Despite a tough regulatory environment for mobile banking in India, Nokia expects to soon roll out its financial and banking services in the country under the banner of ‘Nokia Money’. The world’s largest mobile phone company has initiated talks with six banks in India who will be responsible for cash management and handling banking regulatory issues. As per Nokia’s strategy, it plans to tap its huge network of 1.9 lakh phone retailers and dealers who will act as the consumer point and banking correspondents.
Nokia will offer an universal platform where the mobile phone can be a medium for banking, international remittance, payment of utility bills, pay merchants for goods and services and buying tickets. “India figures amongst the top 20 countries where we plan to roll out Nokia Money in the first phase. While at present Indian banks may have a mobile banking platform, it is limited to a single bank and telecom operator. What we plan to offer is a full-fledged service which will bring together all banks, operators and even handsets of other brands,” said Teppo Paavola, global head of Nokia Money service. Talking about the regulatory challenges in India, Mr Paavola said the key issue will be to turn the Nokia retailers into Nokia Money agent.
As a globally recognized leader in visual display technology, ViewSonic is all set to enter the mobile market and will soon launch a Windows XP phone, the ViewSonic VPC08. The phone, which will run on Windows XP platform, is being viewed as a perfect merger of PCs and mobile phones.
The ViewSonic VPC08 will come with a 2-megapixel camera placed at the back. It has an Intel ULV-series processor, 512MB RAM, 8GB HD, and supports TF card expansion. The new ViewSonic VPC08 is made in the clamshell style and mini-notebook form factor. It is equipped with two screens and keyboard and this VPC08 smartphone is look like Nokia E90.
There is no information about the launch date of the ITG Windows XpPhone but it is expected to sell at $800. The phone is currently restricted to China alone, but will soon be shared with the rest of the world and it has.
Following a meeting in Seoul today between the Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, Yoon-Woo Lee, and the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, Samsung Electronics announced that it will collaborate with Microsoft on efficient energy usage in computers. The two companies are aimed at encouraging PC users to purchase more environmentally friendly PC systems. Samsung expects substantial energy savings when Microsoft’s flagship Windows 7 operating system and Samsung’s 40 nanometer (nm) class DDR3 DRAM are used together.
Samsung, a strong supporter of Windows 7, will be migrating all of its corporate PCs worldwide to the new operating system beginning in 2010. The Green IT collaboration effort between the world’s number one memory company and the world’s number one software company is expected to contribute to the revival of IT markets that have been depressed from the economic downturn.
At the beginning of September, Samsung initiated its own global marketing campaign centered around “Less Energy, More Speed”, initially focused on its energy-efficient, 40nm-class, 2Gb DDR3 DRAM. Also, Microsoft has announced significant reductions in power consumption with the new power management function in its recently released Windows 7 operating system.
“Windows 7 was designed as a more environmentally-sound and energy-efficient OS, particularly evident in its managing of memory and when shifting into lower power mode,” said Kim James Woo, Country Manager of Microsoft Korea. He added that “users will enjoy the benefits when Windows 7 and DDR3 are combined.”
“There is no doubt that the combination of Windows 7 and 40nm DDR3 in new PCs will make users very happy,” said Dong-Soo Jun, executive senior vice president of memory marketing at Samsung Electronics. He added, “If you opt for 4GB of memory in a Windows 7-based system, over typical 2GB-based systems used today, you’ll see an increase in performance, while using less power, thanks to the efficiency of Samsung’s 40nm DD3 DRAM.”
In the ensuing months, while measuring the effects of this and other collaborative Green IT efforts, Samsung will continue to examine the potential for other areas of global cooperation with Microsoft in IT technology development.
Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, and Microsoft India have entered into a long term, strategic partnership to provide next generation telecom products and services to Indian consumers. “In the immediate term, the partnership will involve the promotion of new Windows Phones-Acer Be Touch E101 and Acer Neo Touch s200, powered by Windows Mobile 6.5″, Anil Sardana, MD, Tata Teleservices Limited, told reporters here today.
Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation India, said “We are rapidly trying to develop new kind of muscle, other than the capabilities we already have in the PC space”. “India being a mobile first market, where several consumers have experienced internet first on the mobile and than the PC, it was important to develop capabilities in the mobile space”, he said explaining the thrust on the mobile space.
