mobile

Startup Clk2C.com Makes Mobile Video Advertising Personalized and Innovative

by Paul Joseph February 1, 2012 Featured

Mobile is slowly but surely becoming the “go to” medium for most marketing and branding activities. Advancement in mobile technology has made it possible for users to access multimedia content and browse the internet even on a sub-Rs. 5000 phone. According to the latest report from Analysys Mason the number of mobile connections in India is expected to increase from 812 million (end 2011) to 1.36 billion (in 2020). We carry our mobile phone (or mobile devices) wherever we go. So, for a brand it is the most accessible medium to communicate with their target market. Ghaziabad based startup, Clk2C.com , is making the most of this opportunity. For a startup like Clk2C.com this opens up great opportunities. Clk2C.com is a mobile video advertising platform. “The main USP of a medium like Clk2C.com is the fact that it is a ‘Me & You’ kind of medium”, says Suresh Kabra, Founder, Samadhan Systems, which is the parent company. Unlike television or outdoor advertising mediums, a mobile video advertising medium is more personal and interactive. It allows brands to engage with their target customers in a more personalized manner. Samadhan Systems, which was founded in 2007, first entered the mobile video content sector in 2009 through mobile video greetings. The response to it was very encouraging and that led to the birth of Clk2C.com in April 2010. Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics was one of the first brands to like this innovative medium and approached Clk2C.com to create a viral mobile commercial. In the past year and a half they have worked with some of the biggest brands (across industry) in the Indian market, including Mercedes-Benz , Domino’s Pizza , Punjab National Bank , etc. One of the major projects Clk2C.com is working on currently is BJP’s mobile video campaign for the UP elections. They have also done major mobile video campaigns for HDFC (a pan-India lead generation campaign) and GNIIT (campaign to promote their cloud program). Clk2C.com is quite a flexible medium. It is not necessary to deliver only video content; it could also be a presentation or something else. “As any other new media format or medium we faced certain challenges pertaining to acceptance”, says Suresh. According to him it was particularly acute for Clk2C.com as brand managers and marketing professionals took some time to get accustomed to the possibilities of a mobile video advertising campaign. Samadhan Systems was completely bootstrapped. They are currently in discussion with a few VC’s and hope to complete a deal within 2012. The customer base for Clk2C.com is steadily increasing and a number of innovative campaigns are in the pipeline. Their video greeting site ifeelclub.com has also been recording 100% month-on-month increase in downloads. The beginning of 2012 has seen a 400% increase in revenue over the same period last year. Speaking about Clk2C.com’s plan for the next 12 months Suresh said, “We plan to work closely with major advertising agencies and integrate mobile video advertising with the brands entire campaign.” Exploring new verticals in terms of industry is another goal. They also want to aggressively market their mobile video invitation services, which has already attracted some traction. “This year we want to increase the number of active customers to one lakh per month”, adds Suresh. Last year for Valentine’s Day MAAC had sponsored the greetings and it was downloaded across 73 cities in India. Similar plans are in place for this year and they are in talks with some companies for possible sponsorship. “Mobile video advertising and mobile greetings are at one level connected to each other. So, a Haldiram’s can utilize mobile video greetings to send out Diwali greetings to its customers and use mobile video advertising to engage with them”, Suresh points out.

0 comments Read the full article →

All you Women Developers out there, let’s App it!

by Paul Joseph January 30, 2012 Featured

Always wanted to make your own mobile app, but didn’t know where to begin? Well, here is your opportunity to be part of the burgeoning mobile app market. YourStory.in brings to you a Workshop for Women Developers waiting to Explore Mobile App Business. When? 11th February 2012 Where? Microsoft, Signature Building, Embassy Golf Links Business Park, Bangalore Who to Attend? Women interested in making mobile apps   Register to attend for free! Agenda: 9:00 – 9:30 Networking 9:30 – 9:45 Opening Remarks by Shradha Sharma, founder, YourStory.in 9:45 – 10:45 Women Entrepreneurship and Mobiles Apps – Does mobile apps ecosystem makes it easy for women to get into startup business? Session by Rashmi Sachan, co-founder, Fliplog 10:45 – 11:00 Break 11:00 – 12:00 Mobile Apps Business – Basics 12:00 – 12:15 Q & A 12:15 – 1:15 Lunch 1:15 – 2:30 Mobile Apps Technology Overview 2:30 – 3:45 Workshop – How to develop Windows Phone App? Session by Srividya Iyer – Lead Mobile Apps Developer, Fliplog 3:45 – Networking Contact: Varsha Adusumilli | +91 8861 445 879 | varsha@yourstory.in Register to attend for free!

