Aircel launches external Phone Book

Aircel Cellular, one of India’s leading mobile service providers, has launched Phone Book, a unique and useful external phone book service which offers subscribers unlimited memory to store their contacts’ addresses. This service will be useful for all subscribers who have lots of addresses to store but the memory in their handsets is a limiting factor, and/or those who tend to lose their cell phones.

Aircel’s Pbook:

  • Helps customers store their number permanently and securely;
  • Addresses memory constraints and loss;
  • Use of SMS (2222) and/or Internet;
  • Cost Rs 25 per month.

Aircel subscribers can register for this service by messaging Pbook to 2222. Unlimited phone contacts can be stored in Aircel’s Phone Book. The security of individual phone books is taken care of through the individual user’s password given at the time of registering for the service. The service is available at a nominal fee of Rs 25 per month.

Airtel in $100-mn deal with IBM

Airtel -cellular telephony operator, on Thursday announced a 100-million dollar deal with software major IBM to deliver a suit of new product services and applications under a single delivery platform.

“Bharti has partnered with IBM to deliver India’s first “service delivery platform” to enable it to deliver a suit of new range of services to its over 25 million customers,” Manoj Kohli, Bharti-Airtel President, said. The cellular operator is also investing over 100 million dollars in this delivery platform, he added.

IBM, which has been managing the telecom network operations of Bharti-Airtel for a while, will develop, manage and operate the service delivery platform for Airtel.

The platform will enable Bharti to have an integrated environment that will incorporate all of Airtel’s content and application services under one platform, Kohli went on to say.

Paymate joins indian mobile payment space

paylogo.jpgPaymate is a mobile payment platform that allows users to use their mobile phones to make payments. The company recently got funding from VCs to the tune of $5 Million as reported by economic times and by mobilepundit

The VCs are none other than legendary VC Ram Shriram with his Sherpalo Ventures which funded Google in its initial days and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Paymate is founded by Ajay Adiseshann, formerly the CEO of Coruscant Tec, a mobile value added services company and Probir Roy, formerly CIO of StarTV and Co-Founder Coruscant Tec. The Company is advised by Alex Kuruvilla, the former head of MTV Networks in India.
via [mobilepundit]

Reliance India Mobile might be available on GSM also

RIM’s Anil Ambani is now eyeing the GSM Market in India. He plans to invest over Rs.1600 cr for the same.Reliance Telecom Limited, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, which operates GSM service in eight circles mainly in east and north-eastern states, has worked out expansion plans to increase coverage to about 4,300 towns from the existing 330 towns, according to sources.

RTL operates GSM services in Kolkata, West Bengal, Assam, the north-east, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh circles.

The expansion plans for Anil Ambani’s company comes in the wake of reports that the GSM-based mobile service has shown phenomenal growth in India where out of the 100 million mobile subscriber base, the GSM-based mobile user base is 80 million.

A company official confirmed the development, but declined to give further details.

Abhishek Bachchan roped in as Motorola brand ambassador

Abhishek is a stylish and sophisticated actor who appeals to all segments of the Indian society — young and old, urban and rural, fashion conscious and the intelligentsia. Addressing the gathering, actor Abhishek Bachchan said, “I am honoured to
be an ambassador for a truly global brand synonymous with quality, innovation and style. Helping India get more and more connected with Motorola phones is my mission for the next 24 months. It is amazing to see how we as a nation have adopted this technology and today it is pervading every sphere of our lives. Speaking for myself, I am a complete techno-geek and rely on these gadgets to keep myself organized. I absolutely love the Motorola products. They are really cool and stylish while offering the best applications. I am excited about making the difference, Right here! Right now!!”As Motorola’s brand ambassador, Abhishek will support marketing and branding efforts for the entire Mobile Device product range. Motorola’s brand quotient of youthful spirit, daring to be different, being bold and smart is in sync with Abhishek’s bold and daring attitude, enigmatic looks and unconventional style.

Announcing the MOTOSTAR, Mr. Allen Burnes, Corporate Vice President, High Growth Markets, Mobile Devices, Motorola Inc. said, “India is a significant and exciting market for Motorola where our relentless attention to our customers and razor sharp focus is enabling us to bring customers and consumers not only high quality products but also innovative and unique
services and brand collaborations.

via [phoneyworld]

Motorola to setup facility in Chennai

Motorola, the world’s second largest handset-maker, on Wednesday said it will spend $100 million in stages to set up a manufacturing facility near Chennai, in an attempt to boost sales in one of the world’s hottest mobile markets. “India is a vitally important market for Motorola and as a strategic manufacturing hub offers compelling value proposition and strong cost efficiencies,” Ron Garriques, executive vice-president at Motorola Inc, said in a statement.

Once its unit is up and running, Motorola would join companies like LG, Samsung, Elcoteq, XL Telecom and Nokia that have set up production facilities in the country.

