Updates: have updated the post below with responses from a TIL exec Update: Indiatimes CEO Rishi Khiani informs MediaNama that Active Deals will become a part of TimesDeal. Earlier Today: Times Internet Ltd (Indiatimes)* has launched a new deals site - TimesDeal, reports Pluggd.in, though missing the point that this doesn't mark Indiatimes' entry into the deals space. TimesDeal is the second "deals" venture from the group - the first, ActiveDeals, was launched as a mobile first initiative, over two years ago, much before online group buying and couponing space attracted herds of Venture Capitalists. Active Deals is still operational - an update was rolled out a little over a month ago. You probably wouldn't be wrong in asking whether it's a "the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing" situation; specifically, which of the two (TimesDeal and ActiveDeals) is an Indiatimes initiative, and which are from Times response (the groups sales division). It will be unusual if both are from Indiatimes (only), unless Indiatimes and Indiatimes 58888 are also just as far apart. Update: A TIL exec responds: The biz models are separate. Both hands know about each other but are purposely independent because they approach different customers. Activedeals is mobile centric, Timesdeal is an independent brand thats web-centric. Mobile (via sms) is only an extension for timesdeal; similarly activedeals is mobile centric with a web extension. Differences Between ActiveDeals and TimesDeal Our take on the differences between the two initiatives: - Monetization: ActiveDeals is primarily a…
