Apple iPhone might be available in India soon

Reliance Retail is trying hard to launch India’s first Apple store.

No official confirmation from both sides yet but looks like talks are on.

Recently HCL and Wipro have started in their quest to bring the Iphone to India.

HCL is already a nationwide distributor for Nokia.

So its time to start saving for the iPhone

via [Fin Exp] and [TOI]

Sony Ericsson to set R&D unit for mobile phones in Chennai

After Nokia its Sony Ericsson which is going to be making handsets in this city of Chennai. The Indian mobile market is currently on a upward trend and there are so many handset brands available.

The Chennai research and development unit will be headed by Anders Grynge, who was previously based at the Sony Ericsson R&D centre in Sweden. The new facility will become part of Sony Ericsson’s global network of R&D units which currently comprises sites in China, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US and the UK.

via [Business Standard]

Press Release

New Delhi, India, 19 June 2007 – Sony Ericsson today announced that it is establishing a research and development unit for mobile phones in Chennai, India. The move follows closely on the company’s January announcement of sourcing local manufacture of phones in Chennai with EMS partners Flextronics and Foxconn; with a production target of 10 million units by 2009. Today’s announcement is part of Sony Ericsson’s global strategy to strengthen its capabilities within the world’s fastest growing telecommunications market and generate the growth required to reach a top three position in the global handset market.

Nokia 8600 Luna announced

nokia-8600-luna-1.jpgThe successor to the Nokia 8800 has finally arrived. Aimed to target the luxury phone market, the 8600 Luna has been named so after the Roman god of Moonlight. The body is made of glass and stainless steel similar to the Nokia 880 and the 8800 Sirocco.

Features

  • 2 Megapixel Camera
  • 16 Million colors QVGA Display
  • FM Radio
  • Stereo Bluetooth
  • microUSB

What’s Missing

  • Memory Card Slot
  • Wi-fi

The expected price of this handset is about Rs.40000-45000 similar to the 8800 and Sirocco (700 EUR)

Mobile Blogging Guide

Mobile Blogging – You might have heard about this term. I spoke about this topic at Mobile Blogging BlogCamp.In back in September last year.

Methods

  • WAP / XHTML
  • SMS
  • Using a 3rd party Application

Blogging using WAP / XHTML over GPRS / EDGE

In this method we will take wordpress.com for example

Login to m.wordpress.com and you would see the screen below

moblo1.jpg

Type the content of you blogpost here.

moblo2.jpg

Hit publish on your phone and this is what you will see on your PC.Do you notice that the new post is not top ?

moblo3.jpg

Blogging via SMS

This is a costly solution but there are many providers like Reliance for instance which offer blogging via SMS.

You send a SMS to a predefined  number with the post contents and it gets published to your blog.

Using a 3rd party Application

Shozu is a application which is currently free which lets you upload phones / videos to flickr or Youtube

Litefeeds is a free Mobile RSS reader which has blogging support.

MoMo Mobile Monday to kick off in Chennai on April 22nd

I take great pleasure in announcing the launch of the MoMo Chennai Chapter.

In case you are wondering what MoMo is , it stands for Mobile Monday and was founded in Helsinki , Finland in 2000.Since 2004 the enthusiasm has spread globally and in India such events take place in Bangalore Mumbai

Its basically an event where participants exchange ideas , opinions & knowledge.

If you want to be part of the event check the links below

Alternatively you can mail me varun at [nospam] fonearena.com if you would like to be a part of the event.

We need your help to make this event a big success.

Forum Nokia Open C Roadshow comes to Chennai

Great news for Mobile Developers in and around chennai.

Nokia is starting of its Open C Events in the Country.

If you are wondering what Open C is about but are interested to find out, then head to the venue.
Venue

Le Royal Meridien
1 GST Road,
St. Thomas Mount,
Chennai – 600 016,
Tamil Nadu,
India.

Date 24th April 2007, Tuesday
Time 09:00 – 17:25

Register Now

Mobile phone theft whom to blame?

Mobile phone theft whom to blame?

Mobile phone theft is on the rise in India.

A huge section of India’s working population use public transport.
IT, Call center jobs have lead to an increase in purchasing power.
Low Cost handsets have also lead to an increase in mobile phone users.

In a country of vast geographical distribution, the mobile phone has
transformed from being a luxury to a bare necessity. Cell phones have
become so common and theft also has risen dramatically over the past 2
years.

Major locations where theft occurs are railway stations, bus
stops, traffic signals, pathways Motorists who use their mobile when
driving might not only be risking their lives but also be a potential
target for the culprits. Of late there have been too many incidences of
bikers being robbed on roadways.

