Category: Software

MUMBAI: Online search major Yahoo! has expanded the reach of the new Yahoo! oneSearch service to the Mobile Web in the US.

Yahoo! oneSearch reinvents search to give consumers exactly what they want on their mobile device – instant answers. The innovative search service that initially launched in Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 is now accessible on more than 85 per cent of mobile phones through the mobile Web and is also available through the gamma version of Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0.

The service leverages Yahoo!‘s experience, investment and expertise in search on the desktop as well as relationships with leading content providers to deliver an un-matched search experience to consumers.

Yahoo! senior VP connected life Marco Boerries says, “Yahoo! oneSearch has already started to change the mobile search game by fundamentally improving the way consumers‘ access and use the Internet on their mobile phones. Consumers that have tried oneSearch love it, telling us it‘s easier and more helpful than any other mobile search services they‘ve used. We are delivering the results consumers want with just one search, not a list of Web links.”

Yahoo! oneSearch is aimed at making searching for and finding information as quick as possible for consumers by providing relevant results right on the page such as news headlines, images, business listings and more as well as easy navigation to other websites. For example, if a consumer wants to go to a movie this weekend, they just need to type the name of the movie into the search box.

The search results would first list the movie, including a user rating, local theaters the movie is playing at, news headlines related to the movie and more. To dig more deeply into the results, a consumer would simply need to click on any item or category. For example, to see all the movies playing at a specific listed theater, just click on the theater name.

Yahoo! oneSearch on Yahoo!‘s Mobile Web site has sponsored search results and display advertisements built into the experience, further extending the reach of Yahoo!‘s advertising services to the mobile environment and enabling advertisers to reach consumers on their mobile devices across major mobile operators. Consumers can click on an ad to go to the advertisers‘ mobile web site or a landing page to get more information about the advertisers‘ offerings, including the ability to call the advertiser.

MUMBAI: UK media regulator Ofcom has announced that it will investigate the pay TV market. This includes obtaining information from market participants.

Ofcom had received a submission from BT, Setanta, Top Up TV, and Virgin Media, which asks it to investigate the pay TV industry and to consider whether to make a market reference to the Competition Commission under the Enterprise Act 2002.

Pay TV includes subscription and video-on-demand television services on all platforms: cable, digital terrestrial television (DTT), satellite and TV over DSL.

Ofcom will decide whether to make a market reference to the Competition Commission. Ofcom will also consider whether any concerns would be better addressed using sectoral powers or the Competition Act 1998.

Consumer groups including the Ofcom Consumer Panel and the National Consumer Council have also expressed concerns to Ofcom about one aspect of the pay TV market: the loss of BSkyB channels on Virgin Media’s pay TV platform.

Separately, BSkyB has announced a proposal to launch a new pay TV service on the DTT platform, based on new set-top box specifications. On receipt of a licence application, Ofcom would consult on whether to approve the licence variations needed for such a service. In the meantime, the implications of the possible entry of BSkyB into the pay DTT market, including impact on consumers and emerging competition, will be part of the market investigation.

The investigation will be concerned with features of the market, including control over content, ownership of distribution platforms, retail subscriber bases and vertical integration.

MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has announced specialised value Packs for its Mobile ESPN service in India. The specialised packs have been designed for the sports enthusiast in India and will provide customised packages for the regular updates on Cricket, International Soccer, English Premier League and Sports News in Voice and SMS formats.

Riding on the growing penetration of mobile telephony as well interest of the youth of India in varied sports specially cricket and soccer, Mobile ESPN is targeting 10 million subscribers by 2012. Mobile ESPN is currently available on Airtel, Hutch and BSNL networks. ESS had entered the mobile realm last year.

ESS head new media business Sricharan Iyengar said, “Mobile ESPN is targeted to be the home of sports for fans across India. Our mandate is to deliver the latest sports news, information updates, analysis and statistics to sports fans anytime, anywhere.

