Nokia to drive financial inclusion via Mobile Money app

Finnish handset maker Nokia on Monday announced that it will embed its 'Mobile Money' application across all its handsets going ahead, a move aimed at driving financial inclusion through mobile devices, across the country.

The 'Mobile Money' service is aimed at providing the unbanked and under-banked masses, access to financial services through their mobile phones.

"As part of Nokia's vision of enabling a broad community with financial services, the application would be available not only on high-end Nokia smartphones, but also on feature phones and entry level devices," Nokia General Manager (Mobile Payment Services) Gary Singh said.

The application can be used to do a variety of transactions like bill payment, money transfer, prepaid SIM top-up, account management and cash withdrawal from cash-out outlets (registered Nokia stores) and ATMs. One of its latest handsets, X1-01 (a dual-SIM phone) has the application embedded.

Currently, mobile operator Bharti Airtel offers "Airtel money" service, which allows subscribers to pay for groceries, bills and other dues through their mobile phones.

The Nokia Money Mobile financial services initiative is already being implemented in India through partnerships with Union Bank of India (UBI), Yes Bank, Obopay and a wide range of merchants, retailers and business correspondents, he added.

The services, called Union Bank Money and Mobile Money Services (by Yes Bank) are already available in several regions and will be rolled out pan-India in the forthcoming quarters.

"We would like to see the services rolled out pan-India over the next 12-18 months," Mr. Singh said.

Consumers will have the option of choosing and subscribing to either Union Bank Money or YES Bank Mobile Money Services from their Nokia devices.

The Reserve Bank is looking to use mobile phones as a medium for taking banking facilities to the remote and far flung areas for achieving financial inclusion.

The basic transactions permissible over these accounts include cash deposit, cash withdrawal, balance enquiry and transfer of money.

The potential of mobile telephony could be gauged from the fact that there is an over 82 crore mobile subscriber base in the country.

Banks are currently permitted to offer this service to their customers subject to a daily cap of Rs. 50,000 through Java/GPRS enabled mobiles and up to Rs. 5,000 through non-Java/non-GPRS enabled mobiles by using Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD)/SMS.

HP TouchPad: the reviews roundup

HP's TouchPad: a new tablet running WebOS

Much to the annoyance of technology execs based outside Cupertino, the message for the small army of tablet devices launched to compete with Apple's iPad is growing deafeningly loud.

Sadly, HP's "breakthrough" TouchPad – to go on sale in July – is showing no signs of disrupting that pattern – here are some critiques from the best of the web.

Wall Street Journal – Walt Mossberg
Clever user interface, nifty wireless printing and unobtrusive notifications. But with a poor battery life and a paucity of compelling apps, the TouchPad is no match for the iPad.

Mossberg says: "H-P stresses that webOS is a platform and that the TouchPad is just one iteration of it. The company plans to add the operating system to numerous devices, including laptops, and hopes that this scale will attract many more apps. And it pledges continuous updates to fix the current shortcomings. 
"But, at least for now, I can't recommend the TouchPad over the iPad 2."

Gizmodo – Matt Buchanan
Conceptually, the TouchPad is way ahead of most other tablets – but it is painful in practice. Buchanan says: "You're stepping on my dreams, HP. The TouchPad is so close, closer than anything else, to being good. But it's also very, very far from it. Look, give this thing six months. It could be amazing. If it's not by then, well, I guess that says everything that needs to be said."

This is my next – Joshua Topolsky
Intuitive user interface, and phone pairing is a bonus – but the hardware feels cheap and the software can be sluggish. Topolsky says: "The TouchPad is far from perfect — really, not even close right now. Still, there is DNA here that is amazing, and deserves to be given a second look."

Engadget – Tim Stevens
Plasticky hardware, decent battery life, intuitive interface, altogether promising. Stevens says: "We all wanted the TouchPad to really compete, to give us a compelling third party to join the iOS and Android boxes on the ballot. But, alas, this isn't quite it."

Precentral – Derek Kessler 
Multitasking is a breeze, a few software bugs, and dissapointing lack of rear-facing camera – but a legitimate contender in the tablet space. Kessler says: "The TouchPad's not a perfect tablet by any stretch of the imagination...HP's still making their case, and if there's anybody with the power, expertise, and connections to make a successful tablet, HP and webOS could be the winning combination."

Ars Technica – Casey Johnston
Much improved WebOS, great set of native apps and snappy to touch. Possible the iPad's strongest competitor. Johnston says: "The HP TouchPad, if it were less expensive, could be an extremely strong, if slightly less polished, alternative to the iPad. But like other recently-released high-profile Android tablets, it's determined to take on the champ. And just like those Android tablets, its hard to recommend over an iPad at the same price. But the competition does creep ever closer, and the TouchPad stands as a solid iPad competitor for those who, err, 'think different.'"

