Suzanne Bowen, the multi-talented technology evangelist, was at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona. Suzanne is the force behind the hugely popular Techistan.net. She was our booth and I told about our innovation showcase at Mobile World Congress. Here it is:
Blog
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InfoStretch Hiring For Exponential Growth!
InfoStretch’s Is Growing At Gravity-Defying Speeds. The India Centre has doubled the office space and is looking at high energy professionals to fuel the growth. QA Experts, Mobile Evangelists, HR Whiz – We are looking for you !
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Book Review : Connect The Dots
Rashmi Bansal’s new book – ‘Connect The Dots‘ is a follow-up to her hugely successful book ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish’. The earlier book mentioned the inspiring stories of IIMA graduates. Connect The Dots is about successful entrepreneurs without the typical MBA degree.
The book has classified entrepreneurs in three categories:
1. Jugaad – Ones who have no formal business training and learnt by observation, experimentation and application of mind.
2. Junoon – Ones who are driven by passion and ideas which are ahead of its time.
3. Zubaan – Ones who are creative people with unique talentThe book has a biographical account of the entrepreneur and advice to other entrepreneurs – same style as Stay Hungry Stay Foolish. The selection of the entrepreneurs is interesting indeed which adds diversity to the book and the subject of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs behind success stories like Reva, Dosa Plaza, Su-Kam, Crossword, Tantra T-Shrits, Veta, Fem Care are featured as well as Film Director Paresh Mokashi and Wildlife Photographer Kalyan Verma. Though there are no formulas to success, it is interesting to know the journey of the fellow entrepreneurs.
Rashmi Bansal’s style and language is amazing as always ! She has got another bestseller !
Read it !
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The FMCGization of Indian Mobile Handset Market
The Indian Mobile Handset Market is coming of age. There are more than 30 Indian Mobile Handset players. The Industry is going strong with impressive numbers and is now resembling the marketing favorite FMCG Industry.
Let us look at the few common features with FMCG Market:
1. Strong Global Players With Indian Challengers
Indian FMCG Market is a vibrant place with global players like Unilever and P&G. Global players have been successfully challenged by Indian companies like Nirma, Cavin Care, Marico, Ghadi etc.
Similarly, Global Companies like Nokia, Samsung, LG have been strong in India. In fact, Nokia enjoyed Maruti-like status in India. However, now it is challenged by Indian players like Karbonn, Maxx, Fly, Videocon, Micromax, Intex etc.
India is a very important market for Unilever as well as Nokia, P&G as well as Samsung.
2. Price Wars
The FMCG market has seen price wars and companies like Unilever launched Wheel to counter-attack Nirma. Similarly, Nokia, LG and Samsung have launched sub-2000 Rs phones to counter the various Indian brands.
3. Product Enhancements
Indian FMCG Players have used strong product features to differentiate themselves. Whether it is special packaging, different price points, product ingredients – FMCG players have been innovating and improving products.
Similarly, Indian players have innovations like Dual SIM, long battery hours to differentiate themselves apart from price advantage.
4. Distribution
In FMCG, Distribution is God ! Companies like HLL, Colgate, Cavin-Care have built a great distribution machinery. It is their biggest advantage. Similarly, Nokia and others have created a great distribution network and a strong sales team, which has resulted in nearly 2 million handsets being sold every month in India!
5. New & Improved !
FMCG Products excel in re-launches with minimal changes – The New & Improved. FMCG products play with different colors, size and ingredients.
Indian Mobile players are also playing with bold Indian colors, new sizes and aesthetic appeal.
6. Celebrity Advertisement
Indian FMCG Players have developed and promoted the concept of celebrity advertisements. In fact, Lux prides itself in promoting Indian beauties and every top celebrity is promoting multiple FMCG Products.
Videocon, Maxx India, Lemon etc have started using Indian Celebrities for differentiating themselves in the Indian advertisement scenario.