“There is a huge market to be tapped as there is a growing audience for sports like Soccer, Motosports and Tennis. Cricket still remains the most popular game in the country. With expertise and experience of ESPN, we are uniquely positioned to exploit this market. The launch of specialised value packs is a part of our strategy to provide sports‘ fans the latest information on their favourite sport, the way they want it”.

TThe newly launched packs are ‘EPL/ FA football SMS subscription pack‘, ‘International Football SMS pack‘, ‘Sportscenter News pack‘, ‘Cricket SMS pack‘, ‘Mobile ESPN Voice portal pack‘ and ‘Hatrick‘- a game based application on the Hindi movie of the same name.

The EPL/FA Football SMS subscription pack will offer regular news updates on the league to EPL fans. The service comes at a nominal charge of Rs 50 per month in which the users will get 22 SMS alerts every week related to the top 5 EPL clubs i.e. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle. The alerts will feature daily morning Football news headlines, match schedule on all match days, match summary after every match and EPL points table every Monday.

The International Football SMS pack available at Rs 50 per month will keep soccer fans updated on the latest from the arena of international football. The pack includes 23 SMS alerts every week related to the top 5 International clubs other than the ones in EPL i.e. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan and Inter Milan. The alerts will include daily morning Football news headlines, match summary after every match and gossip from the International Football arena.

The Sportscenter News pack will keep the users updated on the latest news from the world of sports. The Sportcenter service is charged at Rs 30 per month and includes 2 SMS alerts daily- morning and evening- from the world of sports as they happen.

To be updated with the latest from the World of Cricket– from toss update to Man of the match, who‘s scoring the tons, fall of wickets, updates and expert analysis at regular interval, Mobile ESPN has launched the Cricket SMS Pack which will feature regular SMS alerts on every match covering toss update, regular match scores, fall of wickets alerts, and the match summary. It will also have a daily news headlines from the World of Cricket. This service is available at a nominal charge of Rs. 30 per month.

Mobile ESPN launched India‘s first dedicated sports service on voice on mobile. To begin with the service is available in English and Hindi. Mobile ESPN users have to dial 5053776 and listen to Off TV updates and analysis from cricket, reviews, previews and expert views on all the cricketing action across the globe; the Sportscenter News updated regularly throughout the day; Football news and scores from the EPL and all other international leagues. Call charges to 5053776 is at Rs.6 / min. Mobile ESPN voice services can also be availed on monthly subscription at a rental of Rs.99 / per month and call charges at 10p / min.

Easy to access, Mobile ESPN services can be availed by dialling 505-ESPN (3776) on the phone or by sending an SMS to (ESPN) 3776, which will be the ESPN short code nationally. On entering the voice portal, the consumers can select from a module comprising sections such as Welcome and user navigation; Cricket; Football; Sports center; and New Super Selector. A user friendly feature of Mobile ESPN is that while first time callers will listen to a longer introduction with detailed navigation instructions, repeat callers‘ introduction will be brief followed by navigation options.

MUMBAI: Telecom service provider Hutch has announced the first of its kind phone back up service for its customers. Hutch customers subscribing to this service no longer have to worry about losing their contacts and phone numbers if they lose their mobile phone.

This service will not only help Hutch customers save critical phone book data, but also preserve SMS, MMS, ringtones, games, photos, videos, etc and also help switch phones seamlessly plus restore data on a new phone and a lot more.

Hutch customers can take their phone back up in two ways – through GPRS enabled phones as well as through SMS on non-GPRS phones. Hutch customers need to SMS BACKUP to 52585 and receive a service message to activate and use this service.

Once installed, the application automatically backs up data from the customer’s phone to a server and the customer can access this data with the help of a username/ password generated by the application. This application is currently supported by 84 different GPRS enabled handsets. Details of the handsets can be got by logging on to www.hutch.in.