Slashgear – Victor Nguyen
Multitasking is a treat, WebOS is a pleasant surprise – but its biggest challenge lies in getting developers on-side. Nguyen says: "The HP TouchPad offers one of the best tablet experiences around, and we can see many would-be tablet buyers missing out on that while the platform keeps its marginal status. Uninspiring hardware, perhaps, but we'll happily look past that based on webOS' charms."

The Guardian – Charles Arthur
HP has a tablet that looks like a viable competitor, says Arthur: "The TouchPad, for me, stood alongside the iPad in terms of quality – both user experience and build – and made the multitude of me-too Android tablets (and the PlayBook) look distinctly second-class."

Have you got a tablet? Or are you hankering after a TouchPad (or something else) now? Let us know...

HP TouchPad: the reviews roundup

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: reddygovardhan reddy <reddygovardhanreddy@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Jul 2, 2011 at 5:59 PM
Subject: HP TouchPad: the reviews roundup
To: reddygovardhanreddy.mb123@gmail.com

HP's TouchPad: a new tablet running WebOS

Much to the annoyance of technology execs based outside Cupertino, the message for the small army of tablet devices launched to compete with Apple's iPad is growing deafeningly loud.

Sadly, HP's "breakthrough" TouchPad – to go on sale in July – is showing no signs of disrupting that pattern – here are some critiques from the best of the web.

Wall Street Journal – Walt Mossberg
Clever user interface, nifty wireless printing and unobtrusive notifications. But with a poor battery life and a paucity of compelling apps, the TouchPad is no match for the iPad.

Mossberg says: "H-P stresses that webOS is a platform and that the TouchPad is just one iteration of it. The company plans to add the operating system to numerous devices, including laptops, and hopes that this scale will attract many more apps. And it pledges continuous updates to fix the current shortcomings. 
"But, at least for now, I can't recommend the TouchPad over the iPad 2."

Gizmodo – Matt Buchanan
Conceptually, the TouchPad is way ahead of most other tablets – but it is painful in practice. Buchanan says: "You're stepping on my dreams, HP. The TouchPad is so close, closer than anything else, to being good. But it's also very, very far from it. Look, give this thing six months. It could be amazing. If it's not by then, well, I guess that says everything that needs to be said."

This is my next – Joshua Topolsky
Intuitive user interface, and phone pairing is a bonus – but the hardware feels cheap and the software can be sluggish. Topolsky says: "The TouchPad is far from perfect — really, not even close right now. Still, there is DNA here that is amazing, and deserves to be given a second look."

Engadget – Tim Stevens
Plasticky hardware, decent battery life, intuitive interface, altogether promising. Stevens says: "We all wanted the TouchPad to really compete, to give us a compelling third party to join the iOS and Android boxes on the ballot. But, alas, this isn't quite it."

Precentral – Derek Kessler 
Multitasking is a breeze, a few software bugs, and dissapointing lack of rear-facing camera – but a legitimate contender in the tablet space. Kessler says: "The TouchPad's not a perfect tablet by any stretch of the imagination...HP's still making their case, and if there's anybody with the power, expertise, and connections to make a successful tablet, HP and webOS could be the winning combination."

Ars Technica – Casey Johnston
Much improved WebOS, great set of native apps and snappy to touch. Possible the iPad's strongest competitor. Johnston says: "The HP TouchPad, if it were less expensive, could be an extremely strong, if slightly less polished, alternative to the iPad. But like other recently-released high-profile Android tablets, it's determined to take on the champ. And just like those Android tablets, its hard to recommend over an iPad at the same price. But the competition does creep ever closer, and the TouchPad stands as a solid iPad competitor for those who, err, 'think different.'"

Slashgear – Victor Nguyen
Multitasking is a treat, WebOS is a pleasant surprise – but its biggest challenge lies in getting developers on-side. Nguyen says: "The HP TouchPad offers one of the best tablet experiences around, and we can see many would-be tablet buyers missing out on that while the platform keeps its marginal status. Uninspiring hardware, perhaps, but we'll happily look past that based on webOS' charms."

The Guardian – Charles Arthur
HP has a tablet that looks like a viable competitor, says Arthur: "The TouchPad, for me, stood alongside the iPad in terms of quality – both user experience and build – and made the multitude of me-too Android tablets (and the PlayBook) look distinctly second-class."

Have you got a tablet? Or are you hankering after a TouchPad (or something else) now? Let us know...

--
Oooooof,

Govardhanreddy