Mobility issue sept

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mobility monthly magazine September 2014 issue 04 volume 11

www.mobilityindia.com

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Beyond Technology, Beyond Lifestyle

ACCESSORIES MARKET

ON UP SWING

Arvind Bali, Director & CEO, Videocon Telecom

"We have also chalked out our plans to enter into the m-commerce univese" 12

Vineet Taneja, CEO, Micromax Informatics Ltd.

"We believe in Democratization of technology" 13

Mr. Sandeep Aurora, Director, Marketing, Intel South Asia

Our aim is to enable as many choices as we can...

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Manu Jain, Head, India Operation, Xiaomi

We are here to stay

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Editor

:

Swapan Roy

Chief Editor

:

Manoj Jha

Associate Editor (Tech,) :

Jayanta Ghosh

Asst. Editor

:

E.J. Jawahardatham

:

Anit Kumar

Finance

:

Sandip Sarkar

Marketing & Sales Marketing Manager

:

Tridip Dey

Marketing Executives

:

Sujit Goswami

Design Desk Art Director Acct. & Finance

Pratap Biswas S. Dutt Raj Kumar Circulation Manager

:

P. Biswas

Production

:

Ashish Ghosh

System Manager

:

Ashok Kumar Paul

Roy Mediative A-23, 1st Floor, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi-110020 (INDIA) Mob: 09810380882, 09811346846 Ph: 91-11-41602841, 65683896, 40536384-87 Redg.Off.: 38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).

Branch Office: Mumbai: E-mail: roy@ mobilityindia.com Kolkata: 105/12B, Dum Dum Road, Sil Colony, Kolkata-74 Contact: 09330922965; 09903392620 E-mail : roy@ mobilityindia.com Orissa: Krushna Nagar, 5th Lane, Lalji Palli, Berhampur760008 (Orissa) (India) Contact : Raj Kumar-09338410809 Email : info@mobilityindia.com ncn_reporter@yahoo.com Mobility monthly News Paper, Printed, Published & Owned

by Swapan Roy at 38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).

Printed at Pushpak Printer, C-96, Okhla Industrial Area-I, New Delhi-20. Retail selling price of News Paper Rs. 20/-. Annual subscription Rs. 240. : edit@mobilityindia.com roy@ mobilityindia.com Marketing : tridip@mobilityindia.com marketing@mobilityindia.com Info

: info@mobilityindia.com

Subscribe : subscription@ mobilityindia.com

www.mobilityindia.com 4

Mobility News 8-9 Latest industry news

Mobility Launchpad 10-11 Latest mobile launches of the month

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Mobility Personality "We have also chalked out 12 our plans to enter into the m-commerce univese" Mobility Interaction 13 "We believe in Democratization of technology"

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Ajay Biswas

H.O.: Delhi / Editorial Office

Editor

Content

mobility September 2014

Mobility Review 14-17 Alcatel One Touch Idoll X+ STK groovez SMC 970 Lapcare Smart 3G Wi-Fi router Elecom Zeroshock camera lense case Mobility Interaction 19 Mr. Sandeep Aurora, Director, Marketing, Intel South Asia

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Mobility Interview 20 Manu Jain, Head, India Operation, Xiaomi Mobility Cover Story 22-29 Accessories Market on Up Swing

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Mobility Consumer Alert 30 "Use your mobile phone safely & wisely 20

Mobility Channel Focus 31 Mr. Rajesh Mahajan, MD, PP Telecell Mobility Tech Focus 32 Peter Bolesza, VP, Eastern Europe, Emerging Markets NNG LLC

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Mobility Trend Setter 34-35 Android One

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Mobility Smart Apps 36-37 10 Mobile Apps Mobility Interaction 38 Tony Navin, Sr. VP, Electronics & Home, Snapdeal

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Editor’S Choice

NIKON D750 The successor to the popular Nikon D700, D750 is

smallest and lightest FX-

format (full-frame) digital SLR camera. The D750 has a built-in Wi-Fi, tilting monitor, 24.3 megapixels, 91K-pixel RGB sensor, and high-speed continuous shooting rate of approximately 6.5 frames per second for both FX- and DX-format, all fitted into a slim and durable body.

Its powerful FX-format (full-frame) CMOS sensor and EXPEED 4 image-processing engine are packed into a monocoque structure framed by carbon-fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFT) and magnesium alloy to provide nimble durability while producing beautiful, balanced shots.

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Accessories market is growing faster than phone market The cell phone boom has become uncontrollable, but along with it, so has the accessories market. From vanity to utility, the accessories market has become the gift that keeps giving for vendors in the business.

With elevating popularity for smartphones and other mobile devices in the country, there is also increasing demand for mobile accessories. Mobile device adoption amongst youth population in the country and continual decline of prices of mobile phones are the impetus to the growth of mobile accessory market in India. Online retailing also plays a big part. It offers the convenience of cash-ondelivery payment option and cheaper offers.

Mobile accessories are also considered a style statement today and brands are focusing on making them trendy and attractive. While different colored accessories add to the variety we see in the market, blacks and whites are preferred over variety. Given the

nature of mobile accessories, bundling is an attractive option for manufacturers.

With the increased use of mobile apps , new opportunities lie for hardware accessories that complement the mobile device. Mobile accessories can now provide smart solutions that were not available before: location tracking, sensors and monitoring devices are put together to allow smarter management systems for homes, transportation, fitness and health care.

Swapan Roy roymobility@gmail.com

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Ixia helps Mobile Operators Accelerate NFV Migrations

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xia announced that its award-winning IxLoad test solution now runs as a virtualized system to help mobile operators maximize the success of strategic NFV deployments. Ixia enables mobile operators to determine what to virtualize, how to go about it, and how to measure success by showing which cloud-based functions match the performance achieved by existing physical devices.

With mobile usage, user expectations and competitive threats all on the rise, the risks to operators’ brands and bottom line are too great to leave NFV deployments to chance. IxLoad emulates the behavior of mobile subscribers and virtualized network functions (VNFs) to allow operators to speed the introduction of compelling new services with proven quality and performance. Delivering both traditional and newly virtualized test capabilities, IxLoad delivers the high scale and realistic traffic loads needed to validate critical elements of virtualized wireless network performance, quality and elasticity.

Through and beyond deployment, Ixia’s visibility architecture and Phantom virtualized monitoring Taps (vTaps) address new performance and security challenges created by migration.

Product highlights While mobile operators agree on the need and vision for NFV, many struggle to fully understand the practical migration steps, quantify the benefits and measure success. By offering the extended IxLoad solution with virtual network function features, Ixia enables mobile operators to accelerate NFV within their networks to speed new service introduction, increase network and service agility, simplify network management and optimization and improve the economics of service delivery.

eading mobile game developer and publisher, Nazara Technologies, announced that it has signed a multi-movie deal with Fox Star Studios to develop games based on upcoming movies as well as the prominent movies listed in their catalogue. This deal provides Nazara Technologies with exclusive rights to build games for Fox Star Studios across digital platforms such as mobile, online and DTH. The first few games that Nazara Technologies will be building are for upcoming movies such as Finding Fanny, Bang Bang and Bombay Velvet -all three hailed as some of the biggest and most awaited films in Bollywood.

The games will be available across all prominent app stores and will be accessible to audiences across the globe. Users will be able to download the games free of cost, with revenues being generated through conventional monetisation models such as advertising, game embeds and in app purchases among others.

As per a recent FICCI-KPMG report, the gaming industry in India is estimated at about INR 19.2 billion in 2013 and growing at a CAGR of 16 per cent to touch INR 40.6 billion by the end of 2018. Industry estimates suggest that nearly 20 percent of gaming currently consumed is based on Bollywood content. As an early entrant into the space of Bollywood gaming, Nazara Technologies has developed multiple successful games in the

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icrosoft unveiled a first look of the new MSN in India. Designed from the ground up for a mobile, cloud first world, the new MSN combines premium content from the world’s leading media outlets with personal productivity

Additional benefits include: • Optimizing virtual networks with a repeatable, large-scale validation approach that accurately mirrors real-world environments to helps ensure network resiliency and performance.

• Scaling to simulate millions of subscribers in order to assess Quality of Service (QoS) and policy control with the highest load-test capacity (hundreds of gigabits of fully stateful traffic).

• Assigning critical Quality of Experience (QoE) metrics for voice, video, web and data applications.

Actionable measurements including throughput, capacity, packet loss, latency, jitter, handovers, connection rates, and MOS scores for voice/video quality.

Nazara technologies Signs A Multi-Movie Deal With Fox Star Studios

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Microsoft Unveils First Look of New MSN in India

past around movies such as Gulab Gang and Shaadi Ke Side Effects to name a few.

Nitish Mittersain, CEO, Nazara Technologies said, "This partnership with Fox Star Studios is an

important milestone for Nazara. Fox Star Studios has emerged as a name synonymous with quality Bollywood movies and with core content being central to the success of a game, this partnership promises to create unique gaming experiences for users. Since Bollywood transcends across geographies and age groups, these games will promise a universal appeal to audiences not just in India but across the globe.

Shikha Kapur, Chief Marketing Officer of Fox Star Studios, says, "The importance of gaming in marketing of movies cannot be understated, especially given the explosive growth that mobile gaming is witnessing in India. Games based on Bollywood movies enjoy a high brand recall as the audiences associate with the movie stars and this in turn allows us to engage our audiences as a build up to the release of the movie and beyond.

We are confident that with Nazara we will be able to create high quality gaming experiences for our audience."

tools that help you do more. Built around the insight that the knowledge and information that enriches your life should be accessible regardless of where you are or what device you are using, the new experience is available on the web and will soon be available across all major device platforms, including Windows, iOS and Android.

Microsoft is inviting people to try out the new web experience at http://preview.msn.com/ en-in.

The new MSN focuses on the primary digital daily habits in people’s lives, helping them complete tasks on the web and across all of their devices, roaming data and personalized settings to keep users in the know wherever they are.

Most Popular and Complete Content

MSN is partnering with some of the world’s best and most authoritative sources, including The New York Times in the U.S., Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun in Japan, The Guardian and the Telegraph in the U.K., Le Figaro and Le Monde in France, and Lance and Estadão in Brazil, and many more.

“Microsoft has re-written MSN from the ground up for a mobile-first, cloud first world. The new MSN brings together the world’s best media sources along with data and services to enable users to do more.” said Sanjay Trehan, Head, MSN India, Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. “Microsoft has partnered with top local content partners from India for the new MSN, including Hindustan Times, NDTV, India Today, Indian Express and Network 18.” Spanning multiple sections including sports, news, health & fitness, money, travel and video, the new MSN provides a global perspective from thousands of publishers across the world. Information ranges from the latest statistics on over 200 global sports leagues, reviews of over 1.5 million bottles of wine, to over 300,000 gorgeously photographed recipes and more. MSN’s expert editors are able to draw from the over 1,000 sources to hand-curate content for individual markets and cultures.

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Jabra Appoints Kapil Manchanda as Managing Director for India Operations Jabra, a GN Netcom company, appoints Kapil Manchanda as the Managing Director for India region.

Kapil is a known Industry veteran in Domestic and Global ICT sector. He held key positions in organization like SONUS Network, Cisco Systems and Juniper Inc. where he was instrumental in growing business across multiple domains. He will be based in Delhi and will be responsible for driving growth in this key market for Jabra innovative product lines.”

tata Docomo Launches ‘SimplySwap’

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ata Docomo, the unified telecom brand of Tata Teleservices Ltd., announced the launch of ‘SimplySwap’ an industry’s first mobile handset protection service exclusively for its post pay customers in Hyderabad.

SimplySwap is an unique service exclusive to existing and new Tata Docomo post pay customers which entitles those who subscribe to swap their handset with a ‘like for like’ mobile handset for any or no reason whatsoever by paying a nominal fee!!

And the handset is swapped and door delivered to the customer within 48-72 hours of making the request.

As per Tata Docomo SimplySwap service, a

customer who signs up within 90 days of buying a new handset; once enrolled, can simply call 040-66066141 requesting a new swap device of same brand/model. Moreover, a Tata Docomo customer can swap his handset twice during the course of a year! All swapped mobile handsets will carry a fresh warranty of six months, irrespective of how old the original device was. SimplySwap service charge consists of two elements; one is a monthly fee which is included in the customer’s regular bill and a second fee when the exchange is completed. These charges vary according to the type of device and start from a monthly fee as low as Rs 89/ with a corresponding swap fee of Rs 400/-. For complete details on the charges, subscribers can consult their nearest Tata Docomo store or simply call 040-66066141. www.mobilityindia.com

Spice & Flipkart Join hands to Launch Flagship Products

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pice Retail Limited, India’s leading mobile internet company, has joined hands with Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce marketplace, wherein select Flagship smartphones from Spice will be made exclusively available on the e-commerce major’s portal for launch. Some of the Flagship products will be available starting mid-September and Flipkart is looking forward to selling 100,000 smartphones in the initial few days.

Spice has identified key products that it intends to launch through Flipkart and is looking at an exclusive online store on Flipkart’s portal. This will include a dedicated store on flipkart for Spice products that will allow its customers to choose from a variety of offerings.

Spice aims to capture 10% market share of the overall online sales for smartphones. Flipkart has established itself as the leading e-commerce platform in the Indian market and enjoys major share of Mobile Category sales amongst all e-commerce portals and treats Spice as an invaluable global player & partner. Both, Spice and Flipkart, through this association hope to give the customers a varied choice of products with best in class experience and after sales service.

