Deepak Abbot, former AVP at mobile commerce company Paytm, has joined Times Internet as Head of Mobile Strategy. According to an internal mail sent within Times Internet, Abbot's role will be across Times Internet's businesses, to help define and strategise the growth plans for mobile. He will report to Times Internet CEO Satyan Gajwani. This is hisAbbot's second stint at Times Internet: between 2000 and 2003, according to his LinkedIn profile, he was Product Manager (E-commerce) with the company. Prior to joining Paytm/One97, he was Chief Product Officer at Reliance Entertainment owned gaming business Zapak. He was with Zapak for 5 years, and has also worked with Satyam Computers and Cybermedia. Times Internet's businesses, apart from managing the Times of India Group's media publications (Times of India, Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times, among others), include product businesses like Gaana.com (music), BoxTV (video), Indiatimes Shopping (commerce), Happy Trips (travel), Alive (Augmented Reality), Times City (City Guide). Apart from this, the group has classifieds businesses like Magicbricks, Timesjobs and Simplymarry. The Times of India Group also has a relatively quieter mobile value added services business called Times Mobile, and we wonder if there's a case for VAS to become just a distribution layer for the groups Internet and Mobile Internet centric businesses. Also read Abbot's posts on mobile, which we crossposted on MediaNama: - Tools to make killer apps: Quick guide for developers – Deepak Abbot - Measuring App Install Campaign’s Effectiveness – Deepak Abbot, Paytm
