All Posts in Mobile

|In: Digital|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

FreeCharge, India’s leading digital payments platform, have announced that it has crossed 5 million mark in mobile wallet users, a 4x wallet user base growth in less than four weeks. With this momentum, FreeCharge continues to set new records in terms of building user base.

It was the fastest to reach 1 million mark within a week of the launch. Customer roll out of the FreeCharge Wallet was initiated on 25th September, making this wallet the first in the country to achieve the milestone of 5 million users within 30 days of customer roll out.

FreeCharge

FreeCharge Wallet has seen over 40% of growth from new use cases from Snapdeal and Mumbai metro and expect the numbers to grow with new merchants getting added. The FreeCharge Wallet witnessed great response during the Snapdeal Diwali sales.

Thrilled with the achievement, Govind Rajan, COO, FreeCharge and CSO, Snapdeal, said

5 million users in less than 4 weeks, reflects our focus on the user experience. What delights us is not just breaching the 5 million mark, but the quality that underpins it. With an average of > 5 transactions per user, it is not just the fastest quantity but best quality as well. The FreeCharge app was rethought from the ground up to sharpen focus on habit commerce. All payment transactions are now a tap away and can be finished in under 10 seconds.

The growth is fundamentally driven by user experience and we are scaled up thus far without any advertising. FreeCharge Wallet is currently being used by Snapdeal and FreeCharge customers and will be soon extended to many other merchants. We are focused on creating Habit commerce and making payment transactions smooth, swift and secure for consumers and merchants. We foresee digital payments as a game changer in online commerce in near future.

The core of the design philosophy at FreeCharge is centred on design that helps build habit. The ease of use on FreeCharge platform allows consumers to complete all transactions in less than 10 seconds. Customers are Auto enrolled and this helps in repeat transactions even faster with just 1 click. With a great user experience consumers transact with a high degree of Frequency on FreeCharge.  On an average consumers transact over 5 times a month and an average of over 50% of the users transact every month on FreeCharge.

FreeCharge is compliant with leading industry standards like PCI DSS, making it the quickest and most secure wallet. FreeCharge wallet is powered by cutting edge technology. It is a robust and flexible platform that leverages enabling technologies such as HCE, NFC, QR code and BLE to create a most intuitive consumer experience. FreeCharge’s aim is to build habit commerce and through its partnerships, FreeCharge is set to generate the most compelling consumer experience.

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 & Sandeep Tandon and 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.  For more details, please visit FreeCharge

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, a part of the US $ 16.9 billion Mahindra Group, have announced the launch of SmartShift – a technology enabled load exchange platform. To ride the digital wave, Mahindra becomes one of the first large corporate groups in the country to initiate a digital mobility platform that is completely under its aegis. It marks the next milestone in the group’s journey toward exploring new horizons and rapidly adopting technology to develop new ecosystems.

SmartShift will act as an exchange platform for cargo owners and transporters, enabling them to work with each other. Cargo owners [both businesses and individual users] can access the SmartShift service through a world class mobile app [SmartShift Android App], the website or the dedicated call centre. It is noteworthy that Mahindra is launching SmartShift, following over 2000 hours of consumer research done over a year.


Speaking at the launch of SmartShift, Dr Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra said

At Mahindra, we regularly challenge conventional thinking and create disruptions with our unique product and service offerings. SmartShift is one such idea that was seeded by a young team that has now been charged with growing this service offering independent of existing Mahindra businesses. SmartShift is a digitally enabled, value added service that would benefit both cargo owners and transporters.

Dr. Anish Shah, Group President (Strategy), Mahindra & Mahindra, said

The goods transport industry in India is a fragmented market. A platform or marketplace that connects load owners and transporters can bring significant efficiencies. The resulting reduction in cost and travel time would delight the end consumer. SmartShift will be the marketplace for load transport within cities.

With SmartShift, Mahindra aims to offer transparent pricing, an efficient simple one-click booking process and the ability to track cargo after dispatch. Being one of the biggest players in the CV industry, Mahindra understands and recognizes this ecosystem and its dynamics.