BenQ retains No.1 Position in Indian Projector Market

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enQ is once again rated as the No.1 player in the Indian Projector Market with 25 % market share in Q2 FY14 as per a report released by world’s top rated specialist research and consulting firm Futuresource Consulting. BenQ has grown its market share by 5 % in comparison to last year’s market share of 20% in Q2 2014.

The projector category remains crowded with 15 brands accounting for 95% of all sales made. In such a cluttered market BenQ has increased 35% in projector volume YoY for Q2, 2014 and BenQ has increased its stretch its lead over its rival where in the second placed brand has 10% lower market share than BenQ. As per the report the India digital projector market has almost remained flat.

Futuresource Consulting covers market research in areas including Consumer Electronics, Entertainment Content & Delivery, Education Technology, Print & Imaging & Professional Display Technologies is widely acknowledged as one of the industry standards. vBenQ’s revenue grew by more than 30 percent in 2013 as compared to 2012 mainly driven by the growing trend of adopting larger screen size projectors for business and education purpose. In the education vertical BenQ enjoys a market share of more than 50% in the projector category.

As per the estimated by Futuresource Consulting globally projector market has grown at a staggering 17% in volume YoY in Q2, to two million units to hit a $2.4 billion mark this quarter. While the APAC market registered a growth of 10% YoY in volume, to 827,000 units valued at $933 million.

Rajeev Singh, Country Head and General Manager, BenQ India said, “We are by far the biggest brand in the projector space in India. This achievements puts BenQ forward as one of the most accepted brands in the projector industry. With strong focus on education vertical we will continue to innovate with our short throw and interactive projector solutions in India. I would like to extend my heartiest congratulation to all our valued customers, channel partners & team who have contributed to the growth of the company in the market.” Commenting on the growth strategy Singh added, “We will continue to focus on Enterprise, Education and Home segments in 2014-15. For the enterprise segment we are planning to launch a new range of wireless projectors to offer high functionality and ease of use. For the home entertainment we are bringing range of wireless Full HD projector which can convert your living room into a cinema in a jiffy.”

Kings XI Punjab rings up htC

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n the build up to the Champions League T20 2014, Kings XI Punjab today announced HTC Mobiles as an official sponsor occupying the right chest position on the Kings XI Punjab playing jersey.

The sixth edition of the Champions League is scheduled to start on September 13, 2014 and will go on till October 4, 2014.

“We are happy to have partnered with Kings XI Punjab, a team known for its positive attitude and enthusiasm. Cricket is a widely followed game in India and youth has great interest in the sport. Therefore, we are hopeful and quite positive that with this association we will be able to further strengthen connect with the existing audience and expand our customer base too. We would like to wish Kings XI Punjab all the best for the upcoming season and are sure that they will perform exceedingly well” said, Faisal Siddiqui, Vice President and Country head, HTC India. mobility September 2014

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Micromax Launches Canvas Nitro In its pursuit of democratizing technology by offering innovative solutions, Micromax Informatics Limited, announced the launch of Canvas Nitro A310 in India. The new smartphone offers the perfect blend of sleek looks, powerful performance and innovative user interface with a host of inbuilt apps to offer a superior mobile experience. Delivering a combination of great aesthetics and superior features, the Canvas Nitro is power-packed with a 1.7 GHz Tru octa-core processor promising seamless multi-tasking and an improved application performance. Equipped with a 5-inch HD IPS display, the phone offers a dynamic contrast and color vibrancy with an immersive graphic quality. Running on the latest Android 4.4 KitKat, users get access to a number of features including voice search, Google Drive, Hangouts for video calls, smart contact prioritization, etc. Available in mystic blue and pristine white colors with a premium leather finish back, Canvas Nitro comes with innovative software features like QuickLook, Smart Alerts, All-in-one camera widget and customized gestures. To reach out to the Internet savvy youth across India, Canvas Nitro is exclusively available on www.snapdeal.com for Rs. 12,990/- since September 08, 2014.

Moto G, Moto X and Moto 360 Smart Watches Launched in India Motorola has unveiled the new Moto G and Moto X. The new Moto G is priced at Rs 12,999 and will be available exclusively on Flipkart which is 1000 less than its predecessor. Moto X will be available later this month. Motorola Moto G sports a 5-inch HD (720x1020p) display with Corning Gorilla Glass.

The phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat. It features an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front-camera. It has a 2070 mAh battery. Powered by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quadcore processor and 1GB RAM, the dualSIM phone comes with 16 GB internal storage and a microSD card slot. The phone is 10.99 mm thick and weighs 149 gram. It comes with water-resistant nano coating. In terms of connectivity, the phone supports 3G, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. The phone features two front stereo speakers. Meanwhile, the Motorola Moto X sports a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920p) AMOLED display. It features a curved metal frame and powered by a 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quadcore processor and 2 GB RAM, the phone comes with 16 GB internal storage.

Samsung Launched Galaxy S5 Mini Samsung Electronics announced the launch of its new smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini.

The much awaited device offers the flagship experience of its predecessor, the Galaxy S5, in a compact design. With a host of innovative features like water & dust resistance, ultra power saving mode and heart rate monitoring, the Galaxy S5 Mini delivers a powerful performance that truly enhances your lives. Galaxy S5 Mini comes with an 11.3 cm (4.5) HD Super AMOLED screen. Powered by a Quad Core 1.4 GHz processor along with 1.5 GB RAM and 16 GB ROM, S5 Mini delivers a turbo-charged experience. A microSD card slot also stands ready to add up to another 64 GB, should you need more memory space. Galaxy S5 Mini also comes equipped with an 8MP rear-facing camera and a 2.1MP front camera that allows you to capture everyday events and turn them into special moments. Equipped with Android 4.4 Kit Kat OS and Samsung’s TouchWiz UX, the Galaxy S5 Mini offers a variety of innovative features that will enrich your life. With the built-in heart rate monitor and full compatibility with Samsung’s wearable devices, the S5 Mini allows you to track your health and fitness regimen on a daily basis. The Galaxy S5 Mini will be available in India from September 10, 2014 at a best buy price of INR 26,499 on www.flipkart.com. Available in 4 trendy colors - charcoal Black, shimmery white, electric blue and copper gold.

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ASUS Unveiled New Additions to the Zenbook, EeeBook and MeMO Pad Families Derek Yu unveiled a full range of innovative new products designed to empower mobile lifestyles, including Zenbook UX305, the world’s thinnest 13.3-inch QHD+ laptop; the chic, compact and colorful EeeBook X205; and MeMO Pad 7 (ME572C), the latest and most stylish addition to the highly-successful MeMO Pad

family of Android tablets. Yu concluded with the announcement of the ProSieben Entertainment Pad, an exclusive 8-inch tablet based on MeMO Pad 8, which is being launched in Germany in partnership with ProSieben and Intel.

The beautifully-crafted all-aluminum Zenbook UX305 Ultrabook is the world’s slimmest 13.3-inch QHD+ laptop, measuring just 12.3 mm thin. Its subtle and refined shape incorporates the DNA of the classic Zenbook, featuring an elegantlytapered wedge design that has smooth and comfortable edges with diamond-cut metallic highlights. EeeBook X205 is an affordable, chic and compact 11.6-inch laptop that weighs less than 1kg and is designed for on-the-go students and young professionals. Powered by Windows 8.1 with Bing — for maximum application compatibility — EeeBook X205 offers users a convenient smartphone-like experience, thanks to its use of Connected Standby technology.

Connected Standby enables almost-instant resume from sleep mode and gives users an enhanced internet experience, as they are always connected to all their social apps and email — even when X205 is in standby mode. Available in four distinctive colors — black, white, gold and red — EeeBook X205 is designed with smooth curves and tactile surfaces to make it the ideal take-anywhere laptop.

With a design inspired by stylish clutch bags and wallets, MeMO Pad 7 (ME572C) is not only a thin and light 7-inch Android tablet powered by an Intel Atom 64-bit quad-core processor, but also an everyday fashion essential. Thanks to its narrow bezel, ME572C is just 8.3mm thin and weighs only 269g, making it supremely comfortable to hold in one hand.

The crisp and vibrant Full HD IPS display has a pixel density of 323 pixels per inch and wide 178degree viewing angles, plus ASUS TruVivid and ASUS Splendid technology for enhanced clarity, brightness and accurate color reproduction.

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Sony Launched New Range of 4K TVs Matching crisp, beautiful visuals with big, powerful sound, Sony brings cinematic content to the small screen with its latest range of BRAVIA 4K completing every home owner’s viewing experience. Making its debut from July 2014 onwards, the three new series of 4KTVs will astound with its improved picture and audio quality, while featuring a bevy of new features will appeal to the discerning consumer. Offering a brightness range up to two times brighter than a conventional LED TV, X-tended Dynamic Range technology is a brand new technology which achieves a much higher dynamic range of brightness, with higher peaks and deeper blacks through the use of its unique backlighting algorithm that further enhances picture quality.

Users will also be treated to a wide gamut of

Wickedleak Unveils Wammy Note 3 Wickedleak has introduced Wammy Note 3 Octacore Smartphone in the Indian market. Priced at Rs 12,990, it boasts of features like MTK6592 Processor coupled with Mali 450 GPU and AquaProtect Technology. Talking about its striking features, Wammy Note 3 can deliver ultrafast performance with Mediatek’s 1.7 GHz Tru Octacore Processor coupled with 2 GB RAM. Moreover, there is good news for game aficionados. The phone is equipped with Mali 450 GPU which can handle all the high end games users want to play. Besides, the device is a blessing in terms of video watching experience as it comes with a Full HD Display having a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. In addition, Wammy Note 3 comes with Dual SIM (3G+2G) and Android 4.4 which ensures flexibility in terms of communication and provides great surfing experience as well. Another remarkable feature of the device which would appeal to selfie lovers is that it comes with a 13 Megapixel Full HD rear camera with LED Flash with a BSI sensor and a 5 Megapixel front selfie camera. The camera is equipped with features like Motion Capture and Voice Capture, i.e. user can give a voice command to click a picture or just wave his hand over the screen to click.

Furthermore, the screen can reproduce real life crisp images thanks to its class-leading pixel density of 480dpi. User can also use gesture controls to change songs, browse gallery, answer calls and click pictures. Moreover, Wammy Note 3 also has S View Window support with the magnetic flip case which comes complimentary in the box. The S View Window feature allows you to operate the camera, music player and also answer calls without opening the flip cover. It also has USB OTG (on the go) support.

Priced at Rs 12,990, Wammy Note 3 is available from September 1, 2014 exclusively on www.Wickedleak. org. An AquaProtect version can be ordered at Rs 1,500 extra.

Spice Unveils Spice Fire One – Mi FX1 colours on screen with Sony's proprietary backlit TRILUMINOS display that produces a wider palette of colour than any conventional TV, giving the viewers a richer, more authentic and subtle tones. TRILUMINOS display also delivers hard-toproduce reds, blues and greens, giving a far more detail and depth to enjoy more vivid and true-tolife colour. All six of the new 4K models offered

by Sony will incorporate the powerful picture processing engine, 4K X-Reality PRO, which uses a combination of unique up-scaling and super resolution technology from Sony to offer any content in beautiful and stunning 4K resolution.

For native 4K contents, 4K X-Reality PRO enhances picture quality using its 4K-to-4K pattern database.

This improves sharpness and crispness of original 4K images, boosting its contrast and enriching the colours on screen. For HD contents, instead of just increasing pixel count, 4K X-Reality PRO uses a content adaptive database for up-scaling.

Depending on the contents loaded on the TV, 4K X-Reality PRO picks a suitable upscaling algorithm to make sure every pixel is optimised for a near 4K experience.

Spice Retail Limited unveiled its first Firefox OS powered smartphone, the Spice Fire One Mi – FX 1. With an aggressive price of Rs 2,229. Spice Fire One is purely targeted at the nearly 85-90 percent of the feature phone users wanting to switch to smartphones. The device is aimed at the masses that are looking for a larger than life phone statement but are deterred due to price sensitivity. Adding to the appeal and offering a wider choice, the Spice Fire One smartphone will be available in three colours – Orange, White and Black. The device supports Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil & Bangla and comes along with a Free Silicon pouch. This Firefox OS smartphone is powered completely by Web technologies and offers all that the users need - calls, messaging, email, camera and more. The 2G Dual SIMenabled Spice Fire One targeted at the masses is well equipped with a 1 GHz processor, 2.5 G connectivity, 8.89 cm HVGA capacitive touch screen and 1.3 MP primary camera + 0.3 MP front camera. It packs a strong 1400 mAh battery that lasts more than 6 hours.

On the storage front, it has a memory slot that can be expanded up to 4 GB. This device also comes preloaded with great social networking and instant messaging apps just to connect with your friends and family like Facebook, Twitter and Connect A2. Spice’s partnership with Aircel has resulted in more benefits to the users in the form of 1GB Free Data per month for a period of 3 months. With an MOP of Rs 2,299 Spice Fire One Mi – FX 1 will be available exclusively on Snapdeal.com for a short period of time and will then be made available through major retail stores, Spice HotSpot stores and www. saholic.com.

