Zen mobiles Launched new Dual SIM Mobile Phone X220, price Rs.1849

Indian mobile company Zen mobiles has launched new mobile phone names zen X220.

Zen mobile Phone X220 is a dual sim mobile phone and it’s a low cost stylish mobile phone

Zen X220 mobile Phones. The price is Rs.1849 in India.

Dual sim Zen X220 mobile phone comes with dual back covers and one can change the back cover of the phone according to one’s style which acts as the X-factor.

Zen X220 mobile phone has an intricate blend of aesthetics, technology and boasts of a Dual GSM SIM convenience.

Users can swing to the music of a wireless FM or plug-in the speakers and party harder, thus enjoying the cutting edge clarity of its MP3 playback system.

Zen Mobile comes with 3.5 mm jack and the expandable memory option enables you to go beyond the barriers of space. The Zen X220 mobile phone equipped with 65K colors on the TFT screen with a large 4.6 cm display and the powerful torchlight helping one cut through the dark.

Alcatel Launches ICE3 Mobile in India

Alcatel Mobile, in association with ICE Mobile Network Systems Limited has launched ICE3 mobile phone in the Indian market. ICE3 is a feature rich stylishly designed mobile handset clubbed with complete social networking experience at a very affordable price of about INR 7000 for Indian market.

What’s unique about the phone is its cube design and the company has roped in Bollywood actor, Kangana Ranaut in order to appeal to the target audience, i.e. ladies.

Recently, a whole lot of new mobile phones have been launched catering to the young and ‘hippy’ audience, with inbuilt access to Facebook, Twitter, IM and several other social networks.

Blackberry 9520 Storm 2 Launched in India

Blackberry 9520 Storm 2 has arrived in India and that too with OS 5. However, with a heavy price tag of Rs.31,990.

Features and Highlights of Blackberry Storm 2:

The next generation SurePress technology on the BlackBerry Storm2 smartphone – combined with SureType® technology – provides better typing accuracy and a more tactile feel. Link to wireless networks or hotspots with Wi-Fi connectivity.

With a powerful battery and removable back plate for easy battery swapping, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone helps you do what you love, longer.

Built for speed and endurance, the BlackBerry Storm offers fast, reliable browsing and communication coverage.

A high resolution 480x360 screen displays over 65,000 colors across a large wide screen - creating an awe-inspiring display that enhances all your multimedia.

Snap pictures like a pro with the built-in 3.2 MP camera featuring auto-focus and auto-flash. Or catch the sound and action, then share it with friends with the video camera function.

The familiar BlackBerry phone buttons are at the bottom of the BlackBerry Storm, ensuring an easy transition from browsing to call taking, without compromising current on-screen data.

Motorola Milestone Launched in India

Motorola has introduced Milestone, that is set to become the first Android 2.1-powered phone for India.

Powered by Android 2.1, it offers the ability to use multiple applications at once and one of the world’s thinnest QWERTY sliders (13.7mm or 1.37cm). The Milestone also boasts a hi-resolution, pinch and zoom display. A suite of Google mobile applications including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube are also integrated onto the device. Plus users have access to thousands of apps and widgets from Android Market.

Milestone comes preloaded with lifetime free access to fully voice-guided street-level navigable maps of 401 cities in India. This offers voice-guided navigation and routing in the cities and across major national and state highways. With this the Indian consumer can drive to 400,000 towns and villages6 and explore over one million points of interest like budget/premium hotels, petrol pumps, eating joints, ATMs, hospitals as well as tourist and religious spots. All the consumer needs to do is to launch ‘India’ maps from the MOTONAV application to enjoy an unparalleled navigation experience. The GPS navigation service is free with no activation or data charges, independent of mobile networks and can be used even without inserting the SIM card, as the maps are fully loaded on the Milestone.

