Mobility Celebrating Convergence

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` 20/-

Celebrating

Convergence

TABLETS GALORE SEPTEMBER 2012

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Vol. 9

Issue # 4

With end customers giving a lot of attention to tablets, domestic players are quite bullish on unlocking India's potential in the tablet segment

Mobility Event

ICOMM Brings Together Best of the Mobility World MOBILITY

MOBILITY

Mobility sep2012 new.indd 31

Trends in Convergence

Smartphone Stroage Going Wireless

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Mobility Enterprise

Apple Unfurls iPhone 5 and takes the world by Storm August 2012 | 31

9/24/2012 12:38:34 PM

32 | August 2012

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MOBILITY

Content

Mobility Voice

2

Enterprise News

3

19

Mobility Application

Reliance offers enterprise sols as “Reliance....

Gartner Says Free Apps Will Account for 90%...

Airtel launches SmartDrive, a voice based real...

1999 mobile towers shut down in Rajasthan Pivotal Consultancy Adopts IBM SmartCloud Shyam Networks Unfurls AP-25 WiFi Access Point Cisco ASR 901 Wins Economic Times Telecom...

Reliance Communications bags Government....

Mobility News

6

Sony Unviels Tipo & Micro — entry level Android...

Event launches ‘Cowboy’ for New iPad Garnet Red Samsung Galaxy SIII launching in....

Micromax Smarty A25 now available on Snapdeal Asus Tablet 600 gets renamed to Vivo Tab RT Idea launches 3G dongle with cloud services Milagrow launches Kupa X11 - Windows based...

Tradus.com presents Samsung Galaxy N800 Inspan Launches Mercury magiQ

Apps for Smartphones

Mobility Event ICOMM Brings Together Best of the Mobility World

Mobility Convergence

Motorola Presents Drold Razr M with 4.3-inch...

Smartphone Storage Going Wireless

Nokia Unveils Luna Bluetooth Headset with...

10

WiFi Tethering 20

22

Mobility Enterprise

COVER STORY

Tablets Galore

Apple Unfurls iPhone 5 and takes the world by Storm

24

Mobility Enterprise

Next Gen Smartphones Drive Enterprises Mobility Evolution

26

Mobility Review VeeDee D13 — Great Value for Money Microxax Funbook Pro — Truly Professional

MOBILITY

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Mobility News

Editorial Front Editor Chief Editor Asst. Editor

: Swapan Roy : Manoj Jha : S. Goswamy

Design Desk Art Director

:

Anit Kumar

Acct. & Finance Finance

:

Sandip Sarkar

Marketing & Sales Marketing Manager : Marketing Executives :

Circulation Manager : Production :

System Manager :

Tridip Dey Pratap Biswas Tenzin Kunkey S. Dutt Raj Kumar P. Biswas Ashish Ghosh Ashok Paul Ajay Biswas

H.O.: Delhi / Editorial Office Roy Mediative S-39, 1st Floor, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-110020 (INDIA) Mob: 09810380882, 09811346846 Ph: 91-11-41602841, 65683896, 40536384-87 Redg.Off.: 38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).

Branch Office: Mumbai: E-mail: roy@ mobilityindia.com Kolkata: 105/12B, Dum Dum Road, Sil Colony, Kolkata-74 Contact: 09330922965; 09903392620 E-mail : roy@ mobilityindia.com Orissa: Krushna Nagar, 5th Lane, Lalji Palli, Berhampur-760008 (Orissa) (India) Contact : Raj Kumar-09338410809 Email : info@mobilityindia.com ncn_reporter@yahoo.com

VOICE

Why has India's telecom subscriber gone down?

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or the first time ever in India, the number of telephone subscribers in India fell for the month of July this year, going down by 2.14 percent to 944.81 million from 965.52 million at the end of June, a deficit of about 20 million.

The latest telephone subscription data released by TRAI showed that the share of urban subscribers has declined to 63.83% from 64.40% whereas the share of rural subscribers has increased to 36.17% in July.

This is where the issue lies. The operator community needs to understand that the future growth of Indian telecom industry lies not in the urban areas of the country but instead, it is the rural community that they must connect.

Accordingly, operators need to build, expand and manage rural networks in India. This is where we are lacking at the moment.

At the moement they are just blindly looking at urban areas only.

Even though the USO fund is there, it has not been utilised to the fullest.

Now it is time to seriously look at the rural opportunity.

As we stand today, the wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 597.59 million in June 2012 to 578.90 million at the end of July 2012. The wireless subscription in rural areas decreased from 336.51 million to 334.58 million during the same period. The urban wireless teledensity decreased from 162.46 to 157.11 and rural teledensity from 39.80 to 39.54. Moving forward, these figures should improve if the operator community shows its confidance for the rural areas of India.

Mobility monthly News Paper, Printed, Published & Owned by Swapan Roy at 38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).

Swapan Roy

Printed at Pushpak Printer, C-96, Okhla Industrial Area-I, New Delhi-20. Retail selling price of News Paper Rs. 20/-. Annual subscription Rs. 240.

Editor : edit@mobilityindia.com roy@ mobilityindia.com Marketing : tridip@mobilityindia.com marketing@mobilityindia.com Info : info@mobilityindia.com Subscribe : subscription@ mobilityindia.com Web : www.mobilityindia.com 2 | August 2012

Mobility sep2012 new.indd 2

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MOBILITY

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Reliance

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eliance Commu integrated telec provider today an the launch of R Business Services existing enterprise in India through th Reliance Business S – ‘Makes It Easy’ cam Reliance Commun is currently a forefront of pr communication so to individuals as businesses of all si looks to lead the ne of communication for Enterprises in branding exercise.

Reliance Busine suite of managed se lines for Data, Voic also continues to services like Applica Managed security se services like Mana as a Service for th

Airtel lau re

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ow, drive sm Airtel brings a n exclusively for its cu that enable users their location on a m plan the route fro place to another. Sm is assisted by a voic turn by turn navigat gives real time info updates on traffic s on roads around. more, it also sugg subscriber an alterna in case of traffic co on the normal route.

Airtel, with the of SmartDrive, beco first operator in the to offer such a giving real time tra information along other valuable infor Airtel custome download the app fro airtellive.com/sma using their mobile sending SMS smart t Following are the subs MOBILITY

Enterprise News

OICE

om n?

e subscribers in 2.14 percent to deficit of about

howed that the % whereas the

s to understand the urban areas y must connect. s need to build, rural networks e we are lacking

they are just ban areas only.

O fund is there, d to the fullest. ously look at the

ay, the wireless areas decreased n in June 2012 the end of July subscription in uring the same

rural teledensity improve if the India.

Swapan Roy

MOBILITY

Reliance offers enterprise sols as “Reliance Business Services”

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eliance Communications, India's fully This comprehensive suite enables Reliance integrated telecommunications service Business Services to be a valuable partner to provider today announced all segments of enterprise the launch of Reliance business – small, medium Business Services – its and large. existing enterprise services Commenting on in India through the latest this initiative, Mr. Punit Reliance Business Services Garg, President & CEO – ‘Makes It Easy’ campaign.

– Global Enterprise Reliance Communications Business Unit, Reliance is currently at the Communications forefront of providing Limited said, “Being at communication solutions the forefront of providing to individuals as well as communication solutions businesses of all sizes and Punit Garg, President & CEO — to individuals as well as Enterprise Business Unit, looks to lead the next wave Global businesses of all sizes, Reliance Communications Limited of communication solutions Reliance Business Services for Enterprises in India through this is the new identity of the Enterprise branding exercise.

Business Unit created within Reliance Reliance Business Services offers a full Communications. With the new identifiable suite of managed services across all product and differentiated positioning reaching out lines for Data, Voice and IDC services. It to the large, medium and small Enterprises also continues to bring in leading edge and offering them our strengths, expertise services like Application Aware Networking, and experience, we are poised to take our Managed security services and Cloud based leadership position forward in providing services like Managed Storage Software communication solutions to enterprises in as a Service for their existing customers. India.” he further added.

Airtel launches SmartDrive, a voice based real time navigation service

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ow, drive smart as Airtel brings a new app exclusively for its customers that enable users to view their location on a map and plan the route from one place to another. SmartDrive is assisted by a voice based turn by turn navigation that gives real time information updates on traffic situation on roads around. What’s more, it also suggests the subscriber an alternate route in case of traffic congestion on the normal route.

Airtel, with the launch of SmartDrive, becomes the first operator in the country to offer such a product giving real time traffic flow information along with other valuable information.

Airtel customers can download the app from www. airtellive.com/smartdrive using their mobile or by sending SMS smart to 54321.

Following are the subscription MOBILITY

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charges for SmartDrive; Data browsing is absolutely free till 30th November, post which normal data usage charges will apply as per the data pack availed by the customer ; SmartDrive is a complete navigation application offering the following services A. Search for POI (Points of Interests) With SmartDrive you can easily search and get the exact positions for your destinations. POIs are grouped into categories like restaurants, theatres,

shopping malls etc.

B.

Voice Navigation SmartDrive will guide you to reach the place of your choice by giving you turn by turn directions.

C. Live Traffic information Traffic is calculated basis the number of GPS devices being used on the particular road and their average speed and historical trends of traffic. Currently, it is live in Delhi &NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore cities and will be live in Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune by December.

www.mobilityindia.com

Gartner Says Free Apps Will Account for 90 Percent of Mobile App Store Downloads in 2012

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ree apps will account for 89 percent of total downloads in 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide mobile app store downloads will surpass 45.6 billion in 2012, with free downloads accounting for 40.1 billion, and paid-for downloads totaling 5 billion.

"In terms of the apps that consumers are buying, 90 percent of the paid-for downloads cost less than $3 each," said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. "Similar to free apps, lowerpriced apps will drive the majority of downloads.

Apps between 99 cents and $2.99 will account for 87.5 percent of paid-for downloads in 2012, and 96 percent by 2016."

G a r t n e r expects Apple's App Store to have more than 21 billion downloads in 2012, which is an increase of 74 percent over 2011 and indicates continued strong demand for mobile app content.

"Apple's market share Sandy Shen, research director is the largest, at Gartner considering its App Store accounts for 25 percent of available apps in all stores," said Brian Blau, research director at Gartner. "The number of apps available is driven by an increasing number of stores in the market today that include platform owners, device vendors, communication service providers (CSPs) and others who want to offer core mobile app services. These stores will see their combined share of total downloads increase, but demand for apps overall will still be dominated by Apple, Google and Microsoft."

Besides a few major app stores from global OS vendors (such as Apple's App Store, Google Play and Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace), Gartner analysts said there are also stores from third parties that attract users with their brands or take advantage of the lack of dominant players in some markets.

"App stores should support in-app purchases as soon as possible as this offers a new path of monetization, and helps to attract developers as they attempt to extend an app's momentum by providing easy access to upgraded services and functionality," Mr. Blau said.

August 2012 | 3

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Enterprise News

199 mobile towers shut down in Rajasthan

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obile services in 40 towns across Rajasthan were partially hit as companies have been asked to remove 199 mobile towers installed atop school buildings to comply with a court order in this regard.

All the 199 towers having antennas of cellular companies which are installed on schools’ buildings have already stop radiating.

Overall 34 lakh mobile customers, including 25 lakh in Jaipur, will be affected

by the process.

As per the order dated August 22, 2012 passed by Rajasthan High Court and a letter by State Education department, mobile operators are required to remove all mobile towers/antennas installed on government/private schools.

Shyam Networks Unfurls AP-25 WiFi Access Point

Pivotal Consultancy Adopts IBM SmartCloud

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BM announced that Pivotal Consultancy Services, a provider of specialized assessment and collaborative learning solutions, has selected IBM SmartCloud Enterprise to offer new and more cost effective and innovative services to students and organizations via the cloud.

