Incito MentisA blog by Syed Abdul Karim

Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech a local real estate giant and the Norway based Telenor Group, launched their mobile network service in India. In a market cluttered with about 13 operators (including at least 7 major operators) and a half billion connections already sold, Uninor has a tough task ahead of them. With Etisalat also expected to join the ranks branding and differentiation is going to be an enormous task!

Perhaps not quite so for India with it’s strategic branding and insight-led advertising history. Over the last two decades riding on the wave of an ever-booming popular culture which is now reaching epic proportions in terms of global reach and impact, one can expect great strategic thinking and creativity from both sides of the table – client and agency teams. And that’s been the case for the launch of Uninor as well.

With the other half a billion expected to take up a mobile connection in the next 5 years, the battle is far from over. And this is what Uninor has set it’s eye on and they have done so with an inspiring message that talks to the young ambitious Indians using real and everyday language. A nation aiming to play a bigger game in the global arena, the Uninor brand positioning taps this insight well and brings it down to one individual with “Ab mera number hai”  (which roughly means “My time has come!”). With this positioning they have occupied what I call the “Heroism” space as per Luciola’s Proprietary Telecom Branding Tool - TeleCompass. This space is about building on the “Winning/Success” platform. What’s interesting is the fact that they are not depicting clichéd images of success as we see so many brands doing but really sharpening it and making it real. Here are some of their latest TVCs to give you a feel of the brand idea:

Reposted from the Luciola Blog

Ladies and Gentlemen, the telecom revolution is underway! And it’s happening faster than you can imagine! It is simply fascinating when you think about all the things you can do with your mobile phone. I have to say at the cornerstone of this revolution is actually the iPhone – the genius of Steve Jobs. First he masterminded the ultimate mobile device then he empowered individuals (I mean anybody), anywhere in the world to develop an application and put it on the App store. This has led to some crazy developments and one can expect even crazier ones in times to come! In this post, I would like to bring your attention to one such app! Imagine remotely starting your car with your iPhone, turning on the air conditioning before you get in on a hot summer’s day or the heater in this case (see video below) and doing it all from far far away! Check it out!

Impressive isn’t it! Well this one is out already! In fact I just downloaded the free app! But that’s all I am going to be doing for now! Besides the fact that I need the a $499 Smart Start module to be fitted in my car, the system is not available outside the US as yet (apparently it needs to be configured to work with the GSM networks available in a specific country!) Close but no cigar!

iDrive
Now let’s take this a little further! How about not only starting your car with your iPhone, but also driving it! Yes that is correct! Remember James Bond in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. Well this app makes 007 look old school! Check out iDrive. This one is not out yet! I don’t think it would be coming out anytime soon either, but a prototype already exists! Check out the video below and get ready to be blown away!

Juniper Research says that 1 out of 6 mobile phone users would carry an NFC equipped handset by 2014. That is really something! I think NFC is a very cool piece of technology. Simply stated it would allow us to use our mobile phones like a key to activate object, systems, content etc. or make payments just by bringing the mobile device in close proximity to a trigger point, which is usually within 4-8 inches!

NFC which stands for Near Field Communications is a technology that has been around for a while. In fact it has been widely used in Japan. However like most cutting edge use of mobile technology the rest of the world is still playing catch-up.

Another reason to believe that the time for NFC has come! Apple is onto it! When they are onto something you know it’s going to be cool and breakthrough! I just read that Apple has patented an NFC device for use with touch screens in a mobile phone and an audio player device.  So don’t be surprised if  a future iPhone model is equipped with an NFC device! In fact someone has already developed a prototype model!  Check it out!

You can read more about NFC here!

Article from Total Telecom
Article from The Register
Entry on NFC on Wikipedia