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Vodafone Extends IT Deal With IBM Till 2017

by Paul Joseph September 12, 2011 Featured

Vodafone Essar announced that it has cemented a 5 year deal IT outsourcing deal with IBM . This deal could be valued at up to $ 1 billion. The constant acquisition and scaling were very disruptive to the company’s IT policies and processes as every company they acquired had processes and policies of their own. This was a problem because the company was catering to as many as 23 separate circles. These operations had to be streamlined. The company then outsourced all it IT processes and operation over to IBM in its entirety. That deal was valued at 400 million INR as the Economic Times reports. A case study software vendors BMC suggests that during Vodafone Essar’s partnership with IBM, good incentives were taken in the right direction but there were lot of redundancies and roadblocks yet. This deal will see IBM strengthening the IT operations over the next 4 years. D.D. Mishra, Vodafone India’s deputy general manager said of the deal, “ Every circle had its own way of managing IT,”  “The major challenges came from disparate processes, approval matrices, and workflows followed by those circles .” Vodafone Essar recently partnered with Opera Software expanding its horizon. It has been steadily growing and consolidating by acquiring smaller, regional mobile players.  Vodafone Essar have launch Vodafone Blue where users can log into their Facebook account  easily, not only this Vodafone also went eco-friendly by introducing solar friendly handsets .  Then in 2007, a majority stake in the company was acquired by Vodafone hence changing its name to Vodafone Essar. By: Denzil Lewis

Tagged as: author, browser, eating, Indian, it deal, news, technology, vodafone, vodafone-essar, web

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WWW: WAT Weekly WrapUp 4th – 11th September, 2011

by Paul Joseph September 12, 2011 Featured

Last week we blogged that Chrome was racing up to number one position in India leaving behind all the other web browsers. It was also seen that Google introducing a new blogger app especially designed for iOS users and Google was also seen facing rivalry from Yahoo (Yahoo powers Bing). Last week it was twin investment was reported by Info Edge into Zomato.com and Applect.  All this and more in the last wees wrapup. Post Via WATBlog.com Yahoo Powers Bing To Take On Google National Policy On IT Puts Emphasis On Increasing Connectivity In Rural India Info Edge’s Follow Up Investments In Zomato.com & Applect Mobile Bank Zipping Its Way Into Indian’s Wallets Google Unveils A Blogger App For iOS Google Chrome Eating Up Other Browser Shares In India Facebook Partners With MOL AccessPortal Lenovo’s India Tablet Launch Will Intensify Competitive Pressures Google Bus Gives The Internet Wheels Be Careful The Next Time You Access Your Bank Account On Your Smartphone Press Releases Via WATPr.com Plantronics Launches the New Savor M1100 and M20 Bluetooth Headset to raise the Power of Communications GETIT Launches Special website for Onam eScan Releases its Malware Report for the First Half of 2011 Ittiam IP Enabled Smartphones and Tablets Cross 10 Million Units in 12-Months C-DAC announces first-of-its-kind Industry relevant Global Certification Program for HPC Professionals Vriti Surpasses 150 Million Questions Analyzed on its Exam Platform BharatBerry an option for Corporate Users who are at Risk for Malicious Vulnerabilities Vivitek Introduces 2D to 3D Conversion Technology in India “The Importance of Validation and 21 CFR Part II Compliance of Computer Systems” iYogi Reconstitutes Board by Appointing Three New Independent Directors

Tagged as: author, browser, india, Indian, industry, internet, power, weekly wrapup, weekly-wrap, yahoo

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Yahoo Powers Bing To Take On Google

by Paul Joseph September 9, 2011 Featured

Latest news says that Yahoo’s organic search results are scheduled for transition to Microsoft Bing for the Indian market by mid-September, 2011. Recent statistics have shown some interesting happenings in the search engine world. In March 2011 – Bing surpasses Yahoo! as second most popular search engine worldwide and in month of August 2011 – Yahoo, Bing Beat Google in Search Success Rate. With competitors like Yahoo and Bing, Google always has its hands full in trying to improve not only search results but also appropriate companies to acquire, and they have done well in both. News from rival camp, especially Yahoo, has a tendency of not being that upbeat. Two days back Yahoo made news for terminating CEO Carol Bartz. She had been instrumental in bringing about the collaboration deal with Microsoft Bing to fruition. Agreements of the deal are in practice now and Yahoo data has been powering Bing web master tools for a small time now. Back in August 2010, Yahoo! announced the transition of its US search results property to Microsoft Bing and a year later reports of success over Google appeared. Are we to expect a similar result in the subcontinent too? By: Sahil Siddiqui