“Milestone is a smart phone without compromise, delivering a wiser, richer web and messaging experience. This is possible through the combination of Motorola’s expertise in design and a truly differentiated Android experience,” said Faisal Siddiqui, Country Head, Mobile Devices, Motorola India. “The Milestone is targeted at the well informed, ‘socially’ connected individual. This consumer is an accomplished, driven and engaged professional looking for an outstanding web experience as well as a high tier messaging device. So, we invite you all to come and experience the Milestone!”

Key Milestone features include:

9.39cm (3.7 inch) widescreen display with 854 pixel width and more than 400,000 total pixels

High-speed, cortex A8 processor

Pinch and zoom, double tap zoom

5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, AutoFocus, and image stabilization.

Motorola Media Link and Motorola Phone Portal to manage and share media content across desktop, phone and the Web5

Stereo Bluetooth/BT 2.1, USB 2.0 High Speed

3.5mm (0.35cm) headset jack

CrystalTalk Plus for superior talk quality

8GB memory card

Additional functionality and apps include:

Full suite of the Google applications: Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Talk,

Unified Google, Microsoft Office and Facebook Contacts

Navigation: GPS, MOTONAV turn-by-turn navigation with India maps1 & 6

Email Support: IMAP, POP3, Gmail and Exchange

IM Support: Google Talk

Calendar: Exchange, syncs with Google Calendar

Milestone will be available in India at select retails outlets in select cities at an MRP of Rs. 32,990.

Intex Launches Dual SIM QWERTY Phone

After launching water resistant and long battery phones, Intex has now launched the country's first ultra-affordable Dual SIM, QWERTY mobile phone at Rs. 2,200.

The Dual SIM handset (GSM +GSM) features GPRS, WAP,a 1.8" screen, audio/video player, equalizers, wireless FM radio, mobile tracker and black list - an in-built feature to block 10 callers of your choice.

A five LED torch light, present on the top panel makes it a handy gizmo during power cuts.

The phone supports Hindi and English and has an Auto Call Record function.

LG Launches 2 New Handsets in the Indian Market

LG Electronics has introduced two new swanky handsets in the Indian market - the GU220 and the GU285.

“The new phones are an extension of our unique offerings in the Buzz series that promises to give our users benefits of mega multimedia for entertainment on the move. The extensive basket of features, make these phones a preferred choice for consumers who demand for more. As always, we promise to come up with more handsets that cater to varied needs of consumers” remarked Mr. Sudhin Mathur, Business Group Head, Mobile Communications, LGEIL.

The sleek, compact slider GU285 is 3G enabled and has a 5.6cm screen, coupled with 1.3MP smart camera, with an added function of printing images through Bluetooth. The secondary VGA camera not only allows you to take your own portrait pictures but also is future ready for video telephony. Internet browsing is enabled through EDGE. The phone sets up-to 5 email accounts, and in addition to it one can take download speeds to higher levels with 3G Data Connection. The memory is expandable up to 8 GB. The phone offers 10 hrs of Talk time and 580 hrs of standby time.

The LG GU285 costs Rs. 6500.

The phone features multimedia like FM Radio and MP3 player with 6 built-in equalizer. Fun applications include RockeTalk to connect to instant messengers like Gtalk or Yahoo, Live Cricket Action through Just Cricket's Cricket Simulation, Favorite Regional Newspapers online through News Hunt, Try and Buy Games – Ferrari GT, Diamond Twister Demo Mini Game Planet, Sudoku etc.

The LG GU220 slider comes with a premium metallic look and seamless slide Keypad with solid metallic design.

Its large 5.6cm screen gives better usage and viewing experience with ready to access functions from the home screen. Other features include VGA Camera, FM recording feature, fast connectivity, faster browsing and downloading speeds with EDGE.

The GU220 costs Rs. 4500.

Htc Legend – Vodafone Gets The New Htc Android Phone

HTC have now released their upgrade handset to the Hero which is also known as the Touch G2 on T-Mobile, the new HTC Legend takes on a very similar design but incorporates some new technology and features not found in the original model.

The manufacture of the HTC Legend is also different to that of the Hero handset and closely resembles the recently released Google Nexus One (which is also manufactured by HTC) in as much as both phones are moulded from one piece of aluminium for extra robustness and strength.

