The Hindu Business Line : <I>Mobility here and now is the buzzword</I>

A panicky colleague halfway across the world calls you when you are trying to catch up on those forty winks between flights at the Singapore airport. The phone will handle the call as per directions set by you.

Bangalore April 6 Forget 3G and those futuristic services that promise an ultra-modern life. The industry is excited about mobility here and now.

Take the instance of seamless mobility - a concept paraded by 3G application developers that will intelligently handle all calls. So you will not be disturbed by a call at 2 a.m. by your panicky colleague halfway across the world when you are trying to catch up on those forty winks between flights at the Singapore airport. He will be intimated about the time difference and the phone will handle the call as per directions set by you previously.

Now, this is possible in our present networks and you will be able to use it soon, according to Mr Jagdish Mitra, Head, CanvasM, a mobile application development firm set up by services firm Tech Mahindra and Motorola as a 50-50 joint venture.

The company has constructed a lab to showcase a day in the life of the mobile user, with all kinds of applications in use that will transform daily lives. It is talking to various operators and companies and hopes to offer seamless mobility soon. "Enterprises will be the first to benefit from such a service," he told Business Line.Another mobile application developer Moveo has also taken this approach. "2G networks can offer users a variety of services - just based on SMS or small videos that are stored in your inbox," said Mr Sankalp Saxena, CEO, Moveo Systems, which is designing interactive solutions for the FMCG and hospitality industries for use today.

More to banking

Banking is also set to be revolutionised with mobiles becoming more powerful. Moveo estimates about two million users for an application that will let you refresh your balance and obtain up to five of the latest transactions at your account, right on your mobile. And this will not require smart phone/PDA phones. In the next two quarters, we will see a range of services that will let you access your credit card account, book air tickets and pay your bills, said Mr Mitra.

So even as the field grows and players multiply, mobile application developers in the country, both garage-based ones and the teams created by behemoths, are increasingly changing their strategy to offer services that are a lot less exciting and ground breaking, but will increase average revenue per user (ARPU) now and benefit users of today.

They must have taken Sun Tzu's advice, "According as circumstances are favourable, one should modify one's plans."