Samsung Announces Smart Learning Samsung Electronics announced the launch of Samsung Smart Learning, India’s first education store under its MSC (Media Solutions Center) division. Samsung Smart Learning is an innovative education solution designed to offer the best-in–class interactive study material to students. The solutions will supplement the educational needs of over 70 million students studying in classes 1st to 12th for CBSE board and another 4.5 million students who are preparing for competitive examinations. The solutions will be augmented to include other school boards, higher education and skill building content in due course. Samsung Smart Learning will be available on all Samsung tablets and will empower students to complement classroom learning. It is the only digital platform currently in the country that integrates high quality education content curated from leading education partners and academicians. Smart Learning is a part of software services leadership strategy of Samsung that aims to make best-in-class content easily accessible to all consumers in the country. www.mobilityindia.com

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“We have also chalked out our plans to enter into the m-commerce universe ” Speaking to Mobility India, Arvind Bali, Director & CEO, Videocon Telecom, shared his ideas, plans and ambitions for Indian mobile and telecom market for the coming years How it all started for you in Videocon?

We are a part of the Videocon Group, one of the largest and best known business houses in India, having diversified business lines. Through its businesses, the Videocon Group has established one of the widest consumer electronics retail networks in India with over 25 years of brand equity. As a part of the 25000 Cr Videocon Group, we ventured into the telecom business in 2010 acquiring PAN India license and started phased roll-out. By Apr 2011, we had 8 operational circles including Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, MP, HP and Punjab. We achieved a milestone of 21% Incremental Revenue Market share in Q3, 2010-11. However, the telecom Industry went through a regulatory setback with the 2G scam. Despite having received a clean chit from CBI, our telecom licenses were cancelled vide Supreme Court order dated 1st February 2012, except for the Punjab Circle.

We then made a strategic comeback in the telecom sector after successfully bidding for 6 circles in early 2013. These circles are Haryana, Gujarat, MP, UP(E), UP(W) and Bihar (Punjab circle was already operational). The objective in mind was to cover the Hindi speaking belt of the country covering 47% of the total population. This Hindi belt accounts for 31% of the total Revenue Market Share of the industry and 39% of the total Customer Market Share of the industry. We resumed our operations in early 2013 in 3 out of the 6 new licenses acquired. Videocon Telecom is currently operational in 4 circles, namely, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and MP with a clear plan to launch the rest of the three circles, UP(E), UP(W) and Bihar in the coming financial year.

What are your plans and ambitions for Indian mobile and telecom market for coming years?

Our immediate plan is to roll out services in the remaining 3 circles, i.e. UP(E), UP(W) and Bihar within 1 year. Further, we plan to become the first telecom company to roll out 4G LTE FDD services on the 1800 MHz spectrum in the country. Our ambition is to ensure fair customer market share and revenue market share in our operating circles within the next 2 years and to become EBITDA positive within next 1 year and hold the distinction of being the fastest EBITDA positive telecom company.

And of course, we have the ambition to become a pan-India again. Videocon Telecom had been a pan-India player in the past and aspires to become one once again, but in a phased manner.

Right now, we will have a strategic presence in

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seven circles, which is the Hindi-speaking belt of the country. Once we successfully roll out all these circles, we shall definitely look at acquiring spectrum for new circles, however, in a phased manner, by picking select circles in one go and eventually expanding, forming a corridor.

How are you looking at this competitive market in India?

With 7 to 10 telecom companies competing in the Arvind Bali, Director & CEO, market place, there sure is fierce Videocon Telecom competition with everybody trying to grab the biggest pie in Data will be the next BIG thing in the mobile the share of New Adds. Beyond market …world is gearing up for the upcoming the first time users, the market primarily is a 4G revolution and India is not far behind. The churn market with the deal seekers taking device ecosystem is fast developing and which advantage of the low MOPs, tariffs and freebees would give the Indian telecoms a good head advantage to avail new connections and hop start. India telecom market is untapped when it from one brand to other. The incumbents had comes to data and holds huge potential. the first mover advantage and have acquired a substantial subscriber base, primarily the stable Do you think the new govt policies and high usage category, which leaves new will help the players in this players like us to struggle with the deal seekers. segment?

However, there is a room for everybody in Yes, of course, we are very optimistic with the the market place. Our strategy is to go through new govt coming in and we are confident that the price warrior route and offer the best value the telecom industry will see some very profor money tariffs to our customers to ensure business policies. acquisition and engagement. The way I see is, telecom business is a minute (time) factory and What are your plans for your owing to our production background, we are product portfolio? Which segment very cost-conscious, which gives us an edge are you focusing on? over others. Our expertise on cost control and Our primary focus would be on the non-voice the latest network allow us to produce minutes front including data, M2M and M-commerce, while at a much lower cost compared to users. We voice products would continue to be a hygiene have demonstrated that we are able to pass factor.

We believe data and MVAS will outpace on this benefit to customers in the form of the traditional revenue streams – a trend enabled comparatively lower prices. Our tariffs are much by the rapid growth expected in smart/feature better than competition and we would continue phones and Internet penetration. Revenues from to offer 20-25% better value than others. data, especially new generation MVAS would be Further, I feel that data will be the next the key growth driver in years to come. significant growth driver for the industry and first We have also chalked out our plans to enter mover advantage here too will be instrumental. into the m-commerce universe which would help While we missed the bus when it came to us in offering specialized services such as mobile taking the first mover advantage on basic voice, banking, portfolio tracker, transaction portals we would ensure that we take the first mover and semi-closed wallet. Our target segments are advantage on data front with the rollout of next primarily youth, HNI, SME and of course first time gen 4G LTE FDD services in the country on the users. We have recently transformed our brand popular 1800 MHz spectrum for the service. identity and created a new, versatile, friendly According to you what will be the and dynamic brand logo to connect with our next big thing that will happen target segments. We have launched a unique in the mobile market in the near youth connect initiative, ‘Young Manch.’ This initiative enables youth to discover and showcase future and how India is ready for their talents and prepares them to meet future that? challenges and tap opportunities. www.mobilityindia.com

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“We believe in Democratization of technology” What we work and try to bring is democratization of technology. Our aim is to make technology available in more and more people. And our motivation has been driven by what we have been listening from our consumers and they really drive our business to bring new products that live up to what consumers have been expecting.

What is your take on flash sales? Do you believe in that and want to plan something similar?

Some brands say ‘our products sold out in 2 seconds or 5 seconds.’ We believe in nothing of that sort; we believe that when we are launching a device, we should be able to satisfy our consumers’ desires.

That is what happened with us. After we launched Micromax Unite, we sold over one million phones in about 100 days. If we calculate, we sold one phone every 4 seconds. Such rapid sales rate happens when you get the innovation right; when you deliver value to the consumers. Not just the price but the product consumers want is the most important thing. We are very proud of Micromax Unite which gave us lot of business in the last 3 to 4 months.

tell us more about Divide No More campaign?

This is the philosophy of Democratization of Technology, which means the latest technology is not only for a privileged few but for masses. So we are focused on introducing products and models that assure that the latest technology can be accessed by majority of the population.

What are your plans for Micromax globally?

We are present in Bangladesh, Nepal and we also launched our products in Russia, so our devices business is globally at an "inflection point" and we want to take Micromax to Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa soon.

Last year, Micromax roped in Hollywood star Hugh Jackman as its brand ambassador to improve and expand its brand presence outside the India and the emerging markets.

Some surveys suggested that you have come close to overtaking Samsung market share in India.

What’s your take on this?

We are not afraid of technology and keep satisfying and fulfilling the needs of our Indian and emerging market consumers with the latest technology at best prices, and if that makes us market leaders, we will take it. India is a very large market and there is an opportunity in every price band in the market, and we provide products in every prize range. Feature phone markets are already started to decline. Cheap and low quality products are flooding the market, but such things only create mess in the market. For example, the tablet market has seen such instances where lots of people launched cheap tablets and then the experience is not good and that did not do good for the tablet market segment.

As you already have a good traditional supply channel, why are you launching Canvas Nitro A310 exclusively on Snapdeal.com?

We have of course a range of products that are available outside Sanpdeal. We are launching Canvas Nitro A310 via Sanpdeal because there is a lot of consumer demand online. First we want to fulfill that demand and then may go through our traditional channel market.

Vineet Taneja, CEO, Micromax Informatics Ltd. www.mobilityindia.com

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Alcatel One touch Idol X+ A much improved version of its predecessor

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lcatel recently released OneTouch Idol X+, which goes for the same price a year later as its predecessor OneTouch Idol X. The Idol X+ upgrades on the weakest spot of the Idol X, boasting the “true octa-core” MediaTek processor, instead of the wimpy quad-core that we had last year, but the other main specs, like the 5” 1080p panel, remained unchanged. Last year's OneTouch Idol X by Alcatel managed to stand out with its excellent value-for-money proposition, as it offered a crisp 5” 1080p display, 13 MP camera and dual SIM abilities for a third less than flagships with similar specs. The Idol X+ ships with JBL headset in the box, and claims to have an enhanced audio output quality, which it calls “Hi-Fi”.

Look and Feel: The Idol X+ flaunts a comparatively thin and light body that is easier to hold with one hand than other 5-inchers. Its glossy back feels a bit slippery to hold, again compared to the softtouch plastic of its predecessor. But the Idol X+ inherits the metallic alloy frame around the side.

That rim wraps the phone around the sides, interrupted only with slim cutouts for the ports and buttons. Both the lock key up at top and the volume rocker on the right, however, are easy to feel and press. The sides also house two card slots - in our dual SIM version they are both for the carrier micro SIM cards, whereas with the single SIM variant you get a SIM slot and a microSD one. With the phone's promise for a “Hi-Fi” sound come JBL-branded in-ear headphones, and a dual speaker set grills at the bottom. All n all the Idol X+ has got a premium finish.

Performance: Alcatel One Touch X+ has added a customized user interface to this phone which isn't that heavy.

The user interface isn’t the most intrusive or the heaviest skin out there as it does preserve some elements from stock Android, like the app drawer and settings menu. The phone comes packed with plenty of pre-installed apps, such as productivity tools, clean master, BoomBand, etc. The device comes with 16 GB onboard storage out of which

Mobility Ratings: Design:

Performance:

only 12.3 GB is user accessible. It doesn't have a memory card slot. It handles regular day-today tasks, like swiping through home screens or opening up apps, with no issues and even does a pretty decent job with graphically intensive games. We noticed some lag or the occasionally dropped frame, which gives us an inconsistent experience. The camera does a good job outdoors as well as indoors. The accompanying BoomBand accessory is Bluetooth-enabled wearable for fitness enthusiasts which tracks all your workouts and exercise activity. It also acts as an alarm in case you leave the phone behind.

Verdict: The Alcatel Idol X+ offers some very decent hardware, like the beautiful display and good camera, but things like battery performance and its UI, work against it, but still it is a good option in this price segment.

Value for money:

Overall

Pros: Processor, RAM, looks,

Cons: Battery life, UI

Price: Rs 16,999

Specs: 5-inch display; 13 MP camera; Android 4.2; 2 GHz octa core processor; 2 GB RAM; 2500 mAh battery

From Mobility we have introduced our new review section, in which we will be doing some in-depth analysis of latest products which will guide you to choose right kind of gadgets that you are looking for. This month we are reviewing 4 different products for you, do let us know what’s your take on this. Send us your feedback to Jayanta Ghosh, Associate Editor Tech. at jayanta@mobilityindia.com

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www.mobilityindia.com

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STK Groovez SMC 970 Bluetooth Speaker Cute little speaker with good sound

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TK Accessories, a division of UK-based Santok Group, hit the Indian markets with yet another addition dubbed SMC 970 Bluetooth Speaker. This new speaker is an expansion of its product line-up of its existing ‘Groovez’ series. STK tries to understand the consumer’s need in mobile accessories and given the utmost priority. So they try to hit the right chord with the Indian choices and provide unique experience with this product.

Features: This has a Bluetooth V3.0+EDR compliant, Frequency range: 2.4G – 2.480GHZ, Radio Performance: Receive Sensitivity of -90dBm, TX Power Max 4dBm, dB: more than 75 dB, Range: 10m (depending on environmental factors and the connection to the Bluetooth device), Optimum calling distance: 1m, Input: DC 5.0V, Speaker Output: 3W, Battery: 400mAh Lithiumion, Playback Time: 4 hours (if at 50% volume), Weight: 150g, Dimensions: 75mm x 58mm.

Performance: This new bluetooth speaker is a mini powerhouse. Looks very nice and can be fit anywhere in your office or in your home. Not very jazzy but very well finished and the whole casing has a very ceramic quality about it which adds to the overall feel of this impressive little unit. It has LED indicators advise you when it is charging Red and when it is connected and pairing - Blue.

It is charged using the USB t micro USB lead that is supplied as well as a 3.5mm connecting cable.

And most importantly can be connected to any source. The portable Groovez Bluetooth speaker can be used with a mobile phone or any other device with Bluetooth. The multipoint feature allows two devices to be paired at the same time and it is possible to easily switch between the music on each phone. The built-in microphone allows the speaker to be used to make and receive calls via a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone at the press of one button. So this is not just a Bluetooth speaker, you can also use it as a very handy speaker phone ideal for those sudden business meetings and tele cons. The inbuilt 400mAh Lithium-ion battery takes around 2 hrs to fully charge and you can run them around 3-4 hrs in moderate volume. But if you play them in full volume it runs around 1.5 hrs. The sound quality of STK Groovez SMC 970 is ideal for its size, as you can’t expect much more from this size of speaker. But the depth and clarity is satisfying. www.mobilityindia.com

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Performance:

Value for money:

Overall

Specs: Bluetooth V3.0+EDR compliant, Frequency range: 2.4G – 2.48 GHz

Verdict: A cute little device that is ideal for your home, office or for travel.

