|In: Hyperlocal|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Helpchat, a chat-based personal assistant app that helps you get more things done, has agreed to acquire Mumbai-based start-up Niffler for an undisclosed amount. Niffler was incepted as a discovery platform for users to access deals & discounts from local brick and mortar stores. It recently introduced chat-based interactions between consumers and local businesses. This makes Niffler a perfect DNA match for Helpchat and the acquisition is a step further in the consolidation of Helpchat’s dominant position in the chat-based personal assistant eco-system in India.

HelpChat_Niffler

Both Niffler and Helpchat share the common vision of facilitating the everyday life and tasks of consumers with the right information over the highly convenient and quick medium of chat.  Acquisition will also enable Helpchat to launch its services in Pune and Mumbai faster as Niffler already has a presence in these key markets. Post the acquisition, the entire team at Niffler will join Helpchat.

Ankur Singla, CEO and Founder, Helpchat said

We are geared for aggressive pan-India growth in the coming few months. The acquisition of Niffler is one of the first major steps in this direction. Niffler team has expertise on community-driven experiences and retailer supported commerce.  They share our vision of enabling consumers to get more done through chat-based personal assistance. Acquisition will also help Helpchat accelerate the growth of its personal assistant engine across the areas of offline commerce and local deals based on user’s intent.

We are thrilled to have the Niffler team on board and look forward to their contributions in further bolstering Helpchat’s position as a smart personal assistant app for the Indian consumer

Edul Patel, Co-Founder Niffler said

In Helpchat we found the perfect partners to further our mission of plugging the information gap that exists in India. We share Helpchat’s vision of assisting consumers in getting more done by doing less, using its chat-based personal assistant app. We look forward to combining our brand synergies and expertise with theirs and setting new benchmarks in the way consumer-get their daily task done in India.

Co-founded by Edul Patel, Prince Arora and Viraj Shah, Niffler was launched in July 2014 with the objective of providing a location-based contextual offers and deals discovery platform for the Indian consumers. It had raised funding worth $1 million in March 2015 from SAIF partners.

About Helpchat

Helpchat is the personal assistant app that helps you get more things done. Be it anything, from recharging your phone to tech support, from travel booking to holiday guidance, from ordering food to shopping assistance to finding deals & coupons, from finding gifts to suggesting the best electronic item, from doing a web check-in to getting your laundry done – Helpchat can get all of them done for you.

|In: Education|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Learnpedia, a leading provider of digital platform for competitive exam aspirants have announced the launch of two mobile apps for students preparing for JEE and medical entrance exams – ScoreJEE and ScorePMT.

The ScoreJEE/ ScorePMT is a comprehensive test-prep tool aimed at addressing learning gaps of students that may arise due to missed lectures, incomplete concept clarity and uneven pace of learning. It is designed to act as a perfect complement to classroom learning while enhancing the learning experience of students preparing for JEE/ PMT. Hitherto ScoreJEE and ScorePMT were available in three variants – i) Web interface ii) Web + offline via SD Card for Android based devices iii) Web + Pen Drive for Windows based systems.

Learnpedia

ScoreJEE/ ScorePMT Mobile Apps is the next step in the direction of reaching out to more users and enriching the experience of those already on board. Students can access video lectures, track performance with special tools, clear doubts and take up challenging assignments that stimulate the mind. They can now stay connected 24*7 with these Mobile Apps. Students can buy the entire course or buy only selected chapter/s. ScoreJEE and ScorePMT Mobile Apps are available for download on Google Play-store [Download Link]

ScoreJEE/ ScorePMT Mobile App Features

  • Prep Kit – 4000+ videos simplifying all concepts in every subject
  • Drill Machine – 15,000 + Practice Questions
  • Test-Agavanza – 1,200 + tests with hints and video solutions to boost your confidence
  • Content Recommendations – Based on performance, appropriate recommendations will be made
  • Advancedge – 4,000 hand-picked questions from papers of the last 25 years with video solutions & short-cuts
  • Detailed Analytics – Get analysis of strength & weakness based on your attempt pattern across multiple tests
  • Interactive Game Based Learning – Stimulating features to keep you charged up
  • Doubts Forum – Post those nagging doubts and get them clarified
  • Quick Cheat – Notes that quickly recap the class discussions

Krishna Rao Akula, Founder & CEO, Learnpedia Edutech said

India has over 60 lakh students preparing to write JEE and PMT across Classes XI and XII. While the role of the coaching institutes in preparing students for such competitive exams cannot be undermined, there are a few drawbacks in the traditional coaching methods. We have created ScoreJEE & ScorePMT keeping these in mind, ensuring that the students have the most stress-free and meticulous approach to test-prep.

