As a startup founder (in my second innings now), I recall hearing what can’t be done (because of some archaic regulation or protectionist policy) more often than what is allowed under the rule of law. Sometimes, these chains weigh in on the mind so much that they prevent innovation and original thinking, and at best, your idea becomes a ‘me too’ of a global precedent in your chosen field (which investors seem to love, by the way).

Although still figuring out the right way to innovate at my new venture (within the rule of law), I’m glad it has nothing to do with anything I’ve done in the past and I’m happy to get to work every day to try and challenge (read trying to circumvent) most guidelines that have been made by the authorities in some of the most heavily regulated industries (Foreign Exchange, Insurance & Telecom) we have in India and also across the world.

Multiple times, I’ve seen global startups popping up in various countries evangelizing an innovation that we had to abandon because of a certain regulation, only to feel good about being on the right track and thinking that our time too shall come.

These are times in the developing world where one tends to leapfrog from Innovation A straight away to Innovation C (like we did in India from Desktop to Mobile, skipping laptops), changing behaviors and creating a massive impact like never before. From spending about USD 1000 on a desktop 10 years back, one can get a more powerful smartphone now within USD 100 (well, USD 4 if we talk about Ringing Bells!). Imagine all that computing power in a six billion palms worldwide in a few years.

India is a billion mobile phone user market, but think about how many Indian firms were able to take advantage of this? Had the Indian electronic manufacturing sector been able to grow to fulfil the needs of the Indian consumer, Apple would already be manufacturing in India and they’d do it out of simple economic considerations (right now, we’re bending backwards to try and get them to come, but they politely decline each time because our current eco system won’t be able to cater to their needs).

A similar leapfrogging is quite possible in currencies, heck, it’s already happening, India and Africa are skipping plastic and straight away going from cash to digital (hello, Bitcoin!) on a massive scale (recall the PayTM karo ads for making payments to the local kirana and the auto-wallah)! While we can think about our wallets (and all that plastic) going away, one can hardly fathom the thought of parting with their phone. This emotion portends the future quite tellingly and it’s just a matter of time when we’ll be using our phones to pay at NFC (or some other cool sounding wireless tech) enabled POS terminals at retail stores around us, using the in-built (Aadhar linked?) fingerprint scanner for authentication instead of the somewhat cumbersome OTP/ PIN based authentication we currently have.

As a startup operating in this space, we keenly look out for developments on currency regulation and although UPI will be a big game changer on the payments front (kudos to the RBI for taking the lead on that), in the currencies space, what will decide whether the next blockchain/ currency startup will be founded in New Delhi or London won’t be the availability of the talent pool, but the policy route taken by the lawmakers and how heavy (or light) they’d keep the regulations for such digital transactions. The decision to be made is whether we want to encourage building a nation of innovators and challengers of status quo, or are we simply going to wait patiently for a disruptor from the west (or shall I say, knight in shining armour) to come and give them a ready market of a billion people on a platter. The time is NOW…

Author

Rishabh Sood, CEO & Co-founder @YuMiGo, is currently working on his second venture which is at core a travel tech startup with a strong fintech angle. He completed his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and Master’s in Financial Engineering from NYU Tandon as an Honors Student before moving back to his hometown of New Delhi. Post NYU, he started off in a space that was very close to his heart and built a venture in renewables, scaling up to revenues of USD 2 million and a team of 50, before deciding to move on due to heavy capital requirements and very little differentiation from the competition, searching for a space where he could make a 10x impact.

The post Disruption in India – unlock the handcuffs to let enterprises bloom appeared first on TravHQ.

Apple Pay, a mobile payment and digital wallet service by Apple Inc will be available in China from tomorrow (18^th February) for customers of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Apple has already partnered with UnionPay and multiple other leading banks like ABC, CCB and CMB. In totality, 19 banks are on-board.

Greater China is Apple’s second-largest market by revenue. According to China Internet Network Information Center, by the end of 2015, 358 million people – more than the population of USA – had already taken to paying by smartphones. In this region, Apple can face a stiff competition against the Alibaba’s AliPay and WeChat’s Wallet. AliPay is the preferred option for online payments and WeChat’s wallet offers a convenient mode of payment for a variety of purchases.

At an international level, Apple Pay has already been introduced in USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain. Apple has had troubles associating with banks in some countries. For example, as per the report, four Australian banks have resisted to collaborate with the brand. Similarly, in Britain, Apple faced a hitch from big banks over fees before relenting. As a result of this, the company has chosen to partner exclusively with American Express in many countries. Elaborating on the positive aspect, it can be assumed that Apple shares a good relationship with Chinese marketers. Unlike PayPal, Apple has managed to obtain the license without any complication. Also, Apple Pay might soon launch in France. Outside of China, Apple faces competition from Samsung’s mobile payment service called Samsung Pay. It runs on a different technology and can see better adoption by merchants. However Apple is moving quickly and taking head start in many markets.

The video by TechCrunch below is worth a watch!

Apple Pay has a great potential in almost all sectors of travel. The payment process will be much simpler now, thereby increasing conversions. This product can easily store the debit/credit card details of the users. This facilitates carrying out online transactions with absolute ease. Consequently, there can be a significant increase in mobile bookings. Travellers can use Apple Pay every time they feel the need to pull out their card for payments.

To read more details on Apple Pay and other mobile payments systems, click here.

The post Apple Pay rolls out in China tomorrow, faces stiff competition against AliPay and WeChat’s Wallet appeared first on TravHQ.

The hotel industry has seen major transformation over the past few years. Hotels, especially the ones at the top end of the spectrum are working hard to innovate and add technology to add to the overall experience of travellers. Even the business travellers are slightly shifting towards the leisure side and that is why they have to stay at the top of technology food chain to keep them coming back. From our observations this year, we have listed down the technologies that we will see going mainstream in the hotel industry in 2016. Here are some of them:

#1- Mobile Payments

It has been too long since we have been pulling out our credit cards to pay for things. With the mobile technology giants experimenting with payment services, we will see the mobile payment systems go mainstream. Apple Pay was launched in United States with large number of partners supporting the payment service. Samsung Pay has been designed to work with existing payment gateways and Google is also ready to eat its share of the pie with Android Pay. This year we will see these services being added by more big brands including some major hotels. So it very likely that soon you will be pulling out your phone instead of your credit card to clear the hotel bills.

Lose your wallet to mobile payments

#2- Internet of Things

(Image: Beacons by jnxyz/ CC BY 2.0)

Internet of Things offers infinite possibilities for the hospitality industry. Devices like low energy Bluetooth beacons can be used to determine the position and identity of travellers. This data can be used in multiple ways depending how the hotels choose to use it. They can offer a personalised welcome message and have the key ready or maybe use more of these beacons for indoor navigation to show him the way to his room. This of course can also be used to unlock the room door using mobile phone and bypassing the front desk altogether. We recently spoke with the Madhu, founder of Proxce, a startup that is innovating in this space.

#3- Smart displays

(Image: By Ergonomidesign (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) via Wikimedia Commons)

It is about time the hotel rooms moves away from the conventional setup and brings something fresh to the table. Many hotels are already killing the cable TV in room and offering personal entertainment devices or streaming services on the screen. They are adding such displays in common areas as well to communicate with your devices and offer information. Going forward we will see more hotels adopt this and also add personalisation to the equation. So very soon you might have a hotel room display that shows you your favourite music videos in evening and news in the morning. We might also see more controls for other room electronics offered through the displays.

#4- Robots

We have already started to see robots being added to the hotels. Aloft hotels added Botlr to take care of room service. The tiny robots can carry small items like towels and toiletries to the guest room and can also operate lifts using Wi-FI. These robots have been developed by Savioke which is also working on similar robots for more hotels. Japan has gone even further and the Henn Na hotel almost completely employs robots for everyday hotel operations.

Robot hotels are the future of hospitality

#5- Virtual Reality

(Image: By othree (Google Cardboard) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Virtual reality is still in the nascent stage but brands are quickly gearing up to ride this coming wave. This year we will see many hotels find use of viewers like Samsung Gear and Google Cardboard. Virtual reality can be used to drive travel inspiration and with more people having reach to VR viewers and content creators having access to the right tools, more luxury hotels will showcase their properties using virtual reality.

