The Hindu Business Line : Coming soon: Toons, soaps on your handhelds

Next year, the mobile, universally being referred to as the third `screen' (after TV and the PC) in homes, will showcase a smorgasbord of one-minute serials and cartoons in the form of `mobisodes'.

Mobisodes are one- or two-minute clips that can be offered for download on mobiles by the operator. Production houses, TV channels, specialised `mobile content' companies and even operators are betting on mobisodes as the next big thing to draw in revenue.

So get ready for a slew of soaps, movie trailers, comedy shows and even news clips as mobisodes arrive on your handheld.

Virgin Comics and Animations (VCA), who recently brought out comics based on Ramayana in the country, will offer mobisodes based on its Indianised comics for download come 2007. The mobisodes, made using Flash (used for making short videos for Web sites) will look like trailers, but in `stills' and accompanied by edgy music, which would give an illusion of animation, said Mr Sharad Devarajan, CEO, VCA. The firm expects these mobisodes to draw traffic to its comic book range.

Another animation major Disney is also offering 30 second episodes for Airtel and Reliance subscribers. Calling it its `mobile theatres' initiative, Disney has on offer video shots of six classics starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Each series consists of 13 thirty-seconders set around a gripping storyline. Every episode ends with an exciting cliff-hanger and a `to be continued' message, with the next episode picking up exactly where you left, said Mr Rajat Jain, Managing Director, Walt Disney Company India. "Currently re-edits of serials are being considered as an easy way to offer content," says Ms Priti Desai, COO, Digital Business, Hungama. However, it is only a matter of time when content providers will begin filming exclusively-for-the-mobile, add industry experts. Revenue models for offering mobisodes are aplenty: they could either be offered on a subscription or pay-per-episode basis. Subscription models could be on a monthly basis and would entail a download of one-minute mobisodes every three days, said Mr Devarajan.

The Indian mobile entertainment market, according to Mr.Saleem Mobhani, COO, Hungama Mobile, is an estimated Rs 14.4 million currently and is set to explode with the advent of the mobisode era. The mobisode market, according to various sources, is expected grow from to $5.4 billion in 2009. By then, according to analyst firm Gartner, at least 10 per cent of global mobile phone users will subscribe to TV services by 2009.

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