Instagram beats Twitter in active users

New York: With 300 million active users, photo sharing site Instagram has moved ahead of Twitter in terms of users.

Nine months after it reached the 200 million user mark, Instagram now says it has 300 million people using the service every month, TechCrunch reported.

The app now beats Twitter`s 284 million active users, as per the figures on the microblogging website.

Twitter added about 38 million users since March while Instagram boosted its count by 100 million.

"Over the past four years, what began as two friends with a dream has grown into a global community," Kevin Systrom, Instagram CEO, was quoted as saying in media reports.

Instagram users share 70 million photos every day and it has a base of 30 billion photos.

The website now has plans to launch verified badges for celebrities, brands and athletes, like Twitter, to increase its credibility.

IANS 

Now, watch YouTube videos offline

Mumbai: Video sharing website YouTube Thursday launched an offline viewing service to help users download videos they can watch later, to overcome handicaps posed by low bandwidth and high costs of data plans.

Under the service, which went live in India, Indonesia and the Philippines today, a user can click on the special icon on the site when she is either in a wi-fi zone or a place with good data connectivity, and download a video which can be watched later.

The downloaded videos can be watched as many times within 48 hours and the advertiser's interests have been protected through an innovation wherein the advertisement appears before a playback of the video, like it would for online usage.

The US-based internet advertising giant said a large number of videos are already available and the company is speaking to more content partners to opt for this service.

Once the device connects back to the internet, analytics around the number of times the video was watched will be transfered to the YouTube servers.

It can be noted that already, there are a slew of applications available online which let users download videos to be watched offline, but Google India's managing director Rajan Anandan stressed that this is illegal and amounts to piracy of content.

About the need for such a service, he said the mobiles growth has resulted in a situation where we have a large user base, which is estimated to touch 300 million by year-end, but India is "starved" for bandwidth while the data plans are also costly, making it tough to watch videos seamlessly.

"There will not be any difficulties around buffering if you use this service," he added.

At present, YouTube has 60 million users in the country, while on the content front, there are 10,000 Indian films, 20,000 TV shows and 2.5 lakh songs which are available online, the company said.

Anandan said that 58 million of the approximately 300 million internet users are on the low-speed 2G networks and added that a bulk of the new additions are on the mobile, which do not offer the same speed as broadband.

Already, 40 per cent of the traffic on YouTube comes from a mobile device, and hence, there is a need for some alternate solutions, YouTube's vice president for engineering John Harding said.

On revenue from partnerships, Google India is placed fifth globally and aspires to be among the top three soon, its regional director for partnerships, Ajay Vidyasagar said.

When asked if the telcos should fear a cut in business due to services like these, Anandan said the service will be "additive", as it will grow the number of video watchers and the revenues of such companies will not be impacted.

On the impending launch of a faster 4G service, and its impact on the service, Anandan exuded confidence that the country will always be "capacity constrained" and there will be a need for such a service.

PTI 

Google launches Hindi advertising service

New Delhi: Online search giant Google has launched Hindi ads on its display network to allow advertisers reach out to 500 million Hindi speakers across the world.

The move is part of Google's effort to stimulate the growth of Indic languages and extend support to more languages around the world, Google said in a statement on Monday.

"Starting today, marketers will be able to advertise to India's booming online population in the most widely spoken local language - Hindi," it added.

It is estimated that there are over 500 million Hindi speakers globally.

"Extending the ability to support Hindi ads will enable global advertisers to connect with one of India's fastest growing online audiences," it said.

With the introduction of Hindi ads, AdWords advertisers will now be able to build campaigns reaching Hindi language sites on the Google Display Network using text, image, rich media, and video display ad formats, it added.

"We hope that this launch will give a boost to the growth of Hindi web and will encourage the creation of a whole new wave of online Hindi content that will not only be useful to the burgeoning Hindi Internet audience, but also make it easy for advertisers to market to this very important consumer base," Google Head Partner Business Solutions - India and Southeast Asia Dushyant Khare said.

In November, Google had announced the launch of Indian Language Internet Alliance (ILIA), a group committed to promote the growth of Indic language content online.

Through its efforts, the ILIA aims to enable 300 million Indian language speakers to become highly engaged Internet users by 2017.

Google already offers voice search in Hindi and a website called www.hindiweb.com, a repository to discover Hindi content across websites, apps, videos and blogs for Hindi speaking Internet users.

