MapmyIndia announces tie-up with iBall, to power safety feature on Andi Udaan

MapmyIndia, has announced a strategic partnership with iBall to power the safety features in **the company's iBall Andi Uddaan** . The smartphone launched last year and has a special focus on safety for women in India. The SOS/safety button of the phone is now powered by MapmyIndia’s safety app called Locate.   The Uddaan has a dedicated and exclusive SOS/safety feature on the back, pressing which initiates the SOS features of the phone. First, the phone will try and get you help from the people close-by. It sets off a loud alarm to alert people nearby. The creators hope that the sound of the alarm will scare off the perpetrators even if the victim has been gagged or knocked unconscious. It’s not clear though how loud the alarm will be, and whether it will still work if say the perpetrators switch off the phone or worse, try to destroy it.   A person can add five emergency contacts, who will receive the distress signal, along with location data. MapmyIndia maps links are sent along with an SMS to the person’s emergency contacts. According to iBall, the ready availability of location details allows for the immediate launch of search and rescue operations. Another safety system is tracking, through which the MapmyIndia Locate app offers permission-based real-time tracking.   “These days security especially women safety in India has been a big cause of concern. For the steady growth of India as superpower, women have and are playing a pivotal role. It is therefore our responsibility to ensure that they along with every Indian citizen feel safe. This initiative is a small but significant step toward harnessing the potential of GPS navigation technology to secure India’s citizens,” said Rakesh Verma, Managing Director, MapmyIndia, in a press release.   “A successful mitigation of threat requires rescue as well as preventive measures. The Andi Uddaan phone offers both. We have tested the MapmyIndia application (that powers SOS) in many challenging scenarios before offering it to users. The overwhelming response received from the market is a testimony to our rigorous quality standard," Amit Banka, VP Technical, iBall, said in a press statement.