Spice Mobiles has announced the launch of its latest device, the S 7000. The company has also partnered with Disney for this product. Under the partnership, S 7000 will be pre loaded with exclusive content of new Disney movie Prince of Persia – Sands of Time.
Naveen Paul, head, marketing, Spice Mobiles, told Telcom Yatra that as of now the tie up with Disney includes content -mobile themes, wallpapers, screensavers and ringtones – related to Prince of Persia only. However, the deal could be expanded depending on how Spice Mobile’s market responds to the content.
The phone has been pitched as a video phone and the company claims it supports all video file formats. Paul added, “It is the only phone in the market that plays all video file formats without the hassle of user having to convert videos to a particular file format. S 7000 also comes with support for Dolby sound”. He further said that Spice will launch a TVC to promote Prince of Persia content on Spice mobiles very soon. The handset should be available in the market in a day or two at a retail price of Rs 7,499.
S 7000 is a GSM phone and is loaded with Wapedia mobile encyclopedia Vuclip for web video and social networking applications like Facebook and Nimbuzz. The phone has a 3.2 Megapixel camera, 16 GB expandable memory, mobile modem and EDGE support.

A study by New Delhi-based value added services company mBit Infotech said that content related to international hip hop artist Akon is most searched and downloaded from the mobile web. In the Bollywood category, Katrina Kaif is more popular than Shahrukh Khan.
mBit said that music is the second most searched for keyword accounting for 19 per cent of total searches and singers such as Akon, Linkin Park, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Rihanna and Michael Jackson top the list. Sports, especially Cricket, along with movies and videos are the third most searched for category, accounting for 15 per cent of the total.
The research also showed that sex is still the most popular keyword, out of 6,730 unique keywords, which accounts to 30 per cent of total searches, including words such as porn, porno, naked etc.
The research is based on the searches performed by over 120,000 users of mBit in the first quarter of this year. mBit is a joint venture between VASSoft.net, the IT division of Himenviro Group, and Singapore-based mBit Pte Ltd.

Coolpad Communications, the Indian subsidiary of Hong Kong-based China Wireless Technologies, is planning to launch 15 CDMA handsets in the sub- Rs 5,000 price range, during this fiscal. It has also rolled out an ultra low cost touchscreen CDMA phone, S100, in Maharashtra.
Following the launch of these 15 handsets, it will target one million handset sales in India every year and expects the Maharashtra telecom circle to contribute nearly 20 per cent of these volumes.
Sami Al-Lawati, managing director, Coolpad Communications, said in a company statement, ” Currently, the operator pushed CDMA handsets are primarily in the sub-Rs 2,000 price bracket. However, amongst the 120 million CDMA subscriber base in India, almost 30 per cent use CDMA smartphones. This captive customer base of CDMA smartphones offers Coolpad an opportunity to address the CDMA segment with the right products, at very attractive price points.”
Raj Maharshi, circle head, Maharashtra and Goa, Reliance Webstore, added, “In Maharashtra, Reliance Webstore will market Coolpad CDMA handsets, including the newly introduced S100, across twenty top cities in the state. We expect a substantial growth in the overall handset volumes sold in Maharashtra through Reliance World and Reliance Mobile Stores over the next two to three quarters.”
As per the statement, Coolpad has already launched its Dual-Mode (CDMA and GSM) handsets in India, but S100 is its first CDMA handset in the country. The company entered the Indian market last year through a distribution deal with Reliance Webstore Limited, which was signed in October 2009.

Longcheer, a mobile design firm based in Singapore, has commenced operating in India to cater to the mobile handset design needs of domestic brands here.
“The design services,” said Michael Fu, vice president, Longcheer Technology, Shanghai, “would be based on the needs and requirements of Indian handset manufacturers and it would be our priority to help establish (each of) our customers as a brand with unique product identity so that it is easily distinguishable from other products available in the market.”
He also revealed that the company has planned an investment of around $5 million (over Rs 22 crore) in India for the next three years.
Manu Nagar, chief executive officer, Longcheer Technology, India, added that the company’s Indian unit is eyeing revenue of $6 million (close to Rs 27 crore) in the next three years from its design services alone.
Talking about mobile design, Nagar said, “We would be focusing on localising the product and catering to India specific demand. For example, the phone should be sturdy as people keep dropping them, plus with the climate of India, they need to be heat and dust resistant, and also sweat resistant. We would also focus on phones with good loudspeaker volume, plus the ability for noise cancellation.”
The company will charge handset manufactures different rates for designing particular models, while the price point for the end user will be decided by the handset manufacturer. Though the company refused to reveal the names of its present clients, it did confirm that it is already working with six of the top domestic handset manufacturers in India. Longcheer recently tied up with Wynncom, the mobile handset brand launched by Luminous. Under this tie up, Longcheer has designed a mid level multimedia device which comes in a candy bar form. This will soon be available in the market.
Talking about the scope of the handset design market in India, Manu pointed out that the size of the domestic handset market is around seven million units per month, and that hence there is tremendous opportunity for a company such as Longcheer.
Although the area of preference for Longcheer India is industrial and mechanical design, it also plans to focus on user interface. Eight to nine months from now, the company plans to gradually move into the applications space as well. It believes that people would want to focus more on applications with office or enterprise abilities, rather than those that are useful for personal purposes. Longcheer also specialises in developing products and services in wireless communication, data communication and mobile Broadband technology.
Longcheer has a range of mobile handsets and applications based on GSM and CDMA with inbuilt GPRS, EDGE and WiFi, and sells its products in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Japan, India and Vietnam. It also has mobile telecommunication laboratories in Shanghai which specialise in mobile related environmental issues, fatigue testing, LCD optics, audio, testing etc.

Reliance Communications claims to be ofering subscribers free mobile browsing on its new 0.facebook.com site. This will enable RCom subscribers to access Facebook from a mobile web Browser without incurring any data charges for at least one year. (Though the operator may decide to change the time period for which this offer will be valid.)
Facebook’s 0.facebook.com site is a faster and lighter version of Facebook’s mobile site m.facebook.com. The site does not have graphics or photos and its pages have been designed for the RCom network. Standard data charges will apply when a person leaves 0.facebook.com to view photos.
According to Anil Pande, value added services, Reliance Communications, the service is free of any data charges and thus, there is no monetisation angle to it. Apart from Reliance Communications, Videocon GSM mobile services had also announced a tie up with Facebook for the same service recently.