ET reports that Korea Telecom is the front-runner for snapping up a majority stake in Shyam Telelink which operates fixed-line and CDMA-based mobile services in Rajasthan under the Rainbow brand. Korea Telecom is one of the largest global players in the fixed-line broadband space. US-based Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and Sweden-based Telia are also said to be in the reckoning.

Shyam has a subscriber base of 2,30,000. Of this, 1,95,000 are voice and the rest are data customers. Among voice customers, only 35,000 are mobile, and the rest are fixed-line subscribers. The company plans to increase its subscriber base to 3,50,000. It recently signed a contract worth Rs 200 crore with ZTE for buying and installing equipment for 5,00,000 lines.

Shyam was the first GSM mobile service-provider to roll out services in Rajasthan. In April ’04, it sold its stake in Hexacom to Bharti. Hexacom was the largest cellular operator in Rajasthan with a subscriber base of 2,65,000. It was valued at $565 per subscriber. Its enterprise value was about Rs 1,000 crore. Bharti Hexacom now has more than 1 million subscribers. But this valuation can‘t be a benchmark for CDMA operations as average revenue per user is different for mobile and fixed-line services.

Shyam Telelink has equity of Rs 456 crore and debt of Rs 300 crore. Its revenues are above Rs 160 crore. It provides services in 123 cities of Rajasthan and has optic fibre cables of about 5,000 kms - both as backbone and access.

If the deal goes through it would be the first equity sale in the CDMA space. All the mergers and acquisitions in the telecom sector have so far been limited to the GSM space. At present, there are four private CDMA mobile service providers - Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices, Shyam Telelink and HFCL Infotel.

Exchange4Media article talks about media companies tracking viewership for their shows before the TRP data comes out by using SMS response as a metric.

ActiveMedia Technology is a provider of such mobile services to channels like Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, MTV India, Ten Sports, Janmat, Jaya TV, Total TV, Doordarshan, CNBC-TV18, Sony Television, Discovery Channel and Sab TV.

These channels have seen an amazing correlation between real time SMS response levels and TRP data published days later. In fact, they can now even predict with surprising accuracy their own TRPs as soon as a programme is aired. No need to wait for published data to tell you if you have a hit or flop in your hands.

ActiveMedia Technology, Co-founder and Executive Director, Raj Singh

“Some of the must have features of a good TRP tool include a large installed base (sample size to be accurate), representative distribution (match media distribution), record ‘real’ viewship (not just channel surfers), capture geographic/time data (support data mining insights), fast processing and collation (quickly show what’s working), and cost effective (getting market data shouldn’t cost an arm and leg).”

“Do media owners really have such a tool available today? The interactive device that’s sitting in the hands over 70 million Indians is pretty interesting. Media owners just need to get viewers to start SMSing to get it to work. SMS against our TRP tool ‘must have’ features are that 100 million Indians with posses a mobile phone by 2006. Mobile penetration is not just in top metros, its everywhere. To send an SMS a viewer must actually have watched your channel long enough to respond. The time and location (top four metros, or state) is recorded for every SMS. It is possible within seconds to see the SMS response to anything flashed on the channel. The viewer pays to send the SMS to the channel,” added Singh.

I think the response rate also depends on the question / trigger. Viewers normally realise that they are paying a premium to send such SMSes and are unlikely to be always generous in sending them. TV channels have to make it compelling for the viewers to respond by SMS by offering incentives like prizes, name on screen etc.

Like a PC connected to the internet, mobile phone is also a two-way interactive device which can be leveraged by marketers. Another similarity between the PC and mobile is that the response is instant and measurable.

Express computer has a nice article on growing security issues faced by enterprises with an increasing number of employees storing company data on mobile devices.

The article quotes a survey where it was discovered that almost 30% of users store their PINs, passwords and other critical information on their handheld devices without enabling the basic security features present on the system. Information such as customer contacts, e-mail details, passwords and bank account details, as well as that related to private matters, is getting stored in devices without much consideration to security.

As a result, a lost PDA or smartphone with no protection makes easy pickings for thieves, hackers or competitors with regard to corporate information. This could have an impact on customer confidence and damage a company’s reputation.