PTI 

Street artist Banksy most Googled person under 'who is' phrase in 2014

London: Street artist Banksy was the name people most typed on Google after the phrase "who is" in 2014.

The English graffiti artist was rumoured to have been arrested earlier in 2014, but he is now a free man, presumably with a spray can not far from hand, the Independent reported.

The second place was taken by celebrity Big Brother's Frenchy , real name Angelique Morgan. In third came Dappy, the N-Dubs singer who was given a suspended jail sentence in November after being found guilty of for assaulting a man while still on a suspended sentence for a previous incident in Guildford.

These illustrious three come before a desire to know who more about Hamas, Sia, Ultron and Isis.

Also in the Top 10 featured US pop band R5 at number 8, while sixties supermodel Twiggy made the list at number 9.

At number 10 was 15-year-old YouTube phenomenon Lohanthony, real name Anthony Quintal, whose most popular film was called "Calling all the basic bitches." 

ANI 

3D printing points way to smarter cancer treatment

London: British scientists have developed a new use for 3D printing, putting it to work to create personalised replica models of cancerous parts of the body to allow doctors to target tumours more precisely.

The initiative is the latest example of medicine harnessing the rapidly emerging technology, which has already been used to manufacture some medical implants.

3D printing makes products by layering material until a three-dimensional object is created. Automotive and aerospace companies use it for producing prototypes as well as creating specialised tools, mouldings and some end-use parts.

In healthcare, 3D printers are used by dentists to create replicas of jaws and teeth, as well as some finished dental implants, while orthopaedic surgeons have tested them to make customised hip replacements. And last year U.S. scientists grew human ears from cow cells with the help of a 3D printer.

The new cancer work involves printing 3D "phantoms" of tumours and organs based on CT scans taken of patients during treatment. These plastic moulds can be filled with liquid, allowing experts see in detail the flow of so-called radiopharmaceuticals.

Radiopharmaceuticals are drugs containing radioactive material that may be injected into a vein, taken by mouth or placed in a body cavity. The challenge is to give a dose that is high enough to kill cancer cells, without causing excessive collateral damage to healthy tissue.

Glenn Flux, head of radioisotope physics at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, believes accurate modelling will allow doctors in future to fine-tune dosing, resulting in the likely routine use of such 3D printouts.

"If we personalise treatment according to the radiation dose delivered to the tumour, then we should have a better outcome," he said. "I think it will have a huge impact."

Flux and colleagues published a technical paper on their process in the journal Medical Physics in July, showing the models can accurately replicate the shape of a patient`s tumour and the surrounding organs, and are now looking to confirm the benefits in larger studies.

Radiopharmaceuticals are used to treat a number of different tumours, including thyroid cancer, cancers of nerves cells in children and certain tumours that have spread to the bones. Interest in the field has been fuelled by the recent launch of Bayer`s prostate cancer radiopharmaceutical Xofigo.

The team in London used a 3D printer from Stratasys, one of the leading suppliers of high-end machines.

In October, Stratasys executives said the global 3D-printing market was expected to swell from $3 billion last year to $21 billion by 2020, according to industry research.

Apple wins digital music US antitrust trial

Oakland: Apple Inc won an antitrust trial on Tuesday when a U.S. jury decided the company did not act improperly when it restricted music purchases for iPod users to Apple`s iTunes digital store.

The verdict was read in an Oakland, California federal court.

Patrick Coughlin, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said "the jury called it like they saw it." An Apple lawyer referred questions to the company, which did not have an immediate comment.

The plaintiffs, a group of individuals and businesses who purchased iPods from 2006 to 2009, sought about $350 million in damages from Apple for unfairly blocking competing device makers.

The trial included video deposition testimony given by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs shortly before he died in 2011.

Apple faced a challenge in the online music market from Real Networks, which developed RealPlayer, its own digital song manager, plaintiffs claimed. It included software which allowed music purchased there playable on iPods as well as competing devices.

Apple eventually introduced a software update that restricted the iPod to music bought on iTunes. Plaintiffs say that step discouraged iPod owners from buying a competing device when it came time to upgrade.

Apple, meanwhile, argued the software update was meant to improve the consumer experience, and that it had no legal duty to make its products compatible for competitors. 

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is The Apple iPod iTunes Anti-Trust Litigation, 05-37.

After Google, Dutch privacy watchdog probes Facebook

A Dutch government-affiliated watchdog said Tuesday it is probing changes in Facebook`s privacy policy, the latest skirmish in a wider fight over the commercial use of online personal data. 

