Category: Software

MUMBAI: Sports, entertainment and media company IMG has acquired Nunet which provides mobile media solutions for
2.5G and 3G mobile network operators.

Nunet currently streams more than 200 channels for over 20 mobile network operators in Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Its clients include Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Global, A1 Mobilkom in Austria, Swisscom in Switzerland and Vodacom in South Africa.

In addition, Nunet provides both technology and editorial support to leading content owners to help them develop a wide range of mobile content products. From WAP sites, real-time tickers, to VoD services, to dynamic, linear channels with integrated advertising, Nunet has a diverse set of technical and editorial resources to support its clients ranging from HBO, Turner, Fujifilm and Sony BMG.

IMG Media‘s senior corporate VP Todd McCormack said, “I am delighted to announce the acquisition of Nunet, which represents an excellent strategic fit with IMG Media. Nunet‘s capabilities perfectly complement those of IMG Media, leading to further synergies and the enhancement of the service we can offer our clients.

Nunet will continue to operate its content aggregation, content enrichment and distribution services under its own brand, and be run as an independent business within the IMG Media Group. However, many in the Nunet team have already re-located to IMG offices as the company plans to ensure that its mobile solutions can be integrated into the broader set of digital media solutions offered by IMG Media to its clients.

MUMBAI: IPTV is being touted as the new growth frontier for both telecom and internet service providers with over 30 deployments globally to-date.

Most providers are offering triple-play services of video, data and voice to prevent churn and arrest falling revenues from traditional telephony.

Frost And Sullivan has come out with a report IPTV: Remote(ly) in Control. Frost and Sullivan principal consultant Jayesh Easwaramony says, “Despite the rapidly developing IPTV market, penetration remains low in most countries, leaving even the largest IPTV provider in the red.

“Decision makers are seized with doubts on the right service mix to entice consumers, the ideal business model and the payoff from sizeable investments in upgrading their networks,” adds Easwaramony.

Unfamiliarity with the unique appeal of relevant content adds a new dimension to IPTV services and the challenge of making it a viable venture.

MUMBAI: Channel [V] is set to expand its music offering in Singapore with the addition of two Chinese music services – Channel [V] Taiwan and Channel [V] Mainland China – on StarHub Digital Cable on 1 February.

With this, [V] will become Singapore‘s largest pay-TV music service provider with three music channels: Channel [V] Taiwan, Channel [V] Mainland China and Channel [V] International, which was launched on StarHub last November.

Catering to the increasing demand for quality Chinese music, youth and lifestyle programmes in the Singapore market, Channel [V] Taiwan and Channel [V] Mainland China will be available on StarHub Digital Cable‘s Chinese Plus II package.

“We are delighted to expand our partnership with StarHub by launching Channel [V] Taiwan and Channel [V] Mainland China on the platform,” said Star executive vice president content, Ross Crowley. “It underscores our commitment to bringing more exciting entertainment choice for viewers across the region. Starting from tomorrow, Singapore viewers will be able to tune in to the hottest Chinese music events and most talked-about youth and lifestyle programmes that have been thrilling audiences in Taiwan and mainland China.”

MUMBAI: In the era of digital services the mobile phone can well be referred as man‘s best friend for the umpteen tasks it performs. Extending the benefits of this little gadget, mobile commerce solutions company PayMate has recently partnered with OnMobile, a value added services provider, to allow consumers to pay bills via mobile for services available on OnMobile powered voice portals and WAP sites such as Hutch, Airtel, Idea, Reliance, Tata, Fame Cinemas, Adlabs Multiplexes and the 505 platform.

Paymate customers will be able to pay via mobile while shopping, gifting, movie ticketing, airline ticketing and making bill payments on OnMobile powered WAP sites or voice portals. A user selects a product and proceeds to the payment menu wherein PayMate is offered as a mode of payment. The user then has to enter his PayMate PIN and complete the payment process. The user receives an SMS confirming the successful purchase of the product, states an official release.

“PayMate is extremely convenient, easy to use and compatible across all mobile handsets and operators. Most merchants have difficulty in accepting remote payments since customers are apprehensive about sharing credit/ debit card details online or over the phone. This makes PayMate an ideal solution for accepting payments online, over the phone or even at a counter since customers do not have to divulge any credit or debit card details at any time.” says PayMate founder & MD Ajay Adiseshann.

