Online payment techniques are myriad and equally varied too. CCAvenue, an e-commerce and online payment management company has sought the route of offering promotions and discounts to boost the online payment process.

Essentially meant for online sellers, CCAvenue claims that BIN-based promotions offer several advantages to customers, merchants as well as the banks. Additionally, the promotions are intelligent to decipher and sift through customers which eventually results in smart customer segmentation and help businesses target specific groups of potential customers.

What does BIN Based Promotion Offer?
It has been proved that customers, present and potential are attracted towards coupons, codes and other promotional techniques. They actively seek out such gimmicks and engage in the purchase activity a lot more eagerly than through otherwise simple display based selling.

Even under present conditions, merchants can offer promotions and discounts, but they have to seek and process card-details of each customer. This process includes a cost because of mandatory PCI compliance and this runs into several lakhs.

BIN or Bank Identification Number is a smaller 4/6 Digit Number that is unique to each bank and usually appears at the start of the 16 digit long number on the bank's credit card or debit card. BIN allows identification of the bank, as well as the card type being used to execute the payment. Merchants already have tie-up with banks and they finalize discounts and cash back offers as part of a strategic alliance or tie-up with co-branded credit cards or debit cards.

Using the BIN Code merchants can easily extend the discounts, promotions or cash-back offers without asking for and processing the entire card number of each and every customer. CCAvenue has extended the service for free as it is dedicated to further simplify online payment, claimed a statement from the company,

"CCAvenue has always strived to be more than a payment gateway. It has been constantly adding new payment options and features for customer convenience. Recent progress reflects, Avenues India is the first Indian payment gateway to tie up with DBS Bank for offering its payment options. It is also the first payment gateway to launch the much talked-about EzeClick facility from American Express."

Simplification of any sub-component within the vast online payment process means direct cost-savings to all the parties involved. Let's see how much of that saving is passed onto the customers.

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Samsung is not having a good day, it seems. Earlier, we wrote about how a jury has directed Samsung to pay Apple an additional $290 million in damages. Now, Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has fined Samsung $340,000 for engaging in negative and slanderous marketing ploys against HTC (although the company is not named in the judgement).

Earlier, Samsung Taiwan was in the news for having hired paid writers to write negative and misleading reviews online against HTC. These writers were also told to promote Samsung products from a user's point of view in Taiwanese forums. While it is not clear whether the directive for such activities came from Samsung itself or whether such actions were taken unilaterally by Samsung's local advertising agency in Taiwan. After such activities being outed, Samsung had announced that it has put a stop to the alleged marketing practices and is committed to be transparent about it marketing activities.

Hiring paid writers to paint a negative picture of competing brands is a seriously wrong marketing move and is a serious lapse in the marketing process of the company. These activities dubbed 'Astroturfing' do occur in the technology business but recently Samsung has been caught engaging in such dubious marketing tricks twice, which only points towards possible deeper participation and approval by Samsung, instead of being unilateral actions being carried out by a marketing agency. The marketing agencies (two of them) have been fined $100,000 in total for their part in these activities.

Source | Phys.org

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In a bid to ease the payment process at the time of booking, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)  has launched an e-wallet service on its website. IRCTC e-wallet service acts like any other e-wallet scheme, where in customers will have to open an account with the ticketing site and fill it up with money in order to use it at the time of booking.

Prior to this e-wallet, customers could only make payments via credit card, debit card or net banking while booking an eTicket. Also, the process was painfully slow and lengthy as the customer is transferred to the bank’s server, from IRCTC’s server, for making the payment and thereafter he is once again taken back into the IRCTC site which takes considerable time for booking a ticket.

However, in case of the e-wallet service, the customer is not directed to the bank’s server for the payment, ultimately saving considerable time and increasing accuracy. IRCTC’s e-wallet will also allow users to search bookings by providing their date of journey.

Users can park a minimum balance of Rs. 100 and a maximum balance of Rs. 5000 in their e-wallets and the amount once deposited is non-refundable and can only be added in multiples of 100. The deposit amounts are non-refundable. Only PAN card verified users can register for the e-wallet scheme. In case of cancelling a ticket, IRCTC will credit the refund to the e-Wallet account next day. An IRCTC official reveals the new initiative has received good response since its launch in the second week of this month.

Check out the below link on how to use the e-wallet service.

https://www.irctc.co.in/betaDoc/IRCTC%20E%20Wallet%20User%20Guide.pdf

IRCTC had assured in August this year that ticket booking will be hassle free from next year. The IRCTC  also rolled out Windows 8 app in September. It also expanded to e-commerce with an exclusive partnership with Yebhi.

