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6 Mistakes You Could Be Making In Mobile Marketing

Rohit Singh Jain — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:30:22 +0000

Mobile Marketing in the next big thing. Mobile has changed the landscape of consumerism in a few short years by becoming our favorite tool for reading the news, watching television, communicating, socializing, shopping, navigating…for just about everything! As a marketer, mobile is a very powerful place for you to connect with your audience. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Since mobile is such a personal medium, it is the easiest place for marketers to make massive mistakes that will turn off a customer forever.

This articles serves the purpose to help you avoid making those mistakes.

• Not engaging with your customers and not making your campaign local, social and mobile
Mobile marketing is a way to build a relationship with your customer, the same way you do with social media marketing. Just pushing your product without building a relationship will annoy your customer and cause them to opt out.

You should market to as much media as possible to reach as many people as possible. Concentrating on mobile marketing only excluding the other media will narrow the results you can expect. Concentrate on engaging with your customer through as many media as possible.
Including other media can enhance your mobile marketing campaign. For example, when you use QR codes in your marketing, that can be scanned by customers with mobile phones.

• Not respecting the privacy of your customer

If you continually bombard your customer with push messages, and do so more than once a week without engaging them, you are going to lose them. Texting a mobile offer once a week is more than enough. When your customer subscribes he or she is literally giving you access to them 24/7. Don’t abuse it.

• Not proofreading or testing your message

Everyone makes mistakes. If you want your marketing to deliver results, make sure you know exactly how it looks. Do all the links work? Is there a phone number so they can call you back? Do the graphics show? Are the words a jumble? Not testing can be fatal for your campaign.

• Mismatching content with mobile messaging

Make sure your links to all content work on every mobile device available so everyone with a mobile phone can interact with your campaign. Don’t send someone with a normal mobile phone a link to an iPhone app. Make sure there are different versions corresponding to each mobile device.

• Building an app without a plan for promoting it

If you build an app and just wait for people to find it, you will be disappointed. When developing the app, make sure you plan how to promote it. You can use text messaging, e-mail, traditional ads and mobile advertising. You should continue to promote the app with regular updates, advertising any new features you release.

It’s Mobile, Not Desktop

Too many mobile experiences are just smaller versions of the brand’s desktop, enabling the exact same functionality, and trying to shrink it down to the small screen. Yet, a mobile app is an entirely different vehicle for experiences, and it should be treated differently for the new opportunities it provides.

A mobile customer will quickly discard overwhelming designs that mimic desktop content page-for-page. It’s fairly common to assume that a customer will input as much information on the mobile device as they do on the desktop. But input is much more time consuming on mobile devices, and it’s important to design with that in mind. The reality is that the small screen can be a blessing, as it enables you to focus on what is truly important.

Following the path of online advertising

Mobile seems to be following the well-traveled path of online advertising with the same old strategy of placing ads around the experience taking up valuable real estate with irrelevant, interruptive and ignored advertising, rather within it.It is important that marketers understand what their target consumers are doing.

Not Actively Promoting Your Mobile Web Site

This one may sound like a no-brainer but it’s surprising how many great mobile sites are woefully under-promoted. If you advertise in print, on TV or in outdoor media, it’s far more likely that your audience members are closer to their mobile device than to a PC that’s on.

The point is, there are some things your customers will only be able to do on your .com site and others they can only do on your .mobi. The more you promote the mobile experience, the more people will turn to it. Top brands that promote their .mobi sites are finding their traffic starting to rival their .com websites. But people can only spend time on your .mobi if they know it exists!

So these were some of the most common mistakes marketers make when they jump on to the mobile advertising bandwagon. Let’s hope the article made you aware of these and will aid you in avoiding such mistakes in your mobile marketing campaign.

Image Courtesy | shuttershock

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Yahoo Scoops Up Another Start-up, Buys Gaming Platform PlayerScale

Sneha Bokil-Paranjape — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:30:31 +0000

Yahoo has continued its acquisition spree and bought yet another start-up, not big as Tumblr though. In a bid to expand itself in the gaming arena, Yahoo has acquired PlayerScale, which makes software infrastructure for cross-platform gaming. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but PlayerScale will not shut down after the buyout.

“Today we acquired PlayerScale. We intend to continue to support and grow PlayerScale’s technology, and we look forward to building great new experiences on Yahoo! using the PlayerScale platform”, Yahoo said in a statement emailed to AFP.

Founded in 2011, PlayerScale develops software for cross-plaform gaming that allows publishers and aggregators to quickly scale titles across various platforms. The company has over 150 million users worldwide, and it’s adding more than 400,000 new users every day. PlayerScale is now being implemented in 4,000 games from more than 2,600 game developers, including Social Gaming Netwroks. ”We will continue to support our existing product and deliver new services to help you grow and manage your success in cross-platform gaming — whether it’s casual, social or mobile,” PlayerScale CEO Jesper Jensen said in a company blog post. Half of the company’s staff will be joining Yahoo, while the other half will stay at PlayerScale.

The PlayerScale software also incorporates a data analytics tool, which gives developers information that allows them to understand user behavior and track users and revenue across mobile and web-based properties. This then allows developers to increase their monetization and to more rapidly introduce new games into the market.

