Futurechat

This post is based on a comment of Mr Sanjay Kapoor of Airtel on the different strategies that Airtel has adopted in reaching out to newer customers in Rural India.

Initially the customer base of mobile companies was more urban and as these areas became more saturated, the emphasis has moved to rural areas.

Similarly, If one were to look at other companies, at first they would start with slightly different products for these markets but eventually they would have to compete on service itself. This means that service design would have to be looked at very closely.

I wanted to know your experiences and insights on this topic.

You can use the Airtel Call Manager service to manage who can call you. I had written about it earlier but that was a bit basic. Since that post, I have started the service and also figured how to make best use of the service. Here is a quick look at how to block specific numbers etc.

Follow these steps to manage who calls you

A.  This service has a menu that can be reached by dialing *323# . When you dial for the first time, the service would need to be started. Once the service is started, you can manage your profile and calls.

B. On dialing the above number, you first see a screen which tells you about your currently active profile and then fades to show the following menu

• 1. Block List
• 2 Select List
• 3 Change Profile
• 4 Blocked Call Alerts
• 5 Unsubscribe

C. To choose any of the options press Answer and then select the option and press send from options.
Eg if you wanted to go to the Blocked List, press Answer , write 1 and then press send from options.
Other options can also be reached in much the same way.

Once you block a number and that person tries to reach you, they will simply get an engaged tone.

This post is about two devices, one a conventional mobile phone and the other being an iPod Touch. The conventional mobile phone has a data connection (if signed up) which is always available but the iPod Touch needs a wifi connection to access the net.

You can actually use the mobile phone’s data connection to provide wifi access to the iPod Touch. To do this , follow these steps

1. Install a software such as JoikuSpot Premium or Lite on your mobile phone. Nokia phone users can download this software from the Ovi Store. The software has a two day evaluation version, post which you can activate the software after paying from within the application itself.

2. The installed software, in a Nokia phone,  is available within the applications folder. Simply start this application each time you want to provide a wifi signal to another device. Each time the application launches, it will ask if you want to allow sharing of your internet connection with external devices. After pressing ‘Yes’, it will ask for the access point for the internet connection. In the case of Airtel, it would be Mobile Office so select that from the list provided.

3. It will then  start the wifi connection. Once the connection is started,  external devices such as your iPod Touch or laptop would be able to detect this connection. You can now start using this connection without making any changes in your laptop.

4. Once you have completed your work , make sure you remember to stop the JoikuSpot connection in the application by going into options and selecting  ‘Stop’.  If you forget this, it is quite likely your phone would run out of charge faster than anticipated.

Remember to take the following steps , when you install this application for the first time.

a. Launch this application and then go to settings. In the settings options,

• Network Name : Either use the default name or Provide a unique name. This is the name that other devices would detect as a wifi signal.
• Access Point : Select “Ask Always”
• 802.11 Channel : Automatic
• Encryption     : WEP Shared
• Encryption Key Type : ASCII
• Encryption key length : Choose either 64 bit or 128 bit
• Encryption Key        : Provide the password. This is the password that you need to enter in your external device. Please ensure you put a good strong password. It is for your security.
• Don’t change settings from Landing Page, GPS positioning for now.

Some benefits to consider

• Your existing data connection is provided to the iPod Touch and its range of applications.
• Getting Wifi to work on devices such as Laptop is far easier than providing bluetooth/data card based internet access to the same device. This is especially true for Apple Mac users who have to go searching for settings for datacard etc as the telcos don’t seem to provide this information.
• Well you do not need to invest in a new smart phone when you can install the latest applications on your existing iPod Touch.
• You can continue to use this approach even when 3G launches in India.

Last night I upgraded my iPhone software to version 3.0.  Some of the things I liked are

Spotlight Search

Press the home button on the home screen or slide to the left to activate spotlight search. It is powerful, nice and fast. The results start appearing as you type and include Contacts, iPod, Mail etc.

Internet Tethering With Airtel

This is the most awaited feature for me as it provides internet browsing on the move

To go to Internet Tethering

1. Click on Settings on your iPhone.
2. Go to General -> Network and Internet Tethering
3. Slide your button to Switch it on.

Internet Tethering on Airtel with Bluetooth

First time setup to pair your Mac laptop and your iphone
1. Go to System Preferences of your Mac

2. Select Bluetooth from Hardware

3. From Bluetooth Window, Click on Set Up New Device

4. From Your Bluetooth Setup Assistant Click on continue

5. Select Device Type as Mobile phone

6. After Searching it will show your iPhone in the list, Select it and click on the Continue button

…more

If you are interested in the Apple World Wide Developer Conference keynote coverage, here are some mobile specific notes after scanning various sites :

1. The Anticipated Announcement was the launch of the new iPhone 3GS. It has been introduced in 16GB and 32GB variants. ‘S’ stands for speed and is supposed to be faster than the existing model. The look of the new phone also remains unchanged.

The existing 8Gb 3G version is now available at a lower price point. Will Airtel and Vodafone lower the prices for this version when and if they launch the new version?

Some of the enhancements include

• Accessibility Control for those with special needs.
• Voice control to manage phone and audio usage. Is it similar to the ipod shuffle feature?
• Upto 9 hours of surf time over wifi. 30 hours of audio time. This seems like a substantial improvement.
• Video capture, editing and uploading onto YouTube plus an enhanced 3.2MP camera with Autofocus.
• Enhancements such as cut paste and mms are also now active.

2. The most interesting aspect of the above is the iPhone 3.0 Software Upgrade. It essentially gives  existing iPhone and iPod Touch users most of the functionality as on the new phone. It is free for iPhone users and will cost iPod Touch users about $10.

3.  Mobile Midi app, was demoed, allows musicians to carry their acoustic and electronic files. Really interested to know more about this. Other demos included a classroom app called Spark and ZipCar for real time availablity of car rental. TOM TOM GPS, Book Reader but most interesting was AirStrip CC (Critical Care) which allows for Real time information on a patient including wave information. It would be nice to know what doctors here, feel about this and its suitability for them.

4. The feature that seems to have gotten some attention was Find My iPhone which allows for tracking from the Mobile Me site and also the ability to wipe the data from  a stolen phone remotely.

Some thoughts :

a. Existing iPhone customers benefit from the announcement today without needing to change their phone.

b. Applications have been given a lot of attention and by introducing medical, classroom and other special applications, Apple has potentially a much a richer base than other competitors.

c. So the question is if you had a iPod Touch, would you upgrade to the new iPhone 3.0 software and install new games and apps?

d. Is there reason for you to change your phone to the new iPhone or would you evaluate the new soon to be introduced Nokia N97 ?

e. Are existing iPhone users relieved that the new phone looks just the same ?

f. The Apple Ecosystem experience is quite the benchmark, but what are your views on this. What are you looking for in a phone and its related ecosystem?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Apple cuts price of basic iPhone (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Apple unveils new, faster iPhone (guardian.co.uk)
• The Summer of the Superphone (gigaom.com)