3G, spectrum allocation delayed till year end
Spectrum allocation for new mobile players and 3G has run into delays - it has been pushed back from June to year end now. Delay is again due to the spectrum not being vacated by the defence forces, which is waiting for the completion of an alternative, fiber optic network.
So, its again a wait and watch game.
via BS
JustDial takes home the local search trophy; New poll for Indian microblogging services
Its time to close the poll for local search startups and move on to the next one.
First, the results -
With 27% of the votes, JustDial seems to be the most popular startup for local search. AskLaila, OnyoMo and Guruji, each received 16% of the votes and seem to be tied at the 2nd position.
Here’s the next poll for Indian microblogging (or Indian mobile social networking, whatever you choose to call them) services -
The poll will remain active in the sidebar of this blog.
Monster India launches job search via SMS
Monster India has launched a job search ability via SMS. Just type in the position you are looking for (e.g ‘J2EE software engineer’) and send it via SMS to 53030. You’ll receive the top 3 results back via SMS.
via ET
Granted that mobile is a more widely present platform in India. Granted that Indians are heavy SMS users. But job search using SMS ? I mean come on — who in the right minds will be doing a job search via SMS ? Forgive me if I fail to see the big picture here, but does this feature make sense ? I personally find this idea somewhat dumb.
What do you think ? If you were to hire someone, would you do a job search via SMS ?
Chittr: Microblogging site for India
Chittr is a new, India based microblogging site, where you can seamlessly send and receive updates via IM, web or SMS . Once you sign up, you can set your profile, including your IM, mobile number and other details. Based on what parts of profile you have completed, you can select how you prefer to receive updates from the site - via IM, SMS or the web. This is pretty slick. So, if you have left the mobile number blank, you will not be presented with the option of receiving updates via SMS.
You can select the friends whose updates you want to follow and can also invite other friends to follow your updates. The ‘chittRbox‘ keeps track of all the friends you are following, the friends who are following your updates, the updates you have sent to the site, and updates that your friends have sent. The support for group based microblogging is in the works and the feature should be released later next week.
The site has been developed in Flex and so has very good AJAX like interactivity. While the Flex gives a great desktop like feel to the app, it also increases the initial loading time for the site. The site UI can definitely use some cosmetic surgery. However, considering that they’re still in alpha, I’m willing to ignore that for the time being. The one feature I found missing from the site is the ability to control where my messages appear. So, for instance, I may not want my updates to appear on the main page, where every user can view the update.
Uncovering info on the founders wasnt difficult, but the tipster did not want the founder details to be divulged at this time.
Google SMS beta launched in India
India has become the first Asian country where Google has launched its Google SMS beta service. Users can now get local information (read: movie timings, restaurants, hospitals etc.) via SMS. The service has been launched in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and Google has tied up with 5 operators to provide the service - Airtel, Reliance, BSNL, BPL and Aircel.
Users will be charged anywhere between 80 paise - 3 Rs. per SMS, depending on the operator.
via ET
Google Adsense for mobile advertising in India
Wonder why Google is a force to reckon with ? Because Google does two things best - (i) developing new, cool products and technology and (ii) leveraging and successfully integrating every possible channel into its advertising platform.
If you look at the acquisitions Google has made, you’ll notice that the acquisition strategy has been motivated by two sole reasons:
1) acquire new technology/innovation
OR
2) to establish a new channel to integrate into their advertising platform
Not content with its hugely popular contextual text link advertising platform, Google added two new avenues (online video and RSS syndication) to their advertising platform by acquiring YouTube and FeedBurner. Google set on a frenzy in the online advertising world (Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL all made subsequent acquisitions) by buying banner advertising network, DoubleClick.
So, it comes as no surprise that Google has announced foray into mobile advertising. Now, advertisers can place ads on mobile phones using AdWords, while mobile content providers can use Adsense to monetize content. With one of the fastest growing mobile market in the world, India is one of the 13 countries where mobile advertising will be made available by Google.