Few tips on mobile security for CIOs

• Create a mobile device security policy specifically for handheld devices.
• Start an awareness programme to make the new policy known within the organisation.
• All security settings should be maintained and controlled centrally.
• Deploy Enforceable Mandatory Access Control on all devices as the first line of defence.
• Purchase PDAs for employees; never allow users to connect their personal devices to the company network.
• Standardise on a few brands of devices, and support only a few mobile operating systems.
• Use Password/PIN standards.
• Consider automatic and user-transparent encryption of all data on mobile devices and removable media.
• Track and label devices; treat mobile devices like desktops and laptops, labelling them and keeping records.
• Treat wireless like the Internet. Use a VPN on top of WEP to connect to the internal network.

Another important aspect is protecting information that is being transferred from sniffing and spoofing.

The transmission of data from handheld devices to the corporate network, either using the corporate Wi-Fi network or a third-party network, should be encrypted using strong algorithms. For example, the transfer of mail in most smartphones is encrypted at the application layer between clients installed on the mobile devices and the server. Therefore, the ‘end-to-end’ security in these cases does not include encryption of e-mail beyond the server. The transfer of e-mail beyond the mail server becomes critical especially if the corporate mail server is hosted on the telecom service provider’s network. In this case, encryption at the network layer (such as IPSec) should be implemented.

ET has a speculative story on Reliance Infocomm’s plans to foray into retailing of consumer electronic products under its own brand name.

I can understand Reliance Infocomm vertically integrating and launching mobile phones under their own brand; but consumer electronics sounds incredible! But then, nobody could have foreseen Reliance Petrochemicals when Reliance was a textile company.

“We have around 250 specialised Reliance webworlds and more than 1,000 Reliance exclusive webworlds that sell and service RIM (Reliance India Mobile).

We are already getting into areas such as DTH and video-on-demand products, essentially a convergence of IT and consumer electronics. By merely scaling up our business in the sector, the business possibility would be immense,” a senior official said.

At this point of time, it is not clear if Reliance Infocomm plans to venture into manufacturing of CEs or plans to source and market the same from its outlets.

“A new affordable pricing for a high-priced product will always make a difference in any market. Reliance made a mobile handset affordable to the common man, if they can do that with new technology products like an LCD TV, an MP3 player or an iPod, that will be their cutting edge,” said KS Raman, senior CE industry consultant.

New scheme offering 2000 free calls and SMS

Rs 2,000 and 2,000 free SMSs with the purchase of any five new mobile phone models priced between Rs 2,000 for models with black and white displays and Rs 7,000 for a colour display mobile with a camera.

Sumit D Chowdhury is new Reliance Info CIO

During his tenure in BearingPoint, Mr Chowdhury has led the system integration practice for major companies, including Vodafone, British Telecom, Verizon, Singtel, Australia Post, BHP, Coles Myer, National Australia Bank, Cadbury Schweppes and GE Capital.

Times of India reports that the Bandra police arrested two persons who, under the pretext of selling mobile phones, cheated citizens by selling them soaps inside the phone cartons.

Ibrahim Shafi Khan (24) and Sarfaraz Yunus Khan (22) would stand outside Manish market at CST and sell expensive camera-phones at cheap rates.

They would brandish a phone, bargain with a customer, eventually parting with a “packed” phone. The carton would contain washing soap cut exactly to look like a mobile phone. The buyer would realise his folly only after reaching home and opening the carton.

I fail to understand why the customers didn’t open the box on the spot to check if the phones actually worked or not. If a deal is too good to be true - make sure you cover your downside well.

The Indian consumer is not paying high for mobile handsets even if the purchase is on a tax paid bill. It does not make sense to buy a handset from the grey market anymore. The little difference in price is not worth the hassle that comes free with it. There are many ways to get cheated - old phone in a new body, duplicate battery, locally-made charger etc.

Be fair to everyone - buy legitimately.

LG has set itself an ambitious growth target of 300% in 2006 by focusing on the upgrade market.

LG launched itself in the Indian market by supplying CDMA phones to Reliance Infocomm and becoming numero uno in that segment. But its share in the GSM segment is miniscule. Unlike CDMA, GSM phone manufacturers are not dependent on operators alone for their sales.

Where the GSM segment is concerned, it is aiming to increase sales of its handsets from 4,50,00 in 2005 to 1.5 million units in 2006 and take its turnover from Rs 200 crore in 2005 to Rs 600 crore in 2006. The company has set a total turnover target of Rs 9,000 crore during the same period.