0 comments Read the full article →

Developing & Making your Applications Submission Ready for Windows Phone 7 Marketplace

by Paul Joseph January 30, 2012 Featured

Sidharth Sehgal had the unenvious task of engaging an audience post lunch at Windows Phone Camp held in Hyderabad on 28th January. He stated his objectives for the session early: Learn, see, experience . This session was a live demonstration for developing applications. The demonstration highlighted a few of Visual Studio’s special features, including panorama control, which allows seamless horizontal scrolling between application pages. Pivot control is similar to panorama control, but allows user to tab through pages Using ‘launchers,’ the presenter demonstrated a simple GPS application that launches an email application. The code was fed a launcher task, EmailComposeTask to email current geographical location to a specified address using only four lines of code. A ‘chooser’ is a set of tasks that launches an application and feeds information back to the application. An application can be configured to use the camera, for instance. Using a few lines of straight forward code, Sidharth created an app to capture images using a camera, retrieve it and then created a live tile for it on the start screen. “What are the advantages of developing apps for Windows Phone, over established devices like Android or iphone?” This was a recurring question through all the sessions, asked by the developers. Ujwal Kumar presented the benefits of Marketplace in the final session for the day. Some of the salient features of Marketplace were outlined. Developers can build an unlimited number of apps, with a restriction of 100 free apps per developer. The updated Marketplace allows soft key access to all apps, all games, all music or all podcasts It features a new Beta distribution service , a service that provides for a maximum of 100 beta test users to test the app and provide feedback. Another feature is the new Private Distribution service . A developer can use this service to restrict visibility and availability of an app to specified email addresses and organizations. Marketplace Test kit includes a comprehensive design guideline for making apps look better. Ujwal recommends following the Metro design philosophies to ensure consistency. Each app submitted to Marketplace is subject to test criteria pillars. They are checked for reliability, efficient use of resources, absence of malicious software, interference with phone functionality and Microsoft’s global content policies. The monetary incentive for developers is that they keep 70% of the revenue generated from purchased apps. If you are a mobile app developer waiting to explore Windows Phone 7, do then do click here

0 comments Read the full article →

There is still room for a new Software Company

by Paul Joseph January 20, 2012 Featured

After more than two decades of Indian Entrepreneurs opening Software Company in every street, you may feel that there is no opportunity there. But, since the Technology keeps changing, new opportunities keep coming up in Software. This decade will see the growth of Mobile and Cloud Computing. Since this industry is growing only now, it is time to get into it. In India and other developing markets, Android is doing well. In Developed Countries, iPhone/iPad is doing well. Based on the location of your customer, you can target Android or iPhone/iPad devices. Entering the Cloud Computing market is little more difficult. But, the easiest approach is to take some of the open source products available in the market, customize to support Multi-Tenancy and host it on the Cloud. This will help you get into the market quickly. Check out our startup on the same idea http://cloudonhire.com/

0 comments Read the full article →

Taggito – Providers of NFC based, Contact-less Technology Solutions To Boost Consumer Businesses

