Mobility Issue April

Mobility Monthly Magazine

April 2015

Issue 04

Volume 11

Pages 44

`20

www.mobilityindia.com

beyond technology, beyond lifestyle

Next

phase of Evolution in Cameras

Product

Reviews

Intex IT-Rider SUF 4.1 Toreto Twins

Channel

FOCUS

Shankar Sharma CEO, SG Corporate Mobility Pvt. Ltd.

25 Net

NEutrality Internet for all

Personality

Mr. Suneet Singh Tuli

President & CEO, DataWind

4

Contents News

8

Launchpad

13

Q & A

14

Review

16

Personality

18

Portfolio

20

Trendsetter

21

Channel Focus

22

Special Story

24

Analysis

30

Technology Innovation

33

Cover Story

36

Buying Guide

40

Apps

42

Q & A with Rajesh Razdan, Founder and CEO, mCarbon Intex IT-Rider SUF 4.1 Channel Toreto Twins:

Datawind will shift 90% of its manufacturing to India within 90 days

We are looking at more than doubling our turnover in this financial year

Net Neutrality: Do we really need to Defend Internet Freedom in India?

Effect of 4G Rollout on the e-Commerce Industry Technological Interventions

Imaging Industry & how it is shaping up

36

14

16

Things to know before buying a camera

24

Enjoy IPL 8 on your small screen

Editor : Swapan Roy Chief Editor : Manoj Jha Associate Editor (Tech,) : Jayanta Ghosh Asst. Editor : E.J. Jawahardatham Art Director : Anit Kumar Creative Head : Karmendra Singh Negi Acct. & Finance : Sandip Sarkar Marketing Manager : Tridip Dey Marketing Executives : Sujit Goswami,

Pratap Biswas S. Dutt Raj Kumar Circulation Manager : P. Biswas Production : Ashish Ghosh Ashok Kumar Paul System Manager : Ajay Biswas

Mobility April 2015

H.O.: Delhi / Editorial Office 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.

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Info : Subscribe :

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Editorial

6

Fight for Net Neutrality,

Fight for the Freedom and Rights of Netizens

Editor’S Choice

InFocus M330 smartphone

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We have not heard of Net neutrality a month ago, but today everyone is talking and debating about this topic. What is Net Neutrality? In India, telecos till recently have been making good profits by selling voice minutes while at the back end they have been using voice over Internet protocol (or VOIP) to connect with other telcos and deliver calls using the Internet.

The cost of VOIP is a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional voice calls they were charging. But with WhatsApp, Skype and Google Hangouts offering consumers the same voice calls at Internet prices, delivered direct to their handsets, the telcos are getting worried as their margins started eroding.

So far Net has been neutral and telecos did not interfere, but now mobile operators are trying to pressurize the Indian government to regulate the Internet in their favor so that they could charge depending on the content instead of depending on the volume. So far the charges have been based on the volume we use. The changes proposed by telcos will automatically push up the prices, and put burden on the pockets of small companies and common citizens or netizens.

Today all sensible net users are uniting under one umbrella to prevent ISPs and TSPs from setting conditions and charge different prices for different contents we use on the Net. We should not let a few to monopolize the Net services. Let us all unite fight for Net Neutrality. Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) is going to decide if India should have open and equal access to Internet.

LONG LIVE NET NEUTRALITY!!!!

Swapan Roy roymobility@gmail.com

Mobility April 2015

he US brand InFocus’s spectacular M330 smartphone is one of the most path-breaking products to be introduced in the domestic smartphone realm with the world’s first Octa-Core 1.7GHz 64bit CPU and Mali-450 Quad Core GPU. It provides a highly fluent, efficient and seamless user experience with a 2 GB RAM and a 16 GB ROM. The 13MP high resolution auto-focus main camera with F2.2 aperture, accompanied by an 8MP auto-focus beauty shot front camera ensures that not a single worthy moment goes by without being captured splendidly.

With the Black Screen Gesture feature, users can set up their own 15 black screen gestures and enjoy a new, easy and faster-than-ever smartphone experience. If you’ve always dreamt of owning a stellar smartphone with bestin-class features, superior build quality and a bigger visual experience, M330 should be your choice.

News

8

Canon reigns No. 1 position in global interchangeablelens digital camera market for 12 consecutive years

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anon again retained the No. 1 market for the 12year period spanning 2003 to 2014. Canon develops the key components, namely the CMOS image sensors, image processors and

interchangeablelenses, employed in its interchangeable-lens cameras. The most

advanced of these technologies are incorporated across the Company’s entire product lineup, spanning from professional-use flagship cameras to entry-level models, enabling the Company to maintain the top global share by offering a robust product lineup that effectively responds to the needs of a wide range of users.

Aiming to further strengthen its wide product lineup, Canon introduced five new camera models in February of this year. The new lineup comprises the EOS 5DS and 5DS R, the EOS 8000D and EOS Kiss X8i.

Motorola opens its first ‘Moto Care’ center in India

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otorola unveiled its first ‘Moto Care’ flagship center in India.

Located in the heart of Bangalore, this facility will provide best-in-class service and support to customers – while also offering a stateof-the art experience zone, allowing consumers to get ‘hands on’ with our product portfolio. The Moto Care

Mobility April 2015

center is located in the heart of the city on Jayanagar Road. The facility is spread across 3000 sq.ft, with the latest interior design features and experiences unique to Motorola. The service and support area will give consumers a walkin service experience with highly trained support staff.

Support will be provided for various queries across software upgrades and device hardware repair.The Experience Zone will give consumers the chance to experience entire product portfolio. The zone can also facilitate online orders via Flipkart.

Karbonn diversifies business portfolio, forays into mobile accessories segment

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arbonn diversified into a new business segment with the launch of Karbonn Mobile Accessories vertical. The mobile accessories portfolio includes a range of Power Banks and Screen Guards to bring quality and technologically robust mobile phone auxiliaries to customers at a competitive price-point. Karbonn Accessories portfolio include the next generation Lithium- Polymer power banks available in three power variants including 5,000mAh, 7,000mAh and 10,000mAh. The 7,000mAh and 10,000mAh

power banks introduced

by Karbonn are equipped with dual charging ports

for charging more than one mobile device and LED indicators for capacity status. The power banks priced at 999 upwards would be available for sale on Snapdeal. Karbonn also offers a range of superior quality screen guards under the brand “Ultra Clear” customised for Karbonn mobile devices.

LAVA International Ltd. appoints Solomon Wheeler

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AVA International Limited, one of the leading players in the Indian mobile handset industry

announced appointment of Solomon Wheeler as its Vice President and Head – Marketing & Communication.

Solomon would be leading all marketing & communication efforts for the Lava brand across India and global markets.

In his last role, he was with Spice Jet as Head of Brand & Marketing across India, SAARC and UAE. On his new role, Solomon Wheeler expressed, “The Indian mobile handset industry is very dynamic and is undergoing a transformation. LAVA International Limited has played a key role in this change so far and I am extremely excited to be a part of the brand at an important juncture. This category in itself offers a lot of challenges and opportunities at the same time. Consumers are always at the core of our business and we intend to create differentiated yet relevant marketing campaigns to connect & build a deep relationship with the target segments.”

Mobility April 2015

News

10

Swipe’s Shripal Gandhi in ET’s India’s Top 50 Entrepreneurs

Transcend ties up with Snapdeal and Amazon for their Dashcam in India

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ranscend is now tying up with Snapdeal and Amazon for its dashcam DrivePro100 and DrivePro200 to provide great value for drivers by providing them safety on the road.

Drivers can choose from these two models provided

by Transcend that is DrivePro 100 DrivePro 200.

DrivePro 100 is the standard model with Large F/1.8 Aperture, handy snapshot feature and G-Sensor for emergency recording, while DrivePro 200 is designed as a premium level, apart from all the standard nice

he Economic Times’ Top 50 ranking of Inspiring Entrepreneurs of India has listed Swipe’s Shripal Gandhi as one of them. The Economic Times Top 50 Inspiring Entrepreneur rankings includes the who’s who of India Inc such as Azim

Hashim Premji – Wipro Limited, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal – ArcelorMittal, Sachin Bansal – Flipkart, Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao – GMR Group, Gautam

Adani – Adani Enterprises, Shiv Nadar – HCL, Narayana Murthy – Infosys, Kunal Bahl – Snapdeal, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw – Biocon, Sunil Bharti Mittal – Bharti Enterprises, Baba Kalyani – Bharat Forge, Kishore Biyani – Future Group.

The young innovative mind behind Swipe Technologies, Mr. Shripal Gandhi is instrumental in heralding a revolution in India with affordable mobility products.

Swipe Technologies today has India’s largest Tablet/Fablets portfolio In a short span of 30 months, 500,000+ consumers are proud owners of Swipe Tablets and Fablets.

Intex Technologies expands its TV range with new LED TV

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evised to deliver the ultimate home entertainment experience, Intex Technologies, one of the leading Consumer Electronics brand announced the launch of its elegant, LED 3111 TV. It

has the Eye Safe T Matrix LED technology & smart power saving feature which reduces time lag, relieves eye strain & reduces power consumption. Catering

Mobility April 2015

to entry level to high-end enthusiast range, the LEDTV is equipped with built in stereo speakers with a stereo output of 10 W*2 having noise cancellation ability for cinematic sound experience. Envisioning seamless connectivity, the television is equipped with an RF, Composite AV in and out, USB Port, VGA, PC audio in and three HDMI input outlets for hassle-free networking with entertainment devices.

Priced at Rs. 23,990, the 3111 LED is available at all Intex associations of 1100+ distributors and over 80,000 retail partners PAN India.

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features, DrivePro200 is equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity for advanced

controlling or downloading recording videos to users mobile devices. The ultra wide viewing angel and Full HD sharp recording of both models are the best for your road safety, incident and adventure recordings.

Pricing and Availability DrivePro200 is available at a price of Rs.9899 and DrivePro100 is available at a price of Rs.8999

Huawei, ONOS and ONF to Build Open and Innovative SDN Ecosystem Catering for Operators

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uawei, together with Open Network Operating System (ONOS) and Open Networking Foundation (ONF), announced that together they will build an open and innovative SDN industry ecosystem, enabling operators to accelerate SDN commercialization.

