| Biggest challenge in India is to educate consumers about the vast and rich interactive experience they can now get on their TVs Woxi Media, a leading edge technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley, is focused on bringing world-class Internet products and software applications to consumer markets around the globe. Mr. Amit Gattani, Co-founder & President, Woxi Media spoke to Electronics Maker about Woxi innovative products, India market opportunities, compnay strategies and also overviews challenges |
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| Please elaborate on Woxi Media’s present product profile. Woxi Media provides a complete end-to-end solution to deliver Internet, Video-on-Demand, Android Apps & Gaming to Television screens, including multi-screen support on tablets and Smartphones. For end consumers, Woxi SmartPod is an all-in-one Digital & Internet media set-top-box that can convert any TV into a smarter TV. Consumers can easily use Android Apps and Games on TV, browse the Internet using open browser, enjoy 100s of Internet channels via Woxi AppCasts, and use the SmartPod as a powerful HD media player to play movies, music, photos from USB attached Flash- drives/Hard-drive, cameras/camcorders or SD cards on the TV. They can also continue their Internet experience on a Tablet or Smartphone using Woxi AppCasts App, and manage their playlist, favorites across all devices. Video service providers, ISPs, digital media c o m p a n i e s c a n l e v e r a g e Wo x i ’ s c l o u d – infrastructure to deliver a fully managed solution to their end customers, including premium video catalog placements, advertising, branded software and custom UI, custom AppCasts channels, custom App store, and customer management interface. Woxi’s white-label platform can be leveraged to quickly enter the high growth markets for Internet media and content delivery direct to TV. What is the Woxi’s edge over its competitors? Woxi Media is the only company that has a full end- to-end platform to deliver a truly media-rich and lean-back experience to end consumers on TV. Woxi products blend technology and design capabilities of Silicon Valley (US), with consumer centric knowledge of India to create a product that is truly simpler and superior to use. Features like Enhanced Android with Multi-user experience, cloud-based AppCasts service require deep technical innovation and use of patented technologies, keeping Woxi significantly ahead of the competitors that are basically putting a mobile OS on to a TV box. Our market and user centric product design approach, coupled with our vast experience and technical depth in emerging technologies will always keep us ahead.With increasing internet penetration environment, what future do you see for the Appcast in India? How Woxi smartPod is helping in strengthening of Appcasts technology? AppCasts is a way to tie user experience across all devices, and let consumers discover and find content that is more relevant to them rather than spend time just hunting. So users can use AppCasts not only on the SmartPod, but continue that experience on their tablet and mobile phones using AppCasts App (beta app currently available in Google Play store). Woxi cloud service provides synchronization of features such as Playlists, Favorites etc, so users can discover on the go on mobile/tablet, and play it on TV at home. More users use AppCasts on SmartPods, it helps us get more and better content back to the users How has the response been to Woxi Media’s Smartpod for TV till now and which all schemes Woxi media running to attract Indian consumer? Indian consumer response has been positive, though the industry is still in early adopters stage. Consumers that have bought the product absolutely love it and provide excellent feedback and reviews in various forums. There is so much more people can get out of their investment in large TV screens with a Woxi SmartPod – that’s evident in consumer feedbacks. Woxi provides very attractive schemes from time to time for Indian consumers, like festival discounts and special SD card or accessory bundling offers. Please check Woxi website for the latest offers. |
What is the future of TV industry in India? That’s a complex question, as TV industry is very broad, from linear TV channels to actual TV screens and products. We can have a totally separate dialog on this topic, but let me take a 10,000 foot level view – it’s ripe for disruption. People will be buying TV screens for best quality of picture and display, as those displays last 7-10years. The smartness of the TV is best kept separate in products like SmartPod, that can be easily upgrade and enhanced, and are on rapid evolution curve of the  Smartphones. People will start to understand how much more they can get out their TV and A/V equipment by having a SmartPod class product, and start moving away from dumb and linear only TV consumption to a more on-demand and intelligent consumption supported by AppCasts type platforms.What all challenges faced by Woxi media in Indian market. Biggest challenge in India is to educate consumers about the vast and rich interactive experience they can now get on their TVs. India is a market where people like to look and feel the product before buying, and most of the retail segment is unorganized. We have enabled a lot of retail outlets with live demo capability for Indian consumers, however poor internet connectivity in stores is always a major hurdle in providing consumers a good hands on demo and feel. We have done many innovative things to get around these issues, however unorganized retail and poor Internet connectivity in most stores is still the biggest issue we face in reaching our consumers. Please throw some light on Woxi Media’s future initiatives and strategy in year ahead. What are the products in offing? We are continuously innovating on software features based on what we are hearing from our customers. You will see various software upgrades and introduction of some very interesting features that will up-level personalization and customization of the user experience. Consumers are able to extend their experience on to their tablets and Smartphones using the AppCasts App. We will also be introducing a lot of new content on the SmartPod throughout 2013. We also plan on adding additional exciting new products to our product line in 2013. |
