New Delhi, Delhi, India, Wednesday, April 24, 2013 — (Business Wire India) —
— Video strategy to drive growth in India market
UCWeb , a leading global provider of mobile internet software and services, today announced its growth strategy for the Indian market. India is the second largest growth market after China for UCWeb and its flagship product, UC Browser. Mr. Xiaopeng He, Co-founder and President, UCWeb said that the company considers India to be its second headquarter after China and will focus on video and download as a key differentiator to achieve leadership position in India. In addition, UCWeb also announced the release of updated versions of UC Browser for the Android, Java and iPad which includes video technology enhancement, crucial to the localization in the Indian market.
UC Browser is the market leader in terms of user base with more than 400 million users across 150 countries and regions and holds 25% of the mobile browser market in India.” Mr. Xiapeng He, Co-Founder & President, UCWeb said, “UCWeb has a single minded focus to provide the best in class mobile internet browser to users and our decision to open a development office in India demonstrates our commitment to the region and our mantra of ‘go local.’ Mr. Xiaopeng He also acknowledged the need of localization and local partnerships for the product to reach to the mass audience. He further added by saying, “We are working towards building an open ecosystem by investing in teams and technology in India. We truly believe that India will be a big contributor to our objective of becoming a billion user companies. We are working with partners across domains and verticals by way of sharing traffic, users, and revenue with them; thus creating a mutually beneficial relationship for both. The Indian mobile internet community will benefit from the investment that we make in building an ecosystem in the market. We are open to explore fresh stream of ideas and newer business models to sustain the vitality of the community.”
Commenting on the strategy of the company for the Indian market Mr. Kenny Ye, Managing Director, UCWeb India said, “In the Indian market we have seen a huge demand for watching videos and mobile downloads. UC Browser is leading the trend in this case as we are now further optimizing our product to negate the effects of slow and erratic networks and huge data costs. India is an interesting market in terms of usage where the first interface of users with internet is via their cell phones rather than a PC. We currently hold more than 25% of market share of the mobile browser marketing in India. We aim to become the number one browser by end of 2013. In this market, we are trying to enhance the mobile internet ecosystem as a whole including the mobile players, content providers, app developers, and we welcome more partners in India’s mobile internet community to join us.”
UCWeb, the pioneer in mobile browsing, also announced the launch of the new versions of the UC browser: UC browser for Android version 9.0, UC Browser for Java version 9.0, and UC browser for iPad version 2.0. Keeping the tradition of developing and innovating intelligent, unique mobile browsing features the updated versions include the following features:
Android 9.0
1. UI Enhancement
Enhancements include multiple start-up screens and unlimited speed-dials, as well as the ability to drag and drop shortcuts or favourites to create folders for more intuitive management.
2. Watch Offline
Cache your favourite online videos in UC Browser on your mobile device, then enjoy them later even without a network connection.
3. Customized Themes and Wallpapers
Personalize your UC Browser by downloading themes and wallpapers from the UC Theme Center.
4. Incognito Browsing
When active, none of the user’s history of browsing on his device, including cookies, forms and searches, will be recorded.
5. Ad Blocking
Intelligent blocking of advertisements in WWW sites without breaking the layout of the webpages.
6. Improved Screenshot Taking
Take screenshots of any webpage, crop your screenshot, and use the pen tool to write on them.
Java 9.0
1. UDisk
UCWeb’s free online storage service for UC Browser users. Get 2GB of permanent storage space online; and 4GB of storage space for 7 days.
2. Fast Video and Audio Playing
Play video and audio files smoothly by having UDisk download them for you, and then play them directly on UDisk.
3. Account Information Saving
Users can savetheir usernames and passwords on several websites, such as Facebook and G-Mail, making logging-in more convenient.
4. Improved User Interface
Optimized user interface with improved menus, night mode functionality, operation in touch screen phones and
iPad 2.0
1. Performance boost of the U3 Engine
Significant improvements made to the performance of the U3 engine. Improvements include the world’s first support of WebGL on iOS and a 300% increase in 3D graphics processing, with up to 30 frames per second on the iPad 4.
2. View It Later
Caches webpages, including their videos, pictures and text to your device. These can then be viewed later even without a network connection.
3. Cloud Download
The UC Cloud server helps users download large files fast, as well as files with formats not typically supported by other mobile operating systems and browsers. This saves users’ traffic otherwise wasted on failed downloads.
4. Cloud Acceleration
Advanced cloud compression technology can reduce data costs by up to 85%, and significantly reduce loading times in webpages.
5. Advanced Hardware Rendering
Greatly improves webpages’ rendering speed, which means better webpage displays and reduced waiting time.
6. Night Mode
Unique night browsing mode protects users’ eyes in low light settings.
7. New UI
A complete UI redesign which is simpler and faster.
In India, UC Browser has seen a tremendous 60X growth in just three years (April 2011 – March 2013). The company has shown deep commitment to the Indian market by way of local partnerships -Network 18, Cricbuzz, OLX.in etc which have helped in mutual growth of the partners. For deeper penetration in Tier-2 regions, UCWeb has localized its product offerings by launching the Hindi and Urdu versions of the UC Browser.
The latest versions of the UC Browser can be downloaded from the following links:
Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.UCMobile.intl
Java – http://wap.ucweb.com (access via Phone)
iPad – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/uc-browser-for-ipad/id549088753?ls=1&mt=8
About UCWeb Inc.
UCWeb Inc. (UCWeb) is a leading global provider of mobile internet software technology and application services. Since its inception in 2004, UCWeb’s mission has been to provide better mobile internet experience to billions of users around the world. UC Browser, the flagship product of UCWeb, has a global user base of 400 million users and is available on more than 3,000 different cell phone models from more than 200 cell phone manufacturers.
Additional information about UCWeb can be found at:
— Official Website: http://www.ucweb.com
— Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ucmob
— Twitter: http://twitter.com/UCWeb_Inc
— YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ucwebvideo
