ORGANIZERS

The Ubiquitous Mobile Device• Media phones/mobile communication devices are widely

regarded as the “fourth screen” in the market after the cinema, TV and PC

• These handy gadgets can now do anything from allowing physicians to review patient records on-the-go, to alert drivers in any city of nearby parking spaces while looking for spot, in addition to the texting, surfing and calling on many of today's phones

Cellular Phones: The New Mass Media• Mobile phones have gained increased importance in the

sector of Information and communication technologies for development in the 2000s and have effectively started to reach the bottom of the economic pyramid

~ Heeks, Richard, 2008

• Smartphones will outship the global notebook + netbook market in 2010 and the global PC market (desktop + notebook + netbook) in 2012

• Mobile Internet use is growing faster than Internet use and in 5 years the mobile Internet will surpass desktop Internet

~ Morgan Stanley Mobile Internet Report, Dec 2009

The Triumph of the Ordinary Cellphone*• The cellphone has moved to the CENTER of community life in

many places– In Africa, urban churches record sermons with cellphones,

then transmit them to villages to be replayed

– In Iran and Moldova, cellphones helped to organize popular uprisings against authoritarian governments

– In India, the cellphone is now used to allow citizen election monitoring and to equip voters, via text message, with information on candidates’ incomes and criminal backgrounds

*The New York Times, April 9, 2010

Mobile Empowerment in South Asia• South Asia is bearing witness to the power of the mobile device

to empower millions with information, content and services

• India has reached 600 million mobile penetrations. Other countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in South Asia are also showing great results as mobile users

• The population % coverage of mobiles in this region: India- 46.37, Bangladesh- 31.11, Sri Lanka- 51 & Pakistan- 59 and the trend is moving upward each day

• In 2014, India’s will have 1.26 billion people, with mobile penetration of 1.01 billion, the mobile teledensity > 80%: 8 out of every 10 Indians will have access to a mobile device (estimates)

Mobiles: Challenges & Opportunities• The power of mobile in meeting knowledge, social and

economic deficits is a challenge in these countries

• Yet, the power of mobile innovations and applications in content and services delivery is amazing and exponentially on the rise

• The cellular age is fast accelerating with cell phones magnifying our larger identity in both individual and collective domains and in various social, cultural, economic contexts

The Need of the Hour• Give a thrust on mobile for delivering meaningful services,

especially that could empower and enable efficient day-to-day life for the larger masses

• Facilitate creation of the best of applications, contents, and services accumulated as examples to drive the government and industry to ensure they create meaningful opportunities in last mile mobile content and services

• Governance and development is bound to be better with this

Why Mobile Technology?• Mobile phones are more affordable than computers, require

less infrastructure, do not require the user to have much technological knowledge or even to be able to read and write, and are easy to carry from place to place

• They lend themselves to flexible usage (text, voice and two-way communication), do not require special training, and the costs of connectivity are relatively low

• Due to the low cost of labour, mobile phones in developing countries are much cheaper and easier to repair than computers

Why m-Billionth Award?• mBillionth Award is a dedicated platform to explore the latent

potential of mobile sector across South Asia • Hundreds of mobile based technologies are coming every day and

there is no platform where such applications, gadgets, service delivery can get recognized.

• We see the need for creating a benchmark in best innovations of mobile applications, service delivery and mobile instruments

• mBillionth Award has made a leapfrog in recognizing and promoting mobile technologies for efficient governance, rural development and betterment of masses

• This endeavour is about recognising and felicitating best and innovative mobile content application and service delivery

Objectives of m-Billionth AwardI. Recognise mobile innovations and creativity

II. Provide a platform for the innovations into benchmarking in the mobile industry

III.Provide a wider forum for strategic networking, alliances and partnership building

IV.Provide a South Asia Congress to exchange ideas, practices and policy strengths & mobile advocacy

V. Facilitate in building a South Asia network towards campaign and advocacy in mobile for mass empowerment and inclusive growth

Award Category: m-Travel & Tourism

• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and embedded services for enriching the information society by aggregating digital content pertaining to travel and tourism thus help creating knowledge rich information society