The requirement for ultra-fast connections and focus on reducing costs has resulted in softwaredefined networking (SDN) becoming key for operator network architecture transformation. Led by leading global operators and equipment suppliers, ONOS is the industry’s first open source SDN control platform which focuses on operators’ networks

and service requirements and considers operators’ demands including high performance, reliability, security, and scalability. Its

robust architecture design makes it an ideal choice for operators to develop their business in the future.

Huawei’s SDN solutions will fully support the ONOS platform and Huawei will focus on creating a cohesive, open, and programmable SDN network architecture to meet the needs of operators.

Launch Pad

12

Karbonn Titanium Mach Two Smartphone

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in India

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T

amsung unveiled its most-awaited smartphones – GALAXY S6 and GALAXY S6 Edge in India. The GALAXY S6 Edge’s glass body, made from the toughest glass to date, Corning Gorilla Glass 4, is available in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6) and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 Edge), which elicit a unique visual texture as it reflects natural light.The S6 is priced at 49,900 (32GB), 55,900 (64GB) and 61,900 (128GB), while S6 Edge is available at a price of 58,900 (32GB), 64,900 (64GB) and 70,900 (128GB).

he Titanium Mach Two smartphone sports a 5-inch 720p HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on both sides.The phone runs on a 1.4GHz octa-core processor and Android 4.4 KitKat operating system which can be upgraded to Android Lollipop. It offers 1GB of RAM and 8GB internal storage which can be expanded up to 32GB. Titanium Mach Two has dual SIM card slots and supports 3G connectivity.

Titanium Mach Two has 8MP A/F front and rear cameras with BSI image sensor. Priced at 10,490/-

Honor Honor 6 and Honor 4X

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onor announced that the Honor 6 Plus would be available at a price of Rs. 26499/- while Honor 4X will offer stiff competition in the mid-end segment, with its price of Rs. 10499. The company has also launched a separate website for India, www. hihonor.in. This website will provide a platform to engage with Indian customers, enable creation of Honor communities, and allow people to share their Brave stories, as Honor is a brand ‘for the brave’.

Celkon Millennia Q450

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illennia Q450 is a dual SIM model powered by 1.3 GHz Quad Core processor. The highlight of Millennia Q450 is its 4.5” Capacitive FWVGA, IPS Display.

The model is backed by a powerful 1800mAh Lithium Ion battery. The internal memory of 4GB expandable up to 32GB, with 512MB RAM. The Millennia Q450 is priced at Rs. 4799/- and will be available in all retail stores.

Mobility April 2015

STK 4000 mAh Cuboid2 Power Bank

F

eaturing the lithium – polymer technology the robust Power Bank can power up smartphones, MP3, MP4, 1 AMP Tablets and other such devices with its 4000mAh battery.

The Power Bank automatically adjusts its output based on the connected device. The Power bank is compatible with most of the smartphones whose input is equal to 1.0A. Priced at Rs. 1,299/-

Launch Pad

HTC One M8s

Intex Aqua Desire HD

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TC launched the One M8s a revamped version of the very-popular M8 smartphone that is exclusive to Europe, might be launched shortly in India. The HTC One M8s retains the original design aesthetics of the original One M8: a 5-inch full HD display with a 1920Ă—1080 pixels resolution. The One M8s is powered by a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz. The original One M8 comes with a 2.3 GHz quadcore Snapdragon 801 CPU. The HTC One M8s comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage which is expandable via microSD card.

Instead, the One M8s sports a 13MP rear Duo camera along with a 5MP front-facing camera.

It is backed by a slightly larger 2840 mAh battery. Priced at approx Rs.35000/-

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ntex has launched a new octacore smartphone, Aqua Desire HD at Rs 8,990. The phone is the successor to the company’s Aqua Desire smartphone. The Aqua Desire HD sports a 5-inch HD (720x1280p) IPS display.Powered by a 1.4GHz MediaTek MT6592M octa-core processor and 1GB RAM, the phone has 8GB internal storage that is expandable up to 32GB via microSD card. Runs Android 4.4 KitKat, with 10MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front-facing camera & 2,000 mAh battery.

Nikon 1J5 mirrorless camera

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ikon has announced its latest mirror less compact camera, the Nikon 1 J5, which will available selling from late April onwards at a price of $500 or approx Rs 31,500 along with the 1 Nikkon 10-30mm kit lens. Nikon 1 J5 comes with a CX-format 1-inch 20.8MP BSI-CMOS sensor which drops the anti-aliasing filter for sharper images. It borrows the hybrid AF system from its predecessor Nikon 1 J4.

It offers a continuous burst rate of 20 frames per second with full AF and at full resolution; and can even go up to 60 frames per second if the AF is fixed. Nikon has added in the EXPEED 5A image processor which improves the speed of shooting.

Bowers & Wilkins launches 3 new products in India

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owers & Wilkins announced the launch of 3 new products in India. These new products include Bowers & Wilkins T7, Bowers & Wilkins P5 Series 2 & Bowers & Wilkins C5 Series 2. Bowers & Wilkins T7: MRP 29,900/- , P5 Series 2: MRP 23,500/-, C5 Series 2: MRP 15,499/- .

Bowers & Wilkins products are available at Apple Premium Retail outlets all over India.

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL and 640 Dual SIM now in India

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umia 640 XL and Lumia 640, both upgradable to Windows 10, come armed with Windows Phone 8.1 with the Lumia Denim update. With the 12 month Office 365 Personal subscription offer, with free One Drive storage, those important documents are always within reach too.

The Lumia 640 XL will be available across channels at a best buy price of INR 15,799/- and Lumia 640 will be available exclusively on Flipkart at the best buy price of INR 11,999/-

Mobility April 2015

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Q&A

Q

A

Q & A with Rajesh Razdan, Founder and CEO, mCarbon;

a mobile technology solution innovator Rajesh Rajdan founded mCarbon in early 2008 to create compelling platform-based offerings for telcos to maximize revenues in the areas of usage and retention, customer life cycle and value management. An industry veteran with 16 years of experience, his vision is to support global telcos through technologybased offerings to help them up-sell and cross-sell more, enabling continuous usage- and return-based business models. In his present capacity as CEO, Mr. Rajesh Razdan steers mCarbon’s strategic vision, corporate development and operations. In the past, Rajesh has served as a member of solution sales team at Nokia Siemens and handled APAC and India region.

Formerly, he held senior positions with leading telecom organizations including KPN International Consulting, Ericsson and Roamware wherein he worked across business development, product management, channels, strategic alliances, marketing and strategy functions.

Mobility April 2015

Please brief us about mCarbon? mCarbon is headquartered in Noida, servicing a total base of over 500 million subscribers across all major telcos in India. The company is the leading provider of usage and revenue upliftment products for telcos that increase user engagement through various offerings by using

Our main focus areas:

• Increase pay revenue and monetize channels • Enhance customer lifetime value • Enrich customer experiences across the subscriber base. deep customer analytics as a base. mCarbon’s flagship products, micro loan for talk time, data and dynamic end of call notification for prepaid customers enable telcos to engage their base better by using such services during the entire life cycle of a subscriber. The products enable telecom companies to simplify and personalize customer

Rajesh Rajdan, CEO, mCarbon

experience by using consumption analytics and usage patterns.

The mCarbon team has extensive regional and global experience of managing various value-added services and U&R products for many years. mCarbon through its differentiated and proven products has been successful in being a preferred partner for telcos and enterprises across India and South Asia.

What are the new ventures and path breaking initiatives?

Telcos often find themselves at the crossroads of being efficient connectivity providers and enabling new revenue opportunities

Revenue Uplift:

 Airtime Advance and Credit  Multi Option recharge  Interactive Notifier through innovation and collaboration. Thus, in today’s challenging environment, there arises an inevitable need to introduce products/services

that can enhance usage and generate revenue for the telcos. Addressing this need, mCarbon’s revenue uplift portfolio strives to empower telcos with

Customer experience management:  Campaign Manager Plus  Multi-Channel Customer Engagement  Call Management Suite products/services that generate additional revenue by implementing products like Call Completion suite, interactive-End of Call Notification, Talktime Commerce and Gifting, etc. Our Intelligent notifier platform uses advanced Big Data Analytics and usage patterns to allow telcos to create actionable customer insights from their data in real-time. Operators can create customer interactions that are more Personal, Relevant and Timely; providing a better user experience and generating higher returns than the traditional segmented campaigns.

Customers interact with their service providers

Q&A

through a variety of touchpoints like consuming a service, downloading an application, calling customer care or physically visiting a store. Therefore, it is imperative to enhance and manage a customer’s experience to stand out from the competition. mCarbon’s CEM portfolio supports telcos in managing customer relationship, designing marketing mix models for each customer, measuring customer loyalty, determining the true value of a customer, product upselling and cross-selling and driving engagement on the network. Call Manager suite enables all incomplete calls in the network to get completed by using various

Network monetization:    

Diameter Gateway Charging Gateway Feature Delivery Engine Messaging Gateway

use cases like schedule calls at a particular time, stop spam, missed call notifications or collect call that allows subscribers to request their families and friends to take care of the call charge when one doesn’t have enough balance. mCarbon’s core network-based products enable the telcos to simplify the network towards external business applications. Our products help telcos to make the network OTT ready and monetizable. They simplify network consolidation and migration thus creating a seamless experience regardless of access technology.

How mCarbon oversees the market in India in this segment?

This is undoubtedly a VAS 2.0 for India. While the first avatar was all content aggregation using traditional methods like Voice, SMS being pushed to the consumer, now it is about contextual products, better target audience, since customers have become more aware (with data as a key driver, many such services are freely available over mobile Internet) and there is a tremendous choice being offered by the OTT

market.

Also, at a macro level, industry has witnessed a series of developments on the back of various factors, such as rising mobile Internet and broadband penetration, double-digit growth in terms of number of mobile phone users and further innovation in product development via apps and social media.

Industry trends likely in 2015-16 According to the Government of India statistics, even with urbanization and migration,

will grow. The VAS space is expected to grow beyond SMS services and is pegged to reach Rs 482 billion by 2015, from Rs 122 billion in 2010.

Some key nonentertainment services for the rural and urban segments will be in the areas of governance, commerce, health and education, with a need for customization according to the demographic segment.