Pivotal, established in 2010, provides online software solutions that support educators and Human Resource organizations to develop and manage learning resources, including creation of question banks, generation of online tests , behavioral monitoring, employee assessment, feedback sharing, appraisals and pre-recruitment tests, among other professional services.

“Online tests and exams,

Pivotal will use IBM SmartCloud Enterprise to create a cloud-based platform for their offerings.

The company will be able to provide rapid access to a multitenant shared infrastructure on the cloud that can be scaled according to business needs. Pivotal has developed its first Software as a service (SaaS) offering, ‘Maxscore’ on IBM’s SmartCloud platform.

‘Maxscore’ is an assessment software that can be used by educational institutions and businesses to run assessments, pre-recruitment tests, 360 degree feedback, program evaluations, culture surveys and post hiring surveys, among others.

“Today, organizations are adopting cloud not only to have a cost effective business

W

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isco has anno Cisco ASR 9 adjudged the m product at The E Telecom Awards “Telecom Infrastr category. The prod from a field of 22 o in this category.

The award w Cisco at the recent Times Telecom A New Delhi, in the chief guest, Mr. K Minister of HRD, & IT- Governmen other leaders and the industry.

The ASR 901, de engineering team in award for its innova platform to serve mobile backhaul applications. Subm

Reliance C

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This high capacity 11n multi featured outdoor Access Point is ideal for operators, ISPs and enterprise looking at enabling WiFi driven connectivity ith an aim to enable seamless latest technologies such as MIMO, connectivity OFDM and Diversity on WiFi, Gurgaon bundled with Shyam’s based Shyam proprietary protocols.

Networks Limited, a The solution ensures next generation data 24/7 connectivity communications, with zero network security and downtime. surveillance focused “As a globally organisation is proven connectivity announcing the launch technology, WiFi is of its AP-25 carrier Nafis Kazim, COO, Shyam fast emerging as a key Networks Ltd grade WiFi Access Point. element when it comes Providing carrier grade 802.11 to enabling true next generation b/g/n access, Shyam’s Wi-Fi Access networks.

Today operators Point enables reliable and secure are looking at incorporating high-speed Wi-Fi connections. connectivity solutions that are This product is ideal for extending robust in nature, enhance the Wi-Fi coverage or filling in resiliency of their network, and coverage gaps in challenging RF at the same time, help them environments. in their quest towards rapid AP-25 access point features network deployments. AP-25 is a a light-weight and weather proof unique product as it can facilitate design. This is available with an controlled transmission spending external antenna or integrated by avoiding the use of fiber and 19 dBi antenna. This access point leased lines,” explained, Mr Nafis can operate on 2.4 GHz frequency Kazim, COO, Shyam Networks band. AP-25 incorporates the Ltd.

Cisco

e-learning, online employee feedback and assessments are gaining popularity. To address this growing opportunity, we wanted a trusted partner who we could leverage not only for a robust, cost effective infrastructure that would help us address growing customer expectations, but who could also provide us access to global expertise,” said Krishan B Chandak, Managing Partner, Pivotal Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. “IBM’s industrialstrength cloud is the platform for us to transform our business.”

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model but also to transform their business. Harnessing IBM SmartCloud is a smart move for organizations that need the elasticity to expand quickly with minimal upfront investments,” said G. Dharanibalan, Executive, Offerings Management & Development, Global Technology Services, IBM, India/South Asia. “We’re seeing businesses chose the IBM cloud as a platform for their own expansion—just as Pivotal has successfully launched their Maxscore service.”

MOBILITY

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eliance Co telecommun multiple orders India. With Gov spender, Relianc contracts across Reliance Com with The Depa Greater Mumba Development C DISCOM and C Reliance is k sector with in-h enhanced its lead Karnataka D years with Relia locations and W acquisition poin a six year contra across 250 loca is on a secur mile connectivit users an access remote users of is secured with to prevent disclo parties.

The Depart Information Te customer exper Communication space at Dhirubh The Disaster Re MOBILITY

Enterprise News

opts IBM

will

use IBM Enterprise a cloud-based their offerings. y will be able to access to a multid infrastructure d that can be ding to business l has developed ware as a service ng, ‘Maxscore’ on Cloud platform. an assessment can be used by institutions and run assessments, ent tests, 360 back, program culture surveys hiring surveys, . rganizations are ud not only to ffective business

Cisco ASR 901 Wins Economic Times Telecom Award 2012

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isco has announced that the Vice President & General Cisco ASR 901 Router was Manager, Provider adjudged the most innovative Access Business Unit, product at The Economic Times Cisco Systems, said, Telecom Awards 2012, under the “We are extremely “Telecom Infrastructure Product” proud to receive the category. The product was selected ET Telecom Award. from a field of 22 other submissions This is a reflection of in this category. our commitment to The award was presented to innovate and provide Cisco at the recently held Economic the right technology Times Telecom Awards night in solutions and platforms New Delhi, in the presence of the to help customers chief guest, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Union meet changing Minister of HRD, Communications business needs. This & IT- Government of India, and is also a testament to other leaders and dignitaries from Mr. Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of HRD, Partho Mishra, VP & General Manager, Cisco’s investment in Communications & IT- Government of Provider Access Business Unit, Cisco Systems the industry. developing innovative The ASR 901, developed by Cisco’s India products for India innovation in the product, impact on various engineering team in India, received the and from India, for award for its innovation in creating a unified stakeholders such as company, customers, the rest of the world. The ASR 901 is a platform to serve the needs of 2G/3G/4G industry, society, etc., and the ability to fantastic product and it’s good to have that mobile backhaul and Carrier Ethernet sustain and scale the idea in the future. acknowledged by our peers and the industry Speaking on the occasion, Partho Mishra, at large”. applications. Submissions were judged on

Reliance Communications bags Government Orders worth `150 Crore

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so to transform ss. Harnessing loud is a smart organizations he elasticity to ly with minimal estments,” said alan, Executive, Management pment, Global Services, IBM, Asia. “We’re esses chose the s a platform for expansion—just has successfully heir Maxscore

MOBILITY

eliance Communications, India's fully integrated telecommunications service provider announced the multiple orders bagged from Central and State Government of India. With Government emerging as one of the highest ICT spender, Reliance has secured several multiyear multicrore contracts across the length and breadth of the country.

Reliance Communications has signed long term contract with The Department of Post, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC), Madhya Pradesh Border Checkpost Development Company Limited along with Karnataka DISCOM and Chattisgarh DISCOM. Reliance is known to be one of the leaders in the power sector with in-house subject matter expertise and has further enhanced its leadership by closing two large contracts.

Karnataka DISCOM has signed an agreement for five years with Reliance for rolling out MPLS service across 850 locations and Wireless data connectivity across 60000 data acquisition points whereas Chattisgarh DISCOM has signed a six year contract with Reliance for rolling out MPLS service across 250 locations. The MPLS VPN service by Reliance is on a secure network of High Speed wireless last mile connectivity and provides the remote offices or traveling users an access to the central organizational network. The remote users of the network are authenticated and the data is secured with firewall and encryption technologies in order to prevent disclosure of private information to unauthorized parties.

The Department of Post has decided to embrace Information Technology in its roadmap to offer superior customer experience to citizens and have chosen Reliance Communications for hosting their servers over a 3000 sq.ft space at Dhirubhai Ambani Konowledge City in Navi Mumbai.

The Disaster Recovery site will be customized and built over MOBILITY

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2000 sq. ft of space in Mysore. This site will be operated and maintained for 5 years with special engineering expertise to manage and minimize the consumption of power, which would be almost three times lower than the industry practice. As a result of this automation, the money transfer process through Post Offices will be much faster and secured. This contract is a demonstration of Reliance Communications’ strength in terms of Project Engineering, Globally Benchmarked Infrastructure and Best Practices that are followed in Data Centre Operations.

Reliance Communications successfully runs Managed Services Contract for its global customers and have decided to bring the expertise to India. Reliance has recently signed a Facility Management contract for 3 years with the biggest Municipal Corporation of the country - Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC) to outsource its IT infrastructure covering its data centre located in Worli along with 24 ward offices across Mumbai. This contract covers operations of Data Centre, Training of BMC IT Staff, Maintenance of IT & Non IT infrastructure, Operating Systems & Application Management.

Commenting on this announcement, Mr. Punit Garg, President & CEO – Global Enterprise Business Unit, Reliance Communications Limited said, “We are delighted to be a partner-of-choice for various departments of Central & State Government of India providing them with Data Centers, IT infrastructure and Connectivity services. The services provided by us will help the common man for faster and secure transactions thus, helping the departments to streamline their activities through automation and high speed last mile connectivity. Reliance currently has 21 Data Centers spread across the globe, nine of which are in India and have been adding practically one facility in India, every year.”

www.mobilityindia.com

August 2012 | 5

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Mobility News

Sony Unveils Tipo & Miro – entry Envent launches ‘Cowboy’ for New iPad level Android mobiles

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ony had announced the launch of its new range of latest entry level Android smartphones including Sony Tipo and Sony Miro in the month of June.

The Sony Xperia Miro comes with a price tag of Rs 14,499 and is available on online shopping websites such as Snapdeal. com.

Sony Xperia Miro comes with a 3.5 inch display as compared to the 3.2 inch one found on the Tipo. While the processor remains the same on both devices, an 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7225A processor with 512 MB RAM, and 3 GB internal memory that

is expandable up to 32 GB via microSD card.

The phone will have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system preinstalled. Along with that there will be a 5 megapixel rear camera that can record VGA resolution videos at 30 frames per second.

Along with that the Miro will also feature a VGA front camera for video calling, which was missing in the Tipo.

Although the device will gradually be made available in four different color combinations that include black, black/ pink, white/silver and white/gold, the only color that is currently available is a combination of white and silver.

Garnet Red Samsung Galaxy S III launching in India soon

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amsung announced earlier this week that the Galaxy S III would be available in different color variants such Brown, Red, Black and Grey. Now, the Samsung India eStore has listed the Garnet Red variant of the Galaxy S3.

The Garnet Red variant of the Galaxy S3 was exclusively launched for AT&T in July and it was spotted in Germany last week.

T h e features are similar to the original Galaxy S III that launched in India in May, such as a 4.8 inch Super 6 | August 2012

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AMOLED display, 1.4GHz Quad-Core, 8MP auto focus camera with LED flash, 1.9MP front camera, 16GB internal memory and 2100 mAh battery.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is listed on the Samsung eStore for `37,740 but stocks are not available yet.

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nvent World Wide Pvt. Ltd, the consumer electronic solutions major presents ‘Cowboy’, a stylish denim cover that provides all round protection for your New iPad. This new impact resistant cover makes sure your iPad is protected from any accidental abuse.

The Cowboy is made of a durable denim material that hugs your Touch without adding bulk. It is lightweight, slim and easy to carry. It comes in a form fitting design that leaves all control buttons accessible. Also it works as a stand so that one can work on the iPad in a much comfortable way.

“Envent’s Cowboy is made for the one who always takes the lead in everything. Considering the iPad is a gadget that consumers are constantly using, this trendy

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denim style cover case is a perfect fit for urban tech savvy people” says Mr. Sukhesh Madaan, CEO, Envent World Wide.

The Cowboy is a must have accessory for the New iPad because apart from its coolness and protective functionality it also works as a Smart Cover. So

Asus Ta renamed

A

sus has anno renamed its T originally announ specs would rema inch (1366×768 p fingers multi-touch processor, 2GB RA just 8.3mm thin an This would com that was announce a 8MP Auto focus c and a 2MP frontfeatures include, W NFC and GPS. It that has QWERTY and built-in batter with the other W October. The price the Vivo Tab is not available yet.

hurry up and take your pick from a range of colours like blue, red, black and grey.

Envent’s Cowboy is available at a price of MRP – `2,099/-

Micromax Smarty A25 now available on Snapdeal

napdeal.com, India’s leading e-commerce company has launched the new Micromax Smarty A25 on its website.

