Microsoft partners with 29 Indian websites to promote IE9

Microsoft India recently announced the launch of IE9, and has tied up with 29 of India’s most visited websites to showcase the enhanced online experience made possible by the new browser, which focuses on integration with Windows 7 and HTML5.

Microsoft has partnered with some of the most popular websites in India, including BookMyShow, ESPNCricinfo, FlipKart, Naukri, SnapDeal, Sify and Zapak Games, to showcase the abilities of the new browser, as part of a global initiative, where the company has partnered with over 250 websites, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, commerce sites like Amazon and eBay, and news sites like CNN and the Wall Street Journal.

In India, the partnership with SnapDeal integrates with the desktop, so deal updates come to the user’s desktop without having to launch a browser, while sites like BookMyShow will use the new features to make booking tickets a seamless experience, using HTML5 to update details without having to reload the page.

SnapDeal CEO Kunal Bahl said, “Our business model is providing unique deals and experiences to consumers at their fingertips and the new features of Internet Explorer 9 are a perfect fit. We are happy to partner with Microsoft to deliver a differentiated online shopping experience.”

On BookMyShow, consumers can now complete the entire booking sequence without leaving the context of the page. In addition, consumers can get to the movies, plays, events and other menus from their Windows 7 taskbar itself. Viraj Patel, Technology Head, BigTree Entertainment, said, “At Bookmyshow.com, we have always been identified as the leader in technology adoption in order to keep raising the standards of purchasing experience for our users. We are extremely proud today to partner with Microsoft to bring the magic of Internet Explorer 9 and HTML5 to our huge user base, so that it becomes even easier for them to book tickets for their favorite shows on a single window for the booking process flow without leaving the context of the window.”

Zapak users will be able to pin their favourite games to the taskbar as well, and the company will also be using more HTML5 features to improve the user experience as well.

Sanjay Netrabile, Vice President,Zapak.com, Zapak Digital Entertainment, said, “We partnered with Microsoft for Internet Explorer 9 beta and were really happy with the pinned site experience that Internet Explorer 9 helped us create for Indian gamers. We have recently installed the final version of Internet Explorer 9 and are seeing an increase in the performance of the site rendering capabilities as compared to other browsers.”

Hemant Sachdev, Joint Managing Director, Microsoft India, said, “Our approach with Internet Explorer 9 was not only to create a ‘speed and feed machine’, but to also create a browser that would bring back the focus to the sites our consumers love to visit. With its clean and minimalist look, Internet Explorer 9 is site-centric rather than browser centric. Consumers too are appreciating our approach to this browser – Internet Explorer 9 has been downloaded 2.3 million times in just 24 hours of its global launch, and has already gained more than 2 percent usage on Windows 7.”

The update to IE 9 adds performance and security improvements along with new features, but at the same time, Microsoft has also been trying to get people to move on beyond IE6, which is still a prevalent browser in India. While Microsoft itself feels that the 10 year old browser needs to be replaced to allow innovation and interactivity from websites, IE6 still accounts for 12.3 per cent of the browsers in the country, according to the Microsoft site ie6countdown. Only South Korea (24.8 per cent) and China (35 per cent) are using IE 6 more, and clearly this new move by Microsoft will also go some way in bringing about much needed change.