Mobile wallet services will also support financial inclusion in a much more significant manner in the coming year. Banking and

Within a span of seven years, mCarbon has managed to make a mark through its products and services which have garnered attention and received accolades, putting us in the spotlight as a prime innovator in the industry.

2014

Declared as the “Top 5 most promising Telecom Solution Provider in India” by Silicon India

2013

Awarded as the “Most Promising Private Technology Venture in Asia” by Red Herring Top 100 Asia 2013

2012

Recognized by NASSCOM Emerge Forum in the League of Top 10 Companies Best “Valued Partner” Award for Innovation from Bharti Airtel

players of all types. A good example is SMS being a primitive VAS product while messenger app like Whatsapp being a clear VAS 2.0 product. The offerings that take usage analytics of the customer as the key driver, ease-of-use and availability across device types will be seeing more adoption in the current value added services

63% of India’s population would still be living in rural areas in 2025. The proliferation of low cost handsets and innovative budget telecom plans has also lowered the entry barrier for new class consumers to the telecom and VAS market. The bottom of the pyramid focus is thus here to stay and regional language trends

remittance services over mobile phones can reach deep into the hinterland, in areas where formal financial services are seldom available. Voice and/or SMS-based applications are likely to continue to dominate, especially as the user base continues to expand into lower income segments of the population.

Mobility April 2015

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Review

16

Intex IT-Rider SUF 4.1 Channel Great budget performer

Mobility Ratings 60 80 85 85

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omputer speaker market is getting very competitive in the sub Rs. 7000/- category. There are a number of options available in the market with good quality speakers in this price bracket. Intex Technologies recently introduced the IT-Rider SUF 4.1 channel speakers which offer above-average sound and excellent build quality in this segment.

Features: The input options of the device include USB, SD card slot, Aux & MMC. The IT Rider SUF also comes with a LED display, Digital FM feature, remote control function, etc bundled with all connectivity features.

The input & output jack, RCA offers multiple channel inputs that support and connects the system to the new generation TV, PC or a DVD player. The speaker has an output power of 50W + 15W x 4. The main units of IT Rider are compact and lightweight. It also has a full function remote control.

Mobility April 2015

Setup & Testing Intex IT-Rider SUF 4.1 speaker system includes a detailed manual as well as a quick setup guide.

All of the satellite inputs are fed into the subwoofer enclosure which also houses the power supply and amp.

Speaker inputs are color coded on the back of the subwoofer and we noticed that the rear speakers came with longer cables than the satellites used for the front, giving you ample room to position your rear speakers where you want them.

And setting up this 4.1 speaker system is relatively easy and we experienced no problems with getting sound from the speaker system. Upon setup, we noticed that the satellite speakers are rather light, but give you quality sound output.

In our testing, we played every genre of music right from top Bollywood numbers to Yo Yo tracks to EDM and also tried some classics, jazz, Blues and

gazals. The Intex IT-Rider SUF 4.1 speaker produced very crisp highs and lows, but detailing is average.

Bass is crisp and apparent; the satellites in particular pushed the highs out very well creating a crisp but somewhat flat projection. In our movie and game testing, the speaker produced good crisp highs and deep bass output. It gives you very quality sound that is better than most speakers in its class with minimal white noise. Available in black color and can be bought through Intex’s vast distribution network across India.

Verdict: The Intex IT-Rider SUF 4.1 speaker system works well for gaming and surround sound movies and music reproduction is better than most speaker systems in this price range.

Priced : INR 5200/Pros: Good input options,

Design

Performance

value for money

Overall

light satellite speakers, adequate wires to fit the satellite speakers, budget speaker.

Cons: Design is not that great

Specifications • 50W + 15W x 4 • Main Unit:20Hz – 200Hz, Satellite: 200Hz – 20KHz frequency response • Main Unit:16.5cm(6.5”) /50W, Satellite:7.62cm (3”)/15W speaker size • ≥ 60 db S/N • ≥ 40 db separation • 8 Ω Impedance • AC 220V ~ 240V/50Hz power supply • 88MHz to 108MHz FM Frequency Receiver • ST-By/ PP, Source, Tuning-/ Prev, Tuning+/Next, Vol+, Vol- (controls) • RCA input and output jack

Review

17

Toreto Twins:

Pair and enjoy ROOM FULL OF SOUND Mobility Ratings 40 70 60 70

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rand Toreto known for its power solutions, gadgets and accessories recently introduced its new Bluetooth portable speakers, ‘Twins.’ The key highlights of these speakers are that you can pair two speakers with your device to get true left and right stereo separation and use both the speakers separately as individual units. Twins is compatible with all Apple devices, Smart phones, PCs and MP3 players.

LOOKS & Features: The speakers are not at all an eye-catcher, but designed in a very basic and practical style. On the back side of the speaker you will get a Aux Input Jack, Function Indicates LED, Micro USB Charge Jack and a Power ON/OFF switch on the top. The front of the speakers are very basic mesh style and only two buttons on the front top for Volume-/Previous Sound and Volume+/Next Sound.

On the top of the speaker, you will get a Handsfree/ Play/Pause Button.

SETUP : For pairing the Speakers for Stereo use, first you have to slide the power switch at the back of both the speakers to on. Then both speakers will give a beeping sound. The blue LED light will flash quickly and then you have to press the button on top of both speakers and keep pressed until the LED starts flashing slower. The speakers will give a few beeps to indicate the speakers are paired with each other. This will take about 30 sec.

To pair both speakers with your mobile device, turn on Bluetooth on your mobile device. Usually you can find this on your phone or tablet in the settings, then press on just one (left) of the speakers again the phone button until the led starts flashing fast. On your phone or tablet, you will see now TBS-305, press connect on your mobile device, after connecting the LED on the speaker will stop flashing on one speaker, the other speaker LED with flash

slowly. The speakers are paired with your mobile device. But you need to do this set ups. After pairing, the speakers will be automatically paired when you switch on next time.

PERFORMANCE: Once we pair these twins with your mobile device, it gives a definite improvement over smartphone, tablet or even many laptop speakers.

The Twins are small and portable, perfect for people who want to listen to music on the go, but don’t necessarily need wired stuff. They also expand to give a better bass response.

Light enough for the twins to move easily around your desktop or from the living room to the kitchen or even outdoors to a balcony.

The speakers’ sweet spot is mid-range audio, but if you increase the volume to maximum, the end result is noise and scratchiness on any bass-intensive track. Toreto Twins have certainly got range. During testing, we didn’t notice any

Design

Performance

value for money

Overall

drops in playback until our smartphone was about 40 feet away from the speakers.

It gives approximately 4-5 hours of medium-volume playback and 3 to 4 hours at high-volume. You can also attend and make calls with it. VERDICT: VERDICT: Simple and easy-to-use Bluetooth twin speakers, which give you a room full of sound.

PRICE: Rs. 6999/PROS: Compact, easy pairing, good sound quality CONS: Price is bit high, design is not that great

Specifications • Built-in Li-ion rechargeable battery • Bluetooth pairing • Hands-free • Voice prompts • USB charging • LED indicator • 3.5 mm jack plug

Mobility April 2015

Personality

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Suneet Singh Tuli, President & CEO, DataWind

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e are passionate about technology and the access that enables and empowers the common man to achieve more in every conceivable way. With our new range of ultra-low cost smartphones, powered with free Internet access by India’s leading network, we hope to ignite a spark that will revolutionize India’s movement towards

achieving its grand vision of a Digital India. We see this as a beginning of a new phase in Internet revolution led by mobile Internet and we are delighted and privileged to have Reliance Communications by our side in this new transformational journey towards a Digital India.

The new range of PocketSurfer smartphones were unveiled by H.E. the High Commissioner for Canada to India; Nadir Patel, Parliament Secretary to Minister of International Trade, Canada; Mr. Parm Gill, President & CEO of DataWind; Suneet Singh Tuli, Prof N.K. Goyal, President of CMAI; and Mr Sujith Haridas, Deputy Director General, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

Mobility April 2015

Q. What is your take

Q. What is your idea

A. We really thank the Indian Government for implementing DataWind’s recommendations and reversing the inverse duty structure related to smartphones and tablets.

The company made a pledge to shift 90% of its manufacturing to India within 90 days. “In our commitment to Make in India, we hope to generate 1000 new direct & indirect jobs in India within the next year as we work with electronics manufacturing services companies in India.

A. We know that affordability is a big issue and challenge and people who earn Rs 6000 to 7000 per month won’t be able to afford devices costing Rs 20,000 or 30,000. We need to create devices which are affordable to them. When we created tablets and calling pads costing less than Rs 3000, the people responded well.

That for us was really the first stage or step. Next thing that we want to do is to connect them and connect the masses. United Nations recently pointed

on Government’s initiative Make in India?

behind launching the new range of smartphones in India?

Personality Even endless forms of communications can be conducted on the free access delivered by DataWind, including access to e-mail and social networking sites. The PocketSurfer smartphones come bundled with the infinite power of the Internet, For Free! The new range of smartphones come powered with free unlimited Internet browsing for one year on Reliance Communications, India’s most progressive mobile network.

Datawind

will shift 90% of its manufacturing to India within 90 days

Q. What is more?

A Covered by 18, US

The PocketSurfer smartphones come bundled with the infinite power of the Internet, For Free!

Product Specifications and Details

PocketSurfer 3G5

PocketSurfer 3G4

PocketSurfer 2G4

Screen

5” Capacitive

4” Capacitive

3.5” Capacitive

800x480 pixels

800x480 pixels

320x480 pixels

Cortex A7 – 1.2Ghz

Cortex A7 – 1.2Ghz

Cortex A5 – 1Ghz

Dual Core

Dual Core

Android 4.4.2

Android 4.4.2

CPU

OS

Android 4.0

512 MB / 4GB

256 MB / 512 MB

256 MB / 512 MB

GSM: 3G & EDGE

GSM: 3G & EDGE

GSM: GPRS & EDGE

Bluetooth, WiFi,

Bluetooth, WiFi,

Bluetooth, WiFi,

FM Radio,

FM Radio,

FM Radio,

RAM/ROM Networks

VGA / 3MP (Flash)

VGA / 5MP (Flash)

VGA Rear

SIM

Dual

Dual

Dual

MRP

Rs.5499

Rs.2999

Rs.1999

Cameras

out that Internet access is the basic human right, but a billion Indians still don’t have access to the Internet because they cannot afford.

