After Twitter, PM set to conquer app space

After Twitter, PM set to conquer app space

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who recently became the most followed Indian on Twitter beating film star Amitabh Bachchan, is now setting new records on his own ‘Narendra Modi mobile app’. The app, often referred to as ‘NM on the go’, has already been downloaded 2.5 million times. While the PM’s official app was launched in June 2015, it was Apple CEO Tim Cook who brought it alive two months ago. Cook launched the upgraded version of the app in June 2016 during his India visit.

The PM wants his app to connect with people in the remotest places of the country. It is being seen as a powerful tool of direct communication, ahead of several state elections next year and then the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, an official pointed out. Modi is looking at a growth of at least 20 times in the use of his app, translating to a user base of at least 50 million in the months to come, sources have indicated. The number might still be far from blockbuster games such as Pokémon GO, Angry Birds, Talking Tom and Candy Crush, but the PM’s app could catch up with many others.

A look at Google’s Play Store shows the number of downloads for some of the popular apps. Among the free apps, the Indian Railways train status app has seen an estimated five million downloads and the number is the same for IRCTC as well as SBI Anywhere.(more)

Truecaller in talks with start-ups

In an effort to tap on the start-up system in India and open a new revenue stream, phone number identification app Truecaller is planning to get into tie-ups with e-commerce giants such as Snapdeal, Flipkart and other online players which require phone number verification on their customers and other related services.

The company also said they hope to have 200 million users in India by the end of this year. Currently, they have 120 million users in the country, which is the company’s biggest market. It has 200 million users globally.

Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam, founders of the Stockholm, a Sweden-based company founded in 2009, are in India with a number of StartUps. Last month Truecaller introduced a new software development kit (SDK) on Thursday that lets third party applications verify users via phone numbers. “We want to personlise e-commerce for the users and that is where we want to pitch in. We want the company and the customer to be connected better, starting from first contact to last-mile delivery,” said Mamedi.

TrueSDK, a software development kit is the first product from the company for the app developer community that enables third-party apps to easily on board users with their existing Truecaller profile and verified phone numbers. Developers can use the service to sign up, update user information, or verify user's phone number identity in their mobile apps through user consent.

“TrueSDK for us was the first stepping stone and the reason we built it was a lot many developers asked us on how they could use Truecaller. They asked why they have to build an infrastructure around verifying phone numbers and bear the cost of doing the same, when someone else has already done so as Truecaller is a directory of verified phone numbers,” added Mamedi. 

While Mamedi did not give out any names but sources in the company said that they have had talks with a number of companies including major e-commerce players such as Flipkart and Snapdeal to get into tie-ups with them

“We have had a series of engagements with a number of start-ups including e-commerce companies in topline category and they have shown a lot of interest in the product,” said Kari Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Growth and Partnerships, Truecaller.