The announcement came a day after the Hague-based Data Protection Agency warned Google it was breaching data protection laws by using personal details for targeted advertising.

Google faces a 15 million-euro ($18.7 million) fine if it doesn`t fix the alleged breaches by the end of February, the DPA said.

"The DPA has decided to investigate Facebook`s newly-announced privacy policy," it said in Tuesday`s statement.

"The DPA wants to know what the consequences will be for Facebook users in the Netherlands," it added.

Facebook last month announced worldwide changes to its privacy policy, which includes the right to share personal details and pictures from Facebook profiles for commercial purposes, the DPA said.

The watchdog had asked Facebook in a letter to hold off on the changes, set to come in on January 1, until the results of its probe were known.

The DPA added that because Facebook has a "company presence" in the Netherlands and was using Dutch citizens` details "it had the authority to act as a supervisor."

Facebook said it was "surprised and disappointed to learn about the DPA`s inquiry," in a reaction emailed to AFP.

It denied it planned to use pictures posted on Facebook for commercial purposes, but said it could use profile pictures to appear alongside advertisements that had for instance been "liked" by users.

"This is no different from how Facebook has worked for a long time," one official told AFP.

The social network said that because its headquarters are in Dublin it falls under Irish data protection laws and would not delay the changes.

"As a company with international headquarters in Dublin, we routinely review product and policy updates... with our regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner," Facebook said.

"We`re confident the updates comply with the relevant laws."

The DPA on Monday gave Google two months to fix changes to its privacy policy introduced in 2012.

It said the Dutch recommendation followed similar probes by five other privacy regulators Britain, France, Germany Italy and Spain. 

Google allegedly breached Dutch laws by, for instance, matching personal details to personalised adverts without "properly informing users or first asking their permission," the DPA said.

"Google traps users in an invisible net with our personal details without asking our permission," DPA chairman Jacob Kohnstam said in a statement.

"Google has until the end of February 2015 to implement the necessary measures to end the infringements," the DPA added.

If not, "a fine could run as high as 15 million euros ($18.7 million), the DPA said.

Google said it was "disappointed with the Dutch data protection authority`s order, especially as we have already made a number of changes to our privacy policy in response to their concerns.

"However, we`ve recently shared some proposals for further changes with the European privacy regulators group and we look forward to discussing with them soon," it added.

Google on Tuesday went ahead with a vow to shut down its popular Google News service in Spain in protest at a new law which would make it pay for content.

AFP

Chakri watched TV with wife Sravani until 2.30 am

Tollywood film fraternity woke up to the shock news of music director Chakri's death on Monday morning. The 40-year-old who had sleep apnea, suffered a cardiac arrest in the early hours of the morning, and was pronounced brought dead by doctors at a private hospital. "He had been working in his studio on Sunday and returned home past midnight. Everything seemed normal and Chakri watched TV till about 2.30 am along with wife Sravani, before they retired to bed. When Sravani woke up between 4.30 and 5 am, she was shocked to find Chakri's oral breathing device out of place and rushed him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead," shared a close family member. 

The award winning music composer had been diagnosed with sleep apnea (a sleep disorder, that causes irregular breathing, leading to disruption of oxygen supply to the brain) and used to sleep with an oral breathing device for the last couple of months. "He'd been advised to undergo a bariatric surgery as well, but he had been postponing it," adds the family member. 

I miss my brother Chakri: Puri Jagannadh

Director Puri Jagannadh is saddened by the demise of music director Chakri. The filmmaker shares a special bond with the late music director. Chakri began his career in Telugu cinema with Baachi in 2000. "He was there in the office till 1 am, and it seems before going home he told the office boy, "Enduko Jagan annayya ni ippudu choodalani undi ra (I feel like meeting Puri Jagannadh now)." We both started our career at the same time, and I'm dejected to hear the shocking news. I really miss my brother," said Puri Jagannadh.

Chakri's mortal remains were cremated at Punjagutta on Monday evening. He is survived by his wife Sravani.

Satan employed by Pitt. Per Wikipedia.

WikiGalaxy: A Visualization of Wikipedia Rabbit Holes

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a distressing fact: Air Buddy, the basketball-playing golden retriever and star of the 1997 classic Air Bud, died of cancer in 1998.

