Here’s a rundown for those of you who still aren’t plugged in to what the Fund is all about:

• One97 has teamed up with SAIF Partners for a $100-million fund to support young visionaries by offering resources and mentoring along with treasures of experience and wisdom
• The company earlier seeded four startups from its balance sheet
• Among them are Oorja Mobile Services (mobile customer analytics) and Singapore’s TenCube, which develops smartphone security technology

As Vijay unravels in the BW story,

“There is certainly a corporate bias. We could develop new technologies and products internally, but younger firms are more on the edge, their passion is higher and one can get to market faster… We realized from those experiences that we could access most firms faster if we had a venture capital fund.”

With the insurgence of 3G and the mobile VAS industry booming at great speed, this ecosystem is only going to grow from strength to strength.

Voila ! You have solution at hand. WaveSecure.

I absolutely love the possibility of controlling your device remotely. Lock it, Track it, Wipe it and yes get backup/restore done so easily. Check the video in Darius of TenCube’s voice.

This app is available to download from Ovi / Andriod / WinMo app stores. Here are few interesting links and videos of wavesecure. Tencube had won Google’s Global Android Developer Challenge .

Singtel created this video to explain their users about it.

And finally dont miss NY Times review of WaveSecure as App of week.

So we invited SISA to conduct an external information security audit of our PayTM Network. After an extensive audit process, SISA has issued us the PCI DSS 1.2 (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) Security Certificate. We feel that a third party endorsement of our compliance with global security standards will further bolster the customers’ trust in our PayTM Mobile Commerce platform.

The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a multifaceted security standard that includes requirements for security management, data security policies, risk procedures, network architecture and application design. The standard has been developed by VISA, MasterCard and American Express which are among the founding members of the global PCI Security Council. PCI applies to all organizations that store, process or transmit cardholder data. Compliance with this stringent PCI Data Security Standard will enable One97 to proactively protect customers’ account data (credit card details, debit card details and bank account numbers).

With the award of PCI DSS Security Certificate, One97 has become the only secure mobile commerce platform provider in India with end-to-end implementation capability across Voice, Messaging, WAP and Web.

We believe that the PCI DSS compliance is only the first of the many thresholds that any organization should cross if it wishes to offer a secure mobile commerce experience to the end customer. We are working closely with the Payment Card Industry to implement additional risk controls that will allow us to preempt and block potentially fraudulent transactions, virtually insulating our customers from identity theft and credit card frauds. We will continue to announce more enhancements and initiatives to drive mobile payment security and would like the industry to follow so that the end customers can feel comfortable using their mobile devices for commerce transactions.

We have received tremendous interest from Mobile Operators and Enterprise Businesses for PayTM and we are currently deploying our platform for Mobile Operators for Prepaid Recharges, Postpaid Bill payments and various commerce transactions like DTH subscriptions, Flower Delivery, Movie Ticketing, Travel Booking, Insurance Premiums and Utility Bill Payments. We have partnered with many banks and continue to add more payment instruments to our platform so that the end customer can use a payment option that he/she is most comfortable with.

It is our endeavour to empower every mobile subscriber to securely transact through his/her mobile phone and we would soon be enabling the subscribers of atleast two large mobile operators in India to get a first hand experience of our secure mobile commerce platform.

I have received many queries from curious mobile subscribers asking me how they could start using our PayTM platform for recharging their prepaid account or paying their postpaid bill. The services would be offered very soon through your mobile operator. The operator will inform you about a 5-digit number which you will be able to dial-in or send an SMS to, from your mobile phone to access our PayTM platform for mobile commerce services.

If you feel that besides security there is any other concern that is keeping you from using your mobile device for commerce transactions then we would love to hear from you at paytm@one97.net.

Starting from setting up the revenue share business model (first in the industry) to using the telecom device and network to deliver that extra value, I can never say that we have done what we wanted.

In a country of billions, where mobile user base will be 500 million, we are learning the needs of the consumer and best suited methods to fulfill them, first and fast.

We  never needed to “get inspired” from any company’s business/idea. We set out towards our goal and saw many following the same route.

Instead of any one’s success we have tried learning from their failures and our mistakes.

We were known as info service provider early on and then a VAS company. Today, we call ourselves a telecom applications company. Tomorrow who knows what we would call our business? Would it be more like telecom app infrastructure cloud company or managed application service provider? One thing is sure, we learnt from our customers/market  and we will learn even more from our customer to benchmark ourselves.

We have now set ourselves with a target revenue of $100M by 2010. I am sure, God will be watching us working hard and evolving to our ambition of ten times of this number.

To Rock and Roll and for world peace.

What is a metaphor then, one may ask? An English literature student will probably provide a technically more correct definition, but in simple terms a metaphor is a tool that explains the meaning of something unknown in terms of things known. Actually, when I say that metaphor is a tool, that itself is a metaphor! What is life? Life is an ocean! What is this world? This world is a stage. All these are metaphors that help us, or at least attempt to help us understand otherwise complex notions and concepts. Metaphors should not be confused with a somewhat similar concept of similes (see-me-lee). Unlike metaphors, similes use comparisons. So, when we say that life is like an ocean, it becomes a simile.

The desktop computer is a household phenomenon now, and we identify with the word desktop as a duck in water – a simile!

Desktop is a metaphor! Computers were expected to be used by people who did not know nor cared to know how a computing system internally worked – try explaining a 32-bit register to an accountant and he will not know. Ask him to manage his book-keeping without the tally tool on his desktop! In the desktop metaphor, the computer screen is as if it was indeed the desktop, on which we place our folders. Once the desktop metaphor is created, we extend it and keep extending it. So, we can have folders on our desktop, and within folders, we can have more folders and documents. Now we know why it is called the Recycle bin – we put our trash there.

Ever worked on DOS? You would probably know what a command line interface is. Much before that, there were punch cards. In computing systems, WIMP (Windows, Icons, Mouse, and Pointers) was first introduced by Xerox as early as 1973. It was however Apple’s Macintosh that popularized the desktop metaphor in 1984, and which became a standard for most if not all of modern day operating systems.

Metaphors are also used in the design of icons. When you see a bell, you know it has something to do with alerts. An envelope is a message. A button is something you push. Some metaphors such as the envelope have become so ingrained that using anything else might confuse or sometimes even irritate the user. So while they come in handy when you are trying to explain some difficult concept to your end user, you may end up doing exactly the opposite by not being careful in the selection of your metaphor.

So, where’s the Juice??

m-commerce, mobile coupons or wallets etc have been in talk since long, but now One97 has added a new dimension to the chronology of events by launching an application for Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway which would enable the commuters to access information, transact, call help centre etc and more by simply sending an SMS to 53030.

With this application the 2 Lakh commuters crossing Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway will now get easy access to toll cards (minus the long queues!). Almost the all the commuters are mobile users and can therefore conveniently use the application.

· Activation of cards

· Recharge

· Help e.g. in case of distress or loss of cards

· Information on toll rates etc.

· User information updates

This is a first step towards the convergence of two powerful media of mobile space, i.e. SMS and Voice. It’s a unique solution which enables the transactions even on the most basic handsets without any GPRS connectivity ….thereby democratizing the digital medium for all segments of users. We believe this is just the beginning of an era empowering users to transact securely with a personal medium like mobile for their daily needs.