Priced : Rs 2999.

Pros: Looks, Compact, Good sound

Cons:

– Radio Performance: Receive Sensitivity of -90dBm, TX Power Max 4dBm, – dB: more than 75 dB – Range: 10m (depending on environmental factors and the connection to the Bluetooth device) – Optimum calling distance: 1m – Input: DC 5.0V – Speaker Output: 3W – Battery: 400mAh Lithium-ion – Playback Time: 4 hours (if at 50% volume) – Weight: 150g – Dimensions: 75 mm x 58 mm

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Smart 3G Wi-Fi Router Handy device for small offices, smartphone users and travelers

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apcare, makers of laptop peripherals and accessories for all premium laptop brands, recently launched their first 3G Wi-Fi Router with built-in Power bank. Best part of Lapcare brand is their customer centric approach, as they provide the best after-sales support to consumers like product replacement, Toll free numbers, website open forum discussion and Facebook page which is managed by dedicated people to answer any customer query and resolve it as soon as possible. Lapcare has been receiving good feedback from user and has really become a well known brand in peripherals and accessories in recent times.

Their latest product Lapcare Smart 3G Wi-Fi Router is a small, pocket-sized, budget router for small offices, smartphone users and frequent travelers that delivers connectivity on the move.

It has a built-in power bank of a 4400 mAh battery to easily charge smartphones, tablets etc. With this device, Lapcare also wants to position its Smart 3G Wi-Fi Router for SOHO and SMB segment.

This Lapcare Smart 3G Wi-Fi Router provides 150 Mbps speed connectivity on the move. Once connected as a hotspot, it can support up to 32 Wi-Fi-enabled devices simultaneously. The builtin power bank has a 4400 mAh battery to easily charge smartphones, iPhones and tablets. The light weight of 124 gm makes it portable, easy to carry around and can be used anywhere. This Router also supports a built-in USB card reader where users in the network can directly access data from the card reader. Another value addition to the on-the-go users is the wireless network attached cloud storage.

The light weight of 124 gm makes it easy to carry device and can be used anywhere. In addition to the above features, it also supports a built-in USB card reader where users in the network can directly access data from the card reader. This WiFi Router also has a wide connection range of 30 m while using indoors and 50 m while outdoors.

On full charge, it gives long battery backup of 12 hours that makes the product ideal for today's lifestyle and meets the needs of a small office category as well as an individual. It also has an auto-connect feature, so more standard steps

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Mobility Ratings: Design:

Performance:

to follow to connect your device every time. In our Wi-Fi throughput test, the Lapcare Smart 3G Wi-Fi Router performed really well and provided adequate Wi-Fi bandwidth.

Value for money:

Overall

Specs: •

Complies with 802.11b/g/n standards

The device is of compact and satisfactory build quality ideal for small offices and for people on the move.

•

Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot: supports up to 32 Wi-Fi devices

•

Battery: 4400 mAh Polymer Battery

Pros:

•

4400 mAh battery Power bank for charging

•

Broadband Internet: Router / Bridge / AP Client modes

•

In-built Micro USB card reader

•

Warranty period of 1 year.

Verdict:

Pocket friendly, multipurpose device

Cons: Looks

Price: Rs.1899/-

www.mobilityindia.com

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ELECOM ZEROSHOCK camera lens cases Because you want to protect your investment

Whether you are a new or prospective DSLR owner, accessories like camera cases are a must as you build your photographer's arsenal. But most of the new DSLR users always avoid this necessary purchase. Thing that you have to know is even if you think your camera will mostly be hanging on your arm or around your neck, you still need a camera case (and a good one, at that).

ZEROSHOCK series offers excellent protective cases in two models: ZSB-DSL00 1 & ZSB-DSL002.

These cases are equipped to protect lens from shock and dirt as well. Low-elasticity polyurethane, superior in shock absorbency, is the feature of "ZEROSHOCK" series that protects lens from shock from all directions. These cases have low volume, maintain light weight, while keeping thickness to absorb shock from the outside enough, by using low-elasticity polyurethane (low-elasticity wave form). Furthermore, they are equipped with a steering wheel that holds well supported by a relief mechanism that to prevents fall of lens at the time of opening.

Opening of case adopts double fastener method where the two fasteners are tied up with strap and slide with strap while opening the case.

It has a "water-repellent cloth" made of polyurethane on the case surface and it is usable conveniently outdoors. Inside the case there is velvet-like material which is hard to be damaged inside ensures smoothness to the lens. Inside there is a band for lens cap fixation and can prevent loss of cap.

The ZSB-DSL002 series and ZSB-DSL001 series are in medium and small size. Available in two colors, white for woman and in regular black men.

Verdict: Very handy accessory for DSLR users and the extra protective material helps to prevent your valuable lens from dust, water and shocks.

ZSB-DSL002 Specs: Outside size 82 mm in diameter X 88 mm in length

Materials : Dress material—polyurethane, Lining--polyester, Heart--low-elasticity polyurethane www.mobilityindia.com

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Performance:

Value for money:

Overall

Weight:

Pros:

58 g

Water-resistant outer material, shock protection,

Accessories :

Cons:

Lens cap band

Limited color option

Price: Rs.1449/-

ZSB-DSL001 Outside size 93 mm in diameter X 155 mm in length

Materials: Dress material—polyurethane, Lining--polyester, Heart--low-elasticity polyurethane

Weight: 86 g

Accessories: Lens cap band *1

Price: Rs. 1649/-

Specs: Useful for camera lens of below mentioned brands: Canon: EF S18-55 mm F3.5-5.6 IS II & IS STM Nikon: S18-55 mm F3.5-5.6GVR Sony: E PZ 16-50 mm F3.5-5.6OSS Olympus: M.ZUIKO Digital 14-42 mm F3.5-5.6 II R & EZ Panasonic: Lumix G VARIO 14-42 mm/ F3.5-5.6 II 12-32 mm/F3.5-5.6 II Pentax: Standard Zoom mobility September 2014

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Our aim is to enable as many choices as we can for the consumer to choose from Mr. Sandeep Aurora – Director, Marketing, Intel South Asia

Y

ou have to look at the market as a device market: consumers in their minds do not differentiate between a tablet and a phone and a PC; for them it’s a device, which will enable them to do something they like.

They want to invest their money and resources in the device which suits them the best. So, I think, it is an artificial divide we have made in our minds like PC market, tablet market, smartphone market, etc. As long as the device is intended to do the same thing, it’s a one market.

So what happening is, consumers are getting more choices nowadays, and then every six months the trends are changing with the invasion of new technology, new devices and updates. Our aim is to enable as many choices as we can for the consumer to choose from, so that they can make the right decisions. If they want to buy a PC, we should have a variety of PCs available starting from Rs 15K to 1 lakh and beyond; if they want to buy a good smartphone, then we should have range of smartphones available; and if they want to buy a tablet, we should have a range of tablet available. Eventually the decision is up to the consumer about what he wants to buy.

We make the right CPU with right chip, which can make the device work beautifully …that is our aim. Our processors enable multitasking, work fast, give high performance and consume less power, which gives high battery life.

We are open to all OEMs. Flipkart wants to launch high quality devices for consumers and Intel provides the right technology and right chips …that is how our association with Flipkart started.

www.mobilityindia.com

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We are here to Manu Jain, Head, India Operation, Xiaomi

Q

Lot of negative things are heard after you discontinued your much demanded Mi 3. What is your comment on that?

Yes, we sold nearly 90,000 units of Mi3 in just 2 months. And we are getting a lot of demand from the consumers for our recently launched Redmi 1S. We sold nearly 80,000 of Redmi 1S in September. The demand is much higher than expected so in the coming weeks we are going to bring bigger quantities into the Indian market.

For those consumers who disappointed after stopped Mi 3, we may bring it back into the Indian market after a few weeks—the decision is pending.

Q how is your service network

performing?

We have total 36 service centers, 2 are our own and 34 are multi-brand partner managed service centers. We want to increase the number of both.

We want to add 4 more of our exclusive service centers: one each in Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Gurgaon in a month’s time. In the next few months, we want to take exclusive centers to 20 to 30 and multi-brand service centers to 50 to 60.

Our service method is based on three evaluation points protect with what kind of problems customers are coming, TAT (average Time Taken to resolve) and how satisfied is the customer at the end. In the exclusive service centers, we are at present trying see that the problems is resolved are 2 hrs and in the 3rd party service centers they should be resolved within a day.

Q What about the experience

centers for the customers?

Our exclusive service centers already serve as experience zones. Then we want to set up a big experience zone in Bangalore, which can take 4 to 6 months.

Q You are doing business

exclusively online. In India, business thru traditional channel is the practice. What is your view on this front?

Yes, though online business is new and

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STAy

small compared to traditional channel, online business is growing very fast. Nowadays even consumers from T2 and T3 cities are showing interest in e-commerce. In fact, it is great facility and platform in those towns where smart devices are not easily available. Secondly, thru online we can save all the costs of a traditional channel, which involves shelling out margins at different levels and the total margin, could be as much as 20-30%. We save that margin and pass it to the end users. Secondly, we are in direct contact with the end user. Here we are getting direct feedback promptly and clearly, whereas in traditional channels feedback is slow because it has to pass thru several levels and often at the end you find mixed noise mixing with the feedback.

Q

Your phones are available not exclusively available on Flipkart; there are also available on other sites. hugo told us that this problem will be solved soon. have you sorted out that?

Yes. Some people buy our phones and resell them at slightly higher prices on other sites. We cannot stop them straightaway since reselling is legal in India. Anyway we are thinking about ways to check this trend. What we are doing is we are trying to identify the bulk purchasers see and if they are doing this reselling; when such buyers are found suspicious, we stop further sales to them, although this method cannot check such cases 100%.

Q

What about availability of accessories? Some people complain that they do not receive accessories or receive them late after placing orders online. What are you doing about these issues?

For Mi 3, we had logistics problems so we could not provide accessories on time, but for Redme 1S phones, we are providing accessories in the same week though not on the same day via Flipkart. I interacted with our consumers and they are quite satisfied with Flipkart services. Only the freebie accessories which we offered, along with

phones, got delayed while shipping to consumers and this is because these accessories come via a different route which takes a little longer time to reach India.

Q

During our interactions with some competing vendors, they say Xiaomi may be here today and tomorrow they may disappear.

What is the answer you would give to your rivals and how do you assure your customers that you will be here for long?

After China, India is our priority market. If we are not going to stay here for long, we would not have set up so many service centers here. Soon we are going set up our R&D center in India. So I assure everybody, including our dear detractors as well as dear customers that we are going to be here for a long time.

are you doing branding?

QWehow are doing through social media. The

beauty of social media is you get feedback straightaway whereas for a TV ad you may not get same kind of replies or feedback. We tell what we want on social media and customer replies back whether he likes it or not. We do not spend on other means of advertising, etc. Two months back when we launched we had less than 10,000 people following us but today we have over 65,000 following us on the facebook. Our fans in the social media place postings, which are read by their friends and contacts and that is how our PR works. Social media and word of mouth are the main means of our reach.

What more will be coming?

QRedme Note will be launched in Oct. Some

more may be launched before the end of this year, but I cannot commit about them right now.

Q

Since you discontinued Mi 3, people are expecting Mi 4 soon.

What do you say about this?

Yes, Mi 4 is 4G-enabled LTE device. India Mi 4 will be an India-specific device. Testing is being done. Once it is ready, we will launch it in India.

www.mobilityindia.com

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c ov e r S t o ry

ACCESSORIES MARKET

ON UP SWING

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Increasing demand for accessories from consumers and their easy availability in India have helped the market to grow.

New vendors specializing in IT and telecom accessories are coming to the country to explore the potential here.

The scenario is improving every passing day and there is scope for more branded players to participate as customers now aspire for better quality products and they are ready to pay higher amount as well.

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oday, accessories have become an integral part of the product for many consumers, and they do not mind spending Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 on accessories.

Vendors have given end-users a lot of options in terms of products and pricing, due to which they are willing to make reasonable investments.

What has increased interest among consumers is the fact that MNCs have come up with innovative products such as Bluetooth keyboards and mice, power pack cases for iPhones and smart phones, dual-purpose utility products, protective cases, protective screens and smart phone cases with built-in projectors, power bank, etc.

With elevating popularity for smartphones and other mobile devices in the country, there is also increasing demand for mobile accessories.

Mobile device adoption among youth population in the country and continual decline of prices of mobile phones are the impetus to the growth of mobile accessory market in India. Online retailing also plays a big part. It offers the convenience of cash-on-delivery payment option and cheaper offers.

Mobile accessory companies are provided with flexibility of choosing the best suited sales and distribution channel, thanks to the abundant national distributors and plenty of regional and micro distributors and wholesalers across India.

Companies can focus on specific states or cities or market their products to retail stores across the country.

Smartphone and tablet adoption in rural areas is still low largely due to budgetary constraints and low adaptability to complicated devices.

