“You are more likely to MMS a photo in Asia if you are an Indian, male, aged 25 to 36 and on a post-paid contract,” says an international survey on mobile user habits conducted by SmartTrust, a mobile device management firm.
Here are some more interesting results from the survey:
About 37% subscribers on post-paid contract are likely to MMS photos, while only 27% on pre-paid connection will do the same.
Nearly 50% of the Indians store photographs on their phone, while 20% store it on their computers. A total of 30% send it via MMS, while around 17% use the computer to distribute photos.
Indian users are also most likely to print their photos than any other Asian market covered in the survey.
While almost 99% of the Indian consumers use SMS, only 13% have ever made use of picture multimedia messaging and only 11% have used music player on cellphones, it adds.
The survey notes that the use of value added services is still low in India. Only 13% of users have made a GPRS connection ever. Even fewer, 7% had made a WAP connection. However, this is in line with the low penetration of GPRS/WAP-enabled devices in the region.
Familiarity of the Indian audience with MMS and its prevalent usage of exchanging photos is good news for companies planning to launch Moblogs services here.
Also Read:
- The new picture of personal space
- Moblogs in India
- More on Moblogs
Department of Telecom has issued a notice to Hutch alleging violation of the National Numbering Plan of 2003 through one of its plans.
It has come to notice of licensor that Hutch is providing a value added service ‘TalkOn’ where the subscribers are required to prefix a ‘# X ‘ (Hash and X) before a called number to avail the said service.
Use of any such keys is against the NNP and is treated as a violation of the license conditions, the National Numbering Plan 2003 stated.
Earlier Bharti was also issued a similar notice for its tariff plan 2-in-1.
- Foxcon plans $1 bn investment in India
It produces mobile phones on behalf of clients like Nokia and Motorola.
- Maran against BSNL/MTNL network sharing
Rules out the possibility of unbundling of the local loop.
- Texas Instruments upbeat on the Indian market
Currently employs 1200+ engineers in India, working in VLSI design and embedded software.
- Bharti Tele gets shareholder nod for FII limit
Approval to increase the limits of FII investment in paid up capital of the company.
- O2 launches WLAN enabled Xda Atom in India
Priced at Rs 38,888, runs on Windows Mobile 5.0
Samsung is planning to set up a $15 million mobile handset manufacturing facility in Haryana. The company’s president Ki Tae Lee disclosed this to CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is currently on a visit to Seoul.
UK based interactive digital broadcaster Cellcast has set up its Indian subsidiary, Cellcast Interactive India, headed by Pankaj Thakar.
The newly established subsidiary will help Cellcast address the rising demand for interactive entertainment in India. The company’s programmes and technology platform will enable broadcast partners to capture new revenue streams that are independent of subscription income and advertising, and build new audiences among the highly sought-after youth demographic.
In March this year, Cellcast launched a 24 hour interactive channel called Play TV on the Zee Network in partnership with the Essel Group. Since Play TV’s launch, premium rate SMS traffic is said to have doubled month on month.
“Cellcast is one of the few companies with an end-to-end interactive television solution, combining state of the art technology with compelling programming within a proven business model. With experience drawn from several continents, our expertise, programme portfolio, applications and technology platform deliver a distinct advantage to our broadcast and telecom partners in this rapidly expanding sector,” he added.
Source: IndianTelevision.com
Article in Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day on mobile games based on Hindi films. Over the past two years more than 50 films have been converted into mobile games. Filmmakers have begun to realise that mobile games not only provide an additional publicity medium but can also be used to bring in extra revenue.
On average, a movie game sells 7,000 to 10,000 copies with more popular movies like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun even going up to 25,000 downloads. In fact the Sholay game, which kicked off the Bollywood-mobile gaming frenzy has over 50,000 downloads so far.
Rajat Barjatya whose legendary Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Maine Pyar Kiya have been converted into Bollywood games by Mauj adds, “Gaming is a different form of income. In fact the entire telecom industry has become a significant revenue source…
He adds, “For us it also serves as a brand extension. A game is more interactive than most other channels. Our movies are social stories; they aren’t action-packed films so our games are relatively elementary.
