Alibaba group owned UCWeb has launched a separate news app in India called UC News, reports NDTV. The app will feature news content in 20 different categories, including news, cricket, technology, entertainment, lifestyle and movies. Note that UC Browser already has a news content feature, although the new app differs by automating the generation of news, as opposed to being manually done. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android, and is India exclusive. As of now the app is available in Hindi and English, although as expected the news content in both languages is different. By default the app shows all its categories to users which can be edited in the settings. Settings allows users to select categories to follow as well as prioritize which categories are displayed upfront. Other than this, there are no customization options, like which publications to follow. Interestingly, while the app displays the name of the publication from which it is sourcing its articles, it does not link back to the websites so we expect the company has some sort of tie up with media houses to use their content. The app does not display any ads either, so there doesn’t seem to be a monetization plan for now. Other than this the app claims to feature UC Browser’s data saving technologies to keep data usage low when delivering news and to have features like a cricket editor team to keep updated real time on cricket matches. Overall the app is usable…