Approximately 70% of India’s population resides in rural areas and majority of the wireless consumers there use basic mobile phones. Consumers in these parts do not indulge in mobile accessories purchase much. In such situation, mobile accessory companies are largely dependent on the urban and suburban consumption.

Both domestic and foreign mobile accessory companies face tough competition from unbranded products, especially the ones imported from China. Due to large number of mobile accessory manufacturers in China, huge amounts of Chinese products are easily available in the grey markets and local stores. A significant number of consumers find these easily available

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accessories affordable and attractive.

But there is a huge disparity in the mobile accessory market with several brands competing for market share owing to Chinese manufacturing infrastructure.

Mobile accessories are also considered a style statement today and brands are focusing on making them trendy and attractive.

While different colored accessories add to the variety we see in the market, blacks and whites are preferred over variety. Accessories for Apple, Samsung, Sony and Nokia are in high demand.

Given the nature of mobile accessories, bundling is an attractive option for manufacturers.

Current Scenario India holds immense opportunities for mobile accessory products due to enormous number of mobile device users and rapid growth in the adoption of smart phones and tablets.

According to Rajesh Doshi of Zebronics, the outlook for IT and mobile accessories market in India is extremely upbeat; it is largely following the global trend and is increasingly driven by the rapid adoption of mobile technologies. It has been reported that 79% of the Indian population are either owning or using a mobile device. Nowadays, smart phones and tablets are becoming common and these are not just voicecommunications devices any more. With over 70% daily users of mobile Internet being in the 20-34 years age group, the young have taken to mobility in a big way, as a sort of digital revolution, by which people are carrying their choice of music and videos in small portable devices, using social media on-thego and generating or downloading rich media content all the time. Easy availability of Internet has added to this factor. As a result, there is a great demand for such accessories as portable and desktop speaker systems, protective covers, headphones, keyboard, etc for phones, tablets and laptops. For instance, with multiple gadgets in the pocket, the mobile battery pack has almost become a necessity for those never want to be stranded with a phone that is out of battery.

Mr Puneet Gupta, Head of India and SAARC, Santok Ltd “We are growing every month and will ensure that we keep on innovating and launching new products, for example, we are ready for most anticipated IPHONE-6 accessories and we would always keep up the pace with market.”

From vanity to utility, the range is varied.

“The Indian market has been introduced to a host of new devices and technologies.

Accessories are not mere enhancements anymore but have become an important utility today. They protect, improve performance, make devices look good and add value to everyday use.

Most importantly, accessories like the USB drives, SD Cards and Wireless Readers are becoming a necessity nowadays for many users. The accessory market looks good and is growing at a steady rate. Keeping with the trend, Kingston has entered the gaming accessories market with the HyperX Cloud gaming headset for laptops, Mr. Gaurav Mathur, Country Business Head (India) , Genius “The industry’s challenge, specifically talking about smart phone accessory business, would be from a lot of low quality products that are being dumped in the Indian market. Smart phone accessory market is a newly developing market and everybody wants to cash in on the enormous demand, by importing low cost/quality product and dumping them in Indian market.”

desktops, consoles and even mobiles and tablets,” said, Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston.

“We expect Indian PC-peripheral market to grow @ 4-5% p.a. India has a very big potential in the tier 3/4 cities segment, where there is increase in demand and the tremendous growth opportunity. As far as smart phone accessories go, India is among the top 5 importers of smart phones globally and would be among the top 3 in the coming years. This has given a

Mr. Raymond Li , Sales Head – APAC, Astrum Holdings Ltd “The growing convergence of information, communication and entertainment is bringing a new era. Growing market demand due to tremendous technological development and rising income levels has influenced the sales of accessory.”

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customer today has much variety to choose from the IT peripherals and Mr Richard Tan, Managing accessories and the market Director –ADATA Technology, in India continues to grow India at a fast rate providing huge “We face tough competition opportunity for retailers from unbranded products, in the country to add on especially the ones imported peripherals or accessories from China. Due to large with every PC, Laptop, number of mobile accessory Tablet or smart phone sold. manufacturers in China, huge Envent caters to all these amounts of Chinese products categories and our focus are easily available in the grey is not constrained to just markets and local stores.” one product, rather our objective is to provide innovative product range great push and positive perspective to smart with international standards. Today consumer phone accessories business,” said, Gaurav Mathur, demand is not only restricted to quality and Country Business Head (India), Genius. price point but has become color specific as well.

“The Indian peripherals market is expected to Hence almost all our products are available in continue to expand to meet local demand. High multiple attractive colors,” said, Sukhesh Madaan growth areas like telecommunications, banking - Founder & CEO, Envent World Wide. & financial services, manufacturing, retail and Richard Tan, Managing Director, ADATA Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/IT-enabled Technology, India, said, “Indian Market is very services are the major consumers of computers dynamic while the and peripherals. As is the case with overall telecom segment is the most dynamic, Raghav Kumar Sharma versatile and competitive Head India Business Operatons, industry currently. Mobile Elecom India Pvt. Ltd. accessory products have “Elecom is No 1 Accessories an immense business brand in Japan. We have an expert market share in India due design team. We are the first to increasing adoption of company to design and market mobile devices among the world’s smallest mouse. Best youth population in quality and the right design are the country which is our strengths and these features propelled by increasing make our products unique. For example, we have a laptop disposable incomes, which carry-bag. Even if the bag falls down with laptop inside it, nothing will happen to the laptop and to the components has revolutionized the inside. Our products ensure zero-shock to the components consumers’ buying and inside. Same is the case with our tablet covers and cases. spending trend, especially We also have different models of bags for professional in the urban areas. Online cameramen to carry cameras which make the cameras and retailing is also increasing lenses damage-proof. Many such products are there in our rapidly.” product line. We always try to give the market something “The scope for branded special and unique and that is what keeps us ahead of players in the mobile others.” accessories market is increasing day-by-day as customers now aspire for better quality products IT market, the accessory industry is dynamic and they are ready to pay higher amount as well. and constantly innovating. Earlier concentrated Though the accessories market is dominated by solely on PCs & laptops, peripherals/ accessories grey market without bill, brand and warranty, are now being developed for tablets too. The

the market is showing signs that more and more people are gradually moving towards good quality branded products,” said, Puneet Gupta, Head of India and SAARC, Santok Ltd. “Accessories market is on the upswing and is growing faster than the phone market. There are many brands offering unique features. In fact, there are many designs and huge variety of accessories available from various brands that suit the young generation,” said, Rajesh Goenka, VP--Sales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals Pvt Ltd. “Accessories market is in the rapid growth stage now along with smart phones, in India.

Mobile covers, scratch guards, power banks, Bluetooth speakers, etc are some of the major products driving the growth,” opined Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Director of Portronics India.

“India holds immense opportunities for accessory products due to enormous number of device users and rapid growth in adoption of smart phones and tablets. Continual decline of prices of devices is primarily aiding this growth.

Accessories complement the devices and enhance their usage-value and features. With the increasing popularity of smart phones and other mobile devices, the demand for accessories from consumers across India has increased manifold,” asserts, Raymond Li, Sales Head–APAC, Astrum Holdings Ltd. “The revolution brought in by the digital technology has propelled the consumer electronics market towards rapid growth, healthy competition and profits. After suffering a rare dip of sales in 2010, accessory market has boomed and bounced back for smart phone accessories such as headphones and wireless range of products.

Fuelled by favorable consumer demographics, this market is all set for the sustained growth over a long term,” concluded, Sunil Srivastava, Country Marketing Manager at RAPOO India.

Responses from the market According to Vishal of Kingston Technology, Kingston believes in providing the best value to the customers. We not only compete at price points and performance but also in innovating.

With increasing number of uses, we showcased a USB drive that can be used with smart devices–the DataTravelermicroDuo–and the Indian market has appreciated this beyond our expectations. Next, we introduced our UHS-1 U3 SDA3 SD Cards with speeds of up to 90MB/s that perfectly complement today’s high speed

Accessories The Users Love "As a music lover I always carry my headphones and often attend my calls through them. One thing that I really hates about these headphones is the quality of cable the used, tried various brands but after few months of usage one out of two earplugs stops working, so have to throw it away. Need good quality cables in the budget headphones."

Nidhi Saini, Team Leader Operations Fabfurnish.com 24

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cameras. As a smart phone user, one does not have to worry about the file size of the photo or downloading data especially when they use the Kingston microSD cards that provide capacities up to 128GB. Also, as mentioned earlier, we are now entering the gaming accessories market in a big way with our HyperX Cloud gaming headset and this move has been appreciated by many.

“Under our Zebronics brand we have various accessories like Bluetooth range, as the wireless products are much easier to use and connect.

We have multiple models of Bluetooth headsets to choose from, we also have wide range of Bluetooth speakers with call feature. These are really liked by the channel and the consumers.

Looking at the success of these wireless speakers we also have plans to launch NFC speaker in the market, which will be first of its type in the market.

We also have Bluetooth keyboard for people who like to work on-the-go on their tablets or phones,” said, Rajesh of Zebronics.

“Genius offers products across 14+ categories of accessories including mouse, keyboard, speaker, headset, webcam, camera, DVR, power bank, bags, gaming, projectors, notebook stand, stylus and many more. India is a value-driven market and Genius, with its One-Stop-Shop value offerings for all consumer accessories. Our products have been able to do get tremendous customer attention which reflects in our sales growth YOY,” said, Gaurav of Genius India.

“Envent is specialized in 3 different product verticals: IT Peripherals, Telecom Accessories and Lifestyle Extras. With more than 100 SKUs spread across categories, all our products are trendy and innovative, designed to appeal to today’s youth.

In IT category, we have peripherals both for PC & Notebook and a range of speakers starting from Rs 800 to 14,000. In telecom our product range caters to users of iPhone, iPad& Samsung smart phone and in lifestyle category we have a variety of headphones, Bluetooth headsets, sports MP3 players and innovative speakers. Apart from these 3 broad categories, we have one set of products solely for corporate clients like Toothbrush/ Razor sanitizer, Oxygen Bar, Solar Lamp, Solar MP3 player, designer speakers, etc,” says, Sukesh of Envent.

Richard of A-Data claims, “ADATA has a range of products in the accessories segment. Although the core strength has been storage wherein we provide a wide variety of USB flash drives, external HDDs, memory cards, etc. In the recent past, we have forayed into Wi-Fi HDDs to give users

a chance to seamlessly stream their content on the TV wirelessly. Power banks and wireless mobile chargers are the other 2 product categories that we have introduced recently and have been getting overwhelming response from the channel and consumer communities.

The reasons for our success are manifold–the first and foremost being the quality followed by wide range of models, channel availability, warranty support, etc.”

“We provide all high quality innovative and latest accessories where-in we are getting positive response from all our customers. We have categorized the accessories into Power, Protection, Bluetooth, Music/ Audio, iPhone/ iPad, Data and Holders,” said, Puneet of Santok.

“Rashi distributes Logitech, Targus, HP and Plantronics accessories products and each of these brands is positioned differently for specific verticals. For Plantronics, we are focusing on the Bluetooth category and headsets.

Plantronics Bluetooth is the largest selling (unbundled) Bluetooth in India. The Voyager Legend is an amazing product and is the fastest selling in the country.

I am sure anyone uses this product for a day will become a lifetime member of Plantronics,” said, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.

“We are mainly providing Power banks and portable speakers in the mobile accessories segment along with some travel chargers,” added, Jasmeet of Portronics.

“RAPOO is all about wireless comforts! RAPOO is known for the innovative and high design products with wireless technology. Our Bluetooth speakers, headphones, mice and keyboards are well accepted in the market. We strive to bring in new products that match the current trend with latest technology, advanced features, multi-

Mr. Rajesh Doshi, Director, Zebronics “Our brand is well recognized in the market and we have consistently been winning awards in various categories and segments over the years.

Zebronics remains the leading choice in the “value for money” segment – price-conscious buyers too want a well designed, better quality product.” purpose and vibrant colors that suit all the age groups. We notice that our competitors and erstwhile market leaders today calibrate their GTM strategy keeping in mind what RAPOO is likely to do,” claimed, Sunil of Rapoo India.

“Astrum has a range of accessories for Notebooks and Mobile phones. Mobile device adoption amongst youth population in the country and the spending pattern have boosted the growth of mobile accessories like MFI certified cables, Bluetooth headsets, Mr. Sunil Srivastava, Country Marketing Manager at RAPOO India “Increase in demand has caused increased competition in this category. Dollar volatility, increase in price wars due to the entry of new fringe players in the market and rise in manufacturing capacity by some manufacturers are causing dip in the profitability and margins are adversely affected.

In the current scenario, these are the major challenges we are facing collectively.”

Bluetooth speakers, travel chargers and many more,” concluded, Raymond of Astrum Holdings.

Challenges Ahead “As in the case of all technology products, accessories market is evolving at a fast pace.

You have to move with this rapidly changing technology. It becomes very difficult to invest in the “research & development” and “quality control” of these products as products become obsolete quickly. We aim to offer good value, performance, premium quality and after-sales

“In my profession, I keep travelling exclusively and carry a host of devices such as mobile phones (Google Nexus 5 and Blackberry Z3), Samsung tab 4, Dell laptop and Photon data card (3G and router) and so on. Life has become hectic and at the same time we are used to a degree of comfort and we want comfort level to increase further. I want one accessory that will perform several functions like say power-charger, dongle, speaker and so on. I wish gadget designers will keep these points in mind and design such unique products that will serve several needs without compromising on performance and easy to carry and use. I am ready to pay more if such gadgets or accessories are available.”

