The office is a 125 seater with state-of-the-art amenities. Terrace cafeteria facing the airport runway is an interesting break-out area to chill and refresh.

One97 is once again poised to zoom ahead and take off to new heights.

How to Reach?
Drive inside airport road and take left from Terminal 1B road and drive another 300 M.

One97 Communications Ltd,
IV Floor, Enterprise Centre,
Domestic Airport,
Next to Orchid Hotel,
Vile Parle East,
Mumbai – 400 099
Phone: +91 22 26133197

This is our first post: Upwardly mobile trends

Incredible India is about to get more incredible with 1billion mobile subscribers, 50million mobile internet users, 32million smartphone users. Based on what we have seen and learnt, we would like to share with you the top mobile trends for marketers in 2012, with our recommendations.

Upwardly Trend #1: Smartphone numbers will grow and how!

Smartphone users in India are using their phones for more than 2.5 hrs per day, of which communication (calls, SMS, emails) accounts for only 28% of usage. Younger Smartphone users (15-25 yr olds) spend more than 3 hrs per day on their phones and spend 60% of the time on entertainment & browsing. e.g., gaming, surfing the net and multimedia. Source.

Our Take: This means sheer euphoria for advertisers -a dream-come-true scenario, because brands can touch the lives of their targets via videos, visuals and much else. Stay ahead of the times!

Upwardly Trend #2: Mobile internet usage will shoot up

Google predicts 50mn+ mobile internet. With the advent of HTML5, marketers will go all out to reach their customer prospects on mobile. 30-40% mobile users are already losing patience trying to access a website on mobile. (Source) A sub optimal user experience is what most have been used to so far. But this is about to change.

Our Take: This makes a clear fertile ground for marketers to create targeted properties through apps and mobile Internet websites and make an impact on their target audience.

Upwardly Trend #3: Social exposure on mobile will rule the roost

Our mobile devices go with us everywhere we go! This makes their reach far beyond the conventional PC access. Hence it is only logical to expect that more than half of social networking will be done on mobile phones. Facebook’s social page shows 350 million active users accessing social sites using mobile.

Our Take: Simple! Go social if you haven’t already. If you have, then add more meat to your social presence!

Upwardly Trend #4: We will see vids, vids and more vids being consumed

Videos will become a greater trend in mobile marketing. With so many smartphones already capable of capturing and playing video, it is time for advertisers and campaign planners to look at various avenues of integration through mobile. We have already seen mobisodes making a dent in the content universe, Youtube on mobile and video been used in QR code advertisements or other promotions. Already 21% of people browse videos on their mobile handsets + 7m Youtube video views happens on YouTube mobile every month.  Source

Our Take: Marketers are recommended to take this to the next level making a strong visual impact through mobiles.

Upwardly Trend #5: Easy anywhere digital gratification will boom

Mobile coupons are such key enabler of mobile commerce. Mobile coupons can act as a Actionable advertisement, Payment incentive, Loyalty builder. mCoupons have so far been used to engage customers and drive loyalty. We see a mix of such digital gratification as mCoupons, talktime top up’s and customized content gaining traction this year.

According to the Juniper Research data, mCoupons will dominate mobile retail marketing spend for the next few years.

Our Take: Make hay while sun shines! Coupons should be included in multiple areas of a campaign, targeted to individual consumers shopping habits. Additionally, bricks and mortar companies need to understand and process mobile coupons more efficiently and quickly, making them a way to continually connect with consumers. Use more and more instant means of gratification winning consumer loyalty.

Upwardly Trend #6: mCommerce will click more consumers

We are now witnessing the second innings of E-commerce in India! Till now PCs and laptops were used for browsing and looking for best deals. But with information about most products readily available, most online purchase decisions are made quickly. What this means is that you don’t really need a 17 inch screen to complete an online purchase; you can do it on your mobile phone app. The recent BCG report says that the projected fee-based revenue from mobile commerce could exceed $4.5 billion by 2015 in India! Souce

Our Take: mCommerce figures are already showing a strong case for making it a foundation of your marketing budgets this year.

Upwardly Trend #7: “Mera app!” Apps will now go regional

The year 2012 would see apps targeted at Indian consumers comfortable with their regional languages. So imagine a regional newspaper and content in Malayalam or Quickoffice in Punjabi. We also see the apps becoming more engaging and a way of life! They will become utility and engagement driven.

