Samsung Electronics has announced the launch of its much awaited mobile operating system (OS) Bada OS in India. Although the OS was first showcased at the Mobile World Congress 2010 held in Barcelona, Spain, it was launched in November last year. The OS was launched at the Global Developer Day organised by Samsung Electronics in Bangalore on Monday. The platform marks the entry of Samsung into the mobile operating software segment.
The biggest benefit that Samsung Bada offers is that it is an open mobile platform. This means that a variety of mobile applications developed by independent developers will work on this OS, which can be customised by developers. The flexibility of the Bada platform makes it applicable to a wide range of devices.
The operating system is optimised for Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface technology and provides flash control, web control, motion sensing, fine-tuned vibration control, and face detection. Also By using various Sensors such as accelerometers, tilt, weather, proximity, and activity sensors, application developers can implement context-aware interactive applications, which respond to movement.
Samsung unveils Bada in India
Kobian plans to launch 10-12 handsets this year under the brand Mercury
Singapore-based Kobian has recently announced its foray into the Indian mobile handset market with its Mercury B2 Bizmobile. Kobian has been associated with India IT channel partners for nearly two decades with its brands Mercury and IXA.
In an email response to Telecom Yatra about the company’s foray into the handset industry, Sushmita Das, country manager, Kobian, said, “There is a convergence happening between the mobile and computing world. It’s a natural extension for IT brands to move into the mobile space. Mobile phone is a multifunctional device which is every common man’s need and desire today. The demand and growth is quite similar to what we saw as a growing demand in computer industry two decades back.”
Das further said that Mercury phones have been launched in the Middle East, South Africa, Nigeria and Russia, simultaneously with India. The company plans to launch 10 to 12 Mercury branded handsets in India this year.
The company believes that demand in this industry is huge, enabling various players to co exist and that their prices and schemes planned for each market segment will give them a competitive edge. “Our product positioning is clearly demarcated with the segment whom we are addressing thus one shall find a gizmo type phone for a young chap and also find handsets with special buttons and dimensions suited for our elderly people. The models are different for the business users and for the regular consumer.” adds Das.
Kobian is currently working on various plans to rope in a celebrity for brand endorsement. As of now the company has no plans of manufacturing phones in India.
Kobian already has operations in India under brand names Mercury and IXA. Mercury IT vertical offers a wide spectrum of IT peripherals such as motherboards, chassis, speakers, etc. Kaizen Infoserve, the service arm of Kobian, caters to the after sales support all Mercury and IXA products across country.
Microsoft offers Hotmail without GPRS
Microsoft India has announced a new service by which Hotmail users in India can send and receive email messages without a GPRS connection. The alerts are sent via SMS and are free of cost. The company claims that the service enables efficient viewing of emails by allowing users to specify the email address or domain from which they like to receive alerts.
Hotmail users need to log on to www.mobile.live.com, feed their mobile number and enter a verification code sent to their mobile to get started, the company said in an official statement.
Out of the 506 million mobile users in India, only 18 million have GPRS on their mobile phones and email access is available to a meagre 4 per cent of the total mobile user base, stated the company release.
“Today, staying connected is very important. We have gone on to integrate two of the most widely used and needed technologies and tools that help people stay connected – email and SMS. We saw a large addressable audience who would require a service such as this to make email available to them while on the go. We wanted to ensure that it’s simple, easily accessible and absolutely free, So now consumers are connected anytime, anywhere and can actually carry their Hotmail in their pocket”, said Prashant Thakur, head, mobile and search, Microsoft India.
UTV Indiagames partners with UK-based Mobile Streams
Mobile Streams has announced that it will partner with UTV Indiagames to distribute mobile content to network operators throughout India as well as via the mobile internet. Mobile Streams is a UK-based company which distributes and retails mobile content around the world through their mobile internet store (www.ringtones.com) and through network operators. With this alliance, Mobile Streams will foray into the Indian mobile market.