by Paul Joseph January 19, 2012 Featured

So what is the first thing that’d strike you when I said “Spain”? European architecture, spanish accents with rolling Rs or salsa dances? To me, it’d flash images of one of the most talented football team with Fabregas and Casillas maybe. But how many of us would associate technology with Spain? I know one person who did. Presenting to you, Vaibhav Suri, founder of Madrid based, Taggito – a mobile technology company, focussed on developing products and applications using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC is a Radio Frequency (RF) technology that operates at 13.56 Mhz.Their first NFC product was, and still is, NFC tags- that they currently sell on their online store. Merging the word “Tag” with their Spanish background, they came up with the name “Taggito”. So what this technology is all about, and what they particularly love about it, is its user intuitiveness, wherein users can simply tap their mobile phones to access information, exchange music, pay for items, ride the metro etc. NFC is a contactless technology that allows users to use their mobile phones for various touch-based applications. So basically, an NFC enabled mobile phone can be used to make payments (e.g. Google Wallet) or to touch an interesting movie poster with your phone to download its trailer. They also have an Online store and Tag Manager that lets you purchase and manage and analyse your tags. Operational since October 2011 and having a team of 3 members, they built and released their first prototype within the first month. A content management system of NFC tags, they saw an increasing need of marketers and advertisers who ran NFC campaigns to have an easy-to-use solution that allowed them manage these campaigns via a web application. Thrilled with the response, they continue to build new applications that they can monetize. In 2012, Taggito claims to earn its revenue from a bunch of different applications focussed around NFC. So how does Taggito meet its relevant audience? They work with social media tremendously and also through word of mouth referrals. They currently operate across Europe and are looking to ramp up their presence in UAE, Singapore and India. As an entrepreneur in mobile space, Vaibhav too had several challenges to face. “Talent”, he says. “We believe our success depends on our people. Finding people with the right technical skills and attitude is always a challenge that extends beyond mobile.” So yes they are hiring! They now look for good engineers to work in both their hardware and software application side of the business. As for the monetary aspect of starting up and all the scary shades around raising funds, Vaibhav deals with it very positively. “At the moment, we are completely bootstrapped and enjoy the challenges of building a business with limited funds”, he chirps confidently.  So they are not actively on the look-out of funding per se, but are open towards working with angels or venture capitalists who can add strategic value more than financial. So are there similar market players? I asked Vaibhav in my broken Spanish,  – Cómo es la competencia ?   To which the Madrid based entrepreneur replied, “There are a few companies working in the NFC space. Given the evolution phase NFC is in, each company that I have seen so far, is in its pilot stages developing applications that defer in terms of target market and objectives. However, within more developed NFC markets- such as USA, there is tremendous competition in applications related to mobile payments etc. using NFC.” NFC aims to take-off in 2012 and this is great opportunity for the developer community in India to be ahead of the curve and build applications that support NFC either on Android, Nokia or Blackberry platforms. Taggito urges developers interested in NFC to participate in this trend and make India an innovator on the NFC front as well. Afterall with the technology boom in India, a wise man would know that he who strikes first, shall strike twice! Or as they say in Spanish ” El que da primero, da dos veces!” For more information please check out  Taggito   and do share your thoughts with us by dropping a comment below ! –  Abhilasha Dafria

0 comments Read the full article →

Calling all Mobile Enthusiasts: Register Now to Attend the first Windows Phone Camp

by Paul Joseph January 16, 2012 Featured

We at YourStory.in bring you the first Windows Phone Camp , scheduled to be held on 28th January at ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad in collaboration with Microsoft Windows Mobile. If you are a developer interested in the mobile ecosystem, then Windows Phone Camp is the place to be to kick-start your Windows Phone Journey! When: 28 th January Where : ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad Time : 9a.m – 5p.m Contact : Varsha Adusumilli | varsha@yourstory.in | 8861 445 879 Register   now   for   free ! Why you should attend?   The Windows Phone opportunity : A new kid on the block? An established ecosystem? The next big thing? What is Windows Phone after all? This session gives a big picture of the opportunity that lies in Windows Phone ecosystem. Highlights the philosophy, the platform capabilities, how it ties in with the existing assets – cloud, office, Sharepoint etc. Attending this session will help you understand what is the opportunity that Windows Phone has for Consumers, Businesses, Enterprises, .coms, Developers etc.  We will talk about how you can leverage your current skills on the Microsoft platform and get the most out of this opportunity. Getting Started – tools & marketplace : This is a level 100 hands on session that gives a walk-through from scratch, starting from installing the dev tools, building the first app, testing it on the emulator, creating the marketplace account and submitting the app. The session emphasizes on the overall stages that a business/developer should be aware of. Designing Applications for Windows Phone : This is a level 200 session, in which we will talk about the design and user experience philosophy of Windows Phone. In this session developers and designers will learn what are things they should keep in mind to make their applications shine on the Windows Phone. We will also cover how to use expression tools, share design resources (icons, templates etc.) during this session. Developing Applications for Windows Phone : This is a level 300 session that introduces developers to the core concepts of programming on WP. How to leverage the features like camera, launchers/choosers, Live tiles, Fast App Switching, tasks, various controls, bing maps etc. This session will focus on the depth concepts of Windows Phone Development. Making your application submission ready: This is a level 200 session explaining things to keep in mind before you submit the app to market place. Using the Market Place Test Kit, Performance Analysis Tool, Trial API, Integrating Ads etc.   Register   now   for   free !