Our Take: For the marketers this means that they should plan apps targeted at specific demographic profiles in their own languages. With features in phones bought in the hinterland supporting this, engaging the Tier 3 and below audience is not going to remain a dream.

Upwardly Trend #8: SMS and Voice will take on their permissible & innovative avatars.

As per TRAI DND guidelines, SPAM messaging has reduced to tolerable limits. But the use of the media of voice and SMS is nowhere close to being over. We will see both these mediums moving towards pull rather than push only focusing on permissible marketing, getting more personalized, targeted and innovative to reach and engage consumers through contests, portals, IVR, regional customization and more. The rural hinterland space in this arena is still a blue ocean. This year it will see a great deal of traction in regional voice and SMS marketing for a not-so-urban audience.

Our Take: The marketers should see the opportunity and integrate these mediums in their strategy to get a 360 degree efficiency and a healthy ROIs from their campaigns.

Ask us what mobile can do for you?

[Twitter] @one97 / [Facebook] one97 /www.one97.com

One97 Mobility Fund has 10 tickets up for grabs, on first-cum-first-serve basis. All you have to do is send an email to swtickets@one97mobilityfund.com along with a link to your work (if any), a short write up about your work experience, contact details and why you think you deserve to get the pass to attend startup weekend Mumbai!

Deadline for sending resumes: Thursday 9th February!

Startup Weekend is weekend-long, hands-on experiments where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable.

One97 Mobility Fund is a $100 million fund set up to support entrepreneurs who are making, or are ready to make game changing companies in the mobile ecosystem.

Click here for event details

• Event: Startup Weekend Mumbai
• Date: 10th – 12th February 2012
• Venue: Directiplex (BigRock), next to Andheri Subway, Old Nagardas Road, Andheri (E)

So what are you waiting for….those 10 tickets will be gone before you know it!

To capture the opportunity thrown up by the internet economy, Young Turks spent a better part of 2011 showcasing emerging Indian internet cos. Just a handful of young turks brought in funds over 230 million dollars from VCs and PEs in the year. So 2011 clearly was the year of the internet economy.

The event was held at the Mercedes Benz’s world class pavilion atAuto Expo, Pragati Maidan on Jan 6th.

Greeting for New Year!!!

One of the best websites I have ever seen.Have been associated with
many companies,haven’t seen so simple & user friendly yet Lighting
quick.
I am very happy & will always recommend to everyone.Also I like the
feature”Proudly made in INDIA” Love it simply.
Thanks for being the way you are Paytm.& Please don’t change

Wish you have a great 2012 !

The apps on iOS and beautiful  screen made an unparalleled combination for me. I am hoping for a Windows Mobile or an Android device as standby, soon.

Here is my list of iPhone apps that make my day great !

1. iCloud Synced Notes & EverNote : I love typing on a yellow page BG with special fint of native notes app. iCloud sync makes them available on my MacBookAir anytime.
Except that I had been using Evernote, I am not using ever note to create new notes.

2. Twitter & Tweetbot : I love Tweetbot design and gestures. Absolutely amazing twitter app. Lately Twitter “Interaction” feature giving view of who followed, retweeted me. This feature is yet in 3rd party apps for this I use native twitter clint. Must say: Native clint is 60:40 in term of design and usability.

3. Flipboard, Pulse and Zite: All three on iPhone create a little niche different experience.
I use Flipboard to discover what article are people sharing, Zite to tell me what should I read (when not reading Techmeme.com). Pulse is very rarely used : probably it’s not so great UI.

4. ReadItLater: I mostly buy new books and rarely get chance to read them. Similarly Here via many apps I keep collecting articles in readitLater. Hope that Later arrives soon. : )

5. TuneinRadio: Now this one is my default new music app. So many blues and country music stations along with far and wide local radio stations. Absolutely fantastic escape from junk/no local radio.
Specially when we yet dont have Spotify or clones in India.

6. Pixable: Facebook’s tough and tougher filers have pushed me to this app to see photos and videos shared on FB by my friends. Pretty neat.

7. DropBox: This is smartphone era’s flash drive. Put your files in Dropbox and they are anywhere.

More later. Gotta go in a meeting ! : )

Cheers