Mobility Issue December

Mobility Monthly Magazine

December 2015

Issue 12

Volume 11

Pages 36

20

beyond technology, beyond lifestyle

www.mobilityindia.com

3

Mobility December 2015

Contents

4

Cover Story

18

News 8 Q&A 9 Mobility in an interaction with Mr. Nishant Jain, CEO, Design For Use.

Launchpad 10 analysis 12 Servicing the Nonstop Customer: The Digital Way Global Consumer Pulse Research: An Indian Perspective

Interview 14 “Pantel has been a pioneer in launching ‘India’s First’ products”

Editor : Chief Editor : Associate Editor (Tech,) : Asst. Editor : Art Director : Creative Head : Acct. & Finance : Marketing Manager : Marketing Executives :

Circulation Manager : Production :

System Manager :

Swapan Roy Manoj Jha Jayanta Ghosh E.J. Jawahardatham Anit Kumar Karmendra Singh Negi Sandip Sarkar Tridip Dey Sujit Goswami, Pratap Biswas S. Dutt Raj Kumar P. Biswas Ashish Ghosh Ashok Kumar Paul Ajay Biswas

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

interaction 16

Redg.Off.: 38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).

“TP-LINK to foray into Indian mobile phone market soon”

Branch Office: Mumbai: E-mail: roy@ mobilityindia.com

cover story 18

Kolkata: 105/12B, Dum Dum Road, Sil Colony, Kolkata-74 Contact: 09330922965; 09903392620 E-mail : roy@ mobilityindia.com

Brands, Products and Make in India Impact, 2015

review iFrogz Audio Tadpole Active SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick AMZER Wireless Charging Pad

Guest Column Mr. Kushal Nahata, CEO and Founder of FarEye

30 31 32 34

Orissa: Krushna Nagar, 5th Lane, Lalji Palli, Berhampur-760008 (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 a magazine copy Rs. 20/-. Annual subscription Rs. 240.

Editor : edit@mobilityindia.com roy@ mobilityindia.com Marketing : tridip@mobilityindia.com marketing@mobilityindia.com Info : info@mobilityindia.com Subscribe : subscription@ mobilityindia.com

www.mobilityindia.com

Mobility December 2015

6

editorial

Looking forward to what’s next in mobile world in 2016?

K

eeping up with news about the shifting trends in mobile technology is no easy task. With

tech events, product releases, and public opinion about mobile and it’s impact on society constantly changing, it can be overwhelming to try and keep up with the thought leadership in this industry.

We at Mobility India tried to keep you in the loop about the changing world of mobile technology, and its impact in India, we want to bring you into the conversation about mobile world by sharing some stories. We’ve gathered some great content about mobile technology and its impact on our daily lives.

2015 was a great year for Mobile Technology, the

Swapan Roy roymobility@gmail.com

shift from desktop to mobile has been revolutionary.

The mobile era has saved some companies, upended others, and ushered in a whole new way of engaging technology.

Editor’s Choice

New Models of Multi-Channel Speaker Systems from Panasonic The stunningly powerful 80WRMS 4.1 SCHT40GW and 60WRMS 2.1 SC-HT20GW speakers produce rich bass effect with perfect combination of vocal clarity. The handcrafted wooden cabinet enhances the bass effect. The 4.1Ch has modern sleek design with compact wall-mountable speakers while the 2.1Ch boasts of the famous Tall Boy speaker design, which is perfectly compatible with your 32” TV set. These along with large size magnets for impactful sound pressure make it an inevitable choice for the powerful music enthusiasts. The 4.1Ch speakers are Bluetooth enabled which provides enhanced audio experience in any ambience.

www.mobilityindia.com

Mobility December 2015

twitter.com/mobilitymag

facebook.com/mobilityindia2004

edit@mobilityindia.com

8

News

Paytm ties up with Lendingkart to provide easy access to finance for sellers

Paytm, India’s largest mobile payment and commerce platform, announced its partnership with Lendingkart, a leading online platform for credit evaluation for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), offering collateral free business loans to SMEs. The initiative is a part of Paytm’s commitment to provide easy access to finance for merchants and SMEs. The credit evaluation process from Lendingkart makes loan disbursement happen in just 3 days at fair interest rates. Their innovative use of technology further simplifies the lending process, enhances the speed, provides price transparency, improves customer experience and reduces borrowing cost for businesses of all sizes.

BT to Provide Faster, more Secure Connections to Hewlett Packard Enterprise Cloud Services

BT announced faster, more reliable and more secure access to cloud services by allowing BT IP VPN customers to connect directly to HPE Helion Managed Cloud Services.

BT’s service uses HPE’s Rapid Connect capability to bypass the public internet when connecting to HPE Helion Managed Cloud Services.

The new direct connectivity empowers BT customers to take full advantage of HPE’s portfolio of services when and where they need them to build and consume workloads, with the reassurance of reliable and secure access. Customers benefit from improved performance, enhanced security and lower latency.

HCL Consumer Services wins CMO Asia Marketing Excellence Awards for Marketing Excellence in ‘Retail’ and ‘Telecom Services’ Sector

The consumer services business division of HCL Services Ltd. has won two Awards for “Marketing Excellence in Retail Sector” and “Marketing Excellence in Telecom Services Sector” at the Global Marketing Excellence Awards held in Mumbai.

HCL Consumer Services provides support across Telecom, IT, Consumer Electronics and Consumer Durables products for multiple brands through its contact centres, Walk-in centres, Onsite support, Supply-chain operations, Reverse logistics, Repair factory and value added services. HCL Consumer services under its specialized retail outlets ‘Touch’ has a network of more than 300 service centres across 250 cities in India, and serves more than 3 million consumers in a year. HCL Consumer Services has further expanded its retail presence by opening up exclusive service centres for various brands.

Mobility December 2015

1 Out Of 3 Smartphones Shipped in India in Q3 2015 are 4G Enabled: IDC According to International Daata Corporation’s (IDC) Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 28.3 million smartphones were shipped to India in the third quarter of 2015 – up 21.4% from 23.3 million units for the same period last year.

According to Karthik J, Senior Market Analyst, Client devices “The growth in the smartphone market was helped by rising demand for affordable 4G smartphones.”

In the third quarter, the 4G enabled devices have witnessed almost a three-fold increase in unit shipments over Q2 2015.

Samsung emerged as the biggest 4G player in India with its popular sub $150 LTE models such as Galaxy Grand Prime and Galaxy J2. “e-tailers such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon continue to drive shipments of the Chinese vendors, who have been aggressively trying to capture the 4G smartphone market in India,” adds Karthik.

Lenovo Group Emerges as 4th Largest Smartphone Brand in India in Q3 2015

Lenovo Group has emerged as the 4th largest smartphone brand by volume in India. The company’s overall sales have increased by 72 per cent y-o-y as compared to that of the same quarter last year. Sales of 4G units have increased by more than 132 per cent this quarter as compared to Q2 2015. Lenovo Group has been consistently topping the market trend with its industry-leading 4G LTE smartphone portfolio, with over 3.8 million 4G devices sold during CY 2015 (Year-to-date).

Sudhin Mathur, Director- Smartphones, Lenovo India, said, “The smartphone consumer base in India has evolved over the last few years. While the Indian market is flooded with several smartphone brands, we have consistently offered reliable and efficient smartphones based on disruptive technology at the right value. This has been one of the reasons for Lenovo’s popularity and rise to the number four brand in the country within two years of entry into India.”

The huge potential in the smartphone market in India and a tremendous response to Lenovo branded smartphones has prompted the company to start local manufacturing.

The K3 Note is currently being manufactured in India in Lenovo Group’s manufacturing facility in Sriperambudur, Chennai. Lenovo recently crossed the milestone of selling 1 million units of K3 Note in India. Other key products such as the A6000, A7000, A6000 Plus along with the newly launched A2010 and Vibe Shot, continue to drive brand’s sales in India.

For more news visit: www.mobilityindia.com

q&a

Design For Use want to expand to 100 designers in the next 2 years and triple its current revenue.

Mobility in an interaction with Mr. Nishant Jain, CEO, Design For Use.

D

esign For Use started its operations in 2005.

The company has its base in USA (Austin) , India (Gurgaon, Bangalore) and Australia (Sydney). The company started its operations in Austin by providing an end to end user experience design services. After witnessing developments in the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem, it expanded its base to Gurgaon. The company undertakes the responsibility of providing usercentric designs neatly integrated with product strategies and organization goals to improve product metric, ease of use and engagement.

Founders: David Richard (based out of Austin USA) is the President of the company. Nishant Jain (based out of Gurgaon) is a Partner - UX and Rohan Kumar (based out of Gurgaon) is a Partner - Product.

Your Road Map

What’s Important

We want to expand to 100 designers in the next 2 years and triple our current revenue. We are also incubating multiple startups which would be spun off into separate businesses while we hold minority to majority equity stake in them.

Industry is responding to great design acting as the key differentiator now, as technology becomes a commodity.

With an average user’s design expectations high with iOS and Android phones, you can’t compete with even a mediocre design anymore. Additionally, with competition heating up in every vertical, there is no option but to spend a considerable time and effort on getting the design right.

Key milestone achieved?

Over 100 clients and 200 projects completed with 98% client satisfaction rate. We have won awards for best wealth management app and diabetes calculator app.

Who are the competitors?

All technology-centric companies have a design team, plus there are boutique design agencies sprouting everywhere. We are amongst the oldest and most respected, with a global footprint we hope to become the leaders in the Indian and South Asian markets.

How the design ecosystem works?

In India the design ecosystem has matured considerably in last 10 years. CII and Nasscomm have been doing specific conferences and collaborations with design institutes such as NID. A lot more institutes have been offering design courses, however leadership is missing as the discipline in general is not that old. Plus trained

design educators are very few so quality is patchy barring the top 2-3 colleges. But we are moving in the right direction. With the increasing demand and salaries, we should be in a decent shape in 4-5 years.

