Ola becomes the first mobility provider for Indus OS users

• With this partnership, Ola’s offerings will be deep integrated with Indus OS, which currently has over 8 million users
• Smartphone users across India with Indus Operating System (OS) will have instant access to Ola’s services through the OS’ in-built default messaging app

Bengaluru, August 31, 2017: Indus OS, the homegrown smartphone operating system and India’s second largest widely used OS has partnered with Ola, India’s most popular mobile app for transportation to extend on-demand, seamless, and convenient mobility experience for hundreds of thousands of Indus OS users. Both, Ola and Indus OS as innovators, are focused on solving for the unique needs of India.

 The partnership aims to power the mobility needs of citizens in a revolutionary contextual and seamless interface that is made to reduce battery and data consumption while making the experience intuitive. Ola’s services will be integrated at the OS level, enabling new users to discover its benefits and existing users to increase engagement. With this partnership, Ola becomes the first mobility provider for all Indus OS users. This integration will also make the Ola experience available in English and 12 regional languages (catering to ~95% of the Indian population), enabling access to hassle-free commute for millions of Indians across India.

Ola has integrated with Indus OS through the inbuilt intuitive messaging app of the OS, which makes access to Ola not only seamless but also invokes suggestions based on the context of the message. This is the default SMS application of the OS with IP capability. Used by 8 million Indians on smartphones such as Micromax, Intex Technologies, Karbonn Mobiles, Celkon among others, Indus OS is the leading operating system favored by most regional language smartphone users across India, making it an ideal partner for Ola, and enabling reach to millions of Indians. Currently available in English and 12 regional languages (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Oriya, Assamese, Punjabi, Kannada, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi), this partnership will significantly expand the user base who can avail of prompt mobility solutions.

Nitin Gupta, VP, Engineering at Ola said, “Mobility is for everyone, irrespective of language and location. The growth story of Ola is thus, based on unique innovations, built to cater to unique needs and challenges of India and Indians. This partnership with Indus OS is a big step in catering to such use cases and ensuring that access to reliable mobility solutions reaches everyone who needs it in the most contextual and intuitive experience. In this endeavour, we are constantly evaluating opportunities and forging strong partnerships that will help us to reach to more Indians and address their mobility requirements. Thus, simple solutions backed by robust technology, and delivered to the hands of the customers to cater to their real-time needs will continue to be our focus.” Nitin also added, “By associating with like-minded companies such as Indus OS that understand the market like we do, we are confident that customers will stand to benefit the most.”

Speaking on this partnership, Rakesh Deshmukh, Founder & CEO, Indus OS, said, “We are extremely excited to partner with Ola to launch Indus OS platform’s first Brand Account. Ola being the largest mobility platform in the country, with maximum availability across categories, this partnership will be a true value for our users. We understand the real needs of the Indian masses and believe in ground-up innovation to solve for those needs. Ola’s integration within Indus OS will allow users to access Ola’s services with minimal data and battery consumption and in the language of their choice. Ola’s mission of building mobility for a billion Indians is in sync with our company’s motto of using the smartphone as the medium to connect the digital world with the masses. While we cater to the Indian users through simple and innovative technology, mutually beneficial tie-ups like these make our service offering more meaningful.”

 How does this work?

Indus OS users need to simply open their OS’ in-built messaging app and click on Ola among the suggested Brand Accounts to book a cab

• Ola as a recommendation will also, pop up if any message has the context of mobility. For instance; a doctor’s appointment, confirmation messages of movie tickets, etc.
• Options of category and the cost for the ride will appear on the messaging window along with, suggested prompts for response
• The messaging app will identify your location and open maps to enter the drop location
• Basis the choice you make, it will ask for confirmation, and send you the ride information – all in the same window
• Check out the GIF to know more!

Since inception, Ola has been cognizant of the unique needs and demands of the country. Innovations such as Offline Booking, the Progressive Web App, Ola Share, and many others have made a huge impact and have successfully delivered Ola’s services. Understanding the diversity in language preferences of driver partners, Ola’s partner app is available in 8 Indian languages, apart from English, ensuring that they have access in a language of their choice and comfort. The association with Indus OS will now help Ola cater to consumer interest as well by providing instant access to an underserved market in the most contextual and intuitive way possible.

About Ola:

Founded in Jan 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola (formerly Olacabs), is India’s most popular mobile app for personal transportation. Ola integrates city transportation for customers and driver partners onto a mobile technology platform ensuring convenient, transparent and quick service fulfilment. Ola is committed to its mission of building mobility for a billion people. Using the Ola mobile app, users across 110 cities can book from over 700,000 vehicles across cabs, auto-rickshaws and taxis. Ola has also introduced a range of shared mobility services on its platform like Ola Shuttle and Ola Share for commute and ride-sharing respectively. The app is available on Windows, Android and iOS platforms. Please visit https://www.olacabs.com/media for more information.

About Indus OS:

Indus OS is India’s operating system. Made in India, for Indians – this operating system is built on the three pillars of innovation, simplification and content. Indus OS was launched in May 2015 and has quickly climbed to the #2 OS spot in India, overtaking global giants such as Apple’s iOS & Microsoft’s Windows.

Indus OS’ vision is to digitally connect 1 billion people in the emerging markets with a smartphone ecosystem of their choice. Indus OS also has its very own app marketplace called App Bazaar with over 50,000 applications available in 12 regional languages and English. The company has a team of over 100 employees, with over 80% of the team dedicated towards technology & R&D. Indus OS is also constantly striving to adapt its existing portfolio and introduce new features aligned with government initiatives, especially geared towards supporting the roadmap of Digital India.

Indus OS has received Series A funding from Omidyar Network, VenturEast and JSW Ventures, and is angel funded by Hari Padmanabhan, Mayank Singhal from Temasek Holdings, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal from Snapdeal, Amit Gupta and Naveen Tiwari from Inmobi and Pranay Chulet from Quikr.

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Surabhi Patodia | +91 97412 77703 | media@olacabs.com