iWorld
Saavn hires former PepsiCo exec as vice president of entertainment and original content
MUMBAI: Saavan LLC’s music streaming app Saavan has roped in Gaurav Wadhwa as its vice president of entertainment and original content. Earlier, Wadhwa was senior marketing consultant at PepsiCo.
Wadhwa will lead Saavn’s expansion into new genres through original programming. Based in Mumbai, Wadhwa will be looking over the generation of new content verticals, Saavn’s transformation into a comprehensive steaming service by developing the company’s sports, comedy, and other such channels. The company had announced in July that it planned to expand beyond mainstream music.
Wadhwa has experience of over 10 years in curating content for many global brands including Red Bull, MTV, Mountain Dew, and Pepsi. He has worked with MTV to develop music programming and brand solutions, has launched Red Bull in India through alternative sports, music, and culture marketing. He also launched Pepsi’s big cola innovation and spearheaded the Pepsi MTV Indies program.
Saavn co-founder and executive chairman Paramdeep Singh said, “Gaurav’s award-winning experience, combined with his genuine passion for music, culture, and technology, makes him absolutely ideal to lead Saavn’s Music+ initiatives.”
On his new role, Wadhwa said, “I am enormously excited to join Saavn and work with some of India’s most talented content creators and entertainment platforms to create a next generation media-tech brand. It’s not every day that you get to create a whole new category from scratch, but that’s the kind of incredible opportunity we have at Saavn.
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.