This dual SIM handset runs on Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread) operating system and is powered by a 1GHz processor.

It comes with a 2.8-inch display, 256 MB RAM, 1.3MP focus camera and 1,280 mAh battery. Further, it also features Gravity sensor, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity with an expandable memory upto 32GB. Micromax Smarty A25 is available on Snapdeal.com for just `3,999/-

www.mobilityindia.com

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Mila

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ilagrow, a lea maker and In robots brand has Window’s operatin PCs. The Tablet ha an exclusive and with KUPA, a Ge Tablet PC maker of primarily for the pr characterized by th Microsoft Windows In today's worl 'on the go' is crucia professionals who w operating system are most accusto do not want to manageability of a d and lightweight as Android platform a systems are unsuitab for the lack of pro compared to x 86 so MOBILITY

Mobility News

y’ for New

over case is a perfect tech savvy people” hesh Madaan, CEO, d Wide. boy is a must have r the New iPad t from its coolness ve functionality it a Smart Cover. So

A

sus has announced at IFA 2012 that it has renamed its Tablet 600 to Vivo Tab RT. It was originally announced at Computex in June. The specs would remain the same that includes a 10.1inch (1366×768 pixels) Super IPS+ display with 10 fingers multi-touch panel, NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 2GB RAM and 32GB internal memory. It is just 8.3mm thin and weighs 520g.

This would compete with the Samsung ATIV Tab that was announced at IFA 2012. It also comes with a 8MP Auto focus camera with LED Flash at the back and a 2MP front-facing camera. The connectivity features include, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and GPS. It also comes with a Keyboard dock that has QWERTY keyboard, track pad, 2 USB ports and built-in battery. It is expected to launch along with the other Windows 8 tablets at the end of October. The price of the Vivo Tab is not available yet.

take your pick from lours like blue, red, y.

Cowboy is available MRP – `2,099/-

5 now eal

mpany has launched

.3.6 (Gingerbread) sor. .3MP focus camera ty sensor, Bluetooth mory upto 32GB. for just `3,999/-

MOBILITY

Idea launches 3G dongle with cloud services

Asus Tablet 600 gets renamed to Vivo Tab RT

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dea Cellular, India’s 3rd largest mobile operator has launched its latest superfast 3G dongle with cloud based services.

This revolutionary product in its category offers three key features including internet access; storage capacity of 2GB on the cloud, making it convenient for users to access their data anytime and anywhere; and Cloud Messenger+ a cloud based messenger service allowing free and unlimited communication between cloud users.

The new cloud dongle from Idea also allows users to share pictures, music, videos and documents through the ‘Cloud Share’ option, syncing all the attached devices.

Users of Idea dongle can also avail other cloud features such as data backup and easy recovery, t h u s making it the safest and most secure device for internet access and data storage.

Idea has become the only operator to launch this innovative product which offers fast, safe and affordable data connectivity, and connects easily and quickly to any PC, netbook or laptop.

Announcing the launch Mr. Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said, "Cloud is the new technology, and we are the first mobile operator to introduce this into the Indian market. Idea is committed to delivering innovative and easy-to-use data products and services across all categories - smartphones, mobile broadband and home devices.

The new 3G dongle will enable consumers t o take even greater advantage of its fast data connectivity at home, office and on-the-go, and additional option to store and share files over cloud.”

The device is capable of download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 5.76 Mbps. It means users do not require a fixed-line internet connection at home, and do not require public WiFi hotspots to get online when they are away from home or the office. Idea will offer free storage of upto 2GB for a period of one year.

The new dongle is priced at `1,799.

Users can connect to the dongle by simply plugging the dongle in PC or Laptop and it will auto install Idea software with cloud plug-in.

Milagrow launches Kupa X11 - Windows based TabTop PC

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ilagrow, a leading Android Tablet PC maker and India's Number 1 domestic robots brand has announced its entry in Window’s operating system based Tablet PCs. The Tablet has been launched under an exclusive and co-branding agreement with KUPA, a Germany based Windows Tablet PC maker of high repute. The X11 is primarily for the professional sector and characterized by the presence of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

In today's world, to be productive 'on the go' is crucial and there are many professionals who want to use a complete operating system and software that they are most accustomed to. Professionals do not want to sacrifice comfort and manageability of a device especially compact and lightweight as the tablet. The Google Android platform and Apple iOS operating systems are unsuitable for this purpose, both for the lack of processing power available, compared to x 86 solutions and also because MOBILITY

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many enterprise programs which we use routinely on Windows do not exist or in Google Android or Apple iOS. Milagrow Kupa X11 Tablet The device has a 10-inch multitouch

display w i t h 1366x768 WxGA HD resolution and support. It boasts of an electromagnetic digitizer, digital ink pen, www.mobilityindia.com

an Intel Cedar Trail N2600 duo core SOC 1.6 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 64 or 128 GB SSD storage, a biometric sensor for fingerprint scanning, a built in SIM card slot and a battery that delivers up to 10 hours of battery life, all controlled by the operating system Microsoft Windows 7. Its offered for sale at a price between Rs. 54,990/for 64GB and `66,990/- for 128GB. Speaking at the launch of the TabTop X11, Mr. Rajeev Karwal, Founder Director, Milagrow said that "Over the past few years, Kupa has been steadily building up its reputation of dedicated client support and technical knowhow by launching several successful Microsoft Windows based tablet computers. When we decided to enter into the Windows Tablet segment they were ideal partners."

August 2012 | 7

9/24/2012 12:38:43 PM

Mobility News

Tradus.com presents Samsung Galaxy N800

T

radus.com, India’s fastest growing premium online mall has launched the new Samsung Galaxy N800, now available on www.tradus.com at slashed prices. The product is yet to enter the brick and mortar stores in the Indian market but it can be virtually explored and booked at Tradus.com.

The sensational Samsung Galaxy N800 is a new concept device enhancing productivity, creativity and learning capability. It helps you in using two applications at the same time exactly as you do on your PC. Its 1.4GHz quad core processor delivers the most seamless and enjoyable mobile experience to its users. It has a 10.1 inch touch screen with embedded S pen that adds a special feature.

Samsung Galaxy N800 is available on the site for `38,500/- with a discount of 5% on MRP. Prices are inclusive of all taxes with EMI option available on this product.

Inspan Launches Mercury magiQ 5' Dual SIM Tablet and Standby Backup of 15 days

I

nspan Infotech, one of the largest IT distribution companies for motherboards and hardware components, is aggressively targeting to focus the tablet market with the launch of Mercury magiQ. The 5" dual sim Mercury magiQ is a confluence of features from both Smartphones and tablets.

The Dual SIM Tablet works on the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich platform allowing a wide range of Android applications available to the users at the word go. Packed with high speed 1Ghz processor offering ultra fast uploads & downloads with HSPA. With and internal memory of 512MB, 4GB built-in storage with expandable 32GB and a capacitive multi touch panel offers vivid and clear picture and viewing of movies and work.

The tablet supports 3G/Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for a faster transferring of data.

Web browsing, internet surfing, emails, chatting and much more is made easier in this Tablet. Mercury magiQ has Dual Camera with front camera for video chatting

Motorola Presents Droid Razr M with 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display

M

otorola has announced Droid Razr M for Verizon Wireless.

It has a edge-to-edge 4.3-inch (960 x 540 pixels) Super AMOLED Advanced display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection and is powered by 1.5 GHz dual-core processor.

It runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich that is upgradeable to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean by end of 2012. It comes with an 8MP camera with LED flash and 1080p HD recording and a VGA front-facing camera with 720p 8 | August 2012

Mobility sep2012 new.indd 8

HD video video recording. It has DuPont Kevlar fiber at the back and supports 4G LTE networks.

It also comes with S M A RTAC T I O N S app that lets you setup tasks based on time and location and Android Beam that lets you send contacts, links, maps and more directly to compatible phones. It has 1 GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, microSD card slot to expand the memory up to 32GB. The connectivity features include, 4G LTE / HSPA+ 21 Mbps, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS / aGPS, NFC. It has 2000 mAh battery.

and a 12MP Rear camera for capturing the memorable moments and making videos.

It comes with a long battery backup which provides a standby up to 15 days and talk time up to 13hrs. All this is packed in a mere 140gm which can be carried easily and it gives a rich, slim and stylish look. magiQ offers all the features of entertainment to the justify the current needs of a user like built-in FM radio, speaker phone and flash 10.0 online video.

Mercury magiQ comes with in-built Accelerometer, supports GPS, phone book, call record history, sms, mms, e-mail, push mail and IM. The dual SIM feature is the specialty of magiQ which is the present need of a user. magiQ is designed with multiple I/O ports like dual SIM slot, TF card slot, mini USB port and 3.5 mm audio jack and is 11.6mm thick only.

Price, Availability and Warranty Mercury magiQ is priced at `12,700. It come with a warranty period of 1 year and is available ex-stock.

Nokia Unveils Luna Bluetooth Headset with Wireless Charging

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okia has announced the Luna Bluetooth Headset with Wireless Charging, successor of the previous Luna with NFC that launched in India earlier this year.

It comes in range of colors such as black, white, fuchsia, green and blue colors. It has Nokia's Always Ready technology that powers up, connects to the phone and lets you answer a call when you pick it off the cradle. It weighs just 5 grams.

It comes with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, NFC and has wireless charging support that enables you to charge it by placing it on the charging plate or the charging pillow. It offers up to 8 hours of talk time and 35 hours of standby time.

www.mobilityindia.com

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9/24/2012 12:38:44 PM

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agiQ

5 days

era for capturing the and making videos. attery backup which to 15 days and talk is is packed in a mere ried easily and it gives ook. magiQ offers all nment to the justify needs of a user like in FM radio, speaker hone and flash 10.0 online video.

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d Warranty priced at `12,700. It period of 1 year and

Bluetooth s Charging

tooth Headset with previous Luna with ear.

late or the charging me and 35 hours of MOBILITY

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August 2012 | 9

9/24/2012 12:38:45 PM

Cover Story

Tablets Galore

With end cutomers giving a lot of attention to tablets domestic players are quite bullish on unlocking India's potential in the tablet segment

I

t is Tablets Galore! As today there are a lot of players which are focusing their effort towards launching tablets in India. This at a time when the average price points of tablets are becoming better than the handsets and smartphones, there is huge potential for tablet in India. This is set to help players improve the bottom lines as well as the top lines. Players also realize that creating appropriate content for these tablets must also be a strategic focus.

Indigenous players have also started positioning themselves as device and content providers. With new age convergence setting the right mood for the end customer, as a category, tablets are fast gaining momentum and control of the entertainment device market.

the bottom lines as well as the top lines. Players also realise that creating appropriate content for these tablets must also be a strategic focus. According to CyberMedia Research, about 475,000 units of media tablets were sold in India in calendar year 2011. In the January-March period of 2012, India saw the sales of nearly 3,50,000 units of media tablets. The country’s market has become particularly competitive since 4Q of 2010 when Samsung launched the first tablet model in India. RIM’s Playbook,

The Indian Tablet Market According to Cyber Media Research, the country saw sales of about 475,000 units of media tablets in the last calendar year. And the tablet sales will rise exponentially in India in 2012 and will beat estimates of all analysts with millions joining the internet age and tablet sales will be a primary driver in this surge.

“The average price points of tablets are better than the handsets and smartphones. It helps players improve 10 | August 2012

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“The average price points of tablets are better than the handsets and smartphones. It helps players improve the bottom lines as well as the top lines. Players also realise that creating appropriate content for these tablets must also be a strategic focus.

