BMW launches its iconic Mini Cooper in India!

While it may not be the best of news for the team marketing the Beetle, it is definitely time for die-hard Mini fans to rejoice. BMW recently announced that various models of Mini Cooper will hit Indian roads by May this year. BMW earlier showcased this little stunner at the Indian Car Expo in January 2012. Incidentally, India is the 100^th market for this iconic car.

The company announced the opening of the first exclusive Mini showroom, Infinity Cars, in Mumbai on Linking Road. The showroom will have a 24 hour restaurant with music and a 5 car display. BMW plans to open 2 more showrooms in Delhi followed by Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Bangalore. The showrooms of Delhi are in the pipeline while the rest are likely to come up in the later part of 2012. While other BMW variants like the 3 series, 5 series, X1 and X3 are assembled domestically, the German luxury car maker plans to import the Minis from its facility in Oxford, UK.

So how much will the Mini Cooper cost in India?

The ex-showroom pricing of the Mini will range from Rs. 25 lakh to 36 lakh depending on the model and the variant. Needless to say, these prices are ex-showroom. For the moment, BMW plans to bring the following models to India.

• MINI Cooper
• MINI Cooper S (sporty)
• MINI Cooper S Countryman
• MINI Cooper S Countryman High
• MINI Cooper Convertible

Any Mini fan will tell you that the Mini Cooper is much more than a car. The emotional attachment that fans have to the brand is similar to that of a biker in India going gaga about the Royal Enfield. The car has a very urban feel to it and oozes a modern design that packs a punch even from a performance perspective.

Zigwheels reported that the Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper Convertible models are built and designed to easily hit 190 km/hr while the Cooper S can very well do speeds in excess of 220 km/hr. It is being claimed that all the variants hitting Indian shores will have efficient petrol engines with a 6 speed transmission.

Given its iconic status, BMW needs to do very little to sell the car. On unveiling the company’s plans regarding this premium small car in India, Andreas Schaaf, President, BMW India said, "MINI expresses a whole generation’s approach to life – it is extrovert, open and full of zest in life. No other brand exhibits the attributes and essence of a modern urban lifestyle like MINI and there is no doubt that it is one of the world’s most emotional auto brands."

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Piaggio’s brings iconic Vespa scooter back on Indian roads!

How would you feel if you saw Bajaj scooters zipping off on the road like yesteryears? Well, that isn’t really happening because Bajaj quit the scooter production segment 2 years back. But in a few months time you might just be able to witness the retro vintage scooters back on the roads because Piaggio has re launched Vespa after a 13 year hiatus from the Indian market. This time of course, in its singular capacity.

The Vespa LX 125 is priced at Rs. 66,661 ex showroom in Maharashtra and it is aimed at the luxury end of the scooter market. And if the iconic history of the scooter is anything to go by, the Vespa will click with the urban Indian looking for a set of wheels that are trendy and chic.

Vespa’s history in India

Folks from the era of Bajaj Chetak and LML Vespa will have a déjà vu because both these models took inspiration from the original Vespa’s styling. Vespa produced scooters in partnership with Bajaj Auto in the 1960s but that ended in 1971 as Indira Gandhi’s privatization programs came into place. In the 1980s, Vespa partnered with LML Motors in India to produce the famous P series scooters. This partnership ended in 1999 because of an irresolvable dispute.

What’s special about the Vespa?

There are tons of scooters in the Indian market available at affordable and reasonable prices. Then why would someone pay a 15-25% premium to buy the Vespa? The answer is simple.

Vespa is a brand that resembles the 60s, vintage style, class and a design that has stood the test of time. Just like sporting a vintage styled Louis Vuitton suitcase is fashionable, riding this Italian wasp (Vespa means wasp in Italian) is all about oozing style and sophistication – a quality uniquely associated with everything Italian.

Features of Vespa at a glance

• LX 125 is the name of the Vespa model in India and it has a 125 cc gearless engine with variomatic transmission, trailing link front suspension, drum brakes and a unique single monocoque chassis.
• It has been tailored to be extremely fuel efficient. Vespa claims a fuel efficiency of 60 kmpl. This is nearly twice that of the current European Vespa models.
• The under-seat storage is large enough to fit a helmet and the glove box too has multiple storage units.
• The frame of the scooter is made of very light metal, making it very easy to twist and turn the scooter to maneuver it in Indian traffic jams.