I didn't mean to find this out. And I really didn't want to know that Air Buddy had to have his right hind leg amputated the same year he became a star. But I found out anyway, because I had wandered into a Wikipedia Rabbit Hole.

This is how it happened, according to my browser history: I was reading about skyscrapers, looked up the list of tallest buildings in the world, clicked on the Transamerica Pyramid, then clicked on San Francisco, then—and this is where I start to lose focus, I think—clicked on San Francisco in popular culture, then (naturally) Full House, then Air Bud, then Air Buddy. The path from skyscrapers to Air Buddy, just another Wikipedia Rabbit Hole.

But what if the Wikipedia Rabbit Hole looked more like a galaxy? In the mind of Paris-based engineering student Owen Cornec, it already does. Cornec created WikiGalaxy, a visualization of the site in which each article appears as an object in space.

When launched, WikiGalaxy opens to a landing page showing a sample article, a search function, and the eponymous "galaxy"—which resembles more the Ring Nebula than our spiral Milky Way—in the center:

WikiGalaxy

Once you click on an area of the galaxy, the page zooms in and allows you to select individual articles in the form of spherical objects. Click on one to highlight the article's links with yellow lines. Here, I've randomly zoomed in and clicked on the Politics of Anguilla, which then connects to pages on the Politics of the Cayman Islands, Grenada, Honduras, and more:

WikiGalaxy

The lines show how far away or relevant another article is from your selected article based on its links. Putting the visualization on "fly mode" is even cooler: The feature zooms onto an article's plane and rotates around the object, giving the visualization a 3D feel. But because Cornec has only charted 100,000 Wikipedia articles so far, I'm unable to find the sphere representing Air Buddy. Instead, here's the "fly mode" look at Full House:

WikiGalaxy

The sphere shows 19 available links for Full House in the visualization, including articles on the "somewhat related" Beach Boys, the "closely related" CBS, and the "highly related" Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

If I wanted, I could then follow those yellow links to head down another Wikipedia Rabbit Hole, but it wouldn't be the same as clicking through the normal site. With this visualization, Wikipedia is no longer one article on a screen at a time—it becomes an infinite, complex network of articles, each containing different amounts of information, with varying degrees of relevance to every other article. It's as if you could reach through a Wikipedia page and access all other Wikipedia pages at the same time, like playing God to all of trivia and needed citations.

It's also a bit like lifting a veil. Because even when you don't see the vast galaxy of linking architecture that connects the site's ever-expanding content, that infrastructure is always there.   

WhatsApp Seems To Be Working On A Web Client Called WhatsApp Web

One of the hindrances of using WhatsApp as your main messaging platform, like most of us do in my part of the world, is that you're tied to your phone (or connected tablet). WhatsApp doesn't authenticate you with usernames or passwords, instead requiring a SIM card to work on any device. It had thus far been completely alien (aside from "hacked" solutions like WhatsRemote) to our desktops and full, comfortable, typing-friendly keyboards. That is in contrast to its competitors, Line, Viber, Telegram, and WeChat, which have all developed a desktop counterpart to their mobile solutions. But WhatsApp's lag might be changing, well, sometime down the line.

                                         

It seems the hints started when Telegram's founder Pavel Durov revealed in an interview that WhatsApp tried to hire his web app developer. Telegram had been capitalizing on its privacy features and desktop and web apps to differentiate itself and grow its user base. In response, WhatsApp recently made a few steps forward in the privacy field by starting to encrypt messages, but it had yet to solve the desktop issue.

That's why the guys on AndroidWorld.nl (and the team behind the WhatsAPI-Official GitHub project before them) have delved into the app's APK and uncovered some interesting strings. These seem to have been removed from recent updates but were still included in the 2.11.471 WhatsApp version. They contain several mentions of "WhatsApp Web," logging in and out of computers, and hints about tracking your status and latest activity in the web session.

