Now, a 2.0 platform for Indian mobile phone users!

BANGALORE, INDIA: July Systems, a pioneer in mobile Internet products, has developed Mi SMS, the industry's first mobile 2.0 platform for Indian mobile users, that delivers live, personalized multimedia channels on mobile devices.

The Mi SMS enables Indian mobile phone users to access favorite brands (websites) on the mobile. Any Internet enabled mobile device with WAP, GPRS, data service, etc., can be activated for the service. The content on the mobile Internet is offered free of charge, though the data charges may apply.

Rajesh TS Reddy, CEO, July Systems, said that Mi SMS was unique for mobile handsets and different from the PC browsing model. The solution enables mobile users to access content hosted on the active portals in compressed form with usability from mobile users perspective.

Further, the solution enables the mobile Internet users to customize the portals of their choice. For media houses, Mi SMS enables consumer adoption of the mobile Internet, reach their consumer in a rich and interactive manner, and build a long-term relationship with consumers.

A mobile user can access the Mi SMS service by sending SMS to 53838 with keywords like "MiNEWS", "MiCRI", or "MiSTO". The sender will receive a link that connects to the mobile Internet for detailed multimedia content. News, with images and video, cricket scores with auto refreshing ball-by-ball commentary, stock quotes with symbols, graphs and company news, etc., can be browsed.

July Systems will monetize the service by placing banners, videos and contextual text ads targeted according to location, content and the profile of the user. At present, the users can access live content from NDTV Convergence. A few more media portals have show interest in the service, Reddy said.

Indian opportunity

Quoting eMarketer statistics, Reddy said that the number of Indian mobile Internet users is currently 106 million. Compared to the percentage of mobile Internet users in other fast developing economies such as China and Brazil, India has a higher ratio of mobile Internet users and the market is fast growing.

However, only about 20-40 million mobile Internet users are using the facility as content and user experience for mobile is limited and fragmented. Further, the usage of mobile Internet is limited to browsing the operator portal.