iWorld
MX Player bags laurels at Asian Academy Creative Awards 2020
New Delhi: After its impressive wins in the national level at the 2020 Asian Academy Creative Awards, MX Player has now gone on to win 2 record-setting honors at the Grand Finals of the awards, being the only homegrown Indian OTT platform to win at an Asia level. Competing with some of the biggest shows pan Asia, the brand stood out in two categories – the Best Original Programme by a Streamer/OTT was bagged by its Ramya Krishnan starrer Queen and the Best Music/Dance Programme was won by its larger-than-life music reality chat show – Times of Music.
MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar said, “Both these web series have been extremely special projects for us, and they’ve been an industry first – be it Queen that was mounted at a never seen before scale for a regional series or Times of Music that was genuinely a first of its kind concept. One of the top priorities for us was to offer differentiated content that would resonate with audiences and we're very pleased to receive such an honour for our efforts, not only on an India level but Pan-Asia as well.”
“Elated that Queen has won the best original programme by a streamer/OTT at Singapore’s Asian Academy Creative Awards, and more so because we won on the very same day that we started filming for season 1 of the series! It’s great to be recognised alongside some of the biggest shows across all Asian countries. A big shout-out to the entire team and I am looking forward to filming season 2 soon”, added Ramya Krishnan as she speaks about the win for Queen.
Times Music host Vishal Dadlani said, “The concept of Times of Music is fresh, unique, and something the audiences haven’t seen before. MX Player has done a great job of constructing the show and detailing out each aspect – be it artiste pairing, the fantastic stage or finding hidden stories that have been lost over time, which made for such great conversations. This has been one of the biggest musical stages in the digital space and this award is a win well deserved for the entire team.”
The Asian Academy Creative Awards are Asia-Pac’s most prestigious awards for creative excellence, honoring the excellence in craft and technical discipline across multiple platforms including television, digital, mobile, streaming and any other emerging technologies.
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