The Hutch Phone Back-up service works on all other non-GPRS phones through SMS. The cost of subscribing to the phone back-up is Rs.50/- per month for GPRS users, while it is Rs.30/- per month for non-GPRS users, who access this service through SMS. GPRS users can create a back-up for their phone book as well as SMS, MMS, ringtones, games, photos and videos etc., whereas non-GPRS users can only back up their phone book data.

When the customer switches to a new phone, they will just have to send Restore to 52585 and all the information on their contact numbers will be sent to the new handset. Hutch customers can additionally restore applications, tones, wallpapers, photos, videos etc. from the web interface. To unsubscribe from the service, Hutch customers will need to send UNSUB Backup to 52585 and the data will be deleted after being preserved for seven days. 52585 will be a toll-free number and customers will not have to incur any cost to send messages to this number.

Hutch marketing director Harit Nagpal said, “The facility that Hutch customers can now save critical phone data despite losing their handsets is a first in the industry. This service will offer tremendous convenience to our customers in situations where their handsets get lost or damaged, leading to loss of phone numbers, contact details and other critical data.”

MUMBAI: The global television trade event MipTV takes in place in Cannes, France next month.

It has announced the 25 finalists for the second edition of Content 360, the international competition to commission innovative, interactive content and applications for mobile and broadband.

TFor the second year, “Content 360,” is organised in partnership with the BBC, the Korean Broadcasting Commission (KBC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and for the first time WPP’s OgilvyOne Worldwide and Yahoo!

The call for entries launched on January 8, 2007 and received an enthusiastic response from hundreds of international multimedia and application developers. A total of 450 projects from 36 countries were entered compared to 186 projects from 23 countries last year. 240 companies from countries like India, Mexico, Australia, Sweden, South Africa, US, France, Canada, Italy, South Korea, UK entered projects in this year’s competition.

Divided into eight categories, the 25 finalists will attend MIPTV featuring MILIA in April to promote their projects in the Content 360 Pavilion and during pitching sessions in the Conference Programme. The projects will be judged by panels of key digital commissioners, brands and industry experts.

The winners, revealed in Cannes on April 19, will share €100,000 in development funds pledged by the competition partners.

MUMBAI: Rainbow HD Holdings LLC (Voom HD), a subsidiary of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC and PCCW Ltd, IPTV multichannel video operator, have inked a carriage agreement to launch the Voom HD channel in Hong Kong, marking the channels entry into Asia.

Emerging as one of the first 24/7 high-definition channels in Asia, Voom HD offers the international marketplace a perspective on adventure travel, fashion, luxury lifestyle, art, live concerts, action sports and video gaming.

Voom HD‘s launch on PCCW, which was facilitated by Gang TV president Gregory Ang is also innovative in its bi-format roll-out strategy, allowing viewers to view the content both in standard definition (SD) beginning 18 April and in HD shortly thereafter. The channel will be subtitled in Chinese for both SD and HD offerings, informs an official release.

“Rainbow has produced a high-quality, industry-leading channel that is sure to resonate among our taste-making viewers,” said PCCW executive VP marketing and content development Janice Lee. “VOOM HD‘s content is spectacular and we look forward to being the first to bring it to Hong Kong.”

MUMBAI: Webaroo has launched a mobile software application that delivers fast, free and always-on access to web content on mobile phones throughout the world.

The software provides consumers a variety of content such as news, blogs, photos and emails on their mobile phones which they can access even when they‘re not connected to the network.

The application runs on most Java-enabled phones world-wide including models from Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and others. Data access must be enabled on the phones for the user to download and update the Webaroo application. Webaroo is free to consumers, apart from the data access fees charged by their carriers, states an official release.

“Webaroo‘s vision is to make web content available on all portable devices”, said Webaroo co-founder and CEO Rakesh Mathur. “We are excited to bring our vision to life now on most of the world‘s mobile phones, in addition to laptops and portable drives. This is a significant development as trends indicate that web usage on mobile phones will grow to be more than on other devices.”