How you monetize?

Not unlike any other service agency. We work on Fixed bit, T&M and Retainership models. We have also started small equity in early stage startup in lieu of money.

Your Goals Our present goals are to become the #1 UX Design Agency in India by end of 2016. We are focused on hiring the best talent and creating a senior design leadership that can help achieve this goal.

Mobility December 2015

9

10

LaunchPad

TP-LINK’s M7350 Mobile WI-FI Router with 3G/4G Connectivity and LTE Advance Ready

TP-LINK, announced their M7350 LTE-Advanced Mobile Wi-Fi designed

to provide an at-home wireless experience with fast speeds, robust connections, and wireless storage sharing. Users can instantly establish an LTE hotspot and enjoy mobile devices on business and road trips with peak download wireless speeds of up to 150Mbps.

The M7350 supports LTE cat4 and 2.4G/5GHz channels, providing the flexibility of two dedicated networks resulting in an excellent online experience.

M7350 will be available for Rs 7999 INR.

InFocus launches M808

InFocus, announces the latest addition to its flagship M8 series with the launch of InFocus M808. Taking cue from the earlier launched M812, the new InFocus M808 also makes a perfect

Asus launches entry level gaming laptop ‘R510’ at Rs 69,990/-

Expanding their gaming portfolio to the entry level gaming arena, ASUS announced the launch of its disruptive gaming notebook R510JX. Power-driven by its high end hardware along with the power of Windows 10, it is a good proposition for the Indian consumers at an affordable price of INR 69,990.

The ASUS R510JX is powered by a 4th generation Intel core i7 4720HQ Quad core processor which performs twice as better in a multicore usage scenario. Enhancing the graphics is NVidia GTX 950M gaming hardware. It is based on NVidia’s latest Maxwell architecture that delivers smooth, responsive performance.

Wickedleak unveils the Alpha Smartwatch

Wickedleak announcing its entry into wearables. The company has introduced Alpha Smartwatch in the Indian market, priced only at Rs.6,990/-. It is powered

by MediaTek’s MT2502 Processor which is specifically designed for Wearables. Alpha comes with 3D curved Touch Display w i t h scratch resistant properties and is built with CNC Processed Steel. Alpha comes with a 240X240 pixels high resolution display (220ppi density). It comes with a 280 mAh battery which can last upto 2 days.

Zebronics unveils its latest 360 surround ‘Tyson’ Tower Speakers

Zebronics, makes another extension to its Monster sound range and this time it’s the unbeatable Tyson Tower Speakers. Power packed with 40 watts RMS of power, this supersonic speaker produces sound with loudness and clarity. Its 3-inch midrange driver delivers vocals with extreme fidelity paired with 360 degree acoustic dispersion from all 4 sides bringing in 360 surround sound experience. Furthermore its 4inch built in subwoofer with the latest technology – front loaded down firing transmission line, brings in power bass & low frequency.

Tyson Tower Speakers is avilable at Rs. 4500/-

Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL launch in India combination of magnificent all metal unibody looks, combined with exceptional performance. It comes in two colors- Metallic Silver and Metallic Gold and is available on Snapdeal for Rs. 12,999.

Mobility December 2015

Microsoft announced the launch of Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, the first Lumia phones to come preloaded with Windows 10, in India.

Designed to offer consumers the best of Windows 10 combined with powerful and performance driven technology, the new flagship devices include innovative features like Cortana, Windows Hello beta for Lumia and Continuum for phones.

Pantel Technologies unveils India’s First Windows 10-based Tablet Pantel Technologies in partnership with Intel & Microsoft has launched

India’s first Windows 10 tablet with 8-inch IPS display called Penta WS802X. This tablet is exclusively available on HomeShop18 at INR 5499.

The Penta WS802X is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core Intel Atom Processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. The tablet features an 8-inch IPS display. The Penta WS802X comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage.

QiKU enters India with its flagship model, Q Terra

QiKU, which has within eleven months grown to

number four position in the online smartphone market in China, announced its India entry with the game changing flagship Q Terra. Q Terra is competitively priced at INR 21,999 in India and a special price of Rs 19,999 for its ‘Gamechangers Fan Community’ through Q Invites. QiKU Q Tera features a 6-inch IPS FHD Display. It has twin rear cameras of 13MP each and an 8MP front camera.

For more news visit: www.mobilityindia.com

12

analysis

Servicing the Nonstop Customer:

The Digital Way Global Consumer Pulse Research:

An Indian Perspective • Customers, empowered by digital, are evaluating their providers against the standards set by the bestof-breed—across the entirety of their experiences, not restricted by sectors.

• As a result, they are continuously raising the bar for acceptable customer service, and dissatisfied customers are just a click away from looking elsewhere.

• No surprise that customers switching companies, especially due to poor customer service, remains a

• Switching due to poor service is more prevalent in service-oriented industries. For example, in banking and Internet service—two of the more service-oriented industries— switching behavior is at 41 percent and 46 percent respectively.

• Our survey has further revealed that digital disruption is steadily eroding customer loyalty. Only 27 percentof respondents feel extremely loyal toward their providers or are willing to buy more products and services from them, while nearly one-quarter of them are evaluating/ considering other providers more often.

Why is switching gaining momentum now?

• Proliferation of digital channels has fundamentally transformed the consumer’s journey which was earlier linear and restricted to a closed ecosystem. Digital channels today enable these nonstop customers to compare a provider’s promise with its delivery not just within the industry but also outside and switch if the experiences don’t match expectations.

• Poor customer experience is the primary reason for switching companies (cited by 59 percent respondents).

Having to contact customer service repeatedly for the same issues and long waiting time continued to be among the most negative service experiences that customers faced in 2014. growing concern. This is true especially in India, where our survey indicates that 88 percent of respondents switched companies in at least one industry due to poor service—a number significantly higher than the global average of 64 percent.

• Switching customers represent a huge potential loss of revenue for companies that fail to retain them, and a huge opportunity for those that can attract them.

Accenture estimates that the switching economy in India is currently worth US$331 billion.

• Our survey in India indicates that 86 percent of customers who switched said that the companies could have done something to prevent their service providers from switching. And, 56 percent of customers are willing to give their service providers another chance, if the companies make it worth their while.

• One of the most compelling findings of our survey is that customers are more loyal to experiences than to companies, products and brands. This distinct lack of customer loyalty to companies is borne out by customer action: seven in 10 customers said that they are more likely today to switch from one provider to another than 10 years ago.

Mobility December 2015

• The lack of knowledge of customer service representatives (53 percent) is the second-most cited reason for switching. While customer expectations of after-sales service is growing, our survey indicates that 73 percent of the respondents feel companies are unable to keep pace with their service needs.

• According to the survey85 percent of the respondents talk about their negative service experience with others. And, after a negative experience, as many as 68 percent of customersreduce the level of business dealing with their service providers while 59 percent stop doing business with them altogether.

Digital playing a key role in enhancing consumer experience: • Based on the survey insights, we highlight three enablers of customer experience that define the roadmap that organizations will have to undertake in the quest to service the nonstop customer.

• Being easily accessible o Our survey indicatesthat increased use of technology in customer service—such as social

13

o o o

o

media channels for customer service request initiation; or self-service options on websites or via mobile devices; or live chat via the Internet—has improved the level of service significantly in India.

More than 70 percent of customers accessing services through digital channels use their mobile device to do so half of the time.

More than 65 percent of respondents who use mobile interactions believe that companies offering these are more effective at offering tailored experiences.

Seventy-one percent of Indian customers read online reviews of other customers, and 47 percent say they are more likely to do business with companies they can interact with on social media.

Nearly 80 percent of Indian customers (61 percent global and 75 percent emerging markets) agree that increased use of technology has improved the level of service.

• Being seamlessly connected: o The rise of digital technologies has given customers abundant options and touchpoints for interacting with companies. o While consumers agree that businesses are making an effort to converge the physical and digital channels to serve them effectively, the problem arises in providing a consistent, seamless experience across these channels. o Inadequate knowledge of customer service representatives emerged as the second-highest reason for switching service providers, with 65 percent of customers finding it frustrating to repeat information to multiple service agents.

• Being closely personal o Customers expect their providers to know them, and therefore, offer more personalized interactions to them. Personalization clearly emerged as the core driver of customer satisfaction. o However, more than half of the respondents said that companies do not use the information provided by them across multiple channels to make offers relevant or interactions meaningful. o Forty-four percent customers cited lack of customized solutions as the reason for switching companies, while 88 percent talked about their negative experiences. o In fact, following a negative experience, 72 percent customers mentioned engaging with new companies they had not considered earlier.

• Building a winning digital strategy o Accenture believes that a roadmap or a business case alone is insufficientto address disruption.A strategy that captures the new realities of the digital world is essential to succeed. Companies need to base their strategy blueprint on the three digital enablers—being easily accessible, being seamlessly connected and being closely personal—that will help deliver improved services to customers, and thus create a “wow” experience.

• Being easily accessible o Leverage mobility to reach an increasingly mobile audience and provide an enhanced on-the-go experience. o Create compelling interactions and build apps to maximize the use of this cost-effective channel.

Develop apps that recognize contextual signals and engage customers within that context. For instance, if a customer goes abroad, the bank’s locator application on his mobile device should recognize that fact and provide contextually relevant information such as the nearest ATM machine in the vicinity. o Use social media to listen to what customers are saying, and then use those insights to engage more meaningfully with customers—crafting better interactions and solutions that ultimately build long-term relationships. o Use social listening to reach targeted customer segments, especially in a crowded and fragmented marketplace. It can help understand what customers think and want, and subsequently use the insight to engage them in meaningful interactions.