0 comments Read the full article →

Conversation With Manish Maheshwari, GM & Global Business Head, txtWeb

by Paul Joseph January 10, 2012 Featured

txtWeb is a global platform where anyone with a mobile phone can discover and consume internet and txtWeb-only content just by SMSing keywords to one national number, and receive back content. txtWeb, is a revolutionary concept that aims to provide information accessibility to those population segments that lack Internet access by exploiting the universality of text messaging services. Not long into its inception, the initiative has already garnered interest from the likes of Wikipedia and CricBuzz, among others. In conversation with Chandan Raj of Yourstory.in, txtWeb’s GM & Global Business Head, Manish Maheshwari tells us how he sees txtWeb becoming a global phenomenon in the mobile information space. Manish, briefly tell us about yourself and txtWeb: I lead the txtWeb ( www.txtWeb.com ) initiative at Intuit with the goal of transforming the lives of over 3 billion people worldwide who have been cut off from digital advancements but yet, possess a mobile phone. txtWeb is a mobile app platform for the masses, i.e. even those without a smartphone or data plan. Deploying existing content via a txtSite takes only 5 minutes and creating a txtApp takes about 5 hours. Prior to this, I worked at McKinsey & Company in New York & New Delhi, advising Fortune 500 companies and start-ups. I started my career with Procter & Gamble (P&G) in Mumbai and then managed their businesses in Asia-Pacific as one of their youngest expatriate managers. What according to you, are the major challenges that Indian companies face today in the mobile space? Both mobile penetration among Indians and the proportion of time they spend on their mobile devices are increasing rapidly. Large companies are reacting to this by developing their own Android, iPhone and Blackberry apps. However, because of distribution, affordability and ease of use issues, the adoption is dismal. Small and medium-sized companies do not have the expertise to build an app for every platform. Moreover, a smartphone app is overkill for their simple needs of interacting with their customers, alerting them on deals and conducting simple transactions. As a result, on one hand, large companies are frustrated with wasted efforts, while on the other hand, small- and medium-sized companies feel left behind. How does txtWeb help in solving some of these problems? txtWeb provides one common and global-ready app platform that cuts across all handsets, operating systems and carrier networks. Companies just need to built one app on txtWeb, in order to make their services available to any mobile phone user using any smartphone or even a simple feature phone. Building a txtWeb app is so easy because of the way the platform is designed with open APIs. Even a college student can build apps in a few hours. For a user, txtWeb provides one single place to discover and use thousands of services in a way that is as simple as sending an SMS without incurring premium charges. Since txtWeb apps are SMS-based, there is no app downloading involved. As a result, there is no need for any Internet access or a data plan. Moreover, users “pull” information from txtWeb when they want it and not when the sender wants to spam them, like the Web. txtWeb, therefore, empowers users and respects their choices on when/what to receive in a way that is TRAI-compliant in India. In fact, on December 23rd, 2011, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) came out with an amendment, where they explicitly classified txtWeb as exempt from anti-spamming regulations. Any interesting trends that you see in this space? Several. With the proliferation of smart phone apps, the user fatigue, in terms of number of apps they download on their phone and use regularly, is increasing. In addition, in metros, there is massive congestion leading to huge latency even on a 3G network. There is a need for a common aggregated platform such as txtWeb from where users can discover and access all apps without having to download each app individually. In non-metros, affordability of data plan becomes a gating factor even though the prices of smart phones are coming down because of Chinese knock-offs. On the other hand, texting or SMS continues to be the number one non-voice service used on all phones. The immediate, concise, and unobtrusive nature makes SMS unique. What gives it real power is its ubiquity; on every mobile phone, all the time, irrespective of handset, mobile operating system, carrier and Internet connectivity. For companies, these characteristics make SMS the ideal connective tissue to link and enhance all their customer interactions and marketing efforts. Can you please share one successful engagement with any of your clients, where txtWeb was able to boost their business? There are quite a few interesting examples. @wikipedia app on txtWeb is currently enabling internet-dark Indians residing in more than 300 tier 2 and tier 3 towns and even villages to access Wikipedia articles in their native language. Since its launch a year ago, it has been used more than a million times and is among the top 10 most popular apps on txtWeb. Given this success in India, Wikimedia Foundation is planning to publish a case study on how txtWeb is helping improve Wikipedia readership in areas where there is no Internet access so that the learnings can be applied to other emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia and Indonesia. CricBuzz, India’s leading Cricket website, created and deployed their app on txtWeb in just 5 hours. During the 2011 Cricket World Cup, their app got several million hits from new users who first discovered them on txtWeb and continued to use their services even after the Cricket World Cup. txtWeb also helps small entrepreneurs to quickly mobile-enable their services. @autofare app by Sandeep Bhaskar, a small entrepreneur in India,  addresses the issue of  meter-tampering by auto-rickshaw owners and drivers by providing approximate fare between two locations. One of the user, who was visiting India commented on txtWeb blog, “especially great for expats and foreigners trying to navigate Indian cities by auto-rickshaw, or anyone who is new to a city and doesn’t already have an idea of rates.” If any of our readers want to explore txtWeb for their business, what should they do? They should visit our website  www.txtWeb.com  to learn how they can mobile-enable their business in under 5 hours. For a specific and customized need, businesses can reach txtWeb at bdindia@txtWeb.com Where do you see txtWeb three years from now? Our vision is to make txtWeb the platform of choice for businesses and developers to quickly mobile-enable their services and for users to get services on-demand while on the go. We are witnessing strong growth and momentum both in terms of active users and in terms of active apps on the platform. Many of the leading sports, media, entertainment and e-commerce companies have already put their apps on txtWeb or are actively looking into it. We hope to realize our vision within the next three years. Three tips you would like to share with aspiring and budding entrepreneurs. Don’t be afraid to defy conventional logic or accepted norms as long as your conviction comes from being close to your customers and direct observation of their pain. Start scrappy with a minimum viable product to validate your biggest leap of faith assumptions. Only when those are validated, begin investing more in your venture. And finally, you must do what you think you cannot! That is the only way to push your boundaries and those of the world around you. To know more about txtWeb visit and try out their free service, please visit -  http://www.txtweb.com/ Do check out YourStory’s txtWeb SMS app and stay tuned to the latest startup and entrepreneurial news on-the-go anyplace anytime by sending an SMS @yourstory to 9243342000

