160by2 Launches Ad Free Mobile App + Ad Free Paid Web Interface to send SMS
160by2.Com one of the first FREE SMS service providers has launched “Ad Free Mobile SMS Application“. Yes, you read that right. With your smart phone, just point to http://m.160by2.com/app and you are all set to download and start messaging your friends for FREE and the number of characters in the message stands enhanced to 145, Goodbye to 80 
Check out supported handsets here.
Web users [messaging from 160by2.com] have also been given the option to send Ad Free messages with character count up to 148 characters. However, this service will cost you $1.329 / Month or $2.87 / 3 Months or $5.45 / 6 months. The limit on the daily volumes remains 50 SMS a day at a maximum of 10 per recipient. The 6 months deal will cost you 3 paise / SMS. The service covers 7 countries – India, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia & Philippines
One good thing about 160by2 SMS service is the messages reach the end user within a minute or earlier. Unlike Google’s SMS Channels which can be used for group messaging but the messages take really long time to reach. What other SMS services are you using ?
Mobile Music = Mint Money
Mobile has become a converged device in the hands of an Indian. According to a recent survey by Singapore based SoundBuzz, sales of digital music for mobile will touch Rs 3,601 crore [$900 M] out of the projected Rs 4,100 crore [$1.025 B] digital music market in 2009. It is not the full track songs that Indians are downloading, but its is the ringback, caller tunes and variants that is generating most of the revenues. The bitter part is, the content creators are making mere 15% while Network Operators make 60% and aggregators take home 25%. [Source IMRB] This equation should change in favor of content creators as they are unlikely to offer fresh and innovative content for distribution on this platform.
Coming to e-Music, Saregama which holds rights for 65% of Indian music titles and has realized lately and is now offering a music track at Rs 10 / download. Mr. Atul VP of Saregama said,
As technology changes, we need to move on. We are content owners and anywhere the consumer is going, we need to follow him, whether he is moving to the Internet or MP3 for music. Saregama’s website will hit the markets in the next two-three months.
Indeed, their store is really under up-gradation. Retailers have realized the trend in the Indian market and are adding Digital Kiosks in their stores to offer downloads as driven by the the consumer demand. 49% of them play this music on their MP3 players while 40% on their Laptops and 33% on their phones. With the prices of good quality handsets hitting new lows, expect mobile music and entertainment to grow futher, though we really need some good batteries to keep it rocking for a day
Tags: Mobile India, Mobile Music, m-Commerce India, Mobile Entertainment
goBroadband India Fonero – Up and Running
I don’t know if I am an advocate of FREE Wi-Fi, but I do like the idea of La Fonera [Wi-Fi Router for sharing your Broadband] You can read more about what Fonero is all about here. I got my La Fonera this week and I am all excited to get it up and running. I think I am the second Fonero in Bangalore after the one located in the vicinity of Bangalore Turf Club.
As promised in the manual, the setup is really really simple. I just plugged in the RJ-45 / LAN cable into the DSL Router and the other end goes into La Fonera, power it on, and I could see two Wireless networks – MyPlace and Fon_AP. I chose “MyPlace” for secure encrypted communication and enter the S/N number located at the back of your La Fonera Router and I am on the Internet posting this blog.
I have also configured this to be a “Linus” so that aliens in the vicinity can have a free ride if they want to. I don’t intend to make any money but if my ISP complains if this is il-legal then I may take it offline. [Our Post on Reliance Wi-Max Broadband in Bangalore has given more than 50 sales leads and we never expect anything in return]
It will be nice if Cisco/Linksys and D-Link routers are La Fonera enabled. Hooking La Fonera to your existing router, will start a different subnet of IP addresses. My Windows Server 2003 box would have something like 192.168.1.3 and my Laptop connected to La Fonera has 192.168.10.1 The only disadvantage is I can’t use the my server name to remote login and I had to use the IP.
You can see both sitting on my desk. Stay tuned I will drive and check from how far can I access this Fonero, Signal Strength, Speed etc. If you have a Fonero, then you can map it as I have done it here.
