Tata Teleservices has partnered with Fly mobile to launch CG588.
Fly CG588 is a dual SIM (GSM+CDMA) device priced at Rs 4,795. It is pre loaded with Fly Buzz! An App which helps users stay connected on multiple popular platforms including Facebook, Twitter, etc., at speeds of up to 153 Kbps.
Prem Kumar, chief executive officer, Meridian Telecom, India, said, “The dual SIM capabilities of the phone, offering both CDMA and GSM operation, is not just a strong USP in metropolitan cities, but is also highly appreciated in tier two and tier three towns.”
Sunil Batra, president, CDMA operations, TTSL, said, “The phone has an ergonomic QWERTY keyboard and makes for easy navigation, communication and internet access.”
Fly CG588 is bundled with offers for both voice and data usage. With a first recharge of Rs 104, customers get 1 GB of free data usage, 250 local on net minutes, 250 local off net minutes and 250 SMSs worth Rs 1,500.
Tata Indicom, Fly Mobile launch CG588
Micromax, Modu to launch 3.5G touch phone
Domestic handset maker Micromax has announced an exclusive partnership with Israel-based Modu to launch co-branded ‘modu T’ phones in India.
‘modu T’ is a 3.5G touch phone with a 2.2-inch screen and expandable memory up to 32 GB. Priced at Rs 12,500, the handset has been awarded a Guinness World Record for being the lightest touchscreen mobile phone in the world.
“By bringing the modu T phone to India, we are targetting the aspirational segment of Indian consumers, who are the early adopters of technology and passionate about electronic gadgets. We expect a great response, especially during the festive season,” Micromax Business Director Vikas Jain told reporters here.
The handsets would be bundled with Aircel connections, he added.
Modu is also exploring the potential for launching tablet PCs in the Indian market.
“We are studying the Indian market for launching a tablet PC to extend our partnership with Micromax,” Modu chief executive officer and founder Dov Moran said.
Rediff.com launches mobile email
Rediff.com has announced the launch of its mobile email service named Rediffmail NG. The service will enable users to send and receive unlimited email, look up contacts, assign tasks to the calendar, and set reminders from their mobile devices.
Subscribers to the service will be charged Rs 50 per month, which is inclusive of data charges.
Rediffmail NG works across almost all mobile phone platforms including Symbian, Java and Android, as well as on almost all mobile phones in the market.
Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman and chief executive officer, Rediff.com, India, said “Even small-sized business owners will now have a cost-effective way to equip their employees with mobile communications and increase productivity.”
India gets Garmin Asus Android phone
Garmin Asus has announced the launch of their latest mobile handset running on Android 2.1 (Eclair) platform, A 10, as reported by Telecom Yatra earlier.
The touchscreen smartphone offers support for multiple navigation modes like Professional Pedestrian Navigation and In-car Navigation.
John Chen, business head, mobile communication business, ASUS (India) said, “The A10 is an extremely powerful smartphone that has navigation capabilities equivalent to Garmin’s premium automotive navigation devices. It enables users to interconnect instantly with other users with geotagging wherein a geotagged photo can be sent to friends who can then initiate navigation to the location by simply clicking on it.”
The Garmin Asus A10 comes preloaded with detailed maps, hence users do not have to pay and wait for third party maps to download from a server, nor will they lose their turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation if they are out of cell phone coverage.
The A10 also comes with a large built-in point of interest (POI) database and provides real-time information on weather, gas prices, parking lot availability, movie show times, public transportation, and more. These Connected Services can be accessed instantly via the A10’s “click and go” function.
Additionally, the device comes with 3.2 inch multi touch capacitive screen, 5.0 Megapixel auto-focus camera, 4GB of internal storage, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM and a 1500mAh battery.
The Garmin-Asus A10 will be offered in major metro cities including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata at Rs 18,990.
Idea Cellular announces Diwali offer
Idea Cellular has announced an offer for mobile subscribers in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on the occasion of Diwali.
The ‘Shubh Labh’ offer will give subscribers in the two states an opportunity to win prizes such as cars, bikes, LCD TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, microwaves and DVD players, besides assured gifts.
Starting October 15, both prepaid and postpaid mobile subscribers who buy a new Idea connection will get an assured gift, and will be eligible to win the prizes mentioned above as well as talktime worth Rs 1,000, 500, 200 and 100.
The assured prizes to be won also include up to 100 MB of free internet usage and/or 200 free SMS messages along with 200 MB of free internet usage with 30 days’ validity.
The Diwali offer will continue till November 23 of this year.
Tata Indicom launches Comedy Junction
Tata Indicom, the CDMA brand of Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), has announced the launch of a new value-added service named Comedy Junction.
The service will be accessible to existing as well as new postpaid and prepaid subscribers through the operator’s voice portal.
