Company Press Release:                                                                                                                

        

Vodafone and Microsoft to offer SMS Search for customers in India

       

New Delhi, April 29, 2008 –Vodafone and Microsoft India today announced the launch of SMS Search for Vodafone customers in India powered by Live Search. Vodafone subscribers can simply type in their query as a SMS text message on their mobile handset and send to 55060. The mobile originating SMS will be charged 30 paise per query.

 

Harit Nagpal, Marketing and New Business Director, Vodafone Essar said, ““Vodafone customers will now have a complete search experience with this first of its kind service.  After providing our GPRS users the ease and convenience of Windows Live Search, SMS Search was the natural next step forward.”

 

The development work to embellish the Live Search platform to deliver search service via SMS was done at Microsoft India Development Center (MSIDC). “Developing SMS search at MSIDC was a logical choice because SMS is the de facto protocol for information exchange for majority of the 225 million mobile users in India after voice,” said Gurpreet S. Pall, Director of Live Search and Emerging Markets at MSIDC.

 

“We are offering some very unique features like local results based on the user’s city location, keeping track of user’s search session for 24 hours and delivering results formatted to match the user’s phone capabilities – seen in India for the first time,” added Pall. This is one of the several Live Search services targeted at emerging markets currently being developed at MSIDC.

 

Live Search on Vodafone mobile offers users a complete search experience by enabling them search:

-          On-portal/deck content like ringtones, images, articles, etc

-          Local / directory information like restaurants

-          Mobile sites (WAP sites)

-          World Wide Web (WWW)

 

Currently, the local search/directory information is available in 8 major cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. In addition, 21 more cities are expected to go live soon.

 

Together Microsoft India and Vodafone aim to provide users a compelling mobile internet experience and help their customers always stay connected and informed.

 

About Vodafone Essar Limited

Vodafone Essar in India is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc and commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular licence for Mumbai. Vodafone Essar now has operations in 16 circles covering 86% of India’s mobile customer base, with over 44.1 million customers*. Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named the ‘Most Respected Telecom Company’, the ‘Best Mobile Service in the country’ and the ‘Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year’.

 

Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile communications company. It now has operations in 25 countries across 5 continents and 40 partner networks with over 252 million customers worldwide.  Vodafone has partnered with the Essar Group as its principal joint venture partner for the Indian market.

 

The Essar Group is a diversified business corporation with interests spanning the manufacturing and service sectors like Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping & Logistics and Construction. The Group has an asset base of over Rs.400 billion (US$ 10 billion) and employs over 20,000 people.
*Figures from Cellular Operators Association of India, March31, 2008

 

About MSIDC

The Microsoft India Development Center (MSIDC) at Hyderabad plays an important role in contributing to innovation at Microsoft – it is fully integrated with the key product families of Microsoft and is the second largest product development center for the software giant outside its headquarters in Redmond. MSIDC commenced operations in Hyderabad in 1998 with about 20 people under the leadership of Srini Koppolu. Today it has a headcount of around 1400 people working on several products and technologies for the global Microsoft portfolio and is recognized as one of the best software development centers in the world.

 

About MSN and Windows Live

MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. Windows Live, a new set of personal Internet services and software, is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. MSN and Windows Live will be offered alongside each other as complementary services. Some Windows Live services entered an early beta phase on Nov. 1, 2005; these and future beta updates can be

 

found at http://ideas.live.com. Windows Live is available at http://www.live.com.MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com. MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx.

 

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software-any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft has been in India since 1990 and employs over 4000 people across its offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

 

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