The Legend handset has been released alongside the new HTC Desire as a more compact phone using the original dimensions of the Hero’s touch screen at 3.2 inches. This seems to be pretty standard with many manufacturers such as the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, Nokia X6 and Motorola Milestone.

A major improvement over the previous HTC Hero is the inclusion of a new optical trackball rather than the rubbery one which is also found in the Nexus One phone, this new feature lets you simply slide your finger across to navigate the phones many screens and features. This same technology id also present in the HTC Desire and means that even with extended use there is no chance of the wear and tear found on the older trackball solution.

The HTC Legend features a similar 5.0 mega pixel camera found in the older model which offers geo-tagging, auto focus and an LED flashlight for low light situations, the handset runs on the latest Android 2.1 operating system as found on the HTC Desire and Nexus One phones and over the top the manufacturer has included its own Sense user interface which make menu navigation a breeze.

This new HTC device also incorporates the new FriendStream application which pulls together updates from social networking sites like Facebook, tweets from Twitter, emails and text messages for a continuous stream of friend activity all in one place.

Unlike the previous Hero phone, the new HTC Legend’s brushed aluminium body is far superior to the plastic finish of the older model, this should ensure the phones popularity as bringing this handset out of your pocket is likely to draw some attention.

The distinctive angled base of the phone remains unchanged from the Hero handset and although many think it is to bring the microphone closer to the mouth when in conversation it actually acts as a protector to the main touch screen when the phone is sat face down.

Competitors to the Legend include the HTC Desire form the same stable as well as the newly released Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, there are also good Android alternatives from other manufacturers including the Motorola Milestone, Samsung Galaxy Portal, Acer Liquid and LG GW620.

The Legend is now available on a range of third party Vodafone pay monthly tariffs from free with further network launches expected over the coming days.

Sony Ericsson Launches Zylo and Spiro Walkman Phones

Sony Ericsson announced launch of two Walkman phones, the Sony Ericsson Zylo and Sony Ericsson Spiro. Other than its focusing on music features, the walkman phones are also following the trend with integration of social networking capability to follow your friends or update your status.

Compare to Spiro, the Sony Ericsson Zylo has a higher specifications with 2.6-inch display, UTMS/HSPA, Gesture Control, 3.2 megapixel camera, Track ID, microSD card slot and FM Radio Receiver. It supports FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio codec for high quality music listening on top of MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAc+/WMA format. The Zylo also has an interesting feature, letting you play an background sound while you are chatting with your friends. It is preloaded with sounds so that you can pretend to be at work, walking on street or in a restaurant. Sadly, 3.5mm headphone jack is not available on this model. You will have to rely on Sony Ericsson’s own connector to use other headphones. The Spiro will be available in Q3 with Jazz Black, Chacha Silver and Swing Pink.

While the Spiro Walkman phone does not support the FLAC format, it comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, FM Radio receiver, 2 megapixel camera, microUSB port, TrackID and microSD card slot. It can only supports GPRS/EDGE connectivity though and will be available in Q3 with Contrast Black, Sunset Pink, Spring Green and Stealth Black colors.

Microsoft Launches iPhone Competitor, 'Kin'

Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest global software company, has propelled itself into the mobile market with its Kin smartphone.


Teaming up with HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Sharp, and other mobile makers, Microsoft unveiled a line of mobile phones geared toward teens and young adults, attempting to capture market share with its social-networking focus.


Microsoft is trying to mark its territory in the mobile phone market, as well as diversifying its product line-up into an explosive market. Historically, Microsoft has been a software provider in the wireless industry to different handset makers, however, it has been losing ground with the launch of Apple’s iPhone and Google Inc.’s Android platform.


“Kin is an interesting attempt to target the 15 to 25 market,” said Ross Rubin, consumer electronics and wireless industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group in an interview with Reuters.


