The tele-density in India is around 48% and does not show any signs of slowing down. Mobile phones are common place in India and are owned by people from all walks of life from the Senior Corporate Executives to the humble auto rickshawallas and flower sellers. While smartphones like iPhone, Blackberry will be used by the Indian elite and professionals the more ordinary versions will be used by the larger population in India. Since the mobile phone will be used predominantly by the middle class and those below, all applications that address the issues and daily needs of the more common man will be real winners.
The following 4 technologies in the mobile space are bound to real money spinners. These technologies are a) Bluetooth b) Near Field Communication (NFC) c) Location Based Service (LBS) 4) New VAS Services. All Service Providers who take advantage of the above 4 technologies and come up with innovative applications to make the life easier of the general population surely are going to rake in the money.
1) Bluetooth enables applications to share photos, videos, songs and other media between 2 mobile phones and between mobile phones and other devices like the laptop, car and probably the TV. It may be possible to stream video clips on a large flat screen TV at home using Bluetooth.
2) NFC allows for several innovative applications. Posters or trailers of movies running in a theatre can be sent as multi-media clips when travelling near a movie hall. NFC allows exchanging contact lists with friends when they are close proximity.
3) Location Based Service (LBS) is another technology with a lot of promise. The mobile phone can send a SMS if friends are nearby. Apple has patented a service which takes advantage of friends attending a particular concert, movie etc.
4) New VAS Services: There should be innovative services for the rural people, farmers, transport service people, fisherman, vegetable vendors, and merchants. The applications can just send informative SMS’es and charge a very small fee. But based on the number of users the Service Providers can generate fair revenue.
In conclusion the Service Providers should come with smart applications for the general Indian population through App stores. Smart services while promoting customer retention will also be a excellent revenue generator

Tinniam V. Ganesh