<string name="can_not_start_voip_call_in_phone_call">"You cannot place a WhatsApp call if you're already on a phone call."</string>

<string name="confirmation_delete_all_qr">Are you sure you want to log out from all computers?</string>

<string name="currently_logged_into">Logged in computers</string>

<string name="delete_all_qr">Log out from all computers</string>

<string name="location_not_available">Location is not available</string>

<string name="log_out">Log out</string>

<string name="menuitem_whatsapp_web">WhatsApp Web</string>

<string name="qr_code_hint_2">Visit %s on your computer</string>

<string name="voip_call_bluetooth_toggle_description">Toggle Bluetooth</string>

<string name="web_session_active">Online</string>

<string name="web_session_description_place_browser_os">"Started in %1$s %2$s"</string>

<string name="web_session_last_date">Last active %s</string>

<string name="web_session_last_today_at">Last active today at %s</string>

<string name="web_session_last_yesterday_at">Last active yesterday at %s</string>

<string name="whatsapp_web">WhatsApp Web</string>

Despite being owned by Facebook and having that as an option to solve the login issue on the web, WhatsApp's implementation seems to avoid broaching the topic, thankfully — Facebook login would certainly irk a lot of users. Instead, it seems to employ a similar method to Telegram's by using your phone to verify your identity, but with QR codes instead of messages. As for the address, it could be web.whatsapp.com, which is now a private subdomain locked with a Google account login.

Keep in mind that there's nothing certain yet and no timeline on the release. All we have are sparse clues that WhatsApp has some form of a web service in development. But if you're like me, you'll see this as a glass half-full type of deal: clues are better than no clue, and it's nice to know that this may be happening in the future.

Source: AndroidWorld.nl (in Dutch), GitHub

You may soon use WhatsApp from your desktop

It looks like WhatsApp might be bringing its messaging service to the web.

The rumours started shortly after the the co-founder of rival messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, told TechCrunch that he thought WhatsApp was working on a web version "since they tried to hire our web dev."

While WhatsApp has yet to make any official mention of a web version of its popular messaging app, a recent discovery by the team at AndroidWorld.nl appears to back up Durov's suspicions.

Hidden inside the code of a recent WhatsApp update is the mention of "WhatsApp Web."

In addition to the explicit mention of "WhatsApp Web," the code also mentions logging in to a web service as well as references to tracking statuses online.

It's still not definite proof, but it certainly looks like the WhatsApp team is at least exploring some sort of web functionality.

With over 600 million users, WhatsApp is the largest messaging service that still doesn't offer a web version, as competitors like Line, Viber, Telegram and WeChat all allow you to message either on your phone or the via the web.

Why TCS Shares Have Hit Five-Month Low

December has been a bad month for markets in general and IT stocks in particular. The Sensex has shed nearly 1,600 points or 5.5 per cent (including Monday's intraday low) in just 11 trading sessions this month, while the IT sub-index on the BSE has dropped over 10 per cent during the same period. Among frontline IT stocks, Tata Consultancy Services shares have fallen nearly 11 per cent (including Monday's low) this month. Infosys has fallen more than TCS in December because its promoters sold shares last week.

TCS was the top Nifty loser today, falling to its lowest intraday level since July 17. The selloff in TCS has come despite the rupee weakening past 62.50 against the dollar and data points from the US suggesting a pickup in the economy. The US is the biggest market for Indian outsourcers.

Here are the reasons for the selloff in TCS:

1) The management of TCS sounded "cautious" about growth in the December quarter in an analyst meet held on Friday. According to Nirmal Bang's Girish Pai, who attended the meet, TCS is likely to post a sequential growth of 1.5 to 2.5 per cent in the December quarter as against 3 per cent growth in the corresponding quarter last year in constant currency terms.

2) For the full year, the IT industry is likely to deliver low-teen growth versus midteen growth (organic) in FY15, the domestic brokerage added. That means TCS may not exceed the 16 per cent dollar revenue growth it delivered in 2013-14 fiscal. "Currently, the Sell side is assuming a 15-18 per cent growth in FY16 for TCS, which we believe looks a bit aggressive based on the relatively cautious outlook on the business currently," Mr Pai said.

3) The cautious commentary from TCS is in contrast to the upbeat body language of Infosys' management at its analyst meet held a week ago. According to Mr Pai, the growth differential between the two companies is likely to narrow substantially in FY16 versus FY15. This may result in correction in TCS at the cost of Infosys because of the valuation gap. TCS trades at 22.9 times its price earnings (trailing 12 months) as compared to Infosys 18.4, according to Bloomberg. (Read full story here)

4) TCS is likely to be the hardest hit because of cross currency impact, analysts say. The US dollar has gained against the pound, euro and Australian dollar, currencies which contribute between 25-30 per cent to revenues of frontline IT firms. Jefferies lowered its FY16/FY17 earnings per share estimates for TCS by 2.1 per cent on cross currency impact. (Read)

5) The barrage of bad news assumes significance because it comes in the December quarter, which is seasonally weak due to holidays in the United States and Europe, key markets for India's $100 billion-plus outsourcing sector.