SmartShift for Cargo Owners

  • Book a vehicle in less than 3 minutes
  • Be able to negotiate the best price through a unique first of its kind “BID” feature
  • Choose from a range of certified and trained SmartShifters
  • Track the selected SmartShifter to ensure that his consignment is delivered safely and securely

SmartShift for Cargo Transporters

  • Get more business through faster and easier order taking technology
  • Get the option of accepting or declining a delivery request based on pricing or the availability of vehicles
  • Get the opportunity to explore and expand to other markets
  • Look forward to a higher earning potential

The company is launching SmartShift in Mumbai, followed by other towns and cities across India.

About the Small Commercial Vehicle [SCV] industry

The SCV industry is expected to reach 1 million units by FY 2021. The key demand drivers for the industry would be:

  • The need for last mile connectivity for both goods and people transportation
  • Better operating economics combined with better financing options making SCVs more lucrative for end customers
  • New applications being developed to expand the market, prompting newer customers to buy SCVs

Do give SmartShift a spin & share your comments.

|In: Digital|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

In a bid to ease recharge facilities for commuters, FreeCharge, India’s leading digital platform for recharge and utility payments launched online recharge facility for smart card users of Mumbai Metro. With this new integration FreeCharge will enable Smart Card recharges on its website, Android, iOS & Windows app allowing users to recharge on the go.

Like any other payment of utility bills or recharges, commuter can recharge their stored value card in less than 10 seconds. As far as the process goes, it is developed to comfort, where in commuters only need to enter their unique smart card number which will lead to the payment gateways. Once the recharge is successful the user will receive a message/mail.

To this new addition, Kunal Shah, CEO and co-founder of Freecharge, said

We are very excited with this new addition and have witnessed tremendous response since the launch. We believe that this expansion like all our others is being leveraged by thousands of FreeCharge customers making their daily commute easy and hassle-free. We appreciate the support extended by Reliance Metro and looking forward to add new users to our database. To us this is a unique idea, simplifying and rewarding smart card recharges to all the Mumbai metro card users.

With answering to the woes of thousands of daily metro passengers, Freecharge is set to take on another level of taxing payments, metro card recharges. It will gather a gamut of utility payments along with recharges under one roof, making the boring transactions stress-free and gratifying for its customers. These smart card recharges will empower metro commuters quit long queues and recharge their smart cards anytime and anywhere.

FreeCharge has made smart card recharge not only convenient but rewarding through various exciting discount coupons. FreeCharge has recently launched a 100% cashback offer for commuters wherein every recharge of INR 100 and above will get INR 100 cashback. Mumbai Metro and FreeCharge aims to further promote the use of smart card for ease of life and commuting by launching many more exciting offers.

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 & Sandeep Tandon and 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.  For more details, please visit FreeCharge

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

After having launched the ZenPad amongst much fanfare at Zen Festival in August, ASUS have announced the availability of ZenPad in India. Sold in three variants – ZenPad 8.0, ZenPad 7.0 and ZenPad C 7.0, customers will be able to purchase them at ASUS exclusive stores and on Flipkart.

ZenPad 7.0 will be available immediately and ZenPad 8.0 and ZenPad C 7.0 will be available from October end. The announcement comes close on the heels of ASUS’ decision to manufacture its smartphones, Zenfone 2 Laser and ZenFone Go in India, and strengthens the brand’s portfolio of smart devices in the country.

Asus_Zenpad_01

ZenPad 8.0 – With a display size of 20.3 centimeters, ZenPad 8.0 comes with a Qualcomm MSM8929 64-bit Octa Core Processor and 16 GB in-built memory. The device has an 8 MP auto-focus main camera that is armed with features like larger aperture, pixel master camera for brighter photos, zero shutter lag and manual mode support, and a 2 MP front camera with 140 degree selfie panorama. Available in two colors – Obsidian Black and Aurora Metallic, ZenPad 8.0 is priced at INR 17,999 with audio cover and INR 14,999 without audio cover.

ZenPad 7.0 – It has a display size of 17.7 centimeters and includes an Intel Atom x3-C3230 Quad Core Processor. Other features of ZenPad 7.0 include an internal memory of 16 GB, an 8 MP main camera with auto-focus, manual mode, IR filter and a 2 MP front camera. Priced at INR 14,999 with audio cover and INR 11,999 without audio cover, ZenPad 7.0 is available in two colors as well – Obsidian Black, Aurora Metallic.