Our research says that 40% of the JEE aspirants drop out of active preparation in Class XII due to sheer non-comprehension of concepts. We have therefore focused on conceptual clarity as our key strength. No other product today offers such comprehensive coverage of curriculum.

Narahari Penumatcha, COO of the company added

The potential for web and mobile based learning is immense. Thanks to the growing internet penetration and the Rs.1.13 trillion Digital India initiative, India’s e-learning sector is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 17.4% between 2013 and 2018, twice as fast as the global average.

The smartphone industry in India is a growing market with almost a third of all Indian mobile users expected to own a smartphone by 2017. Our target group is undoubtedly among the early advocates of smartphone technology. Our mobile apps helps them stay in control over their test prep while making the learning experience fascinating.

About Learnpedia Edutech Pvt Ltd

Learnpedia enables cost-effective personalized self-learning by offering highly stimulating digital content available through online and offline medium to augment performance in competitive exams. Learnpedia is currently looking for next round of investment to scale its business. For more information, please refer Learnpedia

[Image Source* – FreshersWorld]

|In: General|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

KeyPoint Technologies [KPT], an award-winning global linguistics innovator enabling intelligent human communication beyond mobile devices was recently presented the 2015 North American Mobile Marketing New Product Innovation Award by Frost & Sullivan at its 2015 Growth, Innovation, and Leadership Awards in Santa Clara, California. Based on Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis of the mobile marketing market, the award was in recognition of KeyPoint Technologies’ Search & Discovery platform Xploree

Xploree is the industry’s first user-initiated, hyper-contextual platform available on multiple screens and apps. The next-generation mobile solution connects mobile users to the most relevant brands and services across platforms without exiting the current conversation app. The platform’s approach is based on capturing the user’s intent at a particular moment, and delivering highly relevant content and messages in a non-interruptive, simple and engaging manner.

KPT

Upon review of potential competition, Frost & Sullivan found that the patent pending Search and Discovery platform Xploree has the potential to bridge the gap between Intent & Action with relevance and enhance user engagement in the most effective ways as compared to any of the existing solutions.

Sumit Goswami, CEO, KeyPoint Technologies said

We are extremely thrilled to have received this award from Frost & Sullivan for Xploree’s capabilities. With user’s need to access relevant information and deals on the go, Xploree is the apt platform for brands to provide effective deals, coupons and content to mobile users at the right time and in a non-intrusive manner.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value-added features/benefits of the product and the increased ROI it offers customers, which, in turn, increases customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

Key Features of Xploree

  • Hyper-Contextual – Location, environment, user intent, past actions and more – relevant information, always in context.
  • Immediacy – Information, services and product purchases in your mobile moment and time of need in real-time.
  • Simplicity – Mobile search made simple with one tap – easy to find what exactly you want.

To view Xploree in action, please visit http://bit.ly/1LQKJqo

About KeyPoint Technologies

KeyPoint Technologies [KPT] is the leader in innovative language technology offerings for mobile consumers.  KPT has redefined the mobile consumer engagement & experience across platforms, devices by leveraging the core strengths in artificial intelligence & natural language processing.

KPT’s innovative product range includes the industry’s first user-initiated and multi-lingual search and discovery platform Xploree, revolutionary text input technology Adaptxt, and India’s first Indic keyboard Lipi. The key offerings have a high focus on immediacy & extensibility and are spread across iOS, Android, Tizen, Linux, Web-OS, Fire OS platforms and connected devices like Smart TVs, Smartphones, Tablets, IVIs & Smart-wears.

Xploree is a search and discovery platform that offers unified hyper-context and intent precision on multiple screens, multiple apps and in multiple languages. Xploree [patent pending] is powered by KeyPoint Technologies.

