3G, cheaper smart phones boosts RockeTalk

MUMBAI, INDIA: After the success on 2.5 GHz spectrum, RockeTalk, the US based mobile social networking application company expect to add more users with the availability of 3G and local brand smart phones in India.

According to Sameer Agarwal, RockeTalk’s director, Marketing, since the company launched RockeTalk application in early 2009, it has got a phenomenal response and users’ acceptance.

“With our patented compression technology, the application allows high quality of video and audio streaming to users even on the 2.5 GHz mobile networks. And it is the prime reason for retention of huge number of users,” Agarwal told CyberMedia News in Mumbai.

RockeTalk has over 4 million active users in India and over 2.5 million active users in South Asia, Middle East, US and Australia. About 100,000 downloads of RockeTalk application are done every day and around 18,000 to 22,000 users on average are added daily, Agarwal claimed.  

According to Agarwal, 3G will provide a great user experience of RockeTalk users compared to 2.5 Ghz spectrum, however the 3G services will be expensive to users initially but its prices will slowly go down.

“Since the operators have paid huge spectrum fees for 3G, they will push RockeTalk and other applications for monetization. And our projected growth in terms of users is to reach around 10-12 million active users by June this year in India,” Agarwal said. The free-downloadable mobile application works on any handset which supports net browser and GPRS connection. It allows mobile socializing and communication by combination of text, voice, photo and video and it’s sharing to other users.

In addition, RockeTalk facilitate users to create groups and communities that can share content, chat and discuss using mobile internet connection via telecom networks. He informed, “On an average any RockeTalk user spend around 46 minutes per session and consumes 15.4 MB data as per last quarter report.”   

Initially, the application was made popular among Indian users via viral as the mobile apps stores phenomenon wasn’t active that much, Agarwal explained. However, company tied up with LG mobiles and bundled RockeTalk application with handsets, which helped to increase sales as well as application usage.

After LG, local brands like Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and recently Samsung have pre-loaded RockeTalk application with handsets. Also, the application is available on third party application stores like BlackBerry, Aircel, Apple and others.

“Local mobile brands like Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and others are offering smart phones which are loaded with features and applications compared to international brands. And this is playing a key role in growing number of RockeTalk users,” Agarwal added.

In terms of revenue, the venture funded startup largely earns income through interactive services like voice and video blogs, marketing and advertising campaigns on mobile and premium content for entertainment industry. 

With a 20 per cent monthly growth, Agarwal hoped, “RockeTalk becomes a largest mobile social networking player in the world.”