News Broadcasting
Pepsi launches cellphone portal ‘Pepsi Globe Smart Client’
MUMBAI: Soft drink major Pepsi has launched a mobile portal called the ‘Pepsi Globe Smart Client’ for the youth. Powered by Yahoo! India., this portal will show on mobile handsets as a ‘Pepsi Globe’ and will provide easy access to the Pepsi Zone.
With this, cell phone users can access Pepsi cricket, Bollywood and music previews, contests, television advertisements, promotions and purchase wireless content and also watch videos without actually having to log on to the net. With this initiative, Pepsi will triple its mobile user interface mediums with SMS, WAP and WAP Client, states an official release.
PepsiCo India EVP marketing Vipul Prakash says, “We believe that by tailoring technological innovations to user comfort, Pepsi has been able to communicate its brand attributes to its target audience in a much more effective manner. In the past, Yahoo! has delivered on phenomenal user interface innovations for us, and the Pepsi Globe Smart Client reiterates our ‘dare for experience’ and innovative edge in developing mobile content. With this service, Pepsi promises to deliver a superior and unparalleled content browsing experience to subscribers.”
Users can access the portal by sending ‘THIRST’ as SMS to 8243, a WAP site under the URL http://in.wireless.yahoo.com/pepsi. This is for the first time in India that a Pepsi Smart Client is being offered for high-end WAP subscribers that opens a new world of excitement and entertainment at one’s fingertips, states the release.
The portal supports mobile content purchase through SMS, WAP and IVR, thereby enabling service providers to brand and market their data services more effectively. Pepsi supports handsets from all leading OEMs, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens and Panasonic.
While announcing the new initiative, Yahoo! India country manager Neville Taraporewalla says, “Pepsi has always challenged us to develop something special. The Pepsi Globe Smart Client has been developed keeping the end mobile user’s comfort in mind. With the help of this software a mobile user will now be able to easily access everyday information at the click of a button on his mobile.”
The Pepsi Smart Wap Client is built on the following open platforms:
* Symbian Series 60 and UIQ
* J2ME MIDP 2.0 and JTWI
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