For Xploree updates please visit http://www.xploree.com/

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Accenture is launching the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience, an immersive and collaborative analytics capability that makes data more accessible and engaging, helping insight-driven businesses make faster, more informed decisions.

The Experience is designed to make analytics easier to understand & expand the range of business users who can undertake an integrated analytics journey – from C-suite to functional managers to data scientists. By transforming their relationships with data, users with a variety of skill-sets can collaborate on a specific challenge in an analytics environment, more easily examine and interpret the insights via data visualizations, and innovate through data-driven exploration and decision making. Through an immersive environment, users can find the hidden value in their data, either live or remotely on their preferred devices and pursue outcomes in real-time.

The Accenture Connected Analytics Experience, delivered by Accenture Analytics, provides users with next-generation business intelligence powered by end-to-end analytics offerings including analytics strategy, a multidisciplinary data insights team, a data platform containing big data technologies and an analytics center of excellence that democratizes analytics.

Companies in the telecommunications, healthcare, consumer packaged goods & financial services industries are already participating in the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience.

Narendra Mulani, senior managing director, Accenture Analytics, part of Accenture Digital said

Accenture thrives on applying our industry and analytics expertise and developing new solutions that can uncover new data-driven opportunities. With the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience, we can help take businesses and governments through every stage of their analytics journey, from issues to outcomes, mobilizing data, transforming data into insight and providing decision-makers with insight in visually appealing formats at the pivotal time to drive discussion, decisions and value.

Through the new immersive environment, companies are empowered in a whole new way as it brings a new energy into analytics and business intelligence, making it more collaborative, engaging, and accessible to a broader group of users, both physically and virtually.

The Accenture Connected Analytics Experience is a powerful example of a solution that was developed in conjunction with the Accenture Technology Labs, Accenture’s global R&D organization, which is focused on leveraging cutting edge technologies and applying them in new ways to address specific business challenges.

Paul Daugherty, chief technology officer, Accenture said

Innovation doesn’t happen singularly, it requires collaboration among people, data, and technology. By bringing all of these enabling elements together through the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience — from leading and emerging big data technologies and data visualization tools to Accenture’s large global multidisciplinary talent pool — businesses can more confidently weave collaborative, data-driven decision-making into their corporate cultures and take actions that can lead to innovation, transformation and disruption. Through the new relationships being established with data, we’ll be able to develop exciting new ways of educating, governing, working, living and more.

Accenture maintains relationships with an ecosystem of advanced analytics providers and emerging players in the analytics and big data space. Mezzanine from Oblong Industries, enables the immersive environment for the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience.

The Accenture Connected Analytics Experience is currently available in Accenture locations in New York City, San Jose, CA & Bangalore. Accenture plans to build environments in other locations around the world including Chicago, Paris, Madrid, Milan, London, Mumbai, Singapore and more. Immersive environments can also be built on premise at a company’s site.

For more information on the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience, please visit here

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

FreeCharge, India’s leading digital platform for recharge and utility payments have announced its exclusive partnership with India’s leading fashion retailer – Shoppers Stop.   As part of the exclusive tie-up, Shoppers Stop’s customers will be empowered with the feature rich FreeCharge Wallet.

Customers will have the option to use their FreeCharge Wallet to make payments at all 74 Shoppers Stop stores across the country as well as on the web-store. The partnership will also extend to the Shoppers Stop Ltd. group companies such as 17 outlets of HyperCity, 95 stores of Crossword and 19 stores of HomeStop across India.

ShoppersStop_FreeCharge

Commenting on this exclusive partnership, Govind Rajan, COO, FreeCharge & Chief Strategy Officer, Snapdeal said

It is an honor to partner with a hallowed brand like Shoppers Stop. We are excited to redefine the shopping experience at Shopper Stop with the FreeCharge Wallet. FreeCharge Wallet is a step jump in the payment experience – faster, more secure and more rewarding than any other form of payment including cash.

This partnership will allow our 87 million users to get the best of shopping experience at Shoppers Stop. We envision the future of payments to be digital and it is going to be all pervasive

Govind Shrikhande, Customer Care Associate & Managing Director, Shoppers Stop Ltd. said

We have partnered with FreeCharge to offer our customers the option to use a mobile wallet to complete their shopping journey. The popularity of Digital Wallets has been on the rise and we are delighted to partner with India’s leading digital payment platform.