We want to empower them; we want to resolve that challenge.

Q. What are the unique

features of your latest smartphone range?

A With access to billions of web pages, at no cost, users can take advantage of content for both education

and entertainment. The web is the most powerful tool for commerce, allowing users to make travel bookings, purchase from ecommerce sites or even promote their own businesses and conduct transactions.

and international patents, DataWind’s web delivery platform delivers a fast and affordable route to Internet over 2.5G and 3G networks. DataWind’s back-end cloud servers compress and accelerate the delivery of web content by factors of 10x to 30x to render a fast and rich desktop-like web experience even on traditional GPRS/EDGE 2.5G mobile networks. Utilizing DataWind’s technology, a year of unlimited access on the UbiSurfer browser is bundled with PocketSurfer devices and delivered using the Reliance Communications GSM network for free. The free-access does not include audio/video streaming or local-downloads, which can alternatively be accessed by topping-up using market plans. Driving the grand vision of a Digital India, DataWind (TSX: DW), a leading provider of low cost Internet connectivity and wireless web access products, today redefined the meaning of affordability, with the launch of its most affordable smartphone range starting at just Rs 1999.

Mobility April 2015

19

20

Portfolio

Gionee Ultra Smartphone ELIFE S7 OPERATING SYSTEM Runs on Android 5.0 with Gionee’s Amigo 3.0 UI.

SCREEN 5.2” Super AMOLED FHD, 1920×1080, PPI=424 , Gorilla Glass 3rd

CPC TRU Octa-core 1.7GHz CPU with a 595 density 2700 mAh battery

PORTS There is SIM tray that fits two SIM cards. The phone supports GSM 2G, 3G (international and Chinese) and two 4G LTE flavors.

SIZE Gionee ELIFE S7 stands at 5.5mm thin

RAM 2GB of RAM 16GB of built-in memory

CAMERA 13.0MP rear camera, LED flash, AF and 8.0MP front-facing camera

COLOR Color options include Los Angeles Black, North Pole White and Maldives Blue.

Mobility April 2015

Trend Setter

21

Lenovo A7000 First phone to feature Dolby Atoms Sound

Dolby Atmos is the company’s latest big surround sound tech. Forget boring old stereo, hearing things panning

T

he A7000 is following on from the Lenovo A6000 which was a smash hit device in the Indian market. The A7000 first unveiled at Mobile World Congress this year.

• The Lenovo A7000 packs a 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6572m octa-core processor and has MaliT760MP2 graphics.

• 5-inch IPS displays with resolution of 1280 x 720 resulting in 267 ppi.

• 2GB of RAM and expandable storage via microSD to 32GB. However, the A7000 has 8GB of in-built internal storage.

• The Lenovo phone has an 8-megapixel rear camera with autofocus

and LED flash, with a 5-megapixel front-facing snapper • The A7000 has a removable 2900 mAh battery.

from left to right, or even sounds popping up behind you – that’s child’s play. Listening through the A7000, Dolby Atmos lets you hear the direction and height of noises.

• 4G LTE, 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and microUSB 2.0.

• The A7000 runs Android 5.0 Lollipop with Lenovo’s Vibe UI. • The A7000 measures 152.6mm x 76.2mm x 8mm and weighs 140g.

• The Lenovo A7000 has a higher capacity battery and is the slimmer and lighter than its rival and it also has the benefit of Dolby Atmos for enhanced audio.

Sudhin Mathur, DirectorSmartphones, Lenovo India “The A7000 brings in flagship worthy features and performance at an incredible price making it a perfect choice for consumers looking for a trendy and powerful phone loaded with future-proof features.”

Priced at Rs. 8,999/- the A7000 comes with one very strong feature to help it stand out from the mid-range crowd.

According to Lenovo, the company sold 30,000 units in mere 4 seconds.

Mobility April 2015

22

Channel Focus

WE ARE

looking at more than doubling our turnover in this financial year Shankar Sharma, CEO, SG Corporate Mobility Pvt. Ltd.

SG Corp is one of the largest distributors of tablets, mobile phones, accessories, peripherals and monitors. Established in 2007, SG Corp has its Head Office in Karnal, Haryana, Corporate Office in Delhi and 12 branch offices across India. With more than 100 employees, SG Corp has business associations with some of the big Mobile and Tablet brands. Shankar Sharma, CEO, SG Corp, in an interaction with Mobility magazine shares his company’s policy, plans and mission.

Mobility April 2015

Q. Please brief us

about SG Corporate Mobility Pvt Ltd, the brands and the products you are dealing. Please give us your focus for the coming 1 year.

A SG Corporate Mobility Pvt Ltd is an ISO 9001:2008 certified distribution house that started in Karnal, Haryana and now operates across entire India. We have branch offices in 12 states and are into Distribution & also into direct B2B and institutional sales of mobile phones, data cards, tablets, cameras and mobiles/IT peripherals. SG Corp is National Distributor for

AOC (mobiles, tablets, phablets) and also deals in AOC LED and monitors for B2B. We are also Regional Distributors for LG, Lenovo and Asus mobiles and tablets and Dell tablets.

For some geographies, we distribute Vivo and Oppo mobiles as well. SG Corp is one of the largest tablet selling distribution houses and deals in all brands of tablets for B2B and institutional sales.

Q. As a distributor of Mobile gadgets and accessories, what are the latest trends you notice and what are you doing to make best out of these trends?

A The market for mobile gadgets and accessories is very dynamic and getting increasingly competitive.

Indian brands have made their mark but are not able to capture the high end market where foreign brands have a stronghold.

We are trying to keep our portfolio sufficiently varied to operate across the markets and we have a healthy mix of products to reach all kinds of customers.

There is an increasing trend towards smartphones and the related accessories and we operate in all the sectors.

Q. With so many

brands and models flooding the market every day, even

23

partners are confused.

What are the criteria you follow while choosing the brands you want to deal on long-term?

A It is very important to be able to assess the brands in terms of their vision and readiness to sustain in the long term in the Indian market, so we are quite selective about whom we sign up with.

For us, product quality and marketing are the most important criteria, followed closely by after sales service.

Q. What new brands and products do you plan to add to your portfolio in the immediate future?

A We are in talks with

a couple of high end and well-known brands and hopefully we shall be able to disclose the names soon.

Q. What challenges

are you facing in general and how are you meeting these challenges?

A Currently, with

proliferation of brands the customer has a lot of options. The challenge therefore is to be available at the right place, at the right time and at the right price. Since price is more the call of the brand, we focus on ensuring that there are minimum gaps in product placement. For this, we have dedicated manpower that is geared up to provide the required service and is eager to plug such gaps proactively. The other challenge is liquidity or money flow in the market. These are actually perennial challenges in the distribution sector and being in this business we

have to keep our back up plans ready to be activated at short notice. We are managing these quite well we think.

the profitability of your down-line partners?

A By staying in constant touch, monitoring the

We have branch offices in 12 states and are into Distribution and also into direct B2B and Institutional sales of mobile phones, data cards, tablets, cameras and mobiles/IT peripherals. SG Corp is National Distributor for AOC (mobiles, tablets, phablets) and also deals in AOC LED and monitors for B2B. Q. Today, in the cut-

throat competition, service is very important. What kind of service support are you providing to the end customers so that it will also place your down-line partners in a comfortable position?

A Our service starts from

being available to our customers at whatever suitable time according to them. The entire team is always ready to roll up the sleeves to ensure that the customer service is not impaired. We are able to deliver stocks as promised about 99% of the time if not more. We keep the customer informed of the movement with first time right documentation. For aftersales-service, though the brands provide the technical support there is a lot of soft ‘communication’ part that we have to undertake to ensure that the customers get satisfactory solutions to their issues or queries.

Q. How do you

motivate and ensure

customer’s requirements and the market potential, we are able to guide and motivate our partners. To keep healthy relations, we sometimes go out of the way and try to support partners with issues related to payments and ageing stocks.

Q. What support

do you expect from vendors? Are you getting the expected support? If not, what initiatives you want the vendors to take?

A There are times when the partners require support that is out of our capacity. If the requirement is genuine, then we expect the vendors to pitch in with support.

Usually, we do get the support.

Q. Who are the

vendors with whom you are very comfortable and why?

A We are quite comfortable with our current set of vendors. Basically, the idea is that all of us are in the business for mutual benefit so if we think of

and care each other in the due course of business, we make healthy relations. It is natural that the vendors that we are attached with for a longer time are in better comfort and vice versa. In case of the vendors that are relatively new, we have to give them a bit more time and deal patiently till they understand the circumstances and conditions better. I am happy that we are able to discuss the difficult topics with our partners, sometimes quite openly as well, and that improves the comfort level too. It is a give and take process and we are here for the long haul. So our partners on both sides hopefully see it the same way.

We are also Regional Distributors for LG, Lenovo & Asus mobiles and tablets & Dell tablets. For some geographies, we distribute Vivo and Oppo mobiles as well Q. What is your

present growth rate and where do you want to be in the coming 2 years?

A We are looking at more than doubling our turnover in this financial year. We are adding new businesses and recruiting more skilled employees to support our vision. We are stronger in North India and in the coming two years we are looking to gain strength in other parts of the country.

Mobility April 2015

24

Special Story

Net Neutrality: Do we really need to Defend Internet Freedom in India?

Web users in India hadn’t even heard of a concept known as Net neutrality few weeks ago, but now everyone is talking about this topic and wants to debate on this. We try to explain how it all started and what industry thinks about it now.

What is Net neutrality?

Net neutrality is the Internet’s guiding principle: It preserves our right to communicate freely online.

This is the definition of an open Internet. Net neutrality is the principle that data on the Internet is moved blindly and impartially, without regard to content, destination or source.

When was the first time when people started to talking about it?

In May 2014, FCC (Federal Communications Commission of USA) Chairman Tom Wheeler

released a plan that would have allowed companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon to discriminate online and create pay-toplay fast lanes.

Thanks to the huge public and political outcry, Wheeler shelved his original proposal, and on Feb. 4, 2015, he announced that he would base new Net neutrality rules on Title II of the Communications Act, giving Internet users the strongest protections possible.

