Facebook has just launched its Lite app in India and the Philippines. The app is now available for download from the Play Store on Android devices. It makes sense that it isn’t on iOS as owners of Apple devices are in any case unlikely to be in low connectivity zones for any length of time. Facebook Lite is meant to pull in more users in places where good internet connectivity is not a given – that is to say, it’s 2G-friendly. The Lite app downloads at top speed and is quick to set up. The user gets the works – the News Feed, photos, events, groups, and notifications. It even has Facebook chat. What it does not have though, is video. You can select the quality of photographs so that get faster rendering in really low connectivity situations. However, the images are slow to download even when tested on Wi-Fi. The app also refreshes often and creates an interruption of several seconds. It looks like Facebook’s new users will have to have a lot of patience as they join the giant social network. The look of the interface on Lite is similar to the main app and website which is a good thing as users will not feel they’ve been saddled with a compromised experience. However, the font is rather small even at its highest setting and will be quite a strain on small devices. India is Facebook’s second largest market after the US and it is where the social network wants to focus its energies on expanding its already gigantic user base.
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Technology major Lenovo on Monday (29 June) said it has appointed Rahul Agarwal as the Managing Director of its India operations with immediate effect. Agarwal succeeds Amar Babu, who will now take on a regional mandate as Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific and Chairman, Lenovo India. "Rahul Agarwal takes charge at a time when Lenovo is gearing up for its next phase of growth, diversifying beyond PCs into the smart connected devices while maintaining a strong PC focus," Lenovo said in a statement. India plays a key role in the transformation and therefore, is an extremely critical market for the company, it added. "Rahul's wealth of experience has been instrumental in driving Lenovo's growth and making him the natural choice to take over from Amar Babu," Lenovo President (Asia Pacific) Roderick Lappin said. Agarwal, over the last three years, has led Lenovo's commercial business and has managed various roles in sales and marketing over the last 10 years. In 2014, Lenovo held the third spot with 15.8 per cent market share in the Indian PC segment, while it is aiming to be among the top three in the Indian smartphone market.
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E-tailers are roping in women with hospitality industry background are roped in to deliver niche products for better customer experience Customers are really the kings and queens in the age of e-tailing. Not only are they a discerning lot, they are also fickle minded; always unsure of what they order, after they order. At such a time, an up and coming logistics service provider from Bangalore is thriving because of its women employees who deliver a unique service called “Daakiyaa Smile” short for ‘service till the last mile’. This service comes from a Bangalore-based boutique marketing and logistics company called Daakiyaa Marketing & Logistics Pvt Ltd. The company calls its self the “last mile enablers”. The service enables brand owners to connect with their e-commerce customers through women delivery persons. According to Rohit Singh, CEO and MD of the company, a number of brand-owners are concerned by the quality of representatives who deliver their goods. “The women in the Smile division understand the brand ethos of the products they are delivering. They deal with customers accordingly. “Niche products like lingerie and jewellery are dispatched through this service,” he says. The service can be availed across Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad among other cities. Online brands like Caratlane, Urbanladder, Fernsnpetals and Amrapali are using this service from Daakiyaa. The company also has a “Daakiyaa e-Motion” which is male-dominated because it implements deliveries of volume for product aggregator sites on the lines of Paytm and Fashionara. The company has hired the services of around 21 female employees who have prior experience from the hospitality sector. As per company, Daakiyaa Smile is pitched at brand-owners because it helps them maintain purchase-parity. This means the online customer benefits from the kind of person-to-person interaction otherwise associated with the offline shopping experience. “As a first in the e-tailing industry, we are bringing women to the forefront as the Brand Envoys. Traditionally, women were never the front-runners in the logistics industry, but as we move away from ‘logistics’ to ‘customer delight’ we believe women can add a lot of value to what we do,” says Singh. ashish.sinha@businessworld.in
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According to World Health Organisation, one child dies in every 20 seconds from a disease preventable by vaccination. Around 151 million vaccines of around $750 million are lost annually due to improper refrigeration and lack of cold chains in developing countries. To get some relief from these two problems, Godrej has forayed into medical refrigeration in partnership with UK-based Sure Chill Company Ltd and has launched medical refrigerators for vaccine storage with Sure Chill technology.These specialised medical refrigerators have been designed especially to address a key need of providing precise cooling for preserving vaccines used worldwide in immunization programme and for the storage of blood in blood banks. The technology helps maintain the optimum temperature range of 2-8 degrees, even in case of power outages for as long as 8-12 days in ambient temperature of 43 Degree Celsius.Jamshyd Godrej, Managing Director and Chairman, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd., said, "Disease eradication through immunisation is fundamental to improving quality of life."Godrej Sure Chill will medical refrigerators be available in two variants. 100 liters - priced between Rs 1.35 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh which can store between 3,000 to 3,500 and 50 liters - priced between Rs 65,000 to Rs 75,000 which can store 1500 to 2500. These medical refrigerators meet strict specifications laid down by WHO and are listed as PQS (performance, quality and safety standard) prequalified products.Marc Evans, CEO, Sure Chill Company Ltd, said, " We have the potential to save millions of lives. There can be no greater motivation."Godrej, making its first foray into the healthcare space, has signed a technology transfer agreement with the Sure Chill Company to develop and manufacture these refrigerators for sale in India and neighbouring markets covering SAARC and MENA including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, UAE among others.
