InBrief: Netflix crosses $1 bn revenue in APAC; Yahoo scraps JV with Oyo in Japan

Original video content provider Netflix said that it crossed $1 billion in revenue from the Asia Pacific region until September 2019, The Economic Times reported. The Los Gatos, California headquartered company has registered a 57% growth from $669 million in the same period last year. The streaming services provider claims to have 14.48 million subscribers in the Asia Pacific region as of September 30, 2019, up from 9.46 million subscribers in the corresponding period last year, it added. The Asia Pacific region includes Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Singapore, along with India. Netflix competes with Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, MX Player and Voot, among others in the country.

Earlier this month, Netflix planned to test its long-term subscription plan in India.  Netflix’s CEO Reed Hastings had earlier said that the company would invest Rs 3,000 crore on content programming in India in 2019-20.

Also Read: Netflix India grows FY19 revenues four-fold; expenses shoot up 700%

Yahoo scraps joint venture with Oyo in Japan

Sunnyvale, California-based technology firm Yahoo Inc has cancelled a joint venture on real estate rental brokerage business, Oyo Life in Japan, with Gurugram-based hospitality major Oyo. The cancellation was reportedly over complaints from property owners, The Inc42 reported. Earlier, Yahoo invested 30% in Oyo Life, which started operating in Japan in April this year. However, Yahoo had, in November 2019, sold its shares to Oyo Technology and Hospitality, which is registered in Japan, the report said. Oyo is operating Oyo Japan GK (Oyo Hotels Japan) in a joint venture with SoftBank Corp and Tokyo headquartered conglomerates’ SoftBank Vision Fund.

Check Point Research leads to fix the new bug in WhatsApp

Cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies’ threat intelligence arm Check Point Research has mitigated a new vulnerability in Facebook-owned messaging service Whatsapp. The vulnerability can reportedly allow a bad actor to deliver a malicious group chat message that could crash the app for all members of the group. The research arm also said that to re-start using the app again, the users will have to uninstall, then reinstall it, and then delete the group which contains the message. Oded Vanunu, head of product vulnerability research, Check Point,  said that all the Whatsapp users must update to the latest version of the app to protect themselves against this possible attack.

India server market revenue grows by 0.8%: IDC  

The India server market’s revenue has grown by 0.8% to reach $280.1 million in the third quarter of 2019 (3Q19), as compared to $277.8 million in the third quarter of 2018 (3Q18), according to a report by technology market research firm International Data Corporation. IDC claims that the growth is majorly driven by the non-x86 server market as it registered big deals from large public and private banks in India during 3Q19. The x86 server market’s revenue declined YoY by 6.1% to $239.0 million in 3Q19 from $254.6 million in 3Q18.

Airtel to launch Lionsgate play in India

Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel has entered into a strategic partnership with global content leader Lionsgate and Starzplay, a subscription platform from Starz, to bring premium content from Lionsgate Play to customers in India. Under the deal, Airtel customers will get a portfolio of Lionsgate feature film content, which will be available on Airtel Xstream app and web platforms, the companies said in a joint statement. Airtel Xstream app has a catalogue of over 10,000 movies and shows along with 400 TV channels. The Lionsgate Play’s initial offering will include Hunger Games, Twilight Saga franchises, La La Land, and Wonder.