Tata DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Limited-the country’s youngest and fastest-growing pan-India dual-technology telecom service provider-today announced the launch of its first co-branded Next-Gen mobile handset, the OneTouch Net Phone from Alcatel. The feature-rich and ergonomic QWERTY-powered handset lives true to Tata DOCOMO’s stated objective of breaking free from the clutter, offering one-touch access to Tata DOCOMO’s ‘Dive In’ portal and a suite of Yahoo!’s leading services, including the world’s most advanced mobile homepage. Yahoo!’s services are pre-loaded and directly integrated into the device, enabling consumers to stay connected to the people and things that matter most to them at the click of a button.

This is a unique, first-of-its kind alliance between a telecom service provider, a device manufacturer and an Internet company on a handset platform-to create a device that is designed, even empowered to provide a seamless and differentiated experience to users.

With its QWERTY keypad and special optical trackpad, the One-Touch Net Phone is designed for easy navigation, communication and Internet access. The phone, which is available in two catchy colors-a vibrant ‘White & Lavender’ and a sleek ‘Black & Silver’-is a comprehensive and powerful mobile device, with 80 MB of Built-in Memory, a 2 Megapixel Camera, an MP3 Player, FM Radio and Stereo Bluetooth 2.0 technology.

“Living up to our strategy of Doing the New and bringing innovative services and solutions for our customers, we are pleased to announce the launch of the first Tata Docomo Co-branded device-the ‘OneTouch Net’, which is a Tata Docomo-Yahoo!-Alcatel phone,” Mr. Deepak Gulati, President of GSM and 3G at Tata Teleservices Limited, said. “OneTouch Net is an exciting handset with an alluring form factor, enabling customers to experience Tata Docomo Dive In services through a single-touch access-this first device from Tata Docomo will have a single touch and branded Dive In button on the phone,” he added.

“The OneTouch Net is an affordable solution targeted at the digital youth who want to stay connected to the Internet and information services on their mobile phones. A suite of Yahoo!’s leading products are pre-loaded and directly integrated into the device-this phone has an ergonomic QWERTY keyboard and a special optical track-pad, and is designed for easy navigation, communication and Internet services,” Mr. Gulati said.

“Partnering with Yahoo! and Alcatel puts us in a unique position as we offer Yahoo!’s industry leading services on the go, bundled with a one-touch access to Tata DOCOMO’s Dive In portal and the Yahoo! homepage. The device is being offered at a price point of just Rs 5,499 and comes loaded with lifetime-free Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger services-this is a beautiful mix of high-end features and affordability,” Mr. NV Subbarao, Regional Head – South East, TATA DOCOMO said.

“As part of Yahoo!’s commitment to deliver engaging mobile services to consumers in India, we partnered with Tata DOCOMO and Alcatel to offer consumers a personally relevant Yahoo! experience,” said Mr. Vishal Maheshwari, Head APAC, Mobile and BD, Yahoo!. “This partnership enables Yahoo! to spur mobile growth in emerging markets and provide consumers a highly-discoverable and truly compelling Internet experience, encompassing communication, content and search services to connect consumers with the people and things that matter most.”

“With the pre-integrated Yahoo! leading services in an Alcatel handset, we aim to provide the best mobile user experience at an affordable price to Indian telecom users,” Mr. Praveen Valecha, Country Manager (India & SAARC), TCT Mobile International, said. “We believe Yahoo!’s world-class Internet services on Tata DOCOMO’s cutting-edge network will enable millions of users to enjoy the Yahoo! services on the go, offering then an entirely new telecom experience,” Mr. Valecha added.

TCT Mobile leveraged Yahoo!’s content and communication APIs to offer a customized, completely integrated Internet experience directly into the mobile device.

Tata DOCOMO will offer the following Yahoo! services on the Alcatel OneTouch Net Phone, which can be accessed with a single sign-in:

* Yahoo! Mail-Access your favourite Web mail features: Read, reply, compose and send mail, with push alerts; view attachments; get to your personal mail folders; and organize messages by customizable groups;
* Yahoo! Messenger-Message your friends reliably in real time: view their availability and quickly see their status messages; update your own status; and show your style with emoticons, avatars, or photos;
* Yahoo! Contacts and Calendar-Look up and/or add contact information and update your calendar;
* Yahoo! Homepage-One-button access to Yahoo!’s mobile homepage: the world’s most advanced mobile homepage. Bring together your favourite content and services from anywhere across the Internet to one location, all on the gorgeous 2.4-inch display;
* Yahoo! News-Get up-to-date headlines from Yahoo! on the home screen, so consumers will have the latest news brought to them;
* Yahoo! Search with Voice-Consumers can search for anything, including locations, news, Website names, and more by simply speaking. Yahoo! Search with Voice lets consumers perform ‘Wide-Open’ searches, returning relevant results for practically every kind of query. Simply speak whatever you are looking for and have access to instant answers and relevant information;
* Yahoo! Social Pulse-Provides a dynamic overview of what friends are up to, including recent photos, their status, profile updates, and recommendations across popular social networks; allows users to easily connect with people, and/or update their status across multiple social networks at once; and
* Flickr-Take, share and discover photos and videos; geo-tag photos; and e-mail them to your Flickr account from your Alcatel mobile phone.

While Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger will be lifetime-free for all subscribers on the Tata DOCOMO network, subscribers visiting the ‘Dive In’ portal will be able to enjoy differentiated services. The OneTouch Net will also provide easy access to Tata DOCOMO services like My Song, Call Me Tunes, Buddy Chat, My Talkies, Astro Portal, Funzone, Song Book and much more, through customized keys on the OneTouch Net handset.