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Body Mind Me Inc, has launched “Jiyo” a wellbeing platform that has been co-founded by Deepak Chopra, MD (Doctor of Medicine) world-renowned physician, bestselling author and Poonacha Machaiah, entrepreneur and technology expert.Jiyo acts as a personal wellbeing companion by using intuitive technology to analyse users’ daily activities and offer insights and tiny habits to nudge them on their path to wellbeing. Aggregate data from trackers, sensors, public databases, and apps is analyzed into meaningful information and users can engage, learn, and interact with a diverse range of curated content and connect with experts on the platform.“The goal of Jiyo is to help people experience a joyful energetic body, loving compassionate heart, restful alert mind and lightness of being. This is the key to personal and planetary transformation”, said Deepak Chopra.Besides providing personalised insights and tiny habits, the Jiyo platform also aims to foster community through a curated network of expert content partners as well as ambassador channels from leading wellbeing experts. The platform will have a blend of free and premium paid services for enhanced content, products and services.“Jiyo aims to democratize wellbeing by leveraging mobile technology, devices/sensors and predictive analytics to provide contextual services (content + services) to the user that will enable them to make positive Behavioral changes”, said Poonacha Machaiah.Jiyo’s platform provides users with the right content or service in the right context using the mobile phone as the primary medium to start the user on the journey of transforming their personal wellbeing.
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The Microsoft Lumia 730 helped Prachi and Ankit make their Big Day even more special, writes Manish Kumar Pathak The big fat Indian wedding has always hogged headlines and when the arrangement is coupled with a device that seeps in close and personal, the combination has also the ingredients to emerge victorious. The Lumia 730 did just that recently at the wedding of Ankit Agarwal and Prachi Bansal in Delhi, which Microsoft is calling 'India's first selfie wedding'. Delhi-based wedding photographer Vijay Tonk or Think Tonk as he wishes to be called and Microsoft scripted the #SelfieShaadi concept, the first ever selfie wedding in India. #SelfieShaadi was conceptualised as an online contest that invited entries by soon-to-be-married couples to win a chance to play the protagonists in India's first ever Selfie wedding. The competition was won by the NCR-based couple Ankit and Prachi. Ankit Agarwal, employed at Landmark Group in United Arab Emirates, and his wife Prachi, a Fashion Designer, who tied the nuptial knot recently are excited about starring in the country's first-of-its-kind #SelfieShaadi and are sharing their experience with their friends and family members on social media platforms. The virtual world is evolving and the trends of clicking pictures and instantly sharing it with friends and family transpired when Tonk decided to weave in selfies to wedding photography and ditched his DSLR to use the Lumia 730 to document the first ever wedding in selfies. The Lumia 730 which comes equipped with a wide angle 5 MP front camera became Tonk's companion to shoot the wedding. Mobile phones the world over campaign extensively for their 'unique' features, and particularly for their cameras. This unique experiment will surely prove to be a major shot in the arm for Lumia 730, launched last year at an MRP of Rs. 15,299, and which comes with a selfie app. This smartphone also has a 6.7-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. According to Tonk, "I have always loved experimenting and trying something new with wedding photography. Capturing an entire wedding through selfies was an idea that I had been contemplating for some time considering the selfie trend but couldn't find the right device to do justice to the ambitious idea. Fortunately, the Lumia 730 had all the features packed into one device that could turn my dream project into reality. Shooting with the Lumia 730 was a completely different experience."
