UCWeb, the company owned by the renowned Alibaba Business Group, made several major revelations at an event hosted in Mumbai on Tuesday. The two biggest announcements from the event were the launch of the all-new UC Browser, which comes with a plethora of new features, and strategic partnership with Colors TV to bring entertainment content to users from within the browser.
At Tuesday's event, Alibaba's overseas mobile business group's president Jack Huang, UCWeb's GM India Robert Bu and ColorsTV CEO Raj Nayak shared their insights on the new announcements, while renowned TV celeb Manish Paul hosted the show. Bu and Huang explained the product side and Nayak spoke about how the new partnership benefits both companies as well as the end users.
UCWeb is already the leading mobile browser in India and the content integration takes the competition to a whole new level.
UCWeb's UC Browser, which has more than 80 million monthly active users in India, has been updated with notable changes and new features. With this upgrade, the mobile browser brings news and entertainment content right at users' fingertips.
The all-new UC Browser has specially been designed with focus on India. It provides faster internet speeds for browsing and downloads even in low bandwidth areas across the country. UCWeb has also localised content for the Indian audience and it has started by adding Hindi and Tamil languages to the browser. Other local languages are expected soon.
Besides localised support and user-friendly UI, the main highlight of the updated UC Browser is the seamless integration of Colors TV programs. The company's aim is to "offer Digitized Entertainment."
Our partnership with Colors is unique in its own way. The partnership seeks to build long-term engagement for the content on Colors TV through multiple platforms such as blogs and behind the scenes videos, ensuring stickiness and long term engagement for these properties. Digital content consumption is on the rise and the challenge for content creators is to be able to customize, curate and present diverse content to users to strengthen their engagement. The solution that UC Browser is offering is Digitized Entertainment," Bu said while speaking at the launch event.
Smartphone penetration in India is at its peak and users are relying on their mobile devices for more than just communication. Entertainment on the go is an important part of the mobile devices now and companies curating the necessary content gain an edge amid the tough competition.
UCWeb's partnership with Colors TV is built around 4 popular TV shows, "Jhalak Dikhla Jaa," "24," "Bigg Boss" and "Comedy Nights Live." Users of UC Browser will be offered access to exclusive content related to each of the aforementioned TV shows.
UC Browser users get access to the latest news, tailored as per their interests. UCWeb has a separate UCNews app, but the news content is also integrated within UC Browser for quick access to what's happening around you. Once users select their topics of interest, based on their reading habits, UC Browser presents them with related news articles from prominent sources. The company has invested $1 billion into Big Data technology in order to deliver this customised news experience for its users around the world.
UC Browser is available for free download on all major platforms including Android and iOS. Although all smartphones come with built-in browser, UC Browser serves as a great alternative for those who are looking for a customised experience.
