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> This has to be the worst PR news from Google I have ever read

Looks like you're grasping straws here trying to find something negative so you can be upset about something.

Good luck.

Google "doing the needful" to now slurp up India's data as well is not a net good.

I think we have probably reached the stage where more Americans say 'do the needful' in a vain attempt at linguistic elitism than actual Indians speaking regular Indian English.

For data usage, Google India announced[0] an app called Datally[1] to help users track and understand their data usage per app. It also has a datasaver mode of some kind to help keep usage under control.

[0] https://india.googleblog.com/2017/11/meet-datally-new-way-to...

[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

> For one, taking credit for something they have not delivered.

I don't read it in that statement. I read it as a factual representation of the current state of the internet in India. Why do you interpret this as "taking credit"?

Here's the line in question:

> Cheaper data through carrier innovation and greater access to public WiFi such as Google Station makes the richness of the internet more accessible to Indians.

The accessibility of Internet has changed dramatically in the last year through "carrier innovation" called Jio. But Google Station has a very limited reach. In comparison Jio Hotspots have wider reach but gets no mention at all.

Seems like you're just upset that a company's press release doesn't mention other companies.

They haven't structured the sentence well. They are taking credit only for their WiFi networks. Besides Google is not a carrier and hence they can't logically take credit while talking about carrier innovation.

I can't say about the other stuff but tez is surprisingly awesome. Tez + UPI + Adhaar just blows away everything I've seen. This has potential to cut out the cc middlemen completely.

I' have to agree. UPI (Tez/BHIM etc.) is so awesome and a pleasure to use, I don't even like credit card payments anymore. Wonder why the USA doesn't have anything like that.

I'm curious, have you never seen failures happen? I've seen it happen a few times - a payment to a merchant times out and they don't receive it till days later. By then you've already paid twice and its difficult to recover the money. This isn't a problem with credit cards where you can simply issue a charge-back. Until UPI has a grievance redress system, it will struggle to gain mainstream acceptance.

That's not the only issue. Operating this system isn't free. For now, no transaction fees are being levied but banks are eagerly awaiting the day that the RBI will allow them to. 1-2% of a txn might not seem like much, but it'd be a tough sell to consumers asking them to pay more when they could use cash instead.

I've made numerous (at least more than 100) UPI transactions, but haven't seen a single 'failure' as such. Yes, there's been delay at times, but it's just that, a delay. It's a little inconvenience at that time, but it's comparatively much rarer (and less frustrating) than OTP SMS not received problem for a credit card transaction which I just started hating. Most of the times, UPI (Tez) transactions are instant for me.

About 1-2% charges, if they ever start using it, wouldn't it still be better than credit cards? Most merchants don't charge extra for those (but some do even for credit cards).

My understanding is that these high latencies are due to failures in the backing bank's infrastructure. Here's a workaround: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/tez/AHKZjmtUx...

5 years ago I heard of US banks printing a check and mailing it across the country (followed by all the usual delays due to clearing the check) in reaction to an online banking transaction (or ACH or whatever).

That seemed like a joke to me, but apparently a paper check in the mail was the only universally accepted interface for inter-bank transactions.

I moved to India 2 years back, and surprisingly, in daily life it looks so much advanced here! Here we order groceries, food, medicines, everything online, and you think of a way of payment, and it's there. "Paytm" changed the way of digital payments forever in stores (even roadside sellers and stalls). In US I used Google Wallet to pay in stores through my phone, but with paytm it's even easier. You scan vendor's barcode, type the amount, and click 'Send'. That's all. Then came UPI, which removed another layer of uploading money beforehand. Going cashless has become a breeze.

What is UPI and Adhaar?

UPI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface

Aadhaar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aadhaar

> > The Google Assistant for the JioPhone > Even after reading twice I don't understand what is special about this other than the carrier branding.

The JioPhone is a feature phone, i.e. it doesn't run Android.

It runs Android Go, a highly-optimized version of Android that is built by Google.

No, it won't: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/mobile-tabs/reli...

Nowhere is Google claiming to be responsible for increased internet access in India.

It is merely making the point that the country is an important market going forward.

To repeat from my sibling comment:

> Cheaper data through carrier innovation and greater access to public WiFi such as Google Station makes the richness of the internet more accessible to Indians.

"such as" doesn't imply that it's Google Station exclusively

> For one, taking credit for something they have not delivered

They explicitly said "cheaper data through carrier innovation"

> Even after reading twice I don't understand what is special about this other than the carrier branding.

You yourself said "everyone in India will tell you the whole thing has to do with Reliance Jio". So having Google Assistant for JioPhone is special in that context.

> This looks promising though with even bigger risk than the general maps

What's the risk you are seeing?

Doing business in India can be tough and is a long term play with significant up front investment. Kudos to Google for doing it.

> For one, taking credit for something they have not delivered.

Google has provided free wi-fi across various Indian railway stations which I am told carries more traffic than entire cellular 3G-4G traffic. India has 13000 trains running at any given time and carries over 8B passengers every year (legally).

Google has put a lot of efforts in providing Google services in over 10 different Indian languages. That is why my driver is able to use Google maps. He does not understand English. Google like many other tech giants has surely played an important role in making Indians use internet more and more.