Daily Tech Snippet: Thursday, January 7

• Facebook’s Oculus Says It Will Charge $599 for the Rift: After months of teasing the introduction of its Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles, the company said on Wednesday that it had opened orders for the system, which includes a headset and controller devices, with a price of $599. That’s without a computer included — you’ll need a fast one that will probably cost around $1,000. The device begins shipping in March. Oculus also said that in February, it would open orders for a bundle, which includes the Rift headgear system and a computer that is certified to work with Oculus, for $1,500. Oculus is just one of many companies preparing to offer virtual reality devices this year. HTC, the Taiwanese manufacturer, worked with the software distribution company Valve to develop the virtual reality gadget Vive that will be released in April. Similar to Oculus, the Vive requires connecting to a powerful computer, meaning the pricing should be similarly high. The companies have not announced the price yet. And Samsung Electronics teamed with Oculus last year to offer an entry-level virtual reality system, the Gear VR. That device, at $100, requires inserting a Samsung Galaxy smartphone into the headgear because it relies on the smartphone’s screen for video and its computing brains for running apps and games.

• Apple’s App Store made $1.1 billion over the holidays: Apple said Wednesday that customers bought $1.1 billion worth of apps and in-app purchases in the two weeks between Dec. 20 and Jan. 3 alone. They also set a new single-day spending record, dropping $144 million on apps on New Year's Day. In a release, Apple said that this broke a record that had been set just a week before, on Christmas Day. Overall, Apple said that customers spent $20 billion on App Store purchases in 2015. Most popular apps included games such as Minecraft: Pocket Edition, Trivia Crack and Heads Up!, as well as messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WeChat and Snapchat. In terms of top-grossers, Apple also noted that gaming and subscription apps did the best this year, mentioning Clash of Clans, Monster Strike, Game of War - Fire Age and Fantasy Westward Journey as well as Netflix, Hulu and Match. The firm was also quick to note that the App Store has made developers about $40 billion over the lifetime of the App Store, with roughly one-third of that figure -- about $13 billion -- coming from 2015 alone. Last year, the company said that it had generated $10 billion in revenue for developers in 2014.

• Netflix Goes Live in 130 New Countries Including India - But China Skipped; Shares Advance: Netflix Inc. began selling its streaming service in India and more than 100 other countries, closing in on its goal of becoming the first global online television service. The stock logged its biggest gain since July, surging 9.3 percent. Netflix went live in 130 new countries, including Russia, Poland and Singapore, during his presentation. Adding India, most of the rest of Asia and other countries around the world marks a major step for Netflix. But China, the world’s most populous country, remains a gap. The company faces challenges in China, where a local partnership is essential given government controls over licensing for online content, and many potential allies already have competing businesses. Alibaba recently acquired full control of Youku Tudou, one of the largest video streaming services in the country, while Baidu and Tencent own popular video services.

• Netflix launches in India; basic monthly subscription at Rs 500:  Netflix is offering three packages for Indian consumers starting with a basic plan that would cost Rs 500 a month and allow users to access all content on any one device at a time with standard definition quality. The other two higher subscription plans allows users to watch content with HD or ultra HD quality and a choice of 2-4 devices at the same time. The topmost package is priced at Rs 800 a month. In contrast, domestic and international peers in India like Hungama Play, BoxTV of Times Group, HOOQ and Singapore-based Spuul charge Rs 200-300 a month. HOOQ, which was launched globally in a three-party JV by Sony Pictures, SingTel and Warner Brothers a year ago, also offers a bundled deal with Airtel’s Wynk Movies App. A cable TV service, on the other hand, costs around Rs 250-300 a month for a bouquet of a basic set of channels in the country. Where Netflix can differentiate is its huge catalogue, especially English language entertainment content. It is currently offering a one month free look period. However, this comes with a catch. Besides bandwidth issue and cost of watching entertainment content online another hurdle to wider adoption of Netflix to begin with could be its insistence on credit card details even if one chooses to opt for a one month tasting period.