The Hindu Business Line : Desktop applications moving to mobile window!

THIS is one `call' that mobile subscribers may like to take. Anti-virus applications, blogging, peer-to-peer movie clip and music transfers, data back-ups and financial applications are no longer restricted to the personal computing desktop/laptop space. These applications are being developed for mobile phones and subscribers in various countries.

Of course, many of these applications can be used only on high-end mobile phones. In terms of networks, they run with ease on third generation (3G) wireless networks, but quite a few of them can run on GPRS-enabled networks, though the user will experience relatively slower speeds.

Thus, most of the major Indian mobile operators like Airtel, Hutch and Idea can offer these applications to their users if they sign up with the application developers. Users, meanwhile, can download these applications onto their mobile phones.

Commenting on this trend of increasing number of applications moving from the desktop to the mobile space, Mr Rob Bridger, COO, MobiData Group, an Australia-based mobile application developer, said, "As mobile handsets get more and more powerful, this is bound to happen. The situation now is like in the mid-90s when people used to ask why anybody would use a computer to watch movies."

Mr Bridger has developed an application that allows data back on certain handsets, blogging from mobile (Mobipod), and a mobile anti-virus application (MobiAntivirus). It also offers Mobi-chat, an instant messaging application that interoperates with MSN Messenger and will soon interoperate with Yahoo! Messenger.

MobiData is showcasing its products at the Mobile Application Summit organised by Nokia here.

For using this data back-up application, subscribers pay about Australian $5.5 in Australia, euro three in Italy, Singaporean $7 in Singapore, and a "lot less" in Thailand to their mobile operators on a monthly basis, said Mr Bridger.

Thiruvanthapuram-based Softex Digital has developed a financial analysis application that keeps track of the daily expenses and generates trend analysis reports. "These reports can be generated on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The subscriber basically gets a feel of how much he is spending on various things," said Mr Raju Harilal, General Manager, Softex Digital, whose application has been on offer in Europe and Singapore for the past few months.

The application is downloaded about 100-200 times per month. He has not launched the service in India, as he is yet to sign up with wireless operators. An application expected to pick up is multimedia file sharing through mobile phones that will enable users to share music, video clips and games.

Ms Nicole Cham, Manager Market Development, Nokia Multimedia, Asia-Pacific, said, "Consumer electronics devices are used for just listening to music and watching movies. The next step is to move them around. We now have applications that enable users to transfer video clips while they are talking to each other."

Based on a recent user market survey in Singapore, she said, "Users in Singapore are ready to pay an incremental amount of up to Singaporean $80.5 per month for this application."

Yet another section of application that is catching up fast pertains to location-based services.

"The location-based application market is hot in the US," said Mr Brad Brockhaug, Senior Director, Business Development and Channels, Nokia.

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