Reference Auto

A greater number of players are foraying into the lucrative fancy budget phones market that has seen prices dwindle to their lowest levels, and in the latest move, Tata Docomo is also vying for a place in the segment with the launch of its first co-branded mobile handset OneTouch Net Phone from Alcatel.

The phone is available in two colours - White and Lavender and Black and Silver - and has been priced affordably at Rs 5,499.

OneTouch Net comes with a QWERTY keypad with 2.4-inch display with support for a slew of social networking websites. It is ideal for social networking lovers with different applications.

It is fully customised for Yahoo services that include Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Contacts and Calendar, Yahoo Homepage, Yahoo Search with Voice, Yahoo Social Pulse and Flickr. There is a key for Tata Docomo’s Dive in WAP portal, which includes services like My Song, Call Me Tunes, Buddy Chat, My Talkies, Astro Portal, Funzone, Song Book, among others.

Besides the QWERTY keypad and special optical trackpad, the OneTouch Net also has a 2-megapixel camera, an MP3 player, FM Radio and stereo bluetooth 2.0 technology. The OneTouch has an internal memory of 80 MB which can be expanded up to 8 GB using micro SD card.

“Living up to our strategy of doing the new and bringing innovative services and solutions to our customers, we are happy to launch the first Tata Docomo co-branded device — the OneTouch Net. This is a Tata Docomo-Yahoo!- Alcatel phone,” Deepak Gulati, president of GSM and 3G at Tata Teleservices, said.

“OneTouch Net is an exciting handset with an alluring form factor, enabling customers to experience Tata Docomo Dive in services via a single-touch access. It is the first device from Tata Docomo to have a single touch and branded Dive in button,” he added.

Tata DoCoMo is believed to be offering the handset under both pre-paid and post-paid options. The post paid scheme has two packages. One is worth Rs 199 and another that costs Rs 299 per month. Post paid users will also be given a Reebok watch worth Rs 2,499 free.

Although freebies will play a significant role in pushing sales, Tata DoCoMo will have to spend huge sums on campaigns to make potential customers aware of their OneTouch Net in the already-inundated mobile phones market.