“OnMobile has enabled Paymate to offer its innovative and secure payment service via OnMobile IVR and WAP products to more than 100 million telecom subscribers in India. We will continue to offer more payment options for telecom subscribers” says OnMobile head-mobile commerce Balachandran Unni.

The company is also in the process of tying up with several offline merchants such as telco‘s, utilities, insurance companies, cable and broadband services, tele-shopping etc and will be announcing its tie-ups in a phased manner, adds the release.

PayMate is currently being offered to Citibank bank credit card and banking customers and will roll out services with other banks shortly. To use PayMate, Citibank customers need to sign up for this service free with the bank by simply sending “PayMate” as an SMS to 2484. The customer will then be called and registered for the service following which they can pay at any of PayMate‘s accredited merchants via a single SMS.

On receiving this SMS, the bank will verify the user‘s mobile number with the account and on confirmation will debit the account accordingly. The merchant and the customer will receive a confirmation message from the bank approving the transaction. The entire transaction takes place at the cost of a single premium SMS.

The company ensures a secure payment solution as no credit/debit card information is ever disclosed during the transaction process. The trust model is based on the recommendations by Ernst & Young; which provides the security measures for both the bank as well as the customer.

PayMate is accepted at over 2500 online portals including travel, astrology, electronics, education, jobs, NGOs, apparels, matrimony, entertainment and healthcare etc. PayMate has also announced its tie-ups with Tele-brands, Big Tree (cinema ticketing), Mumbai Gold Cabs, Planet M, CRS Health, Seijo and the Soul Dish, VSNL, Future Bazaar among others.

NEW DELHI: While the long awaited JV between Hindustan Times and Times of India may not have surprised anyone, another marketing exercise by TOI could: it is a so-far unannounced tie-up between TOI and Tata Sky for the marketing of its DTH service in Delhi-NCR.

The deal is that Tata Sky is going to sell and collect the monthly subscription fees from their customers through the circulation department of TOI, now termed as Report and Market Development, or RMD department.

Sources in TOI refused to comment. But while it is being said that a deal was signed earlier this month, Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik told indiantelevision.com: “There is a lot of discussion with not just TOI but beyond that also, but nothing has been finalised as yet.”

Tata Sky has been running a business module so far that involves selling its dishes and STBs through shops selling mobile phones and electronics equipment, especially TV sets. But that does not seem enough.

They receive a large volume of orders and requests over the telephones which operate through BPOs. “If they have to land their own sellers to service all the new demands, it will be hugely costly and eat into their slender margins of selling boxes, especially due to the competition,” a source told indiantelevision.com, adding that each box is a one-time sale only.

Which is why, Tata Sky, these sources reveal, has said that TOI‘s newspaper vendors can be used to get feedback from those who called. The plan is that since TOI has a massive network of newspaper sellers, they could be coordinated through the paper‘s RMD people. “The callers‘ addresses are going to be passed on to the vendors who would make actual contact with the interested persons, thus saving Tata Sky the effort, time and cost.

Similarly, Tata Sky has reportedly told the paper‘s bosses that it alone has 200,000 DTH homes in the entire Delhi-NCR region, a lot of them being in the group housing societies in outlying areas of the NCR, like Gurgaon, Rohini, Ghaziabad and so forth.

Tata Sky has proposed that the vendors also be used to collect the monthly charges for the card, which is a prepaid one.

“They wanted to avoid the ‘cablewallah‘ experience, where the cable operator‘s grounds-man comes for the monthly rental and is sent back to come on another day. In any case, just as in the case of first-contact before a person buys a Tata Sky set, for collecting the monthly charges as well, the same inexpensive network of unskilled newspaper vending staff could be used.

In fact, Tata Sky has convinced TOI that even if a fraction of the total monthly charge for each card is retained by TOI as collection fee, that is a substantial amount per month with Tata Sky having 200,000 users and the number growing. The system would be smooth and make business sense to both the paper and the DTH operator.

It is not clear that this system would be tried in the other cities where TOI is read. It is believed that even in places where there is no TOI edition, but the company has bought other local papers, this system could be tried later.

MUMBAI: Moser Baer Ltd is expanding its home video business. The company plans to come out with Malayalam films in the VCD and DVD formats.

The entry into this market will be with Tiger which has Suresh Gopi, Murali and Gopika as star cast. This will be released in both VCD and DVD formats.