• Being seamlessly connected o Adopt omnichannel. Promote and enable collaboration and customer information sharing among multiple channels. This ensures that customer preference and transaction history on one channel gets percolated to other channels— ensuring the next interaction to be smoother, without the customer having to repeat the issue irrespective of the channel they use. Companies in India are adopting omnichannel in a phased manner, often partnering with other players for greater efficiency and reach. o Focus on the ecosystem. Rather than continuing to emphasize the traditional “customer-to-company” model, providers need to use digital capabilities to create an end-to-end customer experience across today’s new relationship model. One that comprises a broader ecosystem of stakeholders including dealers, brokers, distributors, co-customers, coproducers, influencers and institution alliances. o Provide automated self-service.

Deepen relationships with customers by giving “control” in their hands. Offer digital tools or access to customers so that they can resolve issues themselves instead of getting frustrated with the services, or lack thereof.

In fact, our survey shows that 73 percent are open to solving their service issues through self-service sites or Web chats for a monetary reward.

• Being closely personal o Provide tailored services that customers expect, avoid broken promises that frustrate, and build trust by being intelligent and responsible with personal data. o Utilize Big Data effectively and deploy advanced analytics to generate insights and predict customer behavior. a) Use these insights to better target and segment customers in terms of messaging, product offering and customer experiences. b) Use these predictions to personalize interactions and provide tailored experience at any point in time and on any channel. o Become a “multi-speed customer company” by moving beyond the one-size-fits-all customer agenda. This implies an integrated, yet tailored, approach to both analog and digital channels that match the speed and preferences of multiple segments to provide the right experiences for customers at different levels of digital intensity.

Mobility December 2015

Interview

14

“Pantel

has been a pioneer in launching MANY

‘India’s First’ Mr. Vijender Singh

products”

MD, Pantel Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

P

antel Technologies is a young Information Technology and Communication devices company – selling innovative Tablet PCs under the brand name of Penta T-Pad(s) in Indian, South-East Asian, GCC and African markets.

Recently, Pantel Technologies has emerged as the undisputed leader in Indian tablet market during Q3 (July-Sep) 2015 with a sizeable lead over its nearest competitor. Pantel Has a market share of 16.4%, followed by Samsung who has a market share of 14.9%.

Mobility December 2015

What are the key points you focus on before launching products?

Disruption is the main key component before we launch any product. Target audience and disruption in technology, design and price play an important part in pre-launch activities.

We entirelycomprehend the Indian market and primarily focus on providing innovative and very affordable tablets one can buy without burning a hole in his/her pocket.

Besides, we adhere to top Quality and Compliance certifications. To sum up, Penta tablets are among the most innovative tablets that meet your needs and budget.

Interview

Can you mention your important milestones till date?

Pantel has been pioneer in launching many ‘India’s First’ innovative products in the market like 4G enabled tablets, 8” tablets at affordable price. Recently, we have also introduced Windows 10-based tablet Penta WS802X in partnership with Intel & Microsoft. We are first to introduce Wi-Fi tablet at a price range of INR 2999 and 3G calling tablet at INR 3999 in the Indian market.

Besides, we have also partnered with some of the most innovative and respected organizations in the world like ORANGE,MAURITIUS TELECOM, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), CDAC Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) and Department of Posts.

How are you taking the Make in India concept forward?

First, we fully support Make in India initiative as it is a very enterprising concept by the new government, which can catapult India into top manufacturing economies of the world.

Realizing the same long back, Pantel has been ramping up its local manufacturing capacity and capabilities in its two manufacturing units out

of Roorkee, Uttarakhand to meet the growing demand of Penta products in the market. We are also planning to add more assembly lines in these two plants. We are very optimistic about being able to capitalize on this opportunity given by the Government.

In your opinion, what drawbacks and challenges in

in technology accessible to the Indian customers at Value-For-Money pricing.

We share a vision to reach one and all without compromising on their budget and connect the masses with the Digital India initiative.

With an innovation-led business approach, Pantel Technologies is driving the technology initiatives and the product R&D roadmap in the cutting

According to CMR’s India Q3 Tablet PC Market Review report, Pantel Technologies shares majority of the pie and emerged as No.1 player

in Indian tablet market.

Going forward, there are so many things in our basket for which you need to wait and watch.

What recognition have you achieved so far?

the India’s Tablet market are negatively impacting this segment?

As such there are no challenges; we are doing exceptionally well in the market and will continue to do so.

How your products are making difference in the market?

Since inception, Pantel has been making the latest

edge areas of Internet and Mobility devices - focusing on both ‘creation’ and ‘consumption.’

Let’s take an example of Penta Bharat phone. It is priced at INR 1999/- and comes with 1999 minutes of free talk time from BSNL over its network spread over a period of 18 months.

It is a keyboard-operated phone that has several attractive features like 2.8” wide screen, dual SIM, FM radio, audio player, torch, camera and it is Internetenabled It is available at your nearest post office.

What is your current market share and target for the coming 1-year?

There is no bigger recognition than customers trust and we always believe in providing value for their money by following healthy competition in the market.

Pantel Technologies has more than 400+ service centers across India and we are working closely with our business partners to take it further to 600 centers.

What is your vision?

In a growing economy like India, investment to satisfy local demand is not a zero sum game, but rather would produce exponential benefits.

Therefore, we not only support ‘Make in India’ initiative, but we also look forward to make India a Digital Nation. Our intent is to offer free of cost digital learning solutions to students through our tablets globally as part of our corporate social responsibility and play an integral & important part in Prime Minister’s e-governance and Digital India initiative.

Mobility December 2015

15

interaction

16

“TP-LINK to foray into Indian mobile phone market”

Mr LynnWang

VP Mobile Business TP-LINK India

T

P-LINK, which has been a leading global provider of networking products, is now foraying into mobile phone industry in India and worldwide, in a big way. They want to launch Smart and Simplemobile phones soon in India and worldwide.

In an interaction with Mobility magazine, talking about their entry into mobile phone segment, Mr LynnWang, TP-LINK clarifies, “Before we launch any products in the market, we study the customer needs and then develop the specs accordingly.

Same will be our approach for mobile phones. India is a huge market for mobile phones. We will load the phones with all the essential and basic features. For example, Indians in particular like selfies, so we are focusing specially on this feature. We want to avoid fancy features which people seldom use and which only add up to unnecessary cost. And then we will pricein the affordable range—neither too low nor too high.

Since we have our own manufacturing plant and R&D in China, we can control the design and quality of the products better, and that is an added advantage we have.”

Founded in 1996, the Chinabased TP-LINK has become one of the world’s leading providers of SOHO & SMB networking products and No. 1 provider of WLAN products. TP-LINK supplies to over 120 countries across the globe, serving millions of consumers worldwide. Now TP-Link, with the advantage of having a powerful brand name in the market, is confident that they can leverage on their established presence in promoting

Mobility December 2015

and providing mobile phones with cutting-edge technology globally.

Mr Lynn adds, “We have identified the market segments and our main focus will be mid-level market.

The channel knows that we have our own manufacturing and R&D and we don’t have to get things made by a

“We plan to launch 6 models sometime in 1st half of 2016.

We will be launching globally in 18 countries, including India” third party which is our strength. This also helps us to offer decent margins to the channel partners and their resellers. Next, we will focus on providing best after-sales-service. Presently, we already have several service centers here supported by experienced professionals, and also looking for 3rd party service partnersto cover the pan india,which we will gear up to service our new mobile phone vertical. Since we are just into the market, we have to move ahead step-by-step, facing challenges and looking for opportunities. We plan to launch 6 models sometime in 1st half of 2016. We will be launching globally in 18 countries, including India, to start with and then reach to other countries.

We will have a full-fledged launching event inviting all the top media, most probably in Mumbai.”

TP-LINK is a company fully committed to developing its products, ser-

vices and consumer relations through its own manufacturing, extensive R&D and strict Quality Assurance departments in China, supported by effective outreach initiatives. Customer loyalty through interaction, focus and feedback are the policies that help TP-LINK offer innovative and awardwinning solutions to the market.

Mr Lynn adds, “We have a separate vertical, with a separate name for mobile phones - Neffos. We want to target mid-level segment. Simple and Smart are our main USPs. We will add most useful features and avoid unnecessary and fancy features. We are confident, counting on all our merits thatwe are going to survive and grow. We will initially target a market share 2-5% in India. Our motto is Smart and Simple. Regarding channel strategy, we are still in the planning stage andwill keep redefining with time and experience.”

TP-LINK’s global achievements in the industry have received recognition across the world. With focus on quality and commitment, TP-LINK continues to develop award-winning products.

Can starting their own manufacturing or assembling in India under Make in India program will benefit TP-LINK with respect developing mobile phones? In this regard, Mr Lynn concludes, “Yes, we can definitely take advantage of the incentives and tax benefits offered by the government, but for now it is still in the conception stage. First we want to launch the products and test the market. After that we will decide on the future strategy.”

cover story

18

T

he year 2015 has been a progressive and eventful year for technology companies. As the year draws to a close, we take a look at the technology sector where key players are emerging, merging, expanding, metamorphosing, splitting or even getting wiped out. Technology is forever a work in progress as companies continue to discover new and better ways of doing things. But while they continue to patent new technologies, many new challenges also emerged which played a key role and also brought notable downtrend this year. We have asked industry leaders about their experiences of 2015.

The next major Take Off of the year is Make in India which offered a plethora of incentives to those who want set up their manufacturing or assembling plants in India. Already many big companies have started their manufacturing setups in India and many more to follow in 2016. This is expected to be major booster for the Indian economy. As many state governments started wooing manufacturers to set up their plants in their states, soon these plants are also expected to start exporting to other countries.