Tagged as: author, browser, eating, guest-author, india, microsoft-bing, news, organic search results, rural-india, technology, web

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Mobile Bank Zipping Its Way Into Indian’s Wallets

by Paul Joseph September 9, 2011 Featured

Plastic money and online transactions have already driven down traditional money transfer. In fact, compared to what they were in 2003, cash and cheque transactions are down by 50% . However, in the continuously evolving E-Commerce landscape, this is not enough. Mobile is the next frontier and M-Commerce has steadily increased in adoption around the world. Services like Obopay/ Nokia Money and Loop Mobile’s Virtual Wallet are already in the Indian market. A report by Boston Consultancy Group has said that the share of traditional financial transactions is set to fall to a low of only   15% within the next 8-9 years. In 2003, 93% of all transactions were through cash or cheque. The figure currently stands at 49%. ATM’s, PoS Services like Credit and Debit Cards and NetBanking are still seeing growth, but M-Banking is growing faster than the rest of them. This is said to be due to the increased adoption of smartphones around the world. While other channels like ATMs, points of sale (Credit card/Debit card) and Internet banking have been steadily increasing their shares over the years, the fastest growth is going to come from the mobile phones, driven by increased adoption of smartphones. The report says, “ Mobile phones, propelled by 3G and the smartphone technology, will emerge as an undisputed winner by 2020, potentially accounting for 20-30 per cent of the total transactions .” Indian Banks too have welcome M-Banking with somewhat open arms. Many banks have phone banking applications and dedicated mobile sites. They allow people to transact in money, offer services like ticket booking and payment of bills. They have welcomes M-Banking for two reasons: Reduced cost of transactions as maintaining ATM’s costs a lot of money. The seconds reason is it helps in retention of customers in the early stages. As a normal user, one would prefer M-Banking due to the time and money saved on traveling and the lack of paperwork. This makes it a Win-Win for all. The only issue with M-Banking is security and one must not blindly trust any service offering to portably manage your money.

Tagged as: aatif-sumar, boston consultancy group, browser, Indian, news, online transactions, plastic money, social-media, virtual, web

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Google Chrome Eating Up Other Browser Shares In India

by Paul Joseph September 8, 2011 Featured

Google’s flagship browser has been eating up the browser shares of the other prominent browsers in India according to a survey conducted by StatCounter. The browser has been very popular since its launch due to its emphasis on speed and ease of use, areas which other browsers, especially Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox have been struggling with. The survey shows that Mozilla Firefox is the most used browser in the country at 32.97 % . Google Chrome follows at 31.75 % .  The most interesting aspect of the chart is that Internet Explorer has been suffering a sudden nosedive in adoption. Till last month it was the most widely used browser in the country but both Firefox and Chrome have contributed in bringing the giant down and now it stands at the third position. Chrome may be second now but it is worth  considering the fact that its initial market share was just 10 % . Other browsers are showing concern over the mercurial rise of Google’s browser. This sudden jump can be attributed to Chrome’s minimalistic UI , brilliant speed , better open source technology and the brilliant mass media campaigns that Google has been running. India’s internet population has been estimated at some 100 million users and rising. Google understands that hence has put effort in promoting  the browser in the country. One look at the current stats will tell you that Google Chrome will overtake the others in a month or two unless the competitors come up with some drastic new and appealing changes. Google Chrome is built upon the open source Chromium Project which aims to make web browsing faster and easier . It was lunched in 2008 and has been steadily climbing to the top since then. By: Denzil Lewis

Tagged as: browser, chrome, digital, eating, facebook, features, firefox, google-chrome, internet, internet-explorer, mozilla

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Skype To Feature Apps

by Paul Joseph September 2, 2011 Featured

Apps have now become crucial to our internet experience. From mobile phones to the browser, if you want to do anything , there is app for that! Skype launched its own version of an App Store recently. Skype , the popular video calling and chatting service which was acquired by Microsoft a while back, has always had third party plugins which helped accentuate the experience.  With this new feature called ‘App Directory’ they have now integrated the third-party plugins directly into the Skype Client. This will make it simple for users who can try these third party apps directly from the client itself. There are 23 featured apps now on this app directory. It is not a big number, but if a lot of people get onto the app bandwagon, they are bound to increase. The apps consist of both paid and non-paid applications. The applications available right now are business apps , call recording and video conferencing tools. The UI of the App is pretty simple and contains a search tab which lets you browse through all the applications easily. To ensure good quality of apps, features like user ratings and information are displayed when you click on any app. The best part about this new feature is that you can upload your own applications onto the App Directory. If you are a developer then this feature will be fun to try out. Skype is hugely popular among people no matter how internet savvy they are and this will help the number of third party applications increase. By: Denzil Lewis