BhaskarMajumdar, Group Head, Adfactors PR, New Delhi www.mobilityindia.com

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service, even though it becomes a challenge to do so at reasonable prices. With long experience, our business model has now become structured so that we are able to offer all those,” said, Rajesh of Zebronics.

“Industry challenge, specifically talking about smart phone accessory business, would be from a lot of low quality products that are being dumped in the Indian market. Smart phone accessory market is a newly developing market and everybody wants to cash in on the enormous demand, by importing low cost/low quality products and dumping them in the Indian market. We can also see a lot of white brands in the market with low cost/low quality as they don’t have any overhead cost of R&D (quality and product development), no warranty, no RMA support service, irregular supply of products and change in product models due to frequent changes in OEM factories, etc. However, we have been into business for more than 30 years and have experienced these changes and market trends. We are very positive that with the fast changing Indian import regulations, we’ll see a change in market trend and Mr. Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Director of Portronics India “We are still struggling to have our presence felt in tiers 2 and 3 cities where the impact is yet to be felt. Online pricing control is another challenge that we are currently working on.

Direct Chinese players entry and cheaper imports are some of the other challenges that we have to deal with.”

only quality & established suppliers would survive in the long run,” said, Gaurav of Genius.

“Major portion of this highly dynamic market is still unorganized which results in frequent price wars. Moreover different government regulations and variable tax percentages in different markets give tough challenge to shaping an effective pricing strategy for whole India. Product parity becomes another challenge in accessories segment. Most brands push products and multiple layered retail system lowers the bottom line of the brands,” said, Sukesh of Envent.

“We face tough competition from unbranded

products, especially ones imported from China.

Due to large number of mobile accessory manufacturers in China, huge amounts of Chinese products are easily available in the grey markets and local stores. A significant number of consumers find these easily available accessories affordable and attractive. Secondly, inventory management becomes an issue as some big launches do not do well in market and accessories also suffer,” said, Richard of ADATA. “Accessories market is too crowded with many unknown brands. Also, there are enough fakes available which makes the market difficult,” added, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.

“We are still struggling to have our presence felt in tiers 2 and 3 cities where the impact is yet to be felt. Online pricing control is another challenge that we are currently working on. Direct entry of Chinese players and cheaper imports are some of the other challenges that we have to deal with,” said, Jasmeet of Portronics.

“Both domestic and foreign mobile accessory companies face tough competition from unbranded products, especially the ones imported from China. Due to large number mobile accessory manufacturers in China, huge amounts of Chinese products are easily available in the grey markets and local stores,” said, Raymond of Astrum.

“Increase in demand has caused increased competition in this category.

Dollar volatility, increase in price wars due to the entry of new fringe players in the market and rise in manufacturing capacity by some manufacturers are causing dip in the profitability and margins are adversely affected.

In the current scenario, these are the major challenges we are facing collectively,” point out Sunil of Rapoo.

“India is a growing country and so is its demand for mobile accessories. In this vast country, meeting the demand criteria is a challenge but we are working towards it,” concluded, Vishal of Kingston Technology.

Fake Brands in the Market “Fake products are a problem in many

countries of Asia and India is not an exception.

Having said that, we believe that the Indian consumer is one of the most sensible in the world and has greatly matured over the last decade.

Customers do their homework by visiting blogs, review sites, ask friends and family and evaluate a brand based on performance, quality and price. Therefore, we do not see a major threat from counterfeit products. The customers we are targeting is well aware and want the best quality product at an affordable price, which is what Genius stands for in India,” said, Gaurav of Genius India.

“We are extremely proud and confident about our Zebronics brand in terms of quality and value. We have a loyal consumer and channel partner base who value the product quality and warranty provided by the company. We believe in giving the consumers the best experience of owning a product. Today’s Indian youth is smart and intelligent and do think twice before making the decision. So, fake brands cannot influence the decisions of informed consumers. Zebronics undoubtedly gives the best return for their money.

As not only quality, design and value, but service support also gives Zebronics an added advantage over others. There is a difference between being cheap/fake and being value for money brand.

Customers look for Zebronics because it is value for money brand,” said, Rajesh of Zebronics.

“Kingston believes in providing quality products that add value to the lives. We encourage our customers to make an informed purchase decision and have been educating them to buy only from our authorized partners. This gives assurance about worth, durability, quality, performance and warranty of the product. There are lower quality products available in the market but the customers do realize the risks they getting into,” said, Vishal of Kingston Technology.

“It is true that there are lots brands who market a range of low quality accessories at unethical prices and it is really hampering the whole market.

But once considered as Impulse Buying Products, accessories are now getting more attention from customers before they reach any purchase decision. Be it apparel accessories or IT/Telecom accessories, people are ready to spend that extra money for good quality. Hence, gradually this category is shifting from commodity market to consumer market and the brands which really invest in quality and innovation, will get the result

"Personally I love to have the following things: A high quality, multitasking keyboard which has laser etched keys and media controls, at a reasonable price."

A battery power and a power bank, that can offer me a bucket load of power for a camping trip and a pocket-friendly top-up for the daily commute.

A pair of Bluetooth headphones with an average price tag but have better build and sound quality than average Bluetooth headphones—using Bluetooth drives me crazy with dropped connections to your desktop mouse, or with pairing and sound-quality problems on your smartphone?

A portable Bluetooth speaker with compact size and good sound quality, but I don't want to spend more than Rs 2000.

Sohib, (Mr. Delhi & Mr. North India), Model by Profession 26

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in near future,” opines, Sukesh of Envent.

“This is nothing but a transition of markets that happen whenever new category of products or technology invades the customer’s life. Today people may opt for cheaper products but once they come to know the products that are slightly higher in price but offer loads of added value, they gradually opt these over fakes. We, as a brand, just not only need to create awareness about the brand but also on the various USPs and features that the product carries,” said, Richard of ADATA Technology.

“Fakes are omnipresent in the market, but at the same time business of the good products and brands is improving. We at Rashi along with our partners and retailers are working on Customer Education and request ‘Mobility Magazine’ to help in the same,” said, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.

“Cheap quality and cheap price have been always there in India for ages in all the segments but now cheap prices for good quality is something catching on,” said, Jasmeet of Portronics.

“Yes, it’s true and we believe that the all good brands are facing this fakes problem. We really need to educate the users that buying fakes or low quality products does not help them to save money but they are booking a big loss since these fake accessories can spoil their parent devices,” said, Raymond of Astrum.

“Fakes and counterfeits will always come and go. They cater to the near-bottom of the market pyramid and the larger brands like us cannot address that segment. Customers need to know where to put money for better quality products and quality service for better digital experience.

On our part, we conduct customer awareness activities through our various direct and indirect marketing initiatives,” concluded, Sunil of Rapoo India.

Future Trends & Plans of Vendors One of the key factors contributing to the growth of the Accessories and Peripherals market is the smart phone and tablet accessory section.

Report says global Accessories and Peripherals market for smart phones will grow at a CAGR of 9.1 percent and for tablets it will grow at a CAGR of 39.9 percent over the period 20132018. The Global Accessories and Peripherals market for smart phones and tablets has also been witnessing changing consumer behavior

and India is no different.

With the change in lifestyle, today people are always on the move, travelling miles and across the cities; the need of products which can entertain them, keep them engaged is rising like never before. Power banks, battery boost cases, car chargers, MP3 players, Bluetooth keyboards, etc are the need of the hour. However, the product parity stands as a challenge to the growth of this market. Which is why, today brands are trying to connect with the customers as directly as possible.

“We are quite optimistic from the market in 2014. Different studies of economic experts say that Indian economy has already experienced the bottom and now the only way is to go up. Recent budget also opens lots of hope towards the growth of IT industry as a whole. In 2012 & 2013, we put in all our efforts to get the distribution structure in place and now this year we are quite hopeful of getting rewarded for the same. This year, our target is to reach out to as many as 250 cities across India covering all untapped markets. Also we are on the verge of having few more key LFRs operating across India,” said, Sukesh of Envent.

“We have developed a whole range of power backups. Every month we launch a new product in this line.

Powerview is our brand. We have whole range powerbanks, whole range of power charges, whole range of cables for connectivity.

We have ultra thin power banks of 2500 mAh. Here major point is the thin size offers comfort in portability. We provide all connectors,” said, Rajiv of Amkette.

“This market is good and shows a positive picture. With better devices and systems lined up in the coming six months, we expect the accessories market to yield well. Kingston is a brand name that channel partners trust. We have been strong in this segment and we are only going to grow from here on. We are positive about

Mr. Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston “Kingston believes in providing quality products that add value to the lives. We encourage our customers to make an informed purchase decision and have been educating them to buy only from our authorized partners.”

our outlook towards this market and have just recently entered the gaming accessories segment as well,” said, Vishal of Kingston Technology.

“Wireless accessories show a lot of promise in near future. As they are becoming more and more affordable, wireless accessories will be more popular. From speaker, headphone, keyboard to charging accessories, all are moving to wireless medium. To tap this market, we are going to launch many new products in this segment. We are very committed to this market and going to launch many new innovative and class leading products in this segment. Prime example of Mr. Rajiv Bapna, Director, Amkette “We spent lot of effort, time and money to develop these miniaturized products. Now we put a lot of such products into the market. Now nearly 15 such products for smartphones are there in the market. They are all premium products.”

this is the NFC-enabled speaker which we are going to launch in coming few weeks. We see ourselves sticking to our core value proposition of best possible product value at reasonable price.

As the market shifts, we will also be doing the same: adding categories with mobility-related focus,” claimed, Rajesh of Zebronics.

“India is amongst the top 5 importers of smart phone globally and going forward would be amongst the top 3. Therefore, the future for accessories market in India is definitely mobile devices. We see an immense opportunity in offering accessories for smart phones and tablets

“A great ideation and execution creates compelling work that is both beautiful and thought provoking.

And great executions demands cutting edge technologies that is highly responsible and self motivated. I often find my fingers get tired in using mouse and keyboard when working for hours. I would love to go for a technology, if can be developed, that eases of my weariness without compromising its performance then I can prolong working with ease for hours."

Gautam Middya, Head–Creative, Hornbill Communications www.mobilityindia.com

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Mr. Rajesh Goenka, VPSales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals Pvt Ltd “Accessories market is on the upswing and is growing faster than the phone market. There are many brands offering unique product features. In fact, there are many designs suited to the young generation and there is a huge variety of accessories now available for various brands. “

in going ahead and in keeping up with the trend, we have already launched our mobility accessory portfolio for India market which includes headphones, headsets, speakers, power banks and many more, with focus on Bluetooth& NFC technology-based products. We want to be among the top 3 players in the PC and smart phone accessories market in the next 3 years. Our brand-positioning as a value for money brand that serves as a one-stop-shop for all consumer accessory needs, coupled with our innovative products would help us achieve our vision. We have a wide array of innovative products slated for launch including our Pro Gaming series GX GAMING for the Indian gaming consumers,” said, Gaurav of Genius India.

“The demand for wireless mobile accessories shows no signs of slowing down, with Mr. Kevan Li, Business Head – India, Antec Inc. “Antec with it’s a.m.p line of products has recently entered the mobile accessories market in India. The initial response has been quite positive. Traditionally we are known as a high quality PC Component brand. With the introduction of the Antec a.m.p series of mobile accessories, we wish to cater to the lifestyle consumers. With so much of technological advancement, consumers now want to use their devices to the fullest extent with the help of good quality mobile accessories.” recent studies by market analysts such as IMS Research predicting that Bluetooth headsets will surpass the 45 million unit mark by 2015.

We have noticed several trends among wireless audio accessory consumers.

More people are listening to music on portable devices and there is a marked trend towards music streaming.

This was confirmed in recent research conducted by Nielsen, which indicates that more teenagers are listening to music streamed through YouTube than through any other source. We strongly believe that in the time to come, ADATA will be prominently present and increase its footprint in the accessories market.

With the ever growing demand for accessories due to increased usage of computing devices, this segment is all set to grow manifold in the coming years,” asserts, Richard of ADATA. According to Puneet of Santok, “Currently there is no specific data even from GFK but still considering the imports done from China, Korea, etc, the accessories market is booming each month and more innovations are taking place in this sector. Most top mobile brands have some way or the other have started providing accessories. The scope is huge as the sales are increasing month on month and this shows in our sales trend as well. We are growing every month and will ensure that we keep on innovating and launching new products, for example, we are ready for most anticipated I P H O N E - 6 accessories and we would always keep pace with market. We will be among the top 3 respected brands in accessories by the end of 2015 and we want to see ourselves at the top by 2017.”

“Rashi will be a formidable player but strictly in the branded space with good quality and features in the products. We are working towards continuous improvement,” said, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.

“More and more Internet of things is something that we will see in future. Health monitoring is also one area that will get onto the bandwagon as we have already seen Apple getting into the same domain. Smart home solution is also something that will see a significant growth in the market.

We see ourselves pioneering different accessories in Indian market and also keep our positioning intact in the commodity products like portable speakers and power banks,” said, Jasmeet of Portronics.