ZenPad C 7.0 – The product has the same display size as ZenPad 7.0 and carries an Intel 64-bit x3-C3230 Quad-core Processor. The device has a 5 MP main camera and a 0.3 MP front camera. ZenPad C 7.0 comes in three colors – Obsidian Black, Glamour Red, Aurora Metallic and is available for INR 8,999.

All ZenPad variants operate on Android v 5.0 [Lollipop], offer IPS display upto 178 degrees viewing angle and come equipped with Zen Motion support Touch gesture providing a superior experience. Users also get 5 GB ASUS Web Storage space for life with an additional 11 GB for the first year and 100 GB of Google Drive space for two years.

About ASUS

ASUS is a worldwide top-three consumer notebook vendor and maker of the world’s best-selling, most award-winning motherboards. A leading enterprise in the new digital era, ASUS designs and manufactures products that perfectly meet the needs of today’s digital home and office, with a broad portfolio that includes motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, displays, desktop and all-in-one PCs, notebooks, netbooks, servers, multimedia devices, wireless solutions, networking devices, tablets, smartphones and wearables. Company revenue for 2014 was approximately USD 14.5 billion.

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Spini, India’s first market place mobile application has announced its official entry into Hyderabad, in line with its aggressive strategy to expand in South India before exploring other parts of the Country. Headquartered in India out of Chennai, the real time information providing app has witnessed a surge in demand for its unique proposition of earning money by selling information, with more than 10,000 downloads within 4 months of its India launch. Available for free download on Apple Store and Google Play, Spini is the only app that allows users to make money from anywhere, anytime.

Connecting people with the right information at the right time through our apps, Spini is a marketplace that opens up a new horizon of business opportunities for referrers and salespersons. Spini launched operations in June this year having raised funding of USD 1 Million from Walden International which is also an early investor in BankBazzar to fuel India expansion and continuous development of its patented platform.

Spini_Logo

Spini offers its users the platform to make money on information they hold and the salesperson in turn gains a qualified lead where his chances of closing the sale are much higher and his productivity increases. Being a marketplace, people can post information related to a customer planning for a purchase and salesperson bid for and buy those as leads.

As opposed to popular online sites that help you just post information on Property/Real Estate, Renovation, Loans/Mortgages related queries, on Spini, one can earn money by simply referring a lead that he/she might have received from a friend, colleague or acquaintance, and earn money by bidding it among agents who have registered themselves on Spini.

While anyone, a student or a homemaker or a working professional can post the lead they possess, agents on the other hand stand to benefit from Spini’s expertise in allowing users to upload only genuine and verified leads to save time and effort.

Shankar G, Co-founder & CEO, Spini said

When you look at the app world today, you are clearly spoiled for choice with the kind of applications that are available at your disposal. While majority of them cater to the most pertinent desire for convenience, Spini has just made the experience more worthwhile while helping you earn some easy money through it. An Interior Decorator in Chennai has registered with Spini and manged to get business worth 25 lakhs under a month’s time through the verified leads he received on our platform.

Among many other referrers, a homemaker has earned 3000 and a working professional has earned 2000 by sharing their information on Spini. The referrer in this case could be you or me in possession of trivial information that we gather in our day to day conversation but can be very useful for someone else and would like to buy that from you. It has been an encouraging experience to witness traction among the southern part of the country. In fact the traction we have received in Hyderabad, only through word of mouth has helped us get record number of downloads in the least expected time. We are actively looking at spreading our wings to expand our user base in the north as well by end of 2015.

Spini offers a seamless yet streamlined customer experience that is both private and secure. Referrers have the option of observing anonymity while engaging in private chats with the bidders for their information while agents have the privilege of accessing a platform full of leads that is verified and one that provides transparency in the bidding process with an easy payment process.

Eddie Chau, Co-founder & Chairman, Spini said

The India launch seems to be taking pragmatic strides and we look forward to grow the India operations further. Given the market maturity and the increasing adoption of smart personal technologies for improved life quality, we are confident that India will emerge as one of our biggest and strongest markets in the years to come.