Nafis Kazim, COO, Shyam Networks

www.mobilityindia.com

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9/24/2012 12:38:47 PM

Apple’s iPad2, M Galaxy Tab 7 are s brands available in range,” says, Nafis Speaking abo in India, Rajesh Micromax Informa quickly metamorp 'luxury' product to range of custom executives, adverti students, to name important year in is plethora of optio points. Today, tab for consuming con checking emails b Nowadays tablets and corporate con use tablets for m enterprise consum the device for rem generally wish to o offer a handy sub big in size. When then people would as it’s easier to us affordable price s tablets to laptops, According to G Infosystems Ltd, fast emerging as the government is affordable comput traditional comput a better and more colleges. Compute segment and that incline towards ta be an important f a significant role market. Also ther of the tablet in ent as insurance and even in cinema h order their food o positive impact on and hence better tablet will also be internet by greate explains.

Resonating on Popli, Country M Pvt says that toda after so many year finally being accep gadget one would happening primari MOBILITY

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re

ic players gment

ines. Players also nt for these tablets ng to CyberMedia edia tablets were the January-March f nearly 3,50,000 market has become 10 when Samsung a. RIM’s Playbook,

age price tablets are he handsets phones. It rs improve ines as well nes. Players hat creating content for s must also c focus.

Nafis Kazim, am Networks

MOBILITY

Apple’s iPad2, Motorola’s Xoom and Samsung’s “This new concept in the Galaxy Tab 7 are some of the notable MNC tablet brands available in the India market in the high-end consumer electronics range,” says, Nafis Kazim, COO, Shyam Networks. field and considering the Speaking about the tablet market scenario in India, Rajesh Agarwal, Managing Director, number of young techMicromax Informatics says that tablet has very savvy population in India, quickly metamorphosed from being a 'premium' or 'luxury' product to one that has appeal to a wide tablet market is bound to range of customer segments such as business grow many folds in the executives, advertising and media professionals and students, to name a few . 2012 is going to be an coming years.” important year in the Indian tablet market as there Alex Huang, is plethora of options available across different price Managing Director, points. Today, tablets are primarily being adopted System Business Group, for consuming content, with accessing internet and checking emails being the predominant activities.

Asus India Nowadays tablets are adopted by both retails and corporate consumers. While retail consumers tablets price points which are quite attractive and is catching the use tablets for multimedia consumption, gaming enterprise consumers leverage the portability and mobility of eyeballs of the end consumer in all parts of the social segments. the device for remote access and client presentations, students This is prompting different segments to go for tablets and try generally wish to own it to fulfill their educational needs. Tablets this new hardware. In my opinion, Tablet can neither replace offer a handy substitute for laptops. Laptops are heavy and a mobile nor a laptop. However it is creating its own segment big in size. When a smaller device can perform all that work, and utility. Mobility with affordability is the key success factor then people would definitely go for a more simplified device of a tablet. This fits into everyone's requirement. Whether it is as it’s easier to use as well. Moreover, tablets are available at a student wanting to learn or play something or a front sales affordable price so people are getting encouraged to prefer executive wanting to send his or her sales report or purchase order or anyone who would want to have entertainment by tablets to laptops,” he explains.

According to Gautam Advani, EVP & Head, Mobility, HCL watching movies or listening to the songs, tablet is coming Infosystems Ltd, tablets as a mobile device, has grown and forward as a preferred device...and most importantly all this is fast emerging as a robust market category in India. In India, coming at an affordable price point,” he explains.

As explained by Pradeep Jain, Managing Director, Karbonn the government is being vocal about the growth of ICT and affordable computing. “Within a few years of introduction of Mobiles. Over the past three financial years since its inception, traditional computers in education, tablet PCs have proved to be Karbonn Mobiles’ market share has increased from an impressive a better and more effective medium for learning in schools and 3% in FY 09-10 to 6% in FY 11-12 which is expected to reach colleges. Computer on the move factor will drive the consumer 10% by the financial year of 2012-13. Also the sales volume segment and that will make the market to incline towards tablet PC. This is going to “At this point the tablets be an important form factor and will play a significant role to drive the entire PC market has fierce competimarket. Also there will be increasing use tion with many brands jumpof the tablet in enterprises in verticals such as insurance and banking. For example ing in for a quick buck. Time even in cinema halls where patrons can order their food on tablets - which has a will slowly separate those positive impact on the service staff’s TAT brands who are actually in and hence better customer service. The tablet will also be used for accessing the the market for the long run internet by greater number of people,” he explains. and are seriously looking at Resonating on a similar note, Sandeep high customer delight.”

Popli, Country Manager, Go Tech Digital Pvt says that today we can surely say that Rajeev Karwal, after so many years, as a product, tablet is Founder & CEO finally being accepted as one of the useful Milagrow Business & gadget one would love to have. “This is Knowlege Solutions happening primarily because of the budget MOBILITY

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9/24/2012 12:38:48 PM

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“Within a few years of introduction of traditional computers in education, tablet PCs have proved to be a better and more effective medium for learning in schools and colleges. ” Rajesh Agarwal Managing Director, Micromax Informatics

has increased from 3 million units in FY 09-10 to 10 million units which are expected to reach around 20 million units in the financial year of 2012-13. For Karbonn Mobiles, the journey never ends and this stupendous start is just the beginning of a flight which will see this young Indian brand reach up the zenith of world mobile business in times to come,” he explains.

According to Kapil Wadhwa, MD, Champion Computers, the Indian tablet market shipped 0.39 million units in the year 2011-12. “Even though, it is a fraction of the worldwide shipments of 65 million units, the Indian tablet market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 71% with shipments growing to 9.66 mn units by 2017 which is quite impressive (Bloomberg).

With improved processor speed, performance and innovative content, we see increased adoption of tablets as the primary computing device for consumers.

Speaking about the Indian market, Satyak Kapoor, VP, Fujezone says that the Indian tablet market is to a great extent untapped and on the growing curve. “The idea of owning a tablet on the go is the biggest demand driver coupled with bigger screens and multi purpose apps which has fueled the market growth. Tablets are extremely portable and easy to carry. One can do everything on tablets that can be done on laptops. So if you are looking to buy a smart gadget which can full fill your multimedia needs, official needs (mailing), social media integration, photography then why does one have to buy

“Accordingly we will be focusing both these channel segment apart from the corporate and institutional requirements.”

Sandeep Parasrampuria MD, iBall

12 | August 2012

Mobility sep2012 new.indd 12

a laptop?

Speaking about the Indian tablet market scenario, Alex Huang, Managing Director, System Business Group, Asus India says that with a series of high-decibel launches in the last one year, tablet PC market in India is zooming beyond expectation.

“This new concept in the consumer electronics field and considering the number of young tech-savvy population in India, tablet market is bound to grow many folds in the coming years.

Although much is left to be seen as to how the overall tablet segment unfolds in India, various vendors are offering their best with their unique prepositions to serve the target group they cater to. The demand for tablets has poised phenomenally as users start to experience the limitless potential of Tablets.

Users have started opting for innovative options,” he adds on.

According to Rajeev Karwal, Founder & CEO Milagrow Business & Knowledge Solutions, the Indian tablets market is one of the fastest growing categories across all industries. By 2015 the tablets market in India will be more than 15 million units. Within a few years the tablets market will be even bigger than the PC market. “At this point the tablets market has fierce competition with many brands jumping in for a quick buck. Time will slowly separate those brands who are actually in the market for the long run and are seriously looking at high customer delight,” he adds on.

As being put by Sandeep Parasrampuria, MD, iBall Tablet PCs are a very exciting category and expected to grow very fast across the globe including India. The Indian market is already seeing interest by different segments to consider Tablet PCs as a very key product in the digital needs.

“Portability, ease of use with touch screen appear to be the key reasons for customer consideration. And of course the availability at different affordability pricing also makes it much more considered products. And the biggest thing is you can do almost anything you need….work, gaming, entertainment and over 6 lakh apps ion Android gives complete flexibility for every interest. iBall is offering a range of products and has an very impressive roadmap for the coming three months. We already have 7” with and without 3G built-in. They key is that iBall tablets are considered to be best performance in its segment.

We also will have soon 9.7”,” he explained.

The Tablet Advantage The key attribute of small tablets that will drive them into mainstream use is low cost. “It’s estimated that I think that over the next two years, the "sweet spot" range for 7-inch tablets is between $100 and $200. Sure, we've seen lots of phones at these prices and below. But phones require wireless service, which brings the total cost of ownership into the many hundreds or thousands of dollars for the life of the device.

With small tablets, consumers will pay one very low price -- and they're done spending. Wi-Fi is becoming far more ubiquitous now because people are using personal hotspots -- features that let several Wi-Fi connections piggyback onto a mobile broadband connection. Buying these cheap tablets will be a nearly consequence-free decision. They'll be an impulse buy.

People will buy several. People will buy them for their children.

Children will buy them for themselves. But the real driver isn't just that low cost means more people can afford them. Low

www.mobilityindia.com

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9/24/2012 12:38:49 PM

W

1. Wonder: The power within prices at `89 2. Ultimate: Ul friendly attitu Both tablets

cost means low m people incentives the time without a low-risk gadget likely to be stole lost or broken. T increases the loca using a tablet. It' also fits in a pock networks explains As explained Datawind, tablets the lifecycle of co They are more po a much richer an “The price point f standard laptops universe of applica currently two mod – Ubislate 7+ an functionality and c Gautam Advan eyeballs due to its role to drive the PC offers easy on seamless connect device.

“HCL Infosyste the Tablet market: • HCL Me • HCL Me • HCL Me • HCL My • HCL My HCL has been market for over consumer behavio to designed produ consumer. Our ta We have been ach business have re growth in tour 2 market share in th to launch tablets segment. We are into the market. W the country and t MOBILITY

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et scenario, Alex Group, Asus India hes in the last one yond expectation. tronics field and population in India, the coming years. the overall tablet are offering their the target group sed phenomenally otential of Tablets. ons,” he adds on. & CEO Milagrow tablets market is s all industries. By re than 15 million will be even bigger ablets market has ng in for a quick s who are actually sly looking at high

, MD, iBall Tablet d to grow very fast market is already sider Tablet PCs as

een appear to be And of course the lso makes it much hing is you can do entertainment and flexibility for every s and has an very onths. We already y key is that iBall ce in its segment.

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Winknet is looking at launching two tablets in the initial phase.

Those are Wonder (7 inch) & Ultimate (9.7 inch).

1. Wonder: The target group of Wonder are primarily students, young professional, techno geeks with limited spending power within an age group of 16 – 24. The tablets would promise of giving enriched broadband experience and is prices at `8995. This is complete value for money with best in class H/W, features and apps.

2. Ultimate: Ultimate is targeted at the age of 25-24 mid level professional with highe level of awareness and techno friendly attitude. Priced at MRP:14,995/-, this product would have lots of office suite apps relevant for the professionals.

Both tablets are high on gaming, Bollywood & thousands of downloadable apps.

“Within a few years of cost means low material value, which will give people incentives to use tablets everywhere, all introduction of traditional the time without thinking about them. They're computers in education, a low-risk gadget to carry around. They're less likely to be stolen. They're easily replaced if tablet PCs have proved lost or broken. The smaller form factor also to be a better and more increases the locations and circumstances for using a tablet. It's both less conspicuous and effective medium for also fits in a pocket,” Nafis Kazim from Shyam learning in schools and networks explains.

As explained by Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, colleges.“ Datawind, tablets are the next logical step in Gautam Advani, the lifecycle of consumer computing products.

EVP & Head, Mobiltiy, They are more portable than laptops and offer HCL Infosystems Ltd a much richer and intuitive user experience.

“The price point for most tablets is also below well across all regions. HCL Infosystems has a widespread standard laptops and offer users the additional value of a reach in currently more than 4000+ cities in India. We have universe of applications developed for mobile devices. We have nearly 2000 retail outlets today,” he informs. currently two models available under the brand name Ubislate As being put by Kapil Wadhwa from Champion Computers, – Ubislate 7+ and Ubislate 7C. Both tablets have SIM card the tablet is a very innovative device. “It packs the convenience functionality and can also be used as a phone,” he added. of both a laptop and smart phone in terms of its mobility Gautam Advani from HCL says that the Tablet has drawn and calling support. But it scores over other devices due to eyeballs due to its form factor and will continue to play a crucial its larger screen resulting in better rich media experience ( role to drive the entire PC market. The small compact Tablet entertainment and e-books) and compact size (much smaller PC offers easy on-the-go computing, at the same time offers that laptops). With reasonably good processing power, seamless connectivity at par with any computing device.

