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Hungama to represent Indian VAS industry at Mobile World Congress 2008
MUMBAI: Hungama Mobile will represent Indian mobile value-added services (VAS) industry in the forthcoming Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona, Spain, from 10 – 14 February. At the convention, Hungama MD and CEO Neeraj Roy will share the platform with some of the most influential people from the telecom and mobile VAS industry across the globe. Mobile World Congress 2008 will have a focus on media and entertainment, and Hungama Mobile has an array of exclusive initiatives lined up for the convention, said a press release. Keeping the agenda of mobile entertainment, Hungama Mobile will participate in the ‘Mobile Film Festival‘ (MOFILM) initiative undertaken by the GSM association. The company will be representing Indian cinema and Bollywood, and MOFILM will showcase Ocher Studio and Adlabs‘ Sultan the Warrior, a live-action animation on Tamil actor Rajnikanth. Hungama Mobile will also feature the Bollywood multi-starrer Race and along with this, the company will showcase T-Series album Outrageous by Sherlyn Chopra. With over 500 companies and organisations such as Sony Pictures, Warner Music, BBC, NBC, Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, Cannes Film Festival, and Robert Redford‘s Sundance Film Festival, Warner Bros, News Corp are expected to attend the convention. Hungama mobile claims to be the only Indian player to share the stage and discuss the future trends in mobile entertainment. Apart from the MOFILM initiative, Roy will also deliver a keynote address on digital content at the congress. He will be sharing the platform with the likes of Cisco‘s John Chamber, Nokia‘s Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou, Qualcomm‘s Paul Jacobs, Softbank‘s Masayoshi Son, Korea‘s SK Telecom‘s Shin-Bae Kim and AT&T‘s Ralph de la Vega. The key objectives of the discussion will be to explore digital content opportunities for mobiles across the globe and to explore mobile operators‘ digital content strategies including business models and partnership strategies.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