“The future of GSM lies in the upgrade market,” said H S Bhatia, product group head, GSM, LG. “Of the 1.5 million phones we plan to manufacture, 4,50,000 will be camera models,” he added.

Demand for black and white handsets is shrinking. It is currently pegged at less than 50% of the market and is expected to slump to 36% in 2006. “About 15 million black and white handsets in India are set for an upgrade because of rising aspirations among Indians and also due to the fact that a coloured handsets are available for as low as Rs 3,500,” said Bhatia.

The trend now is that first-time users usually opt for a black and white set but upgrade after about a year to a coloured one. “So, at least 12 million should upgrade and we will target this segment with our camera phones,” added Bhatia.

LG only has a presence in the coloured category where its marketshare is 8%. It’s overall share in the mobile handsets market is at 4%.

Source: DNA

The much-awaited ‘OneIndia’ Scheme failed to takeoff at the last minute after the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) cited number of issues, disappointing the Union Minister of Communications Dayanidhi Maran who was keen to announce the launch on the 57th Republic day. This is the second time that the scheduled launch of the service failed after missing the initial target on January 1, 2006.

“We would require an additional time of around three to six months so that we can discuss the issues like ADC, tariff rates and interconnection with operators,” the officials said.

OneIndia is a plan for single uniform rate based on the weighted average cost involved in carriage of telephone calls, irrespective of the distance slab and without `zero dialling.’ Currently, the maximum STD rate is Rs 2.80 a minute, which incorporates the carriage cost and the ADC. The carriage cost varies between 20 paise and Rs 1.10 a minute depending on the distance of the call and 30 paise per minute as ADC. The carriage charge is the amount paid to the long distance carrier by the cellular and fixed telephone operator.

Telecom service providers have been demanding that the Government must address issues such as ADC (which private telecom companies pay to state-owned BSNL) and lowering the carriage charge further before introducing India One tariffs.

Meanwhile, Business Standard reports that Government may seek TRAI’s help to implement and sustain uniform call rates.

This is because the restructuring of carriage costs and access deficit charges, the two key barriers to implementation of the policy, can only be undertaken by the TRAI.

However, an ongoing tussle between the ministry for communications and TRAI over the last several months has resulted in the DoT shutting out the regulator from policy discussions on “OneIndia”.

According to TRAI sources, the regulator is ready to unveil the new ADC policy based on revenue share rather than a fixed amount on a per-minute basis and also put in place a new carriage charge regime, but can only do so after it gets the go-ahead from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Times Now, a 24-hour news channel from Times Group & Reuters Service, will put video news on Reliance Infocomm’s R World.

Subscribers will be required to pay 3 rupees per day to access Times Now content, or they may opt for a 25 rupees per-month subscription. Video clips will be downloadable at 7-10 rupees per download. Users with streaming-capable handsets will be able to view streaming content in real-time at a price of 15 rupees per session.

“Times Now’s association with Reliance India Mobile has created a unique solution for the urbanite,” he said. “The urbanite continues to have access to news and information while on the move, enabling mobile users to stay updated around the clock.”

Reliance has claimed high usage of its exisitng news and movie-based video clips. The video quality is not great but it might be having a audience of people without access to other entertainment media ie. semi-urban or rural markets. But contrary to that assumption, the quote above puts the urbanite as its target segment. I’m not sure about the value proposition of commodity news made available on pay-per-use to the urban user.

Chetan Sharma, who recently authored a report on the Indian wireless market for DataComm Research has similar views.

The Indian marketplace is heavily saturated with mobile phones and is known for readily adopting new technology. At the same time, it remains a cost-conscious market…

Even if the content is compelling, pricing is more important to cell phone customers, Sharma told TechNewsWorld. For Times Now, he said, “market acceptance may lag.”

Users have shown a willingness to pay for premium content in South Korea and Japan, however, the sale of content for mobile phones will be more difficult in India, Sharma explained, especially since most mobile video efforts thus far have been attempts to win market share and promote brands, rather than to bring in revenue.

The next time you get a job offer on SMS, don’t be surprised. Naukri.com is launching its mobile version in February across all telecom networks in India. Job seekers will be able to search for jobs on the mobile phone and recruiters can contact relevant candidates through SMS.

