February 2010

Devices LG , the largest CE firm in the country, has not been as successful in mobile phones so far – they seem to have enough plans for 2010 though. Apps/Services Even local manufacturers want to have their own ‘ application stores ’. Soon Micromax is going to rain India-centric apps. Application developers rejoice. By the way, MoMo is conducting a session on all platforms in March – do attend. An application to block unwanted calls – failure of NDNC is the seed for this. But if it is a ‘paid’ app, I wonder how many people would buy. SBI seems to be taking grand steps for mobile banking in India – partnering with Airtel & BSNL. I sincerely hope this succeeds. BSNL & India Post too have collaborated on a similar service. An insightful article on mobile banking in emerging economies from McKinsey can be seen here . As it has done in other areas like pricing, GPRS packs, free social network access etc, DoCoMo has planned for similar things with SIM based services too. Gemalto will provide these services. Operators Despite falling share prices, Bharti seems very confident about the Zain acquisition coming good – The potential of Africa and the ‘minute factory model of Bharti’ make it appealing, they say. There seems a Nigerian problem brewing for Bharti though. Datacom (Videocon) might finally launch services as an operator – Nahata has exited the business. Regulation Okay, so the 3G auctions are finally “ in progress ” right now. GSM operators have welcomed it while CDMA people want theirs too done soon. Even foreign players are allowed . Read all about it here and here . Raja has finally managed to start the 3G auctions but the ghost of 2G auctions still haunt him – with someone like Subramaniam Swamy coming in The budget seems to have not done much for the operators (for their demands ) but handset & accessory manufacturers should be happy . VAS players seemed to have some demands too – have not verified if they have been fulfilled. Ban on pre-paid mobiles in J&K has been postponed by an year . Based on the quality of verification done by the operators, further decision would be taken. MNP has been delayed by a few more weeks/months – due to some security related issues. Miscellaneous Windows Phone 7 is expected to have a ‘starter’ edition – presumably at low or negligible cost, supposedly targeting markets like India. Would be good to see low cost mobiles with a START button in it. Subscription statistics for the month of January are here . Motorola has sold off its messaging services solutions to Infinite Computer Solutions. Mobile TV is the next big playground for value added services. A struggle is doing on to define the technology to be used.