With a technically sound team spread across Chennai and Bangalore, we are certain that the India operations team can play a pivotal role in our expansion in other countries in South East Asia soon.

About Spini

Established in 2014, Spini was co-founded by Eddie Chau, Shankar G & Chong-Kian Soh in Singapore with India operations headquartered in Chennai. Spini is a revolutionary referral platform and an online marketplace where sales persons can source qualified sales leads and anyone can monetize information. Sales information on verticals like real estate, mortgage/loan, insurance and renovation will be available on Spini to start with. Connecting people with the right information at the right time through our apps, Spini is a marketplace that opens up a new horizon of business opportunities for referrers and salespersons. For more information, please visit Spini

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Hike messenger, one of India’s fastest growing internet companies has announced the introduction of Hike Direct,  a game-changing proposition that will revolutionize the way people communicate. A first in the world and first in the category feature—hike direct, allows users to chat, exchange stickers, transfer photos and heavy files of any type, things that users would regularly do on hike without the Internet & without incurring data charges.

Hike Direct allows mobile phones to connect with one another directly within a 100 meter radius completely by passing the telecom networks. Users can then chat and share files directly up to a speed of 40 Mbps with very low latency, which is comparable if not better than 4G speeds promised by telecom companies today. For example, exchanging 100 MB of data would take less than 10 seconds on hike direct, more importantly without incurring any data charges.

Speaking on the launch, Kavin Mittal, Founder & CEO hike messenger added

Today is the day we completely redefine messaging. Hike Direct has been built on breakthrough technology that adds a whole new dimension to messaging enabling hikers to chat and share files with their friends without the internet and without incurring any data charges. One can get speeds up to 40 Mbit/sec when chatting and sharing files through hike direct. Data or no data, hike will always work. It’s incredibly powerful.

The all – new ‘Hike Direct’ is built from the ground up with a new generation of network solutions and uses WiFi Direct technology systems that help establish peer to peer network connection between two phones.

To use hike direct, users simply need to open a chat with a friend and choose Hike Direct from the 3 dot menu on top right of the screen and hike does the rest. Hike automatically pairs up with the other phone and lets you chat and share files with your friends without the internet.

Users can get this feature by upgrading to the latest version of Hike, version 4.0.6 and above, which is available free on the Google Play Store starting today. Hike Direct on iOS, Windows to follow next year.

The company also announced that it crossed 70 million users last month with 20 billion messages being exchanged per month making it by far the 2nd largest messaging app in the country. An average user on hike spends over 140 minutes per week on the application.

The all new hike has recently been upgraded to 4.0 version with best in class features developed to deliver greater value to users such as news, hindi news bytes, localized stickers in 30 languages, automatic sticker suggestions, Group calling, Group chat upto 500 members, 100 MB file sharing and many more.

Hike’s Growth Story

  • Dec 2012 – Global launch
  • Feb 2013 – Messaging traffic grows 10X week on week
  • April 2013 – Hit the first 5M user milestone in just 4 months of its launch | Raised $7M from BSB
  • Feb 2014 – Hit the 15M user mark
  • April 2014 – Received $14M fresh funding from BSB
  • June 2014 – Crossed 20M user mark, launched first TVC
  • July 2014 – Hit #1 rank on App stores
  • August 2014 – Crossed 35M user mark, receives $65M fresh funding led by Tiger Global & BSB
  • November 2014 – Launches regional stickers on hike
  • January 2015 – Launched free Hike Calls
  • February 2015 – Launched Cricket Scores on hike
  • Aug 2015: Hike announces 20 billion messages per month and launched Hike News
  • Sep 2015: Launched Group Calling with upto 100 people

Do give Hike Direct a spin & share your experience in the comments section

|In: General|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

KeyPoint Technologies [KPT], a global linguistics innovator has announced the latest upgrade to its award winning product Adaptxt for Android and Adaptxt for iOS, its context-aware, multi-language keyboard for iPhone, iPod and iPad devices, free of cost. Adaptxt is the first iOS app to offer the largest language support with 115+ global languages which includes 26 Indic and 11 transliterated [English + Indic] languages and over 800 emojis.