Kumar Apurva, AVP & National Head (Mobility, New Media and Ad Sales)

“With the new offerings on mobile, naukri.com will reach millions of people who don’t have access to Internet but have a mobile phone. Mobile penetration in India is much higher than Internet. What’s more exciting is that the mobile phone is always on and with the customer all the time. The database of resume and listings is set to explode with these value-added services,” says Apurva.

Naukri.com’s mobile services include:

• Free alerts from Naukri.com’s registered database
• Zapper service, through which your resume will be send to a database of 15,000 firms at a fee of Rs 100, which will be charged in the mobile bill.
• Job seekers, who want a personalised feedback on their phones, can dial a premium number at a rate of Rs 6 per minute and talk live to a naukri.com centre, where the needs of a job seeker will be taken care of.
• The consumer can register on the phone, ask for relevant job matches, and even apply on phone.
• Naukri.com will also offer a chat platform of like-minded communities (open chat platform) where you can discuss various issues.

Naukri is the leading jobs portal in India. It would interesting to track how does one of India’s few online success stories migrate to the mobile world. Will it innovate to build a useful and profitable service which touches millions of Indians, moving beyond SMS by fully leveraging the reach and capabilities of the connected multimedia mobile device. Though the article doesn’t talk about its WAP portal, I believe it is killer apps like these which can help drive adoption of mobile data services in India.

In order to decongest telecom networks, BSNL is persuading private telecom operators to jointly set up interconnect exchanges. Interconnect exchanges are dedicated exchanges to route telephone calls from one network to another.

Currently, a telephone call from one network to another is passed on directly at points of interconnection between the two networks. Once the interconnect exchanges are in place, calls can be routed through them. BSNL feels there should be one interconnect exchange in each circle.

The cost of an interconnect exchange would be between Rs 100 crore and Rs 150 crore. The proposal is still being discussed with all the operators. “Private operators have evinced interest in the concept of interconnect exchanges,” said JR Gupta, director (operations) of BSNL.

A recent study by TRAI said the main reason for poor quality of voice was internetwork congestion. In some cases, congestion level between two networks was more than 70%, implying that 70 out of 100 calls made from one network to another drop.

Meanwhile, BSNL has finalised its action plan for speeding up facilitation of interconnections to private operators.

“We have asked all the private operators to submit their business plans one year in advance,” said Mr Gupta, who has decided to hold quarterly meetings with all the operators on the issue.

“We have also directed all the chief general managers of various circles to hold meetings with various operators every quarter so that their problems can be resolved at the ground level,” Mr Gupta added.

Source: ET

ET reports that C Sivasankaran is close to buying a stake in Tata Teleservices (TTSL). It is believed that he may buy just under 10%, because he has a no-compete agreement with Maxis. Also, Singapore-based equity fund Temasek is believed to be in negotiations to pick up 9.9% in TTSL.

In all, Tata group may be willing to divest up to 26% stake to investors for about $420-430m, according to the industry sources. The enterprise valuation of TTSL (including debt) is said to be in the range of $2.7-2.8bn.

While banking sources claimed that the deal had already been signed and is likely to be announced shortly, other informed sources said that the negotiations were still on. Despite several attempts, Mr Sivasankaran could not be reached for comment.

While the Tata-Temasek talks have been public knowledge for some time now, Mr Sivasankaran is the dark horse in the deal. He had been closely involved with the Tatas’ telecom venture earlier in an advisory capacity.

Earlier, a proposal by Temasek subsidiary Singapore Technologies Telemedia to acquire a 47.7% stake in Idea Cellular, along with Telekom Malaysia, had failed to get the necessary approvals since another Temasek subsidiary, Singapore Telecom, has a significant stake in Bharti Tele-Ventures.

Also Read:
Maxis and Reddys buy out Aircel
SK Telecom ends alliance talks with Tata Tele

Nokia has struck a 5-year deal to run network operations in nine areas for Hutchison Essar Ltd.

The deal is intended to allow the operator to focus on customers and core activities, and will mean Nokia takes over network planning, operations and management, among other tasks. More than 600 Hutchison Essar staff will move to Nokia.

Hutch is moving in a direction where Airtel has set the pace. Airtel outsources building and maintenance of their networks to firms such as Ericsson in a big way.

According to a study conducted by GFK Asia Marketing Services of the distribution channels used for mobile phones from February ’05 to November ’05, mom and pop general stores and kirana stores have been giving substantial business volumes for handset makers in recent months.