All told, some 20 million handsets are expected to be produced in India this year, a figure that could go up by 50 per cent in 2007.

Motorola today signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up its facility on a 300-acre Sriperumbudur Hi-Tech Special Economic Zone, where Flextronics and Foxcon will also have their facilities. Motorola will be allotted about 70 acres of land in this SEZ.

The company plans to make an initial investment of $30 million, which it expects to upscale to $100 million in the next one year. In the first phase, it will set up a facility over 2.5 lakh sq ft, which will manufacture mobile handsets, including sub-$30 mobile phones, and support production and assembly of network base stations for products across Motorola’s Network and Enterprise portfolio. It will also manufacture set-top boxes.

Addressing a press conference, Stu Reed, executive vice-president (integrated supply chain), Motorola Inc, said the manufacture of products like sub-$30 mobile handsets would go well with the government’s plan to offer rural connectivity.

He added that the plant would initially focus on serving the domestic market and later look at exporting products to neighbouring countries, West Asia and Africa.

The manufacturing facility is expected to be operational in early 2007 and will have a capacity to manufacture one million handsets per month. It is likely to employ about 3,000 people in the initial phase and the total employment is expected to go up to 7,000 in the second phase.

In addition to the company’s investment, it will facilitate its supplier to move into the park. Motorola’s manufacturing initiative will supplement its six R&D centres in India.

via [rediff]

Indian M-learning pioneer Wizdom.In to host seminar this sunday in chennai

wizdom_logo.jpgTo demonstrate the power and potential of m-learning, a seminar is being held at Gandhinagar Club, 4th Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai-20 at 3.30pm on Sunday June 11, 2006.

Besides students preparing for GRE , students preparing for CAT, GMAT, SAT and other aptitude tests for campus interviews, progressive parents and educationists would also find this seminar immensely valuable.

A live demonstration of m-learning will follow.

Register now to confirm your participation. The number of seats is limited.

To find out more about m-learning logon to http://www.wizdom.in

Nokia to bundle Google talk on internet tablet

Nokia, the world’s top mobile phone maker, will unveil on Tuesday a new version of its Internet tablet device that runs Google Talk communications software, sources familiar with the plans said on Friday.

The pact between the Finnish company and Web search leader Google Inc. would offer consumers the ability to chat with other users of instant messaging software via the Nokia Wi-Fi device, which relies on short-range wireless networks.

The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, introduced last year, offers wireless access to digital music and video playing on a high-contrast color screen, as well as to check e-mail, surf the Web and read computer documents or play video games.

At a press conference to be held in Stockholm on Tuesday, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia will introduce a new version of the Internet Tablet with upgraded software and hardware elements, one source said.

In contrast to phones, the Nokia 770 relies on unregulated local wireless connections rather than cell phone networks.

Google Talk, which allows users to chat via text or to talk with other instant message users, will be one of the featured applications on the Nokia Internet Tablet, a second source confirmed.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.

The deal with Nokia marks the Mountain View, California-based Google’s latest move beyond computers and into the mobile communications market.

Earlier this year it announced a plan with Nokia’s biggest rival, Motorola Inc. to feature Google search software on Motorola phones.

Google rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are also pushing to have their services featured on handsets. Yahoo is offered on several Nokia phone models.

Now upload videos from mobile phone to YouTube

you_tube_logo.gif

Popular video sharing site YouTube today launched some mobile features. Videos taken on mobile phones can now be directly uploaded to YouTube. To get started you need to register for a regular account and then set up a mobile profile. You’ll be given a special email address (something@mms.youtube.com) to send your videos to.

Since the uploads are handled via MMS, meta data is at a minimum. Part of setting up the mobile profile is to set a default title and description for a video. Once back at a computer you can better describe the content and update the video listing.

YouTube does not charge anything for the service, but standard MMS fees apply (check with carrier).

via [ mobiletracker]

Nokia 5500 sport – smartphone announced

nokia_5500.jpgToday Nokia announced a sporty mobile phone – Nokia 5500 sport. The name of the model is 5500 Sport and is targetted at sportsmen and women.

Nokia 5500 Sport is not just an ordinary phone. It’s a full-featured smartphone with Symbian OS and S60 user interface. It is equipped with Bluetooth, Infrared port, USB support, GPRS class 10, EDGE class 10, as well as a microSD card slot that would support cards with capacities of up to 1GB. MP3 player and FM radio will please the music lovers.

The phone offers an elegant design with a splash and dust resistant stainless steel body and rubber grips. It’s water and dust resistant and has dimensions of 107x45x18 with a total weight of 103 gr. It has a square 262K colors display with a resolution of 208×208 pixels along with a 2 megapixel camera which would take pictures of up to 1600×1200 pixels resolution and record video of up to 176×144 pixels resolution.