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A second jury that was convened to figure out the monetary compensation that Samsung would have to pay Apple in the long standing patent infringement case between the two companies. This jury has ruled that Samsung will have to pay Apple an additional $290 million in damages. This is independent of the $600 million approx. that the company was ordered to pay Apple by the previous jury.

After the first ruling, Samsung had contended that it only needed to pay Apple $52 million more in damages. Apple had instead asked the court damages worth $380 million. These damages were calculated after approximating how much profits Apple had lost because of Samsung infringing on its patents. Samsung has stated that it is 'disappointed' with the ruling and has confirmed that it will go ahead with its post-trial motions and appeals. It says that this second decision was largely based on a patent that the US Patent and Trademark office has declared invalid recently and is therefore unfair.

The case has been going on since April 2011 and it seems it will not end very soon simply because of the complicated way in which it is going ahead. When Apple sued Samsung for the infringement, Samsung had counter-sued Apple. Both the cases were merged together in the months ahead and jury had sided with Apple. It awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages. In March, Lucy Koh, the judge who presided over the hearings ordered a new trial to recalculate the damages and erased $450.5 million from the original damages ruling. The contentious devices in the suit were Galaxy Prevail, Gem, Galaxy SII, Epic 4G, Exhibit 4G, Galaxy Tab, Nexus S 4G and others. There is still one more patent related trial between the two which will begin in March and this one deals with newer devices from both the companies and include Samsung's popular S3 and Note2.

All we can say that these generalized patents are hindering innovation by making companies fight lengthy legal battles rather than innovating.

Source | Cnet

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The unbridled growth of mobile sector is no secret. But, a new report compiled by GSMA, in collaboration with BCG, portrays a highly influential and dynamic future for the same.

Titled 'The Mobile Economy India: 2013', the report states that the mobile economy will contribute about US$ 400 Billion to the country's GDP and will generate more than 4.1 Million employment opportunities across the breadth and span of this country. Interestingly, the present numbers are comparatively very humble. Currently, the mobile economy in India is worth mere US$ 130 Million (Rs. 817 Crores).

Why is GSMA so optimistic?
If the report is to be believed, by 2020 the revenue generated it is going to take a leap of 408%. GSMA is confident of not just achieving, but exceeding the goal of 4 Billion and the reasons are ample. Though the country is home to more than 900 million mobile connections, it makes up only 25% of the total mobile connections in Asia Pacific region. More so, these mobile connections do not represent equal distribution. Owing to dual SIM phones, many individuals own and operate multiple connections and hence there is a vast demand yet unfulfilled.

However, mobile penetration is one of the healthiest. India's mobile penetration is at 72% and is rising healthily. Fueled by falling tariffs of essential communications standards and cheap local and Chinese phones, multiple regions of this country are getting access to mobile communications. Overall, the decreasing price per minute is augmented by growing number of users. Lest one might forget, though appearing to be costly, data costs are still one of the lowest in the world.

Despite the optimistic outlook, the mobile segment has to tackle some of the most stubborn obstacles. High competitions, changing policies, low ARPU and vast regions to offer coverage means companies have to earmark a lot of their funds for constant development.

Mobile segment, despite growing rapidly, still has a lot of ground to cover. But companies have fortunately realized the same and have begun earnest efforts. If they manage to bring the unconnected masses within their coverage, the predicted future could be outpaced even quicker than foretold. What do you think?

Image Source | xyz

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Nokia has given its Asha 501 an update by rolling out support for WhatsApp. The Nokia Asha 501 users can get the popular instant messenger as it is available for download through a software upgrade. WhatsApp is already available on other Asha phones, which run on the older platform.

“After you download WhatsApp and log in for the first time using your Nokia Asha 501, your phone will automatically find and add contacts who are already using the messaging service”, Nokia announced in a company blog post. Once you have logged in, just pick the person you want to chat to, type your message, and hit send. WhatsApp lets users message friends using 2G or Wi-Fi connection. The cross-platform app will allow users to add emoticons to messages or add photographs and video files as well as record and send voice messages. When someone sends a message, a user will be notified on Fastlane, which is the second home screen on the Asha devices.

