From correspondents in Maharashtra, India, 07:43 PM IST
BigAdda.com, the youth network introduces ‘Mobile Adda’, a first of its kind ‘anywhere-anytime’ mobile version of BigAdda.com. Internationally, this is the first time that a social networking site will be available on mobiles in a holistic manner.
MobileAdda Product Features:
· Sign up/sign in
· Scribbles: Receive, read, reply and send (Text/Audio/photo scribbles)
· Emoticons and Shout outs
· Friend Requests: Accept, Decline and Send
· Search : name, age, Work place, school/ colleges, ProfileID
· Invite: By phone numbers, email, phonebook gobbler
· Backup and retrieve phonebook
· Online status: Know when friends are online
· Photos: Click and send, View
· Privacy: Choose to receive scribbles only from friends
‘MobileAdda’ includes key features of social networking like searching for friends, inviting them from your phonebook, communicating with friends through innovative options like text, voice and photo scribbles. This On- The-Move application promises to keep its users ahead at all times with auto-updates, alert and notifications and helpful tips. It also enables users to use the phonebook to send invitations to his/her closest network, since a Phone Book on individual devices is the closest replica of ones social & professional contacts. The built in phone book backup utility stores your phone book on our servers and if in case a user changes a device, the same can be retrieved.
Commenting on this initiative, Shivanandan Pare, Chief Operating Officer, Bigadda says, “With a registered user base of 2 million in a year we needed to sensitize the platform to local aspirations and needs of the market. The number of mobile users today far exceeds the penetration and usage of PCs in India. Mobiles are lot more personal, readily accessible and almost an extension of the user. The imperative was to create a mobile application to give the controls of social networking, anytime – anywhere, literally. Currently bigadda.com is reaching out to the 40 million internet userbase in India and with us going on to the mobile platform we will be able to reach to additional 50 million mobile internet users and this will enhance our reach to the masses. ”
It will now be possible to send out a personalized invite to friends in your phonebook and get started with all of them online from their respective phones within an hour. GPRS connections are now available without the need to particularly subscribe for it.
“Social Networking is not restricted to the confines of the pc browser. In India, mobile phones are the preferred and mostly the sole means of connecting with friends and family. This year we are all set to refine and redefine the boundaries of Social Networking in India. . This will be a major departure for users of social networks, from being an occasional visitor to now proactively driving their networks,” said Nikhil Soman, Chief Technology Officer, BigAdda.
Mobile interface will be one of the vital components of BigAdda’s business plan. It will be instrumental in providing a new medium for people to connect with each other and will help brands to target the youth. ‘MobileAdda will provide over 300 million mobile users’ access to BigAdda. The platform is available as an integrated offering across SMS, WAP and as an installable application for over 500 different mobile phone models. To date, this is the widest release of any mobile application globally.
The client application is currently available on over 500 devices. The download process automatically detects the user’s handset model and delivers a version created specially for that device family. There are over 50 device families that our download process detects and, to enhance reach and availability of this application BigAdda will continue the process of making new versions for new devices as they enter the marketplace.
Annexure I
How can you access MobileAdda
SMS: BIGADDA to 55454
o Scribble: Receive Alerts and Reply: BigAdda users who have signed up for Mobile will receive scribbles on their phone when they are offline. Only scribbles from friends will be forwarded to the mobile phone.
o New Friend Requests: Receive and Approve friend requests. When the user receives friend requests it will be forwarded to his phone when he is offline.
· Weekly updates
WAP: wap.bigadda.com The WAP site will serve as mobile formatted version of the website for mobile users with GPRS connectivity.
1. Registration
2. Search (users, user information, photos)
3. Friends : Add Friend, invite by phone numbers, rate, Remove, block
4. Scribbles (Send, Read and Reply), view scribbles of other users
5. Shout outs (send and receive)
6. Profiles (View and update)
7. Photos (View and comment)
Client: to download sms ADDA to 55454 or go to wap.bigadda.com/download - A mobile client is a downloadable application that is installed on the Mobile handset. As against generic WAP offerings this has unique capabilities like:
o Enable users to use the phonebook to send invitations to his/her closest network, since a Phone Book on individual devices is the closest replica of ones social & professional contacts.
o Function as a phone book back up utility – We have seen a lot of users fretting over lost contacts, when they lose a device. The built in phone book backup utility stores your phone book on our servers and if in case a user changes a device, the same can be retrieved.
o The client application is currently available on over 500 devices. The download process automatically detects the user’s handset model and delivers a version created specially for that device family. There are over 50 device families that our download process detects and, to enhance reach and availability of this application we will continue the process of making new versions for new devices as they enter the marketplace.
Annexure II
Competitive Scenario
· A lot of sites like Indyarocks, IBIBO etc offer a basic SMS service that allows users to receive only alerts for some activities on their accounts; What was missing was a comprehensive and ubiquitous offering comprising all forms of access [SMS, WAP & Java Client] across all key features.
· On the BigAdda mobile service platform, besides receiving notification; users also are able to fetch profiles, messages, add friends, invite by mobile number and a lot of other capability that will be added on soon.
· Facebook and Orkut have WAP sites that service the global markets and lack customisation to our local needs, besides not being formatted for the India centric devices.
· Facebook additionally offers a client application for the BlackBerry family fo devices that has very limited users in India.
· Facebook offers SMS based services, however Indian mobile numbers are not serviced by Facebook.
· None of the other services offer anything similar to the phonebook based invite capability offered by the BigAdda Client application.
· The installable client application and its support for 500 devices and growing will be critical to growth in the Indian market place dominated by 300+ million mobile users as against a much more limited internet user base. Addressing this potential is the new success factor in the Social Networking category in India.
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