The FCC approved Wheeler’s proposal on Feb. 26, 2015. This is a watershed victory for activists who

have fought for a decade to protect the open Internet.

How it all started in India?

In India, telecom companies recently have been making good profits, as India grew to 800 million mobile phone users. During this time, they have largely focused on selling voice minutes - while at the back end they have been using voice over internet protocol (or VOIP) to connect with

Mobility April 2015

other telcos and deliver calls using the Internet. And given that the cost of VOIP is a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional voice calls they were charging. But when WhatsApp and Skype and Google Hangouts, started to offer consumers the same voice calls delivered at Internet prices, direct to their handsets, the telcos got worried as their margins started eroding.

So, now the telcos want

25

Ashok Kumar, MD & CEO, RAH Infotech “The fact that made the Internet such a revolution is that the users have been able to use it at their own prerogative. If the service providers try to mould the rules, it would hamper the freedom and undermine the value Internet holds today.”

“Anti-Net Neutrality would hurt the consumers as the access to certain services would require them to pay. Moreover, this would also affect the startup community of India as smaller organizations would perish amidst the big payers signing up with the telecom operators.”

Another important issue is that a major chunk of Indian netizens is from the middle class and remote areas who would be adversely impacted if Net neutrality is lost.” to charge for the Internet differently, based on how you use it.

Mobile operators like Vodafone, Airtel, Idea, etc are trying to pressurize the Indian government to regulate the internet.

Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) is going to Mr. Sonit Jain, CEO, GajShield “Ending Net neutrality will squeeze out start-ups who will have to pay distributors to offer their apps at the same level as the larger players. A few will monopolize the services.

Internet was developed to provide free and fair access to all. Limiting this will kill innovation and prove to be a major hurdle to the growth of the Indian economy.”

decide if India should have open and equal access to Internet.

What will change if it is implemented?

• You can be charged separately for using WhatsApp, Skype, etc even if you have paid for the Internet data pack.

• Mobile operators will also be able to regulate the speed of Internet

sites, which means we may be forced to use the sites that they choose for us.

In just a few days, the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) is going to decide if India should have open and equal access to Internet.

Ashish Tandon, Chairman & CEO, Indusface “It will kill the basic premise of Internet being an open and level playing field. To put it in simple terms, without Net neutrality, we won’t be able to access Internet the way we have been accessing all these years. Net neutrality is important in the Indian context as our nation is the breeding ground for most startups and the fact that the TSPs and ISPs could be in a position to ensure some sites are served faster than others will affect innovation and job opportunities.”

“The Internet industry has grown because it enjoyed freedom so far and anti-Net neutrality will affect the phenomenal growth that Internet has seen over the years.”

Mobility April 2015

Special Story

26

Mr. Richard Tan, MD & Director, ADATA Technology India Pvt Ltd In our view, it is totally unfair to put any condition on usage of any type of service on the Internet. Today, Internet is just not for entertainment but has become a growth engine for businesses. Putting any condition on

usage

would

jeopardize

the

businesses and overall the economy would also have a negative impact.

Yes, surely putting any condition on the type of content the Net user consumes would lead to data for startup businesses to be blocked as they may not have deep pockets to spend heavily on the Net as compared to the already existing businesses – which is against the principal of organic growth.

In the Indian context wherein there is a growing intolerance in political and religious matters, this can also go on to be a big negative impacting issue. Government should

Sharda Tickoo, Product Marketing Manager, Trend Micro “The concept of Net neutrality is built on the view that information on the Internet should be transmitted impartially, without regard to content, destination or source. By looking into users’ Internet communications, ISPs may breach the existing rules on the confidentiality of communications, which is a fundamental right that must be carefully preserved.

To ensure smooth functioning and safeguarding user’s data, there should be ‘satisfactory policy’ that ensures ISPs do not violate privacy rights through activity monitoring.

The inspection practices must be legitimate and, in some cases, should require user consent.

The data protection safeguards, such as purpose limitation and data security standards, will need to be determined.

Trend Micro can help provide services that can be leveraged by ISPs which ensure that the Internet services delivered to end users are free from any malicious content.”

Mr. Pankaj Jain, Country Head, ESET India “When we have freedom of speech, freedom of following a religion, freedom to get education, it is not fair to discriminate the Internet contents. I would consider such discrimination as a basic violation of citizens’ rights. TRAI is there to censor the contents and ESET is there to take care of all internet security solutions.

Telecom operators and ISP should not restrain users to visit only a few websites. Every Internet user should be free to explore the Internet and websites to decide what is best for him/her. Think, if Net neutrality was absent a few years ago, we might not be knowing or using networking sites and apps like Facebook and WhatsApp; and Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc would have probably closed down or charged much higher for operations. Let’s give fair chance to all startups and let users decide what’s good. I urge ISPs, not to restrict new talent and ideas. ESET will protect users and will wholeheartedly support Net neutrality and freedom.”

take a clear stand and involve all the relevant parties and come out with clear strategy on Net neutrality.

Restricting data does not seem to directly impact our segment, i.e. storage, but looking at the larger prospect of economy and business growth— wherein ecommerce is a vital engine for growth and also an important vehicle for ADATA business—we recommend to ISPs not to go ahead on this.

The government’s role should be to bring consensus on this issue among all the concerned stakeholders and to bring in clarity at the earliest so that the businesses are not hampered and

economy

keeps

Mobility April 2015

growing.

Mr. Ketan C Patel, CEO, Creative Peripherals & Distribution Pvt Ltd In a democratic country every person has the right of speech; freely express himself/ herself unless it does not hurt a specific community. In the world of Internet, there are various modes of communication. As far as the above criterion is maintained, there should not be different charges for these expressions when the medium used is Internet!

Internet is a medium where everyone can share their feelings. It helps an individual refine, share, develop his thoughts about a topic, product, services, etc which improves with repeated interactions on the web. A tool so vital to life should not be subjected to unfair restrictions. All modes of communication on the Internet should be treated equally.

27

Mr. Govind Rammurthy, MD& CEO, eScan

S

ince the very beginning of Internet, the idea of ‘Open Internet’ has always been promulgated and has always been instrumental in seeding various inventions and innovations that we have been able to see till date. Not just the idea of Open Internet, but also the thought of Free speech has been fiercely advocated. However, the business paradigm for telcos shifted and they started feeling the pinch in the most undesired areas, i.e. the Data which travels through their Dumb Pipes.

Dumb Pipes are the physical cables which carry the data and they have no computation ability and it is only the endpoints that are intelligent.

For example, we can state that when there are two or more involved in a written conversation, the medium of language should be common to all the participants, however, the person involved in transporting these messages, i.e. the courier, need not have the knowledge of deciphering the contents. In this case, the Third Entity is the physical cables which do not understand what is being transmitted and received but nonetheless has the inherent role of facilitating the transmission. The role of cables is only ensuring that the delivery of data takes place between Point A and Point B. In case our example, the courier company should charge with respect to the weight and size of the parcel and not with respect to the contents. Content should not be the concern of the courier company.

Telcos, until recently, have been acting like couriers, but now it seems like some of them want a larger share of the data pie by and taking control of the end-points and by simply categorizing the data-as-a-service by what is being offered, how it is being offered, who can access this data, etc.

In simpler terms, let us for the sake of argument, categorize a few of the services as follows: • Streaming Video: Youtube, Skype’s Video Calling, etc • Streaming Audio: Online Radio Channels, Viber’s Internet Calls, etc The fact is telcos have always been charging for Internet access based on the bandwidth used and had various financial plans for their customers based on bandwidth usage. They also came up with rate-limiting, i.e. offering slower speeds when the Fair Usage policy terms were violated. This means that the customer ended up utilizing more data in terms of MBs and GBs than what was provisioned. So far so good, as telcos along with courier companies were on par with each other as far providing a neutral service is concerned.

The present day marvels of technology are such you can avail the services for free while the same services can be offered by someone else for a small price as Internet offers innovations and also choices to its users. However, all this may change with TRAI putting forward its views in the form of a consultation paper.

If the telcos and TRAI, along with the Government of India, have their way, then everyone of us will be charged for the services available through Internet, which we have been accessing and utilizing free of charge so far.

Now is the time we all fight for the Net neutrality with greater determination.

TRAI’s consultation paper encourages Pay-Per-Use Internet, however, aren’t we been paying for Internet Access? This is where everything changes - You pay for the various services Internet has to offer, e.g. if you use WhatsApp - pay different amount, for Skype something else, to use Google Search pay a small amount and so on.

However, in case your ISP has collaboration with BING, then you might

Statement from Airtel Airtel fully supports the concept of Net Neutrality.

There have been some misconceptions about our toll free data platform – Airtel Zero. It is a not a tariff proposition but an open marketing platform that: 1.

Allows app or content providers to offer their services on a toll free basis to their customers who are on our network.

2.

Such customers whether on a data pack or not will therefore be able to access these toll free services free of charge.

3. No site, whether on the toll free platform or not under any circumstances, is blocked, throttled or provided any form of preferential access.

4. The toll free platform is open to all content providers on a completely non-discriminatory basis and operates on the same principle as 1-800 toll free voice services.

The statement made by Flipkart regarding their decision not to offer toll free data service to their customers is consistent with our stand that Airtel Zero is not a tariff proposition. It is merely an open platform for content providers to provide toll free data services. The platform remains open to all companies who want to offer these toll free data services to their customers on a completely non-discriminatory basis.

get BING for free but you might be charged for accessing Google.

A-La-Carte was a concept of Pay-Per-View Cable Television Channels, however, we may very soon find this seeping into our Broad-Band Bills.

On the other hand, financially, telcos have been highly stable when we look at Profitability vs Debt ratio. The only concern for telcos is that using of various apps by users until now is having a negative impact on their finances which are generated by SMS and International Calling. They also talk of their other painpoints like –licensing cost, adaptability and upgrading to newer technology. Solution for the problems faced by telcos should be adaptability, but not burdening the customers with new charges.

TRAI in their consultation paper has touched upon privacy and data interception. We believe that interception of data for ensuring national security needs to be exercised with caution and it is the duty of the telcos and every organization to provide such information to the concerned authority. However, blanket-wide interception is surely a big NO as it affects the privacy in general and increases the concomitant need for stricter privacy laws. Telcos, on the other-hand, need to provide such mechanisms but not at the cost of burdening the customers.