Nokia has also announced that WhatsApp will also come pre-installed on the Nokia Asha 500, Asha 502 and Asha 503 Dual-SIM when they hit the stores later this year. In July this year, Nokia rolled out update for Asha Touch range of smartphones including the Asha 305, Asha 306 and dual-SIM enabled Asha 308 and Asha 310. This update included WhatsApp support as well.

Finally, along with the software update, Nokia Asha 501 also gets an API for VoIP, which allows users to make calls over a data connection using any third party app. The company claims that the VoIP feature is currently available via Nimbuzz, and more apps will be added soon. The Asha 501 also features support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync after the update.

We feel that this update is going to be useful for both Nokia and WhatsApp. It will help the former to switch users from a feature phone to a low budget yet power packed smartphone while the latter will only get more users to its already strong user base.

Image Source | gsmarena

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Cash-On-Delivery or COD has been a pain-point for e-commerce companies and customers alike. To encourage customers to pay up-front and yet retain control of the funds till merchandise is delivered, PayUPaisa, an e–commerce payment management company has offered 'Release On Delivery' option for merchants.

Under Release On Delivery (ROD), prepaid payments will be released to merchants only after customers' consent. It's essentially a prepaid medium to accept online payments and the company claims it helps to reduce COD expenses and associated burdens by almost 4 times.

Why ROD?
This payment technique is already in existence. eBay, one of the largest online marketplace e–commerce companies has been employing this technique under its PaisaPay brand of payment management.

Essentially, the funds are debited from the customers' account, but the seller or merchant doesn't immediately receive the funds. The money stays reserved under PaisaPay. Once the merchandise is delivered, e-Bay asks the receiver or buyer to confirm receipt of the item. Only then, the funds are released to the seller and the transaction is completed. ROD has similar benefits. Customers stay assured that seller will surely ship the merchandise, while the seller on the other hand is assured that the payment has been collected.

COD has always carried the risk of non–payment. Additionally, average cost per COD transaction, which has to be undoubtedly borne by a merchant ranges 8% to 10% as compared to an online transaction, which costs between 2% to 2.5%. Plus, there are other direct and indirect costs associated with COD. Third party courier companies charge cash handling fees, which varies from INR 15 to INR 35 for a delivery of INR 1000 (1.5% to 3.5%). All this severely cuts into the profit margins of the merchants.

Besides the aforementioned pitfalls associated with COD, ROD will also address a rather strange, but prevalent phenomenon. COD customers were believed to have opted for this mode of payment because they couldn't execute online payment, but interestingly this is not true in its entirety. More than 35% of users who select COD, can actually pay online. Further, 75% of these users choose COD as they want to see the product before paying and rest of the 25%, do it because of convenience.

Online payments are being simplified for multiple sectors. From Mobile Wallets to e–Wallets, companies are attempting numerous techniques to encourage buyers to hit the 'Buy' button. Do you think, ROD will help in this endeavor?

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Nokia has rebranded its music streaming service Nokia Music as MixRadio. Available in 31 countries including India, the latest service boasts of a ‘Play Me’ mix that personalizes your radio. It allows you to add your favorite artists and recommends songs based on its own engine. There is a team at Nokia that creates the unique 150 Mix Radio playlists from approximately 17 million songs.

It must be noted that the music streaming service is available only to Lumia users and doesn’t function on a computer or a laptop. Users can then download up to four playlists (eight hours of music) for free offline playback with no interruptions. Another major benefit of the Nokia Music service and Mix Radio is the ability to download music for listening without a connection.

Nokia MixRadio encourages user personalization with simple ‘Thumbs Up’ and artist ‘Favorite’ features that hone the music selections it delivers. The service also offers hundreds of expert and celebrity curated mixes free of adverts, sign ups or subscriptions. Mixes can also be shared with friends on Facebook, Twitter or by email and SMS through the “MixSharing” feature. Using this feature, users can share three full tracks of a mix with friends which can be listened to online at music.nokia.com, free of charge.

Jyrki Rosenberg, VP and Head of Nokia Entertainment said in an official statement, “It’s as easy as turning on the radio, but you’re in control – just one touch of Play Me provides people with their own personal radio station, free of adverts, sign ups and sign-ins. You can even skip songs you don’t like, as well as build your station around your likes and dislikes with the unique thumbs up and down feature.”

The app is available to download from the Windows Phone store. If you already have the Nokia Music app you can simply update it to MixRadio. We think that Windows Phone 8 platform which is currently at No. 3 spot is striving hard to rise. It has improved its store with top class apps and has launched really good devices.

Image Source | Windows Phone Daily

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