This is Mayer’s tenth acquisition since October last year all of which suggest company’s entire focus to mobile. Along with buying new startups and launching new apps the company is also revamping its existing products. Now, the company is reported to be eyeing online video website Hulu after its bid to buy a majority stake in France-based Dailymotion was derailed in May.

It will be interesting to see what will be Yahoo’s next move after the PlayerScale acquisition. Will the company go for another buyout next month? Lets wait and see.

Image Courtesy | geek

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Google Looking To Buy Waze For $1 Billion, Sparks Bidding War With Facebook

Rohit Singh Jain — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:26:34 +0000

Google Inc is considering buying Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze Inc, which may lead to a bidding war with Facebook Inc, who has also earlier expressed interest to buy up the maps company. Waze has already been receiving expressions of interest from various Silicon Valley giants like Facebook. Reports had surfaced some time back that Facebook wanted to buy Waze for more than $1 billion, but the deal hasn’t taken ground as of now. The possible reason we can speculate is that Facebook will want the Waze team to move to California after the buy, something which the founders of Waze are against.

Google and other parties approached Waze after the Facebook talks became public but none of the bidders are close to clinching a deal, though the start-up might decide to remain independent.

Industry analysts have already started reasoning as to why Facebook would want to buy Waze. Waze is a mapping app for smartphones that’s infused with some cool social features. The deal will improve Facebook’s chances of their mobile conquest and also create a mobile application platform that can be effectively monetized. Maps and geo-location apps are the way for location-based industries in the future, and this fact seems to be driving Facebook’s acquisition of Waze. Another reason could be that integration of Waze could provide a richer experience to mobile Facebook users.

I believe Google too has plenty of reasons to gobble up Waze. Google Maps could become a stronger product after the incorporation of Waze. And it would also secure Waze from it’s competitor Facebook’s hands.

Waze has not communicated regarding this development, and nor have Facebook and Google. Waze uses satellite signals from members’ smartphones to generate maps and traffic data, which it then shares with other users, offering real-time traffic information. The four-year-old company has 47 million users. It has raised $67 million in funding from firms including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Blue Run Ventures and semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc

Facebook has been making powerful in-roads into the mobile space lately, time after its founder announced Facebook will start focusing on the mobile platform. It announced Facebook Home for Android, which even hit 1 million downloads. On the mobile front, Google recently announced the Google Play Music All Access App at the Google I/O 2013. Today it overhauled its Google Drive App for Android devices as well.

Let’s see how all three companies, especially Waze, react to this development.

Image Courtesy | forbes

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Chrome Beta Gets New Features On Android And The Web

Denzil — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:49:07 +0000

Ever since Google I/O, the company has been releasing boatloads of new features across most of its products. Today, they have announced two new features for Chrome Beta. One for Chrome for Android Beta and the other for the Chrome Web Browser beta.

Chrome Beta for Android:

With today’s update to Chrome for Android, the app can now translate foreign languages on the websites. Whenever the browser identifies a web page written in a foreign language, it shows the translate button which upon being pressed gives the translation of the page to your default language.

Chrome now sports a + button at the address bar so that new tabs can be added easily. They have also added a fullscreen feature for immersive consumption. Chrome for Android also has an experimental data compression feature. You can now check out a graph of this compression data by going to Settings > Bandwidth Management in the browser app.

Chrome Web Browser Beta:

The Chrome Web browser beta on Windows is now getting a new notification system which is very similar to the one they have in ChromeOS. This notification system can be accessed by Chrome apps and extensions to deliver updates to users on the web.

In the image above you will notice the Google Now design metaphor on all these notifications. Google’s design philosophy is now converging across all its services as it readies itself for a more consistent ecosystem this year. These notifications are not just announcements and updates but also offer some richer features depending on the app involved. These images below will give you an idea of the context specific implementation of the notification system. It will allow you to reply to mails, call, see image previews etc. right from the notification bar, thus saving your lots of time in your overall workflow and helping you not get distracted completely from the task at hand.

If you want to check out these new features, download the latest Chrome beta on Android and your desktop OS (Windows).

Download Link | Chrome Beta For Android | Chrome Beta For Windows

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Viacom 18 Forays Into App Ecosystem With Three Mobile Products

Sneha Bokil-Paranjape — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:11:48 +0000

Viamcom 18 has launched three new products under three of its most popular brands – MTV, VH1 and Nick. They are MTV Gupshup – a VAS chat service, Vh1 Hub- mobile content shop and mobile game Stardom Saga.

Rajneel Kumar, Viacom18’s VP and Business Head, Digital Media said “The initiative is in tune with the fact that youth is spending more time on phones than TV. We want to capture this growing number of audience. Our first product MTV GupShup targets youth while Vh1 Hub is a platform which is best for international music discovery. They do not have to depend on operator anymore to download their favourite tracks. Stardom Saga is aimed at attracting young girls to live a fantasy life of a star via the game.”

MTV Gupshup:

The company has partnered with chat service platform Altruist to which allows to make friends in India. Available in 13 different languages MTV Gupshup enable searches through various options like friendship, flirting and serious relationship. Viacom 18 is targeting the expanding VAS ecosystem of the country with this IVR based chat service.

