WEEKEND NEWS

PRESENTED BY-

NEELAM

MONGA

Next Google phone will be

mobile wallet: Schmidt•A new Google mobile phone imbedded with a

chip that makes it a virtual wallet so people can

"tap and pay" is poised to make its debut, the

Internet giant's chief said Monday.

•The successor to the Internet firm's Nexus One

smartphone runs on fresh "Gingerbread" software

and is imbedded with a near-field communication

chip for financial transactions, according to

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.

"I have here an unannounced product that I carry around with me," Schmidt said while pulling a touch-screen smartphone from a jacket pocket during an on-stage chat at a Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco.

"You will be able to take these mobile devices that will be able to do commerce," he continued. "Essentially, bump for everything and eventually replace credit cards. In the industry it is referred to as tap-and-pay."

Emami to invest Rs 950 cr in

its edible oil business

Emami Biotech set up in 2006 to

manufacture bio-diesel from Jatropha,

Emami Biotech, is, however, presently

focusing on edible oils as it is facing

some regulatory issues in bio-fuel

Emami Group has earmarked Rs 950

crore over the next two years for the

purpose, even as it is looking at a

national roll-out of its Healthy & Tasty

oil brand

The company currently produces

1,600 tonnes per day (tpd) of edible

oils such as palm, soya, mustard,

blended and sunflower. It plans to

expand its capacity to 3,000 tpd over

the next two years

Airtel launches new brand

identity in Africa; replaces

Zain Telecom giant Bharti, which had acquired

Zain Telecom''s operations in Africa

launched its brand "airtel" in 16 countries

in the continent replacing the Zain

brand.

The ZAP mobile money service will be

re-branded Airtel Money with immediate

effect. As part of the new brand launch,

airtel also announced the launch of a

new ultra low cost handset package

which effectively provides a mobile

phone free of charge to all new

The package, launched in conjunction with Nokia, will be priced at approx NGN 3,500 (USD 23) and includes a brand new Nokia 1280 mobile phone, a free SIM card and the equivalent value in free airtel talk time and SMS text messages. In the past four months airtel has already made tariff interventions in 11 of its 16 markets in Africa for the benefit of its customers.