“The idea of owning a “HCL Infosystems offers the following products in the Tablet market: tablet on the go is the • HCL Me X1 biggest demand driver • HCL Me U1 • HCL Me Y2 coupled with bigger • HCL My EduTab -K12 Version screens and multi purpose • HCL My EduTab- Higher Education(HE) HCL has been a household name of the Indian apps which has fueled the market for over 30 years, and have studied the market growth. Tablets are consumer behavior very closely which has enabled us to designed products to suit the need of the Indian extremely portable and consumer. Our tablets also follow the same lineage. easy to carry. One can do We have been achieving robust growth and the tablet everything on tablets that business have registered more than 2000% YoY growth in tour 2011-12 FY. We enjoy 15 per cent can be done on laptops.“ market share in the overall tablet market and planning Satyak Kapoor, to launch tablets across all price points in the value VP segment. We are confident of making further inroads into the market. We have a huge retail presence across Fujezone the country and the HCL tablets have been accepted August 2012 | 13 MOBILITY www.mobilityindia.com Mobility sep2012 new.indd 13

9/24/2012 12:38:53 PM

Cover Story

“Indian tablet industry is among the fastest growing markets” How do you look at the Indian market for Tablets?

The Indian Tablet Market has been evolving for the past 2 years. The Indian tablet industry is among the fastest growing markets around the world, witnessing an increasing growth in demand and the emergence of various players in the industry. While the market is dominated by international brands, the emergence of various low cost indigenous brands has made tablets accessible to the price conscious Indian consumer. The segment's growth is also driven by factors such as increased consumer awareness, launch of faster and price effective data technologies and the emergence of various models in different price bands. The positive growth outlook of the industry is supported by the efforts undertaken by various brands to position tablets as a first computer for Indian consumers.

In India, total tablet shipments in 2011 are estimated to be 0.39 million units, which is a very small fraction of the nearly 65 million shipped globally.

However, the Indian tablet market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 71% and shipments are expected to growth to 9.66 million units in 2017.

of laptops and smartphones, bringing the best of both worlds on one device. We are seeing a trend where the Tablets are almost coming to replace laptops.

Some of the key attributes:Portability: Tablets by design are comparatively lightweight and relatively easy to carry around. Many of them may still be too heavy to hold in one hand, but they're great in your lap or on a surface.

Productivity: Tablet in the workplace can be quite helpful for handling basic tasks, like checking e-mail or other applications.

Gaming/Entertainment/E-reader: Tablets are great for entertainment & Gaming. Since a tablet is basically just a large screen, it's a stellar device for watching movies and TV shows.

Touch-based controls on a tablet forces

What is so special about this new category of devices called tablets? Why should an end customer go for tablet and not a regular laptop?

Tablets have caught the attention of masses across the globe, as it is powered with functionalities that appeals to users across age, demographic, profession etc.Itwouldbeappropriate to say that tablets are a beautiful amalgamation 14 | August 2012

Mobility sep2012 new.indd 14

www.mobilityindia.com

developers to get creative, leading to truly unusual gaming.

Adaptability: Installing apps on a tablet is a much easier and simpler process. Tablets also are a good tool for road warriors who need the functionality that their phone lacks but who don't want the size and weight of a laptop or netbook to slow them down.

Battery Life: Tablets have a far superior battery life compared to most of the laptops available in the market

BlackBerry PlayB give users what t providing advanc out-of-the-box en breakthrough deve IT departments an

What are your product offerings for the tablet market in India?

In the tablet category we have the BlackBerry PlayBook available in India in the following variants o The 16GB variant is available for `13,490 o The 32 GB variant is available for `15,990/o The 64 GB variant is available for `19,990/BlackBerry PlayBook, is a multitasking powerhouse that gives uncompromised experience to the users for both work and play. Perfect for both professional usage and for an individual, the professional- grade

Please share deta market strategy India?

While Tablet s adoption stage it vibrant segment att offering from vario launched the BlackB and further annou OS upgrade few m important market f and in order to reac at large our strateg national distributio that our products nation.

As a part of our devised interested o market to make the the masses. During offer wherein any c BlackBerry PlayBo Curve 8520 for fre was to get more pe Furthermore, towa the BlackBerry Pla discounted rate as offer, which saw a leading to the devic across the country.

At a time when Indian market is flooded with tablet players, a seasoned global player like BlackBerry surely brings unique value for the end customers. Mobility speaks with Sunil Lalvani, Director, Enterprise Sales, Research In Motion, India about the company’s take on India’s tablet boom.

What are some o forces that are se sales for the coun The tablet PC that beautifully functions of a lap on an entirely new the third screen.

Tablet PCs giv to users in term leisure. One can information while equal output from related functions.

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9/24/2012 12:38:57 PM

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g the

eative, leading to

BlackBerry PlayBook is designed to give users what they want, while also providing advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and a breakthrough development platform for IT departments and developers.

ook, is a multise that gives perience to the and play. Perfect al usage and for rofessional- grade

Please share details about your go to market strategy for your tablets in India?

While Tablet segment is in its early adoption stage it has been the most vibrant segment attracting a lot of product offering from various manufacturers. We launched the BlackBerry PlayBook in 2011 and further announced the PlayBook 2.0 OS upgrade few months ago. India is an important market for Research In Motion and in order to reach out to the consumers at large our strategy has been to focus on national distribution channels and ensure that our products are available across the nation.

As a part of our marketing strategy we devised interested offers focused at the India market to make the PlayBook accessible to the masses. During Diwali, we rolled out an offer wherein any customer who bought a BlackBerry PlayBook got a BlackBerry Curve 8520 for free. The objective of this was to get more people to use the device.

Furthermore, towards the end of the year the BlackBerry PlayBook was offered at a discounted rate as a part of our year end offer, which saw an immediate response leading to the device running out of stocks across the country.

Indian ed yers, a al player surely alue for the Mobility nil Lalvani, prise Sales, otion, India pany’s take t boom.

What are some of the biggest driving forces that are set to pushing tablets sales for the country?

The tablet PC is a unique category that beautifully amalgamates the functions of a laptop and smartphone on an entirely new device, best known as the third screen.

Tablet PCs give a good experience to users in terms of both work and leisure. One can download personal information while at the same time, get equal output from the device for workrelated functions. A lot of preference for

stalling apps on asier and simpler re a good tool for d the functionality ks but who don't ght of a laptop or down. blets have a far compared to most e in the market

uct offerings for ndia? gory we have the available in India nts t is available for

nt is available for

nt is available for

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the device is also driven as a result of this capability that comes with tablet PCs. In a country such as India, the uptake is also widely driven by various factors namely, price, tariffs and availability of relevant apps. While there are consumers who will go for competitive pricing and average technology, there will continue to be a great demand for tablets of global standards with cutting edge technology for the technology savvy category of users. From an Enterprise perspective the security and manageability features of the Tablet are key driving factors given that secure Corporate data cannot be compromised even on employee owned tablets.

In a fiercely competitive tablet market, how do you create the differentiation?

With immense competition among the tablet players, companies are looking for ways to push their products ahead of their competitors. At Research In Motion, we have consistently focused on providing the best in technology coupled with simplified user experience which is also a differentiator for our tablet offering. With the inherent security functionality that wipes one’s professional information from the device when disconnected from the Bridge, makes BlackBerry PlayBook a must-have for enterprise users. At the same time the user interface, smooth functioning on wi-fi, availability of application and the android player are features that excites consumers choose the BlackBerry PlayBook over the rest.

Key differentiators of the BlackBerry Playbook include: 1) The ability to pair any Bluetooth enabled smartphone with the BlackBerry Playbook allows the user to save on monthly recurring data services cost and eliminates the need of a dedicated sim card for the Playbook.

2) The ability to virtually partition and manage Corporate Data on the BlackBerry Playbook gives CIO’s peace of mind to control and manage Corporate data even on personal owned Playbooks. www.mobilityindia.com

This ensures that Corporate data is not compromised even if the Playbook is stolen or lost.

3) The ability to create and manage a separate Enterprise Catalogue section on the BlackBerry Playbook, allows IT administrators and users to seamlessly manage and update applications that are critical from a work perspective and mandated as per the organization policy guidelines. These are key differentiators that make the BB Playbook the preferred choice of Enterprise customers today.

What kind of revenues are you expecting from the tablet segment in the coming year?

The tablet segment is growing at a rapid pace and we expect see continual growth for BlackBerry Playbook in this segment. As a company policy, we do not break up revenue figures, currently the BlackBerry PlayBook enjoys a 15% market share in India as per the latest Cybermedia Research report and we are sure that the growth curve would be positive in the near future too.

Please share some of your tablet product models that you are planning to launch in the Indian market?

The Indian market is yet at a nascent stage of tablet consumption; hence currently we don’t have plans of releasing a new tablet in India. However keeping pace with the steadily growing global infrastructure and technology capabilities, we have recently launched the new 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with built-in support for cellular networks. The new 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook maintains a sleek and ultraportable form while delivering overall faster performance over the original BlackBerry PlayBook, as well as support for blazing fast 4G LTE networks. The 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook allows customers to work more productively and connect to the Internet, as well as access their email, on-line apps, media and content, from more places than ever.

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Simmtronics Goes Bullish on Tablet Manufacturing Taking a cue from an increased demand for Tablets, Simmtronics is increasing its Tablet manufacturing capacity in India n today’s scenario, the tablet PC market in India is one of the to Middle East, Europe and other markets. fastest growing markets around the globe. With the introduction "Our continued success of the tablets, as well as the stronger of Tablet in India, the market has witnessed huge growth in terms growth rates of the tablet markets has forced us to increase our of demand, shipments and emergence of various players, national tablet manufacturing capacity to 3 lakhs units per month. This & international, in the industry. The figures and the growth rate will help us to meet the ever growing demand of our products in indicate that the Tablet PC market is still a niche market in India India. In addition to India, we are also exporting these products to and has huge potential in the coming years. countries like Dubai, Europe and South Africa,” informed Indrajit In a strategic move, Simmtronics Semiconductors Ltd, a home Sabharwal, Managing Director, Simmtronics Semiconductors Ltd. grown Indian IT manufacturing major has Simmtronics has a projection of TABLET increased its Tablet manufacturing capacity orders of 2M Tablets in the year 2012-13. Range to 3 lakhs per month at its manufacturing includes 7” and 10” Resistive and Capacitive Tablets. facilities in India. In order to meet the ever Simmtronics technical expertise is that Simmtronics growing demand of Tablet’s in the country can manufacture the Tablets to the Customers / from the Corporate and the Government Users technical specifications and requirements. sector, the company has increased its tablet Simmtronics technical and R&D capability is the production capacity. highest quality in India. Simmtronics is already Simmtronics has been on the forefront competing with the Big Brands in the global of manufacturing Tablets in India for the market. past one year. In addition, the company Simmtronics is one of the leading manufacturers is looking at further increasing its of Tablets, Motherboards, Desktop PCs, Memory manufacturing capacity to six lakh tablets Module and Netbooks in the country. The company per month by the end of 2012. has manufacturing facilities in India, Singapore Simmtronics has an Order booking and Dubai and has sales offices in UAE, Thailand, of over Rs. 100 crores including Exports.

Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, India, UK, USA Simmtronics is already exporting its Tablets and Singapore.

I

increasing shift in consumption of e-books and entertainment on demand and falling prices, the tablet would become first choice for consumers,” he adds on.