Mobility December 2015

Impact of Product & Brand in 2015 According to Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, Mobile Business Head, Intex Technologies, “The year 2015 has been of tremendous significance for our brand, from venturing into new products, marketing avenues, bringing new brand ambassadors on board. It’s been a wonderful year for us. Intex has become the No.1 Indian mobile handset brand as per IDC Q3 2015 report. In the first half of 2015, we launched several new models to offer our consumers a wide choice of products.”

“This year, we also forayed into the wearable devices segment with the launch of iRist, our smart watch at MWC Shanghai. With

iRist, we became the first Indian company to launch an Android-based smart watch and we have received a good response to the device from the consumers.

We also became one of the first Indian brands to bring 4G devices to the masses.

We plan to have 40% of our product portfolio as 4G by FY 2015-16. Intex was the first Indian handset maker to launch 3GB RAM in a sub 15k price category – Aqua Ace & Cloud Swift,” he added further.

“The year 2015 was eventful and certainly a special for Swipe. Signing of Priyanka Chopra as the brand ambassador was a significant development for the brand Swipe who represents aspirations of

cover story

today’s young generation.

During the year, Swipe also launched a powerful 360° marketing campaign, titled ‘Live Your Faith,’ featuring Priyanka Chopra, which has been inspiring and motivating.

These two marketing-oriented developments – getting Priyanka Chopra on board and the #LiveYourFaith campaign – are parts of Swipe’s long-term strategy of positioning ourselves as a brand that represents the aspirations of the youth of the country,” said, Shripal Gandhi, Founder and CEO, Swipe Technologies.

“Significantly, we launched the new innovative ‘Freedom OS’ that offers attractive customization features to the end users. With Freedom OS, Swipe products offer innovative UI features like DIY (Do-it-Yourself) themes, localized Swipe Search Engine, customizable home screen gestures, an extensive Swipe gallery with numerous theme options, live wallpapers & fonts and a Swipe Box. Swipe is now the No.4 brand in the tablets space in India. This year, we have also launched our online only brand Elite (series) exclusively on Flipkart,” he added further.

Rahul Sharma, Founder, YU Televentures while recapping 2015 and trends in 2016, comments that change is the only constant.

Just a few years ago, the industry faced a market evolution that promised to dramatically upset the status quo. Evolution to 4G required tough technology choices and investments.

Service delivery has been shifting from a focus on voice and messaging to a new world of data connectivity and to apps later. The newer technology is paving way for the older ones and the times ahead are clearly for the ones who fall out of line. The year 2015 was the Smartphone industry’s growth and new products were introduced that not only changed the user experience but also enhanced it by many notches.

Mr Sharma adds, “Users are

now demanding a powerful computing experience packaged well in the handheld device itself. Well, the days wouldn’t be far behind as we have seen the launch of octa-cores, curved display smartphones, wearables and almost edge-to-edge display phones with great camera in the market. The future of mobile devices, however, is about to stretch a lot further than simply cramming a full-fledged computer into your pocket. The tech-savvy millennials are the new face of India. They are looking for smartphones that offer advanced functionality and an unparalleled experience which is customizable as per their taste and preference.

We believe that in phones and laptops the brands and operating systems the consumer chose was starting to matter less. The hardware forms from multiple suppliers are beginning to resemble each other and devices perform extremely similar functions. This may be bad for the makers, but it is good for the users.

People will use such devices more as they become lowcost commodities.

The real mobile news is not in the devices, but how the software has changed and how it will evolve. Smart watches, Health monitors, Fitness trackers--The world of mobile is changing. The wearable landscape got a lot of attention this year, and it has helped fuel more talks about a future where every device or object could be connected. Today, the number of ‘things’ that are connected to the Internet in a home have changed.

While earlier, one would have a single desktop computer connected to the Internet, today there are a variety of devices including tablets, laptops, gaming consoles, smartphones, televisions and more, are getting connected. IoT will be a game changer and you will be able to see brands step out of their comfort zones, trying newer things. It can open up a new horizon and the possibilities are limitless. What is interesting is that Mobile will be at the

center stage of this change.

Everything that a user wants will be and can be controlled through his mobile device.

2016 will be a beginning towards offering consumers this change. We envisioned this change in the beginning of 2015 where a mobile hardware compliments the software capabilities and offers a user a holistic mobile experience. The experience of our primary mobile screen being a bank of app icons that lead to independent destinations will slowly see the end of the road, what we therefore design and build on mobile needs to change. The transaction based apps such as cabs, food and movie tickets, if get integrated into the native device experience can offer greater functionality and ease to the user. The future will see most of this getting integrated right into the home screen of the device itself. Services offered inbuilt with phones will provide a differentiated experience to users and lay a strong foundation for the future development. Around YU, is an answer to this! We are writing the future today.

Around YU is an effort to smartly integrate most of the functions into the OS layer and provide a native experience. Around YU was created to smartly pull up information from apps and web and provide contextual recommendation of content and actions, saving user’s time and effort to switch between multiple apps.”

“Karbonn has been one of the few mobile brands which heard the consumer aspirations and has offered products especially attuned to their needs. We offer segment-leading devices to serve the needs of a crosssection of consumers. From feature phones, to smart feature phones and from smartphones, Karbonn offers devices for varied needs. We are the 5th most trusted mobile brand as per a recent report by brand equity. This is because Karbonn understands that satisfaction is the highest criterion of retaining customers. Thus we aspire to provide the best services

Mr. Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, Mobile Business Head, Intex Technologies.

“As a part of creating a significant name for our brand we are doing the strategic tie-ups with major online retailers to have a strong in the e-commerce sphere. As part of enhancing our service strategies, Intex this year opened exclusive branded stores - ‘Intex Smart World’ as experience zones. We plan to have 100 such branded stores by FY 15-16.”

Shripal Gandhi, Founder and CEO of Swipe Technologies

“We have established ourselves as a strong brand in mobile communication devices space and our volumes have grown sharply in the last three years. In order to exercise better control on our supply chain, enhance quality of our products and improve our margins, we are contemplating options to start manufacturing in India soon.”

to its customers and retaining them in the family.

We announced our Make in India plans this year and have already begun production in our Noida & Bangalore plants,” said, Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, of Karbonn.

“The year 2015 has been a successful year for Gionee both in terms of brand building and product launches. We expanded our offline presence by tying

Mobility December 2015

19

20

cover story

Mr. Rahul Sharma, Founder, YU Televentures

While there is a lot to look ahead for in terms of technology innovations, at YU, we will continue to strive for more convenience and ease for our consumers and provide them best in class technology at affordable prices. As we close the year 2015 on a high, the year 2016 will be the year of many firsts, putting the consumer first and offering him everything that simplifies his engagement and experience with the mobile device.

Mr. S.S. Bassi, Country Manager – SAARC, Sangfei Mobility (Philips Mobile).

“Innovation and quality, I believe, plays a major role in the success of a brand. It is imperative that the brand’s unique selling point has the ability to capture the consumer’s attention span and in order to retain the consumer’s interest the product should be of high quality. Products should also have a unique an high utility point for consumers when compared to other products in the market.”

up with major retail outlets and also stepped on to the online bandwagon by associating with Snapdeal and Flipkart for two of our flagship devices the ELIFE E8 and Marathon M5.

Gionee also announced its Make in India plans

Mobility December 2015

and will be investing 50 mn US$ for the Make in India project. In the product front Gionee launched a series of innovative products like the ELIFE E8, the best camera phone and the Marathon M5 which is industry’s first smartphone to come in with a 6020 mAh battery. Going forward, we are also going to bring in more innovative products on the S series, M series and E series. We are also having various brand associations in the fields of sports, music and movies which helped us make a better connect with our consumers,” said, Arvind R. Vohra, Country CEO & MD, Gionee India.

Mike Wang, CEO of OPPO Mobiles India stated that India is a strategic market for us primarily because there is clearly a huge potential to grow in the Indian smartphone market.

We are speeding up our sales and service network and expect a fair growth and a bigger share of the market in the times to come.

By next year, we are looking at 300% growth.

“On the brand aspect, we expect our brand will become a well-known name for its innovation, quality and service over the next 5 years. The company has plans to expand more service centers this year. As of now, we have 120 service centers across India and are targeting to open 200 service centers by end of 2015. We also have hotline services to communicate with the customers. As far as R&D centers in India are concerned, we are considering it but cannot comment on it as of now,” he added further.

“We have been present in the Indian market for almost a year now, and our main focus has been on establishing our business here. Within this short period, we have successfully increased our distribution network to reach across India, with 3000 retail stores currently. As a brand, Philips has always been associated with bringing out innovative but easy-to-use products for our customers. We have

been able to keep up the momentum in the Indian market as well,” said, S.S. Bassi, Country Manager – SAARC, Sangfei Mobility (Philips Mobile).

Murali Retineni, Executive Director, Celkon Mobiles, said, “Presently, the mobile penetration ratio in India is 73% and the penetration in rural India is even lower.

By following the strategy of C.K Prahalad’s bottom of the pyramid, we at Celkon want to provide affordable phones to the general public.

However, smartphone market is still in the nascent stage with a penetration of 33%.

But with rising income levels and Internet connectivity, smartphone demand would be on the rise and major users of smartphone are below 30 years age group. Therefore, we have a dedicated R&D for smartphone with a special focus to cater to the needs of the youth.

The present success of the company can be attributed to the alliances it has formed in the last 6 years.

At a consumer level, Celkon could penetrate the hearts of the consumers because of the strong product line and reliable service network.

However, at a business level the company could form a strategic alliance with the distributor network.

