Vodafone launches M-Pesa app

While Vodafone has been pushing out their m-pesa service, the company has now launched mobile apps to facilitate the service.



Vodafone India has announced the launch of the m-pesa app, which allows the customer to avail the services through mobile. The app, which is available on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry and Windows Phone platform, can be used to pay bills and recharge mobile without having to visit the centre. Users can load the money their M-Pesa wallet through Net Banking/Debit Card directly through the app.

According to Vodafone, the m-pesa service has a pan-India distribution of over 90000 agents with more than 3 million customers. The service can be used to recharge any prepaid number including of operators other than Vodafone. Similarly, recharges for DTH, broadband and other services can be done directly.

Speaking about the Vodafone M-Pesa app, Suresh Sethi, Business Head, M-Pesa, Vodafone India, said, “Vodafone has always been at the forefront in launching innovative products and services relevant to the needs of our customers. Our newly launched ‘M-Pesa App’ is highly safe and secure and has been designed to empower and provide the ease and convenience to all our customers to transfer money instantly, pay utility bills, recharge phones, etc. through their mobile handset.”

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Blackberry updated its BBM for Android with Material Design

The Material Design which broke cover with Android Lollipop seems to be catching up at a brisk pace with apps. WhatsApp recently got itself the Material Design update and now BBM for Android has got itself the Material Design. The revamped UI is being rolled out currently to a select few BBM for Android users and you may soon get the notification for the update in near future.



The update brings large contact images, bright colours and an interface that is consistent across the app. BlackBerry claims to have worked quite hard on bringing the latest UI design to its messenger. The newer version of BBM for Android is available only through BlackBerry Beta Zone which is meant for the registered ones only. BlackBerry wants to have a measure of customer response before going in for the final rollout and is doing exactly this.

Currently, the beta program is full with registered members and your best shot at trying the revamped version is through joining the wait list for the time being. There is no official word as to when the update will see a final release and we can expect it to launch within the next 4-6 weeks.

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Google releases Apple Pay rival

Google has made sling of announcements at the Google I/O 2015, held in San Francisco. One of them is Android Pay, which is Google’s answer to much-talked about,  Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Although Android Pay is just one-step above version ofGoogle Wallet, it has almost the identical capabilities as Wallet. So, we can say that Android Pay is a revamped version of Google Wallet in the form of a standalone application. It will be compatible with Android and iOS.



The new app from the house of Google will enable users who have a debit card, to send or receive money for free, even if the other party does not have Google Wallet app. As touted by Google, the whole will only take few minutes. The money received by the users can also be sent to their bank account or Google Wallet card.

This move by Google suggests that the company is putting all the efforts to bring up Android Pay as a fully featured Mobile Payment solution system. Interestingly, three out of the four major carriers in the United States have already joined hands with Android Pay, the process will soon be completed by the banks and credit cards joining in too. Let’s see how this new app works for Google and will it prove to be a better option than Apple Pay for users.

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Google Navigation to get off line feature

Google Maps come handy all the time, but you require a working internet connection to make it work. Although there is already an option for offline maps, but it has a really basic map view and is just not preferred by most of us because who wants limited information? The offline map service of Google Maps couldn’t hit the right cord with the users.

It looks like that all the aforementioned flaws were apparently too obvious for Google as well and that’s why the company has announced at the Google I/O event that Google Maps will soon get an offline search and navigation system. So, all this means that now users will have an access to proper pre-loaded maps and routes even when they’re offline. This also means that now users can use the app in the offline mode and still obtain turn-by-turn navigation instructions while driving. Interestingly, Google is planning to roll out the feature initially to the developing nations and then from there it will move to the rest of the world. So, India is pretty much on the hit list to receive it first. We can compare this feature to YouTube offline, which enable users to download and keep the videos on their devices for viewing it later even when they’re not connected to the internet. Google Maps offline search and navigation can be expected to hit the devices sometime later this year, Google has not confirmed the dates for the same.

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