Talking about the Indian scenario, Pradeep Jain from Karbonn says that for sustaining and consolidating its presence in India, Karbonn Mobiles intends to follow through a threepronged approach wherein it intends to delve in multi genres like product initiation, marketing and R&D activities to forward its brand integration in India.

“For the same, Karbonn Mobiles will firstly be concentrating on building its brand integration of the newly launched technologically advanced Smartphone and Tablet range as a part of the ‘Karbonn Smart’ eco-system. Also going forward, Karbonn Mobiles intends to introduce newer product portfolios in the coming months and thus earn an approximate revenue “Over the past three financial years since its inception, Karbonn Mobiles’ market share has increased from an impressive 3% in FY 09-10 to 6% in FY 11-12 which is expected to reach 10% by the financial year of 2012-13.”

Pradeep Jain Managing Director, Kanbonn Mobiles 16 | August 2012

Mobility sep2012 new.indd 16

addition of 20% through these innovatively cost-effective technological networked devices. In continuation of its expansion tenet, Karbonn Mobiles also intends to launch new products in the price range of Rs. 5000 – 10,000 to bridge the gap while launching more android based smart phones & tab in the Rs. 5000 bracket in the future. Going forward, Karbonn Mobiles will also intends to integrate its product collaborations with players like Dolby Technologies, SRS Labs, Emoze Service and Digivibe and thus create efficient mobile phone marketing techniques into the market,” he adds on.

Sandeep Parasrampuria from iBall says that iBall is widely distributed brand in computer channel and also making good inroads in the mobile phones market. “Accordingly we will be focusing both these channel segment apart from the corporate and institutional requirements. Portability, ease of use and affordability with wide application (Work, internet, gaming, entertainment, music and over 600k apps) makes Tablet PCs a very appealing product for everyone and every need. iBall has the culture of innovating and it comes naturally to our brand.

Better performance and offering is already being appreciated,” he adds on.

Alex Huang from Asus says that Tablets are powerful and facilitate mobility and natural interaction with computer.

“On connectivity side, besides the built-in wireless support, Tablet PCs can also be placed into a docking station at a desk to support a large monitor, network connection, keyboard, mouse, and other peripherals. All Tablet PCs will be very light.

Combined with wireless network support, Tablet PC gives you

www.mobilityindia.com

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greater mobility an PC. There is cont and more users a shopping and inte customer will use portability aspects when attached to computing experie Rajeev Karwal branded as the m in the technology advantage of usin has a compact for information and professionals, tab to take notes. For movies are enjoyed At the end of the market like India, a most laptops,” he

The Indian Propos “As part of ou we are launching inch”. Consumers content and its to and worldclass. W Ultimate would b looking for a subs apps at the best po , Bollywood & tho from Shyam Netw Talking about Agarwal from Mic important element between what the “With the lau solution to solve will help create a b into the tablet ma of the Funbook, w Pro for more enter rise in demand fro Funbook Alpha fo engaging in bring groups of consum Talking about said that the com cream sandwich (I with a 7.2, 5 point A8 upto 1.5 Mhz . The Wtab 7.2 f 4GB expandable u through USB port tablet delivers and full charge (3100 7.2 is priced at a p comes with its ow MOBILITY

Cover Story

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ell as the stronger us to increase our per month. This of our products in these products to informed Indrajit miconductors Ltd. ion of TABLET r 2012-13. Range Capacitive Tablets. that Simmtronics the Customers / nd requirements. capability is the ronics is already ds in the global

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lets are powerful on with computer. wireless support, station at a desk ection, keyboard, will be very light. ablet PC gives you MOBILITY

greater mobility and immediate access to the full power of your PC. There is continuous shift in consumer behavior as more and more users are adapting to new technologies, browsing, shopping and interacting with brands on the move. An end customer will use a Tablet as it sort the convenience and portability aspects and they can also be used in place of laptops when attached to the docking station. Over all it is an all new computing experience,” he explains.

Rajeev Karwal from Milagrow says that the tablet is being branded as the most disruptive device in the past 15 years in the technology space. “With a tablet, a consumer gets the advantage of using a highly portable device that is light and has a compact form factor. A tablet can be used to consume information and the reading experience is beautiful. For professionals, tablets are great to use in meetings, especially to take notes. For those looking for entertainment, music and movies are enjoyed on HD screens most easily found on tablets.

At the end of the day, price is also a big consideration in a market like India, and tablets are a much lower cost option than most laptops,” he is quick to add on.

The Indian Proposition “As part of our effort to bring best of broadband products, we are launching tablets - Ultimate (9.7 inch) & Wonder 7 inch”. Consumers are going to enjoy seamless broadband content and its touch experience and looks are really unique and worldclass. While Wonder is more relevant for students, Ultimate would best suited for young professionals who are looking for a substitute to notebooks with lots of office suite apps at the best possible price. Both tablets are high on gaming , Bollywood & thousands of downloadable apps,” Nafis Kazim from Shyam Networks informed.

Talking about its positioning in the Indian market, Rajesh Agarwal from Micromax says that fun and education are two important elements of a youth’s life; they always try to balance between what they “have to do” and what they “want to do”.

“With the launch of Funbook, we are offering a smart solution to solve this dilemma, and we believe that Funbook will help create a balance between the two.In April, we forayed into the tablet market with our 7” Funbook. After the success of the Funbook, we introduced a larger screen, 10” Funbook Pro for more entertainment and more of education. Seeing the rise in demand from enterprise users, we recently launched our Funbook Alpha for the enterprise users. We will be constantly engaging in bringing up innovative products to our different groups of consumers,” Rajesh adds on.

Talking about Champion Computers tablet offering, Kapil said that the company has recently launched its maiden ice cream sandwich (ICS) 4.0 based Wtab 7..2. “The tablet comes with a 7.2, 5 point touch capacitive screen. It features a Cortex A8 upto 1.5 Mhz processor delivering superior performance . The Wtab 7.2 features a 512 MB RAM, flash memory of 4GB expandable upto 32GB,Front camera,3G dongle support through USB port and G sensor for 360 angular rotation. The tablet delivers and impressive battery back up of 4-5 hours on full charge (3100mAh) . Weighing only 320 gms, the Wtab 7.2 is priced at a price of Rs.4899 with 1 year warranty. It also comes with its own brand of dongles ' WConnect' which is 100 MOBILITY

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“This is happening primarily because of the budget tablets price points which are quite attractive and is catching the eyeballs of the end consumer in all parts of the social segments.”

Sandeep Popli Country Manager Go Tech Digital Pvt Ltd.

% compatible (unlike dongle compatibility issues with other tablets) with the tablet and runs on the SIM of any network.

We would soon be launching the Wtab 7.3 with calling function and another tablet with 3G calling in the next quarter,” Kapil adds on.

As explained by Pradeep Jain from Karbonn Mobiles, Social Networking, Location based Services, Mobile Banking and Cloud Computing will be the ‘In’ mobile driven technologies which will be hot in the coming months. The industry foresees that data services would be the point of interest for the ecosphere and more and more consumers would wane away from the traditional bits of internet usage and be more inclined towards mobile internet usage. Also, going forward, the industry would rely heavily on cloud storage options wherein consumers would discard the traditional ways of storage and would look towards cloud storage as the more convenient and more pertinent way of storage.

With growing technology, more and more consumers will start using mobile internet as their likened way of social interaction and thus will usher in a new technological revolution, in the coming times,” he explains.

Says, Satyak Kapoor from Fujezone, currently we have launched 3 models in the Indian market namely, X210, X88 and MT12 tablets. X210 is an entry level tablet with 3G support while X88 is a 2G calling tablet and MT12 runs on Android 4.0.4 ICS and has a capacitive touch screen,” he adds on.

Talking about their India strategy, Sandeep from Gotech said that the company is currently offering Funtab Fit as one of the first product in the capacitive touch screen category.

“This product offers all basic features of the tablet but at the same time, it is loaded with a lot of useful applications for all segments of users. One of the most important offering is for student and that is called Fun Perform. This is one of the most

www.mobilityindia.com

“Even though, it is a fraction of the worldwide shipments of 65 million units, the Indian tablet market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 71% with shipments growing to 9.66 mn units by 2017 which is quite impressive (Bloomberg). ” Kapil Wadhwa, MD, Champion Computers August 2012 | 17

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useful tools specifically designed for students to study online.

GO TECH is currently offering this application free to consumer as part of our introductory offer,” he adds on.

Talking about its product range for India, Alex Huang from Asus says that, “We have launched S Series Ultrabooks and F Series Thin & Light Notebooks which are now available in the market. Other than these we have Asus Eee Pad Transformer and Eee Pad Transformer Prime, Asus Zenbook, Eee PC X101 available in India. The demand for tablets has poised phenomenally as users start to experience the limitless potential of Tablets. Our strategy has been to roll out tablets with technology and innovation at the forefront. From the build to the performance, we have focused on overall basis, so as to enable users have a superior computing experience.

In order to focus on the high growth areas, we aim at having increased number of branches in India. Our focus has also been shifted to Tier II and Tier III areas. To cater to that, we are working on increasing the regional distributors and manpower to be able to reach each and every partner in each state. We have been working on strengthening our distribution channel and have recently appointed new partners. We are focusing on escalating regional level distributors to help us to ensure that our products reach tier-2 and tier-3 cities apart from the tier-1 cities,” he explains.

Rajeev Karwal from Milagrow says that Milagrow's tablets range is one of the most innovative and largest in the country.

“Milagrow was the first brand to introduce tablets with complete ports - such as a full USB port for 1024 GB Hard Drive and mouse/keyboard connectivity, mirroring HDMI port for presentations, SD card slot for expandable memory, quadband SIM slot for worldwide Internet connectivity on the go.

Just last week, Milagrow became the 1st Indian brand to launch Windows tablets. These highly powerful 10-inch tablets with inbuilt biometric fingerprint scanners, running 1.6 GHz dual core processors with 128GB internal memory are very useful for businesses and professionals that run softwares which are most suitable for Microsoft Windows OS only,” he explains.

Talking about the Indian opportunity, Suneet from Datawind, said that there are 900 million mobile phone subscribers but only 18 million broadband connections. We intend to plug this gap..” We have more than 3.5 million pre-orders for our products and we intend to fulfill them using a direct to customer fulfillment model in the coming months. The platform strategy for our products will ensure that we offer premium content in various segments to our customers in all popular Indian languages and scripts, using a business model that ensures that the content is free to use for the end customer. There will be special focus on education keeping in mind the unique needs of Indian students at different levels and in different geographies.

Additionally we are focused on ensuring anywhere, anytime internet connectivity by ensuring a great internet browsing experience on India’s GPRS networks,” he explains.

KeyPoint Presents Adaptxt Beta 1.0 for Android Tablets

K

eyPoint Technologies an innovative user-interface products organization has launched Adaptxt beta version 1.0 for Android Tablets, powered by Predictive Text2.0 that is designed to learn and adapt to the users writing style and allows the user to write more with minimal keystrokes. It provides highly accurate and relevant text prediction, error-correction & auto-correction inputs by combining the best of artificial intelligence and computing technology.

Adaptxt’s, ‘Learn from Socials’ based personalization feature provides users an excellent typing experience. It learns user’s unique writing style from social profiles like Facebook, Twitter as well as their SMS messages and contacts.

This beta version offers its users a quick and efficient new feature ATR - Automatic Text Replacement that allows users to assign a certain text or phrase as a shortcut and enables them to retrieve and text the entire phrase with a simple tap using the ATR shortcuts.

Adaptxt quickly wrapped up a bonus treat for its Mr. Sumit Goswami – CEO, KeyPoint Technologies users and that is Handwriting Recognition feature. It is an experimental handwriting feature to boost quick input from users. Help us work with you to grow this experimental feature into a full-fledged prime feature.

