Your wish is my App II: Nokia plays Santa at the year's first IndiBlogger meet

Being a technology blogger has its own set of perks. You get invited to local events, meet interesting and like-minded folks from all walks of life, and win freebies.

For me, the biggest incentive to attend a blogging event is to network and see what's abuzz in the world of gadgets and gizmos.

Last month I received an invite to attend Your wish is my App II, a Nokia IndiBlogger meet. This was the 16th IndiBlogger event in Delhi (the city has hosted the maximum IndiBlogger meets along with Mumbai). I was quite excited to meet the likes of Rajiv Makhni (twitter handle: RajivMakhni), Vishal Gondal (twitter handle: vishalgondal), and my all-time favorite, Vikas Khanna (twitter handle: TheVikasKhanna).

Being the first Indiblogger event of 2014 and the second edition of the Nokia IndiBlogger meets, the organizers had planned to perfection. A chic 5-star hotel (The Oberoi) to host the event, exclusive media coverage from NDTV, and more than 300 of Delhi's finest bloggers under one roof. Could you ask for more!

I entered the Ballroom and quickly registered myself. It was a matter of time until the crew from NDTV started looking for some insights into cool, futuristic Windows apps. Not surprisingly, there were Nokia Lumia phones on display, so one could see how Windows phones were pitted against competition, that is, Android or iOS phones.

Getting interviewed by NDTV

The evening kickstarted with a brief presentation from P. Balaji, Managing Director, Nokia India. Here are some statistics thrown in for consumption:

• There are about 160 million people who use the Internet; Nokia reaches out to 70 million among them.
• 90 million of these people access Internet on their mobiles.
• 25 million of these people access Internet on their PCs.
• The smartphones sales went up considerably in 2013, with 1 billion devices sold during the year.
• Around 1.6 billion apps were downloaded last year.
• 60% of people in the age group of 15 to 30 years engage on the Internet via their mobiles, mostly through social networking.

It comes as no surprise then that Nokia hails as the largest social media brand in the industry.

Other thing that was very apparent from Balaji's presentation was the urge to feed and reward the Developer community. In the DVLUP event last August, there were around 15,000 participants and close to 10,000 apps that were conceptualized. INR 3.5 crore was showered on developers in the way of rewards.

There are nearly 200,000 apps on Nokia Lumia phones alone powered by the Windows platform. Most of these apps are locally relevant, for example, Spicejet and Sun TV apps were first on Lumia devices. Nokia has its eyes firmly set on gamification, retail, and digital marketing.

Post Balaji's presentation, the focus shifted to the new season of app reality TV show, Your wish is my App, which is going to premier on NDTV Prime starting mid-March. The swashbuckling hosts (Rajiv Makhni, Vishal Gondal, and Vikas Khanna) were greeted with a rousing fanfare.

Vikas Khanna and moi

The last season saw close to 38,000 ideas being submitted, and top 40 among those made it to the reality show. The participation was not only limited from India alone, with entries from US, Japan, and Italy also making it to the show.

The audience was unrestrained with some crazy app ideas. One lady wanted an app that could locate loo for females in the city. Ha! Someone wanted an app for organ donation.

The hosts enthralled the crowd with their slapstick style of humor. Some folks were also invited on stage to role-play that kept the momentum going for awhile.

300 of us

So there, what is my wish for a futuristic Windows app? Here goes:

Admit

After relocating to India in 2012, I had to go through the harrowing experience of getting my 4-year-old son admitted to a local school. I had to run around for admissions, collecting forms, meeting teachers and other school staff, enquiring about school buses, etc. I longed for an app that could have saved from all the hassle. 

It would do a world of good to parents if an app was devised to search the nearest schools in a given locality, allow the admission forms to be filled online via the app, and allow the teachers or school staff to be contacted for further assistance. The same logic could be applicable for college admissions as well.