As of 10.54 a.m., TCS traded 3.3 per cent lower at Rs 2,370, underperforming the 2 per cent fall in the IT sub-index on the BSE.

Lollipop rolling out to LG G3 on Vodafone UK

When it’s not waxing poetic about the virtues of an Edge display, Vodafone U.K. is actively aiming to satisfy its customer’s sweet tooth. Assuming one has a fixing for a luscious lollipop that is. Following the LG G3’s Android 5.0 update in Poland last month, the device is now being updated for customers in the UK as well, assuming they are on Vodafone.

We’ve taken a look at the changes that Lollipop brings to LG’s flagship phone here. For a brief visual presentation, check out this video:

Credit must really be given to LG on this one, as the OEM has managed to beat nearly every other device maker on the planet with the speed in which the change to Lollipop rolled out. Likewise, Vodafone U.K. deserves a round of applause for finishing its carrier testing and tinkering with the software so quickly. Meanwhile in America…

Galaxy Note Edge hits UK, Vodafone gets exclusivity

Just as anticipated, the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge is finally available for purchase in the UK. Until January 9, 2015, Vodafone will be selling the phone exclusively.

Vodafone offers the Galaxy Note Edge only on contract and there's no SIM-free pricing yet. You can get the phone for as low as £49 if you go with the Vodafone Red XL plan at £58.50/month for two years. This will get you unlimited minutes and SMS in addition to 10GB data.

There are also other plans, but while cheaper, they bump up the upfront cost of the phone to anywhere from £199 to £479. You can browse them and find the best for you following the source link below.

The Galaxy Note Edge is also available in the US, and a premium version of the phone is headed to Germany. It will cost a hefty €899 but will include a Flip Wallet, display cleaner, tips and tricks brochure, 64GB Samsung EVO microSD card and three years of warranty.

LIC Housing Finance: Invest

Continued momentum in the retail home loan segment should drive growth

The housing finance space has been growing steadily at 16-19 per cent over the last two years, even while other segments such as corporate lending languished below 10 per cent in recent times.

The inherently strong demand in the retail housing loan market has held LIC Housing Finance, one of the largest lenders in the space, in good stead in the latest September quarter too.

The company’s loan book grew 17 per cent year-on-year, led by strong growth in the retail segment. The housing finance space is likely to get a further boost, thanks to the budget proposals for real estate. Key proposals such as increasing the interest deduction limit on home loans and opening up funding avenues for developers should boost buyer sentiment.

While the RBI’s recent regulatory changes for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) do not apply to housing finance companies (HFCs) for now, the National Housing Bank (NHB), the governing body for HFCs, is likely to implement them at a later date.

But conforming to the new norms will not be an issue for LIC Housing Finance, as it already follows a 90-day norm for bad loans and is well capitalised. The limit on deposits (1.5 times of net worth), if implemented, will also not have a significant impact as the company’s deposits are well within the limits (0.15 per cent).

Besides, LIC Housing Finance has a diversified funding mix, and has been able to switch between different funding sources to maintain its margins. As interest rates start to soften, borrowings from banks can help it bring down cost of funds.

At ₹437, the LIC Housing Finance stock trades at 1.6 times its estimated 2015-16 book value, less than half that of HDFC, and in line with its own historical average of 1.6 times.

Continued momentum in the retail mortgage space should drive about 18 per cent loan growth for the company over the next two years. A pick up in the developer loan segment will provide further fillip to growth in loan book and earnings. Investors with a two to three year horizon can buy the stock at current levels.

Good growth

Despite increasing competition from banks, LIC Housing Finance has been able to grow its loan book by 20 per cent during the last two years.

The company has been offering special schemes to garner higher market share. Focus on dual rate loans, for instance, offered mainly to the salaried segment has helped growth. The company continued the strong momentum, growing its loan book by 17 per cent in the recent September quarter.

The outstanding mortgage portfolio as on September was ₹97,528 crore. Of this, the retail loan portfolio, accounting for 97 per cent, grew a healthy 18 per cent year-on-year.

But the developer segment remained weak, and the loan book in this segment declined 4.5 per cent. The company has not grown this portfolio aggressively given the asset quality pressures in the segment.

Disbursement growth, which remained subdued in the last couple of quarters, also went up sharply to 21 per cent during the recent September quarter.