Commenting on the launch of Adaptxt beta version 1.0 for Android Tablets, Mr. Sumit Goswami – CEO, KeyPoint Technologies said, “We have been expanding horizons with Adaptxt® Tablet Beta 1.0 for Android; Adaptxt has been consistently evolving for the best since its inception; with the rising popularity of Android Tablets it was only a matter of time till we expanded our expertise from smart phones to Tablets. We believe in offering our users with a versatile text input solution that isn’t device dependent”.

and affordability for the Indian population. The tablets also need to have contents that are relevant to users in India and cater to their unique needs in their local languages. Our priority is to cater to web access and educational needs of the society that is unable to afford computing devices. There is a special focus on students and creating educational content relevant for Indian students and their unique needs. A big majority of India falls in this category. We want to take technology to them and make it relevant in their lives,” informs, Nafis Kazim from Shyam Networks.

According to Kapil Wadhwa from Champion, the tablet as a device scores over others because of its compact size, larger screen than smart phones and reasonably good processing power. “We foresee that the education and entertainment content would play a driving force in the adoption of tablets.

With the increase in e-books both educational books and fiction/ non-fiction and entertainment ( movies, music and games ) being consumed on demand and on the go, the tablet provides the right user experience,” he is quick to add on.

Talking about the tablet demand in India, Alex Huang from Asus opines that, the demand for tablets has poised phenomenally as users start to experience the limitless potential of Tablets. “Users have started opting for innovative options. Tablets are portable when compared to computers and definitely more user friendly, have a bigger screen to work What Future Holds There are 900 million mobile phone subscribers but only on, if compared to a smart phone. They also have apps which 18 million broadband connections are available. This gap make work easier and faster. Tablets offer convenience and a segment is our priority. “We want to create a product that better work/life balance, making it easy for employees to keep creates an optimum balance between usability, performance information with them and utilize business apps, no matter where they go,” he adds on.

18 | August 2012 MOBILITY www.mobilityindia.com

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s a process to enable seamless connectivity or access, tethering refers to connecting one device to another. In the context of mobile phones or Internet tablets, tethering allows sharing the Internet connection of the phone or tablet with other devices such as laptops etc. this is fast becoming an interesting way to share information and content.

Connection of the phone or tablet with other devices can be done over wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), over Bluetooth or by physical connection using a cable for example, through USB. If tethering is done over Wi-Fi, the feature may be branded as a Mobile Hotspot. The Internet-connected mobile device can thus act as a portable wireless access point and router for devices connected to it.

Today, a slew of handsets are equipped with software to offer tethered Internet access. Windows Phone 7, Android (starting from version 2.2), and iOS 3.0 (or later) offer tethering over a Bluetooth PAN or a USB connection. Tethering over Wi-Fi, also known as Personal Hotspot, is available on iOS starting with iOS 4.2.5 (or later) on iPhone 4, 4S, and iPad (3rd generation), certain Windows Phone 7 devices and certain Android phones.

In some countries this feature is only legitimately available by paying to add a tethering package to a data plan or choosing a data plan that includes tethering. There are, however, several ways to use tethering without paying for it, including rooting Android devices or jailbreaking iOS devices and installing a tethering application on the device.

Tethering: It's one of the most convenient features your smartphone has, yet operators are not that bullish about this.

Tethering most often refers to using your smartphone as a mobile hotspot. In other words, it lets you connect to the Internet on your laptop, tablet, or Wi-Fi enabled device, using your phone's data connection. Tethering is very useful if you happen to be in an area that has no free Wi-Fi and you need to do your computing on a device other than your phone.

Carriers don't really want you to use this oh-so-convenient option, because users who tether are more likely to use a lot of data. After all, it's much easier to use data when you're browsing on a laptop or a tablet, than when you're limited to your smartphone's tiny screen.

Third-party tethering apps for Android There are two ways to tether on your Android phone—you can use your phone's built-in hotspot feature, which may or may not incur charges from your carrier. Or you can use a third-party tethering app.

Remember, if you do choose to use a third-party app for tethering, it's a good idea to be conservative about how much data you use. If you only tether your laptop to your phone's MOBILITY

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data connection to check email on the fly, your carrier probably won't notice. But if you're constantly streaming Netflix videos on your tablet using your phone's data connection, your carrier will probably get suspicious—especially if you have an unlimited data plan.

Numerous third-party tethering apps are available today, including apps for rooted and nonrooted phones. Here are a few of the better options: Tethering apps for nonrooted phones PdaNet: PdaNet is a free download on Google Play, but this only gets you a 14-day trial. After 14 days, the app will block access to secure websites (websites that require a login) unless you purchase the full edition for $15.95. PdaNet allows you to tether your phone's data connection to your laptop using a USB cable or Bluetooth dial-up networking, or to turn your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot (though the Wi-Fi hotspot mode does not work on all phones).

EasyTether: EasyTether is a USB tethering app, which means it lets you share your phone's data connection with your laptop via a USB cable. It also lets you tether your game console (PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, or Xbox) using PC Internet Connection Sharing (you need to go through a computer first to tether your console).

Wifi Hotspot & USB Tether Pro: Wifi Hotspot & USB Tether is primarily for turning your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot (complete with password), but it also allows you to tether your phone's data connection to your computer via USB. Linking to your laptop Tethering doesn't apply only to your phone's (or computer's) data connection. The AirDroid app lets you wirelessly manage your phone from a browser window on your laptop. This can be useful if you're at your computer anyway, but you want to be able to do things like listen to music that's stored at your computer, write text messages, and organize your phone's contacts.

AirDroid is free on Google Play. To use the app, you need to download and install it on your phone, and then open up a browser window on your computer and navigate to http://web. airdroid.com. You can then scan a QR code on the website or enter a passcode from your device, and you're logged in.

From the AirDroid main screen, you can manage files, organize call logs, check and write text messages, look at photos, watch videos, play music, organize contacts, and install apps.

Your device does not need to be rooted for AirDrive to run, but if it is rooted you'll have access to a couple more features, such as seeing your device's screen in real-time and taking screenshots.

www.mobilityindia.com

August 2012 | 19

9/24/2012 12:39:02 PM

Mobility Event

ICOMM Brings Together Best of the Mobility World The 7th CMAI India International Communications Fair (ICOMM 2012) successfully culminated at NSIC Expo Grounds, Okhla, New Delhi

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he 7th CMAI ICOMM was a grand two-day showcase of the world’s best and innovative tablet and mobile technology to the businesses and consumers of India.

Leading Indian brands like Micromax, Maxx Mobile, Lava International, Karbonn and Akash-famed Datawind along with international companies like MediaTek, Gionee, Globy Talky, G 5, Blephone and many others actively participated in the show.

The event witnessed a major shift from its six-year legacy of having a B2B profile to a mix-visitor strategy in 2012 and introduced the Consumer Show for the first time, which went on to become an instant hit. More than 21,500 delegates visited the show in the two-day event that had the latest and innovative products from the tablet and mobile market on display.

The inauguration of the show witnessed several VIPs on dais which included Sh RK Upadhaya, CMD BSNL, Sh Vimal Wakhlu, CMD TCIL, Shri Arun Seth,

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Chairman Alcatel Lucent India, Sh Rajesh Aggarwal, Directior Micromax, Sh SN Rai, Director, Lava Mobiles, Sh Mayank Gupta, Director Prabhatam Group, the Vice Director of Dalian Foreign Trade Bureau, representatives of Embassy of China, Vietnam, European Union, along with Sh. NK Goyal, President, CMAI Association of India. The event proved to be highly successful in terms of business for the industry and business leads worth US$ 154 million were created in two-business days, said Mr. Goyal.

Key launches of the show included Sky Mini Laptop by Sky Mobiles which is aggressively priced at Rs. 9,500 and a Globy Talky – Connected Life application on all Globy Talky Mobile Phones and Tablets.

MoMagic Technologies launched a new application “Control ME” for Android users which aims at saving the misuse of a lost handset and backing up critical database of the user to a new handset.

World’s first book on Essentials of Mobile design was launched by Author Sh Abhi

www.mobilityindia.com

Naha, Vice President International Trade, CMAI, book published by Cambridge University Press, UK The show which has outperformed year over year in terms of exhibitors, visitors and business volumes, now plans to scale up on a larger platform for the next year. The 8th CMAI ICOMM 2013 will be integrated with India Telecom 2013, scheduled to be held between 12 and 14th December 2013 and relocated to a larger area at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

Mr. Goyal also added that the shift from being a B2B event to a consumer interest show proved a big success for the 7th ICOMM 2012. The visitor profile became wider and the key user of technology, the youth segment, got an obvious pull to the event which also saw a unique “A luckydraw for everyone” on every half hour of two-day event. The lucky draw which gave the visitors more than a 100 chances to win several prizes like branded Mobile phones was a big draw and became the buzz of the event.

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Trends in Convergence

Smartphone Storage Going Wirel Even though 8 to 32 GB of storage is what is currently available with today’s breed of smartphones, this is surely not going to be enough as we are moving towards an era of greater storage requirements.

22 | August 2012

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www.mobilityindia.com

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his is especially true at a time when there is huge popularization of cameras capable of recording HD space, since one hour of recorded video can easily consume more than 2 GB of space. And not to mention the enormous number of songs and high resolution pictures that we are so getting used to storing in our smartphones.

Even in the case of smartphones with removable microSD cards, it is rare that you MOBILITY

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actually take advantage of the ability to use multiple cards, as they switch off, replace the card, call back (and realize that all the programs installed on another card left be available) turns out to be too cumbersome.

The solution is to go for storage devices that can store data wirelessly over a category of gadgets that are hitting the market. Unlike some options that have emerged between 2007 and 2008, based on the slow Bluetooth, this new MOBILITY

Mobility sep2012 new.indd 23

crop of high end communications devices communicates with the host via Wi-Fi, which ensures good access speed.

For example we have the Wi-Drive Kingston, which exists in versions with 16 and 32 GB. Although a bit pricey ($ 99 U.S. for the 32 GB version) it groups a set of flash memory, battery, transmitter and Wi-Fi SoC in a very compact form, almost the same size as an iPhone 3.

This works like a combination of a file server and an access point, appearing on the list of available networks and allowing other devices to connect to it via Wi-Fi, gaining access to files. He has a client for iOS, which manages the configuration and allows access and streaming of files, with an Android version promised soon.

It can also be accessed directly via USB, which is handy when you copy multiple files from a PC. Of course, access the Wi-Drive directly is a good option only when you're on the road, as when connecting directly to it you can not access other wireless networks, losing access to the Internet. This is solved by a wireless mode passthrough, which allows you to access it through another wireless network, thus combining the access drive and Internet access. The application allows you to view directly access most file formats (including video formats supported by the system) and copy them manually.

On the other hand, the major disadvantage of this kind of approach is that the user is subject to the platforms for which Kingston decided to support the application. Even after the Android version is available, there will still be many users of other platforms to access it, and if in the future decide to eliminate Kingston platform support that is using your WiDrive will become a paperweight, since without the software you do not have access to the drive.

Another wireless storage option is the GoFlex Seagate, which offers a slightly different solution to the problem, based on a magnetic hard drive 500 GB. In short, you have more than 12 times the capacity for less than twice the value ($ 170 U.S.) but in exchange has a much more massive drive and with a more limited battery life.

Even though it is based on one drive, 2.5 ", it is much more than drive a 2.5" external typical, since the presence of the logic board and battery significantly increases the width and length of the drive, and nearly doubling the thickness .

The main advantage of GoFlex for the other two is the fact that he has an www.mobilityindia.com

embedded web server that allows files to be accessed from any device with Wi-Fi, without needing any additional application. After you connect to the SSID for the drive (which also appears as an access point and network), you access the files through the "www.goflexsatellite. com", which is redirected by the drive to his address on the network, using a simple trick in the process of name resolution.

It is important to note that the web interface is good insurance against planned obsolescence, since even if the manufacturer fails to support the devices that you choose to use, the drive will remain accessible through the browser. In addition to access via browser, applications are also available for Android and iOS, which offer better support for streaming video.