With the addition of the FreeCharge wallet, our customers will now have multiple payment options for a smooth, fast and convenient shopping experience. We strongly believe that this alliance with FreeCharge will give a significant fillip to the growth of our omni-channel business.

Salil Nair, Customer Care Associate & Chief Executive Officer, Shoppers Stop Ltd. added

We are committed to offering our customers a seamless and convenient shopping experience. Our partnership with FreeCharge is a step in this direction and will greatly enhance our customers’ shopping journey. The FreeCharge Wallet integration will be rolled-out within a few weeks. We plan to enable the FreeCharge Wallet payment mechanism across all our stores of Shoppers Stop, HomeStop, HyperCity, Crossword as well as our web-store.

Elaborating on the partnership Sudeep Tandon, Chief Business Officer, FreeCharge said

The partnership with Shoppers Stop is a testimony to the commitment of both brands to offer a best in class customer experience. With this partnership we bring together the best of retail and digital payments to create a seamless transaction experience for consumers both in the online and offline world. We plan to roll out some exclusive customer experience and customer delight features never before seen in the market.”

Shoppers Stop’s recently announced partnership with Snapdeal has already paved the way for its omni-channel journey.  This partnership with FreeCharge will further amplify the efforts in narrowing the gap between online and offline shopping experience for customers. FreeCharge with its proven expertise in the digital world will help enhance the payment experience of Shoppers Stop customers. 

FreeCharge is focused on changing consumer habits in the digital space and understand that the world will embrace habit commerce in future. Digital Wallets will play an important role in driving habits especially in the offline space.

About FreeCharge

FreeCharge is India’s leading digital platform for recharge and utility payments which provides prepaid, post-paid, DTH and Electricity bill payment for almost all Indian service providers. FreeCharge was founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon. It had received funding of over $120 million in the last 4 years. In the largest acquisition in the consumer Internet space yet, Snapdeal acquired FreeCharge in Apr’15 resulting in India’s largest m-commerce ecosystem.

FreeCharge as a platform has 27 million registered users making more than 5 transactions per month per user. FreeCharge is PCI DSS compliant and is at the forefront of the mobile commerce revolution with over 90 per cent of transactions originating from mobile. In its game changing partnership with Snapdeal, FreeCharge aims at enhancing its user base significantly.

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

ZAGG Inc, a leading global mobile accessories company, today announced its launch in India. The company offers a broad range of products, from the industry-standard InvisibleShield screen protectors and mobile keyboards, to power management solutions, mobile audio & cases. ZAGG aims to be a brand that makes products consumers can rely on to make the most of their mobile lives.

The mobile accessory market in India is pegged at Rs.6000 crore and is expected to grow 25% in the current year, mirroring the growth of the smartphone market which is expected to maintain a double-digit growth rate over the next few years as people switch to smartphones and gradually upgrade to 4G smartphones as well. By 2017, IDC expects India to overtake the United States as the second largest smartphone market globally.

Zagg_Logo

Chris Ahern, Managing Director, ZAGG International said

Technology moves fast, and India’s smartphone growth is a prime example of that. At ZAGG, we create products that keep up with our customers to make their lives truly mobile. Be it our screen protection that can protect helicopter blades or Bluetooth-enabled tablet keyboards, join us as we continue to offer the best ways to enhance, energize, and elevate your mobile devices.

ZAGG has partnered with Brilyant, an IT and Consumer Electronics Distribution company, established in 2014, to enter India. Brilyant has a pan-India presence through its Strategic Partner Network, with a direct coverage of 18,000+ billing points and counters.

Suresh Reddy, CEO, Brilyant said

We’re proud to help ZAGG launch in India as the organization ventures into Asia. Our management team enjoys a long standing relationship with channel partners, retailers, resellers, and value added distributors across India and consequently, we have the ability to deliver ZAGG products across the length and breadth of the country in the most efficient manner.

Brilyant’s reach includes having ZAGG partner with Croma – India’s first large format specialist retail chain for consumer electronics and durables with successful expansion into Croma Zip stores, Croma Kiosks and latest online vertical. Croma’s focus on customer and brand satisfaction has seen the retailer earn “Most Admired Retailer” award seven years in a row from Indian Retail Forum.