“We plan to launch 100 other titles from our library of over 600 Malayalam titles, both from catalogue as new films. This is the first time that a launch of such an unprecedented scale of titles will take place in Kerala. While all the titles will be introduced in VCD format, 12 key titles are planned to be introduced in DVD format also,” the company said in a statement.

Moser Baer has already lined up 26 distributors in Kerala and stocks shall be available immediately in around 5,000 outlets which will be scaled up in future. “We will be advertising the concept of low cost, original VCDs and DVDs in local TV channels and press starting from 1 February,” the company said.

On 10 January, Moser Baer launched over 101 Tamil titles in Tamil Nadu. The company releases video content on DVD and Video CD formats using its proprietary and patented technology which it claims “enhances quality” and significantly reduces cost.

Moser Baer is in final negotiations to acquire copyrights/exclusive license of more than 7000 titles in all major Indian languages. “This initiative in Kerala is poised to bring a paradigm change in the home video market. We believe this will lead to much higher consumption of content on home video, and encourage people to build libraries and eschew piracy. We have planned distribution to reach virtually every town where there is a movie loving family. Our rich library, world-class packaging and production, and unbeatable value propositions for customers will surely propel Moser Baer and this new venture into the top end of the market in a very short time,” said Moser Baer executive director Ratul Puri.

The new initiative will release titles in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi languages. “With 18 CFAs, 400 distributors and a dedicated sales force, this division will also set up owned and branded outlets at about 300 locations in addition to its alliances with large format stores. One such branded outlet was already inaugurated and isfunctioning at Pondicherry,” the company said.

MUMBAI: News Corp owned digital pay-TV technology encryption specialist NDS reported a 17 per cent increase in second quarter net profit (to 31 December) at $30.3 million, compared to the $26 million achieved for the corresponding period in the previous year.

Net profit for the six-month period was $65.4 million. Revenues were up eight per cent to $165 million compared to the previous year. NDS‘ half-year income was up 11 per cent at $ 329 million.

Increases in revenues were principally due to higher security fees and a higher volume of smart cards delivered to customers, especially to new customers in Europe, China and India.

Commenting on the company‘s performance, NDS‘ chairman and CEO Dr Abe Peled said: “NDS has completed another successful quarter, and has made tangible progress in developing products for the rapidly changing media distribution landscape. The acquisition of Jungo, a leader and pioneer in the broadband residential gateway software, coupled with our Synamedia Metro system solution, and our VG Key digital rights management offering position NDS well to support the secure distribution of content over broadcast as well as broadband IP networks to any device, anywhere.”

NDS completed the acquisition of Israeli residential gateway device and software supplier Jungo Limited on 31 December. As of that date, NDS had cash reserves of $483.4 million.

MUMBAI: In an effort to tap into the burgeoning mobile sphere, Star India is launching the platform Plus by the end of February.

Star is hoping this initiative will help users go beyond using the mobile for text and voice. It is being positioned as a solution for consumers to catch up on television, sports, movies, shop and bank on the go.

Speaking on this, Star Mobile Entertainment senior VP Viren Popli says, “The mobile service is a particularly valuable tool for those who do not have access to the net. They can access the digital world. You do not need to change your phone. You need GPRS to download the application for free. There will be a monthly fee of around Rs 2 for the content. Of course ringtone downloads or purchases will be billed separately.

“Once a user downloads the application he will see nine buttons. These are TV, Sports, Music, Movie, Lifestyle, Community, Downloads, Info Services and Help. TV has a TV guide. We also offer mobisodes of our shows. This is basically a summary of the episode that has just aired. You can also get wallpapers. As far as information services are concerned we have a few partners. For banking we have tied up with HDFC. It allows you to access your account, ask for a cheque book.”

Popli adds that in the travel, segment there are two partners – Travelguru and makemytrip.com. One can buy tickets and make hotel reservations. Star has also tied up with Infomedia for the Yellow Pages service. Here you can search for phone numbers. For astrology there is a tie-up with Dinesha Speaks. The sports section has a news desk for cricket, hockey, golf, tennis etc. One can also get ball by ball updates.

In the movies section one gets clips, news and reviews. For music the firm has tied up with Universal Music. One can get information on new releases, classics etc. One can listen to clips before deciding whether or not to make a purchase. Popli adds that as of now five to 10 per cent of mobile phones in India have GPRS. Hopefully in two years time with services like this launching 30-40 per cent of phones will have GPRS.