Vh1 Hub:

A mobile content shop powered by Techzone, VH1 Hub boasts of international music. It enables users to download mobile content like songs, ringtones, caller back tunes, videos and wallpapers by logging on to the Vh1 Hub WAP/mobile site or website. The Vh1 Hub is available on Android, Blackberry and Symbian. Customers will be charged by the operators for using MTV GupShup and VH1 hub service. I checked out the website which has a good collection of old and latest international music. Users can check out a sample track and buy them but not listen to the whole song. No information about the pricing is given on the website. Vh1 recently collaborated with Hungama to launch music streaming app Vh1 Pulse on Facebook.

Stardom Saga:

Aimed at teenage girls and Available on iOS and Android, the the objective of the game is to become a celebrity star and the girls will be given virtual currency to manage. They can dress up their avatars at the salon and boutique, hire an agent to represent them, audition for movie roles and earn some quick coins from commercials. The content for the game has been created based on the understanding of the consumer behavior.

For now Viacom is promoting all these products through TVCs on its network channels, and advertisements on social networks and its existing mobile network.

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Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD Tablets To Be Available In India Soon

Denzil — Fri, 24 May 2013 07:40:11 +0000

Amazon’s popular Kindle Fire tablets are going to be launched in India in the next three weeks i.e June 13, according to sources. These tablets run a customized version of the Android stack. Amazon launched the Fire HD series last year and till now these devices were officially available only in the US, UK, Canada etc. Now the company is going to start shipping these devices to as many as 170 countries, India being one of them.

The tablets that will be shipped include the 7” Kindle Fire HD and the 8.9” Kindle Fire HD. These are currently priced in the US at $199 and $269 for the 16 GB versions. These kindles reportedly deliver a good experience with multimedia and books. Amazon has upwards of 300,000 kindle books in addition to other things like games, audio books and other content. The Amazon App Store on these tablets is the place where users can access, discover and shop for this content. We wrote yesterday about the Amazon App store now being live in India. This is an indicator that the Kindle Fire tablet line will begin shipping in the country soon.

Kindle Fire Specs:

Sourced from Amazon Developer page.

The Amazon ecosystem once live in the country will be a good alternative ecosystem to get into as it offer some good content choices at some really good rates. I believe that their cutthroat pricing of the original Kindle Fire forced Google to price its Nexus 7 in a affordable way. Amazon has managed to make these computing devices really affordable for everyone by pricing their products in a reasonable way. The Kindle HD series is very tempting and I believe a lot of people will see value in these devices.

What are your thoughts? Will you go for it?

Source | The Mobile Indian

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Google Overhauls Drive For Android, Adds Scan Feature, Cloud Printing & More

Sneha Bokil-Paranjape — Fri, 24 May 2013 06:46:27 +0000

Google has given its Drive app for Android a major revamp with a number of new features. First up, Google has redesigned the app’s user interface to card like style which is similar to Google Play and Google+. The files are now displayed in a clean, simple grid view which enables easy surfing through the app. You can also swipe between photos and other files to see large previews, which should make it a little easier to find and review the specific files you need.

“The updated Drive for Android app also gives you to a way to keep track of important paper documents like receipts, letters, and billing statements,” Google software engineer Denis Teplyashin wrote in a company blog.

The most important feature the app has received is the Scan feature that lets you back up and track important receipts, business cards, and documents by using existing optical character recognition (OCR) tech already in Drive. Choose Scan from the “Add New” menu, take a photo of the document, and Drive will automatically turn it into a searchable PDF.

The update includes a number of other improvements as well including the ability to download a copy of your files in Drive your device’s local storage. This feature is only available, however, on devices running Android 3.0 Honeycomb and above. Moreover, the Spreadsheet editor now supports changing fonts, colors, and cell alignment. The app also comes with Cloud Print support, so printing your documents wirelessly no longer requires you to find a laptop or desktop computer. Apart from these features, the update also brings several bug fixes and improvements.

These updates and features are transforming Google Drive into something more than a mere cloud storage service. With the added scan and download feature Google Drive is directly competing with Evernote. Google Drive launched API allowing real-time editing of Google Drive docs inside of third-party apps in March this year.

The latest version of Google Drive for Android is available for download from here.

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Dentsu India Acquires An 80% Stake In Digital Agency, WebChutney

Denzil — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:33:29 +0000

News has broken that advertising and communications group, Dentsu India has acquired a majority stake in WebChutney, one of the leading digital agencies in the country. We had written earlier that a deal between Dentsu and Webchutney was in the offing but both the companies did not confirm anything. The news now is that Dentsu has a majority stake of 80% in the agency and will look at it being a wholly owned entity by 2017.

Afaqs has speculated that the deal is around Rs. 40-50 crores and has resulted in a 300% return for Capital 18, which invested in Webchutney previously. Dentsu has thus effectively bought out Capital18’s share in the company. With this Dentsu gets two of the most creative independent companies in the country under its belt, the first being independent mainline agency Taproot, in which they acquired a majority share last year.

Sidharth Rao, chief executive officer and co-founder, Webchutney said,

“We are thrilled to be working with such a strong global leadership and are ready to enter a new phase of our growth. I am also personally grateful to Sarbvir Singh (MD, Capital18) who has been my mentor for the last five years and his web team at Capital18 for ensuring that we shared a wonderful journey together.”