Rubin believes that the success of the software giant’s phones will hinge on the pricing of its data plans, which is yet to be announced. Microsoft spokeswoman Melissa Havel has opted not to comment or release details about the pricing of the phones.


The phones have been branded as Kin One and Kin Two, produced by Japan’s Sharp Corp. and sold by Verizon Wireless, based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and U.K.-based Vodafone Group Plc.


Microsoft President Robbie Bach, who leads the mobile-phone division, launched the phones on April 12 at an event in San Francisco.


“We said, ‘Look, there’s a segment here that we can really go after deeply,” Bach said on Monday in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “And once you decide to go deep, you can’t go part way and say we’ll do the software and then we’ll hand it off to somebody else. You have to really be involved in the whole process.”


The new phones will be sold in May in the United States, and subsequently Europe in the last quarter of the year—on Vodafone’s European network.


According to the vice president of Microsoft’s mobile communications marketing group, there are possibilities of it developing hardware for other parts of the market in the future. However, Bach has reiterated that the company prefers to work with handset producers that create their own hardware.


“This isn’t a Microsoft product,” said Robbie Bach. “Sharp is not just the manufacturer, they sell the phones to Vodafone, not Microsoft. This is a very traditional model, it’s just that we were more involved in the design and the hardware with Sharp.”


Sales of data plans at Verizon Wireless rose 46 percent in the fourth quarter, contributing almost a third of the company’s wireless-service revenues. 


The target demographic is clearly focused on those who are savvy with social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. 


The camera, touch screen, and slide out keyboard interface is designed to move seamlessly between videos, photos, text messages, and Web sites and to simultaneously share content with others.

Nokia launches C3, C6, E5 mobile phones

Mobile phone giant Nokia announced the launch of three new handsets - Nokia C3, Nokia C6 and Nokia E5. The Nokia C3 and Nokia C6 are social messaging phones while the Nokia E5 is the business messaging phone.


Nokia Corp. launched three less-expensive smart phones, including its first model expected to sell for under euro100 ($135) — in a strong move to grab new customers in emerging markets.


The world's largest mobile phone maker said it wants "to put better messaging and social networking tools in the hands of more people around the world at affordable prices."


The new Nokia C3, Nokia E5 and Nokia C6 handsets have full QWERTY keyboards, enable instant messaging and give access to e-mails. Their expected selling prices respectively are euro90, euro180 and euro220 before taxes and subsidies.


The handsets will be available during the second and third quarters of this year.


"Nokia's strategic focus is clearly on emerging markets now and taking higher feature devices to the masses and these three devices do that quite nicely," said Neil Mawston, analyst at Strategy Analytics in London.


Finland-based Nokia, which is increasingly turning to providing applications and services for handset users, said in December it will focus on the smart phone sector, including providing cheaper handsets in emerging markets.


Despite strong competition from Blackberry and iPhone, Nokia's market share in smart phones grew from 35 percent to 40 percent in the last quarter of 2009.


The cheapest of the new models, the C3, with an estimated price tag of euro90, includes a two megapixel camera, a 2.4 inch screen and will include access to Nokia's Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat that allow first-time users to set up e-mail and chat accounts straight from the device without the need for a computer.


It has WiFi connectivity and support for up to an 8GB memory card, allowing users to update their status and share pictures on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.


"The C3 stands out the most at a very competitive price with a very effective feature set ... that goes squarely after the lower-tier mass market in India, Africa, China," Mawston said. "It's going to be one of their star devices over the next two quarters."


The Nokia C6, with an estimated price of euro220, has a 3.2-inch touch screen with full slide-out keyboard and a five megapixel camera featuring autofocus and flash.


The E5, expected to sell for some euro180, is targeted at corporate customers with numerous productivity applications available in Nokia's Ovi Store. It has direct access to over 90 percent of the world's corporate e-mails through Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler.


Nokia's share price was virtually unchanged at euro11.18 ($15.19) in early afternoon trading in Helsinki.

LG, Motorola Launches Android Phone in India

Google’s mobile operating system Android is catching up with major handset makers with Korea’s LG Mobiles and US’s Motorola announcing the launch of Android phones in the Indian market.


