BANGALORE: LinkedIn, the online network for professionals, is launching a cutback version of its mobile website specifically for India, a country which it regards as an R&D base well-suited to developing products for global markets.
The company says it has 37m users in India, its second largest market after the US, but slow or poor internet connectivity makes it hard for some users to browse its site.
In response, Indian smartphone users will be able to use "LinkedIn Lite", which loads four times faster regardless of the device or network used to access it, while also helping mobile users to save data, Yahoo! reported.
The new service is exclusive to India and was developed at LinkedIn's research centre in Bangalore, leading the company's CEO, Jeff Weiner, to predict that Made in India, for India, products could be taken to other markets worldwide.
While on a visit to India from his Silicon Valley headquarters, Weiner told the Economic Times: "There's a lot of learning from what we are going to do here that we think can be extended elsewhere beyond India."
In addition to LinkedIn Lite, the company is rolling out two other products for the Indian market. LinkedIn Placements is a service aimed at students seeking openings at some of India's top corporations, while a LinkedIn Starter Pack seeks to help small to medium-sized businesses and start-ups.
The developments are a clear sign of LinkedIn's faith in the capabilities of Indian research, but Weiner also complimented the Indian government's digital efforts.
"I have been closely following the people, stories about the start-ups here. To see the high energy here is remarkable," he told Business Insider India.
"The government deserves a lot of credit for creating the right environment, which is attracting investment from all over the world to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship."
The company says it has 37m users in India, its second largest market after the US, but slow or poor internet connectivity makes it hard for some users to browse its site.
In response, Indian smartphone users will be able to use "LinkedIn Lite", which loads four times faster regardless of the device or network used to access it, while also helping mobile users to save data, Yahoo! reported.
The new service is exclusive to India and was developed at LinkedIn's research centre in Bangalore, leading the company's CEO, Jeff Weiner, to predict that Made in India, for India, products could be taken to other markets worldwide.
While on a visit to India from his Silicon Valley headquarters, Weiner told the Economic Times: "There's a lot of learning from what we are going to do here that we think can be extended elsewhere beyond India."
In addition to LinkedIn Lite, the company is rolling out two other products for the Indian market. LinkedIn Placements is a service aimed at students seeking openings at some of India's top corporations, while a LinkedIn Starter Pack seeks to help small to medium-sized businesses and start-ups.
The developments are a clear sign of LinkedIn's faith in the capabilities of Indian research, but Weiner also complimented the Indian government's digital efforts.
"I have been closely following the people, stories about the start-ups here. To see the high energy here is remarkable," he told Business Insider India.
"The government deserves a lot of credit for creating the right environment, which is attracting investment from all over the world to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship."
Data sourced from Yahoo!, Economic Times, Business Insider India; additional content by Warc staff