Avijit Mitra, CEO, Croma said

We’re proud to have ZAGG partner with us. We offer our customers over 6000 products across eight categories in a world-class ambiance and our offerings are growing every day. For brands such as ZAGG that partner with us, Croma is India’s only fully integrated offline-online retailer that offers reach across the country.

ZAGG products include InvisibleShield, Keyboards, Cases, Power banks & Audio Accessories ranging in price from Rs.699/- to Rs.9,999/- and cover a broad spectrum of popular phones and tablets.

About ZAGG Inc

ZAGG Inc creates best-in-class accessories that protect and enhance mobile devices for consumers around the globe. The company offers a broad range of products, from the No. 1 selling industry-standard InvisibleShield screen protectors and mobile keyboards, to power management solutions, mobile audio and cases. ZAGG is the trusted brand that makes products consumers can rely on to make the most of their mobile lives. More information about the company and its brands, including iFrogz, is available at www.zagg.com or on Facebook & Twitter

About Brilyant

Brilyant is an IT & Consumer Electronics Distribution company, established in 2014. With a network across the country, Brilyant has a deep understanding of the Indian market; its management team enjoys a long standing relationship with channel partners, retailers, resellers & value added distributors across India.

[Image Source* – ZAGG Blog]

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

A new type of malware, Ghost Push has been discovered by Cheetah Mobile, the fourth largest publisher of applications worldwide as per App Annie. Distributed through non-Google app stores, this virus has affected 14,846 types of phone and 3,658 brands.

[Image Source – Cheetah Mobile’s blog]

According to CM Security Research Lab, it’s the most widespread and infectious virus it’s seen to date. So far it’s been affecting 1.3 million devices globally. Currently, India has 1,44,199 devices being affected by this virus and is ranked as No.2 in terms of the amount of devices being affected. The virus is mainly spread through Europe, Russia, the Middle East region, and southern China. Cheetah Mobile has so far discovered 39 apps that contains the virus.

Ghost Push : How it works

Ghost Push installs unwanted applications like ‘Monkey test’ or ‘Times service’ on the device. These applications cannot be removed easily even by doing a factory reset or using normal antivirus software. The malware slows down the system, drains the battery and consumes large amounts of cellular data. Disguised as legitimate applications, Ghost Push can spread itself widely via commercial SDK’s or browser ads.

[Image Source – Cheetah Mobile’s blog]

Ghost Push : How to detect the infection

Clean Master and CM Security can now detect the infection. CM Security Research Lab is also currently developing a toolkit aimed specifically at ‘Ghost Push’ removal, which will keep your phone safe. Get the tool and protect your phone now!

For more information about the virus, please refer to Cheetah Mobile’s blog; Cheetah Mobile also provides step-by-step process on how to remove this malware.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Accenture has been helping the Rajasthan Skill and Livelihoods Development Corporation [RSLDC] in its efforts to reduce unemployment and help provide skills training to people in the State of Rajasthan.

Accenture, which has been providing the RSLDC with strategic project-management support, recently helped develop and implement an information technology system for real-time monitoring of the organization’s work to build skills and reduce unemployment in Rajasthan.

The two-year effort has supported RSDLC’s goal of closing the skills gaps and reducing unemployment in concert with national skills-training and placement service providers. Accenture is also providing action plans to help RSLDC build a stronger skill development ecosystem in Rajasthan.

Accenture_RSLDC

Sanjeev Gupta, managing director of Accenture’s Health & Public Service practice in India said

This association with RSLDC marks Accenture’s first foray into the skills and livelihood space at the state level in India. Our deep experience with training systems, broad range of work for other government agencies in India and prior involvement with other skill councils provided a solid foundation to implement this project.

Shri Gaurav Goyal, managing director of the RSLDC said

This partnership with Accenture has helped us advance our objective of implementing appropriate and innovative strategies to promote and facilitate, on a large scale, improved livelihoods for the poor and vulnerable members of society. India’s quest to become a highly influential nation globally requires that the right framework be developed and put in place.

Learn more about Accenture and Delivering Public Service for the Future here