India has seen adoption of mobiles like no where else in globe in
the last decade. People from all walks of life and strata have adopted mobile
phones for personal, professional and business purposes. The primary purpose of
a mobile phone was to have telephone conversations. With mobile phones on both
ends, people have resorted to short messages (SMS) as it was costing less and
in vogue during those times. Mobile phone becoming one of the items carried all
the time, people wanted more services than basic voice conversations and text
messages. The ecosystem has developed so quickly that a plethora of services
were released into the market in no time.
Ring-back tones : If I like a
piece of music - filmy, pop, instrumental or vocal - or I capture a sound of my
liking - wood cutting, baby giggling or someone snoring, I can keep that as a
tune for others to listen when they call me. This is a fun way of making others
listen to what I like. We can also see it as a way to share our joy with others
through mobile communications. If I like someone else's ring-back tone, I can
even copy that by sending an SMS to a specific number.
Ring tones : If I like any of
the above multimedia content and I feel I should enjoy it personally, then I
can set it as a ringtone on my mobile phone. I can even set a different
ringtone for different callers with advanced phones. There were different types
of ringtones that evolved along with advancement in mobile phones - monophonic,
polyphonic and now MP3. If one consciously listens to the ring tones in a
crowded place like bus stand, railway station, busy market or airport lounge,
once cannot but go crazy with the variety around !
Wall Papers : With
advancements in technology, mobile phone screens have become larger and
supported color and multimedia capabilities. Belief, fondness and interest on
various subjects - like bollywood, cricket, devotion, nature and politics -
have always driven people to keep different wall-papers on their mobile phones.
There was no dearth of this form of content in a largest movie producer country
!
The above services need content development in different formats,
massive storage on a centralized server for easy download and access to this
content through a communication channel. Handful of business models have
evolved around this domain. Telecom Operators have begun the trend and taken
the lead to provide end-to-end services. One can download these different
multimedia content through SMS and Web Channels. 3rd Party content providers
have come into existence. Companies providing IT infrastructure, which is
required to host all the content, have evolved. One97
and OnMobile are two such successful
companies in this context. Companies like Rediff have also hosted different
multimedia content supporting different telecom operators.
Outbound calls : Bill amount
collection is an important task for any business and more so for capital
intensive companies like Telecom Operators. Cheque drop boxes, company operated
retail outlets, collections kiosks, online payments through credit / debit
cards and banks have become a norm for all telecom operators. But still there
are revenue leakages and there is a need to remind subscribers about bill
payments. Usually text messages would be sent as reminders, but lately telecom
companies have adopted making outbound calls to subscriber phones with replay
of recorded message as reminder.
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
: If a picture is worth thousand words, a video would be much better. Sending
short clips of multimedia should have thus become a norm now. Though MMS
service was introduced long back to exchange such short multimedia clips, it
did not pick-up as it needs phones with similar capabilities and service on
either ends. This is super-ceded by 'Videos for work and play' model mentioned
down below.
Cameras, Pictures and Sharing
: One of the key advancements in mobile phones was introduction of a camera.
This has brought out photographer in every observer with a mobile phone. People
shoot photos for various reasons - passion for photography, to capture moments
during various occasions and even to remember parking lots. With availability
of free services on the Internet like Flickr
and Picasa Web, it does not cost a
rupee to share the pictures with near and dear. With social networking sites
like Google+, Facebook and Twitter, it takes hardly any time to share the
cherished moments with near and dear.
Songs on-the-go : Indians
being bollywood and regional movie lovers, listening to film songs is a
passion. While different TV programs fulfill that purpose, the need to listen
to the songs on the go - in the kitchen, while in gym, during a pleasure or
professional trip, while waiting for a friend and during evening walks - is
increasing. One can buysongs online in digital format from sites like Flipkart
or listen to them for free from sites like Saavn.
With increase in bandwidth availability from Phones, listening to streaming
songs from sites like Saavn and Gaana should be very easy and convenient. Songs are
free but I need to pay for the bandwidth usage. Again, without IT none of these
things would have been possible !
Videos for work and play : Who
wouldn't love to watch Videos? Sites like YouTube have made video upload or
watching so very commonplace. If I want to share a video with my friends,
family or colleagues, I can create one and upload into repositories like
Youtube for everyone to watch. With mobile phones being omnipresent and data
connectivity becoming affordable, people are uploading / watching such videos
on the move. One can even watchIndian Films and TV shows on Youtube now !
Mobile phones are just end-points to consume various kinds of
content and services available on the Internet through the wireless networks
provided by telecom companies. The content and services provisioning at the
back-end relies on the back-bone of Information Technology !
Are you consuming any more such multimedia services from your
mobile?
