India

Times Mobile Limited has partnered with Techfront, an mVAS provider, to launch a mobile app Follow On to provide users with additional content on their mobile during a live match on May 21 and 22, 2013 at Kotla. The application is available for download on Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone. Features: We tried the app on our Android phone and the app provides content such as team stats, individual player stats, teams head to head stats, points table stats, live score, video highlights, weather information, augmented reality feature and the ability to upload photos taken at the stadium. The photos taken at the event through the app can be shared at www.followon.in, however, the site notes that the photos will be uploaded after the event day. The video section offers clips like match highlights, fours and sixes, and wicket dismissals among others. The app also provides navigation to the stadium stands, allowing users to reach the stadium stand from their location with the help of Google Maps. As for the AR function, one can scan the Pepsi logo present at the stadium to get some prizes.    The app notes that it displays live information during the games only if one uses the Follow On WiFi network at the venue. The WiFi provided at the stadium will be apparently free to use. It’s not clear if the user can make use of this WiFi connection to browse other apps at the stadium. One annoying bit about the app was that, it asked me to participate in a poll which seems impossible to bypass. Our view It’s not clear why Times Mobile launched this initiative for only for two days, since they could have continued this through out the remaining IPL matches for this season. Besides this, it appears that the app is a good way to interact with users online for an offline event. The app provides users with information that might interest them – as sometimes at the stadium, no one really understands what’s happening. As for the brands, it gives a chance for them to interact with the user, collect data, and analyse it later. What’s particularly interesting is that while traditional advertising didn’t allow brands to realize their ROI, new mobile technology based engagement tools achieves two things – advertise and get engagement and thus ROI.

India`s accelerating ties with Thailand will get a further boost with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s brief but comprehensive visit here next week, but the long awaited FTA will not be initialed during the trip.

In a major setback to Naveen Patnaik government as well as the ruling BJD, the Planning Commission has made it clear that Odisha does not qualify for the grant of Special Category Status.

The Congress Wednesday lashed out at the BJP for playing negative politics and said the party would achieve a hattrick of sitting in the opposition after the 2014 General Elections.

A Delhi court sent contractor Sushil Daga, one of the accused in the Rs 10-crore railway bribery case in which former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal`s nephew is among those arrested, to judicial custody till June 1.

The central government has extended Visa-On-Arrival facility to international passengers travelling through Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad managed by the GMR Group.

Left parties on Wednesday attacked the UPA-II coalition for failing to resolve problems of the people, the "rapid succession" of scams during its four-year tenure and for remaining in power by "manufacturing majority".

India`s ties with Thailand will get a further boost with PM Manmohan Singh`s visit, but the long awaited FTA will not be signed during the trip aimed at elevating bilateral relations into a "strategic partnership".

Gold moved ahead in northward territory by adding Rs 286 to Rs 26,396 per ten grams in futures trade Wednesday as market players expanded their exposures, moving in tandem with a positive global trend.

A hair oil brand, endorsed by Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, has come on board as the official partner of her forthcoming movie "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani".