In November last year, Ola rolled out an interesting connected car platform called Ola Play. The idea was to offer audio video content and various services to its passengers with partners including Apple Music, Qualcomm, Sony Digital, Audio Compass, Fynd and others. It worked towards improving the customer experience while also creating a platform for third party developers to reach new users when they are more likely to try the service. Ola Play has since expanded to multiple cities and to a larger number of cabs on its fleet.

It has now been reported by FactorDaily that Uber is working on a similar platform and a pilot is already underway in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Ola has received positive responses from those who have tried Ola Play (who doesn’t love some good music to kill time in a traffic jam) and looks like Uber is trying to do the same.

Interestingly, most news related to Uber and its projects often come from its home market but that is not the case here. It could be because Uber now has a strong technology team in India looking at the needs specific to the region.

Similar to Ola, the service will be available on higher tier of cabs and Uber is currently running the pilot with sedans that have been leased through its leasing program. Both Uber and Ola run leasing programs for their drivers so that they can be a part of the network without upfront investment.

Uber has previously tried to give customers a degree of personalisation by partnering with Spotify in some markets. In India, the ridesharing company did something similar last year with Gaana (Spotify in India please). However, Ola Play and potentially the entertainment platform being built by Uber offer more than that. They bring together an array of services. As more people shift towards shared services, such platforms offer a way for the likes of Uber and Ola to offer a higher degree of personalisation to the customer and also enable users to carry their data across different vehicles. In the long run, if and when the customers start to find value in the offering, these platforms may drive some stickiness.

On the flipside, both the companies have bigger challenges in front of them right now. In India, they have been facing huge backlash from their network of drivers. Adding to this are the costs. Ola Play is still limited to only a fraction of the cars on the network and in four cities out of 100 Ola operates in. How will the systems that rely on specific hardware equipment grow from handful of vehicles to a respectable number? Many drivers don’t stick to a single company and at a time when they are attacking the two key players for declining incomes, the possibility that they will be willing to invest in the hardware is laughably low. For Ola or Uber, investing in rolling out the hardware across the entire fleet with their own investment would be an added cost without any serious return in near future.

It will be interesting to watch how the two companies take these media platforms to a point where more customers have access to them and they can drive real benefits for the companies.

Source: FactorDaily

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Telecommunications service provider Airtel and cab hailing company Ola today announced a partnership to work together on various fronts. The two companies will bring together their suite of services and products to co-create an ecosystem that adds value for the customers of two brands while giving them an opportunity to cross sell their services. While Airtel will cater to the communication needs and offer enterprise services, Ola will offer reach to its driver partners and customers.

As part of the partnership, Airtel Payments Bank will integrate with Ola app and Ola Money will integrate with various Airtel services like broadband and DTH as a payment option. Ola devices will be powered by Airtel’s network and Airtel’s entertainment offerings will be added to ‘Ola Play’ with exclusive content for Ola customers.

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia) Bharti Airtel said, “At Airtel, we are constantly innovating to build products and partnerships that accelerate the development of India’s digital ecosystem. We are delighted to partner Ola to enable a seamless digital experience for customers. Both companies have strengths that complement each other and this offers massive scope to co-create exciting products and solutions for customers. Ola will also benefit from Airtel’s extensive retail network and our integrated suite of world-class connectivity solutions for businesses that help them drive growth through better efficiency.”

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and Co-founder at Ola said, “At Ola, we are always focused on innovating and building on the mobility experience for customers as well as driver partners. This first-of-its-kind partnership brings a host of offerings from two massive ecosystems together. Airtel will integrate its offerings across payments, content, PoS networks, and more with Ola’s offerings for its large customer and partner base. We see this as a win-win for partners and customers of both brands, bringing increased convenience and access to mobility as well as connectivity at the same time.”

An interesting addition here is that Airtel retail points will assist customers looking to book a ride through the kiosks in these location. Both the companies are facing pressure from their respective rivals and working together could benefit both of them. Both Ola and Airtel have been trying to push their mobile wallets but they face stiff competition from Alibaba backed Paytm. The partnership could drive some users to adopt at least one of these wallets. Airtel has also been under pressure with the entry of Reliance Jio and this partnership will see Airtel and Ola pushing for migrating Ola driver partners from other networks to Airtel. Ola reportedly has around 500,000 registered drivers and attracting whatever fraction is not on Airtel can be a good proposition for the operator.

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Indian cab hailing company Ola today announced Ola Play, a connected car platform. With this platform, the company is looking to offer audio video content and various services to its passengers. The service is initially rolling out to Ola Select customers in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi and will be rolling out to all Prime riders over the next few months. For Ola Play, the cab hailing company has partnered with Apple Music, Qualcomm, Sony Digital, Audio Compass, Fynd and others.

With Ola Play, they are trying to offer more control to the riders while offering third party developers a platform to further boost the customer experience. The approach here is somewhat similar to what Android and Apple are trying to do with Auto and CarPlay respectively. The difference is that Android Auto is built around drivers while Ola is looking to tailor the experience around the passenger. Wi-Fi, music, navigation and air-con controls are just some of the things they are beginning with. The potential is much more than that. Uber has tried offering personal music during rides in some of its markets in association with Spotify. However, the move by Ola is not limited just to music. Ola has built the hardware in association with Qualcomm and has spent last 12 months developing the platform.

Ola Play would also allow Ola to offer more personalised experience to the riders. As we shift towards sharing, platforms like this would allow people to carry their data across multiple vehicles and feel more at home. So it will know your addresses and preferences in advance.

There are other possibilities, similar to what Audio Compass is exploring here. The audio tour company is offering location aware, immersive audio based city tours via Ola Play as Gautam Shewakramani, CEO, Audio Compass shares. They are together looking to innovate and improve the in-destination experience of the travellers while exploring a new platform to distribute the content.

Audio Compass is among the early movers here. If the platform catches on well, it will attract other developers to built upon the platform and reach a new set of audience while boosting value for Ola customers. This is certainly a major development for the market and Ola has made a bold move towards improving customer experience than just fighting the aggressive price war. Expect to try it out in a Ola Prime soon.

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