Spice Mobiles unveiled C-5300 handset

Spice Mobiles has unveiled a new mobile phone called the C-5300 in the open market CDMA segment.

The most appealing aspect of the mobile phone is its digital camera which captures clear and crisp images. It has a Customizable Home screen and a Big Screen of 4.5 cm. Users can be well entertained through the exciting MP3 player and can also record any song playing on the radio. They can store lot of content as the phone offers an expandable memory with a long battery life of 1000mAh.

It allows users to operate the phone in their desired language and users can add or change the menus on home through the Customizable Home Screens option. The phone is well protected and secured as users can track their phone anywhere anytime using the mobile tracker feature. They can avoid unwanted calls by using the call blacklist that stops calls from unwanted numbers. It comprises of a one touch torch and a Phonebook that saves up to 1000 contacts.

The Spice C-5300 is acquirable for a price of Rs. 3549 and will include a Free USB card reader.

Samsung unveils rugged marine phone in India

Samsung has released its outdoor phone dubbed Samsung Marine (B2100) in India. This submersible phone bundles up stylish design with robust durability. It is capable of withstanding bumps, bangs, scrapes and resists dust and water, thanks to its shock urethane material case.

It meets the IP57 certification which ensures that it is dust-proof and can stay under one meter of water for about half an hour. It also meets the Military Standard 810F (MIL-STD-810F) of the US Defence department. This means that it can adapt to humidity, sand, rain, fog, and extremely hot and cold temperatures.

“Samsung Marine is the perfect companion for consumers who enjoy active outdoor activities.” states Sunil Dutt , Country Head , Samsung Mobile Division.

This phone provides ample of multimedia features like built-in camera, FM radio, camcorder and music player. It also comes with an expandable memory of up to 8GB.

“Product innovation is an integral part of our overall marketing strategy and products like our recently introduced ‘Solar Guru’ and ‘Samsung Marine’ exemplify the same .Based on our innovative product launches and range enhancement across different segments , we are expecting to double our sales volumes this year.” states Mr Dutt.

Samsung Marine also incorporates outdoor friendly features like noise cancellation, loud external speakers and flash light. Users can enjoy the multimedia features while performing outdoor activities. It comes in red and green colors.

This Samsung Marine (B2100) is available in India for Rs 7030.

TRAI issues draft guidelines for mobile number portability

It seems TRAI wants to leave no stone unturned for smooth implementation of Mobile Number Portability in India. It has therefore issued a draft legislation to clear the uncertainty surrounding the introduction of mobile number portability.

The draft guidelines describes the rights, obligations and duties of both the telecom operators in consideration for the changing of telecom operators by subscribers.

The draft guidelines lays down major rules such as:

1. A mobile subscriber shall be eligible to make a request for “porting” (changing) his mobile number upon expiry of a period of ninety days from the date of activation of his present mobile connection.
2. The recipient operator, within five days of receiving a written request, has to carry out subscriber verification according to the guidelines for acquiring a new user.
3. Upon verification, the request is to be forwarded to the donor operator (to whose network such mobile subscriber number currently belongs) for seeking its clearance.

This draft guideline mainly implies that a user would be able to switch telecom operator in a week (upto five days). The question regarding the charging of MNP still remains unanswered by TRAI. TRAI has asked for comments from stakeholders on the proposed draft guidelines by July 14.

MNP allows a user to change their telecom operator without changing the mobile phone number. TRAI had earlier indicated that it expects MNP to be implemented by 20 September 2009 in all metros and some states,the MNP charges are rumored in the range of Rs. 250-400. DoT has already selected two companies – Syniverse Technologies and MNP Interconnect – to implement and manage MNP.

What remains to be seen is how many people will actually avail of this facility to shift operators. In a competitive telecom market like India’s it’s unlikely that people would change unless they are extremely dissatisfied with the service. Also, since almost all the players provide similar services and prices, the Rs. 250-400 transfer cost might prove to be a deterrent.

This however could serve as an opportunity for new entrants in the industry. New telecom operators might decide to bear the cost of transfer on themselves in order to lure users to change. Of course, the implementation of MNP would only improve competition between service providers, the benefit of which will come to the user. It could also urge providers to initiate “loyalty programs” which could offer benefits to users who agree to a long-term contract with the provider.

The MNP reform has been hanging for a long time and with its implementation in sight, better guidelines would only help the cause. WATBlog earlier reported the benefits which could be accrued by Telecom VAS players through the introduction of MNP. Now the attention would be mainly on the pricing of MNP and fingers would still be crossed so that it finally sees the light of the day.

Spice Launches New Dual Mode Phone

Spice Mobiles has announced the launch of its latest dual-mode mobile phone, the D-1111, with support for both GSM and CDMA networks. The D-1111 is a Windows Mobile powered smart phone that comes preloaded with hordes of VAS and applications.