The growth in loans for the company should continue to be driven by the retail segment, thanks to strong demand from the mid-income group. Also, any pick-up in the higher yielding developer loans will add to the company’s profitability.

Margins steady

In the last couple of years, the cost of funding for housing finance companies through term loans went up as banks moved to the base rate mechanism — the companies had to pay at least the minimum benchmark rate. While LIC Housing Finance saw its net interest margin (NIM) decline from 3 per cent levels three years back to 2.25 per cent in 2013-14, it has been able to keep the margins steady at 2.2-2.3 per cent in recent quarters.

Given the rising competition in the home finance market, the company may not be able to increase lending rates substantially. This may limit upsides in margins. However, as in the past, the diversified funding mix of LIC Housing Finance and the flexibility to switch between these sources should help it maintain margins.

With the RBI signalling a rate cut early next year, lower cost of bank borrowings should help reduce the company’s cost of funds. Overall, the company should be able to maintain its margins in the 2.2-2.3 per cent range.

LIC Housing Finance has been able to maintain good asset quality in the retail segment. The gross non performing assets (GNPA) as a percentage of retail loans declined to 0.38 per cent as of September quarter from 0.4 per cent in the June quarter.

Even the developer segment has seen some easing of asset quality pressure. The GNPA in this segment is down to 0.63 per cent from 0.8 per cent in the June quarter, thanks to a recovery of about ₹136 crore during the September quarter.

Xiaomi Furthers Its Smart Home Ambition With $200M Investment In Appliance Maker Midea

Xiaomi launched an air purifier last week, and now the Chinese company is putting hard cash behind its smart home push after investing over $200 million in home appliance firm Midea.

Xiaomi Inc., one of the Chinese firm’s group of technology companies, bought a 1.29 percent share of Midea Group — Midea’s Shenzhen-listed parent company — for RMB1.266 billion, that’s around $205 million.

Guangdong-based Midea produces a range of home appliances, including air conditioners, refrigerators, kitchen appliances and more. It was established in 1968, but is moving with the times after unveiling its own smart home vision in March. The project is funded by nearly $2.5 billion in capital — that’s a small chunk of the $18.7 billion turnover it recorded in 2013.

“The deal between Xiaomi Technology and Midea will see strategic cooperation between the two companies in smart home initiatives and electronic products,” a statement from Xiaomi read.

Best known for its affordable smartphones, Xiaomi has diversified its product line with a range of new launches over the year or two. Beyond the $150 Mi Air Purifier, it offers $20 routers, a blood pressure measurement kit, a smart TV, a tablet device, battery packs, and a fitness band among other gizmos.

Hardware and the smart home have been particular focuses for Xiaomi, and its announcement of the Midea investment was accompanied by a reiteration of its ongoing ambition “to groom 100 startups so they become more than just manufacturing companies.”

Xiaomi says 25 companies have joined its “ecosystem” so far, and they include U.S. hardware startup Misfit and iHealth Labs, which manufactured Xiaomi’s blood pressure measurement product.

In the case of iHealth Labs, Xiaomi didn’t seem to do much to the company’s original product beyond wrapping it in its brand and adding support for its smartphones — it will be interesting to see what fruits are borne of its union with Midea.

Xiaomi made $56 mln profit in 2013: filing

(Reuters) - China's Xiaomi Technology Ltd Co made a profit of 347.48 million yuan ($56.15 million) on 26.58 billion yuan ($4.30 billion) in revenue in 2013, according to new Chinese securities filings, showing the razor-thin margins at one of the handset industry's fastest growing companies.

The filings also revealed chairman and chief executive Lei Jun claims 77.8 percent ownership of the company he co-founded in 2010, while unnamed shareholders split the remaining shares.

The regulatory document provides for the first time an official snapshot of a company that became the most popular smartphone vendor in China and the third-largest vendor in the world this year, thanks to a lineup of handsets that are considered high-quality yet relatively inexpensive.

Xiaomi has long branded itself an "Internet company" that eschews traditional marketing and sells hardware at low prices as a distribution channel for its real moneymaker: software and services. But the financial impact of its business model - and whether it can generate sustainable profits demanded by public markets - has been a subject of long-running speculation in the technology industry.

With operating profits of 485.77 million yuan in 2013, Xiaomi's operating margins of less than 2 percent lagged far behind the two market leaders, Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the filing showed.

