New Delhi: The year gone by was an exciting time with the technology landscape rapidly evolving and enabling businesses to leapfrog several growth cycles.
Here is a look at the Top 5 tech stories of 2017:
1. More power to Amazon
Earlier this year, Amazon India announced the launch of Amazon Saheli, a new pioneering program aimed at empowering and enabling women entrepreneurs across the country to sell their products on the Amazon.in marketplace.
Besides offering the registered women entrepreneurs an unparalleled reach to customers, Amazon Saheli was a step to help them gain world-class logistics and fulfilment facilities.
In other news, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos surpassed USD 100 billion mark in his total net worth. The achievement came on the backdrop of Black Friday sales which got Bezos’ fortune swelling.
2. Crytomania
From being the second most searched item on Google”>Google in 2017 to touching nearly USD 20,000; bitcoin sure made waves this year.
The cryptocurrency constantly kept investors on their toes and there was never a dull moment as people from across the world continued to speculate about its rise and fall.
Recently, both the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Finance took cognisance of the situation, linking cryptocurrencies to ‘ponzi schemes’ in the country.
The apex body clarified that these virtual currencies have no official backing by any government fiat, they are also not a legal tender, and therefore cannot be categorised as currencies.
3. Apple testing consumer loyalty
Technology giant Apple launched its much-awaited iPhone 8 and iPhone X this year. But the billion dollar company made news for other reasons.
Geekbench developer John Poole mapped out performance for iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 over time and concluded that Apple’s iOS 10.2.1 and 11.2.0 updates introduce a throttling effect for various devices.
Apple later confirmed to the news of slowing down of old iPhones and said that iPhones with older batteries will take a hit in performance.
And soon after this news flooded the internet and other social media platforms; the company issued an apology to its users, and offered USD 29-worth battery replacements for a year.
“We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologise,” the letter read.
4. Thank God for Facebook and Twitter
#MeToo
2017 will be remembered as the year that celebrated an anti-harassment movement across the world.
It all started in the wake of the revelations about film mogul Harvey Weinstein in October, where several prominent stars came forward to talk about sexual misconduct.
The #MeToo hashtag took off after actor Alyssa Milano encouraged women who had experienced sexual mistreatment to come forward. In the next 48 hours, nearly a million people used it.
It was no surprise that the #MeToo movement was also named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
So, thank you Facebook and Twitter for providing a safe and secure platform to women in India to voice their concerns. Thank you for proving us a stage to air our concerns.
5. The AI powerhouse – Google”>Google
From the death of GChat to extending the services of Google”>Google Assistant, the Sundar Pichai led company proclaimed itself as an AI powerhouse this year.
In a bid to keep their user base engaged, Google”>Google came up with several updates.
Moreover, the Google”>Google Cloud platform services promise to foster an ecosystem of skilled cloud talent in India.
The company also launched revamped AdWords; ‘Files Go’ to help users free space on their mobiles; ‘Datally App’ to help users understand, control and save on their mobile data; a platform to build voice-enabled solutions for Google”>Google Assistant and brought updates to our fingertips with ‘Posts’.
There was also a host of new features and updates on Pixel 2 including Google”>Google Lens, Augmented Reality Stickers, and Android Oreo 8.1.
-ANI