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Travel and tourism have illustrated how e-commerce may change the structure of an industry, and in the process create new business opportunities, says Gyanesh Kumar and Devesh Kumar ThakurHas e-commerce passed its prime or is it just resting? While business and stock market expectations have not been fulfilled, online transactions in the travel and tourism industry are continuously increasing despite tough economic problems in this arena and fewer travelers overall. This industry is the leading application in the B2C (business-to-consumer) arena. Whereas other industries are displaying a stronger hold to traditional processes, the tourism industry is witnessing an acceptance of ecommerce to the extent that the entire industry structure is changing.E-commerce is becoming one of the most exciting spaces for today's online community, and India's young start-up economy is along for the ride. In a country like India, where there are world's third largest numbers of internet users, after US & China and third largest number of facebook users after US & Brazil, it constitutes to huge opportunities in ecommerce in India. According to Ministry of India, the current trend and statistics shows India's travel and tourism market is poised to grow at a rate of 7.5 percent in 2015 and by that year, the travel sector would contribute to Rs 8.22 trillion to India's GDP. With online travel sector comprising of more than 50 per cent of the e-commerce industry in India, it is estimated to be in the range of $ 11-16 billion.Continued innovation in travel bookings is a favorable sign as long as it does not limit travelers' access to the full scope of options- booking multiple packages from travel portals. With evolution of travel portals, bookings of tickets for airline, hotel, car, bus etc. have all added up to the user's convenience while fulfilling their desire for hassle free bookings. Online travel portal are thus, seen as a one stop shop and a hassle free virtual store for customized travel solution. Consumers are now curating their own experiences using online, mobile, and social media, interchangeably, along their non-linear paths to purchase. The financial package and personalized deals offered by online travel companies is helping the industry grow both in terms of value and volume. Some of the aspects that are driving growth in the segment are- tie-ups with hotels and lodges to provide a complete travel package and out-of-the-box solutions offered by new entrants. Apart from this, use of innovative technology -like mobile apps to help customers connect with the portal, has become a major differentiating factor when selecting long-term association with a travel company.Online travel agencies adopting new policies, technologies, innovation has altogether shaped a new face to the industry. The travel industry boom, evaluation of internet and the emergence of low cost carrier have been the key factors that have contributed to ride the e-commerce business in this sector. Today, consumers understand the benefit of booking the air, train, bus, car tickets online. They have moved from traditional counter booking to online bookings. Owing to an improved internet literacy rate, online travel market is growing at a fervent rate. Moreover, tech savvy customers are now acquainted with superior knowledge about online travel portals, and thus, are ready to pay for their convenience and services. Various offers on different packages by different companies have made the market further lucrative for the customers while driving an increased competition amongst the suppliers.Technology has played a vital role in increasing e-commerce business in online travel sector. Earlier there was no transparency but the scenario now changed with the deeper penetration of internet. Various information and communication technology has been deployed in travel sector which enhance the growth of online travel business.GDS and Meta search engine are the latest innovation in online travel. These search engines helps the consumer to find the best combination of booking by comparing with hundreds of travel portal and refined the result on a single platform. The secured payment mechanism has also recognized the online travel. With improved security for online transactions the government plays its part for the safety of e-commerce transactions by creating awareness on the ways to limit frauds. Earlier there were hesitation in the mind of customers to share their details of debit and credit cards, but today there are secure payment avenues which increase the confidence of customers to book the tickets online which results in the growth of e-commerce in online travel business. Today there is willingness to pay money online which maximizes the revenue of online travel agent.Advent of smart phones is another factor that has induced rapid growth in online travel business in the past 3 to 4 years. Smartphone is changing the needs of consumers, who are frequently taking more vacations of shorter duration, and take less time between choosing and consuming a tourism product. Smart phones is also forging new ways to satisfy consumer needs, as it allows for an "informatization" of the entire tourism value chain-resulting in numerous value-generating strategies.Travel and tourism have illustrated how e-commerce may change the structure of an industry, and in the process create new business opportunities. The deployment of more specialized services, flexible network configurations, and further consumer integration will lead to smart marketplaces that integrate all stakeholders. The underlying pervasive IT scenario enables as well as enforces this development, demonstrating that tourism is an interesting field of application as well as research. As such it may also be of interest for other industries to learn from this development and to understand emerging e-marketplaces.Lastly I want to state that it is the largest segment which contributes to e-commerce transaction in the country and in future too an immense rise in this sector is expected, which would ride the e-commerce on whole. Authors are directors of Axis Softech
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Micromax is now one of the biggest tech brands in India and a couple of months back news reports suggested that the indigenous brand surpassed Samsung in terms of smartphone sales figures. While the company has been making some decent smartphones, their latest handset is an update for last year’s flagship, the Canvas Knight. Like its predecessor, the Canvas Knight 2 has a unibody design with a glass front and back finish with a metal frame in the middle but this time, Micromax has put in a much better effort. Yes the looks are inspired from the iPhone 6, but it is impressive for something under Rs. 20,000. The smartphone is lean with a thickness of just 6.3mm which is one of the slimmest in the market. The display size is 5-inches with a 1280x720 resolution, which is fairly decent. Probably a 1080p resolution would have done more justice. The Canvas Knight 2 runs on the latest octa-core processor from Qualcomm, which is interesting to notice as Micromax had been relying on MediaTek for their processor chipsets until last year. The smartphone runs on stock Android Lollipop with some minor customizations and some preloaded apps. The performance is smooth and there were no issues in running apps and games. This is something that Micromax has improved over the past few months. The rear camera has a 13MP resolution which isn’t extraordinary but does a decent job. The app comes with a variety of modes and settings which primarily only changes the colour temperature, tone and shutter speeds to compensate for different situations. The quality of pictures is great but does lack details especially when shooting in low light conditions. Last year was all about providing a flagship experience at a mid-range price; the Canvas Knight 2 doesn’t make the cut. The Canvas Knight 2 is a fine deal if you want good looks and a decent performance package, sadly though, it doesn’t live up to its expectations and definitely not as impressive as the Canvas Knight.
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