Both Adaptxt for iOS and Android were recently nominated under the ‘Productivity’ category in Mobby Awards 2015. The awards celebrate the best apps for work and productivity on smartphones.


With the recent launch of Adaptxt, Apple device users in India can now communicate in 16 new Indic languages namely:

  1. Bhojpuri
  2. Bodo
  3. Dogri
  4. Kashmiri
  5. Konkani
  6. Maithali
  7. Manipuri
  8. Marwari
  9. Mewari
  10. Oriya
  11. Sinhala
  12. Rajasthani
  13. Sanskrit
  14. Sindhi
  15. Singlish
  16. Pashto

The upgrade also offers location based suggestions such as street names, landmarks, etc.

Sumit Goswami, CEO – KeyPoint Technologies said

We are thrilled to see Adaptxt for iOS and Android get short-listed under the Best Productivity app category by Mobby Awards 2015. Currently there are 4.8 million iOS users in India of which over 49 percent are less than 30 years of age. Adaptxt offers industry’s first location based suggestions and largest language support allowing young users in different parts of the country to interact in their native languages. This promotes greater digital inclusion thus making mobile technology a true enabler of change.

Key features of Adaptxt iOS App

  • Emoji Support : Supports 800+ emojis
  • Location-based suggestions : Provides suggestions based on your current or chosen location, such as street names and landmarks
  • 26 Indic Languages : Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bodo, Dogri, English (India), Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Marwari, Mewari, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu
  • 11 Transliterated Languages : Manglish, Marathinglish, Punglish, Banglish, Tenglish, Tanglish, Singlish, Neplish, Odinglish, Hinglish, Kanglish
  • Alternative Keyboard Layouts : For some languages [QWERTY, AZERTY, DVORAK, and QWERTZ for English, French, Italian, German and Spanish; Bulgarian BDS; Punjabi Phonetic; and specific layouts for Scandinavian languages]
  • Personalized predictions : Based on writing style and context
  • Shortcuts : Use gestures to insert frequently used phrases

To download and experience the latest Adaptxt version, please visit the following link

About KeyPoint Technologies
KeyPoint Technologies, the creator of Xploree and Adaptxt is an award-winning global linguistics innovator that enables intelligent communication between humans to the connected world—beyond mobile devices. KeyPoint was founded in 2004 in Glasgow Scotland, an epi-center of linguistics. For more information, please visit KeyPoint Technologies

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

FreeCharge, India’s leading digital payments platform, today announced that the company will adopt Aadhaar as the primary Know Your Customer (KYC) tool for opening & upgrading wallets.

Consumers who enrol for a FreeCharge wallet with Aadhaar authentication can have their balance limit enhanced from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 Lakh. Also, there will be no monetary limit on transactions making the wallet truly versatile. FreeCharge, which has already hit the million wallets mark within a week of launch, believes that being Aadhaar enabled is key to mass adoption and ubiquitous usage.

FreeCharge

Consumers can link their FreeCharge Wallet to their Aadhaar number in multiple ways like–doorstep service available on demand, consumers can also authenticate by walking into any of the 30,000 banking correspondent points of FreeCharge partner YES bank or walk into any branch of YES Bank. In the future this service will also be available with FINO – the Payments bank licensee a strategic partner of FreeCharge.

Speaking about this, Govind Rajan, Chief Operating Officer, FreeCharge & Chief Strategy Officer, Snapdeal said

For consumers, convenience and speed of transaction are key considerations. We will leverage Aadhar ID authentication for paperless, secure KYC, to be completed in a few minutes. We are innovating to bring new models of go to market – for instance doorstep authentication, where customers can request for an agent to come to their home for a doorstep biometric authentication. Within a week we hit the 1 million mark and now leveraging Aadhaar enabled KYC gives us access to the pool of over 900 million KYC ready consumers

With lakhs of deliveries a day on Snapdeal, we have a huge and relevant customer connect opportunity for us to synergize with for doorstep KYC. We will soon launch the pilot in metros and then scale this nationwide.

FreeCharge wallet is powered by cutting edge technology. It is a robust and flexible platform that leverages enabling technologies such as HCE, NFC, QR code & BLE to create a most intuitive consumer experience.

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 & Sandeep Tandon and 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.  For more details, please visit FreeCharge