Rohit Ohri, executive chairman, Dentsu India Group, spoke about the development,

“Dentsu is the first global network that’s being built out in the post-digital era. We believe we’re building the network of the future. Our partnership with Webchutney is another step in that direction.”

Many international groups over the course of the last year have tried to consolidate their segment by getting in independent digital agencies into their mainline line-up which speaks volumes about how much digital is being banked on by these companies in order to deliver their marketing, advertising and communication services to brands and other clients.

Source | Afaqs

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Foursquare Is Now Able To Narrow Down Explicitly With ‘Super-Specific Searches’

Alap Naik Desai — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:30:33 +0000

Geo-Tagging & local-check-in engine Foursquare has announced a new update that allows a very high degree of specificity within the searches.

The recommendation engine, now grown into a full-fledged location based Social Network; offers people multiple natural language searches that allow them to be very narrow & particular about their requirement. Simply titled ‘Super-Specific Searches’ “Foursquare helps you find exactly what you want, whatever that may be” announced an official Blog post.

How to use it: As always such high degree of user specific information begins with user’s contribution about a particular place of interest. While earlier the app for iOS & Android offered an option to merely check in or find ‘nearby’ places, that has been extended, by adding highly specific criteria, like ”I haven’t checked in”, “I’ve checked in before”, “my friends have checked in”, “offering specials”, “open now” and “I’ve saved”. Additionally, users can also further narrow it down based on the intended expenditure.

“When you’re looking for somewhere to eat, sometimes you know exactly what kind of place you want — cheap or fancy, sushi or Mexican, an old favorite, or a place you’ve never been,” the Foursquare team continued.

Such degree of particularity aides in enhancing the appeal of the platform, not only in locating a place of interest like hotels, museums, restaurants, etc. but more importantly, the app gets a lot of importance as a vehicle of ‘Discovery’. So far, users had been adding information about their ‘Check-ins’. Now Foursquare has started to give back the information based on the finer requirements of the searches.

Foursquare has been on an overhauling spree. Just last month it completely overhauled the User Interface for its iOS app. Such updates are indications that the platform now considers itself comprehensive enough to start intelligently recommending instead of just collating location-specific data. With ‘Super-Specific Searches’ Foursquare is hopeful of bettering its rivals like Google, Yahoo, Burrp & others. What do you think?

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Twitter Follows Apple And Dropbox, Adds Two-Step Verification For Login

Rohit Singh Jain — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:00:29 +0000

Twitter has announced that it is adding an extra security measure to users’ accounts in an effort to prevent unauthorized logins.

Twitter stated in its official blog post that in addition to the standard password, users will now have to give a secondary password to the social networking giant as well. The secondary password will be sent to the user’s mobile device as an added security measure. This implies that users will need to possess not only their regular password, but they would also be requiring the appropriate registered mobile device in order to access their Twitter account.

For people who sign up for the two-step verification service, Twitter will send a six-digit code using a text message each time they sign in to Twitter.com. Twitter will ask users for a verification code each time they log out and log back in, even if it’s from the same computer. The others internet giants that have two-step verification for their users allow you to bypass that if you are using the same computer or device regularly.

Twitter users can sign up for two-step verification under their account settings. To do this, Twitter will ask for either a confirmed email address associated with the account or a phone number that’s been verified. After a quick test to confirm that your phone can receive messages from Twitter, you’re all set to begin the process.

Interestingly, Twitter has confirmed that all apps that you have linked your Twitter account to will function normally without any disruption. For apps other than a browser that require you to log into Twitter, you’ll need a one-time password, available on Twitter’s application page. I think Twitter should also make it compuslory for verified accounts to use two-step verification.

Truth be told, two-step verification for login is nothing new; it is a common industry practice among several internet companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and even Dropbox. I believe the introduction of such a feature for Twitter users will definitely go a long way in providing an extra layer of security, especially after numerous high-profile Twitter accounts belonging to international media outlets were hacked. Besides this, Twitter has warned users to be careful about their private data and info, and keep a strong password for their account. The company explained the cause of the development as complaints from users regarding their Twitter accounts being hacked thanks to growing phishing and malware scams being circulating around the World Wide Web these days.

What’s your opinion on the introduction of two-step verification log-in by Twitter? Will you use it?

Image Courtesy | gsmnation

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Amazon’s Android App Store Is Now Available In India

Denzil — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:33:10 +0000

The Amazon App Store is finally available in India and users can download it to their Android device for free. The Amazon app store was built to service Amazon’s new Kindle Fire line which is built on top of Google’s mobile stack. Amazon also lets other users download the app store since that might get it more revenue. The good thing about the app store is the fact that you can get one premium app absolutely free of charge for one day. This happens everyday and there are many different apps that are offered for free. Today’s free app is the popular fruit slicing game, Fruit Ninja.