The phone includes applications from Nimbuzz, Mitr, Opera and Reuters. The smartphone comes with a pretty basic 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth and expandable memory support upto 2GB. The phone also comes with support for email2SMS, a software that will allows users to check their e-mails via SMS. The phone uses Windows Mobile 6.0 by the way. Wi-Fi seems to have been given the slip. The phone will retail at a price of Rs. 18,499 and is now available across all Spice dealers.

LG KM900 Arena Now in India

LG has launched its new stylish and fully-loaded multimedia phone, LG KM900 Arena, in India.

The phone features a new 3D S-class user interface meant to provide quality audio and video output. Arena is the first phone in the global market to use Dolby Mobile from Dolby Laboratories meant to deliver enhanced sound experience while listening to music content, the company said.

As per the company, its 3-inch WVGA screen with 16M colors has four times sharper resolution than standard QVGA screens. D1 recording capability with a 5 MP camera captures DVD-resolution video that looks great even when played back on a large TV through TV Out. Moreover, Arena can record 120 frames per second slow motion video to catch every detail.

Hundreds of music and movie files can be handled with expanded 40GB storage, including 8GB of internal memory and a 32 GB micro SD slot. LG claims that this phone's battery offers up to 30 hours of MP3 playtime, and video and photos can also easily be shared on social networking sites. Other features include Google Mobile Service, GPS and geo-tagging.

The phone packs in a sleek metal design with tempered glass over the touch screen. Priced at Rs. 24,990, LG Arena is available in silver and black titanium color schemes at all retail outlets.

Bharti, Vodafone to bring new 'iPhone 3G S' to India in August

India’s leading GSM telecom operators -- Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar -- are set to bring Apple’s latest iPhone, called iPhone 3G S, to India in August. The new iPhone 3G S, which offers faster data speeds, a new camera, video recording, compass and voice control, was unveiled in US earlier this week.

In India, Apple has exclusive tie-ups with Bharti and Vodafone and this is one of the few markets where the US-based technology firm has a tie-up with two operators. Bharti and Vodafone jointly account for over 170 million of the over 400 million cellphone users in the country.

Apple had issued a guidance, saying the iPhone 3G S would make its debut in India in August, but refused to specify the date and the pricing for the country. The guidance also added that the handset would be launched in 31 other countries in August. Additionally, as per information made public by Apple, the iPhone 3G S will go on sale in 10 countries, including the US on June 19, and another 32 countries in the month of July.

Both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar did not offer comments to a detailed query sent by ET.

In India, the new iPhone from Apple is set to face competition from smartphones such as Nokia’s N97 and similar offerings from BlackBerry and Samsung. Another handset that can be a potential threat to Apple’s new product is the Palm’s Pre which has just hit the US market, but is currently not available in India.

But, unlike handsets such as Nokia’s N97, the new iPhone 3G S will have a unique advantage as it has over 100,000 applications and also enjoys the support of the most vibrant and innovative developer community in this space. This implies, Apple’s product is more than just a technically superior handset, but more of a software platform with thousands of custom-made applications.

However, the catch is that the earlier model of the iPhone’s India entry has been a huge failure both in terms of sales (due to an unviable distribution model) coupled with a steep price tag and poor advertising which resulted in the brand failing to connect with customers here.

Also, customers in India who had followed Apple’s pricing globally during in other countries and believed that the iPhone would sport a similar price tag of $199 here were put off by the fact that they would have to shell out more than three time the amount to buy the product. Worse still, market watchers say that neither Apple nor Bharti and Vodafone Essar put in the efforts to explain the difference in market dynamics in India which led to the higher pricing here which left customers confused.

Market watchers and analysts also say that Apple’s decision to go in with only Bharti and Vodafone Essar in India was flawed, especially considering that GSM operators here are not major players in the handset retail space. This is because, GSM players rarely bundle handsets and restrict such offering to the lower-end phones in non-urban and rural markets.

For consumers, some of the new features that come with the iPhone 3G S include its ability to remember text that has been entered once, thereby eliminating the need to retype e-mail addresses, postal addresses or usernames, the digital compass which aids in navigation and a host of features that make it friendly for the disabled. Besides, it also comes with Apple’s own earphones along with a multi-button remote, but with a single control key and a mic.

Reliance Offers BlackBerry Rs. 299 Plan

After a rather late revision of tariff, Reliance Mobile has introduced the affordable 'Reliance E-Lite' plan for BlackBerry" smartphone users in India.

With the 'Reliance E-Lite' plan, users can have unlimited access to email and instant messaging (IM) on their BlackBerry smartphones for just Rs. 299 per month.

Airtel and Vodafone already offer similar plans which costs subscribers Rs. 299 per month.

The Reliance E-Lite service plan offers unlimited access to the widely used email and instant messaging features, allowing Reliance customers to access up to 10 supported POP3/IMAP email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts such as Yahoo! Mail and Google Mail).

The service plan is offered with all BlackBerry smartphones available from Reliance Mobile, such as BlackBerry 8703e, BlackBerry 8830, BlackBerry Curve 8300, BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Pearl 8110 and BlackBerry Pearl 8130.