How many times have you waited at a road junction for the data connection to work again so that you can head back to your hotel? You are lucky if you haven’t because this happens often on our side of the globe. We heavily rely on internet connectivity, whether we are travelling to a new place or just getting on with our day to day life. Checking traffic status before setting off for work, calling an Uber, sharing updates on Twitter and what not. While some of these things can wait until we get home to our trusted Wi-Fi connection, others can’t. For us, at least that is an option. However, there are many parts of the world where internet is just talked about, not used. Large organisations are trying to address this in one way or the other but extensive plans need extensive infrastructure and lot of time to yield any results. Until we have the kind of infrastructure that will ensure we are never disconnected, a startup is doing something to connect the millions (and us, when our network provider ditches us) and offer a way to provide basic internet services.

WIT or Without Internet Technology allows smartphones to receive data without the need of an active internet connection. WIT caught our attention while reading about the interesting startups that were a part of TNW Europe Hack Battle. WIT started off as an idea for the Hack Battle but ended up becoming one of those genuinely exciting products you find every once in a while.

Alessio and Davide, the duo behind WIT

Alessio and Davide met earlier this year and were working with two different companies accelerated in Rockstart. The duo soon realised that they have the potential to build something promising together and took a step in that direction with TNW Hack Battle. The concept was validated by numerous Uber and CM Telecom engineers and the demos they built included an app for ordering Uber and for loading a Facebook profile and as you would have guessed, both the jobs were done without internet.

Alessio shares that the prime focus is on making the technology easy to integrate. WIT is being built into a kind of plug and play mobile SDK for developers. Once integrated, the app will automatically recognise when the device isn’t able to connect to the internet and the http request will be intercepted and sent to their servers which will proxy the requests and send the data back to the client app. This way, you will be able to get things done that aren’t data intensive. It goes without saying that the technology isn’t built to load your Instagram feed while you relax at a secluded beach but to get an Uber to take you back from that beach.

The potential is huge. Most of the mobile first services rely on a data connection. Speaking of some potential use cases in travel, Alessio talks about booking Uber without internet, obtaining traffic data for pre-downloaded offline maps or using mobile banking services without internet. Outside of it, there is around 54 percent of global population (even higher fraction in developing countries) which can have some access to information and services rather than being completely disconnected.

While the team didn’t give us any names, they revealed that they have just started working with multiple companies from different countries and are also beta testing an offline on demand translator app which will be coming out by September, another interesting use case in travel.

The Chinese have done a great job of bringing smartphones to masses and WIT could serve as a bridge to connect them till the time they all get seamless internet connectivity. You can find more details about WIT on their website. You can check out their Hack Battle pitch here.

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We are so used to having internet on our mobile devices that we feel helpless without it. While travelling outside country borders, it becomes a major problem as roaming costs can be sky high. During the WIT Bootcamp, we came across a startup Rimoto which is trying to solve this by offering users free access to some useful apps while you are travelling.

Shashin Shah, one of the co-founders of Rimoto presented the idea during the Start-up pitch during WIT Bootcamp and won during the final round on October 21. Here is a short video of Shashin introducing Rimoto to the TravHQ community.

To provide the service, Rimoto partners with various mobile operators and buys data in bulk to offer free access to partner apps through VPN. The apps are mostly services like restaurant reservation, cabs and ticket booking that people primarily need while travelling. Users can also choose to have internet access for more apps like Facebook and Whatsapp if they choose to pay for a premium plan.

Shashin presenting Rimoto during WIT Bootcamp

You can know more about Rimoto on their website here. To read other stories from TravelRave, you can click here.

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With WIT Singapore, 2015 taking place at Marina Bay, Singapore, we managed to pull out a few interesting key points from Chan Park’s Key address. Chan Park is the General Manager (Southeast Asia) of Uber. He is actively involved in the expansion the car-rental brand through numerous operations linked to government relations.

Chan Park sharing the Uber story

During his session, he highlighted many interesting elements of Uber and its story over the years. Here are a few of them:

#1- Uber’s presence in the Asian market

Chan Park stated that the growth of Uber in the Asian market has been ‘incredible’. The brand has observed phenomenal increase in the number of cabs and the demand for them. For this car-rental service, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand are the fastest growing markets in Asia. Marketing in India was altogether a different experience. For example, the average pick-up time for cabs in other countries is mostly 3-4 minutes but in India it turns out to be 35-40 minutes. Over the last few years the company has reduced the average fare of its cabs by 15-20% of the original cost. With the increase in demand of Uber cabs, there will be more trips daily. This will turn into an opportunity for Uber drivers to earn more per day.

#2- The roles of the Governments and locals

Governments of different countries have their own set of goals and agenda. Uber attempts to align its goals with the goals of these governments. For example, with the plans of creating a mobile environment that is safe and smart, Uber has observed that Singapore focuses on lesser cars and reduction of car parking space in its area. Interestingly, 12% of the real estate of Singapore is allotted to car parks. In the same manner, they have also noticed that different countries have their own set of rules and regulations for car-pooling. In order to expand globally, Uber will be required to adhere to the laws of the land.

Persuading the governments in the right manner is essential too. Uber makes it clear to them that they are for safety, customer protection, formalizing and regulating appropriately within the transport industry of the country. Fortunately, things have been mostly favourable for the brand till date.

#3- Uber for Business

Understanding the difference between regular travellers and business travellers, the brand has extended its service. ‘Uber For Business’ provides reliable rides for employees with rides up to 40% cheaper than regular taxis.

After enrolling through its website, businesses can set rules and policies mentioning where and when their employees can take the ride. For later reference, trip info for every ride will be available. The feature makes the management of business rides much easier.

#4- Goals of Uber

During his speech, Chan Park stated that Uber attempts to reach the following goals: Bringing down the pick-up time and fulfil the customer requests. As mentioned earlier, the pick-up time in most countries is 3-4 minutes but for India it reaches 35-40 minutes. In India, they might face a big challenge in reducing pick-up time.

#5- A glimpse into the life of Chan Park and his link with Uber

Chan Park has been an avid Mathematician. For a short period of time, he worked as a currency trader. He claims that his analytical, creative and quick problem solving skills have helped him become an important part of Uber culture. He elaborates that the company does not really take cultural background into consideration for accepting employees. Most of the present employees of Uber are bankers and consultants. People just need to have strong analytical skills and they can be a part of this global brand.

You can find more stories from TravelRave here.

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