Accelerating its journey towards creating a holistic service ecosystem, Micromax Informatics, the world's 10th largest handset maker, today announced its investment in a consumer technology and AI-based startup'One Labs' to bring users closer to smarter user experiences. Commenting on the development, Vikas Jain, Co-Founder, Micromax Informatics said, "At Micromax our emphasis is to drive innovations through software and services that would add a layer to the device ecosystem. A large chunk of our efforts is now concentrated on coming up with products and services which act as solutions to the needs of the fast-evolving consumers, empowering them with the latest technological innovations and eventually becoming an extension of their lifestyle." "Given the fact that, artificial intelligence is the future of device ecosystem, we look forward to seeing how the partnership with One Labs will enable us to enhance user experience even further," Jain added. The move further highlights Micromax's focus on strategically collaborating with partners to provide customised offerings to its users.

Hoping to compete with the Siris of the world, Micromax has announced its new Superfone A50 Ninja alongside a novel feature dubbed AISHA -- which is short for Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant. Similar to Cupertino's personal secretary, AISHA vows to help folks with every-day elements such as making calls, setting up calendar events and even reporting what the weather looks like. Much to our disappointment, however, the A50 Ninja runs a not-so-new flavor of Android -- Gingerbread to be exact -- and Micromax left out any mention of Android 4.0. On the specs front, the dual-SIM Superfone sports a 3.1-inch display (mum's the word on the resolution), a two-megapixel shooter, Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities and an unspecified 650MHz processor. All in all, thanks to its 4,999 rupees (around $95) budget price, we can't imagine you'd complain too much.