Why India now?

Piaggio is very optimistic about its re-entry in India. The company expects that its sales in India will cross its global sales across various markets within 2-3 years, reported ET. The Indian scooter market is pegged to grow at more than 20% compounded and Piaggio wants to grab a slice of this growth. AFP reported that more than 25 lakh scooters were sold in India in FY11-12 and the entire market segment grew by more than 20%.

However, deeper pockets are not the only thing 21^st century India is now armed with. Today aesthetics and brand value also hold importance in the minds of the urban Indian who knows the deep rooted meaning of retro, vintage and lineage when it comes to cars and bikes, and in this case, scooters. Vespa seems to understand that there is no such thing as a premium market for scooters in India, yet. Ravi Chopra, CMD, Piaggio Vehicles Private Limited aptly said

"We could not have launched Vespa at better time than this. The scooter market is fastest growing segment in the country and the Indian consumers has evolved today aspiring to own more lifestyle products and Vespa fits in perfectly."

Vespa LX 125 specifically adapted for Indians

The key for all the foreign players to be successful in India is to show high levels of product adaptation to demographical taste. Maruti Suzuki went out of the way and designed its latest offering, Ertiga, in Japan, keeping Indian consumers in mind. Piaggio too, is leaving no stone unturned and has made a changes to the original European design to appeal India Inc.

• The shape of the seat has been changed to the needs of Indian women who prefer to saddle sideways while riding pillion on scooters.
• Keeping the Indian women happy, the LX 125 also has a slimmer body because Vespa thought it’d go well with the side-sitting position of the woman pillion rider.
• Considering that Indian women may wear saris while riding a scooter, the footboard has been lowered for more leg space.
• Considering Indian traffic, a louder horn has been given to the LX 125. No surprises here.
• Considering Indian driving conditions, Vespa has also tweaked the distance between the surface of the road to the engine of its scooter. Vespa claims that this modification will reduce the chances of damages due to bumps and pavements.
• The rear wheel ergonomics have been redesigned to make it easier for riders to change their tires in case of a puncture.
• Last but not the least, which scooter/bike company puts a price on their models which ends in a 1? Pricing the LX 125 at Rs. 66,661, Vespa seems to have understood that it takes more than just strategy to get it right in India Inc. It needs some good auspicious vibes too.

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India’s High School students crazy for Social Networking & Mobile Devices!

One of the most comprehensive school level survey conducted by TCS finds that Indian children between age of 12 and 18 are quickly adopting new modes of networking using social platforms like Facebook and Twitter and tools like instant messaging (IM) and chat. The survey was conducted in 12 Indian cities with over 12,300 students participating in the survey.

The survey also shows that these trends among students are not limited to metros alone, but are similar in upcoming Tier II towns.

Interesting findings of the survey:

- 75% of the students said that main reason they access Internet was to do “Research for School” followed by chatting (68%) and listening to music (50%).

- Over 84% of the students go online from home compared to just 58% (in 2009).

- Use of Cyber Café’s for online access has reduced dramatically to 20% as compared to 46% in 2009.

- 88% of students have presence on a Social platform like Facebook. Twitter is used by atleast 1/3^rd of surveyed students.

- Sites like Linkedin are increasing in popularity especially in business-centric cities like Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

- 8 out of 10 high school students own mobile phones and more than 40% use mobile phones to access the internet (compared to just 12% in 2009)

- An emerging trend is the use of tablets with almost 14% using these new devices.

- 50% of students used SMS the most to communicate while 45% used IM and 38% used Facebook or Twitter – much higher than students who said they used email (34%) for the same purpose.

- Though use of emails (55%) in mini-metros is higher than metros (34%).

- Television is falling off the radar, with it being the least favorite gadget among students. With 28% votes, Mobile phone was the most popular gadget.

- 45% of students in the metros own a gaming console as compared to 16% in mini metros.

- IT remains the top career preference amongst youngsters, irrespective of geography, with Engineering and Medicine coming next.

- Media & Entertainment are emerging as a urban favorites.

- Interestingly career in Retail sector is the least favorite among high school students.

 

Most of the findings are not all that surprising – however, there is clearly a paradigm shift in the way previous generations socialized, communicated & worked. The Generation Y is more online, always connected and much better acquainted with technology than before!

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Mobile Payments Company Fortumo Opens India Office!

