Public sector lender Corporation Bank has introduced a mobile wallet for customers, with which they can make purchases using their phones.

The scheme, called ypaycash, is free for the bank’s customers. To avail it, customers have to transfer up to Rs 5,000 from their Corporation Bank savings or current account to their mobile wallet.

They can then pay using the mobile wallet in any shop where the merchant has installed the system.

The application has been developed by e-mudhra, which provides IT solutions in the banking, financial services, insurance and e-governance sectors.

Talking about the service, e-mudhra’s chief executive officer, Ravi Jagannathan, said, “A special application is installed on the customer’s mobile phone through which a transaction is completed. The customer keys in the amount to be paid after logging into the application.”

As soon as the user fills in the details, an automatically generated and distinct barcode appears on his mobile screen, which the merchant then scans using his own mobile phone’s camera.

The payment then gets done and the appropriate amount is debited from the customer’s mobile wallet.”

This is a very secure, cost-effective and scalable solution,” he added.

However, merchants will be charged a fee of up to 1.50 per cent of the transaction value.

The mobile wallet concept has been gaining in popularity. Recently Airtel has launched an mwallet service that allows customers to make transactions using their mobile phones.
Union Bank of India had tied up with Nokia to roll out a similar service some time ago.

Another telecom operator, Idea Cellular, has partnered with Axis Bank to launch a facility called Idea MyCash that aims to provide basic banking services through the mobile platform.

Sony Ericsson has launched its own channel in Android Market. The company becomes the first mobile phone manufacturer to do this. This is basically a dedicated section for Sony Ericsson phones in the Android market, and will be available from today itself.

“My Apps” option in Android Market in Sony Ericsson phone will be replaced by a link to the specific channel. “My Apps” will be available when menu key is pressed.

The channel will provide recommendations to help find the best games and applications that enhance Sony Ericsson phone experience.

It will also provide a way to easily find original apps from Sony Ericsson (SE) such as the Timescape plugins. Not just that, Sony Ericsson will also help its developer partners to promote their apps and games.

SE also hopes to use this channel to judge what people love and what they ignore, for better product design.

This channel become important ever since Xperia play was launched which is a basically a hybrid of Xperia phone and PSP gaming device. This device warranted the availability of PSP games in the Android Market and with this channel it will be much easier for both SE and its user to have dedicated place to look to for device specific requirements.

Research In Motion has launched Twitter application for BlackBerry smartphones v1.1. This new version includes several new features such as adding location to Tweets and Push @Mentions.

Tweet Location

With this, users can pinpoint their location in a neighbourhood and include it their Tweets. To try out this feature, you need to open latest Twitter app, press the ‘Menu’ key and select ‘Options’, enable ‘Add Location To Tweet’ and save your changes.

After enabling this setting, you’ll notice a new compass icon that appears to the right of the photo icon below the Tweet box. To add your location, select this icon and your BlackBerry smartphone will determine where you are and add it to any new Tweets you submit.
If you want to remove your location, simply select the icon again to disable this feature until you’re ready to use it again.

To view someone else’s location, if they have enabled this feature, all you need to do is select the location icon that appears in the bottom right corner of their Tweet and a map view will open, allowing you to see where they were when they submitted that Tweet.

Push @Mentions

With Push @Mentions, you’ll know who is talking about you or to you on Twitter, so you can continue the conversation as it happens.

It uses the BlackBerry Push technology and sends you a notification on your BlackBerry smartphone whenever you are mentioned on Twitter. You can control whether you want to be notified when anyone mentions you, or just when your followers mention you.

#Topic Autocomplete
The #Topic Autocomplete feature will pop up a list of keywords based on previous hashtagged words in Tweets, Retweets, or any hashtagged words you’ve selected or searched for in Popular Topics, as well as in applications like Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones.

Retweet Updates

The next time you Retweet something, it will appear in your Home timeline as ‘Retweeted by You’, to quickly alert you that your Retweet was sent successfully.

Blackberry has also added some new language support but non of them is Indian so this is not of much use to us in India.

To upgrade to the latest release, open Twitter on your BlackBerry smartphone, press the Menu key and select Options, scroll down and select the option ‘Check for Upgrade Now’.
If you currently do not have Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones and would like to install it, you can download it through BlackBerry App World on your BlackBerry smartphone. The application is free.

Loop Mobile, which provides GSM services in Mumbai, has introduced Mobile TV for its subscribers.

In addition to access to 40 channels, Loop Mobile TV will show IPL matches through special T-20 Cricket Pack priced at Rs 5 per day. The available Loop Mobile TV packs are: Mega Pack (all channels), T20 – 2011 Cricket Pack (till end May 2011), News Pack (popular news channels) and Entertainment Pack (popular music, movie and other channels).

To avail the services, prepaid subscribers can SMS TV to 50505 while postpaid users SMS to 50800.

As the official mobile network of Mumbai Indians, Loop Mobile subscribers will get exclusive content of MI Anthem ‘Ala Re’ to be downloaded as caller tunes, ringtones and others as wallpapers, videos and match trivia.

Customers can also participate in exciting contests and win autographed bats of MI players or win tickets to seven matches at Wankhede, the teleco has said in a press release.

Meanwhile, Loop Mobile has also announced the launch of ‘Bol Mumbai Bol’, under which subscribers are offered free Loop to Loop Mobile calls for a recharge of Rs 86. Other calls are charged at 30 paisa for local and STD at 50 paisa.

Commenting on the announcements, Surya Mahadevan, chief operating officer, Loop Mobile, said, “Our subscribers can now watch their favourite TV channels on their Loop Mobile phone. We are a Mumbai specialist and our association with Mumbai Indians carries forward our Mumbai connect by making the brand emotionally engaging for our subscribers. Through Mumbai Indians, Loop Mobile will provide its VAS offerings and specially developed content, trivia and contests, exclusively for subscribers thus giving us a competitive EDGE and enabling subscribers to connect with their favourite team. Prepaid subscribers can also recharge with Rs 86 and get free Loop Mobile local calls.”