Dear MoMo Community,

This is an attempt to have a ‘Weekly Newsletter’ for the MoMo community (thanks to Rajan for setting this up).  I already blog this at http://mobilenewsindia.blogspot.com/.

For the first few weeks, it will be cross-posting between both the places. Later, as we see the feedback, we will have special editions for MoMo

You may expect a post every Sunday/Monday on this.

Looking forward to your feedback,

Karthik Srinivasan (carnivas@gmail.com)

Devices

A very affordable dual SIM phone by Karbonn has been released. Another player at the low end, Micromax has launched a dual-SIM ‘chatting phone’ with Nimbuzz preloaded in it. Spice has launched a dual SIM model too with nothing less than Windows Mobile in it. Heard that Indian low cost players and the Chinese are fighting for the low end while the high end is safe for the big-brands. Will Nokia’s low end market be in trouble?

Samsung has launched 2 phones in the Omnia series – to compete with iPhone and Touch Diamond.

Applications/Services

Virgin Mobile has launched a phonebook backup service.

NXP’s smart card solution has been chosen by Indian Railways for contactless ticket vending machines.

RCom has launched a ‘mobile conference’ facility at Rs. 99 a month for both its GSM & CDMA subscribers. Up to 9 numbers are supported and all of them should have this facility enabled.

SatNav has partnered with the largest organization that would have information on India – The Survey of India. Hope to see a lot of useful apps now.

SMSGupShup has launched a developer platform to utilize their SMS framework. Way to go!

Tata Indicom has launched a campaign to promote m-learning services.

ITC & Monster have launched a rural job portal. Mobile access seems to be not available yet. Any news about the success of BabaJob and Airtel tie up? Meanwhile, Airtel & IFFCO have tied up to reach mobile services to rural Andhra Pradesh.

A few channels from the Star TV Group are now available on mobile phones through Apalya Technologies. They are available for 2.5G networks also – but who guarantees the speed?

iJiny is a new player to offer ‘micro-classifieds’ in India. You guessed it right – the max length of your classified ad should be 160 characters in length. (The iJiny site is not opening though at this moment!)

Operators

MTNL has launched 3G service Jadoo in Mumbai. Their Wimax franchisee offer has no takers though. But BSNL’s Wimax roll out is on – a US co has bagged the deal for equipment. Bids for its rural roll out will begin on 25-August. BSNL has got 40K subscribers for its 3G service and the price has been lowered too.

An insightful summary of all the 3G/Wimax games played by MTNL & BSNL is available at Developing Telecoms Blog. In fact, there was an ‘India Week’ at DTW – 2 articles on MNP affecting telcos appeared too. (first, second). Medianama’s analysis on MNP can be found here.

For other operators wanting 3G spectrum, please wait – the ministers will hold their second meeting on 27-August.

Mobile numbers starting with ‘8’ may happen soon.

Others

July statistics are out – 325.7 GSM subscribers in all. More at Medianama.

HP, the grand daddy of computing giants will focus on ‘mobile computing space’ from now – with India the focus.

If the mobile carriers indeed share their database, your mobile payment record may be the de-facto credit rating for your loans etc in India.

Vital Analytics has come up with one more report – on the urban internet usage using mobiles.