While LG’s ‘LG GW620’ is priced at Rs 16,490, Motorola’s smartphone ‘Milestone’ would be available at Rs 32,990 based on Android systems. Currently, Symbian mobile operating system is the dominating network.


Android is a mobile operating system, initially developed by Google and later by the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 47 hardware, software and telecom companies.


Being an open-source operating system, Android allows developers to design applications independent of the handset type.


HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have already launched their Android-powered handsets in the Indian market.


LG GW620, with the Android operating system, is equipped with three-inch touch-screen and a side-slider QWERTY keyboard, five-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi and high speed EDGE and GPS connectivity.


“LG’s first Android phone, LG GW620, further reiterates our commitment to push boundaries in mobile phone innovation and design. We are sure that with LG’s accumulated technology leadership in mobile phone industry and our strategy to support every existing operating system, LG will provide better choices and benefits to our consumers,” LG Mobile Communications Business Head Sudhin Mathur said in a statement.

Sony Ericsson launches XPERIA and Vivaz phones

Sony Ericsson’s new portfolio of phones was unveiled by Kareena Kapoor, its newly appointed brand ambassador for the region. The phones include the much awaited XPERIA X10, XPERIA X10 mini, XPERIA X10 mini pro, Vivaz and Vivaz pro.

Hirokazu Ishizuka, Corporate Vice President & Head of Asia Pacific region, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communication, said, “The proliferation of social and digital media is changing the consumer experience with mobile phones and the portfolio that we present today takes communication and entertainment to the next level.”

Actress, Kareena Kapoor said, “I love my new feature-rich Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 that allows me to easily keep in touch with my family and friends, while keeping myself entertained on the go.”

The new portfolio also introduced the UX platform that creates a unique user experience by combining entertainment features with applications and integration of social media services. Among the many new features, the new phones introduce signature applications like Mediascape and Timescape that let consumers organize everything on a phone in an intuitive way.

With India projected to become the second largest telecom market globally, Sony Ericsson sees immense potential in the region for its new portfolio. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the number of telecom subscribers in the country increased by 3.5% in December 2009, in comparison to November 2009. It is estimated that around half the country's population would own a mobile phone by mid 2012.

Sony Ericsson is partnering with content and application providers such as Hungama, MTV India, UTV, Shemaroo, Electronic Arts, Indiagames, and Disney mobile among others to deliver entertainment content. The company already has over 200 active partners in India spanning the entertainment, functional and technical verticals.

High-end Mobile Phone Prices Drop

Mobile phones are our lifeline and it helps if the swanky ones are a bit affordable.

Here's a list of the high-end mobiles phones that have become cheaper.

The recently announced Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 that was priced at Rs. 35,795 is now available for Rs. 32,800.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz that was also launched in Singapore last month along with the Xperia X10 and was priced at Rs. 25,695 now costs Rs. 23,200.

The stylish, haute couture Samsung-Giorgio Armani B7620 now costs Rs. 34,000 down from Rs. 40,000.

Motorola's latest, the MILESTONE that at its launch was Rs. 32,990 is now available for Rs. 27,000.

The HTC HD Mini Offers With a Wealth of Technology

The HTC HD Mini is a compact unit that manages to incorporate a wide range of useful technology into a small casing. The handset is only 103 mm x 57 mm wide and is 11 mm thick. It offers effective functionality by virtue of its Qualcomm 7227 600 MHz processor and Microsoft Windows mobile 6.5.3 professional operating system.

The handset comes with an impressively vibrant 3.2 inch TFT touch screen that displays 65,000 colours and their variants within a screen which is 320 x 480 pixels in size. Thehandset also includes accelerometer and proximity sensors which automate certain tasks including automatic shutdown, to save battery power and image aspect orientation. As its primary means of navigation, the touch screen utilises the sense user interface which is aneffective multi-touch input method that is both responsive and efficient.