With Comedy Junction, users can listen to stand-up comedians such as Raju Srivastava, Ehsaan Qureshi, Ranvir Shorey, Bhagwat Mann, Suresh Albela etc. by dialing in to the interactive voice portal.
Other categories such as love jokes, pranks and shayari etc. are also available.
Customers can avail a trial period of 5 minutes free of cost before subscribing to the service, which is available at a monthly subscription of Rs 30 with toll free browsing of up to 60 minutes.
S Ramakrishna, regional chief operating officer, South East, Tata Teleservices, said, “It will definitely generate excitement amongst our subscribers and will increase the level of involvement with its regional content.”
The service is available in 14 languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, Kannada, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Rajasthani and English.
Hungama to launch audio portal
Hungama Mobile, one of the largest aggregators of mobile content, is planning to launch an audio entertainment portal. The portal is a voice based platform and will be accessible via a short code on all operator networks.
“The audio entertainment portal has already been integrated on all operators and it will go live shortly,” said Albert Almeida, chief operating officer, Hungama Mobile.
Almeida believes that voice based services have a lot of scope mainly because of their universal appeal. “A person just needs to dial a number to access the service; there is no need for typing or literacy. This makes these services very powerful.”
Another voice based service offering from Hungama, the Jukebox, has been received well.
The service is already available with Airtel, Tata Docomo, Videocon and Reliance. With this service, users can dial in, subscribe and download songs. The USP of this service is that it integrates with social networking sites and hence allows users to publish 20 second clippings of songs to their social networking site.
Almeida says, “The customers are migrating to this service from other mobile services. The service is growing and with 3G coming, the same product could be a mobile video station”.
He adds, “Another service that is drawing a huge response is full song download with Vodafone. The service has generated huge business for Vodafone and in turn for us.”
In the coming years, Hungama expects mobile gaming to grow significantly. “We have made huge investments in mobile gaming and expect a lot to happen in this segment in the coming years. We are already seeing double digit growth in this segment and 3G would take it to a different level all together.”
However, even with 3G, music and movies will continue to be the major revenue generator. “Music and movies are part of our religion. Music will continue to be the driver only in newer forms. Right now, downloading high quality full songs is not the easiest experience,” opines Almeida.
Currently, caller ring back tones contribute 60-65 per cent to the VAS entertainment revenues of the industry and account for about 40-45 per cent of Hungama’s total revenues.
Almeida believes, “3G would give us the opportunity to monetise what we have. It would drive innovation and create newer apps which will increase consumption.”
He adds, “We are witnessing a significant change at Hungama. We look at ourselves as the content, technology and distribution company. We are now evolving into a product and managed services kind of company.”
CDMA iPhone likely to come to India
Apple might be planning to launch a CDMA version of the popular iPhone in India.
The handset giant is holding discussions with Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices for bringing an iPhone using CDMA or code division multiple access technology to India, the Wall Street Journal reported.
There are currently three operators in India whose networks run on CDMA technology – Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and MTS.
The news of Apple making a CDMA version of its iPhone that will be available with Verizon Wireless early next year in the USA is already ripe. It is also rumored that China Telecom is currently in talks with Apple regarding the CDMA iPhone 4 for the Chinese market.
In India, Apple’s iPhone is currently available through GSM operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.
Videocon Mobile Phones joins the Android bandwagon
Videocon Mobile Phones has announced its foray into the Android phone market with the launch of Videocon Zeus.
The device runs on Android 2.1 Éclair and is powered by a 600 MHz Qualcomm microprocessor. It comes with a 3.2 inch capacitive screen, 5 megapixel camera and support for WiFi, A-GPS and push mail.
Anil Khera, chief executive officer, Videocon Mobile Phones, said, “The entry into the Android space extends our offering, thus placing us better amongst the leading Indian players, and we are keen to enhance our penetration across the markets.”
Along with Zeus, the handset manufacturer has added four more models to its portfolio of devices, namely V1410, V1603, V1475 and V1606.
Videocon has tried to add some new elements in its devices. While the V1410 comes with integrated Laser Pointer, the V1603 supports dual batteries and dual T Flash card slots.
The model V1475 is a QWERTY phone and will be available in four colours.
The last device to be launched is the V1606, which is a multimedia device and comes with a 2 megapixel HD camera and dual speakers.
Rahul Goel, chief operating officer, Videocon Mobile Phones, said, “With the new launches we try to get interesting new elements in the industry and are very positive that it will create the desired newness in the mobile phone industry.”
Lemon Mobiles launches Duo 525
Lemon Mobiles, a brand promoted by Fastrack Communications today announced the launch of its latest device DUO 525. The company claims that the phone, powered by a 208 MHz processor, is the fastest phone in its category.
The dual SIM device has 80MB of internal phone memory, which can be expanded to 8GB.
It is priced at approximately Rs 3,800 and will be available in three colours red, royal blue and black. A 2GB Memory card pre loaded with multimedia content comes with the sales pack.