The financial express

Indian mobile brand Micromax Informatics has made a tie-up with taxi-hailing service Uber for an integrated-on device experience AROUND. This partnership for three years has been made in order to provide easier mobility for commuters. The Around service by Micromax is a software which is meant for aggregation of services from various providers. The aggregation includes several popular applications in the fields of travelling, sports, food, shopping, among others and displays inside the on the mobile devices. It is a Micromax users’ exclusive app listed on Google Play Store. According to the company, the exclusive partnership will give commuters a different ‘on-device experience’. This essentially means that users of Microsoft Around can now book a cab ride on Uber without the need for downloading the application. The smartphone itself will be able to display the estimated time of arrival and fare estimates. Micromax said that commuters will be provided with on-device native integration and also factory loading of the Uber app on their smartphones.

This feature by Micromax will come to existing and new smartphones in phases and initially on 100 million devices. Rahul Sharma, Co-Founder, Micromax Informatics told IANS, “This partnership will help UBER unlock growth across the huge user base of Micromax in India and also help our consumers get the best in class experience from the leaders in ride sharing. Our focus, going forward, will be on building native experiences that will bring alive a connected ecosystem.”

Eric Alexander, President for Business at Uber APAC told IANS, “the native user experience will introduce ride sharing and the benefits it brings to riders, drivers and cities, to a new generation of smartphone users in India.”