When the bandwidth prices are on par with global standards, imposing such restrictions just makes it worse for a country which is yet to see itself on par with other developed countries especially while providing a better network.

We have just one question - Is providing Internet access to the citizens of India a privilege, a necessity or a duty? And interestingly, necessity is one aspect of life which has always been exploited commercially by the associated providers.

Mobility April 2015

28

Special Story

Mr. Vinod Kumar, MD, SatcomInfotech “We all know the old adage ‘All men are Equal’ but in practice ‘Some are more Equal than others.’ So it is no surprise that the principle of treating all Internet traffic equally is at threat now. Net neutrality is an absolute must for any innovation and for allowing the consumer to make an informed choice.

Flipkart has also realized this by withdrawing themselves from the Airtel Zero services and soon it will dawn on all the ISPs that you can’t bite the hand that feeds you. Open Internet today in a democratic country like ours is no different from having freedom to breathe air in an open space without any restrictions. In a country like ours with millions of Internet users, we are already struggling and jostling for bandwidth. Internet-based services, apps, etailing, delivery and payment platforms, etc are the future. Charging the end consumers for using these apps will discourage them from using these services and will only bring technology and innovation to ground zero. We have enough instances of bullying by the government and the political bodies on how the Internet must be used and don’t want to give the right to any service provider to decide what information needs to be accessed. The ISPs are also looking at differential pricing for accessing data and Internet services but their revenue realization should come from data volumew and not from the differential charges on the Internet services that are used. Last, the Internet alone has contributed to many brilliant innovations, ideas and business models which have not only led to consumer delight but also contributed in one way or the other to country’s development. Most of these have come from small start-ups and not from the traditional giants in the industry. These small ventures will not have the financial muscle to sign up for ‘zero services’ with the telcos till the time they grow to the size of a Flipkart, thereby killing the idea in its bud. Having said all this, once again thanks to Internet, we are all aware of our right to freedom of choice and expression and at the end of the day, the consumer will ensure that Net neutrality prevails in the long run.”

Mobility April 2015

Mr Sunil Pillai Co-Founder and Managing Director at iValue InfoSolutions Net Neutrality is a fundamental need and right for all internet users to make their own informed choices without being influenced through other means by service providers.

With internet becoming a marketplace for all types of goods and services, its critical to provide level playing ground for both sellers and buyers. It would be unethical for select brands to get upper hand through tie-up with select service providers due to the above. Service provider have a basic duty of offering safe access to internet for consumer and business at optimal speeds. Internet is enabling Indian business and consumer to go global. Its redefining the business model from mundane things like booking a taxi / ticket to running business critical applications.

Business and Consumer along with Service providers need to adapt and evolve to this new paradigm.

It would be futile to form new policies to protect some of the business which can get negatively impacted by Internet and the application around internet evolutions. If voice calls and its revenue stream are being impacted as an example, it’s for the respective business houses to graduate to offerings which still make relevance without impacting the net neutrality.

History still shows that e-commerce and m-commerce have not shut down all the retail business in any part of the world, even after decade and half.

Hence businesses which keep evolving its relevance and value add to its customers have not only survived but thrived. Its heartwarming to see the response and support to net neutrality drive and I am sure the government will see the larger picture in framing the right policy for India to thrive in the internet era.

Shibu Paul, Regional Sales Director – India, ME & SEA, Array Networks “I am a strong advocate of Net neutrality.

Openness is the essence of the Internet and consumers must have the liberty to choose what (Content), when (Priority) and how (Quality of service) they want to use their data.

Internet is one of the most influential, and in many cases, a special and effective form of communication medium. We must ensure that no one monopolizes the Internet and its openness is preserved. Else, the IT industry and society at large will get affected sooner or later.

If the Internet isn’t a neutral place, ISPs and TSPs will be in a position to bar certain data from your device and decide what data you can access from the Internet. They should not be allowed to determine how people use their services. For ensuring this, robust guidelines and regulations must be put in place so that ISPs and TSPs are not in a position to selectively PUSH data to consumers the way that monetarily benefits them. In addition, service providers should focus on providing SLAs agreed with customers.

The Internet is a great tool that India can largely benefit from. Array’s devices help service providers to enhance and accelerate the performance of Internet services and prioritize services. First, a huge investment is required in the Internet infrastructure, which should be taken up by the government before we start debating on Net neutrality in this country. India is one of the first few countries to have a formal IT Act which was created in 2000. The government should constitute a dialogue with stakeholders, define boundaries and create concrete rules and regulations around the Internet.”

At last

We have seen a huge response in support of Net neutrality drive in India and we are sure that the government will see the larger picture in framing the right policy for India that ensures that no burden is put on the pockets of the users and freedom of the users is preserved.

Mobility April 2015

Analysis

30

Effect of 4G

Rollout on the e-Commerce Industry Today 4G, the improved and enhanced version of 3G, is metamorphosing the entire domain of e-commerce, making transactions instant, thus delivering reliable and constraint-free experiences

T

he 4G (fourth generation) is an advanced version of 3G that facilitates its users with mobile broadband Internet access. The technology provides wide area coverage and high speed to mobile as well as laptop users. Offering peak upload rate of 500 Mbps and peak download rate of 1 Gbps; 4G supports HD streaming.

4G network can ensure optimal use of HD phones.

With its WiMAX LTE technology, 4G provides path-breaking speed and impeccable connectivity to its users. A game-changing Internet technology, 4G network is slowly becoming the ‘Next Big Thing’ that provides immediate access to everything from around the world at your fingertips.

Today 4G is metamorphosing the entire domain of e-commerce, making transactions instant, thus delivering reliable and constraint-free experiences.

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With 4G taking the Indian market by storm, the demand for smartphones is taking an upward swing.

Online retail firms have to confront logistics as well as connectivity hindrances in order to serve their patrons efficiently. These issues can be solved with 4G internet services. By providing cutting-edge speed and connectivity, 4G is helping online firms to tackle their problems easily.

Escalated speed and enhanced connectivity provides users with a compelling and satisfactory browsing and shopping experience. Usually it is seen that potential buyers leave a particular site when they are just going to finalize their purchase. The reason being connectivity problem or slow Internet.

With 4G, customers can quickly make purchases without having to face any such hassles. This is thus

Mr. Suresh Sharma, Founder and Director of iSpyPrice.com As a price comparison site, iSpyPrice.com assists its customers to find the lowest price of products available for sale on various e-commerce websites. indirectly boosting the sales of e-commerce companies.

With 4G on mobiles, e-commerce companies can be unperturbed about the size of images or videos.

Even on smartphones, users can enjoy the same experience as on a laptop or PC, due to higher connectivity and speed offered by 4G. Many times the online shopping websites hang or the speed of Internet dips while making payments or while checking out. This leads to reduction in the confidence level of customers, leaving them in a dilemma of whether to purchase online or not to take the chance.

This can result in dwindling sales for e-commerce companies. With 4G at

hand, buyers are able to make instant purchase decisions and check-out in a hassle-free way.

In order to gain maximum advantage of the fourth generation Internet technology, the market is witnessing various e-commerce firms going the mobile-way. In short, for better results, e-commerce firms are turning to m-commerce. With 4G on mobiles, people prefer to use their handheld devices to fulfill their day to day needs. Hence, e-commerce firms are coming up with ground-breaking designs and models to utilize the lucrative mobile space efficiently; making scores of firms turn to the m-commerce platform.

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Technology & Innovation

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Technological Interventions for Food Security and Local Community Development

Initiatives aligned with Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Program at IIT Kharagpur

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ndia currently produces about 230 million tonnes of cereals to meet the needs of 1.2 billion people.

India’s population is likely to reach 1.5 billion by 2030 and 1.8 billion by 2050.

To meet the needs of the growing population, the cereal production has to be doubled by the year 2050. Increasing food grain production has become a challenge because of diminishing per capita arable land and availability of irrigation water resources and expanding abiotic and biotic stresses under climate change/variability. At the same time, huge yield gap

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(>50%) between attainable and actual farmers yield in many parts of the country including eastern India offers the scope for meeting the challenge. This can be possible through implementation of scientific production technologies in farmers’ field.

In this regard, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur has taken an initiative to demonstrate and increase awareness about existing technologies on food grain production and post-harvest processing at farmers field. With the support from Ministry of Human

Resource Development, IIT Kharagpur has adopted 14 acres of land from 14 farmers in Kenthia village (Kharagpur Block–II,

Paschim Medinipur), located within 10 km from the Institute campus. The land was barren for last 5-7 years without any

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crop cultivation even in rainy season. The project team including Principal Investigator Prof. P.B.S. Bhadoria and Co-principal Investigators from all disciplines of food production and processing had several meeting with the farmers and Gram Pradhan for successful implementation of the project.

The Institute organized a Field Day was organized on 25 March 2015 to develop awareness among the farmers of some neighborhood villages on scientific food grain production. Dean, SRIC (Prof. S. Dasgupta), Dean, Planning and Coordination (Prof. B. Mahanty), Project Coordinator (Prof.

M.K. Tiwari), Principal Investigator (Prof. P.B.S Bhadoria) and Co-Principal Investigators of the project from IIT, Agricultural

to interact with scientists, officers and gain knowledge on the scientific production technologies. Agricultural officers and farmers from neighboring village requested the IIT Kharagpur team to extend the project in other locations.

As rice is the major crop in the region, farmers had no interest to grow crops other than rice. But, rice cultivation during summer season cause depletion of ground water level as this is a high water demanding crop. Therefore, to have sustainable production, water saving rice production technology i.e. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) was introduced, that generally saves 80-90% seed and 40-50% irrigation water requirement. Also Organic Farming technology was practiced in both SRI and conventional system for

officers of West Bengal Govt., and Panchayat level officials participated in the Field Day. Farmers had a very good opportunity

quality improvement in soil health and the food grain. To promote crop diversification, cash crop like sweet corn, peanut and

soybean were introduced in addition to rice. This was to increase the farmers’ income as well as improve soil health and minimize the irrigation water requirement. Furthermore, vermicomposting technology was demonstrated among the farmers to encourage them to take up organic farming.

Treatment of farmer’s pond by applying bentonite clay was implemented as a component of Integrated Farming System to store more water throughout the year. Farmers can grow fish in pond and use the water for irrigation purpose that will improve their economy.