Installing Amazon’s app store is different from the normal apps. You need to grab the .apk file from this link in your mobile browser. When you install it you will get a prompt to check the Unknown Sources option in the setting. Once this is done, the app will be able to install onto your phone. You will need an Amazon account to use this app store. The app store runs smoothly on my phone and the apps download without any issues. When you finish and try to install any app from the Amazon app store, you will always get a prompt to install using package manager or verify it. You can set this to install via the package manager always but understand that installing apps using this method may not be safe for your phone.

Amazon has an app testing feature which has not yet come onto the Indian version of the app store. The app store also does not support cancellations and returns unlike Google which allows you to return apps within the first 15 mins of purchase. This app store is a good alternative to Google Play, however besides the premium app promotion, I see no compelling reason to use it on normal Android phones.

Story Source | Labnol

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Mobile Data Traffic Registers 92% Growth In India: Nokia Siemens Report

Rohit Singh Jain — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:42:35 +0000

According to a report by Nokia Siemens, the global network and communication infrastructure company, mobile data traffic as well as usage in India has witnessed a whopping 92% growth in both 2G and 3G networks across the country between the time period December 2011 an December 2012. The Mbit Index study by Siemens has revealed that mobile data traffic generated by 3G services increased by 196 percent while mobile data traffic generated by 2G services increased by 66 percent during the period, which I think are excellent growth figures.

The Nokia study says each 3G user currently consumes is around 300 percent more than that of an average 2G user. As per the study, a 3G user consumes about 434MB per month while a 2G user consumes 115MB per month.

The report divulged stats by six months in the time period of December 2011 and December 2012. During the time period, 3G-driven data traffic had grown by 78 percent, while data volume from 2G surged by 47 percent. The second half of the research period – between July 2012 and December 2012, traffic driven by 3G services grew by 54 percent while that 2G network increased by 18 percent. It might be noted here that the growth rate of 3G data in the second half of 2012 was almost triple that of the growth rate of 2G. In the second half, 2G data growth stabilized due to high-end 2G users migrating to 3G services.

The report has added that this could be powered by reduction in data usage tariffs by telcos by mid 2012 for 3G data consumption. The region which was impacted the most by the move of cutting down 3G data tariffs was the region in category A circles (India’s telecommunications market is divided into 22 sub-regions, also referred to as circles). 3G services generated one-third of the total mobile data in the country in the second half of the year – up from one-fourth in the first half.

“The fact that data consumption by 3G users has tripled in one year clearly shows the rapid and steady increase in mobile data consumption in India. This translates into the need for high-quality mobile broadband services with improved speed and service quality to satisfy mobile broadband users,” said Sandeep Girotra, head of India region at Nokia Siemens Networks.

Additionally, the study emphasized the strong penetration of mobile internet usage in the Category A telecom Circle(this region comprises of states Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra excluding Mumbai which is in Metro circle, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) through 3G connections and smartphones. At the same time, the report has yet again brought light towards the fact not every Indian has adopted faster mobile connections; 2G connections remain popular in Category A Circle.

Nokia Siemens Networks’ MBit Index highlights mobile data growth in India in direct comparisons with other high growth mobile data markets.

I believe this is a very important development for and a landmark for the country’s mobile and tablet-wielding population. It’s good to see great numbers on 3G and 2G connections growth in the country. Also, the country is moving towards faster mobile data connections and smartphones faster than ever before. Smartphones have already outpaced feature phones

You can download the full Nokia Siemens Networks’ MBit Index study from here.

Image Courtesy| thehindubusinessline

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PlatformPlay Announces Tie-up With NLPCaptcha

Denzil — Thu, 23 May 2013 08:31:34 +0000

PlatformPlay, Rammohan Sundaram’s new startup has announced a tie-up with the innovative CAPTCHA service called NLPCaptcha which is designed to use to the spam blocking mechanism of CAPTCHA and integrate advertising messages. The company announced that the entire sales inventory of NLPCaptcha will be moved to PlatformPlay in a phased manner.

NLPCaptcha launched in 2011 and has since since seen wide implementation across the Indian online publisher network. The boom in online advertising has ensured the presence of many brands on the CAPTCHA medium. The logic behind the NLPCaptcha seems very sound to me. Online advertising is not always effective and can be frequently annoying when it is thrust into your face. Many Internet startups have tried solving the problem of online monetization for publishers by trying to make ads (mobile, online) more relevant so that they don’t necessarily look like ads. In this case, turning the CAPTCHA into a brand message is genius because it ensures that people will read what your brand has to say. You can see the implementation below.

Agreed, that this does not take relevancy into account but I would rather have ads on the Captcha than other forms of advertising. This could definitely be a good new stream of revenue if you are a publisher who gets a lot of interaction from your readers. Adding to this to the comments section ensures that these readers see a brand’s message.

PlatformPlay taking this up goes with their mission of helping Indian brands monetize their inventory in a better. Earlier, they announced that the company would be bringing TechCrunch events to the country.

Amit Mittal, founder of NLPCaptcha explained the reason behind handing over the monetization bit of the service to PlatformPlay.

“I think that our own sales team has done a fantastic job on the field but still we do realize that we are an ad-tech company and in order to achieve the exponential growth, we should focus on our core business and handover the monetization part in the hands of the right partner. Tie-up with PlatformPlay is a strategic decision and PlatformPlay would now be driving the monetization part of the business while we continue to focus on more innovative product offerings, driving the client side relationship & understanding their needs and expanding to new geographies.”