0 comments Read the full article →

My Mobile Payments receives RBI’s approval to issue Mobile Wallet

by Paul Joseph November 16, 2011 Featured

Mobile Payments Ltd (MMPL), a Mumbai-based mobile payment service provider, has received the RBI’s go-ahead to launch financial services on mobile phones. Money on Mobile (MoM), an electronic prepaid payment instrument for the mobile phone, is set to launch its services for the Indian market this December. Speaking on this development Shashank M Joshi, MD of MMPL said, “We are elated that we’ve been granted the licence to offer the semi-closed m-wallet by the RBI. This means that by December, consumers can load their mobile phones with prepaid cash and use this virtual money to purchase goods and services at retail outlets. Retailers and kirana stores across the country will act as a loading point for MoM.” MMPL has already tied up with over 36,000 retailers pan-India and has a presence in over 200 cities. MoM offers mobile phone users the flexibility and convenience to top up their talk time, DTH account, buy air, bus or movie tickets anytime, anywhere using the mobile platform. MoM service operates independent of the consumer’s mobile operator or bank, and hence any mobile subscriber can avail of its services. “Started in India over a year ago, MMPL is determined to turn RBI’s desire into reality of converting 70 per cent of the country’s financial transactions to electronic by 2012. We have a dedicated team of 75 employees across India that is committed to ensuring consumers the ability to make safe, convenient and flexible payments thereby empowering them to ‘stop at nothing. Pay for anything’”, he added. For more details, check out their website -  http://www.money-on-mobile.net/ You may also like to read: Forgot your wallet? An Android powered phone can do the necessary! Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Payment Users to Reach 141 Million in 2011 Nokia introduces Mobile Money Client on all Nokia devices