The phones 384 MB of internal memory is supplemented by the fact that the integrated microSD card slot can be utilised to increase memory storage capacity up to 16 GB. Thehandset provides a myriad of connectivity options which include GPRS and EDGE, both of which are class 10 in addition to the integrated blue tooth and micro USB connections. For those who require internet access, this is available by virtue of the Wi Fi and HSDPA connections with speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps available. The GPS function which comes with A-GPS support offers satellite navigation as standard.

Audio and visual entertainment is offered by virtue of the included stereo FM radio and MP4/MP3 media player. The radio comes with RDS capabilities whilst the media player supports all major audio and video file formats. In addition several games are also included, providing additional entertainment options. Thishandset also provides social media integration in the form of Facebook, Flickr and twitter applications.

The HTC HD Mini, is an effective handset, that bears similarities to its sister handset the HTC HD2. The premise behind this mini version of the popular handset is the fact that it squeezes into a small and compact body, a wide array of useful technology that provides the means to perform numerous tasks whilst on the move.

Upcoming Mobile Phones 2010 – New Gizmos Are About To Launch

The hunger of several modern handset enthusiasts will never lowered down to be the owner of an excellent quality handset. Even they are still pondering for the world class phones of big brands here and there. So, in order to accomplish user’s such demands many mobile phone merchants keep launching their latest mobile phones at regular intervals. Basically, the mobile phone market is flooded with large number of outlandish handsets of big brands like Sony Ericson, Nokia, LG, BlackBerry, Samsung etc. The devices manufactured by such merchants have got tremendous power to manipulate the user’s several communication and multimedia needs at lightening fast speed. Even the prices estimated by such brands for their latest devices are also under the approach of low budget handset user. As we know that its 2010 now, so users are deliberately awaiting for the upcoming mobile phones of 2010 of many big brands as well. The rumors are coming from several quarters that few big brands like Nokia, LG, Samsung, BlackBerry etc., are going to launch their wonderful handsets very soon. Few upcoming models of popular merchants are LG GX200, BlackBerry Curve 8530, Sony Ericsson Vivaz, Motorola MOTOROI, Samsung Omnia Lite, which are getting huge popularity these days. It has been supposed that these wonderful devices are going to public very soon for the users and their prices are also very reasonable. User can also find enough information about such upcoming handsets regarding their features on several online websites through the Internet. So, let’s have a look on the features of few upcoming handsets like Sony Ericsson Vivaz, BlackBerry Curve8530 and Motoroala MOTOROI.

Let’s talk firstly about Sony Ericsson Vivaz which is an elegant looking handset and will influence the users through its inbuilt 8.1 MP awesome camera. Through this camera user can easily capture excellent quality pictures with original colours. This gizmo is also furnished with a 3.5 inches colour touchscreen that is able to give a very clear display of video songs, wallpapers, screensavers and other outputs with colourful resolution. This fantastic device is also able to support latest technologies like GPS, Wi-Fi, and HSDPA etc. Even more, this handset is also able to run on Symbian S60 operating system.

Similarly, the BlackBerry Curve 8530 is another upcoming mobile phone of 2010, which is also blessed with many interactive features as well. User will be pleased to see a QWERTY keyboard in this handset which is furnished with multiple numbered keys, which are very soft to press. This gizmo will also offers for 256 MB internal memory as well, which is quite enough space to store huge amount of data with ease. Beside it, user will also find the facility of a 2 MP camera in this handset that is capable to capture decent quality pictures with real colours. In addition, user will also get the profit of a Stereo Bluetooth as well in this gadget.

On the end, the Motorola MOTOROI, is also a gorgeous looking handset for the users and comes loaded with several dynamic features. This gizmo is blessed with 8 MP high definition camera, that is capable to capture elegant pictures with extremely bright colours. Beside it, this gizmo is also able to support 3G and Wi-Fi technologies, which let the user to experience high speed Internet connectivity in this device. Furthermore, this gadget will also fascinate the people through its 3.7 inches colour touchscreen. This elegant looking screen is good to display clearly all outputs at high resolution. With more profits, user will also get the benefit of 8GB memory in this handset that is good store large amount of data.