UTV Indiagames plans to use its relationships with India’s major network carriers to distribute content from Mobile Streams’ content catalogue, according to the press release. Mobile Streams has over 270,000 items from the top content providers in its catalogue including the popular Mr Bean along with a wide range of World Cup 2010 content such as wallpapers, tones, video and games.
Arnd Aschentrup, chief operating officer, Mobile Streams, said in a press statement, “Our aim is to extend our global footprint and offer our content partners the best exposure for their brands to increase their fan base and mobile revenues. We are delighted to be building on our existing relationship with UTV Indiagames and to be gaining access to mobile phone subscribers in India.”
A UTV Indiagames spokesperson was not available for comments.
Mobile Streams’ distribution network is present in the UK, Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. The company also owns and operates the mobile internet portals, www.ringtones.com and www.mobilegaming.com.
Vodafone to bring iPhone 4 to India
Vodafone Essar announced the launch iPhone 4 in India in the coming months. The device was unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco and will be available from June 24 in the USA, France, Germany, Japan and UK.
The iPhone 4 comes with a FaceTime feature, which allows two iPhone 4 users to do video calling over WiFi. This feature was not present in previous iPhone models, including iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The company claims that the Retina display technology on iPhone 4 is said to be the sharpest and highest-resolution phone screen ever, with four times the pixel count of previous iPhone models. Apart from these features, it comes with high definition video recording and editing and a 5 megapixel camera with LED. The company says that this allows the iPhone 4 to recognise motion gestures which results in greater precision in games, among other things.
iPhone 4 is priced at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32 GB globally. However, the price for the Indian market has not been revealed yet.
Handygo ties up with Sony BMG; plans deal with Balaji
Handygo, a mobile value added services provider, said it has partnered with Sony BMG for exclusive digital rights to 12 movies from the company in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.
The content will be deployed on the WAP (wireless access protocol) platform to most operators including Airtel, Reliance Communications, Idea, Tata, Aircel and Vodafone. Customers can also participate in contests through interactive voice response systems, and can download wallpapers, animations and music.
Deepti Gulati, content acquisition head, Handygo, told Telecom Yatra, “We have acquired the rights for offering movie content via mobile internet. We had also tied up earlier with Sony and Venus Tapes. but this is the first deal that we have signed this year.”
On future plans, Gulati said, “We are going to tie up with Balaji Telefilms for humorous content and also for exclusive digital rights of their upcoming movie Once upon a time. In South India, we have an association with well known magazines, such as South Scope, for offering exclusive photo shoots on mobile phones. We are also looking at offering magazine content on mobiles.”
Praveen Rajpal, chief executive officer, Handygo, said in a company statement, “VAS companies are exhibiting a growing penchant for regional content as it accounts for 40 to 50 per cent of mobile music market in India. South India is the largest regional market in mobile music monetisation. Hence, Handygo is looking to acquire more content in the regional space.”
Established in 2000, Handygo develops value added services for mobile operators in India and the Middle East. It has also developed content in Arabic to target mobile subscribers in the Gulf region.
IMImobile, IndiaVision TV partner to stream news to Idea subscribers
IMImobile, the Hyderabad-based value added service provider for operators, media providers and enterprises, today announced an alliance with IndiaVision TV, a Malayalam news channel. This alliance will benefit the Idea Cellular subscribers in Kerala. As per the telecom subscription data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for April, Idea had a total of 5.48 million subscribers in Kerala who will be now be able to access live news broadcasts in Malayalam, on their mobile handsets.
Madhavan Iyer, vice president, managed services, IMImobile, told Telecom Yatra “We’ll be launching the service with other network services providers in Kerala in the next 15 days. Also, we are in talks with many media houses and should be launching services in alliance with other television channels and radio channels within a month’s time.”
This interactive voice response (IVR) based service can be availed at a basic subscription pack of Rs 20 per month or through other flexible plan options details. Once subscribed, users can listen to the live news updates by dialing a number and paying browsing charges of one paisa for every three seconds. Another option is to listen to news by calling a particular number at Rs three per minute.