Percentage of sales in units:

Specialised telecom shops = 41%
Multi-product (General stores) outlets = 30%
Consumer electronics or appliance shops = 18%
Service providers (Operator) shops = 11%

Sales from ‘multi-product’ outlets are higher also because the number of these shops is much more than, say, consumer electronics shops. In smaller towns, these ‘multi-product’ outlets are possibly the only option, since there aren’t too many outlets that specialise in mobile handsets and other electronic products. Retailers are also looking at all available opportunities to justify their overheads.

“Retailers stock products that attract the maximum footfalls. Today, the mobile phone is a fast-moving item,’’ said Kunal Ahooja, CEO, Spice.

Telecom majors have also begun servicing small outlets in a big way since they cater to a wide section of consumers.

“These multi-purpose shops, which can be a grocery shop, a telecom service provider or a paan wala are being increasingly favoured to reach consumers in smaller areas, where setting up a specialised distribution system would be a cumbersome and expensive affair,” said a Mumbai-based kirana owner. In fact, such multi-purpose kiosks are also proving to be a hugely-profitable unconventional business channel for several consumer goods makers.

As the neighbourhood music (audio/video) shop, the watch shop or the stationary shop doubles up as mobile phone shops, consumers prefer to shop from these convenient stores.

“Unless consumers are buying expensive, high-end phones, they are not too choosy about where they are buying the phone from. Consumers actually prefer the familiarity of the local store, where they probably know the shopowner well and trust the ‘gyan’ doled out by these familiar persons,’’ said a telecom analyst.

Source: ET

Business Standard article nicely covers the issues related to number portability in India.

Voices for MNP say:

* Cost per subscriber to introduce MNP in Australia is Rs 675
* Cost per subscriber to introduce MNP in Europe is Rs 900
* Cost per subscriber in India to introduce MNP is expected to be around Rs 300
* Pakistan to introduce MNP despite only 6.9% tele-density
* Netherlands to introduce MNP in spite of only 10% tele-density
* US has over 8.5 million customers who have opted for MNP
* Tariffs have not gone up in any country which have adopted MNP

Voices against MNP argue:

* In the US, only 5% phone subscribers have adopted MNP so it has got a lukewarm response
* Tele-density in India only 11%, so market has not matured
* Churn rates (changing service providers) will increase by 15%-30%
* Additional expenditure will be in the range of Rs 3,000-4,000 crore, hence tariffs to go up
* Indian mobile tariffs are the lowest in the world, hence no justification to use portability as a weapon to ensure competition.

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture presents a huge opportunity for telecom service providers, infrastructure vendors, handheld device suppliers and subscribers. Financial Express reports on the potential of the technology, since its very early days for it in India.

The IMS architecture sits at the core and the access level of a telephone network.

At the core level it is possible for telecom service providers to offer voice, data, SMS and multimedia services from a single IMS core. The multimedia subsystem network can be extended, customised and re-branded as per the service provider’s requirements to create unique differentiated service offerings.

The IMS network will be accessed by a handset which is compatible with the architecture. It can run on top of 2.5G, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networks, and is compatible with GSM, CDMA or any other SmartPhone or PDA. Companies such as Alcatel, NEC and Lucent are helping service providers deploy IMS at the core.

Openera Technologies, which has a R&D center in Bangalore, provides a Mobile IMS client across a range of mobile handsets and operating systems such as Symbian, Linux, Windows Mobile, BREW, Palm and Nucleus.

Says Jawad Ayaz, Chief Technology Officer of Openera, “Trials are being carried out around the world, and we expect that IMS-based services will soon be launched by telephone service providers across geographies.

ET does some calculations, comparing lifetime prepaid plans with postpaid plans for users with low daily usage.

The conclusion: if you don’t make too many calls, it’s worth considering a switch to the lifetime pre-paid scheme, despite the higher call rates.

Say, you make calls for about 10 minutes a day. At Rs 1.99/minute for local calls under the lifetime scheme, you would pay Rs 7,264/year on call charges.

Add, in the first year, Rs 999, plus activation charge of Rs 250 and Rs 99 as CLIP (caller identification) charge, and it comes to Rs 8,612.

But if you are on a post-paid plan where the monthly fixed charges, including CLIP and rental, come to Rs 450, your annual outgo on fixed charges alone will be Rs 5,400.

