Author: Julie Campbell

The device was launched in that South Asian marketplace with a price tag of Rs. 22,990.

Samsung has now launched its Galaxy Gear smartwatch, its first wearable tech gadget, into the consumer market in India at a price tag of Rs. 22,990, which is just over $350 U.S. dollars.

It is expected to arrive on the shelves of retail stores in India on September 25, 2013.

Unlike the occurrence of the Galaxy Note 3 and previous Galaxy Gear pre-order availability expectations, Samsung has issued a confirmation that there will not be any bundled packages, so it will be possible to obtain these gadgets at a reduced price.

The smartwatch gadgets are a part of the latest Galaxy Gear line and was launched at IFA 2013.

Its launch occurred alongside that of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 at the same event. The smartwatch gadget has an OLED display of 1.63 inches. It also comes with S voice and it currently functions only with either the Galaxy Note 3 or the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, which is a Samsung tablet that also had its official launch at the same event.

That said, Samsung has said that it will soon be making its smartwatch compatible with other Galaxy gadgets, such as the Galaxy Note II, the Galaxy SIII, and the Galaxy S4. The smartwatch is also able to display messages, make calls, take photos (with a 1.9 megapixel camera) and record videos.

The initial release of this smartwatch comes with 70 apps, which include a number of basic fitness applications, such as a step-counting passometer. However, it is Samsung’s hop that as a growing number of developers begin to create with this device in mind, the range of apps will rapidly increase.

The primary challenge of this smartwatch, as is the case with the majority of wearable gadgets, is said to have been approximately 27 hours as per the normal use tests conducted by Samsung.

Previously, the first wearable tech gadget from Samsung became available for pre-order alongside the Galaxy Note 3. The Note’s third generation was sold in India for Rs. 49,900 (approximately $775). That device has a 5.7 inch full HD display with Super AMOLED. However, it is considerably lighter and slimmer than the previous generation, as it is only 8.33mm deep, and weighs only 168 grams.

FreeWheel has released a report that said that the income isn’t keeping up with the number of views.

The latest mobile marketing data released from FreeWheel, an online video technology firm, has shown that while people are using their smartphones at an increasing rate to watch videos, the ad revenue that is being generated by that trend is not keeping up.

The second quarter online video monetization report showed that there is a considerable disparity.

The mobile marketing report indicated that an estimated 13.2 percent of all video views within the second quarter originated from smartphones and tablets, but only 5.6 percent of the ad views were from those same devices. FreeWheel went on to say that measurement challenges, consumer viewing habits, and the fragmentation of devices all contribute to this lag in ad revenues over this channel.

Mobile marketing ROI from videos is not reflecting the viewership.

One of the advisory services team members from FreeWheel, Brian Dutt, has stated that individuals who are viewing videos using a small screen have a tendency to watch for shorter sessions and often choose short form content. This is not the ideal environment for mobile marketing.

Dutt explained that “When we’re talking about mobile, we’re talking about a small-screen, short-form content, so the viewer is on the go,” he said. Add the challenges measuring audience on mobile and the multiple devices and screen sizes to create ads for and “it’s a harder form factor to monetize.”

That said, the viewing of online video has been shown to be maintaining its growth in the double digits. Viewership had increased by 38 percent in the second quarter when compared to the same time a year before. This is being credited to TV everywhere apps as well as original digital content, which is giving people the opportunity to broaden their program viewing to various devices at different screen sizes.

Short form viewing content was by far the video viewing format that saw the most considerable growth over smartphones. As ad loads are notably less within that type of content, mobile marketing opportunities are constricted and therefore aren’t bringing in the same type of revenues that have been achieved over desktops and laptops video viewing.