The new plan from Vodafone has them partnering up to give banking services via mobile phones, a service that (possibly inadvertently) would reach out to the unreachable in India. Vodafone has partnered up with ICICI Bank (the second largest banking institution in the country) to bring electronics payment capabilities to Vodafone cell phone users. In the works are additional plans to provide other banking services as well, via mobiles.
3G technology is more about the experience it brings in, rather than the speed. Speed may just be an enabler. The services, applications, possibilities, emerging devices and reliability is what comes as a bundle.
Android is an open-source software stack for mobile devices, and a corresponding open-source project led by Google. Android was created in response to developers' own experiences launching mobile apps.
In the wake of the Airtel's announcement, talks in the grapevine is that, Vodafone will also be releasing the iPhone 3G for its subscribers on the same day -- 22nd August, 2008 -- which is about a forthnight away.
Apple iPhone will be available in India through Vodafone by early September this year. The initial model will be the 8GB iPhone which is expected to be under Rs. 30,000 while the 16GB model (price unknown) is expected during summer 2009.
It would be easy to imagine Reno, Ohio, as the type of place that would be hit hardest by outsourcing - a small American town losing out to the invisible hand shifting jobs to places like Bangalore and Guangzhou. Instead, outsourcing is bringing the jobs to Reno.
Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone group by revenue, put in a bid for Hutchison Essar that gave it an enterprise value of ~$19 Billion. It made an indicative offer of $16.5bn for Hutch around Christmas to Hutchison Telecommunications International, which owns 67 per cent of the Indian mobile operator.