While the low GPRS usage in India is definitely a huge hurdle, an equally big obstacle is the limited number of good quality, WAP enabled content publishers in India. SMS, ringtones and such still rule in India.
What do you think ? Do you think Google’s mobile advertising plans in India will be a success ?
Mobile is 20 years old. What lies ahead ?
Mobile technology recently celebrated its 20th birthday. It was on September 7, 1987 that 15 telco firms signed an agreement to build mobile networks based on GSM. And voila - the mobile was born.
Fast forward 20 years and India is now the hottest and fastest growing mobile market in the world. With a subscriber base of 165.1 million and 15.5 million subscribers added in the first quarter this year, Gartner estimates that revenue from mobile services will increase by more than 18% each year for the next five years.
However, point to note is that this revenue growth is going to come from an expanded subscriber base. Average Revenue per User (ARPU) in the Indian mobile market is amongst the lowest in the world. With the ARPUs projected to dip even further, this revenue growth is projected from targeting the rural areas, where the mobile penetration is still about 2%.
While increasing the subscriber base will definitely be the higher priority, I feel that there needs to be some serious innovation in the mobile market. SMS, ringtones and wallpapers are now old school. Even callback ring tones are now passe. There is need to come up with the next killer app for the mobile industry. Data is touted as the bigger revenue generator - but where are the breakthrough apps to go with it ? What about GPRS statistics ? I’m yet to see any official reports / figures related to the number of GPRS users in India. A lot is expected to happen when 3G goes live. What about the innovation till 3G goes mainstream ?
Your thoughts ?
Mauj brings mobile ESPN to Indian mobile phones
Mauj announced today that they have signed a deal with ESPN to bring mobile ESPN to Indian mobile users. As part of the tie-up, Mauj will integrate the short code ‘3776′ and provide the WAP destination for mobile ESPN services. Short code will be used for sports updates and alerts while WAP will be used for rich media content. Various sports based applications are also planned.
via release
Webaroo’s SMS Gupshup goes under the knife
Webaroo’s SMS Gupshup is launching v2.0 of their group SMS service (my earlier review here). Along with major cosmetic design changes, new features include:
- Send SMS’s from the Internet to your groups
- Create and share your own SMS blog with your friends
- Social networking features like inviting friends, group management etc. can now be done via the web also
The new design is definitely quite refreshing and a stark contrast to their earlier design.
The couple of features that I’d be interested in seeing from SMS Gupshup:
1) Webaroo SMS Gupshup labels itself as a group SMS service - however, as of now, only the group creator can post messages to the group. Other members of the group can only receive messages. So, in its current form, the term ‘Group SMS’ may feel like a misnomer depending on how look at it. The ability for other users to be able to post to the group seems to be a very important feature. As an example, say I have a gang of 10 friends who I’d like to stay connected with, using SMS Gupshup. In the current scenario, I’d have to be subscribed to 9 different groups to stay abreast of what each of them is upto. On the contrary, if we could have created a single group (say Mygang) and all the members could post to the group, I’d have to subscribe to just one group.
2) Ability to import contacts - friends from existing social networks
As per company sources, they have about half a million users of the service and on an average send close to a million messages per day. There is no revenue share agreement with the operators, so Webaroo does not get any percentage cut from the operators for each SMS sent using their service. They are beefing up their advertiser relationships and hope to rope in several new advertisers.
The new version of the site goes live over the weekend.
Walt Disney comics on Indian mobiles
The Walt Disney Internet Group, a division of Walt Disney, is set to introduce Disney comic strips & full length stories for Indian mobile users. “Disney Mobics”, as they will be known, will be available on Reliance Communication for Rs 3/- per comic strip, while Airtel and Hutch users can read entire stories for Rs 50/-. The service will begin with Mickey, Winnie the Pooh and going forward, a new character will be introduced each week.
GPRS users can download content from their WAP Portal.
via BSÂ
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