Fortumo, Estonia / US based mobile payments company has announced opening up of their office in India. In September of this year, Fortumo became one of the first mobile payments company to offer direct billing support for in-app purchases in India.

Fortumo currently has tie-ups with leading Indian telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Tata Docomo creating a potential base of 530 million users for mobile app developers.

Given that India has one of the largest base of mobile users in the world, the country is expected play a key role in Fortumo’s global expansion plans. Establishing local presence in India will help Fortumo take a local approach to one of the biggest emerging markets for online payments.

With it’s presence in India, Fortumo wants to plug the huge lacuna currently present in Indian mobile payment market. Even though India has over 800 million mobile users, over 99% of the population can not pay for content using services such as Google Play or PayPal, due to extremely low number of credit card owners in India.

Direct Carrier billing not only allows easy payments for the users, but also allows mobile app developers to monetize their apps in a more efficient and productive manner.

Fortumo has made New Delhi as their Indian headquarters and have appointed Industry veteranSanjay Sinha as the General Manager of Fortumo India. Sanjay Sinha has worked in the mobile payments industry for more than a decade. His prior experience includes work at Yahoo India, ACL Wireless and CellNext.

On his appointment as GM of Fortumo, he commented, “Monetization is the biggest challenge for mobile developers and Fortumo is ideally positioned to solve this problem. The mobile ecosystem in India is exploding with established companies setting up their mobile identity and hordes of new start-ups launching. My goal as the general manager for Fortumo India will be to secure a central role for Fortumo in this growing market.”

Though, Fortumo’s solution is focused on smartphones, given the high percentage of feature phone users in India. they have separately created a customized payment flow for use on feature phones. The solution automatically recognizes when a feature phone environment is being used and morphs itself to enable payments on phones without in-app payment capabilities.

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Alert: Get Rid Of Scribbled Currency Notes, Banks Will Not Accept Them From Jan 1st

Having their own names printed on currency notes and coins has been the ultimate fantasy of rulers since time immemorial. If we observe the coins minted during last 1000 years, then we can observe that rulers across all periods have attempted to make their names immortal by placing their faces and/or names on currency tools. As rulers changed and kingdoms replaced other kingdoms, so did the names and faces minted on coins and currency notes.

But the irony is that, even after 64  years of Indian independence, there are some citizens who still feel the same, and they are not shying away from scribbling their own names or their loved ones on currency notes. And, then there are those who write phone numbers, messages and what not!

They might not be aware, but Indian Government loses crores worth of currency notes, as they are defaced by scribbling on them.

This time, the government is acting tough on this practice, and has issued notifications that starting from January 1, 2014, banks will no longer accept any currency note which has been scribbled and defaced.

Clean Note Policy by RBI

This current notification by RBI is in continuation with its Clean Note Policy, wherein they had directed all bank employees to stop stapling note bundles and writing numbers/names or any other thing on the currency notes.

As per the official Reserve Bank of India communication dated May 10, 2013, it has been instructed that,

1. Banks should do away with stapling of any note packet and instead secure note packets with paper bands,
2. Banks should sort notes into re-issuable and non-issuables, and issue only clean notes to public; and,
3. Banks should forthwith stop writing of any kind on watermark window of bank notes.

Writing on Currency Notes is Punishable in India

Few would be aware that scribbling on currency notes is a punishable offence in India. Under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act 1949, RBI has clearly mentioned that writing and/or scribbling on currency notes and distribution of such defaced notes is punishable and can carry penalty as well. But time and again, we regularly come across instances when people violate this rule.

In the past, newspapers and publications have consistently highlighted this issue and even shared stories how this practice negatively affects Indian economy and as a result thousands of crores of rupees are wasted every year.

We believe that growth and progress of a nation should start with us. Responsible citizens should be aware that such immature and irresponsible behavior will only bring our economy down and halt our economic progress. We request all our readers to spread this message and stop scribbling and defacing currency notes at all levels.

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President of India’s website redesigned: Citizens can now write to the President directly

In a press release, the President’s Secretariat announced the launch of a redesigned website of the President of India. Apart from a more user friendly design, the website also features social media buttons to the President’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. Citizens can now interact with the President via social media, or can write directly to the President via links provided on the website itself.