Website | NLPCaptcha

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Reliance Games Introduces iOS Game ‘Dancing With The Stars’

Rohit Singh Jain — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:35:15 +0000

Reliance Games, an international developer and publisher of mobile games, has launched a game based on the dance-based hit reality show, Dancing with the Stars. The game is based on rhythmic movements and is available on all of Apple’s iOS devices- the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad. The game allows users to enjoy the dancing experience and includes the characters from the show-including Derek Hough, Mark Ballas, and Cheryl Burke-and develop their own revolutionary dance style in a performance.

Players can also customize their dancing outfits with the game offering over a hundred variants. The game doesn’t lack in depth in terms of other content too. More than thirty songs are available to suit the skills of different players across the globe, which include Fallin, Toxic and Respect.

The original TV reality show Dancing with the Stars showcases paired celebrities and professional dancers that compete for the famed mirror ball trophy season after season. The mobile game by Reliance Games aims to provide and let users re-live just that very dance action on the move while keeping the game to the original sense and competitive spirit.

Manish Agarwal, chief executive officer of Reliance Entertainment Digital, said, “Dancing with the Stars: On the Move mixes the glamour and high-stakes drama of the competitive show with the rhythm-based gameplay. Both new and seasoned casual gamers can play this game.” This is good as I’m sure not many first-timers would be skilled at dance moves, and the game will also offer them indirectly with a chance to learn some cool dance as well.

“It’s an amazing, immersive experience,” said Paul Joffe, VP BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games. “It puts the excitement and energy of Dancing with the Stars in your hands. Fans get the chance to enjoy firsthand the journey to becoming a champion. They can even team up with their favorite dancers from the show.”

Reliance Games, a leading publisher and developer of mass-market mobile games, is the international gaming division of Reliance Entertainment, which also comprises entities like DreamWorks, SKG, IM Global and Codemasters. The game portfolio includes more than 600 games for over 2,000 devices across various operating systems like iOS, Android, Windows, Java and Symbian. Its current roster of hit games includes Real Steel, Total Recall, and F1 2011, among others. The company’s content can be accessed worldwide through 80 networks across 40 countries as well as through global app stores. Reliance Games went on an acquisition spree lately and acquired game development studios in Japan and Korea in order to broaden its portfolio. Late last year, it rebranded gaming under Zapak.

I think this development signals towards the maturing gaming environment in India as well as the world, and points towards the spike in smartphone usage and rise in mobile internet usage.

Do give this game a spin and share your experience with us.

The game can be downloaded from iTunes.

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MakeMyTrip’s Financial Results Indicate Online Travel Preferences Of Indians

Alap Naik Desai — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:07:10 +0000

Online Travel Agency (OTA) MakeMyTrip’s (MMT) financial results have a few interesting patterns that indicate the progress of the segment & preferences of online travelers. MakeMyTrip generated gross revenue of US$ 228.8 Million in the year ended March 31, 2013, an increase of 16.4% (29.7% if currency fluctuation is not factored) over the previous year. However, the company reported 1.4% decline in its revenues less service costs, which stood at US$ 21.7 Million for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 over the year-ago period.

Air Ticketing segment to blame for the decline: Decline in revenues less service costs (a crucial metric for OTAs) can be attributed to the sharp fall in sales from its key revenue earner; Air Ticketing. This segment declined 26.3% (21.2% in constant currency) to US$ 13.14 Million. All this negatory shift clearly represents deteriorating performance in air ticketing.

How are the OTA doing?

Overall, Air Ticketing was one of the most financially lucrative avenues. Driven by wildly varying pricing structure that fluctuated not only by season or availability, but also time-duration, OTAs had a very good profit margin. By pre-empting demand, these companies routinely pre-booked tickets & hence could offer a holistic holiday package that included air fare too.

The company blamed the decline in revenue less service costs, to a fall in Net Revenue Margin (defined as revenue less service cost as a percentage of gross bookings) to 5.3% from 8.4% a year ago, mainly due to a reduction in airlines’ Base Commission. In other words, the demand has largely remained stable, but OTAs cannot earn well from the transactions as their revenue margin has been almost halved.

Is there an upside? Fortunately for MakemyTrip, it’s Hotels and packages sector is proving very successful. Despite being a relatively smaller contributor of revenues, this segment grew an astonishing 141.6%. Interestingly, this is exactly what MMT desires revealed Deep Kalra, chairman and CEO of MakeMyTrip, “As part of our long-term strategy to grow the hotels and packages business, we significantly improved our annual non-air net revenue mix to over 35 per cent”

Reducing reliance on Air Ticketing is certainly a good business tactic. This could even be a response to big OTAs like IRCTC entering the field. What do you think?

Image Courtesy | kotakcards

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Google India Makes Google Apps For Business More Affordable, Reduces Fee By 45%

Sneha Bokil-Paranjape — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:30:26 +0000

In a move to encourage small business adopt cloud technology, Google India has announced a 45 percent reduction on pricing for its Google Apps for Business. As a part of the new pricing, new and existing customers in India will now pay Rs 150 per user per month if they are on the flexible plan and Rs 1,500 per user per year on the annual plan – a 45% reduction on the previous price.