He says that the service took six to seven months to set up. One criteria was that the user should not have to change his/her phone. Also the interface needed to be easy to use. Right now the interface is in English but Star is looking at making it available in other languages as well. Going forward Plus‘ aim will be to add to the depth and breadth of the services it offers.

For instance, in TV in the future one might get other channels‘ schedules and have clips from there besides the Star bouquet. That is one reason why Popli says the name Plus was given to the service to separate it from the Star brand name. The firm is also examining the possibility on introducing mobile blogs, mail as time goes on.

In the Lifestyle section one can get information on cars courtesy a tie up with Overdrive. Then there is a tie-up with T3 for gadget news. Computing information comes courtesy Chip. Design tips will be provided by Better Interiors. Fans of audio can learn what is happening thanks to a tie up with AV Max. If one wants to buy a car for example one can put in a price range and then see what is available. A review will be there and then one can ask for a test drive.

The Community section will offer Midnight Chat on Channel [V] as well as shopping. One can also blog here.

MUMBAI: Juniper Research predicts that the mobile entertainment market is set for a new era of rapid growth as 3G environments become more commonplace, applications built for mobile predominate and more users in the mass market exploit the mobile phone as a multifunctional communications and entertainment device.

The value of the mobile entertainment market, including music, games, TV, sports and infotainment, gambling and adult content is forecast to increase from $17.3 billion in 2006 to nearly $77 billion by 2011, driven by mobile TV, video rich applications and a buoyant Asian market. This may be rapid growth but there are still a number of barriers.

Juniper Research Mobile Entertainment Series principal author commented,” The face of mobile entertainment is expected to change significantly over the next five years as next generation mobile services continue to be rolled out around the globe and take up steadily increases. As 3G services become commonplace, sophisticated mobile entertainment products and services can reach the mass market and provide the sort of anywhere anytime entertainment that has been predicted for some time, but not really delivered.”

However, he added a note of caution, “Whilst the potential to generate dramatically increased revenues is certainly there, many uncertainties affecting sections of the market still exist and could put a break on growth – the development of legislative environments for mobile gambling and adult content, and the success of broadcast mobile TV trials currently underway or planned, are just two examples.” Dramatic changes in service delivery are forecast, but some aspects of market structure will not change. The Asia Pacific region currently provides the largest market for Mobile Entertainment services and contributes over 40% of global revenues. Despite more rapid growth in North America and in developing markets, the Asia Pacific region is forecast to retain its leadership through to 2011, when it will still contribute 37% of global revenues.

MUMBAI: News Corporation and VeriSign have announced that a joint venture giving News Corp controlling interest in VeriSign’s wholly owned Jamba subsidiary will finalise tomorrow, 31 January.

The joint venture combines mobile ringtone and animation provider Jamba and Fox Mobile Entertainment assets to form a leading global provider of mobile entertainment. Lucy Hood, who was formerly president of Fox Mobile Entertainment, will become the company’s CEO effective immediately upon the close of the deal.

It was in September that News Corp announced it would pay $188 million for a 51 per cent stake in VeriSign’s wholly-owned Jamba subsidiary and will combine it with Fox Mobile Entertainment assets. VeriSign, which bought Jamba for $ 270 million in 2004, operates intelligent infrastructure services that enable and protect interactions across voice and data networks anytime, from anywhere on multiple devices.

The new company will serve 30 territories with a potential reach of more than a billion mobile subscribers. The new company intends to retain the Jamster brand in the US and the Jamba brand worldwide.

Jamba was founded in 2000 and is considered a global leader in off-deck delivery of mobile entertainment.

News Corp’s Fox Mobile Entertainment group got its start with American Idol text voting, which generated nearly 65 million text messages last season, up from 12,000 messages in the first season in 2001.

Following the close of the transaction, Jamba will release its first products and offerings as a new entity, including:

MySpace Mobile Store – In an alliance with News Corp’s wildly popular social networking site MySpace, Jamba will be MySpace‘s global m-commerce partner.

Also in the pipeline is The Simpsons Mobile – Jamba will exclusively offer mobile content from the series The Simpsons through a subscription package tied to exclusive content called the Yellow Plan.