After Pranab Mukherjee took charge, the website http://presidentofindia.nic.in has been redesigned and now has features which citizens can use to contact the President via a helpline portal. There is a button called ‘Write to The President’ at the bottom left of the website. When clicked, users will be directed to the President’s Secretariat Helpline. Upon clicking on Lodge a Request, users will be asked to fill out a registration form including personal details, address, phone number, email id, etc.

The form will also ask users to create a password for their request. Additionally, the form supports up to 4,000 characters which citizens can use to write their requests or grievances to the President of India. Upon submitting a request, users will be able to view its status or manage their login details by changing passwords.

The new website also features social media buttons for the President’s very own YouTube channel and a Facebook page. Currently, the youtube channel has less than 10 in-house videos, the latest one being the Swearing in ceremony of Pranab Mukherjee as 13^th President of India after Pratibha Patil.

The President of India’s Facebook page has already attracted more than 2,500 likes. The account went live on 26 July and has pictures of Pranab Mukherjee with various dignitaries and politicians. Recently, the President also congratulated Vijay Kumar Sharma for his Silver Medal at London 2012 via Facebook. The President’s Facebook page also has pictures of the recent Raksha Bandhan celebrations at Rashtrapati Bhavan and we expect to see more as the President’s presence on social media evolves.

While the President’s Secretariat Helpline is a step forward in the right direction, it can only make a difference if it yields results and practically addresses grievances of the common man. As citizens we can hope to take advantage of connectivity with office bearers and people who can make a difference.

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Future of Handheld gaming devices!

Quick, tell me the name of few handheld gaming devices. What comes to your mind? PSP Vita, Nintendo DS, PSP Go! No?

Let me take a wild guess, your mobile phone? Yes! And that is what I wish to talk about today.

I was just browsing through Flipkart searching for games for my PS3 when I accidently chose a game that in actuality was for PSP Vita. The game was a similar title and must have been launched for PSP Vita along with the PS3 version or maybe separately. As I already was in the handheld area I decided to look around a bit.

PSP Vita is priced nearly Rs. 20K  right now, PSP Go is around Rs. 7K. Nintendo is comparatively cheaper with Nintendo DS being around 6K Rs. and 3DS around 15K Rs. For this price you get nearly 5 inch of screen estate in which you can play some very good quality games.

If anyone remembers the hand held devices of old times which where black and white, consisting of just pixels and completely basic game play and sell like hot cakes. Good times, at least for the hand held gaming devices.

Unlike today, there was no option for hand held gaming in those times and gaming has not lost its sheen in years I must say. In fact, in all probability it might have increased with the advent ofcasual gamer. Despite that, the future of hand held gaming looks bleak at best for these consoles to me.

The reason you ask?

It’s the same dude that has been bullying the alarm clocks, watches, sticky notes and what not –The Mobile phone.

When iPhone launched, it opened the possibility of gaming in new ways. But, let me go back a bit more. Do you know which is the most played game ever in the world – Snake. That innocent game that is found on almost every Nokia set is played by millions and is highly addictive.

That is where the dawn of casual gamer begins – with a simple game, played during small lunch breaks or during commuting. The three things that saved handheld gaming consoles then were -

1. The price of mobiles was comparatively higher.
2. The games were still predominately played by kids.
3. The graphic quality of hand held game was much superior.

The first is pretty obvious. The price of mobile phones was pretty high initially and thus buying a phone with gaming in mind was not just useless but downright prohibitive thought.

The price of mobiles reduced definitely, but more than that the price of these consoles increased drastically. PSP Vita is costlier that any phone Micromax has made and it is one of the largest mobile companies in India.

The second point may need some explanation. Gaming is still a kid’s thing, but now the kids themselves get mobile at such a young age that they can already shift to mobile gaming instead of buying a handheld console.

As the price is same, parents now prefer giving their children a phone. I got my first phone at 18, my cousin at 12. Thus, the need of handheld console seems redundant.

With iOS and Android and the way phones are leaping towards Quad-core, gaming has gone hard core in mobile industry. At Rs. 20K  is PSP Vita and at Rs. 28K is Xperia S which is Playstation certified phone. It means that it will run the PSP games.

What will anyone buy in this scenario? I know my answer.

Also, add to this the fact that handheld devices barely make profits as they try to reap the benefits from games that sell and soon companies might not feel it economically viable to keep making them.

Developers are already flocking towards the mobile industry and companies are feeling the heat already. Gaming industry is blooming, but original pure-play handheld gaming, not so much.

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