Insurance Cos had stopped offering Mobile Theft Insurance due to a
large number of false claims.

When you loose your mobile phone, more than anything it’s the personal
information that really matters.

Some pointers to avoid mobile theft

* Avoid using your mobile phone in heavily crowded areas
* Avoid using your mobile phone in public transport
* Avoid lending your mobile phone to strangers who might try to trick you
* Don’t talk while driving
* Avoid leaving your handset in your vehicle
* Do not leave you phone unattended in any place, even at your home

Hutchison Essar rechristens as Vodafone Essar

Vodafone Essar will be the new name of the old Hutch venture in India. This move comes after Vodafone’s acquistion of HTIL.

Asim Ghosh, Hutchison Essar’s current chief executive, will be chairman and chief executive officer.

Arun Sarin will be the Vice Chairman.

Ravi Ruia will  non-executive chairman

What will Vodafone do with Hutch ?

Hutch has changed colors since it started operations in India.

I remember seeing Hutch first in the Orange. They then changed to pink and blue.

Now after Vodafone has taken over Hutch , will Hutch move to Red synonymous with India’s other largest telecom provider Airtel.

It would be interesting to see what Vodafone does with Hutch.

hutch_dog_vodafone.jpg

Hutch India now Vodafone’s Baby

The battle’s finally over ? Atleast IBN Live says so.

The long battle amongst the Telecom biggies for the aquisition of Hutch India might be over.

Vodafone has won the bid for $19 Billion.Essar is happy about the deal and the price. Vodafone is said to have even offered Essar to become a partner firm.

Hutch is expected to announce an official statement tomorrow

via [ibnlive]

Bangalore based Motvik readying WWIGO

M.Thiyagarajan of Bangalore,India is the person behind Motvik – a startup in the mobile media space, its flagship product WWIGO (pronounced as ‘vigo’) stands for ‘Webcam Wherever I Go’.

It allows a user to transform a bluetooth enabled camera phone into a wireless webcam to be used along with a PC/Laptop. Currently in private alpha testing it would be soon made available for wider public use.”

I m going to test this app soon and post my impressions on the same here.

Wow !! Its so great to see some activity happenning in the Indian Mobile Space.

Motvik site 

Spice Mobile S1000 Windows Mobile Phone

Spice Mobile Phones which is being promoted by the Spice Telecom Group has come up with a rather interesting phone the S1000

s1000.jpg

Features

  • Windows Mobile OS
  • Touchscreen
  • 2.0 Megapixel Camera
  • Wi-fi , Bluetooth, Infrared
  • miniSD Memory Expansion

Specifications

Network GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Connectivity Wi-fi, Bluetooth ,IrDA
Memory RAM 128 MBROM 64 MB

Expansion : Mini SD (512 MB in package)

Up to 2GB

Display 240×320 pixels ,65k TFT Touch screen with Handwriting Recognition
Camera 1600×1200 pixels, flash,zoom,video recording
Tones Polyphonic,MP3
Battery Talk time : upto 5 Hours Standby : 6 Days
Messaging SMS,MMS, Email
Operating System Microsoft® Windows Mobile™ 5.0 Pocket PC Edition
Software Word, Excel, PowerPoint Viewer, Java Enabled

PriceThe handset is Priced at Rs.34999

Fring : Make free mobile VOIP Calls

Fring™ is a 3G mobile application that allows you to make free mobile calls and send instant messages (chat) to other fring users and PC based VoIP services such as Skype and Google Talk at no extra cost.
fring™ calls cost nothing extra because they utilize the 3G mobile internet connections and VoIP technologies that are already embedded in your mobile handset.

I was surprised to find that this Software works in India.The voice quality was really great for a normal GPRS connection.

Will post a video or images of our test soon.

fring™ works transparently over 3G networks while bypassing traditional mobile voice and sms text messaging services. This means that fring™ enables mobile-to-mobile calls, mobile-to-landline calls, and mobile-to-PC calls including integration into Skype and Google Talk services wherever you are.

Download

Nokia announces N76, Competion for Moto Razr ?

At CES Today , Nokia announced the N76 which is the latest entrant to the N Series family. Looks like the guys at Nokia want to give some competition for Motorola Razr. The phone is about .5mm thick weighs 115g .

nokia_n76.jpg

Features

  • 3g
  • 2 Megapixel Cam
  • microSD Memory Expansion
  • FM Radio
  • Bluetooth version 2.0
  • External Display

nokia_n76_2.jpg
Price

This one might be priced at around 500 USD which is about Rs.20000-25000 range.

Availability

Q1 2007

 More info about Nokia N76