Nokia 5500 Sport is not an ordinary smartphone, either. It has three working modes which are easily interchanged with a single press of a button – the normal phone mode along with the special music mode and sport mode. The handset features exclusive sports features such as pedometer for monitoring the distance traveled and the calories burnt, as well as a text-to-speech module which will read you the status of your workout or the contents of your incoming messages during workout. According to the official statements, the triband (GSM 900/1800/1900MHz) Nokia 5500 Sport will be available somewhere in the summer this year and will be sold at around 300EUR.

Continue reading “Nokia 5500 sport – smartphone announced”

World’s thinnest phone from Samsung

samsung_X820_1.jpgSamsung has announced thier new SGH-X820 Ultra Slim Phone. Its the world?s thinnest at a mere 6.9mm, same as the iPod Nano.Slim phones need not mean slim features.The X820 is a bar type phone with a 2 megapixel camera, camcorder, MP3 player, Bluetooth connectivity, file viewer and TV out. The slim phone will be released in Europe including Russia in this week and China in June.No clue on the pricing guys. Might be a but pricey we feel.

New N-Series From Nokia – N72 N73 and N93

nokia_n73_n93_1.jpgNokia officially announced three new N-Series mobiles – Nokia N93, Nokia N73, and Nokia N72. N93 will feature a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics with an astonishing 3x optical zoom. N73 will also boast a 3.2 megapixel Carl Zeiss optics camera. Both phones will have 2.4″ high definition displays. N72 will have a 2 megapixel camera and a 2.1″ display.

The first of the new mobiles and the technologically most advanced is the Nokia N93. We published some pre-release photos of N93 five months ago. N93 is successor of the popular N90 and it has a lot of improvements over its predecessor. It is based on Symbian S60 3rd Edition software and one of the most attractive features is the Carl Zeiss optics digital camera offering 3X OPTICAL zoom. The phone has 50MB internal memory, as well as a hot-swap MiniSD card slot. Among the highly advertised features of the phone will most surely be its camcorder capabilities which allow it to capture DVD-like quality videos into the MPEG4 format with 30 frames per second. Those features are backed up by digital video stabilization, 20x digital zoom, autofocus and macro mode. It will have a 262K QVGA display (N90 has higher resolution display) with wide viewing angles and will support 802.11b/g WLAN, 3G (WCDMA 2100 MHz), EDGE and GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz) networks. Unfortunately, the N93 will most probably suffer the same criticism as N90 did for its large size and weight. What remains to be seen is whether the phone will also miss the vibration feature as N90 did, which would be a great disappointment to all Nokia fans.

Continue reading “New N-Series From Nokia – N72 N73 and N93”

Malaysian Khazanah might get Idea Cellular Stake

Malaysian interest in Indian telecom does not seem to be ending. After the Maxis – Aircel and Telekom Malaysia – Spice deals, there are reports that Malaysia?s state investment firm – Khazanah Nasional Bhd is in talks to buy a one-third stake in Idea Cellular.

Khazanah might take up a 33% stake conglomerate Aditya Birla was selling in Idea, Malaysia?s Edge weekly said.The Aditya Birla group has recently doubled its stake in Idea to 98% by buying out the Tatas. Birla has stated that it wants to cut its holding to 65%, but not through a sale to another mobile operator. Khazanah would be a good bet for Birla as it is a financial investor with government links.What is interesting to note here is that Telekom Malaysia, which recently bought a 49% stake in Spice, is controlled by Khazanah. Therefore, Idea and Spice will have a common investor in Khazanah if the deal goes through. Whether this leads to the merger of Idea and Spice is anybody?s guess.

Source: Money Control via [Mobile Pundit]

Sony Ericsson launches W700 and Z525

sonToday Sony Ericsson announced two new mobile phones, the W700 and Z525.
The W700 which is the 8th addition to the Walkman series, strongly reminds of the W800 model. The tri-band phone has a 1.8″ 256K colors display with 176 x 220 pixels resolution. The main difference between the new device and the W800 seems to be the smaller Memory Stick PRO Duo card that comes in the box. In this case, it’s a 256 MB one, as in the W800 box it’s 512 MB. Otherwise, the phone has a 2 megapixel camera with LED flash, but without autofocus. W700 has GPRS Class 10 support and has Bluetooth, USB and Infrared connectivity. Stereo earphones are supplied in the original package. Sony Ericsson W700 will come in Titanium Gold color as for some markets there will be a Smooth White version. It will be available in Q2 2006.

The Z525 clamshell is aimed at the US market and succeeds the Z520 model even in design. Unlike its predecessor, it will have Push-to-Talk support. The new device will have a 80 x 101 pixels resolution external display with 4K colors. The internal display will be a 1.8″ 65K colors one with 128 x 160 pixels resolution. The internal memory remains the same as in Z520 – 16 MB. The phone still has a VGA camera, MP3 & AAC support and caller ID associated light effects. The connectivity features of the quad-band Z525 are Bluetooth, USB and Infrared. Sony Ericsson Z525 will be available in New Blue around Q2 2006.