Once 3G roll out is over, the company plans to foray into video streaming services and although the company has started with news, it intends to later focus on entertainment.
Eko Financial Services ties up with Bharti Axa
Eko India Financial Services, a provider of branchless banking especially aimed at low income groups, recently partnered with the State Bank of India. Together they have launched a program for opening SBI mini savings accounts on the mobile platform. These are no-frills savings accounts that can be operated with zero minimum balance through a mobile phone.
Abhishek Sinha, chief executive officer, Eko Financial Services told Telecom Yatra, “We have also partnered with Bharti Axa and micro insurance products would be available via Eko Financial. The service would be launched in one month’s time. Under the deal, insurance premium collection would take place through Eko.”
The company also plans to expand its mobile banking services in India. There are around 70,000 SBI mini accounts currently in operation and the company is targeting a million customers by the end of December. Although the service is currently available only to SBI account holders, there are plans for it to be extended to other banks as well. Inter bank transactions should be up in a few months’ time.
Eko’s banking solution is based on digits, rather than SMS or downloadable mobile apps. The customer’s mobile phone number becomes the account number and he is given PIN numbers to operate his account. Transactions worth Rs 17 crore are said to have taken place using the Eko service so far. The company also launched a money transfer service in January which is said to have witnessed transactions worth Rs 35 lakh.
The company is planning to launch services in two more districts in Bihar, along with Patna, by August. Eko is also raising funds. Once this is done the company will expand services in Mumbai, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh as well. Till now, the company had made an investment of Rs 11 crore in the business and foresees a total investment of Rs 50 crore in the coming 18 to 24 months. It plans to foray into mobile payments as well, 6 to 8 months down the line.
Eko currently has 365 counters in Delhi, NCR and over 150 in Bihar and Jharkhand. It plans to increase the number to 8,000. It, however, does not have any exclusive stores. Eko trains and appoints kirana, medical and fair price shops to carry out small physical transactions with customers.
Videocon gains 500,000 subscribers in Mumbai; Kerala launch this week
Videocon Mobile Services, a new entrant in the Indian GSM space, has announced that it now has more than 500,000 subscribers in Mumbai.
To celebrate this milestone, the company has launched a new offer, under which on every recharge of Rs 83, a customer can avail full talk value on all top ups for three months, besides getting 100 free SMSs for 30 days. STD charges under this plan would cost 50 paise per minute while local on-network and off-network charges would be 20 paise per minute and 40 paise per minute, respectively.
A spokesperson for the company also informed Telecom Yatra that the company is going to roll out GSM services in Kerala on June 4, taking the total number of circles in which it operates to six.
Videocon has also introduced two new schemes in Mumbai: First Recharge Coupon 102 and Special Tariff Voucher 63. First Recharge Coupon comes with talk value of Rs 60, 60 local minutes free and the rest charged at one paisa per second. It is valid for 365 days and costs Rs 102. The Special Tariff Voucher of Rs 63 is valid for 90 days.
Videocon Mobile currently operates in five circles namely, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat.
Uninor now present in five more circles
Uninor has launched its GSM service in five circles: Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa, Gujarat, and Kolkata and West Bengal. With this launch, Uninor operates in 13 circles across India.
In the five new circles, the telecom operator is offering Dynamic Pricing, which allows users to get discounts on calls based on the location from which the call has been initiated and the time during which it lasts. A user can get a discount ranging from five per cent to 60 per cent on their calls. The discounts will change with location and with time, with each cellphone tower offering a different discount.
Uninor connections in these circles are to be available at over 85,000 points of sale through 439 distributors and at 81 exclusive shops.
Uninor is a joint venture between Norway’s Telenor group and India’s Unitech Ltd. The company holds a pan-India unified access service (UAS) licence to offer mobile telephony services in each of India’s 22 circles. It also has spectrum to operate in 21 of the 22 circles. At present, Uninor services are available in the thirteen circles of UP (West), UP (East), Bihar, Orissa, Kolkata, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Mumbai, Maharashtra and Gujarat.