iWorld
Zodiak shows to be on Amazon Prime in early ’17
MUMBAI: Zodiak Kids has announced that it has sold a series of titles to Amazon India, in a deal amassing over 100 hours. The shows are set to launch on Amazon Prime Video in early 2017.
Amazon India has acquired all four seasons of popular children’s animation Horrid Henry. The show centers on a boy who constantly feels like life just isn’t fair. Of course he’s only a kid, but with a perfect little brother called Peter, a Mum and Dad who’d love him dearly if only he’d stop behaving, well, like a kid, and a moody girl next door who’s on a mission to make Henry’s life miserable, who can blame him?
Henry’s looking at life from the bottom up, and from where he stands it’s him against the rest of the world. So if that means getting out of swimming class by pretending there’s a shark in the pool, organizing an anti-school uniform campaign with his friends or setting up a pet sitting business in his bedroom to supplement his measly allowance, then that’s all part of life as Henry knows it. Horrid Henry is produced by Novel Entertainment Ltd for CiTV.
Amazon Prime Video India director and country head Nitesh Kripalani said, “We are extremely happy to announce our collaboration with Zodiak Kids by bringing immensely popular characters like Horrid Henry to India. This alliance adds further volume to our existing bouquet of great kids’ programming, thus paving the way for us to have the largest exclusive selection of kids’ entertainment in India.”
Amazon India has also picked up animation series’ Extreme Football, Street Football and Sally Bollywood the Bollywood tastic mystery solving show. All series are produced by Zodiak Kids Studios.
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.
