India has seen adoption of mobiles like no where else in globe inthe last decade. People from all walks of life and strata have adopted mobilephones for personal, professional and business purposes. The primary purpose ofa mobile phone was to have telephone conversations. With mobile phones on bothends, people have resorted to short messages (SMS) as it was costing less andin vogue during those times. Mobile phone becoming one of the items carried allthe time, people wanted more services than basic voice conversations and textmessages. The ecosystem has developed so quickly that a plethora of serviceswere released into the market in no time. Ring-back tones : If I like apiece of music - filmy, pop, instrumental or vocal - or I capture a sound of myliking - wood cutting, baby giggling or someone snoring, I can keep that as atune for others to listen when they call me. This is a fun way of making otherslisten to what I like. We can also see it as a way to share our joy with othersthrough mobile communications. If I like someone else's ring-back tone, I caneven copy that by sending an SMS to a specific number.
Ring tones : If I like any ofthe above multimedia content and I feel I should enjoy it personally, then Ican set it as a ringtone on my mobile phone. I can even set a differentringtone for different callers with advanced phones. There were different typesof ringtones that evolved along with advancement in mobile phones - monophonic,polyphonic and now MP3. If one consciously listens to the ring tones in acrowded place like bus stand, railway station, busy market or airport lounge,once cannot but go crazy with the variety around !
Wall Papers : Withadvancements in technology, mobile phone screens have become larger andsupported color and multimedia capabilities. Belief, fondness and interest onvarious 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 thiscontent through a communication channel. Handful of business models haveevolved around this domain. Telecom Operators have begun the trend and takenthe lead to provide end-to-end services. One can download these differentmultimedia content through SMS and Web Channels. 3rd Party content providershave come into existence. Companies providing IT infrastructure, which isrequired to host all the content, have evolved. One97and OnMobile are two such successfulcompanies in this context. Companies like Rediff have also hosted differentmultimedia content supporting different telecom operators.
Outbound calls : Bill amountcollection is an important task for any business and more so for capitalintensive companies like Telecom Operators. Cheque drop boxes, company operatedretail outlets, collections kiosks, online payments through credit / debitcards and banks have become a norm for all telecom operators. But still thereare revenue leakages and there is a need to remind subscribers about billpayments. Usually text messages would be sent as reminders, but lately telecomcompanies have adopted making outbound calls to subscriber phones with replayof recorded message as reminder.
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS): If a picture is worth thousand words, a video would be much better. Sendingshort clips of multimedia should have thus become a norm now. Though MMSservice was introduced long back to exchange such short multimedia clips, itdid not pick-up as it needs phones with similar capabilities and service oneither ends. This is super-ceded by 'Videos for work and play' model mentioneddown 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. Peopleshoot photos for various reasons - passion for photography, to capture momentsduring various occasions and even to remember parking lots. With availabilityof free services on the Internet like Flickrand Picasa Web, it does not cost arupee to share the pictures with near and dear. With social networking siteslike Google+, Facebook and Twitter, it takes hardly any time to share thecherished moments with near and dear.
Songs on-the-go : Indiansbeing bollywood and regional movie lovers, listening to film songs is apassion. While different TV programs fulfill that purpose, the need to listento the songs on the go - in the kitchen, while in gym, during a pleasure orprofessional trip, while waiting for a friend and during evening walks - isincreasing. One can buysongs online in digital format from sites like Flipkartor listen to them for free from sites like Saavn.With increase in bandwidth availability from Phones, listening to streamingsongs from sites like Saavn and Gaana should be very easy and convenient. Songs arefree but I need to pay for the bandwidth usage. Again, without IT none of thesethings would have been possible !
Videos for work and play : Whowouldn't love to watch Videos? Sites like YouTube have made video upload orwatching so very commonplace. If I want to share a video with my friends,family or colleagues, I can create one and upload into repositories likeYoutube for everyone to watch. With mobile phones being omnipresent and dataconnectivity becoming affordable, people are uploading / watching such videoson the move. One can even watchIndian Films and TV shows on Youtube now !
Mobile phones are just end-points to consume various kinds ofcontent and services available on the Internet through the wireless networksprovided by telecom companies. The content and services provisioning at theback-end relies on the back-bone of Information Technology !
Are you consuming any more such multimedia services from yourmobile?
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