A smaller scale but equally important initiative has been taken by Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT Kharagpur to promote organic farming and farm level vermicompost production at another village, named Pariapara (Block: Kharagpur1, Dist: West Medinipur). In this programme, some selected farmers were trained in production of vermicompost by utilizing the farm and houshold wastes and each was alloted a vermicompost unit. Each unit consisting of three vermibeds (size 10 ft × 3 ft × 1.5 ft with a production capacity of 35 kg/bed/cycle ) and they were supplied

with 3 kg of specialized earthworms species (Eisenia foetida) for production of vermicompost. Each unit can harvest 8 times in a year providing a net profit of Rs. 25000 from the three beds.

These vermicompost units are regulatly monitored by undergraduate students of the IIT Kharagpur as a part of their extra academic activity under National Service Scheme (NSS) programme through constant supervision of the programme officer Dr. Dillip Kumar Swain, Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Food Enginnering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. In this village too, cultivation of alternative crop has been promoted and swet corn and peanut have been grown by progressive farmers.

A field day was arranged by NSS team in the village to develop greater awareness among villagers. This included field visit and demonstration.

Besides farmers and local community leaders, Prof Dillip Kumar Swain, Principal Investigator of the project, Prof. Debasis Roy, Program Coordinator NSS, IIT Kharagpur, NSS Student leders were among the speakers.

At the end of the program, many other farmers came forward to adopt the technologies.

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Cover Story

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Imaging Industry

&

how it is shaping up W

e have noticed that digital photography is going through some exciting times. Though some traditional camera categories are going through decline – the compact camera market has taken a massive hit from the constantly-improving picture quality in mobile phones.

How the camera industry is experience this shift in the way we take and view pictures.

It is not just new technology that is reshaping photography, but changes in the kinds of cameras we want. So we like to know from the leaders in this segment what all we want to view and what vital changes are taking place in the way pictures are taken.

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Compact cameras not out yet!

In the age of the smartphone cameras, the sheer number of new compacts has reduced, but they’re not gone yet. Recently, many brands have launched new models and also updated some of their most popular lines of consumer-oriented compact cameras. So for enthusiasts and first-time users, the compact pointand-shoot cameras these days offer better image quality and user-control far beyond anything we’ve previously seen in

pocketable digital cameras.

According to Andrew Koh, Senior Director, Image Communication Products Group, Canon India. the

Andrew Koh Senior Director, Image Communication Products Group, Canon India small-sensor, highend camera market will continue to have a future and as a category, will co-exist alongside cameras with larger sensors for a while.

The usage patterns

There are several areas in which we can expect some new trends in camera technology. For instance, improvements in sensor and lens design mean DSLR camera sensors will feature increasingly higher resolution.

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for these devices are quite different. While larger sensor compact cameras have existed for a while and enjoyed reasonable market acceptance, cameras like our PowerShot SX series which feature high optical zooms and smaller sensors have also enjoyed a very stable market share.

“People who desire DSLR-like image quality like natural background blur and highly detailed images will be more inclined towards larger sensor cameras. Whereas travelers who want to capture a wide variety of imagery will be wooed by a larger zoom range such as our SX series of cameras, featuring an optical zoom of up to 65x on our flagship PowerShot SX60HS,” he added further.

Sajjan Kumar, VP – Imaging Division, Nikon India Pvt. Ltd. feel s that enormously improved sensor quality coupled with market demand for smaller, lighter and more convenient cameras drives a move back to smaller sensors, accompanied by an impressive assortment of lenses. Compact cameras on friendly ergonomics and usability (size, weight, EVF, etc.) now no longer is a solutions for amateurs only, these are used for serious still and video work as well.

Gaurav Ghavri, Head Camera Division, Panasonic India said, “ the overall demand for the small -sensor high -end compact cameras has decreased over a period of time but there is still market for them. However, we have witnessed growth in the demand for compact cameras with big sensors. “ Mirza Ali Asgar,

General Manager, Olympus Imaging India added, “The mirror less cameras will dominate the imaging technology in future.

Majority of the big sensor camera users are shifting to small sensor cameras; they no longer want to carry heavy cameras with them.

Compact system cameras Vs DSLRs in the enthusiasts market “DSLR cameras and mirror less cameras are the imaging devices that cater to different segments of users.

Mirrorless cameras are generally more compact when compared to DSLR cameras. DSLR cameras on the other hand, are faster, offer dedicated controls and improved robustness in general compared to mirror less cameras. In general, serious hobbyists and professional audiences tend to prefer DSLR cameras,” says Koh from Canon.

Sajjan Kumar of Nikon India, said, “Both the categories co-exist and have their own advantages and consumer preferences. The demand for D-SLRs has been increasing and we do not think that anything can suppress this surge. The D-SLR segment in India is expanding at 20-30% annually and we are proud that we are expanding with

the market maintaining the market share of 55%.”

Gaurav Ghavri, Head Camera Division, Panasonic India, said, “The compact camera segment is currently facing a slowdown. Due to the growing popularity of smart phones, the sales of compact cameras have declined by 30% till October 2014 over the same period over the last year. However, the Digital SLR segment is witnessing exciting times as the professionals and pro-am still prefer DSLR cameras for better picture quality and output.

Panasonic, looking at the diverse requirements of the customers, has decided to introduce innovation and advancement in high end cameras space. We recently

launched the photo/video hybrid Digital Single Lens Mirrorless (DSLM) camera DMC-GH4 as the successor to DMC-GH3 that created an industrial sensation with its outstanding video recording performance.”

Mirza Ali Asgar, General Manager, Olympus Imaging India said, “Yes it will and it has already showing results.”

Future of Prosumer Market “The prosumer market is a very niche market at the moment, but expanding gradually. Our PowerShot

Sajjan Kumar VP – Imaging Division, Nikon India Pvt. Ltd.

The paradigm shift in consumer behavior has reached new heights, now consumers not only demand of good camera functions, but wants to get perfect shot with every click they make. This age’s digital cameras not only possess easy and greater functionalities, but all those functionalities which make photography inspiring for aspiring photographers to professionals

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Cover Story

Jade appeals to the egant, beauty conscious nd highly social user, the quid E700 is more suited to e upbeat business traveler ho demands to remain onnected round the clock. s ‘always on’ capability elps users to multisk between and Mirzawork Ali Asgar ntertainment.

All thisManager, comes General aled with the promise Olympus Imaging India quality from the Acer rand name. We have strong resence in IT business. IT dustry is converging and a point colliding with Globally, mirrorless andset business.

We want leverage cameras our strengthare of going T and smartphone business to dominate ill compliment it. India is a the g market, particularly future ofa big imaging ireless market and soon ere will technology. be wide spread In India 3G and 4G services.

Not DLSR cameras will eing here will be a strategic again take a larger ror.”

“We have beenfrom presentlow in pie end e smartphone business for cameras. e last twocompact years, but it has een a slow start. With the hange in Acer’s philosophy, e want to refocus on our hone business. As of now, e have two models to unch in the first phase. aving said so, we will be xpanding to our product ortfolio in February 2015,” aid Sanjeev Mehtani, Senior irector-Sales, Acer India.

“Mobiles and tablets are mong the fastest growing gments for Snapdeal.

Mobility April 2015

G1X Mark II is one of the most sought after devices in this category. It offers nearly all the features of a DSLR camera – a large 1.5inch sensor, an extremely high resolving lens with a very wide aperture and great image quality. And it is compact too. Our G7X is another such compact and pocketable camera, with a large 1.0-inch sensor, and a wide aperture lens to the mix, offering the best of both worlds – performance and portability,” said, Andrew of Canon India.

“We have seen consumers who want high image quality and are also want compactness are gradually gravitating towards such cameras.

This is especially true of the users in metros and larger cities in India, where disposable incomes are generally higher and the consumers are generally more connected and informed,” he added further.

Sajjan of Nikon India explained, “The consumer these days is well informed and is specific in terms of requirements. We are witnessing growth in demand for greater and high performance cameras in the Indian market and our offerings are designed specifically to meet them.

The most significant trend that we have witnessed in prosumer market is the shift towards high-end compact cameras & D-SLR cameras.

Photography enthusiasts are not shying away from spending extra to have that holistic experience. The requirement of a consumer varies from astounding ultra-high zoom power to smarter way to connect to movie and video capabilities.”

“We have recently extended our compact & D-SLR range with high end compact cameras like COOLPIX P900 & COOLPIX P610 with 83x optical zoom (24mm -2000mm equivalent in 35mm format) and 166x Dynamic Fine Zoom*1 (approximately 4000mm equivalent in 35mm format) & 60x optical zoom and 120x Dynamic Fine Zoom*1, matched with the versatile vari-angle monitor and Dual Detect Optical Vibration Reduction (VR), respectively. And D-SLR range with D7200, D810 and D750 with uncompressed video output & Full HD Time-lapse movie recording feature and they have been received with tremendous enthusiasm in the market.

Our comprehensive Compact camera and D-SLR line-up is equipped with all the advanced features which a photographer; amateur, hobbyist or professional will look for 1 Dynamic Fine Zoom refers to the areas in which the camera can zoom while maintaining resolution from the maximum optical telephoto zoom position,” he added further.

“Customers today are divided between DSLR and high end prosumer cameras.

Sales are divided between

two categories, i.e. high zoom prosumer cameras and Interchangeable lens cameras,” concluded, Mirza of Olympus Imaging India.

Is 4K video a buzzword right now?

“4K video is a big buzzword at the moment.

The stunning resolution of capture bestows a sense of life-like realism to video especially when being consumed on a 4K viewing device. In India, creation of 4K content is not a challenge, with industry

leading 4K cameras like our Cinema EOS C500 and EOS 1D-C, and the new EOS C300 Mark II – aimed at high-end cinema and television content. Now our professional camcorder range will include the new XC-10, which supports 4K video recording, with excellent file compression and no loss of quality, designed especially for use in event and wedding videography,” said, Andrew of Canon India “Canon also offers a 4K reference monitor designed specifically for color grading and video production.

Together with Canon’s Cinema EOS System, this provides a first-class input-to-output solution for 4K digital cinema and wider video production workflows,” Andrew added further.