0 comments Read the full article →

Math Problems? No Problem! Says IIT Kharagpur graduate – The StudyPad Story

by Paul Joseph November 1, 2011 Featured

Spend a moment remembering what your school was like. Did you ever really enjoy the math classes? Do you remember those monotonous worksheets? Next Monday morning when your child gets on Splash Math, their experience will not be the same. They will actually fall in love with math! In conversation with Mayank Jain, co-founder of StudyPad.inc, Abhilasha Dafria for YourStory.in finds out how he aims to inviting teachers, parents and their children to experience an innovation in educational methodology – Splash Math. Mayank, please introduce us to the concept of Studypadinc and the makers behind. We are a team of 5 computer science graduates from IIT KGP 2008 batch and we started a company called Intinno from college. It did LMS, ERP solutions for schools, colleges in India. With time, as we looked at the iPad and the possibilities it laid out, we realised this could change the way we learn. It was quite obviously an awesome platform for fun interactive learning. So, we decided to make educational apps for iPad & iPhones. We also learnt that the market penetration for iPads, iPhones was most in US and thus, we developed fun math applications for elementary school kids in US. Tell us in detail about the features of the app. Which feature are you most excited about?  Our app “Splash Math” replaces boring Math practice worksheets with fun interactive math games. Our focus is basically on creating an interactive and engaging experience. Besides, Splash Math uses StudyPad’s adaptive learning platform to personalise the questions based on kid’s level. It is one of the most comprehensive workbook available with virtually infinite problems to solve. It also reports a unique feature of email reports – i.e Every Saturday morning a report goes out detailing good areas and areas where the kid needs attention. Parents can thereby help the kid over the weekend. When and where did you come up with the first prototype? April 2011, was when we launched Splash Math 3 rd grade on the app store. It covered 16 chapters making it the most comprehensive math app in the market. We have an amazing set of advisors in US. They helped us understand the needs of the parents and teachers there. We also spoke to lot of teachers and parents and zeroed in on Math apps as the way to go. How much time did it take to build the app?  We took about 6 months for building our first app. So why iPad to begin with?  For several reasons, some of which being: Use of Tablet Devices in Education is the next big thing. There are amazing success stories of the difference these devices are bringing to the classrooms are all over the place. Ipad is the leader in the tablet market with about 68% market share. Rate of iPad sales have been greater than even iPhone sales. Larger Screen Size allows great learning experience. Lot of School Districts in US are trying out iPads in the classrooms as well. So are you not looking at launching on other platforms at all? Well, we are planning an Android and Web version in future. How do you market the app? The Apple App Store is a great place to market. So we are looking at that. Splash Math apps are currently in the top 50 earning education apps. All our apps are rated 4.5+ on 5 on the app store. What features are you planning to add to the app soon? We are planning to add some custom features for schools and also looking at introducing the Grade 4 and Grade 5 apps. Tell us about the number of downloads you have had so far. How has the response been? Basically, all our apps have been in the top 100 grossing educational apps since the launch. And we have been growing at more than 100% every month since our launch. What challenges do you face as an entrepreneur in mobile app space in India?  Well, the biggest hurdle is that the Indian Market is not developed enough. It is also not easy to get good creative talent in India. And of course, selling in US sitting in India is yet another challenge. Are there any other similar apps in the market? What are your differentiators? There are concept based apps in the market like Fractions app, Addition app etc. However, Splash Math is an all in one app eliminating the hassle of buying separate apps for each concept. Also, most of the apps are not curriculum based. Parents need to choose & setup the app for the kid’s level. Splash Math is setup automatically for the kid’s current grade level. Splash Math has interactive content. We use interactive manipulatives to effectively communicate concepts. Any thing else that you would like to share with our readers? There are about 7million kids per grade just in US. This is just the beginning for us and there is huge market looking for the right tools to learn.  We, at StudyPad, are building great learning applications to make learning fun Check out  Studypadinc  for further details.    You may also like to read: Now, Here is an App for Kids to Sharpen their Math Skills “Creative sector is not considered as an industry by Government itself and that’s the root of other problems” – Entrepreneur Kuljeet Singh of Atelier Expressions Teaching Your Kids Hindi Alphabets is One Download Away

0 comments Read the full article →