“The growing convergence of information, communication and entertainment is bringing a new era. Growing market demand due to tremendous technological development and rising income levels has influenced the sales of accessories. The kick off of 4G in rural areas will help to increase the demand as approximately 70% of India’s population resides in rural areas and majority of the wireless consumers there use basic mobile phones. Consumers in these parts do not indulge in mobile accessories purchase much. In such situation, mobile accessory companies are largely dependent on the urban and suburban consumption. Although unbranded grey market products are dominating at present, with competitive pricing and availability, moving ahead majority of the market can potentially belong to branded mobile accessories,” said, Raymond of Astrum.

“Customers are asking questions. And that’s a welcome sign for brands like RAPOO. Consumers are increasingly becoming more aware of the product specifications, style and looks. The future of the accessory market depends on the amount of R&D the brand is investing and how well they satisfy their customers by introducing more and more value-added and trendy products. RAPOO is dedicated to offering excellent, cutting-edge wireless peripheral products to users around the world. Our goal is to deliver quality products to our customers and to provide the best service.

With the top-of-the-line R&D we possess, we can project ourselves better than what we are now in this competitive environment,” concluded, Sunil of Rapoo India.

USP of Vendors “Kingston, as a brand, does not draw direct comparisons with competition. We believe in the quality, durability, pricing, service and the better overall experience that we bring to the end user.

Along with that, we cater to customers at all

"I always run out of battery when I travel. I always wish to have a good power bank that charges quickly and gives me enough power for my camera, smartphones and MP3players. Good solar charge power banks can also come handy for my trek and Birding trips."

Rahul Sharma, Wildlife Photographer and a Travel Freak 28

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Mr. Sukhesh Madaan - Founder & CEO, Envent World Wide.

“Customers do not buy products; they just buy benefits which can fulfill their needs. Moreover it’s the brand credibility which helps the customers to conclude on purchase decision. Envent has established itself as a Great Quality & Innovative brand. It hasn’t been a cake walk for us and every-day we keep on exploring possibilities to increase the differentiating factors in our brand.”

levels – corporate, students, casual, gaming, etc.

We are No. 1 in the memory space globally and also lead in storage and our products justify this beautifully,” said, Vishal of Kingston Technology.

“Our brands are world-leading brands and the quality thus is better than others. Our USPs are great brands (accessories brands need to have a flaunt value), great products with unique features and they offer great customer experience. Rashi has probably the widest range of accessories in the mobile and IT category,” claimed, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.

“Our solutions and innovations are consumercentric; we focus on consumer needs. We go back and address those needs. And that is our DNA. That is how we have been since our inception.

Our products give value for money at affordable prices. Recently one of our products won an award from a famous media. There we gave live demonstration of our product before the jury.

Our products are time-tested, and performanceproven and are liked internationally. We have convergence products across the 4 –screens of TV, tablets, laptops and PCs. Soon we are coming up with products for the tiny screens of small devices. Our strategy is connecting these devices seamlessly. We have products for all these devices.

We have unique products for each category. For TV category we have EVOW TV. A year back we entered the mobility segment. In this we have two segments: one is audio for mobility. For this we created a new company. This mainly focuses on audio for the smart generation. The other segment is mobility accessories,” said, Rajiv Bapna, Director, Amkette.

“Our Moto is to provide the best quality solutions at the right prices. We are mainly known for innovative designs and ease of use

in the market. Our products are easily affordable though not the cheapest in the market,” said, Jasmeet of Portronics.

“We provide the best value-for-money products. Our effort is to offer our customers the best in design, aesthetics, production quality and performance possible for a price point, and support with aftersales and service. We have more than 100 service centres operating country-wide (several in the tier-2 and tier-3 locations), which I would say, is a very unique proposition for a vendor. This has been done to gain consumer confidence in the Zebronics brand. Moreover, it provides an assurance to our 12,000-strong and loyal partners network that we are committed to long-term business and are here to stay,” claimed, Rajesh of Zebronics.

“Genius products represent cutting-edge technology, design innovation, superior quality and affordability. With 1300+ patents to its credit including the invention of the ‘Scrolling’ technology and the ‘OPTO – Touch scrolling’ technology for the mouse, Genius has always raised the bar with every new product, year after year. Our biggest USP is being able to anticipate market trends and consumer needs long before any other player and come with innovative and affordable products, which is just right for the consumers,” asserts, Gaurav of Genius India.

“Customers doesn’t buy products, they just buy benefits which can fulfill their need.

Moreover it’s the brand credibility which helps the customers to conclude on purchase decision.

Envent has established itself as a Great Quality & Innovative brand. It hasn’t been a cake walk for us and every-day we keep on exploring possibilities to increase the differentiating factors in our brand,” said, Sukesh of Envent.

“We strongly believe in coming out with the best of the product lines irrespective of any comparison with any other brand/product. We invest a substantial part of revenues in R&D for product innovation and design. Just to cite an example, our power banks offer 6 innovative features that may be missing in the other run of

the mill products available,” claimed, Richard of ADATA. “We are excellent in terms of quality when compared with any brand in the market. We are competitive in terms of pricing our products less expensive compared to OEMs. We provide best innovation in all our accessories and that is what differentiates us from other players. We don't consider ourselves as simple accessory product provider but a solution provider,” said, Puneet of SANTOK. “Astrum offers quality products at affordable prices. Our real users are the right persons to talk about comparison, however, we being a brand have certain quality analysis process which includes real-time certification and reports with which we ensure our customers get the best quality products,” concluded, Raymond of Astrum.

At Last Indian Market is very dynamic but Telecom is the most dynamic, versatile and competitive industry. The changes are so fast-paced that new inventions suddenly become obsolete.

New handsets are launched every week and they accessories that match them. Though the industry has evolved, there are very few established Accessory companies in India and the market share of the established players is still not limited. Absence of government policies to check the without-bill products, it is making life miserable for quality accessories companies.

“As I work in the university, I keep watching the youngsters and their habits. They often carry a bagful of accessories and gadgets such as headphones, powerbanks, chargers, speakers and so on. I often feel that gadgets should be multifunctional and at the same time of light weight. One gadget should perform several functions and should be useful not only for entertainment but also for students’ academic and professional purposes.”

Ranjip Dey, Admin (Corporate Resource Center), Manav Rachna International University www.mobilityindia.com

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cons u m e r a l e rt

Use your Mobile Phone

Safely and Wisely

T

he World Health Organization has

are thinner than adults’ and their brains are still

# Only use your cell phone to establish

announced on May 31, 2011 that cell

developing. Hence, radiation from cell phones

contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes,

phones can possibly cause cancer

penetrates more deeply into their brains and

as the biological effects are directly related to the

and as a result, have listed cell phones as a

is likely to cause more damage. Texting (while

duration of exposure. For longer conversations,

"carcinogenic hazard", in the same category with

holding the phone away from their body) is still

use a land line with a corded phone, not a cordless

lead and engine exhaust.[1] The peer-reviewed

fine for kids!

phone, which also uses electromagnetic emitting

study consisting of 31 scientists from 14 different

# While talking on your cell phone, try to keep

countries found evidence for an increase in some

the cell phone away from your body as much as

# Switch sides regularly while communicating

brain cancers (glioma and acoustic neuroma),

possible. The amplitude of the electromagnetic

on your cell phone to spread out your exposure.

cancers that take a while to develop and the

field (radiation) is one fourth the strength at

Before putting your cell phone to the ear, wait

scientists fear that long-term usage could result

a distance of two inches and fifty times lower

until your correspondent has picked up. This

in more of these types of cancer.

at three feet. Whenever possible, use the

limits the power of the electromagnetic field

speaker-phone mode or a wired headset (not a

emitted near your ear and the duration of your

Bluetooth).

exposure.

Cell phones communicate using signals in the microwave spectrum. The invisible stream of

technology similar to that of cell phones.

RF (radio frequency) signals penetrate our bodies

# Avoid using your cell phone when the signal

# When possible, communicate via text

when the device is held close, and as well as the

is weak or when moving at high speed, such as

messaging rather than making a call, to limit the

long-term potential for cancer, there is also the

in a car or train, as this automatically increases

duration of exposure and the proximity to the

potential to impact cognitive memory functions

power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly

body.

and to cause disorientation and dizziness. This

attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.

article explains how to take precautions when using your cell phone.

# Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body at all times. Do not keep it near your body

# Avoid using your cell phone in places like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone’s electromagnetic fields.

# Children should only use cell phones next

at night such as under the pillow or on a bedside

# Turn the cell phone off when not in use. A

to their heads for emergencies. Children’s skulls

table, particularly if pregnant. You can also put

cell phone that is in standby mode is still emitting

it on “flight” or “off-line” mode,

radiation. When it is off, this ceases. Do not carry

which stops electromagnetic

the cell phone next to your body; instead, keep

emissions.

it in a bag.

# If you must carry your cell

# Choose a device with the lowest SAR

phone on you, make sure that the

possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which

keypad is positioned toward your

is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field

body and the back is positioned

absorbed by the body).

toward the outside so that the transmitted

electromagnetic

fields move away from you rather

SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for “sar ratings cell phones” on the internet.

than through you.

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Mobi li t y ch a n n el foc us

“We have confidence in ourselves and as well as in Gionee as a brand” “PP Telecell Marketing Pvt Ltd” has been into retailing and distribution business of cell phones for nearly 2 decades with complete knowledge of the market. Today PP Telecell is the authorized regional partner of Gionee in Delhi and Haryana. In a direct interaction with Mobility Magazine Mr Rajesh Mahajan, MD of PP Telecell share their company’s mission, vision, plans and how they could make Gionee a successful brand

R

ajesh Mahajan, as one of those who started young, he already has over 20 years of experience in telecom Industry under his belt. After having over 5 yrs of experience in electronic gaming industry, Telecom Paging distribution in 1993 was the beginning for him in the distribution space with companies like Easy Call, RPG Paging, Page Link and Motorola Pager’s.

His first move to the telecom industry was with Essar (now known as vodaphone) in 1996.

The next switch was in the Handset Retail & Distribution Business in year 2000 by founding P.P Telecell wherein he worked with leading brands such as Ericsson, Sony, Sony Ericsson, HP Mobiles, O2 and Virgin Mobile in CDMA for nearly 8 years till 2008, followed by launching his own brand of mobile phone “Rage Mobile Phones” from year 2008-2012. Presently PP Telecell is working in association with UT Electronics promoting Gionee Mobiles in part of North India. PP Telecell believes that they will establish Gionee among the top 3 brands in there region.

Rajesh Shares, In the beginning Gionee was considered as another Chinese brand, but with Gionee offering world class products at affordable prices. In last one year the feedback we have received on consumer experience and quality is now well established among the consumer and trade alike.

Nowadays, many new entrants are making their entry into the cell phone market through exclusive online launches on sites such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, etc. Many people see them as a great threat particularly those distributors and retailer who are on the traditional channel. In this regard, Rajesh clarifies, “We are not threatened by online launches. Many new entrants from China come up with fantastic promises at the beginning, but time will tell that most of those promises are on the papers only and they become stale in the long run. The customers in India believe in hands on experience and personized aftercare which online could never offer. But changing trend of buying will attract a limited segment of the customers which are not more then 6 % today and looking at trend in other parts of the world this will grow upto 15% max. the remaining 85% will remain with the traditional channel.

Online retailers can never completely swallow the traditional channel. Traditional channel will continue to have the dominant share. A buyer is more likely to trust a traditional seller than an online seller when he thinks about service.

When the online sellers downgrade the price, the www.mobilityindia.com

market, but they could not sustain their shares, customer loses confidence in both the brand and not because they do not have good products, the traditional channel so it is essential that price but because they did not understand the Indian parity is maintained between the online and market well. As per a local adage, the winner of traditional channels. When online retailers sell at a chariot race is the one who can harmoniously low prices, brands also suffer. This practice has control all the pulling horses together. Same is hurt the sentiment of traditional channel already. the case in the smartphone market with many Regarding online retailing for Gionee , Rajesh big players competing with each others. The further Clarifies, we being regional sales partners successful players are those who can recognize of Gionee , are not selling our products to any the trends and the factors that will influence of the online sellers. Thanks to Mr. Arvind Vohra the buying decisions of the consumers and (Head Of Gionee India) for his vision to support make a coordinated effort to deal with several the traditional channel. intervening factors. The providers of Gionee are Regarding promotion, Rajesh further details, brilliant people and they come up with good In the last 2 quarters Gionee has done p r o d u c t s . We give them feedback about 2 big successful campaign across the media the India customers, which has been appreciated by consumer as well their needs and as trade. the result is clear with us as in the last 3 preferences.” months, ELife S5.5 has been our No 1 selling model (among Gionee’s models) in Delhi.

Going forward in the festival season the customer will see Gionee as the most visible and promising brand across media.

“For a good brand to be successful, product should be good and service should be good followed by availability”.

That is what we at PP Telecell have been working since day one. The demand for our products has been increasing exponentially.“In and around Delhi and Haryana we know about 8000 retailers.

Our target is to reach all of them by end of this year.

About Service, With our own L3 in place in Delhi now we along with Gionee are targeting a 100% turnaround time of 72 hrs for after sales service, which we have been able to achieve 87 % so far. In Service we are focusing on customer delight.

Rajesh Mahajan concludes, “Now we are regional partners only for Gionee. We have confidence in ourselves and as well as in Gionee as a brand. Gionee is one brand that delivers what it promises.