But at the end of the day, all members of Celkon family believe in the motto ‘Customer is God.’ The 2015 has been a very successful year and we have been able to sell on an average 7 lakh mobiles per month and on the whole 85 lakh plus mobile in 2015. Celkon has launched various mobile models in the last 12 months like Diamond pro, Q58, Q455L, Q5K Power, Q54+, Q519+, A359, A35k remote, A355, Music plus , C344, etc.”

Kingston is one of the rare brands to enjoy both, the majority market share globally and recognition as one of the fastest growing brands for mobile peripherals and accessories. Specific to 2015, we introduced a lot of innovative products in India with newer technologies like

the all-in-one MobileLite Wireless Gen 2, HyperX Cloud Core headset, USBs with 3C & 3.1 connectors and more options for DDR4 memory. We were able to enrich the experience of our customers across price points and will continue working towards making the best quality products mainstream,” said, Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston Technology – India.

“Overall ADATA India business in 2015 has been on the growth trajectory wherein with all the abundant challenges faced during the year, we have managed to meet our mapped growth path. With DIY market slowing down, the DRAM module business which is one of the main product lines for ADATA – we did face challenges. But on the other hand, with the entry level module slowly picking up as a 4GB as against 2GB last year, we somehow have managed the business. Secondly, the gaming segment has been good for us this year wherein demand has increased with increased awareness and the product availability easing,” said, Chris Chang, MD at ADATA Technology India Pvt Ltd. “In 2015, and since Targus was created in 1983, the brand has been making an impact by constantly bringing innovation solutions to the market.

Throughout the years, Targus has won awards and recognitions, has developed patented unique features, and continues to enhance the mobile lifestyle. In 2015, Targus growth and impact has been supported by our core cases and accessories, still leading the way. To make a positive impact to customers’ lives, the Targus brand has also ensured a wider reach at retail, online and thru corporate channels,” said Manish Aher, Director of Product Marketing and Country Manager, India.

According to Rajesh Doshi, Director, Zebronics India Pvt Ltd, “The year 2015 has been a great year

cover story

for brand Zebronics. We have expanded further in consumer electronics with LED televisions and entered into surveillance segment.

Zebronics products have always been unique, be it in aesthetic appeal, value for money quotient and excellent quality. Even with such affordable and value for money product we make sure that customer has a good experience of owning the products with service support. When all these are added up, the sum is greater than the parts and result of this can be seen in the awards we have received: During the last 3 years we have received more than 31 awards.”

“We did very well in brands like AOC, Sennheiser, Beats

by Dr. Dre, Lava, Transcend, Adata,” said, Ketan C Patel, CEO at Creative Peripherals & Distribution Pvt. Ltd. “It has been a while for us to be known as a prominent lifestyle technology brand.

We are driven by innovation, quality and dedication to offer the best proposition to our customers.”

“We performed well with brands like HGST, HP, ViewSonic, ADATA, etc impacting the overall revenue growth of Savera and addition of partners which increased the market penetration, overall increasing the market share of Savera as a brand,” concluded, Gopal Pansari, Director at Savera Marketing Agency Pvt Ltd.

Key Strategies “The Indian market is dynamic and has given us a good response for our products. The market here is vast and the demand is huge and ever increasing.

We strategize on reaching out to a larger audience and including the untapped areas on the country and bringing in the most innovative products at a best possible price range.

Apart from this, providing the best quality service to customers has always been at the forefront of our every business motto. We believe in providing Superior quality, guaranteed compatibility,

Convenience, Stability, Reliability, Expertise, Legendary Warranty and exceptional after-salesservices to our customers,” said, Mr Parekh, Kingston Technology – India.

“Very good channel/ retail connect and easy accessibility from our side for any feedbacks to improve. Looking at a model in which our partner earns well subsequently affects our earning in positive way,” said, Mr Patel of Creative Peripherals.

“Targus key strategy is to bring to market the products our customers want and need. For the cases segment, supported by the launch of highly innovative and qualitative products such as the GridTM collection and the multi-generation cases designed to fit the Apple iPad mini, iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 3, we have experienced some positive results and seen good traction in selected countries,” said, Mr Aher of Targus.

“One of the major successes of the year is that, we became the No.1 Indian handset mobile brand as per IDC Q3 2015 report. Our focus towards product innovation, consumer satisfaction and creating a robust service and distribution network has helped us establish a strong brand recall amongst our consumers. With a strong base of customer service support, we have built a network of 1100 service touch points, held by an even stronger built-up of 1100+ distributors and over 100,000 retailers encapsulating our distribution channel,” said, Kumar of Intex Technologies.

“We have established ourselves as a strong brand in mobile communication devices space and our volumes have grown sharply in the last 3 years. In order to exercise better control on our supply chain, enhance quality of our products and improve our margins, we are contemplating options to start manufacturing in India soon,” said, Mr Gandhi of Swipe.

A robust well planned distribution network is key

to the success of any brand operating in the market.

Gionee has its distribution network well sorted and it has been crucial for Gionee’s growth in India. Embarking on the view to reach out to a wider audience and offer better customer experience, Gionee partnered with leading retail players including Spice, The Mobile Store, Mobiliti World, Jumbo Electronics, CromaRetail& Planet M leading to Gionee handsets being available across 1000+ stores aiming to sell 35000+ additional devices every month.

Gionee has been rapidly expanding its footprint in India by opening brand stores and aims to open 250 brand stores in next one year. The company also has 800 service centers up and running and aims to have 1000 by end 2015.

Scaling up its service, Gionee also tied up with online shopping website Snapdeal.com, for an exclusive deal to sell Gionee ELIFE E8 online.Gionee very strategically chose to tie-up with Snapdeal as the time was perfect for Gionee to take the online route and reach out to its consumers for a premium handset like the E8 and with Flipkart for the Marathon M5.

Gionee partnered with leading retail players including Spice, The Mobile Store, Mobiliti World, Jumbo Electronics, CromaRetail& Planet M leading to Gionee handsets being available across 1000+ stores. Gionee also took to the online route associating itself with online biggies like Flipkart and Snapdeal.” said, Mr. Vohra, of Gionee India.

“Innovation and quality, I believe, plays a major role in the success of a brand.

It is imperative that the brand’s unique selling point has the ability to capture the consumer’s attention span and in order to retain the consumer’s interest, the product should be of high quality.

Products should also have a unique and high utility point for consumers when compared to other products in the market,”

Mike Wang, CEO, OPPO Mobiles India

“On the brand aspect, we expect our brand will become a wellknown name for its innovation, quality and service over the next five years. The company has plans to expand more service centers this year. As of now, we have 120 service centers across India and are targeting to open 200 service centres by end of 2015. We also have hot line services to communicate with the customers. As far as R&D Centers in India is concerned we are considering it but cannot comment on it as of now.”

Mr. Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, of Karbonn.

“With an aim to bring the next 100mn users under the smartphone technology fold, Karbonn has been working towards making the Smartphone experience more simple and relevant for the users.

The company has integrated highly intuitive features and pre-embedded apps which makes the usage easy irrespective of users digital proficiency.”

said, Mr Bassi of Phillips Mobile.

“As we always say that OPPO is very much concerned about Innovation and Technology, our R&D team is diligently working to come up with the best and the latest products that delight our customers with our ground-breaking

Mobility December 2015

21

NOMINATION CATEGORY The most prestigious award night is back.

This award is given annually to the Product and Brands who have created an impact in the Mobility space. For us it is a prestigious honor to serve and recognize the best of the best.

1.

Best Flagship Smartphone of the Year : ......................................................................

2.

Best Mid Range Smartphone of the Year (Under 20k) : .............................................

3.

Best Budget Smartphone of the Year (Under 10K) : ...................................................

4.

Best Affordable 4G Smartphone of the Year : ............................................................

5.

Best Camera Phone of the Year : .................................................................................

6.

Best Feature Phone of the Year : ..................................................................................

7.

Most Gorgeous Product of the Year : ...........................................................................

8.

Best Phablet of the Year : ..............................................................................................

9.

Best Smartwatch of the Year : ......................................................................................

10. Best Fitness Band of the Year : .....................................................................................

11. Best Distributor of the Year (Mobility) : ........................................................................

12. Best Innovative App of the Year : .................................................................................

13. Best Bluetooth Speaker of the Year : ...........................................................................

14. Best Headphones of the Year : .....................................................................................

15. Best Powerbank of the Year : ........................................................................................

16. Best Portable Storage for Mobile Devices of the Year : .............................................

17. Best innovative mobile Accessories of the Year : .......................................................

18. Best Home Automation Product of the Year : .............................................................

19. Best Service Provider of the Year : ...............................................................................

20. Best Indian Mobile Brand of the Year : ........................................................................

fillup this form and send it across our office address or Visit mobilityindia.com Roy Mediative, A-23, 1st Floor, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi-110020

24

cover story

Mr. Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston Technology – India

“Kingston has always been a channel friendly company which forms a part of our success story. The Indian market has always been volatile and the sheer size and demand fluctuations make it a place for a dynamic mix of channel partners.

We have plans to develop a better model of communication that gives us an edge. We have been strong with media presence, out of the box promotions and other marketing innovations. Along with innovating these even further, we plan to strengthen our channel network.”

Mr Rajesh Doshi, Director, Zebronics India pvt ltd

“We at Zebronics are fully committed to Hon’ Prime Ministers vision of Make in India, and we believe that it will take the nation to a whole level in manufacturing and gradually more more improvement would be seen as supply chain and the ecosystem improves with time.

We have a strong R&D unit, which has developed many new products which are manufactured in

technologies like VOOC Flash Charge and Pure Image Technology. India is a very interesting market with significant growth still to be exploited in the sector. It is no doubt a price-sensitive market but there is a certain section of consumers who are extremely technology savvy

Mobility December 2015

and looking for innovative and power-packed devices.

The way consumers choose and buy smartphones is continuously evolving and you need to have a diverse portfolio of products and price-points to appeal to a wide range of consumers,” said, Mr Wang of Oppo.

