Mid-week Telco Buzz: Google’s SMS search in India, Motorola’s MotoMusic, BSNL’s free broadband and more..
Google is beta testing SMS search in India
Google SMS, has been launched in beta version across four cities Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Google has tied-up with five operators Reliance, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, BPL and Aircel for offering the service. The local information would include movie timings, restaurants, local hospitals and taxi services among others.
See the simulation of service here. To use the service, text your query to 54664.
This definitely means a serious threat to Indian startups like OnYoMo/Guruji/asklaila
Motorola Plans MotoMusic, it’s music service For India
ChicagoBusiness reports that the company is ready to launch MotoMusic, its music service, in India. MotoMusic has been operational in China for three years now, content is offered in partnership with Chinese telcos. However, while China has two telcos, Motorola will have to deal with 12 telcos in India…and perhaps many more in the near future as the government intends to give more licenses.
(via)
BSNL to bundle broadband with every new installation!
BSNL will no longer offer stand-alone landlines. The PSU has decided to offer a bundled broadband connection with every new landline that it installs across the country. Customers will not be charged extra for these broadband activated landlines. In the next round, the PSU will make all its existing landline connections internet enabled.
Videocon opts for CDMA for telecom rollout
Consumer electronics to power giant Videocon, which has applied for a unified access service licence (UASL), will be using the code division multiple access (CDMA) and not the global system for mobile (GSM) technology to roll out its mobile services.
[Interesting Insights/Reports]
life beyond the SMS short code
For many brands now the SMS short code is becoming passé. They’re looking for fresh ways to reach the 200 million Indians through their mobile phone. Things are changing fast with a bunch of new mobile marketing products coming to market in the past 12-18 months. One major mistake that we see a lot of brands doing is to limit their thinking by focusing on the SMS short code rather than the SMS marketing campaign that is to be run.
- Bluetooth marketing (a.k.a. Bluecasting) is starting to happen at retail points
- Mobile coupons can be a powerful final call to action to drive the consumer to actually transact and purchase the product
With 200 million consumers on the medium, it’s not a question of `if’ for brands, but `when’ and `how fast’ do you go!
tags: google sms india, motomusic, bsnl free broadband, sms short code
About the author - Ashish Sinha is a Startup Mentor/Product Strategy Coach, and the founder/chief editor of pluGGd.in.
He has launched/managed couple of products (consumer as well as enterprise) in US and India, and now consults with startups/small businesses on their product/media strategy. He can be reached at: ashish (at) pluGGd.in [+91 98452 06443]
This is interesting! Google might as well acquire a few Indian startups?
[...] + Orkut | Email This Post Google’s SMS search has been around for quite sometime (was launched a year back),and it seems Google is now getting aggressive in promoting SMS search (did asklaila [...]