Webaroo‘s technology uses the local phone memory to store snippets of content downloaded from the web. Since the content is stored locally, it is available all the time, even when network connectivity is weak or unavailable.

Webaroo is in discussions with mobile carriers and content publishers to integrate the Webaroo application into their services, thereby delivering a mobile web experience to consumers at the time they purchase their new phones.

MUMBAI: Google today announced the appointment of Shailesh Rao as managing director, sales and operations for Google India.

Based in New Delhi, Rao will manage Google‘s domestic business and strategic partnerships in India.

Prior to Google, Rao was vice-president of products for Yodlee managing all aspects of product and corporate development for Yodlee‘s core products and technology.

Rao has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania with Honors, a BS from the Wharton School with a concentration in finance, and an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management.

MUMBAI: Dish TV is planning to pump in Rs 10 billion over the next two and a half years as it wants to aggressively ramp up subscribers in a direct-to-home (DTH) market that is going to soon see new entrants.

The funding of Zee Group‘s demerged DTH business will be through a mix of debt and equity. “We are looking at a 30-40 per cent debt component. For equity, we are open to all options,” says Dish TV CEO Arun Kapoor.

DTH operators are sinking in big money as they subsidise costs to acquire customers. While Dish TV has already invested Rs 7 billion in the DTH business, Tata Sky has put in Rs 10 billion and plans to pump in an additional 20 billion.

Dish TV‘s net loss for FY06 was Rs 790 million on the back of subsidies and marketing expenses while revenue was at Rs 818 million. The company expects to end this fiscal on a turnover of Rs 1.7 billion and a net loss of Rs 1.5 billion.

Tata Sky has said that it would take 5-7 years to break even as it has to absorb the hardware and content subsidy. Dish TV, however, hopes to enjoy a cash break even situation by FY09 while operating margins, currently negative, are set to be at 26 per cent.

Dish TV expects to add 1.1 million subscribers in the next fiscal. The company has already touched 1.9 million subscribers, a little below its target of 2.3 million for the current fiscal. Tata Sky has mopped up half a million subscribers and says it is on course to achieve its target of 1 million customers in the first year of operations.

Dish TV‘s average revenue per user (ARPU), which was hovering around Rs 190, has jumped to Rs 230. The cost of content is about 65 per cent of the ARPU. “This will fall down to 45 per cent over the next two years,” says Kapoor.

Dish TV plans to get listed either on Monday or Wednesday next week, making it the first DTH company in India to be available on the bourses.

The DTH space will bring in new players like Kalanithi Maran‘s Sun Direct and Anil Ambani‘s Bluemagic this year. Telecom major Bharti Airtel Limited has also floated a wholly owned subsidiary, Bharti Telemedia, for its DTH service.

Speaking about the response they received, VH1 India General Manager Keertan Adyanthaya said, “We received about 991 entries from across the country – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Pondicherry and Kolkatta. Prior to that, we also sent people with a Nokia camera phones across colleges, malls and at the Campus Rock Idol to demonstrate how they can use their phones to shoot footage.”

“The brief from Nokia was clear- they wanted to send their message ‘Music Connects‘ across to the audience and they loved the concept. For us that was the prime focus. The whole idea was to ensure that people express themselves,” he added.

Although the rock group themselves did not sit through any of the entries, lead singer of the band, Vishal Dadlani mentioned that the video and the whole initiative had managed to generate a lot of interest in their music and album. “While performing this song in a concert recently, or group realized that the crowds was singing along with us. They knew the words of the song already and that was a great feeling.”

Talking about the challenges the team faced during the making of the video Adyanthaya said that since the use of digital media in our country is still at a nascent stage, many of the entries did not meet television standards. Very often the resolution of the footage sent was not suitable for use. Some of the footage sent was copyrighted material and again could not be used.

The music video now airing on MTV Networks will also be available online and through Nokia downloads. Modalities for the same are being worked out.