“The key strategy for ADATA India as always was and will remain is to be well aligned with the distributor/ channel partner network.

This year, we adopted a strategy to reach out to the upcountry markets and with the help of our new and existing distributors, we can emphatically say that we are now available in top 100 towns and cities,” said, Mr Chang of ADATA. “Our new brand messaging of ‘Celebrating Simplicity’ has been adopted in sync with the strategy of ‘Simplifying Technology’ in order to enable consumers experience and enjoy mobile telephony.

The approach simply rests on understanding the evolving consumer needs.

We undertake detailed consumer analysis to understand what they want, and aim to bring them technologies which make their lives simpler.

With 92% penetration in Indian districts, we aim to be available to every person within the Indian Geography who aspires to have a Karbonn device.

Our major markets are UP East & UP West (North), Maharashtra (West), Bihar & Jharkhand (East) and in Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka (South) with the aim to expand further in Indian markets,” said, Mr Devsare of Karbonn.

“We have registered 35% CAGR for the last 3 years and this year we expect to do even better in terms of growth. A lot of this is because of careful and meticulous planning of products. We are introducing a lot of products every month.

This is one of the USPs of Zebronics, where we give consumers a lot of choices.

We have launched power banks like ZEB-PG4000L1 with rapid charging and slim

power bank ZEB-PG8000 in gold and silver color.

Headphone range also we have updated with great wireless headphones like happy head. Headsets are introduced with selfie button feature, again a really unique product,” concluded, Mr Doshi of Zebronics.

“A great team, good hiring and building the right infrastructure is important for building up a successful organization. I’ve always trusted my gut, have not let adversity and failure defeat me and have tried to find new trends always. I also believe that reinventing in your company is very important.

Entrepreneurs should not be afraid to take chances, and should keep increasing their product line,” said, Mr. Navneet Singh of PepperTap.

Product Performance and Impact “We have become the No.1 Indian handset player with overall market share of 11.8%. Compared to last quarter, Q2, 2015, Intex mobile sales have grown by 42.5%. In 2015, we have introduced several remarkable products like our first wearable Androidbased Smartwatch iRis at MWC Shanghai, our first ever 4G-enabled handsets and Aqua Ace in 15k category with 3GB RAM,” said, Mr Kumar of Intex Technologies.

“One must adapt self to learn from the experience and offer a better product / service every time. Customer insight and feedback help our ideas to evolve. As a rule, we at Swipe, take inputs from our customers, our friends on social media and Justswipe.com/ Forums section. We also value views of experts and professional reviewers who express their inputs through blogs, comments and direct communications. We have a very strong blogger ecosystem for getting valuable inputs,” said, Mr Gandhi of Swipe.

“In China, OPPO has a market share of about 8% and in Vietnam, the share

is 13%. OPPO Malaysia and OPPO Indonesia also are performing well enough with a market share around 8% to 10% and OPPO is ranked among top selections in local markets. OPPO was the second best-selling brand in China’s offline smartphone market in October, snapping up an 11.2% market share.

In China, OPPO has already been ranked as Top 2 continuously during the recent 4 months,” said, Mr Wang of Oppo.

“Since we are public listed company based out of Taiwan – we cannot share individual biz unit figures.

Regarding new products, this year we introduced a range of products, prominent amongst them were the power banks that were very well accepted in the markets. We are also amongst the few vendors who now have BIS-approved power banks. We also introduced a host of Apple accessories that are not only top notch in quality but also MFI that strengthens our position in this segment,” said, Mr Chang of ADATA Technologies.

“For over 30 years, since 1983, Targus has been universally recognized as one of the world’s bestselling laptop carrying case brand and a leading provider of cases and accessories. Targus is proud of the fact that over 300+ million Targus products had been were sold as of July 2014. We are finalizing the data for 2015 and expect this number to have grown significantly in the last year.

Across cases, tablets and accessories, Targus has achieved a unique No.1 position in selected markets and segments,” said, Mr Aher of Targus.

“We don’t discriminate in terms of competition. We rather believe in investing resources in enhancing our products and services to bring customer-delight in the form of an experience that benefits our customers.

What makes us better is the use of new technologies like the DDR4, USB 3.1 and USB 3C, and making them available to the customers

cover story

at a value price point. We are No.1 memory brand globally and in India too, by a big margin. For storage, we are not far off from being the No.1,” said, Mr Parekh of Kingston Technologies.

“We are currently selling close to 700,000 smartphones and 1 million feature phones in a month.

Our recently launched devices include Mach One plus, Mach Five, Titanium S200, K9 Smart, Titanium Moghul and Titanium S205.

Apart from the devices listed above, recently we will be launching our new device which will be equipped with 4G-enabled services.

The device will offer the consumers a customized Android experience equipped with its in-house developed User Interface,” concluded, Mr Devsare of Karbonn.

“All our partner stores (supermarkets and grocery chains) have been instrumental in our growth till now. All those partners who trusted us held our hands when we were starting up gave us the confidence that we and our business model can sustain. It is because of them that today we are on track to become the most popular on-demand grocery player of the country,” said Mr Singh, CEO & Founder, PepperTap. “Earlier this year, we launched the GridTM Collection of slipcases, recently completed by the launch of three unique backpacks.

Promising extra protection for urban professionals, explorers and adventurers alike, this range passes the US military drop test MIL-STD-810G that protects devices even at repeated drops of up to 4 feet or 1.2 meter (tests performed by an external independent lab). The GridTM collection offers superior protection against shocks, abrasion, vibration, moisture and dust.

It features an elaborated protective system made of four layers, which are the thick rubber bumpers, PU/ PVC leather, memory form and Nyflex lining. Made by high-performance, lightweight material and

water-resistant outer polyurethane, the GridTM collection is designed to provide exceptional resilience and durability,” said, Mr Aher of Targus Technologies.

“Some of our remarkable products which did extremely well through the year comprised of offerings like the Intex Aqua Trend which is 4G model with big battery. This product was launched simultaneously with the 4G roll-out in the country, making its significance felt even more.

Another milestone for Intex this year was our entry into the wearables category, the launch of the Intex iRist at MWC Shanghai. We became the first Indian company to launch an Android-based smart watch.

Lastly, our newly launched Intex Aqua ACE was another outstanding device in the sub 15k category. The Intex Aqua ACE is a first of its kind device by an Indian manufacturer to be launched with a 3GB RAM in this price category,” opined, Mr Kumar of Intex Technologies.

“Year 2015 has been a significant year in the journey of Swipe so far. We launched our extremely successful new flagship series, SWIPE Elite. We received phenomenal response from buyers nationwide for our Swipe ELITE smartphone. Swipe Elite came with new Freedom OS, which offered enhanced user experience with its superior customization capabilities. Swipe marked the Children’s day with a special device targeted for the young audience with the launch of Swipe Junior, a smartphone for kids loaded with some exclusive features like Parents Operated Control System, equipped with powerful Geo-positioning.

Parents can customize UI for kids and has a Shockproof & Durable design. The On Cloud feature enables alltime real cloud connectivity making Swipe Junior world’s only unique cloud connected mobile for kids,” said, Mr Gandhi of Swipe.

Gionee gave the industry

stylish, chic and powerful devices this year. Along with stylish handsets Gionee also gave the India market smartphones that were stellar in their own right.

From the Gionee Elife E8 that redefined camera phones to the Marathon M5 that took the concept of huge battery to another level, Gionee changed the dynamics of the Indian market. Gionee also launched the ELIFE S7 which was beyond the slim factor and delivered exceptional user experience.

In the budget segment Gionee lauched the Pioneer P2M with a powerful battery of 3000 mAh at just 6,999 and also introduced a new series – the Fashion series of which the F103 saw the highest sales for Gionee as it was a perfect blend of style, experience, performance at a rational price.” said, Mr. Vohra, of Gionee India.

“One would be our smartphone Xenium I908, launched this year, which has the advanced Xenium technology and gives a high processor performance.

Philips E310 is a feature phone that we launched with specific features, designed to suit senior citizens, such as large buttons, big fonts, high volume speaker, digital text magnifier, radio music that can be enabled on external speakers, etc which makes it simple for them to use,” said Mr Bassi of Sangfei Mobility (Philips Mobile).

“2014 saw rapid growth in the Smartphone market and tech enthusiasts closely followed OPPO’s performance over the course of 2015. Some of the key noteworthy points from the last year were 20 new models: OPPO currently has 20 phones including flagship models such as the R7 Plus, N3, R5 and Find 7, bringing its total number of 4G phones to six in India.

According to a recent report

by CMR, OPPO grew its shipments by 3290% in the past one year and we were one of the fastest growing brands among ‘Top 20’ 4G handset vendors in India.

Today, OPPO is among the top favored brands in

Mr. Manish Aher, Director of Product Marketing and Country Manager, India, Targus:

“Targus collaborates with the best quality partners, across all aspects of what we do. We choose to only work with the most reliable, trusted and quality network of teams. From our manufacturers to our channel partners, from design and advertising agencies to PR agencies, from photographers to merchandisers, we make alliances with quality suppliers in every country, at each level. We work very closely with every entity to make sure the Targus brand and products are best represented and supported. “

Mr . Ketan C Patel, CEO at Creative Peripherals & Distribution Pvt. Ltd.

“ We are getting positive response from vendors for this initiative, many of them have started surveys and are building the project reports for the same. It creates enthusiasm in our team. We may go for Joint Ventures for manufacturing in India with specific brands in the medium term.”

India with the phones being synonymous with cuttingedge technology, sleek design and power packed performance,” said Mr. Wang of Oppo.