Tagged as: alternative, app-store, browser, call-recording, Featured, microsoft, news, technology, web

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Nokia To Give Symbian A Makeover, Support Older Devices

by Paul Joseph July 1, 2011 Featured

Facing increasing pressure from competitors like Android , RIM and even iOS , Nokia was forced to make some drastic changes this year. In February, they announced a deal with Microsoft in which they will use their Windows Phone 7 OS on new Nokia devices.  This meant that Symbian was shown the door and would eventually fade away. However, Nokia was still selling Symbian devices by the millions . It had to still support those devices with updates and feature add-ons. Nokia plans to give their S^3 devices like the N8 , C6-01 , E7 and C7 the new Symbian Anna . “ The Symbian Anna upgrade gives users a set of new icons, a faster web browser, improved text input and enhanced maps. In other words, your phone would get a free make-over ,” says Nokia India’s recently-appointed director (marketing), Viral Oza. There are already devices on the market like the E6 and the X7 that sport Symbian Anna. It can be expected on other devices by late July or September. Given Nokia’s track record, we hope they don’t delay this too much. Another great move by Nokia is that they announced the support of 14 legacy devices . Devices like the 5800 Xpress Music and the N97 Mini , which have been on the market for 2 years are also scheduled to get updates. Updates include a new Web Browser , emoticons and bug fixes . Here is a complete list of old devices that are scheduled to get updates. Nokia E72 Nokia E52 Nokia E5 Nokia C5-00 Nokia 6700 slide Nokia C6-00 Nokia C5-03 Nokia 5230 Nokia 5235 Nokia 5250 Nokia X6 Nokia N97 mini Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Nokia 5530 XpressMusic Noteworthy devices missed are the 5233 , a best-selling phone in India and the original N97 . Neverthless, supporting such old devices is sure to win a lot of goodwill amongst their old customers. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Android To Become Asia’s Most Popular Mobile OS? Kotak’s Mobile Stock Trading Solution Coming To iOS And Android Devices Nokia To Cut 7000 Jobs By 2012; Outsource Symbian Development To Accenture 10 Mn Downloads Registered By Spice Labs On Blackberry App World

Tagged as: browser, bug fixes, business, indians-mean, international, mobile-stock, news, nokia, phone, popular-mobile, social, symbian, symbian-anna

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WWW: WAT Weekly WrapUp 19th – 26th June, 2011

by Paul Joseph June 27, 2011 Featured

Last week we reported that less than a year’s time Nimbuzz spreads across 50 million users and professional network called LinkedIn said women are less network savvy as compare to men on their site. We also reported that Vdopia tied their hands with IAS-Digital Media, one of the Middle East Company as well as Google View which created buzz in Bengaluru during it’s arrival was facing problem  and was currently put on stop by locl police in the city.All this and more in the last week’s wrapup. Post Via WATBlog.com Basic Aadhar Authentication API To Be Available For Free NaaptolClub – Naaptol’s Latest Venture Indian Social Media Landscape 2011 – Video By Nielsen Vdopia Accords With IAS Media- Digital In Middle East SMSGupshup’s Platform To Remove Spam Calling And Spam Messages Battle of Sexes On Professional Networking Site – LinkedIn Google Creates A Record By Reaching 1 Billion Users In May 2011 Google Street View Halted On Red Tape Avenue Bolt Indic Mobile Browser Now Available As A Free Download NimBuzz Spreads Over 50 Million Users Worldwide In Less Than A Year Press Releases Via WATPr.com Ramco Systems Announces Winners of the first Ramco Think Ahead Awards Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini Release 15th Annual World Health Report Mobile Conversations all set for New Delhi on June 24 Altair Releases HyperWorks 11.0, Creating the Most Comprehensive Open-Architecture CAE Solution in Engineering MakeMyTrip Ties Up with Visa Visa and Federal Bank Launch Near Real-Time International Remittance Solution iProperty.com India Revamps and Launches the Property Valuation Tool Perfios Launches Rupees Seven Crore Give Away Independent Research Firm Ranks Wipro Technologies as a ‘Leader’ among Oracle Service Providers C-DAC Signs MoU with National Archives of India for Digital Preservation of Electronic Records Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts WWW: WAT Weekly WrapUp 22nd – 29th May 2011 WWW: WAT Weekly WrapUp 15th May – 22nd May 2011 WWW: WAT Weekly WrapUp 8th May – 15th May 2011 WWW: WAT Weekly WrapUp 14th February – 20th February WWW: WAT Weekly WrapUp 7th – 13th February