During the past 15 yrs many big brands appeared Mr Rajesh Mahajan, MD of PP Telecell in the Indian mobility September 2014

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tech Focus

“Our technology will be the game changer for navigation in India” "We continue to commit ourselves to consistently developing innovative next gen navigation solutions to ensure smooth, congestion-free, convenient and distraction-free commuting in Peter Bolesza, India" Vice President, Eastern Europe, Emerging Markets NNG LLC

W

e are a navigation software and industry’s first 3D visualization company, and we have 8 branches globally. Our HQ is in Hungary and we have more than 650 employees (80%+ in eengineering), an experienced and reliable navigation engine with more maps available than any other company. In India, we made our entry in 2011.

Since 2008, NNG is shifting towards automotive sector, so we changed the company strategy; we used to be a portable navigation software developer company and now we are strategically and fully with automotive. Because NNG has mobile products and navigation products, our strategic interest is to provide navigation solution for car manufacturers and infotainment suppliers.

Globally we can separate automotive market into to two major segments: one of them is the factory fitted navigation and then there is so called after-market which can be either in an after-market store or it can be a dealer fit option.

In this after-market segment, NNG is having around 60-65% market share globally, so we are a pretty dominant player.

The big USP of NNG is that we are truly localizing our products, which means that not only the languages are localized but we are also developing certain features for these regions that were really helpful in navigation in those regions.

Not many software developers can offer the same.

The infotainment suppliers love our solutions.

Another key USP is that even though we have localized to every single region. For example, if our solution is sold in Russia, then we will enable 32

mobility September 2014

Russian feature and if it is sold in India then we will enable Indian set of features.

In India, the market is not that big yet, as the navigation market has just started to bloom. No one could see until now what kind of benefits navigation could bring to India, but now car manufacturers have realized the importance of the navigation and are ready to provide this solution to their customers.

Recently we have launched ‘iGO Primo Nextgen’ designed specifically for the automotive industry. It offers easy adaptability to systems and hardware and promises to be the perfect OEM fit, while an innovative feature offers seamless mobile phone integration.

Designed specifically after using NNG’s 10 years of industry experience and projects for over 30 car manufacturers to cater to automotive needs, iGO Primo Nextgen features an adaptive HMI allowing easy customization for different hardware, screen size and resolution, while also being platform-independent.

Its easy adaptability is what makes it the perfect model for OEMs as it saves time and resources while adjusting the same, thus providing affordable navigation solution to the automotive industry.

There is flexibility in presenting data entry modes, as iGO primo nextgen supports multimodal data entry, including touch-screen, rotary controller and voice control, as well as a combination of these technologies. This new software is part of our vision to create user-friendly and affordable navigation solutions for all. The software can be adapted to any hardware or car model, which makes it truly unique; we enable our partners to choose the right mix of technologies for every model of their vehicle brands. We are hoping that the response from the Indian market will be appreciative.

ANS, as the strategic partner of NNG in India, will further aid in providing the necessary customer understanding and customer support. Due to the cooperation of the two companies, iGO primo nextgen is to be available on the market from late August for current and potential automotive partners of NNG and ANS. iGO primo nextgen carries a number of special features to offer a navigation experience tailored to the Indian market. Point addressing, natural guidance and integrated Quick Search are all aimed to make navigation a smooth experience and provide exceptional usability.

The need of the hour for OEMs in India is a single technology that raises the navigation software to a new level of usability, easy connectivity and feasibility. NNG realized this gap in the market and to address it, developed their groundbreaking new technology - ‘iGO primo nextgen’, localizing it to India. www.mobilityindia.com

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www.mobilityindia.com

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trendsetter

"We will offer the best androidOne experiences to our consumers"

B

ack in June Google has announced their Android One project. Karbonn, Spice and Micromax have unveiled their smartphone offerings at Google’s event in India, which is the strong emerging market for smartphone and the second biggest mobile market in the world. Google’s senior vice president and head of Android and Chrome, SundarPachai, has announced 9 new OEM partners for Android One program. He also announced a new chipset partner, Qualcomm in this event.

Android One is starting with hardware partners such as Micromax, Karbonn, Spice and chipmaker MediaTek, Google notes. It will then expand to Indonesia, the Philippines and South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) by the end of the year, with more countries to follow in 2015. Over this time, many additional partners, including Acer, Alcatel Onetouch, ASUS, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic, Xolo and chipmaker Qualcomm will come on board.

The handsets will provide a minimum set of features determined

by Google and will sell for affordable handsets in the competitive Indian phone market. The company has also teamed up with a local network to make it cheaper to download Android updates and new apps.

So, What Android One is?

Android One is Google’s project announced back at Google I/O. This means Google is partnering with OEMs in order for them to bring devices which contain Google’s software inside, which means they will get timely updates. Manufacturers can still implement 34

mobility September 2014

their own apps inside, though they can’t skin the OS or anything of the sort. Goal of this project is to offer solid smartphones to consumers while keeping their prices low.

Benefit for the customers

Google's Android One based smartphones are likely to have a huge impact on the smartphone industry in India. Benefit for the customers is that they will get more affordable phones with better specifications.

Availability:

Google has tied up with Indian OEMs likes of Micromax, Karbonn, Spice & CelKon to launch Android One-based smartphones in India.

According to Google, in a few weeks time, you can get an AndroidOne phone in brick and mortar shops. www.mobilityindia.com

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trend Setter

So how big is the potential market?

Google says that 1.75 billion people around the world already have a smart phone. And while reaching "the next billion users" sounds like a laudable goal, the real target is the over 5 billion people worldwide that do not have smart phones.

• • • • • • • • • •

- 1.3 GHz QuadCore Processor - 1GB RAM - 4.5 Inch IPS FWVGA Touch Screen Display - Dual SIM - 5 MP Rear Camera With LED Flash - 2MP Front Facing Camera - Spice Cloud - 35 GB Google Drive Storage - FM Radio - 1700 MAh Battery.

• • • • • • • • •

4.5-inch FWVGA Display Cortex A71.3 GHz quad-core processor 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory, 32GB expandable memory with MicroSD Android 4.4 (KitKat) OS 2xMicroSIM 5MP rear camera with LED flash 2MP front-facing camera 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio 1700 mAh battery

• •

4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) IPS display 1.3 GHz quad-core processor with Mali400 GPU • 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory, 32GB expandable memory with MicroSD •• Dual SIM • 5MP rear camera with LED flash • 2MP front-facing camera • 10.4 mm thick • 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS • 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio • 1700 mAh battery

Most people are only able to make simple voice calls, rather than connect with family through a live video chat, use mapping apps to find the closest hospital or simply search the web,, "We want to bring these experiences to more people." Mr. Pichai, Sr. V.P. Google Inc.

www.mobilityindia.com

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Apps

10 Mobile Apps

That Manage Your Finance, Travel and Smartphone Performance MyUniverse: Aditya Birla Money MyUniverse app is the mobile version of the unique, award winning online personal finance management platform www.myuniverse.co.in. With MyUniverse App, you can view all your bank, credit card and investment accounts in one place, manage your expenses better and stay informed of events affecting your investments. You can also sign up and link your accounts on the move with the app.

Imlee: With imlee you can stay connected with your family and all relatives.

And also find relatives whom you never knew before to grow your family network. With imlee family app you can view family connections with family tree, check profiles and know about all your relatives with family diary, get reminders on important days like birthdays and anniversaries.

These will help you to collect all relatives' information and easily connect with them.

DU Speed Booster: This app is an Android optimizer & cleaner master with a FREE built-in antivirus security feature. It can boost the speed of your phone by up to 60%, cleans junk (cache) files from your system and increase the available storage space on your SD card. It is a total Android phone optimization solution that combines the advanced functionality of an apps task cleaner, speed and RAM booster, storage (junk & cache) analyzer, security antivirus guard and protection master for your phone.

APUS Launcher: Super small, stylish sleek. APUS Launcher speeds up your phone and optimize your home screen. It is a superfast and trouble free launcher with only 1MB package. It automatically organizes your apps based on functions and efficient app management. APUS Launcher has APP RADAR to discover popular apps around you and save time on app searching.

Ixigo: ixigo.com is a travel search engine based in Gurgaon, India and a mobile travel app developer for Android. ixigo is an infomediary that aggregates travel websites to compare information and deals.

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Apps

Trover: Use Trover to visually explore the best of everywhere, whether around the corner or around the world. Designed for on-the-go discovery, use Trover to find beautiful places, exchange stories and share helpful tips from past journeys.

Rail Yatri: This app has been designed for train travelers in India. It gives you Live Train Running Information. My Trips option helps you with easy access to your upcoming travels, live arrival /departure status at a station, GPS-based running status for on-board travelers, ability to check running speed of a train, PNR enquiry based on IRCTC bookings, trains routes with schedules, integrated alerts for trains, including disruptions, cancellations, delayed starts, hotspots, platform numbers for trains,etc.

Zippr: It is an innovative app that helps users create a short code, a combination of 4 alphabets and 4 numbers to replace the traditional long address. This code can then be shared with anyone, either verbally via the phone or using the SMS and other messaging tools. The app helps you create and manage these places in a simple and intuitive manner.

Dingaling Mobile: This app allows you to make free calls and send messages over Wi Fi, 2G, 3G and 4G networks! Create an account with your email address or Facebook, provide your phone number (confirmation required via SMS or call), and start phoning for free! Dingaling is the only app that lets you phone free locally, long-distance and internationally—regardless of whether or not both users have the app. You can make free dialed calls to numerous countries, cheap calls to 150+ locations, and free peer-to-peer calls worldwide! Currently, free dialed calling countries including: Canada, China, India, France, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Dingaling also includes: Free Worldwide Messaging, Photo Sharing, Video Sharing, Sticker Sharing, Location Sharing and more.

Zopper: The best way to find the right product at the right price at the right place. With the Zopper App for Android, you can browse through over 10.5 million products, across 350 categories to find details of the product that you are looking for–we have literally got the largest catalog in India. Discover hundreds of deals and do price comparison from over 1000 online stores and 100,000 retail shops.

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i n t e r ac t i on

Mobility India caught up with Snapdeal's Tony Navin on their latest product portfolio development and upcoming trends in ecommerce segment

“A significant portion of our consumers are from tiers 2 & 3 cities” How many product categories and sellers do you have right now on your website?

Right now we have 500 product categories that we sell, from Pen Drive, memory cards to shoes and handkerchiefs. And recently we have added real estate to our portfolio, so we are open to launching everything. We have over 10,000 sellers across metros & small towns who are now able to cater to demands across the country.

The biggest change for them is addressing this increased demand which were till now constrained to local areas where the seller was located.

What is your business model & fundamentals?

Our focus is now ‘don’t shy away from any products,’ let them all be available and let the consumer pick up what he needs. And we believe in our solid business model and our committed team & right goals have been key reasons for our success. From category perspective, we will definitely add more and more category.

Tell us about your new Real Estate category that you have introduced recently We have changed the way consumers shop... now we intend to change the way they buy their homes. Buying a house is one of the most important and life-changing events in our lives... In line with this we want to bring our promise of ease and best value to the real estate category as well. As part of the deal, Snapdeal and Tata Value Homes will initially offer about 1000 units from seven new projects in five cities – Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Ahmadabad. The average cost of the apartments will be between Rs 31 lakh – Rs 70 lakh. However, starting price of some units in Ahmadabad will be Rs 18 lakh.

Prospective buyers will have to register on Snapdeal and book a home online by paying Rs 30,000, which is not refundable. Bookings will open on August

28 at 10 am and only registered buyers will be able to purchase an apartment. Tata Value Homes will also assist in getting house loans to for buyers if required.

We got tremendous response over the first few days, and we never expected that so many people will pick property online. From the kind of transactions we have seen, it seems consumers have started to trust online stores more and more, and they also trust brands like Tata Value Homes.

What makes you different from other e-commerce sites?

The differentiation comes in how differently you positioned yourself. For us a significant portion of our consumer is from Tiers 2 & 3 towns and that’s also our focus area.

Some e-commerce players focus predominantly on metros, which is fine. We have chosen our area where we want to play and they have their areas where they want to play. So there is a clear difference how we want to position ourselves.

Can you find product lines which you find on our portal any other e-commerce sites? You will not. We are at the forefront both at the exploring new product lines and selling new product lines online and we will continue to do that. And that is the key differentiator. Tomorrow someone wants to buy a particular product and if he does not find it anywhere else, then will find it our site. That’s our promise.

One has to address technical queries and complaints from customers end. For that we have a dedicated customer team to address them.

How do your logistics work?

We don’t have any logistics partners who will do logistics for us, we leave it to the experts who are the actual logistics companies like Blue Dart, Gati, DTDC, etc and we work with them very closely to ensure that products will reach safely and promptly even the customers in tiers 2 & 3 towns. They also do reverse pickups for us.

What is your forecast about the e-commerce in India?

In the next 2-3 years, the e-retail market is expected to become 5X the current size. And I believe personalization of offers & products showcased online is something that will evolve and will be a major differentiator.

Tony Navin, Sr. V.P. Electronics & Home, Snapdeal 38

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Date of Pub: 22 September 2014 | Postal Dt.: 27th & 28th of same Month/ Posted at NDPSO

R.N.I. No. DELENG/2004/14198 Postal Reg. No.: DL(S)-01/3442/2013-15

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