iWorld
Eros Now partners SpeedPay, bundled with BSNL
MUMBAI: Over-the-top (OTT) Bollywood entertainment platform Eros Now has partnered with SpeedPay, a multi-purpose offline wallet and Indian state owned telecommunications provider, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). With these partnerships, the OTT platform will now be bundled across all the existing and new data pack users of the telco provider.
The tie-up also enables Eros Now’ premium content including old and new Bollywood movies, music videos, TV shows, originals, etc available to the data pack users.
Eros International president business development Kumar Ahuja is extremely hopeful about the two strategic partnerships. He believes that this tie up will boast their customer base across non-metros and tier 2 cities. Associating with SpeedPay will reaffirm the platform’s philosophy and will provide premium and unparalleled entertainment services on the go.
The partnership further strengthens Eros Now’s presence across BSNL’s SpeedPay outlets.
Pyro CEO Paritosh Reddy expects the partnership to enhance their customer experience and hopes that it will make the unbanked sector enjoy the benefits of OTT service. For them, this alliance clearly brings more business looking at the subscribers of the digital video streaming platform.
SpeedPay is a multi-purpose offline wallet that is used to purchase various service on-mobile from affiliated merchants based on ‘anywhere-anytime’ concept and provide safety and convenience for the customer. It claims to have approximately 1.2 million unique visitors transacting every month in the Middle East, and approximately 4 million transactions per day in India.
Eros Now will be able reach out to a large database of over 1.3 million retailers and approximately over 2 million unique users in India through SpeedPay.
Also Read:
Eros Now partners Paytm, Mobikwik & Freecharge
Eros Now to premiere original series ‘Salute Siachen’ on 15 Jan
Eros International raises $30 million for Eros Now
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.