However, above described upcoming mobile phonesof 2010 would be furnished with several fantastic features and will be able to support latest technologies as well.

Mobile apps Revolution

The mobile apps revolution is here. Market research firm Gartner estimates that this year alone, mobile users across the globe will pay more than $6.2 billion to buy 'mobile applications' -- games, social networking tools, productivity and entertainment-based mini programmes for mobile phones.

And this despite the fact that 80 per cent of these will be free downloads anyway this year.

Apps have become the business with the fastest turnaround time in the software industry. In just one month an application can be developed and marketed to a global community of enthusiastic downloaders.

Sample this. In January this year, 3 billion apps were downloaded from the Apple app store, which has more than 100,000 titles in categories such as games, business, news, sports and health.

BlackBerry App World has around 4,000 titles and Google's Android Market, 20,000.

Little wonder, then, that mobile app developers, a non-existent breed just five years ago, are crawling out of the woodwork. Students, teachers, even doctors have jumped into the fray, competing with career software professionals.

In India, the world's second biggest mobile phone market of more than 500 million consumers and a large community of software programmers, there is fierce competition among developers to deliver apps that run on different handsets and technology platforms.

What's driving their business are online app stores on the Apple, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson websites, and on Facebook and Orkut, where developers can sell directly to consumers. Of course, they must pay a yearly fee and 30 per cent of their revenues to the service platform.

But this is a better scenario -- there was a time when app developers earned a paltry 10-15 per cent as royalty from mobile service providers.

Spark Mobiles announces its foray into the Indian market

The Spark mobile phones with built in sensors, water and shock proof body


Spark Mobiles, part of UAE based Spark Group of Companies announced their foray into the Indian market while also appointing multi-lingual actor R. Madhavan as the official brand ambassador for its new range of mobile handsets which will be launched before the end of calendar year 2009 in India. Targeted for the Indian consumers, the handsets will be aimed at consumers across all segments.


Spark Mobile phones are virtually indestructible under demanding conditions. It is water proof and not merely water resistant. It is shock proof and its toughness has been tested by four wheel drive over. What’s more, all Spark mobile handsets will have a One Month battery standby time. If that’s not enough, the battery would be manually re-chargeable. This in addition to high end multimedia, web and advanced music features.


“Spark mobiles have been designed from the bottoms up in the sense that consumers needs have dictated the features and design as opposed to trying to give them what we have designed, which is the norm unfortunately. Moreover, the company is aggressive in appointing distributors all over the country in a bid to maximise its penetration and has taken into due consideration opportunities presented by the rural masses, who need rugged handsets which can work without electricity and even without networks in a three kilometer radius due to the PTT (push to Talk) technology. Spark is out to create records in volumes and penetration from day one of the product launch and is confident of taking theIndian market by storm and setting new benchmarks in the mobile handset industry”, said Ms Elaine.


The mobiles will be categorized into three, based upon features to cater to every Indian consumers needs. While the toughness is the central theme which runs through all the categories, the lowest priced is the basic model, which would be followed by the feature packed medium range along with the high end set which will be positioned as a life style product.


Currently, the handsets marketed in the country will be manufactured in the United Arab Emirates, where Spark has its production and R & D facilities. “An integral part of the company’s vision is to set up a manufacturing base in India too, to cater to the subcontinent’s demands”, said Ms. Elaine.


FEATURES:

• Toughest and most rugged phone
• German Technology
• Water Proof (and not just water resistant)
• Shock Proof (Three-meter-drop-on-concrete tested)
• Tough body (Four-wheel-drive-over-the-phone tested)
• Dust and Grime Proof
• Built in Torch
• Built in compass
• Built in Laser
• Built in Altimeter
• Built in Barometer
• Built in Thermometer
• One month battery standby time.
• PTT (push-to-talk)
• Manually chargeable
• Conformité Européenne" or CE certification from the European Union