“We will be launching our new device which will be equipped with 4G-enabled services. The device will offer the consumers a customized

Mobility December 2015

25

26

cover story

Mr. Chris Chang, MD at ADATA Technology India Pvt Ltd

“The key strategy for ADATA India as always was and will remain is to be well aligned with the distributor/ channel partner network. This year we adopted a strategy to reach out to the upcountry markets and with the help of our new and existing distributors we can emphatically say that we are now available in top 100 towns and cities.”.

Mr. Kenny Ye, MD, UCWeb India (part of Alibaba Mobile Business Group)

There’s good reason that mobile demands so much of our mindshare. Few technologic advancements have had such a profound effect on the way we live, work, play and socialize as mobile devices.

We are likely to see a big shift in mobile search. With so much data available, and so many past browsing habits to draw from, we are likely to see highly contextualized search results. Results that use help of third-party apps to not just recommend a particular product, but find it in the customer’s preferred color, size, location, price range and much more. Also, mobile payments are on the rise around the globe. I expect this trend to take the mobile Internet by storm in the coming quarters. 360° Video is another trend I am bullish on.

It will give users complete control over what they want to view and from what angle. Online shopping is likely to get a complete overhaul, giving consumers a real-time perspective about the products they are going to buy. In emerging markets, burgeoning smartphone and mobile Internet usage will fuel rise of regional and localised apps and games.

While we strived to keep up with breakthroughs in 2015, I expect 2016 to bring in seismic shifts.

Mobility December 2015

Android experience equipped with its in-house developed User Interface.

Through this device, we aim to offer our consumers a new and hassle free smartphone experience by bringing the benefits of latest mobile technology to them,” said, Mr. Devsare of Karbonn.

Y Guru, Chairman and Managing Director, Celkon Mobiles, said, “We are the first company in India to launch a 3G kitkat phone CAMPUS A35K at a cost of Rs 2999. CAMPUS A35K was nominated for ‘Innovation in developing OEM products’ along with Cisco Systems.

The major impact of our products is that innovation and affordability go hand in hand and we make sure that ‘innovation is affordable.’

Keeping this in perspective, we cater to the needs of all the segments by proving a wide range of smartphone products ranging from Rs 1999 to Rs 9999.”

“Speakers have made a good impact on our success.

In last few years, we have covered good ground in speaker segment though this segment is very competitive and fierce. With our strong in-house R&D department, we have started customizing and designing speakers, which were made according to local requirement and to communicate this to the consumers we started the campaign ‘The Sound Monster.’ Another remarkable milestone for Zebronics will be recognition as a personal and corporate gifting brand. We have tons of products for gifting and response has been terrific so far. Products like power banks, portable speakers, wireless headphones are really popular for gifting.

Also in the surveillance segment, in the recently concluded IFSEC expo, we won attention of many by launching many innovative products like Wi Fi and RF video door phones, star vision cameras and very affordable CCTV solutions for SOHO on IP platform,” said, Mr Doshi of Zebronics.

“Addition of Samsung Monitors has a positive impact in terms of

Make in India

impact

Under Prime Minister’s leadership, ‘Make in India’ has brought together both the industry and government to craft a new future for the Indian economy.

“Intex has been manufacturing in India since 2001. Currently, we have 4 manufacturing units in India – one each in Jammu and Baddi (HP) and two in Noida. Currently, more than 50% of our phones are getting manufactured in India and by the next quarter all our devices will be made in our own factories. The government’s Make in India will spur local manufacturing and will ultimately help the economy and the consumers,” concluded, Mr Kumar of Intex Technologies.

“We are really proud to come up with the Eastern India’s first green-field mobile handset & accessories assembling unit. Keeping in mind the Make In India campaign, we have decided to set up our first assembling unit in West Bengal. The assembling unit is well equipped with all modern technologies and our Chinese Technology partner will provide all the expertise to our workers. The unit will provide job opportunities at the local level as West Bengal has abundant skilled labor. Right now we are importing the semi knocked down components and assembling them at the unit. In five years, we have plans to completely manufacture & assemble mobile handsets & accessories from West Bengal. The unit will help us to cut down 5% to 6% cost from the excise duties,” said Mohammed Gyasuddin, Managing Director, Hitech Mobiles.

“Zebronics has many products which are being manufactured in India. The Government of India’s initiative has improved the supply chain and skilled labor availability, which are critical components of manufacturing. That has helped us manufacturing in India and designing products for the Indian market.

Make in India initiative has also encouraged us to invest more aggressively in R&D. As far as Zebronics in current and near future is concerned, our projects portrays that we have very efficient and innovative R&D team for developing a new array of products.

While developing the products, we make sure that the products are suitable to Indian consumer and also we are careful about the production process

cover story

Mr. Y. Guru, Managing Director, Celkon Mobiles

Mr. Mohammed Gyasuddin, Managing Director, Hitech Mobiles “Right now we are importing the semi knock down components & assembling them at the unit. In five years time we have plans to completely manufacture & assembling mobile handsets & accessories from West Bengal. The unit will help us to cut down 5% to 6% cost from the excise duties.”

and resources available to make the product as efficiently as possible,” said, Mr Doshi of Zebronics.

“The Make in India initiative is a good start made by the government and this will definitely bring growth to the Indian industries, including IT. It has definitely put India as a shining star on the global maps but it is a bit soon to comment on its current impact. With growth in the number of businesses and a competitive market, we will definitely expect growth in the storage and processing requirements in most verticals. And Kingston has been known for its quality products and solutions in both, Flash and Memory businesses. The best servers in India are powered by our solutions and we help them function seamlessly. There are definitely a lot of brands with this campaign. However, we do not have plans for this as of now,” said, Mr Parekh of Kingston Technology.

“Karbonn is the only brand which has announced two manufacturing plans.

Currently, Karbonn has two assembling and one manufacturing units in India.

Currently, we are at a production capacity of 2.5 million units per year but by the time we roll out the manufacturing operations, the figures will be higher.

Through manufacturing units, we are looking at long term profitability and it is expected to be doubled in a year’s time. For manufacturing, we are looking at beginning with 100 cr and then take it to 800 cr in next three years,” said, Mr. Devsare of Karbonn.

The Make in India initiative of the Indian Government under PM Narender Modi has been an impetus for many companies and supporting the initiative, Gionee will be investing 50 million US$ in the next three years on manufacturing in India.

“Gionee was among the first smartphone company to announce their Make in India plans and has already begun assembling the F Series and will soon begin manufacturing The P Series phones from the existing Gionee Portfolio and will be making feature phones too.

Gionee will also increase the investment in R&D team in India which will work on

“GOI Make in India initiative is a great boost to the mobile sector and we are also working in tandem with the government in creating a local electronic ecosystem.”

Mr. Murali Retineni, Executive Director, Celkon Mobiles

“we make innovation and affordability go hand in hand and make sure that innovation is made affordable to all segments of the society.

Mr. Arvind Vohra, Country CEO & MD, Gionee India

Mr. Sanjeev Bhatia, Founder and Chairman, ADCOM “Make in India concept is a very proactive move under Prime Minister’s leadership.

We have already started assembling and manufacturing in India from April 2015 and we are adding more assembly lines.

Manufacturing in India will help to retain our money within our country which otherwise has been going out as foreign exchange.”

Currently Gionee has a 4 percent market share by value and has sold over 7 Million devices in India already and will look to double sales in 2015-2016, backed by the support provided through its India manufacturing. The year 2015 saw a host of innovative devices by Gionee like the ELIFE S7, ELIFe E8, Marathon M5. Also, Gionee launched a new series, the Fashion series wherein the F103 was a major hit.

Mobility December 2015

27

28

Mr. Gopal Pansari, Director at Savera Marketing Agency Pvt Ltd.

“As of now the impact has not yet been felt, but yes the vendors outside India has started accepting this project in a planned stage to set up manufacturing plants in India under Make in India Concept.

May be this will be Savera future plan to have a joint venture with some of the known brands who will be ready for investment in India.”

Mr. Navneet Singh, CEO & Founder, PepperTap

“We have been one of the fastest growing startups of the year.

Expanding from just one city to 17 major cities in just 9 months proves are amazing track record. As on today we are solidly on track to end the year with a GMV run rate of over $250 mn. We have started generating about 30,000 orders on a daily basis proving that our product finds it appeal in the lives of consumer”

perception of our company apart from positivity in the team. Similarly Beats by Dr. Dre bought over by Apple and Apple trusting and continuing our partnership,” added, Mr Patel of Creative Peripherals.

Kindly share your view and opinion of the story at edit@mobilityindia.com

Mobility December 2015

Mr. Kapil Wadhwa, Director, Champion Computers Pvt Ltd “The Make in India Campaign will change the Indian Electronics Industry which will be visible soon , Its an excellent opportunity for the Indian companies to take advantage of the Govt’s Initiatives Current Trend of Make in India is the opportunity and champion has already initiated the manufacturing of Feature phones ,smart phones, tablets, power bank in India , We have increased our capacity to be double by end of this year to manufacture 100% products in India going forward“ the software to give better consumer experience and will have a team to work on the Gionee UI, Amigo to make it much more customised for Indian Consumers,” said, Mr. Vohra, of Gionee India.

“OPPO currently has 20 phones including flagship models such as the R7 plus and R7 Lite, Neo 7, N3, R5, Find 7 and Find 7a, bringing its total number of 4G phones to 4 in India. The highend variant of the Oppo R7 series – the R7 Plus – clearly looks its part. Sporting a 6-inch full HD AMOLED display, the OPPO R7 Plus is a big-screen device which surprisingly does not seem that huge unless you hold it in your hand.

OPPO has managed to keep the bezels on the R7 Plus thin, thereby giving it a really good body to screen ratio. OPPO has kept the top and bottom bezels thin.

