's market share is currently tiny as the chart to the left demonstrates. And while its new One M9 smartphone is stunning, it looks very similar to its predecessor the M8 (just with some iterative upgrades), and its dominant Android-running rival <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s-6-and-galaxy-s-6-edge-2015-3">Samsung also launched two beautifully designed high-end handsets</a> at Mobile World Congress that are likely to tempt many consumers away from HTC once again.</p><p><a href="http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/2015/03/05/htc-faces-survival-battle-if-one-m9-device-is-a-flop/">Much of the analysis following the M9 launch suggested HTC will need to double down on marketing</a> in order to build up brand equity. But it can't outspend Samsung and Apple, so perhaps it should do more with to try to spread word of mouth and concentrate on delighting its current customers to help do the job of marketing for them. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/xiaomi-vp-hugo-barra-at-mobile-world-congress-2015-2015-3">Take Xiaomi: It spends "pretty much nothing" on advertising</a>, but its cheap products and fanatical fanbase has helped it grow to become the world's most valuable startup in the world with a $45 billion valuation.</p><p>Mootee dismisses the comparison with Xiaomi: "I think Xiaomi is kind of a story that's overblown. Most people don't really know about the company. Most people heard about it from their friends, read it in a newspaper, it's second-hand, third-hand, a fifth-hand story about Xiaomi. It's a very different business that's not designed to scale. and it's full with a lot of hype. So far there's only really the China model, I don't think they're exportable, so why are we comparing with a company that's stuck with where they sell it to one that sells in countries all over the world?"</p><p>Take the Xiaomi comparison out of it, though, and Mootee thinks it's fair to say that HTC needs to work harder to curate more of a community with its core fanbase. And we're told there will be more to come on that front very soon.</p><p>But while there are always improvements to be made, Mootee thinks HTC is finally, after some difficult years, set up for success again: "The company used to fly with one engine and a plane flying with one engine is kind of dangerous. Now the plane is flying with three engines. So we have the phone, we have VR, and we have all the wearables we keep coming up with. And there's more of those to come. So the plane is taking off again this time with three engines, a very committed pilot, and a very strong crew. And hopefully the customers on the plane will be very happy."</p><h3>The big VR bet<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></h3><p>Arguably the biggest marketing move HTC has made since Mootee arrived wasn't actually engineered by Mootee himself.</p><p>By partnering with Valve and entering the new area of virtual reality, HTC goes head-to-head with Oculus in working to make VR mainstream. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/htc-vive-tryout-2015-3">The reviews so far from tech enthusiasts are broadly positive</a>. There are already 100 million people on Valve's network, and lots of demand for the product from gamers, which is why Mootee thinks VR "doesn't even need a lot of push."</p><p>Mootee said: "How many people said 'I don't need a smartphone,' 'who wants an iPad?'...the advance of any innovative product requires learning behavior and that requires macroeconomic conditions, a push from how to educate, behavior and knowledge of risk and reward, it's a very complex science to see what the drivers are."</p><p>He continued: "I think virtual reality is probably the biggest thing in the next 10 years. At least five years because there's so many problems the minute you open one up there's another to solve. So that technology race will not end in two years, to five years. It will continue on for at least 10 years until there becomes something so cohesive, because the benefit is so great that people basically say I will take some compromise, just like the first brick phone. I think this is one of the most important steps that the company took. And that step at some point will converge with the phone, because this is the power and this miniaturization of computing power will not stop also."</p><p>In a technology race it's good to have a headstart, and someone like Mootee willing to challenge the status quo in order to cross that finish line first.</p>

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