Tags: Broadband India, Fonero, WiFi India, Wireless Broadband
Bharti Airtel introduces SMS 2.0 in India
India’s Number One, Mobile service provider, Bharti Airtel in association with Affle has introduced SMS 2.0 in India. Currently the service is available only in Airtel’s Delhi circle.
What is SMS 2.0 ? SMS 2.0 is an enhancment to existing SMS features directly borrowing ideas from PC based Instant messaging platforms. SMS 2.0 messaging application converges messaging, content and advertising. Features such as,
- Colored text for messaging
- Emotions and Smiley/ Icons support
- Free content from Bollywood to Cricket. Free means its absolutely Free because it has an embedded advertising platform from which the operators make money.
- Advertising is really cool because it has Click-To-Call feature embedded in it. How about embedding Click-To-SMS keeping the cost lower for consumers
- ICICI, Levis, Makemytrip, Perfetti Van Melle, Indiatimes, HPCL are some of the advertisers on SMS 2.0 platform in India
- Cost of SMS 2.0: They say its FREE [Content Access] without any hidden charges. Regular SMS charges on your subscription plan apply for messages sent through SMS 2.0.
Mr. P.S. Parasuram, Head – Content and New Product Development, Cellular Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd said,
Airtel has continuously aimed to provide a superior user experience across all its services. We selected SMS 2.0 as we feel it enriches our users’ experience with SMSing, while at the same time creating a viable and extremely exciting revenue model.
To download the SMS 2.0 application, you need to be a subscriber of Airtel in Delhi/NCR and send an SMS – sms2 to 121[Toll free]. Delhiites can try this service and let us know your XPerience Refer for more details on SMS 2.0
Tags: Mobile India, SMS2, SMS 2.0 India , Mobile Advertising
Web 2.0 India: Panama – Yahoo’s answer to AdSense ?
In the recently concluded Web 2.0 conference in India, Yahoo! Research Engineer, T. Mahesh unveiled some interesting facts about Yahoo’s Sponsored Search initiative, codenamed – Panama. Some interesting facts about Panama,
- Deliver the right ad to the right person on any device [Cool. They have it ready for any device - PlayStation, iPod, IPTV and Mobile ?]
- Enhanced Features for Advertisers – Simple Campaign Management interface, Magnified level of detailing through which they can manage their search campaign, Effective end user targeting and Objectives based optimization.
- Quality index to indicate how advertisers ad is performing relative to competitors
- Better geographic targeting
- Improved forecasting services to reduce transaction costs by allowing the advertiser to more effectively allocate marketing resources, weigh opportunity costs and set campaign expectations.
- Fast Ad activations.
I hope this is really a bold answer to “How Yahoo! Blew It“. By the way anybody from Redmond reading this ? Google now has enviable cash reserves of whopping $11 Billion – Courtsey AdSense.
Tags: Web 2.0, Context Ads, Yahoo, Search Marketing
iPod and Zune battle for Wi-Fi. Indians hunt for Triple function Mobiles
Apple and Motorola thought of launching the iPod phone, but from this BusinessWeek article, it looks like the Cellular network lobby was against it. Clever strategists at Microsoft took a different route to connect Zune owners to Market Place, the Internet, which prompted Apple to retailite with a wi-fi enabled iPod. Microsoft’s roll out plan for Zune could be the same as that of Xbox360 with Japan being an exception. Zune is expected to be sold in Canada, Latin America and Australia in Spring 2007 and in EU and Japan for the Holiday of 2007, hopefully an upgraded version.
However, in India, the teenagers and the gizmo savvy folks are not looking for a separate entertainment device. They want a Triple Function Mobile – Phone, Music (FM, MP3, MMS, etc) and Digital Camera. It does make sense to have a Triple function Mobile rather than 3 separate devices. IMHO, no phone company understands the Indian consumer better than Nokia. You ask for it, and they launch in no time - Nokia N series Music edition. No doubt, this response has earned them a place in the Guiness Book of Records for selling the highest number of Mobile Handsets on any given day, 400,000 pre-diwali.
Tags: Mobile India , Nokia N Series
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