Google to Mentor the Top 5 Shortlisted Teams announced by MyGov

MyGov today announced the final shortlisted top five teams to build the official mobile app for India’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). This contest, initiated by MyGov and Google in March, is a first of its kind crowdsourcing effort to build a mobile app for a public office. One app out of the five will be chosen as the official app of the PMO.

In Phase 1 of the contest, MyGov had invited ideas for the mobile app. Based on over 50,000 ideas received, MyGov prepared an app blueprint for developers, who could register as teams to build and submit mockups. In Phase 2, more than 110 mockups were received, and ten were shortlisted. A Jury of eminent professionals and government representatives chose five teams to build the app on the basis of detailed presentations.

The shortlisted teams represent the breadth and diversity of talent in India. They come from across the country – two from Chennai, two from NCR and one from Pune – and from a wide range of backgrounds – two of the teams are led by students, while one of the teams is led by a female entrepreneur.

The shortlisted teams will now be mentored for the next six weeks by Google engineers, who will help them develop a world class app based on the latest design and Android technologies.

Speaking on the occasion, Chetan Krishnaswamy, Country Head Public Policy, Google India said, “As increasing number of Indians get online with their smartphones, we’re delighted to be working MyGov in an effort to build a world class mobile App for the citizens to connect with the Prime Minister's Office. Easy access to information and empowering citizens with the benefits of Internet are a big part Prime Minister Modi’s “Digital India” initiative, and this app is one step in that direction.”

Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO MyGov said “With the short listing of the finalists, the contest has now entered its last phase of actual App development. The role of Google’s team in mentoring will be critical at this stage and we are working closely to unveil of the official Mobile App for the Prime Minister’s Office”

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VBuy.in - Pricing Comparison Search Engine Launched

India’s first map based product and pricing comparison search engine of trusted local retailers, VBuy.in announced its launch. VBuy.in is a product of VS Online Services Private Limited, a technology company passionate about new technology and like to engage with businesses, which are equally passionate. This portal is a perfect source for providing accurate information about nearest retailers’selling electronics, mobiles & tablets, computers & laptops and Home & Kitchen products.

Being India’s first map based product and pricing comparison portal VBuy.in is planned to address the queries related to product categories initially by providing a ROBO (Research Online Buy Offline) site. The categories given on the website are wide and help buyers in saving their time which they may waste in going from one shop to other.

Mr. Sivakumar Anirudhan, founder & CEO, VBuy.in delighted at the launch and said, “VBuy.in is a Software that works as a Service platform, exclusively for local brick and mortar store and small business owners. Opening an Online platform for each brick and mortar store, needs huge initial investment with additional operational and maintenance cost. Also, consumers don't get time to visit all sites for each of the products they need to buy. VBuy.in’s goal is to increase sales for retailers, locally owned business through VBuy.in platform and amazing shopping experience for buyers.”

VBuy.in is a win-win situation portal for both customers and retailers. On one hand, customers can contact directly with their nearby stores using VBuy.inportal and utilize it for negotiating the price of required products with the retailer. While on the other retailers would never miss their nearby customers by making their local presence strong. The android app of VBuy.in will also be launched soon.

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Is Social Media Bad for Online Business?

In our previous post 'Use Social Media Sites for Business', we have mentioned about the use of the social media for you business. And in this post, we'll focus about the flip side of the social media, which could cost  your more in the business.

Due to the major changes in the internet marketing and strategies, the question rises obvious about the use of social media for business.

The proper use of social media may help you to show your presence online and help to get attention of customers.

But on the contrary, the social media might not be good for the companies those are highly active online and doing eCommerce.

On the one hand, social media is essential for online business but also prove bad for the same.

Since online business community do need to follow the guidelines and changing strategies of search engine giant, to get the benefit from being visible on search engine.

In the case, if the social media sites activities hampering your visibility on search engine, so one need to rethink about the social media strategy for their online business, which is purely based on internet users.

Of late, the social media concept is on the peak, everybody knows about major social media and networking sites, so they just skip to visit the page, rather user will look for the best content rather handing on the social media site.

Many internet users refrain from visiting social media sites for content rather they would prefer most genuine and popular websites from their bookmaks.

So if your onto online business and eCommerce, think gain before having hyper campaign on social media sites.

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