Providing another storage option, competing with cards, flash drives, external hard drives, NASes, file servers and so on, these devices are also another sign of a change that is already in the time horizon: more people are going to use or even to travel with only a smartphone, instead of taking along a notebook, as was the rule before.

And if you take a notebook along with you, drive an external Wi-Fi becomes an unnecessary redundancy, since you can use the notebook's hard drive to store your media library and copy files to your smartphone (or just watch streaming) as needed. The existence of a market for these drives shows how things are changing.

It is true but unfortunate that the existence of these drives also exposes a primary limitation shared by most current devices, which is the lack of support for flash cards and USB storage devices, which would solve the problem in a much simpler, allowing you to simply load a stick to expand the storage of your smartphone.

But support for USB mass-storage devices are available in all recent versions of Android and is activated in many tablets of China, but unfortunately is not supported by the vast majority of smartphone makers, who are reluctant to bear the modest demands for energy devices like USB keyboards and with additional support calls.

At a time when global vendors specialize in creating consumer products, wireless is surely going to be the way forward as it is giving the much needed wings to the storage capabilities. And only sky is the limit.

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9/24/2012 12:40:54 PM

Mobility Enterprise

Apple Unfurls iPhone 5 a takes the world by Storm 24 | August 2012

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www.mobilityindia.com

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Phone 5 and

by Storm MOBILITY

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S based global innovation major, Apple Inc. slimmed down the iPhone and stretched its display, while packing it with new features to regain momentum in the smartphone wars.

At an event in San Francisco, the world's most valuable company unveiled the iPhone 5, a sleek new device with updates including a sharper camera, a faster processor and compatibility with wireless carriers' fastest LTE networks.

But the gadget was short of never-before-seen features, said some observers, demonstrating Apple's growing reliance on its suite of services and software to maintain the iPhone's status as the U.S.'s top-selling smartphone.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook portrayed the updates as the most significant since the iPhone's launch in 2007. The iPhone 5 and its new mobile software iOS 6 are "the biggest things to happen to iPhone since iPhone," he said. It follows a relatively modest upgrade to the device last year.

The event, which also featured a new version of iTunes and new iPods, was sprinkled with the spectacle Apple often uses to announce new products.

The tiny iPhone 5 was unveiled on a pedestal that rose slowly from the stage floor. The presser culminated with a performance by the band Foo Fighters.

Attendees ogled the new phone after the presentation. "When you hold it, it feels like a piece of fine jewelry," said Tim Bajarin of research firm Creative Strategies, who predicted that sales would be robust. The iPhone and related services account for roughly half of Apple's sales.

But other industry followers were less dazzled. Like other recent iPhones, the iPhone 5's "hardware and design isn't uniquely groundbreaking," said Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Saccanaghi. He said Apple compensates with better services, like iTunes and iCloud, and pulling them all together. "Apple's level of software integration and functionality is its true distinguisher," he said.

The iPhone 5 faces off against a number of competitors eager to knock Apple from its perch. Phones running Google Inc.'s GOOG -0.19% Android operating system continue to beat the www.mobilityindia.com

iPhone in sales and their features are evolving rapidly. This year, Android phones are expected to comprise 60.3% of smartphone sales, up from 46.5% a year earlier, according to research firm Gartner Inc. Apple will have 22% of the market, up from 18.9%.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics has outpaced Apple in shipments and its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S III, has been a hit. Nokia Corp. is preparing new smartphones running a revamped operating system from Microsoft Corp. in the coming months.

Against this backdrop, Apple responded by increasing the iPhone's screen size for the first time. It now measures 4 inches diagonally, up from 3.5 inches. The new iPhone is also 18% thinner and 20% lighter than the last version and Apple redesigned the back and side bezels of the phone.

The device has a faster processor to make tasks such as browsing the Web faster. It also uses a new smaller type of power-charging connector designed to be more flexible. Apple said it would sell adapters for $29 to make it compatible with chargers that users already own.

The new iOS 6 mobile operating system, due out on Oct. 19, also contains new hooks to several popular Web services, including Facebook. A new digital Apple-designed mapping service has turn-by-turn driving directions and a "flyover" mode that lets people zoom through cities.

Mr. Cook had a few punchier-thanusual words to say about the iPad, the latest version of which was released in March. He noted that while a range of new competing devices had hit the market, the iPad's share was growing and that the iPad accounted for 91% of tablet web traffic.

Apple also announced a redesigned version of its iTunes Store that will be available in October. The new design leaves more room for featured content.

The music and video store include a new playlist feature, improved search and better integration with Apple's iCloud.

Apple also said it would start selling a new iPod nano and iPod touch in October. New more rounded earphones dubbed "EarPods" designed for better acoustics goes on sale Wednesday.

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Mobility Analysis

Next Gen Smartphones Drive Enterprise Mobility Evolution

26 | August 2012

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www.mobilityindia.com

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ew set smartphon and Motor iPhone is expected mobility segmen towards its tec This also sheds lig evolving for ente focus has been le dazzle and more o do as mobile comp the move generati The latest Mot support the latest OS, Jellybean. An include Google's C the phone's standa models, running t OS, feature new with the Nokia Loc built into Window apps, like the au browsing in Nokia exploit these servic Most of the support 4G/LT connectivity (with 3G), providing a always available, pipe at least for th who want it.

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Mobility Analysis

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ew set of next generation smartphones from Nokia-Microsoft and Motorola, and Apple's latest iPhone is expected to take the enterprise mobility segment another notch up towards its technological evolution.

This also sheds light on how mobility is evolving for enterprise IT groups. The focus has been less on hardware razzledazzle and more on what the phones can do as mobile computers for the always on the move generation.

The latest Motorola Droid Razr models support the latest version of the Android OS, Jellybean. And, for the first time, include Google's Chrome Web browser as the phone's standard. Nokia's new Lumia models, running the Windows Phone 8 OS, feature new levels of integration with the Nokia Location Services, now built into Window Phone, and new apps, like the augmented reality browsing in Nokia City Lens, to exploit these services.

Most of the new phones support 4G/LTE cellular connectivity (with a fall-back to 3G), providing a much bigger, always available, wireless data pipe at least for those subscribers who want it.

And additionally, enterprise users can also expect that pipe, as well as 802.11n Wi-Fi links, to be used for high definition imagery and video transfers. Diagonal screen sizes range from 4.3 to 4.7 inches. All these smartphones feature "only" dualcore processors rather than the quad-core chips found in a few high-end phones, an acknowledgement of the complex tradeoffs that good mobile device design requires in today’s fast paced business environments.

The most notable hardware feature in the new Motorola phones is the much longer battery life. But the greater significance lies in how these mobile devices from Motorola Mobility, acquired by Google last year, fit into the growing collection of Google services.

Today’s mobile platform consisting of data-intensive applications, compelling preloaded Google apps, fast un-tethered browsing and long battery life is changing the business computing game because it captures customers and increases the amount of mobile data intensive application time displaced from PCs and laptops as MOBILITY

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well. This trend is likely to intensify further ahead.

Finish handset major, Nokia did emphasize hardware features to differentiate its second-generation Lumia phones: new display technology that minimizes motion blurring and boosts brightness in sunlight, wireless recharging based on the Qi standard.

However, on the other hand, what makes the camera effective is the way it leverages both new editing features in Windows Phone 8, along with new third-party apps, and the accompanying free 7GB storage account on Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage service.

Nokia is currently the leading Windows

Bedazzled by a slew of new breed smartphones, the enterprise users are sure to see better growth options and profitability with the help of these next gen smart devices

Phone vendor in the U.S., but that's not actually saying much, as one analyst notes.

www.mobilityindia.com

Even though it has recent gains, Windows Phone is not yet performing to the market expectations.

But things are likely to move in the right direction for the Redmond based global IT major, by extending the distinctive, "Metro" user interface of Windows Phone into Windows 8 on tablets and notebooks, Microsoft paradoxically will make Windows Phone more familiar to a much larger audience.

Another synergy is the now-shared kernel in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. This primarily means that developers can develop for PCs, tablets and smartphones in a unified way, which should help developers get on board with Windows Phone, and that in turn should make the platform more attractive, on the long run.

Windows 8 is what will truly differentiate Windows Phone for the upcoming year. That's important, because the mobile platform has suffered from being only slightly more convenient and prettier than its competitors. If Microsoft can market Windows Phone 8 as an extension of Windows 8, it could finally make consumers pay attention.

All in all, the new set of smartphones are set to drive enterprise mobility towards achieving true Nirvana. The new phones show that mobile devices are less like personal computers and more like personalized service endpoints that smoothly and efficiently interconnect with a growing range of back-end services, either on the Web, in various clouds, or behind the firewall of the enterprise. This is set to be the primary engine for growth within the smartphone arena.

August 2012 | 27

9/24/2012 12:40:57 PM

Mobility Review

VeeDee D13 — Great Value for Money VeeDee, a relatively little known Indian tablet PC maker, has recently introduced this tablet in the Indian market Pros:

Cons:

■Android ICS

■Battery back up

■Music quality

■No social network apps

panel

from the matte finish white back panel. The

power

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eeDee, a relatively little known Indian tablet PC maker, has recently introduced this tablet in the Indian market. The VeeDee D13 comes with a 7 inch display and has a very attractive specification. It is priced at `6,490 making it very attractive for the price conscious Indian consumers.

In terms of design, the 7 inch VeeDee D13 is a decent device.

The front panel of the tablet is in back colour while the back panel is white. The tablet is 13 mm thick which cannot be termed as very sleek since most 7 inch tablets these days come with around 10 mm thickness or less.

The front part of the tablet has a VGA camera on the top right hand side while you can see "VeeDee" written at the bottom when you will hold the tablet horizontally. A black strip separates the front

button, 3.5mm audio jack, m i n i USM, volume rocker and charger slot are given on the right side of the tablet.

The VeeDee D13 runs on Android 4.0.3 operating system. The D13 uses the basic Android 4.0 user interface as seen in most ICS devices without much tweaks.

Micromax Funbook Pro – Truly Professional Pros:

Cons:

■Great display

■Reflective screen

■Fast processor

■Low sound output

■Good design

■No Bluetooth

F

unbook Pro features a 10 inch capacitive touchscreen with 1024 x 600 pixel resolution.

The tablet is based on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. India’s own mobile phone maker, Micromax had some time back introduced the Funbook Pro tablet in India with much fanfare. The Funbook Pro has better specification than the earlier tab like a 10.1 inch capacitive multitouch screen as against the 7 inch screen of the Funbook. It also has a bigger internal storage of 8 GB against 4 GB of Funbook.

The Funbook Pro is priced at `10,990 but is available for Rs 9,999 from online retailers. However, the Funbook Pro has better specification than these but there is always a question mark over the real world performance of such low cost tablets. Since it is a 10 inch tablet, it looks huge but thanks to the rectangular shape, it is much easier to hold. It has also been built in 28 | August 2012

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such a way that you would comfortably hold it in your hand. Its back panel is dented on its four sides that gives it further grip while the matte finish ensures a firm grip. It has a glossy finish display that means it attracts a lot of fingerprints and hence you constantly need to clean it out if you want to see a clean device. If you have a sweaty hand, then you have to be extra careful. But it has a scratch resistant layer that runs edge to edge giving the tablet a flush and neat finish.

If you hold it with the front camera on the right hand top side, then you will find all the connectors like mini HDMI port, 3.5 mm jack, mini USB port, charging port and the SD card slot along with the on/off button and reset button on the right hand side. The volume rocker and the return key are at the top, near the front camera. There are two speakers on the rear panel and strangely none in the front.

This makes it quite hard to listen to songs or videos.

All in all, the Micromax Funbook Pro is a good looking tablet vis-à-vis build and style. Though in terms of style, it is more of an average device. www.mobilityindia.com

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August 2012 | 33

9/24/2012 12:40:59 PM