“We want to take our knowledge, strength, relationships in the PC space to the mobile platform”, he said adding the partnership with Tata Docomo would be to drive innovation and go to the market with it. It was also in tune with Tata Docomo’s plan of ensuring affordability and bringing down cost of access and scaling down the total ownership cost of devices and services. According to Anil “Our partnership was exclusive to a point to bring it first to the customer”, by ensuring innovation in services and new applications.
HTC is brining the new model HTC Touch 2 to Indian market. After the much popular HTC Magic and HTC Hero, the Touch2 would be almost like Touch 3G. However the Touch 2 is loaded with Windows Mobile 6.5 and would be available with Reliance GSM connection. The offer says you can have free data usage upto 200 MB every month for next 6 months.
Pricced at Rs. 24,490, HTC Touch 2 has a 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7225 CPU. It is equipped with 512MB ROM and 256MB RAM. It has a 2.8 inch touchscreen and a 3.2 MP camera. It also has Microsoft Exchange along with My Phone backup support.
Research In Motion launched in India on Tuesday two BlackBerry handsets through its distributor Redington. These handsets will be available through retail outlets in line with the company’s strategy since January to launch network-independent phones through Redington, besides its traditional sales through mobile services providers.
The new models launched on Tuesday are the BlackBerry Storm and BlackBerry Curve 8520. The phones will be available at leading electronic stores in 38 cities, RIM said. These stores are already selling other models of BlackBerry phones, the spokesman said. The move to offer the handsets through retail channels fits better with the way consumers in India like to buy, said a spokesman for RIM in India. Consumers usually pick a handset at retail stores from a variety of brands and models, and then insert a SIM (subscriber identity module) card and get it running, he added.
RIM already has ties with nine service providers in India, including the largest Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Communications, the second largest. After buying a BlackBerry handset from a retail store, the customer will still have to sign up with one of these nine service providers, the spokesman said. RIM offers its handsets through retail channels as well in a few other countries where the model has been found to be relevant to the market, he added.
Today Verizon Wireless launched its first Windows Mobile 6.5 powered smartphone, the multimedia-centric Imagio from HTC. As if being among the first Windows Mobile 6.5 devices to hit the market, the Imagio is also the first Verizon smartphone to include support for the MediaFLO(INFO) based V CAST Mobile TV service that Verizon offers for $15 per month. The digital TV service comes through to the Imagio via its antenna, which serves double duty as a viewing kickstand.
The TV should appear big and bold on the Imagio’s massive 3.6-inch touchscreen display, which sports a monstrous 800 x 480 pixel resolution. And since there are TV programs and channels from over 19 networks to choose from, there’s sure to be something for everybody to enjoy. Of course, if you prefer to do it yourself, there’s also a 5.0 megapixel autofocus camera with camcorder ability on the Imagio.
The HTC Imagio can do more than just keep you connected in the U.S. since it also offers quad-band GSM/EDGE and 2100MHz UMTS/HSPA support for world roaming capability when it can’t rely on Verizon’s speedy EV-DO Rev. A 3G network. WiFi connectivity is also available, and the large 1500mAh battery should give the device plenty of power.
Verizon claims that the HTC Imagio also provides users with seamless social network integration and an HTC TouchFLO 3D powered user interface. The Imagio supports V CAST Music with Rhapsody, too, and even offers a 3.5mm port for use with standard stereo headphones – no adapter required.
The HTC Imagio will be available online on October 6, 2009 for $199.99 with a 2-year agreement, after a $100 mail-in rebate that comes in the form of a debit card. The Imagio will be available in Verizon Wireless retail locations starting on October 20.
A new entry-level Samsung phone is coming soon: the Samsung C5130, a slider that doesn’t look too different from the other entry-level sliders announced by the South Korean company until now.
There aren’t too many advanced features packed into the Samsung C5310. The handset comes with a 2 inch 176 x 144 pixels display with 262K colors, Bluetooth 2.0, music player, FM radio, 1.3MP camera and MicroSD card support. The phone also has quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity and 3G (although it’s only UMTS).
Nokia is getting ready to release a new entry-level phone that will probably be a hit in emerging markets: Nokia 2220 slide. The 2220 slide is obviously a slider, and it looks like it will come in many color versions, including red, blue and green.
The handset uses Nokia’s S40 UI and it only has dual-band GSM connectivity (900/1800 MHz). Its other features apparently include: 128 x 160 pixels display, 3.5mm headset jack, FM radio, Opera Mini browser, VGA camera, 10MB of internal memory, and a battery that should last up to 8 hours in talk-time mode, or up to 400 hours in stand-by.
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