Tagged as: api, browser, city, digital, health, india, landscape, media, middle-east, research, spreads-over, video, weekly, weekly wrapup, weekly-wrap

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Bolt Indic Mobile Browser Now Available As A Free Download

by Paul Joseph June 23, 2011 Featured

Bolt Indic Mobile browser which was previously available only through OEMs (Original Equipment manufactures) and carriers preloaded on phones is now been opened up for everyone to download for free . The browser is available for all java based handsets including Blackberry devices . The browser boasts of a number of features like HTML5 video streaming , webkit based engine , social network integration , geolocation support , download manager . However, the highlight of these features at least with respect to Indian audiences is supported of Indic languages . Indic text, the company claims can be rendered even if the phone doesn’t support those languages. The Indic languages that can be displayed in the browser are Hindi , Bengali , Gurumukhi , Telugu , Tamil , Kannada , Gujarati , Malayalam and Oriya. Using Bitstream’s font technology it’s able to display complex characters which are used in Indic languages. The Indic languages will benefit approximation  1.3 billion living in and around India. An Android version is in the works and would be previewed at CommunicAsia in Singapore. Bolt Mobile Browser had also supported nine Indian languages in the past which were available on JavaME and BREW. According to Bitstream , the browser experience was smooth from smartphone to other mobile handsets. The  browser now available as a free download this announcement has dawned just days after that Google translate announced support for a number of Indic languages. To download the browser for your java based phone visit www.boltbrowser.com . Have you downloaded the Bolt Indic mobile browser? How was your browsing experience? Tell Us Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Google Translate Gets Five More Indian Languages Wikipedia To Remain Free, As Indian Cities Gear Up For Its 10th Anniversary! BOLT Mobile Browser : Supports Nine Indian Languages Google Translate Now Enables Text To Voice Translations In Hindi Microsoft Ventures Into Indian Language Transliteration Tools

Tagged as: bolt browser, browser, browsing, communicasia, download, download manager, google translate, indic languages, mobile, mobile-browser, news, oem, supports-nine, technology

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Google To Ditch Support For IE7, Safari 3 & Firefox 3.5 From August 1

by Paul Joseph June 9, 2011 Featured

Come August 1st, Google is phasing out support for some Internet browsers chief amongst them are Internet Explorer 7 , Safari 3 and Firefox 3.5 and all of their predecessors. This means that the users of the above mentioned browsers will have trouble using certain features in Gmail , Google Calendar , Google Talk , Google Docs and Google sites . The company in its official blog has also warned that if users fail to upgrade to a supported version of the browser, then all these services will eventually stop working. The company has also mentioned that going forward, with every release of a new browser version, it will begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version. Amongst the users of Google chrome , those who have turned off the automatic update feature will also be affected by the latest decision of Google. This kind of strategy is nothing new from these technology companies. Earlier this year, we have seen Microsoft launching a similar campaign to discourage those who were still using Internet explorer 6. From a developer’s point of view, it does make perfect sense. Support for older browsers means extra work for the web developers and hence added cost for the company. These out-dated browsers act as a deterrent in the development of the new-age browsers. And this explains why these companies chose to discontinue with their usage. Moreover, the modern day browsers are more aligned in terms of security and are designed keeping in mind the rich internet content. So what about those who still believe that these modern day browsers are too complicated for them to use? Well, for those users, we can only say that either upgrade to a latest browser version or opt not to use the Google features in the near future. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Google +1 Button For Websites Has Arrived Google Transit Now Covers Delhi & Ahmedabad Bus Services Information Microsoft Acquires Skype For $8.5 Billion; How Will This Affect The Tech World? Firefox 4 Overtakes IE9 Within 24 Hours Of Release; Chrome 11 Moves Into Beta Aircel Launches 3G! Who is Next?

Tagged as: affect, browser, calendar, development, google-transit, leading-social, microsoft, modern, safari3, transit, web

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