Rajiv Hiranandani from Mobile2Win, who made the popular Sholay game along with over 15 other popular Bollywood titles — Lakshya, Dev, Murder, Bach Ke Rehna Re Baba etc. adds,
The products can also be promoted in other countries with a substantial Indian population. The producers don’t lose anything either. We don’t pay them a licensing fee, but we bear the brunt of the cost of the game and the profit is shared on a 50-50 basis.”
Licensing rules, though, vary from company to company. Mobile2Win, by principle, doesn’t get into any licensing tie-ups because the company believes that the profit share is a good incentive for the producer, though companies like India Games and Dhruva pay producers a fee just to get permission to make the game - which again is an additional form of income for the producer.
Sandip Bhargav, COO from Sahara One Motion Pictures, whose most recent release Home Delivery is going to be converted into a game, says,
Over 80 per cent of our telecom revenue comes from ringtone downloads right now. Games barely make between two to eight per cent, but that number is sure to grow. Internationally that number is much higher. In the long-term, this will be a substantial revenue form.”
Also Read: Mobile Gaming Market
- ZQM Software to launch mobile games to increase AIDS awareness
The games will be available free to Reliance Infocomm subscribers on World AIDS Day.
- Spice to offer radio, TV in mobiles at the lowest price
Spice Telecom currently sells 30,000 handsets a month.
- BSNL embarks on strategy to boost revenues from global GSM roamers
Tweaking its networks in areas frequented by foreigners including airports, hotels, etc.
- Cricinfo partners with Dhruva Interactive
Will launch cricket applications on mobiles during the Indo-Pak series in January.
- Swedish King visits mobile gaming company Dhruva Interactive
King’s delegation is in India on a Royal Technology Mission.
- BPL unveils full value offer on MOTS prepaid
Additional talktime without deduction of recharge fee and service tax.
Spain’s Telefonica Moviles is exploring investment opportunities in India. Telefonica’s CFO, Ernesto Lopez Mozo, is coming to India on Saturday to initiate exploratory process.
Mozo is scheduled to meet the top brass at Reliance Infocomm, a company which like Telefonica is banking on data becoming a revenue generator in future, a source said…
He has also lined up meetings with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) for telecommunication opportunities in the proposed Mahamumbai special economic zone being set up by the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance group across the harbour in New Mumbai.
Telefonica recently bought UK cellco O2 for $31.6bn. It is the sixth largest operator in the world in terms of market capitalization and 55% of its customers come from the Latin American region.
Source: Business Standard
Video ringtones, priced around Rs 20-30, are currently available only on Symbian Series 60 phones.
Roughly 20 per cent of mobile phone users form the category of early adapters and this largely comprises of the youth. Music is the main staple when it comes to applications like ringtones and the market is registering a three-digit growth. Amongst the value-added services in India that are estimated to be around $125 million constituting 20 per cent of revenues of mobile operators, ringtones form the largest segment.
Lets hear it from the players in the Videotones business.
Bibhu Kumar, VP Marketing, IMImobile, a value added services provider:
The market response suggests that polytones are being considered outdated amongst the early adapters while true tones and videotones will be the new big trend in coming days,”
Arun Gupta, COO of Mauj, a leading mobile content aggregator:
“Over the next four years we expect close to 60 per cent of the new 100 million handsets that get added in India will be high end and support video ringtones and with faster wireless networks, we expect video ringtones to form as high as 50-70 per cent of the ringtone category,”
India is expected to add more than 100 million users by 2007. And the growth is expected to come from semi-urban / rural markets where the demand for higher end phones may not be much. Therefore, the above quoted 60% figure given by Arun Gupta seems to be optimistic and presumably includes upgrades from existing users. The current market share of popular Series 60 phones like Nokia 6600 and their growth rates would give some indication.
According to Gupta, on handsets where consumers have a choice between video ringtones and poly, as high as 30% of the consumers already prefer video ringtones.
And which are the tones that are selling like hot cakes?
“The video categories which are moving fastest are Bollywood and international pop albums,” says Kumar while according to Gupta it is the original animations with original non-film based music that is doing well.
Source: Economic Times
IDEA Cellular has announced that it has deployed Nokia’s content delivery platform, Intelligent Content Delivery System (ICD), on mobile networks across India.