7. Counterfeit
The Global Players face the problem of product plagiarism in India. Whether is Vicks, Colgate or Parachute, there are several Indian versions.
iPhone and Blackberry handset designs are the most copied designs in India. There are many foreigns handsets which are openly sold with duplicate designs.
8. Product Flanking Strategy
Unilever, P&G started it and Nokia and Indian players are mastering it !
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InfoStretch Wins GESIA 2010 Rising Star Award
InfoStretch, a global leader in Mobile, QA and SaaS solutions, announced today that it has won the prestigious GESIA 2010 Rising Star Award for Best Software Product Company. The Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association (GESIA) recognized InfoStretch for its achievements in software product development. InfoStretch also received a GESIA Certificate of Appreciation in Innovation for its exceptional approach to mobile application testing solutions.
“InfoStretch is honored to receive the GESIA 2010 Rising Star Award and their recognition of our high quality software development and QA testing services and solutions,” said Rutesh Shah, CEO of InfoStretch. He added, “Receiving this award highlights the commitment we’ve made to delivering superior products and services to our customers and our capabilities in providing world-class solutions.”
InfoStretch’s software development and QA solutions cater to the entire IT value chain and serve the needs of Enterprise IT, application developers and quality assurance organizations. InfoStretch clients range from Fortune 100 firms to startups in diverse industries that include financial services, retail, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, media and entertainment, and more. Their mobile division offers comprehensive mobile development, testing, porting, localization, certification and app store aggregation solutions.
InfoStretch is an ISO 9001-certified company and one of the fastest growing companies in Gujarat. InfoStretch has doubled the size of its operations every year since it was formed in 2004. Vipul Jani, Director of IT for InfoStretch, said “Our success is the result of the high quality work of more than 100 passionate and engaged engineers. Our team’s strong expertise and versatile experience has enabled us to excel and deliver relevant IT solutions to a wide range of industries.” Rutesh Shah, confirmed Mr. Jani’s remarks, saying, “We are witnessing huge demands for our QA and Mobile services, and our order books are overflowing. We are adding an additional 100 IT employees to our team during the next several quarters and expanding our offices and test lab.”
About GESIA
GESIA, the Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association, is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the Gujarat IT-ITES industry with over 200+ member companies. GESIA is the only State Level Association for Electronics, Software, IT, ITES, BPO/KPO/LPO, Telecom/ISP, Networking and IT Education recognized by the government of Gujarat, India. For more information, visit http://www.gesia.org.About InfoStretch Corporation
InfoStretch is a global leader in Mobile Application Development, Testing, Distribution and Certification Services. InfoStretch also specializes in Enterprise Application Testing, QA and Test Automation Services with an emphasis on Enterprise 2.0 and Cloud Infrastructure-based SaaS applications. InfoStretch delivers high-quality, reliable and cost-effective services to clients throughout the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company specializes in delivering business solutions that command deep technology knowledge, process proficiency and domain expertise. For more information, visit http://www.infostretch.com.InfoStretch Media Contact:
Marketing and PR Officer
Tel: 408-727-1100
Fax: 408-716-2461
Email: marketing@infostretch.com -
InfoStretch Wins GESIA Rising Star Award !
Great News !
InfoStretch was won the prestigious GESIA Awards 2010 for its remarkable growth, quality services and innovation. InfoStretch got the following recognition:
1. Rising Star – Best Software Product Company
2. Certificate of Appreciation in Innovation in ICT industry in GujaratInfoStretch Team is elated ! The award will motivate us to raise the bar and keep on innovating !
More About GESIA Awards
The Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association (GESIA) presented the third edition of its annual awards — GESIA AWARDS 2010 — at a ceremony in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The who’s who of the ICT and Electronics industries in Gujarat were present at the GESIA Annual fete which included Promoters, Directors, Partners as well as CEO’s, CFO’s, Presidents and top executives of over 300 IT, ITeS, Telecom & Electronics companies from across Gujarat & representation from sevaral parts India.