In fact, this is the first thing that strikes you as you hold the phone,” said, Mr. Wang of OPPO. “As of now the impact has not yet been felt, but yes the vendors outside India have started setting up manufacturing plants in India under Make in India concept. Savera may in future have a joint venture with some of the known brands who will be ready to invest in India,” said, Mr Pansari of Savera Marketing.

“The initiative has helped us streamline our plans as a brand in a big way. The clarion call by the honorable PM has given a great boost for the entire ecosystem of startups in the country. There is an extra focus on technology, Internet penetration and manufacturing in the initiative

and keeping that in mind we have decided to setup a manufacturing unit at Chakan in Pune. The production at the plant is expected to begin in 2016.

Swipe would also consider acquisition of startups that are a strategic fit and also increase output capacity through contract manufacturing. With a lot of countries and global brands looking at investing in India, this is surely going to help us set our foot firmly in the Indian market. All this is going to help us to abide by and encourage this great initiative and help contribute our little to the ecosystem,” said, Mr. Gandhi of Swipe Technologies.

Murali Retineni, Executive Director, Celkon Mobiles, said, “Since 2009, Celkon has created a great impact on the Indian mobile space by providing reliable and durable smartphones and feature phones at an affordable price.

Even in 2015, the company’s impact is no different. But 2015 has seen a new change in Celkon’s history--the company started local manufacturing, keeping the ‘Make in India’ initiative in perspective. This has helped us in 2 ways, i.e. providing us the capacity to scale up our production with the increasing demand and also earn the satisfaction by providing employment to the youth of the nation.”

“We are getting positive response from vendors for this initiative; many of them have started surveys and are building the project reports for the same. It creates enthusiasm in our team. We may go for Joint Ventures for manufacturing in India with specific brands in the medium term,” said, Mr Patel of Creative Peripherals.

Review review

30

iFrogz Audio Tadpole Active Easily take with you, everywhere you go

Mobility Ratings

Z

AGG is a leading global mobile accessories company announced its entry in to the Indian performance market. They offers a broad range of products, from the industrystandard InvisibleShield screen protectors and mobile keyboards, to power management solutions, mobile audio and cases etc.

Design

8/10 9/10

We have recently got a chance to review the iFrogz Tadpole Active ultra portable Bluetooth speaker.

At first we are very excited to see the look n feel and size of the iFrogz Tadpole, which is ultrasmall, super-portable and with very minimalist operations. The only button one can find on the speaker is the power button, just press it for few seconds and its on and ready for pairing.

Very easy to pair and with the single button you can pauses the sound and another starts it playing again and with two quick presses move to the next item on your playlist and three go back.

When I paired it with my Smartphone it quickly connects and gives quite impressive sound output. Was not expecting that

clarity with such a small key ring size speaker.

I roam around in my house and office space gives me unobstructed 50 feet playback and obstructions, dropouts will occur in as little as 20 feet.

Its lithium polymer battery can power up to two hours of continuous play and a simple micro USB charging port makes recharging a snap.

The best thing that I liked about this speaker is its convenience to use and carry around, you can clip it with your belt, travel bag, purse and enjoy mobile Bluetooth music any time anywhere.

There is a 5-inch long mini-USB cord that you use to recharge the speaker. The battery is not removable. Tadpole Active is available in variety of fresh colors to choose from in many ecommerce sites in India.

Verdict Small as a size of a key ring this is a very ultra portable Bluetooth speaker that sounds really good.

If you just need something to offer a little more sound that is very affordable and very versatile, then you might want to consider an iFrogz Tadpole Active for your solution to mobile Bluetooth music.

Price : 1700/Pros : Size, Design, audio quality.

Cons : Little expensive

Specifications Item Weight: 2.4 ounces Product Dimensions: 6 x 3 x 1 inches Item model number: IFTDLA-BK0 Batteries:1 Lithium ion batteries required (included) Power Source Type: Battery Connectivity Technology: Wireless, Bluetooth

value for money

8/10 over all

Mobility December 2015

9.5/10

REVIEW

SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick Flash drive reinvented

S

anDisk Connect Wireless Stick is the flash drive reinvented to work with both computer and your mobile devices.

With the Wireless Stick you can wirelessly access your media or transfer large files, stream HD videos and music, Mobility and save and Ratings share photos Design and videos to and from your mobile device. performance

7/10

Features Wirelessly save and access your photos, videos and files and also you can Stream HD movies and music to up to 3 devices at the same time, you can also collect and share up to 128GB. Connect wirelessly or simply plug into a USB port and it is compatible with iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, Android devices, and PC and Mac computers.

8/10

Usability and Performance The Wireless Stick Plug into a USB port on a PC or Mac, where it will function like any other

flash drive, appearing as removable drive. SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick is well built, both the hardware and the software.

It’s relatively easy to use , if using WiFi - and if you’ve installed the app, you can connect up to 150ft away. There is no internet or physical connection required.

With the help of SanDisk Connect app on your mobile device, you can upload , download, store, share and play with all your files from any distance, to and from the device you want to use. Gives you complete freedom and functionality of truly mobile data. The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick features a two year warranty and will be available capacities of 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB at Rs. 2790/-, Rs. 3790/-, Rs. 5490/and Rs. 9490/- respectively.

Verdict No more worries about managing those extra big size folders in your mobile device.

Pros : Usability, Features Cons : USB 2

Specifications Item model number: SDWS4-032G-G46 Item Weight: 0.3 ounces Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 3.1 x 0.8 inches Item Dimensions L x W x H: 0.48 x 3.08 x 0.82 inches Color: Black

value for money

8/10 over all

8/10

Mobility December 2015

31

Review review

32

AMZER Wireless Charging Pad Better and easy way to charge your Qi enabled devices Mobility Ratings Design

7/10 performance

8/10

W

ireless charing is far better than using microUSB. It might seem that the difference between plugging a cable on your desk into your smartphone and removing it as you leave has the same level of frustration as placing a smartphone on a charging station and picking it up as you leave is minimal; but the difference in comfort, speed, and usability is like night and day.If you have an Qi-enabled device then this is a great product to tag along with your travel bag or anywhere. Place it at your office desk or at any place in your home and make it a chaging station. You can chage any Qi enable device with out worring about its charging wire or charger. Takes up minimal desktop space, is ideal for

travel and it is also very power efficient as its idle mode never overcharges your battery and keep your device safe. Package include: Wireless Charging Pad, Micro USB Cable & Quick Start Guide.

Verdict As smartphone companies and accessories brands focusing more and more on Qi enabled devices. Products like AMZER Wireless Charging Pad are now becoming more and more populer among consumers.

Pros : Usability, Efficient Cons : Price is bit high

Specifications Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches ; 3.2 ounces Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) ASIN: B010FD15U0 Item model number: AMZ97742

value for money

8/10 over all

Mobility December 2015

8/10

Guest column

34

Incorporating Cloud Applications in Field Workforce Management By: Mr. Kushal Nahata, CEO and Founder of FarEye situations. It further enables real- time adressal of customer vagaries and issues; the response time is reduced leaving both employees and customers satisfied.

High Scalability: Cloud solutions can scale globally in a cost-effective manner without any quality compromise.

A cloud solution grows along with the changing requirement and size of the organization without any delay in implementation.

Helping organizations to keep up with technological volatility, they maximize the investment made in such workforce management solutions.

T

here is a great need in the workforce management systems to adopt a new mindset.

Working in an industry which delivers real time solutions to schedule jobs, track execution and evaluate the performance of the field workers, FarEye understands that staying on top of this kind of technological advancement is vital for the industry. This strategic trend has actually enabled us to deliver a variety of IT- based, ondemand capabilities to the consumers. Industries such as E-commerce and logistics adapted to this trend early owing to their high dependence on field workforce. Also, recently cloud based workforce management solutions are gaining popularity within BFSI, Consumer durables and retail industries.

Mobility December 2015

FarEye’s SaaS based Mobile Workforce Management Platformseamlessly integrates into an existing business process leading to operational efficiency and outstanding customer satisfaction. It’s simplified user interface In pursuit of these benefits some of the organizations have already moved on to incorporating cloud based technologies and some of the organizations are planning to do so. So what are the key benefits driving the organizations to deploy cloud based software similar to that of FarEye: Operational Agility and informed decision making: Since relevant information is accessible from any location and time workers on-the-go can make informed decisions and tackle unforeseen

Fast and Easy Deployment: Deployment of cloud based applications is typically faster as it not tied to any user’s infrastructure.It can also provide a quick access to the latest advances in the technology to users in the field of workforce.More over cloud technology providers handle all IT-related problems, allowing internal IT departments deliver on more strategic workforce management initiatives that would provide value to the organization.

Reduces the upfront and operational costs : Cloud business model includes software upgrades as a part of the license to use the software and licensing charges for changing the various version of cloud applications doesn’t impact the customer’s budget. SaaS providers offer their solution through a monthly or annual

subscription fee that will typically include training, support, maintenance and upgrades. This makes the expenses predictable.

Streamlines business efficiency: A cloud based solution enables multiple users to work with one time data entry rather than exchanging multiple emails and calls, thereby driving efficient operations away from the workplace.

It provides a greater insight and visibility to the managers globally in order to keep a track on time-off and time-worked data of all employees working in an organization.

Mobile-first organizations are demanding a more flexible mobile experience that delivers a faster return on investment. For companies where field operations are critical to business results, we’ve created a customizable ready to run cloud-based mobile solution that provides secure, real time updates to and from the field, all with a great user experience. Our SaaS based technology is scalable and grows along with the changing requirement and size of the organization without any delay in implementation.

This technology not only encompasses both time and cost efficiencies but leads to an enhanced customer satisfaction.

It accelerates development & collaboration on mobility projects, giving organizations greater agility, visibility and efficiency ultimately leading to better results.

Date of Pub: 22nd Dec. 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