BSNL has taken private telecom equipment suppliers Ericsson and Nortel to task, saying the poor quality of their network had caused massive revenue losses in just two months.

The Principal General Manager of Calcutta Telephones, in a letter to the top management, has asked them to issue instructions to both Ericsson and Nortel to resolve all problems and hold all payments untill such time.

Ericsson is the supplier of IN (Intelligent Network), while Nortel has supplied Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) and Home Location Register (HLR) in various parts of the country.

According to PGM of Calcutta Telephones,” today the service being offered is not of commercial quality and severe interruptions are being observed frequently creating utmost dissatisfaction to our customers and churning of about 30,000 customers in last two months.”

BSNL is not in position to attract more customers and SIMs are lying unutilised in most of its counters. This type of scenario has occurred for the first time in Calcutta Telephones Division since launching of CellOne, BSNL’s mobile service.

Similar complaints have also been received from some other parts of the country like Punjab.

Due to Ericsson’s IN network the pre-paid services have been affected badly, the official said.

India is expected to be the world’s third-largest mobile market by number of users, behind China and the United States.

It is widely seen as the last big market for mobile phone growth. Less than 40% of the country’s total area is covered by mobile networks, and fewer than eight in every 100 Indians use mobiles, compared with China’s 30%.

“We’ll see about 6 million new additions a month in 2006. The mobile base should double in 2006 to 130 to 140 million.”

At the moment, 4,000 towns and up to a third of India’s more than 600,000 villages are connected by wireless services.

“By end-2006, all the 5,200 towns and 300,000 villages will be covered,” said T.V. Ramachandran, director general at the Cellular Operators’ Association of India.

But cities such as Delhi and Mumbai boast phone penetration rates of about 40%, similar to East Asian levels.

“There will be an influx of funds as global investment communities and carriers look towards increasing their shareholder value by investing in India’s growth,” said Kobita Desai, principal analyst at research firm Gartner.

“Cash-rich European carriers are likely to make their presence felt in India. We see more foreign investment in this space, and are seeing a lot of interest from the Asia-Pacific region,” Ernst & Young’s Singhal said.

To fuel growth, the government raised foreign ownership limits in telecoms service providers to 74 percent from 49 percent, sparking global interest in the fragmented market.

Source: CIOL

90% of the new subscribers enrolling for the 2-3 years and lifetime-free mobile schemes are very low-end subscribers or first-time users.

Nearly 30% of the demand comes from rural and semi-urban India. New subscribers in these areas have started looking at mobile phones as a necessity and buy very basic phones. Nokia’s basic model 1100 sells the highest in rural India. The lack of finance may be the other reason people in those areas opt for low-end mobile handsets. Low-end mobile margins are wafer thin for the handset makers, as low as 6-8%.

Further, there is nearly a 40% difference between the new subscriber numbers doled out by telecom service operators and actual mobile handset sales. The difference is apparently on account of the pre-activated schemes sold by various telecom service providers, which does not necessarily convert into a sale for telecom handset makers immediately.

These pre-activated schemes add up to the telecom service operators’ new subscription numbers at the end of every month. But, for telecom handset makers, the numbers translate into sales only when subscribers buy these pre-activated schemes.

Source: ET

Riya Photo Search, a Silicon Valley startup developing digital search technology for images, said it has received a $15 million in second round of funding from Bay Partners. The company received a $4 million initial funding in venture capital from LeapFrog and BlueRun Ventures.

Riya, which works on facial recognition technology, sorts and tags customer’s snapshot. The technology allows photos to be automatically tagged when it recognises whose photos they are. The service will be launched next month. This will help customers who want to sort their huge personal albums.

The customer first uploads his album to the Riya website which “recognises” pictures and attaches tags to the. The pictures are copied and sent back. When more pictures are uploaded they are tagged according the previous tags already available. A customer can thereafter, by going to the website, retrieve say all his wife’s pictures previously uploaded by typing the name. It also recognises texts attached to photos. This is different from Google technology whose image search uses the text typed and not facial recognition technology.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the company works with a core set of engineers and presently employs 25, nine of whom are based at the Indian R&D centre in Bangalore. The company plans to double the number of engineers at the Bangalore facility.

Related: Google eyes Riya
Source: Business Standard