Mr. Ravi Saxena IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Government of Gujarat, graced the function as the Chief Guest. While addressing the function, Mr. Saxena said, “In this competitive world, initiatives that encourage companies to follow pursuit of excellence, are the need of the hour and initiative like GESIA Awards, which is aimed at facilitating exponential growth of the ICT and Electronics industry in Gujarat is a laudable effort.”
“ICT and Electronics industry has made significant progress in the state of Gujarat and the industry is bound to excel in days to come. The GESIA AWARDS not only acknowledges the major contribution made by the individual players in the state, but it also encourages the rest of the players to stand out and make Gujarat the hub for the ICT and Electronics industry too,” said Mr. Nirav Shah, President, GESIA.
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InfoStretch’s Customized Solutions For T-Mobile Partner Network
InfoStretch to Offer Customized Development and Porting Solutions for Application Developers Through T-Mobile Partner Network Program
New Customized Services Enable Mobile App and Web Developers the Ability to Rapidly Develop and Launch Innovative and Feature-Rich Mobile Applications and WebsitesInfoStretch, a global provider of customized mobile development, testing and certification services, today announced the availability of development and porting solutions for the mobile development community through the T-Mobile Partner Network, focusing on Android™, BlackBerry®, J2ME™ and Windows Mobile® platforms. Mobile application developers that are referred to InfoStretch through the T-Mobile Partner Network Program will be eligible for a discount and priority services.
InfoStretch has wide ranging expertise and success in mobile development including user interface design, usability enhancement, interaction design, and native application development and porting on various mobile platforms. InfoStretch’s development lab has managed more than 200 special-purpose and enterprise applications with secure and scalable implementation. Their unique end-to-end development methodology and framework enables rapid development and testing so new applications and content are market-ready in weeks, rather than months.
“By working with T-Mobile USA, InfoStretch will be able to help mobile developers to quickly launch their application on multiple platforms, increasing their ability to grow their customer base and capture larger market share” said Manish Mistry, vice president, mobile solutions, InfoStretch. “We are thrilled to provide developers with the industry’s most innovative and customized mobile solutions among carriers.”
Since launching application development, porting and testing services, InfoStretch has worked with more than 100 customers to deploy their applications on Android, BlackBerry, J2ME and Windows Mobile-based handsets. InfoStretch works with customers from conception of the mobile application, to development, deployment, monetization and sustenance – providing them a one-stop solution for Mobile offerings.
“T-Mobile USA is committed to supporting its development community with resources and solutions to improve adoption and retention of their applications,” said Venetia Espinoza, Director Applications and Partner Programs, T-Mobile USA. “InfoStretch development, porting and testing services provide our developers an avenue to work with industry experts and go to market quickly. This also enables T-Mobile to evolve application merchandising and the storefront experience for its customers.”
To learn more about adding T-Mobile mobile development services, please visit
http://www.infostretch.com/tmobile/tmobile_development_and_porting_service.php.For more information on the T-Mobile Partner Network program, please visit
http://developer.t-mobile.com/site/global/develop_tools/service_providers/p_service_providers.jsp.All brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.
About InfoStretch Corporation
InfoStretch is a global leader in outsourced Mobile Application Development, Testing, Distribution and Certification Services. InfoStretch also specializes in Enterprise Application Testing, QA and Test Automation Services with an emphasis on Enterprise 2.0 and Cloud Infrastructure-based SaaS applications. InfoStretch delivers high-quality, reliable and cost-effective services to clients throughout the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company specializes in delivering business solutions that command deep technology knowledge, process proficiency and domain expertise. For more information, visit http://www.infostretch.com.InfoStretch Media Contact
Marketing and PR Officer
Tel: 408-727-1100
Fax: 408-716-2461
Email: marketing@infostretch.com -
Beautiful Barcelona
InfoStretch participated in Mobile World Congress 2010 in Spain and I got the opportunity to explore Beautiful Barcelona. Some snapshots shared here !
Beautiful Barcelona : Feb 2010 -
Apple iPad Review
Apple iPad is here!
Is it between iPhone and MacBook Air? Is it worth it? Do I need it? Read it all here – I am tempted to write about it, but we let the experts speak about it.