What other technologies do you think we will see go mainstream in hotel industry this year?

The post 5 hotel technologies that will go mainstream in 2016 appeared first on TravHQ.

With the latest iOS rolling out to devices, Apple announced their new payment system, Apple Pay. This new mobile based payment system would allow users to pay for various services using their mobile device. Apple pay uses the NFC technology built into the iPhone (only the latest iPhones) to pay from one of your saved credit cards. While we have seen many companies give mobile payments a try in the past, none of them were very successful. This might change with Apple entering the arena as they seem to have done their homework properly. Apple Pay clearly has the potential to change the way travellers pay for things.

Apple is not the only player making a move in this segment. Their Korean rivals have also introduced Samsung Pay with their latest devices, Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. If we believe the rumours, there is a revamped Google Wallet in works as well (Update-Android Pay has been announced at the Google I/O and will be arriving soon). Microsoft is also working on their mobile payment platform which should come out with the Windows 10 for phones. But for now, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay are making the news.

What is Apple Pay?

If you have got an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, you can store you debit and credit cards in the Passbook app and use them to make payments. These payments could either be in app payments (for apps that support apple pay) or at physical stores that are set up for NFC payments. It reduces the friction at a payment gateway and the transaction can be authenticated by simply placing a finger on the home key. For now it is available in US only and we don’t see it coming to India anytime soon.

How is Samsung Pay different?

This was the biggest question when Samsung announced its mobile payment system. While Apple has already partnered with more banks and credit card companies, Samsung uses a technology which is compatible with older magnetic payment systems as well. Samsung acquired LoopPay earlier and have included their Magnetic Secure Transmission technology in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. It allows the device to fool magnetic card reader into registering a digital signal as a card swipe. It supports NFC payments as well for modern payment systems wherever available. Authentication is using fingerprint like Apple Pay. It will launch in US and South Korea first followed by Europe and China.

Google Wallet didn’t take off. What is different now?

Google came up with the idea of NFC payments a few years back but there weren’t many NFC devices back then. On top of that, NFC payment gateways are costly to set up and retailers weren’t ready to put a lot of money on them until there was a big enough user base. A new technology like this needs to be heavily marketed. It is also important to tell people that it is secure and has got some serious advantages over conventional methods. Apple Pay is already associated with some major banks and credit card companies which is working in its favour. A lot of people remember Google Wallet now because Apple has made a move in the field. It is also simpler to pay using Apple Pay. A simple tap on home key and done. No PIN or password to bother about.

While Apple will get the boost due to good marketing, we think Samsung will also be received well because of the MST technology being supported widely. It is supported at 90 percent retail locations in US already. While the fingerprint authentication on Samsung S5 or Note 4 wasn’t as good as Touch ID, the S6 is able to match the level making the process just as smooth.

What about security?

Both the systems claim to be very secure as they use tokenized payment methods. It is somewhat like the virtual debit cards some banks allow you to generate for a transaction and the actual card details aren’t shared with the seller. In this case, your actual card details aren’t saved on your device either. The card details are stored on card provider’s secure server and they will handle the tokenisation in most cases. Even if someone gets the token details, it is useless for them without the fingerprint authentication. This actually makes it more secure than swiping your debit card.

What would be the impact on travel brands?

Payment systems like Samsung Pay and Apple Pay have got great potential in almost all sectors of travel. They will reduce the friction in payment process increasing conversions. It is annoying to type in your credit card details on the tiny mobile screen. Even if the booking app allows you to save the card details, there are other steps involved in the final payment. Apple Pay can save all that trouble and increase the number of mobile bookings. OpenTable, Priceline and HotelTonight have already rolled out Apple Pay support and others are going to follow soon. JetBlue has announced that they will allow inflight purchases using Apple Pay. Almost every point where you have to pull out your credit card can make use of the technology.

Early verdict

At this point, Apple Pay seems to have the advantage of a head start but Samsung Pay has got good potential. Both the technologies require Apple and Samsung’s latest flagship devices and judging by the numbers we have seen in past, Apple Pay is likely to reach more audience. These two systems will play a major role in where the mobile payments go next.