“India is home to around 47 million small businesses, yet only one per cent of these businesses are online. We hope that by making Google Apps more affordable, more small businesses in India will be able to move to the cloud and access a business-ready package of communication and collaboration tools,” said Ricky Kapur, Director of Enterprise Sales, Asia.

The Google App suite enables users to use web mail, calendars, cloud storage, and video meetings through Google’s consumer products, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, and Hangouts. These services which can be used anywhere at any time are available across mobile platforms and devices. ”With a 99.9% availability guarantee, zero scheduled downtime and 24/7 support, Google Apps, offers businesses security and support while removing the need to manage hardware, security updates or software patches. Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs and Slides now also work offline too“, Kapur added. Google hope that by making Google Apps more affordable, small businesses in India will be able to access a business-ready package of communication and collaboration tools and reap the benefits of working in the cloud.

Google has always taken up initiatives to help SMBs in the past. In march the internet behemoth launched Google Business Groups (GBGs). Programmes like India Get Your Business Online and Women Entrepreneurs on the Web are some of the other Google initiatives in India designed to help small businesses come online and use the web to succeed and grow.Earlier in March, Microsoft launched cloud-based Office 365 for businesses, enterprises, corporate users and SMEs in India.

As compared to Google, charges of the Office 365 depends upon the usage pattern and customers type. Price for consumers the office home premium costs Rs. 499 per year and for businesses the prices vary from small to large businesses, ranging from $6 per user per month to $22 per users per month.It is great to see that internet giants are launching such plans and looking out for SMBs and SME.

Image Courtesy | suredata

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Vodafone Plans Nationwide 3G Services

Alap Naik Desai — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:15:06 +0000

Vodafone India seems to be gearing up to offer a nationwide coverage of 3G internet services. Having earned well from its subscribers who use Data services, the company is contemplating collaborative techniques to offer seamless connectivity via much faster standards than prevalent EDGE & patchy 3G services.

Vodafone’s Operating Profit (adjusted) rose to Rs. 1,854 Crores (US$ 335 Million) in FY13, much higher than Rs. 503 Crores (US$ 91 Million) in the previous financial year. For the 1^st Quarter of 2013 which just ended on March 31^st, Vodafone earned Rs. 9,276 Crores (US$ 1675 Million) as revenue, which is 7.2% higher than the same quarter the previous fiscal. In all, Vodafone India’s Net Profit for the year ended March 2013 rose substantially by almost 40% to Rs. 1,010.93 Crores (US$ 182.6 Million) from Rs. 723 Crores (US$ 130.6 Million) last fiscal.

Vodafone’s India arm seems to be doing well for itself. In fact, by recent figures it has now taken the lead away from Bharti Airtel. Though the Mittal Company still holds the pole position for the highest revenue, Vodafone, along with other players like Idea have been climbing steadily. Interestingly, majority of its upswing can now be attributed to the rising usage of Mobile Internet. Hence the company is now looking seriously at exploring multiple options to ensure a pan-India 3G experience for its subscribers.

Vodafone has confirmed 3G airwaves in 11 circles and was offering nationwide high-end data services through roaming pacts with Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular. But on numerous occasions, these companies have come under the legal scanner for offering higher speed services, where it had not won spectrum through auction. Hence it has now been restrained from adding new data customers in circles where it does not own 3G bandwidth.

Vodafone may now be contemplating buying airwaves on this platform, from other mobile phone companies like Airtel & Tata, who seem to be struggling. While other companies are finding it difficult to sustain operations under the burden of Auctions & poor revenue, companies like Vodafone have clearly illuminated the path to Telecom’s progress. Will other Telecom Players now follow suit & offer better internet connectivity?

Image Courtesy | fonearena

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Nokia Brings LiveSight Support To Here Maps On Windows Phone 8

Sneha Bokil-Paranjape — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:50:37 +0000

Nokia has finally added LiveSight feature to Here Maps for Windows 8 devices. The LiveSight augmented reality feature allows you to pinpoint exactly where you are going, shows shops, restaurants and your favourite places as virtual signs on buildings right on your screen. LiveSight pulls up nearby locations and displays relevant information like the type of business or attraction, the hours, the address and phone number, and customer ratings.

“HERE uses sight navigation as a new way to discover and find your way through the world. Sometimes pins on a map are not quite enough, LiveSight uses sight to recognize and identify places around you simply, by looking around through your phone’s display“, explains Nokia in a company blog post.

The LiveSight feature that was actually shown off late last year lets you open a map, click on an icon and then get a ground-level view of what’s at that destination. Those who have used Nokia’s City Lens app will easily be able to connect to this new LiveSight recognition technology integrated to Here maps. The feature also enables users to enjoy a combination of sight recognition, accurate 3D models of the real world, and live map information. One of the coolest feature about LiveSight is that it works even when the device is offline. Finally, HERE Maps for Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia devices comes with integrated compass, which will show users which way they’re facing, enabling them to find their way around much easier.

Check out the video below:

Today, Maps have become an important feature for us modern day users. Mapping service like Google Maps and MapMyIndia are already being used by masses quite on a large scale. A recent BCG report states that Indian Geo services industry netted in $3 billion in revenue in 2011.