• Offer of travel and tourism related information and services like real time travel bookings, location and transport information, including through GPS and GIS

Award Category: m-News & Journalism• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and

embedded services for (multi-lingual) news broadcasting in all possible media format like text, audio, video, SMS, MMS, etc

• Reaching masses and enabling people with mobile devices for citizen journalism for local and regional news through interactive applications like twitter, facebook, and other web 2.0 mobile enabled applications including Mobile 2.0 dynamic media technology applications

Award Category: m-Inclusion• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and

embedded services for supporting integration haves and have-nots – individuals, groups, differently abled citizens, women and children; remote locations, regions into the Information Society

• Reducing the "digital divide" and "content gap" between technology-empowered and technology excluded communities; bridging society through basic, simple and also multimedia-enabled rich content

Award Category: m-Health• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and

embedded services for developing the consumer-centered model of health care where stakeholders collaborate to offer and manage health and environmental issues including health care system

• Government’s initiatives to offer tele-health and environmental information and services to reach masses through mobile and its integrated applications including value added services (VAS)

Award Category: m-Entertainment

• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and embedded services for delivery of entertainment, games, sports, music, movies, songs, fashion, and contemporary lifestyle

• Supplying digitized entertainment products and services; entertaining the user in this world's variety of languages and multi-media, peer to peer engagements for entertainment content creation, interactive games, application for sharing local music, movies, songs and in the process empower the masses through share of entertainment content

Award Category: m-Education & Learning• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and embedded

services for empowering the education paraphernalia• Transforming schools, universities and other educational institutions

through interactive, personalized and distributed learning resources• Providing education(al) services and education management

systems for the rural based educational institutions, especially schools

• Serving the needs of the learners to acquire knowledge and skills for a complex and globalizing world

• Creating active m-learning communities and target models and solutions for mass training, supporting first steps in multimedia for better learning societies

Award Category: m-Government

• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and embedded services for empowering citizens and serving public services clients

• Fostering quality and efficiency of information exchange and communication services in governmental and public administrative processes; strengthening participation of citizens in information society decision making

Award Category: m-Culture & Heritage• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and

embedded services for preserving and presenting cultural heritage in line with the challenges of the future

• Demonstrating valuable cultural assets clearly and informatively using state-of-the- art technology and new media platforms on mobile as media

• Supplying digitized products and services; offering the users in this world's variety of languages and its cultural diversity; supporting movement from one-way to two-way, from single to multiple players, interactive cultural diversity and the synergy between analog and digital platforms on mobile apps and devices

Award Category: m-Business & Commerce/Banking

• Use of Mobile and complementing applications and embedded services for Support and optimization of business processes

• Creation of new business models in commerce like m-commerce, business to business, business to consumers, internet security and other areas

• Supporting Small and Medium Enterprise’s on the marketplace, m-Banking like banking services, Microfinance and micro-banking through mobile devices, and so on

Award Category: m-Environment

• Mobile content and services to encourage sustainable models of living; smart use of mobile media to promote green energy; new mobile approaches to monitoring and reducing pollution; mobile portals and social media applications to encourage climate controls and holistic environment-friendly habits.

• Government’s initiatives to offer environmental information and services to reach masses through mobile and its integrated applications including value added services (VAS)

How to Nominate?

• ONLINE NOMINATION: Nominate your product by filling the online nomination form here:

http://mbillionth.in/files/2010/03/nomination-form-for-mbillionth-award.doc

• You can nominate as many products and services as you like, free of charge!

• Send the completed nomination forms to mbillionth@defindia.net

LAST DATE FOR NOMINATIONS HAS BEEN EXTENDED: MAY 31, 2010

Partners

Contact Us

m-Billionth South Asia SecretariatHouse No# 44, 3rd Floor, Kalu Sarai,

Near Naraina IIT Academy,New Delhi-110017

T:-+91-11-26532786/87, +91-11-46080646Email- mbillionth@defindia.net

Contact Person: - Maria Rizvi