What is your opinion about these payment systems? How is the travel industry going to receive them? Share you view with us in comments below.

Update-Google announced the successor to Google Wallet and it is called Android Pay. It functions in a similar fashion as the Apple Pay and will be available to US residents in a few months.

The post Make your mobile a digital wallet with mobile payment services appeared first on TravHQ.

With our gadgets shrinking in size everyday, a new category of devices is taking shape.  This new breed of devices is known as smartwatches. A lot of big names in the mobile industry (and a couple of unheard ones) joined the game and came up with their versions of smartwatches. The concept isn’t exactly very new but it has started to make sense only for the past couple of years. Before that, wearable devices were more like downsized PDAs with a band fixed onto them. Now however they look like a watch (well, if you look from a distance) and claim to handle lot more jobs in conjunction with your smartphone.

(Image: Apple- Watch Sport by clockmaker-jp/ CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Cupertino giant Apple announced its entry into the segment and is taking pre orders at the time of writing this post (and probably delivering by the time you read this). It is very likely that their entry into the segment would stir things up and increase the rate of adoption of wearables. Now just like with any other device, a whole new army of developers is rising to cater to the smartwatches. Brands have put on their thinking caps to figure out how they can make good use of what this new platform has to offer. Until now we have seen a large number of health and fitness apps make it to these devices but the travel industry is following closely. So if you haven’t done it yet, now is a good time to consider this new platform.

(Read: Experience of using Apple Watch while travelling)

If you have given it a thought and done some research already, you must have found a dozen reasons to make an early entry on the platform. We won’t deny the fact that it is tempting. People will be curious to see how they can use the watch to unlock their hotel room or check their flight status. Remember the bowling and dice rolling motion games we all used to have when the first iPhone came in? They were annoying and nobody would play them for more than a couple of minutes but still they were something new. You would keep them in your phone because there were very few apps (or games) making use of the motion sensor. The Apple watch could do something similar to your app but is it really worth making an immediate move? We tell you why you should slow down with your watch plans.

How are you going to use it?

Before you ask your team of developers if they can develop a watch app, ask yourself if you have a strong use case. You don’t just need to come up with a use of the application but also think about the user scenario. You have to keep in mind that the Apple watch (or any other smartwatch) has got limited screen space and suits jobs that involve less steps (exactly why the developer kit won’t allow you to add many features). You have to try and find entirely new applications as redesigning your existing app for the watch won’t exactly be the best course of action in most cases.

How many will use it?

Android wear devices have been around for a while now but the numbers haven’t been very impressive. This is expected to change with the Apple watch which, as experts suggest, is going to sell in big numbers. But the Apple Watch requires an iPhone to work and the number would still be a small fraction when compared to the number of iPhone that will be sold over the same period of time. On top of that, you can be very sure that not everyone with a smartwatch would download your app. So clearly you are catering to limited audience here for now. Try to weigh the effort against the reach you will get and then decide if you still want to do it.

Is your mobile app good?

See what people have to say about your app

How good is your mobile phone app? Is it working seamlessly across all devices? How do people rate your app on App Store and Google Play? If you are doubtful about any of these, you should probably focus on the mobile app first before you jump on a new platform. If your mobile app isn’t good, people might not even bother trying your watch app. Take the reviews seriously, respond to comments and use the feedback to build a better app if it isn’t good enough.

Who will bear the costs?

Just developing a watch app might not do the job. If you are an hotelier, you might be tempted to add keyless entry that can make use of Apple Watch. The idea is pretty good but the costs involved are a bit steep. Will the costs be transmitted to the customers? It makes perfect sense for high end luxury hotel chains like Hilton or Marriott where the cost of each room is very high and the setup cost would just be a fraction of it. The same number could make a huge difference in the cost of room of a budget hotel and there is a possibility that it might not even boost the number of incoming customers.

So before you jump on this bandwagon, take these factors into account. The wearables aren’t going out anytime soon and might make more sense sometime in future.

Update (Sept 18, 2015): Added link to our long term review of Apple Watch

The post Why your travel brand shouldn’t join the wearable race appeared first on TravHQ.