Nokia’s flagship phones from the Lumia Series have shown some promising sales figures but cannot withstand the tough competition from Samsung & Apple Inc. Interestingly though, in the feature phone segment, Nokia’s Asha Series has been doing reasonably well. The company’s revenues are still plunging due to a marked increase in competitors and foreign exchange volatility.

The LiveSight update can be downloaded by users from here.

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REVIEW: Google Play Music All Access App

Rohit Singh Jain — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:55:14 +0000

It’s been almost a week since Google announced their own streaming music service to compete with established services like Spotify and Pandora — Google Play Music All Access — and now that I’ve had a chance to play around with the app; I thought about sharing my experience with the app in a blog post.

Google Play Music All Access app (yeah, the name totally sucks) was launched just about a week back at the Google I/O 2013 as Google’s aim to enter into the music streaming service business, and is already being compared with Spotify, Pandora, etc. The service offers unlimited music streaming at $9.99 per month. To sweeten the deal, Google tossed in a limited-time discounted price of $7.99 per month for customers who sign up before June 30. Users who wish to try out the service before jumping on to it can also do so, with Google offering a 30-day trial for the app. The service can stream upto 320kbps on mobile devices.

All Access integrates into the same-old Google Play Music that’s been available for some time. You can still upload your music into an online locker as before, and create playlists and organise your music, but the paid All Access adds functionality similar to Spotify. It gives you the option to search 2 million cloud-based tracks, add them to playlists and share them with friends over Google+. The All Access App is currently available only for Android and Web (though the Web service hasn’t rolled out in some territories) and there’s no news about an iOS version of now.

The app has excellent user interface. The search function beats that of Spotify’s hands-down. As expected, there’ Instant Search available in the app. Additionally, All Access has a Radio feature made up of “My Stations”. Google will automatically recommend stations based on your past listening, and you can also create your own by typing in an artist, song or album. The Radio isn’t much different from Pandora or Spotify – you’ll be given tracks similar to the type of music you selected. Interestingly, you can skip around the radio with All Access. You’re not restricted to one track at a time, which I have to say is pretty nice. Google creates an endless scrolling list of tunes.

Most music streaming services have Facebook and Twitter integration, but Google has opted out of this practice and has gone in for Google+ integration. Another well-expected thing, yes. If you’d rather share a YouTube video, Google has conveniently made a “Share YouTube Video” feature available, which is actually pretty great. Of course, anyone will be able to listen.

CONCLUSION

At this juncture, I’d like to point out a few drawbacks and positives of the service. The drawbacks are that the app is a battery hog on Android, and there’s no iOS version or even a Desktop client. Internet channels practically run out of music after playing the service for an hour or so. Plus, there’s no free ad-supported version of Google Play Music All Access. The service could also use a little more social integration. The positives seem to outweigh the negatives to some extent. In my testing, I found almost every song I searched for. The set-up is dead simple and the interfaces are quite simple and easy-to-use. the 20,000 song digital locker is an added-bonus. Google recently also took other steps into the music and video industry. It launched Google Play Movies and Books as well.

So should you go for it?

I wouldn’t say yes at the moment. I’m expecting thousands of users have already spent a lot of time creating their playlists and collections on various other streaming services, so Google needs to offer something revolutionary if it hopes for users to migrate. Though I’d say there’s no harm in trying out the 30-day trial. Who knows you might actually love the service?

Have you tried the Google Music All Access service? Please share your experience with us.

You can download app here.

Image Courtesy | whathifi

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Apple Still World’s Most Valuable Brand While Google Bags Second Spot: BrandZ Study

Sneha Bokil-Paranjape — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:31:23 +0000

Apple has easily outsmarted its rival Google to become world’s most valuable brand. The iPhone, iPad and iPod maker is valued at $185 billion, as per the annual BrandZ study of the world’s top 100 brand. Although Apple topped the list once again, its brand value only increased 1% to $185 billion, which is not as impressive as the 19% increase (from $153 billion in 2011 to $183 billion in 2012) it received last year.

Google jumped back up to the second spot with a brand value of $137 billion (a 5% increase) and Samsung clocked in a 51% increase and a $21.4 billion brand value at the 30th spot.

“Despite a more competitive marketplace and other challengers nipping at its heels, Apple’s ability to maintain its No.1 position demonstrates the value that having a strong brand brings to business. People still love the brand regardless of its stock price”, Nick Cooper, managing director of Millward Brown Optimor, said in a statement.

Apple has been topping the list ever since 2011 and it has seen its value increase by a whopping 1,045 % in the last eight years.

IBM, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola rounded out the top five. Microsoft, AT&T, and China Mobile also made the top 10 brands. The big blue social network Facebook entered the top 100 at number 35 with a brand valued at $19.1 billion, while Chinese search engine Baidu rose to number 29 from 46. The total value of the top 100 brands rose by 17 percent to $2.4 trillion, as the global economy shifted to growth, according to Millward Brown Optimor.

Fortunately, if current rumors are right, Apple will be introducing a few new products to excite everyone. This could be just the thing to reignite a lot of interest in the brand.

Check out the infographic below:

Source | venturebeat

Image Courtesy| bgr

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