The Nokia ICD solution enhances IDEA’s mobile packet core network capabilities and enables it to connect both prepaid and post-paid subscribers to data services and charge them according to the value of traffic and content. This makes IDEA India’s first and only operator to charge differentially for data services, thereby increasing its revenue streams.
This is the first deployment of the Nokia ICD solution in India.
The Nokia ICD solution is a network based centralized service and content control system, which enables operators to analyze, charge and manage services in a flexible manner. The Nokia ICD solution helps the operator provide highly segmented services for different subscriber groups, providing advanced tools for service and subscription profiling and management, as well as for charging and access differentiation. All services can be charged either offline as postpaid or online from the user’s prepaid account.
Via: ContentSutra
The concerned agency for Coruscant Tec has written in to clarify the contents of this story which I had blogged on MobilePundit.
Coruscant has not entered into any agreement with India Book House or Amar Chitra Katha. We wish to make clear that the agreement is between Coruscant Tec, Mr Anant Pai (in his personal capacity) and Lalit Media. India Book House does not back / support this venture in any way.
Welcome to the latest P of marketing: the mobile phone!
With the handset being all-pervasive in the lives of consumers, it has become the most personal medium for communication for marketers today. The ubiquitous mobile means serious business in the marketplace!
According to a research commisioned by Enpocket, which offers integrated mobile entertainment and marketing services:
SMS, ringtones and downloading of screensavers and wallpapers are amongst the highest in the Indian market, when compared to the UK and the US. Even with respect to premium SMS, India tops the list, in terms of usage.
A closer look at the survey results shows that, with respect to availability of functions, 98 per cent of the Indian sample base used sms, compared to 93 per cent in UK and 75 per cent in the US.
Jeremy Wright, Co-founder, Enpocket was in India recently as they are partnering with Bangalore based Mediaturf, to look into opportunities in the mobile space and integrate that with Mediaturf’s internet advertising business.
There are many richer forms of mobile, which make it an even more exciting medium; its personal since it is always carried. The best marketing usually takes advantage of the personal nature of this medium and the way in which people can connect anytime anywhere with it. The change in the marketplace is that with 3G (which is coming here shortly), video, MMS (which is the richer messaging format), WAP and JAVA; all these technologies mean that, besides being ubiquitous, the mobile is becoming a very rich channel for communication. This means it changes from being just a connection medium for brands to a medium through which they can create brand experiences.”
And as Wright points out, it is a medium through which marketers can develop CRM or a series of communications with customers, that can both improve the customer relationship and drive up sales.
“The opportunity for up selling and cross selling, once data capture has been established and the consumer has given permission for communication to be delivered, is one that is unmatched in any other channel,” he adds.
Blogger Jayesh’s Boolet points on various Airtel ads:
I have always admired Airtel’s advertising campaigns. Their idea of creating a signature ringtone with A R Rehman was brilliant; and they still continue to use that tone. In a masterstroke they elevated the brand without having to talk of talk time , rates etc. Then came the almost magical ‘Express Yourself ‘ campaign stunningly executed with excellent imagery and creativity. It showcased the ubiquitous utility of the mobile phone through the situations ( a fighting couple, a bride entering church, an irate mob) but converted a rational purchase decision to an extension of one’s voice. And from that Bharti’s market share has kept increasing to being the biggest mobile service provider. Yes they did make the obvious and easy mistake of celebrities endorsements through SRK, Kareena (aargh) and definitely Sachin. (wonder why marketers sell their brains to hang out with these stars). Now they are back on track to scrape the bottom of the market.
And this is funny:
Although I dont understand the tagline ‘insaan phone leta hai baat karne ko’. Tell me do dogs buy phones ? Maybe the popular Hutch kutta ad has confused people.
Tagit mobile image recognition technology consists of a system of visual tags with digitized codes which can be attached to any physical space, advertised product or media channel, enabling anyone with a camera-phone to make an immediate connection for “pulling” information or making a purchase. Trials of the technology are scheduled to commence in India this month on Nokia camera phones.
How does Tagit work?