In 2013, Samsung's mobile division reported 18.7 percent operating margins while Apple reported 28.7 percent for the fiscal year ended in September 2013. South Korea's LG Electronics Inc's mobile business posted 0.5 percent operating profit margin.

Xiaomi overtook LG to claim the No. 3 spot during the third quarter with 5.6 percent of the global market share, according to Strategy Analytics.

A Xiaomi spokeswoman confirmed the accuracy of the filing.

All but leading smartphone makers Samsung and Apple will see profitability dwindle in the coming years due to pricing pressure from companies like Xiaomi, Fitch Ratings warned last month.

Bryan Wang, an analyst at Forrester Research, said Xiaomi's thin margins did not come as a surprise.

"They’re growing so fast and so lean, I wouldn’t be surprised even if they were losing money," Wang said.

"Every company is trying to match the Xiaomi price," he added. "The current market is so competitive that I don't think it's sustainable without consolidation."

The financial results were included in disclosures made to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange after Xiaomi purchased a 1.3 percent stake in Midea Group Co Ltd, a publicly traded electrical appliance company, for 1.27 billion yuan.

(Reporting by Gerry Shih and Beijing newsroom)

It's no longer Samsung versus Apple in China: Here's how Xiaomi has taken the No. 1 position

By Paul Mozur and Shanshan Wang 

HONG KONG: In China, the smartphone battle used to be Samsung versus Apple. But not anymore. 

Over the summer, a Chinese company, Xiaomi, took the No. 1 position in China's competitive market and became the world's third-largest phone-maker in the process. 

Founded in 2010 as a lean startup to sell smartly designed phones at cheap prices over the Internet, Xiaomi was decidedly late to the game. Its first handset came out around the time of the iPhone 4S. 

But a clever social media strategy and a business plan that emphasized selling services that work on the phone helped Xiaomi build frenzied support from young and trendy Chinese. 

With people in China expected to buy 500 million smartphones in 2015 - more than three times as many as will be sold in the United States, according to the research firm IDC - Xiaomi is poised to cement its place as one of the most powerful phone-makers in the world's most important market. 

Now the company's founders, who include the Chinese entrepreneur Li Jun and the former Google executive Lin Bin, hope that status will help them take their brand globally. 

Though Xiaomi already sells internationally, next year will be the true test of whether it can continue its rise beyond China. Shunning markets like the U.S. and Europe, Lei and Lin are looking at huge developing countries like Brazil and India. And they hope to use e-commerce networks to sell cheap, high-quality phones and recreate their Chinese success. 

But there are considerable challenges. Xiaomi does not yet have much of a patent portfolio, leaving it vulnerable to lawsuits from competitors. Last week, the company was temporarily blocked from India because of a patent complaint by the Swedish telecommunications manufacturer Ericsson. And other low-cost manufacturers from China have the same idea about pushing into those emerging markets. 

"Selling the phone to users is a good start, but it's really not the end of the business," Lin said in a recent interview. "It's actually the beginning of the business. It's after the user buys the phone and starts using the phone that will generate extra value, to users and to us." 

Striking similarities between Xiaomi's well-attended product unveiling ceremonies and Apple's tightly choreographed media events have meant that Xiaomi is often described as the Apple of China - largely successful because, some experts say, it produces cheap knockoffs of Apple's and Samsung's high-end phones. 

Yet the company is more than a copycat. In its business model and marketing, Xiaomi has out-innovated all comers in China. 

The online-first approach has earned Xiaomi the greatest accolade a company can receive in China: Its rivals are now copying it. The well-known telecommunications equipment makers Huawei and ZTE both have lines of phones they sell primarily online. Companies like OnePlus and Smartisan also focus on well-designed products with high-end components and sell them at a relatively low price. 

That imitation could prove dangerous. Analysts point out that Huawei and Lenovo can use their control of the manufacturing of parts that go into a phone to gain a cost advantage. 

And hipness is hard to maintain. The head of Smartisan, Luo Yonghao, for example, has made a name for his company with product announcements that resemble stand-up comedy routines. The events are so popular, the company charges admission. 

To be sure, Xiaomi is treated with respect by its competitors. Li Nan, vice president of the rival Meizu, which began in the early 2000s by making digital music players and aims at customers slightly older and wealthier than Xiaomi's, likens the devotion of Xiaomi supporters to a religion. 

"Xiaomi fans have a high level of organization," he said. "They love Xiaomi. It's a form of idolatry."