Sajjan Kumar of Nikon India said, “Change and

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advancement in technology is inevitable. 4K is a new resolution standard designed for digital cinema and computer graphics.

As of now, our recently announced model Nikon 1 J5 has 4K feature available.

The Nikon 1 J5 can capture high-resolution 4K video at 15p for those who want to experiment with higher resolution video clips.

Additionally, we have provided uncompressed video output functionality in some of our FX format (full-frame) cameras, we also have feature like FULL HD Video recording at 60p in both FX (full-frame) and DX format cameras. We have recently introduced Full HD Time-lapse movie recording feature in DX format with D7200 which earlier was only available in FX format (full-frame).

“4K has already brought about a revolution in the photography and videography as many consumer electronics companies are launching products that are bridging the gap between consumer video camera and professional video camera.

For example, Panasonic recently introduced photo/ video hybrid Digital Single Lens Mirrorless (DSLM) camera DMC-GH4 equipped with 4K video recording capability,” said, Gaurav of Panasonic India.

“Today, cameras with better video features are widely accepted by all levels of customers and we have recently launched EM5 Mark 2 model with world’s most advanced image stabilization feature.

We are offering cinema quality shooting in our recently launched cameras,” concluded, Mirza of Olympus Imaging India

Technologies that could define photography in 2015!

Sajjan Kumar of Nikon India , explained “The expected trends in photography are High zoom feature, Staying in touch all times, The faster processers, Uncompressed video, Advanced camera with interchangeable lens and the high performance – Waterproof, freeze proof, shock proof camera. From high zoom feature, to high dynamic zoom for the visionaries to WiFi, built-in GPS, NFC, GLONASS and QZSS for social butterflies, from reveling superior image quality with the EXPEED 4 image processing engine to Dual Detect Vibration Reduction, to water proof, shock proof & freeze proof advanced camera with interchangeable lenses to uncompressed video output to in built TimeLapse movie feature at full HD for performance which goes above and beyond the imagination, Nikon is leaving no space left for imagination. Nikon being the pioneer in bringing new technologies catering to consumer needs will keep on bringing new technologies which will ensure keeping photography an inspirational career option and hobby,” he added further.

“A good example is our upcoming EOS 5Ds and EOS 5Ds R that feature 50.6 megapixel full frame sensors, making them the highest resolution

full frame DSLR cameras in the world. Live View focusing technology for DSLR camera models will also improve, and we will see more and more cameras featuring touchscreen LCDs for easy user interface.

Our ever improving lens and optics technology means slimmer cameras with wider zoom ranges.

Meanwhile photo printing is becoming more portable, with Wi-Fi enabled compact printers. Photo sharing with friends and family is also set to become a lot simpler and fuss-free with gadgets like the new Canon Connect Station CS100 - a storage device that has the capability to connect to multiple compatible imaging devices allowing users to easily store, view and share images and videos,” said, Andrew of Canon India Gaurav of Panasonic, India said, “The camera manufacturers are expanding their product range with High end compact & Bridge Camera series. Also, the 4K technology is gaining acceptance in Indian photography industry which is further helping to further bridge the gap between consumer video camera and professional video camera. “ “Olympus for the last nine decades has been delivering best and innovative products to imaging Industry and Olympus has always worked towards making cameras compact and userfriendly and will continue to do so in future as well,” concluded, Mirza of Olympus Imaging India.

Gaurav Ghavri Head Camera Division, Panasonic India

The digital age has ushered in and facilitated uninterrupted access to high-end imaging devices at the cost of traditional camera systems. This shift has resulted in digital revolution and made photography affordable. These are exciting times not only for the camera manufacturers but also for the consumers.

The introduction of new categories of digital cameras and mirror less interchangeable lens cameras has changed the dynamics of

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the market.

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Buying Guide

Things to know

before buying a camera MegapixelS The number of megapixels a camera’s sensor possesses determines in how much detail it is able to capture. But there is a trade-off. Cramming too many megapixels onto a sensor — especially the small chips in point-and-shoot and smartphone cameras — means small pixels with less surface area to capture light. The result can be noisy (grainy) photos, especially when shooting in dim conditions without flash. So when you are buying a camera, don’t worry about how many megapixels your camera has; anything above 8MP is fine.

LENS The lens is the most important part of your camera. Whether you’re using a point-and-shoot with a built-in lens or an interchangeable lens camera system, a lens’s ability to capture sharp images in a range of shooting conditions, such as in low light or when photographing fast-moving action, is the key to taking a great photo. Look for lenses with fast apertures (expressed in low f/stop numbers) and optical image stabilization to help you take sharper images even in low light.

APERTURE In basic terms, aperture is the size of the opening in a lens. In advanced cameras, such as digital SLRs, mirrorless compact system cameras and even many point-and-shoot models, the photographer can manually set the aperture to control the amount of light that reaches the imaging sensor. Look for lenses with a larger maximum aperture—which are inversely expressed with a lower number, such as f/2.8 or f/1.8.

They let more light hit the sensor, so you can shoot brighter, sharper images in dark conditions.

They also blur the background in portraits, bringing attention to the subject’s face.

Mobility April 2015

IMAGE STABILIZATION Technology that helps reduce blur caused by handshake comes in two varieties. Optical stabilization is more effective because it physically shifts an element in a camera or lens to counteract shake. Digital stabilization uses incamera software to correct image blur, but results are often not as sharp as with optical stabilization. But digital stabilization is cheaper and easier to fit into smaller cameras, particularly smartphones.

FOCAL LENGTH Focal length describes how close a lens can make a subject appear.

Zoom lenses provide variable focal length, from wide-angle shots to close-ups. Focal length is specified in millimeters—such as with a 70-200 mm telephoto zoom lens — or by a magnification factor, such as 5x, 10x or 20x. Some lenses, called ‘primes,’ have a fixed focal length, such as 35 mm or 50 mm. While less flexible, prime lenses typically produce better image quality and are less expensive than zooms. A good prime lens is generally capable of a larger aperture.

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sENSOR SIZE

SHUTTER SPEED

The sensor converts lights into electronic signals to create a picture. Generally speaking, the bigger a sensor, the better the photos.

Bigger imaging sensors allow for some combination of more megapixels and larger pixels that can capture more light. The largest sensor in a consumer camera is the ‘full-frame’ sensor of high-end DSLRs, so named because it is about the same size as a piece of 35 mm film.

APS-C sensors, which are slightly smaller than full-frame sensors are in mainstream digital SLRs and some mirrorless cameras. Other mirrorless cameras use sensors slightly smaller than APS-C, known as Micro Four Thirds.

Smaller still are the sensors in Bridge cameras, which are about the same size as those found in point-and-shoot cameras. Finally, cellphones (with a few exceptions) have the smallest image sensors.

The shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open in a camera. The higher the shutter speed, the more clearly a moving object can be captured. Shutter speed settings are typically measured in tenths or hundredths of a second. Cameras capable of faster shutter speeds are better for freezing action, so if you like sports photography, you want a camera that can shoot at 1/500 of a second and faster. The best DSLRs are capable of shooting at 1/8000 of a second, which is nice if you photograph car racing, but it is faster than most photographers probably need.

FPS Most cameras have a feature allowing them to capture a burst of images just by holding down the shutter. Often referred to as continuous shooting or burst mode, frame rate is often measured as frames per second (FPS). Some DSLRs—and even some point-and-shoots and smartphones—offer burst rates up to 10 fps. If you like shooting fast action, such as sports, get a camera with a fast shooting rate.

HD VIDEO ISO RATING ISO speed, a standard used to denote film sensitivity, has carried over to digital cameras.

The higher you set the ISO, the more effective the camera is at capturing images in low light without a flash. All things being equal, a larger sensor—with larger pixels—is capable of better image quality at a higher ISO. However, there is a trade-off: The higher you set the sensitivity, the greater the distortion or ‘noise,’ which shows up as graininess in a photo. A maximum ISO capability of 6400 or greater will allow you to capture images in dim conditions inside and out, but the amount of noise will depend on the size and quality of the sensor and the ability of the camera’s image processor to clean up images.

Record HD video at up to 1080p is now common in everything from smartphone cameras to DSLRs. The frame rates vary, including 60p (i.e. 60 frames per second) for smooth video of fast action, 24p for a film-like look and even 120p (in the iPhone 5s) for playing back footage in slow motion.

Wi-Fi CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi for sending photos to a smartphone is turning up in more digital cameras these days. It is meant to make sharing photos from stand-alone cameras as easy as from smartphones. But camera makers have struggled to simplify the process.

GPS TAGGING

Some cameras offer built-in GPS to geotag your photos. After your shots are geotagged with latitude and longitude, you can import them into mapping software and the images will pop up on a digital map over the location where they were shot.

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Apps

Enjoy IPL 8 on your small screen Star Sports Pepsi IPL 2015 Watch LIVE cricket streaming.

Watch the PEPSI IPL 2015 matches stream featuring your favorite teams – Royal Challengers, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad Get the complete LIVE scorecard, LIVE cricket scores, ball by ball commentary, match schedules, points tally, standings & other statistics, fixtures & results for PEPSI IPL.

Hotstar live TV No sign up fees, or registration required. Access full-length episodes of your favourite shows, full-length Bollywood, English, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali movies in addition to live cricket streaming.

Cricbuzz Cricket Scores & News A new section within the Cricbuzz app dedicated to IPL 8 (for Android OS 4.0 and above).

Check out a number of interesting IPL features like the Historical Timelines, a Teams section to follow your favourite team, Venues, Squads, Preview, Photos and much more.

CATCH THE IPL 2015

IPL 2015

CatchTheIPL is an app for Ipl Cricket lovers that brings for the fun of cricket again with teams statistics, player statistics, Ipl Schedule, Live Scores and all the latest happenings of this season Ipl. Match Schedule, browse through the results of completed matches, and the schedules of upcoming, Match Results, You can see the detailed score result of every match.

This is a official IPL 2015 app. This app is free of adverts, bringing you LIVE action, reaction and exclusive IPL 2015 coverage. Also included is coverage of the Indian Premier League, the Champions League Twenty20 and domestic cricket in India. l Live ball-by-ball scores & commentary l Live video streaming & highlights l Live photostream l Breaking news, features & exclusive interviews l Fixtures, results & match reports l Social features

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Date of Pub: 22nd April 2015 | 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