Starts with one snap of the camera-phone by which a user captures the “tagged” image. The Tagit application software (downloaded on a camera phone) then sends the image to the Tagit server for decoding. Once the tag is decoded it can connect to meta data associated to the tag, thus enabling the user to obtain information about the product or service in both text and visual form. The receiver can share the information – such as photo images, songs, video clips, games or texts in any language — with family and friends, passing it on either to their mobile phones or to their internet email address. The user may decide to make a purchase through the transaction feature in Tagit, which will connect the user directly to the e-commerce site of the business.
ValueFirst’s barcode service provides companies the ability to send encoded seven digit numbers in a barcode picture message, readable by standard barcode readers. Along with the barcode a 120 character text message can be sent giving description of the offer in the barcode.
Mr. Vijay Shukla, Country Head, ValueFirst messaging, said, “the service is likely to have a high acceptance among organized retailers, multiplexes, and other sales-led companies. Marketers can now design various contests, promotions, invitations for events around this service”.
Some of the interesting applications of mobile barcode are to send encoded discount offers to the customers which get revealed to them once they visit the point of sale, sending invitations and tickets to events/ concerts to the enlisted members.
- Tata Indicom ‘Walky’ receives International award
Awarded the ‘Best Service in Emerging Markets Award’ at the World Communication Awards in London.
- Book Indian Airlines domestic tickets on RIM’s R World
Collect ticket from the airport or IA office by producing the PNR and photo identification.
- Mobile Technology developments in Rural India
Field studies of the first installations of custom wireless technologies in India.
- ActiveMedia Technology to power Janmat’s interactive services
Channel’s services will be available on SMS short code 3636.
- ITS row costs BSNL, MTNL Rs 2,124 cr
Dispute between Indian Telecom Service officers and DoT over getting absorbed into the PSUs.
Cambridge University Press (CUP) has announced that it is planning to introduce a dictionary on mobile phones in India. They are planning to tie-up with a operator to provide the dictionary.
CUP had tied up with a Chinese telecom company last year to provide Cambridge Learners Dictionary in China.
Speaking after opening the CUP’s centre housing three departments - the CUP, Cambridge International Examinations and Cambridge English for speakers of other languages, he said it will serve as an institution that provides better service for the academic and language purpose of the people.
A dictionary on mobile would be useful to have. It could do good numbers if they price it right and the interface is intuitive. Here’s an idea for CUP - add audio pronounciation to the mobile dictionary. They could also extend their product line by offering English language micro lessons on mobiles. Such a product would be a hit in the semi-urban and rural markets of India.
Vodafone has made its intentions clear that it is looking to increase its stake in Bharti.
The Vodafone group has recieved government approval for its proposal to acquire up to 49% stake in Bharti Enterprises Ltd. The approval is an enabling permission to help Vodafone avoid going back to the government repeatedly.
When contacted, senior executives said Bharti Enterprises Ltd will remain the single largest shareholder in Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, its telecom services arm.
“Vodafone can increase its holdings if any of our foreign partners are willing to sell their shares. ,” an executive said.
Bharti Enterprises holds around 46% in Bharti Tele-Ventures, with SingTel holding 31% and Vodafone 10%. The total foreign investment in Bharti Tele-Ventures is estimated at close to 66%.
Complying with a directive from telecom regulator TRAI, AirTel has refunded Rs 32.73 crore it levied from subscribers for migrating to revised tariff plans.
The operator had collected a one-time migration fee ranging from Rs 50-200 totalling Rs 35.49 crore from existing subscribers for switching to revised plans with lower charges. Charging such a fee is a violation of the provisions of Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999.
The fee was charged consequent to the revision of pre-paid and post-paid tariffs by Airtel in August 2004 in circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab, HP, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), MP, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kolkata, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, AP, Karnataka and Rajasthan.
Nokia has bagged a Rs 635 crore ($141 million) network expansion deal from BSNL, to increase the PSU’s network coverage in J&K, Haryana, Uttaranchal, UP, HP and Rajasthan.
This expansion is an extension of a $284 million GSM/EDGE and GPRS contract signed by Nokia and BSNL in 2004. Nokia will provide equipment for GSM/EDGE and GPRS network, including core and radio network equipment and other services.
In August, Nokia had announced a $125 million managed services and GSM/EDGE network expansion deal with Bharti.
