Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Apr 06, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Apr 06, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs |
|
|
|
|
|
eWorld
-
Convergence By hook or by Zook
“Since Zook provides the exact information rather than link to Web pages, the service is much faster.” 
Gotcha! Shamik Paul Looks like you can have your cake and eat it too, going by what the Bangalore-based Ziva Software, a provider of mobile search solutions, is doing. The company enables Internet access on the mobile phone but the user is promised delivery without the labour. The information he/she wants to access is made available on the mobile screen without the hassle of searches and downloads: all that is taken care of at the company’s end. The company has developed its mobile search service Zook, which provides answers to user queries without their having to actually connect to the Internet. Users can get information by merely sending a text message. “Users do not need GPRS or other any other data connectivity. On receiving a user query, our platform scans the Web and the relevant answers are sent to the user,” says Ajay Sethi, chief executive officer, Ziva Software. “We do not send links or Web pages, only the precise answers.” Explaining how this could be of advantage to users, Sethi says the average page size on the Web is 350 kb, and it takes a long time to load. “We want to get rid of that,” he says. Since Zook provides the exact information rather than link to Web pages, the service is much faster. Also, users with basic handsets can use the service since they do not need GPRS. Users can also subscribe to certain information such as stock alerts, he adds. According to data provided by Sethi, there are about 5 or 6 million active GPRS users in India, while the number of active SMS users is about 150 million. He says the company wants to reach out to all the SMS users in the country. Ziva software was incubated at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore in 2005, and the platform was developed in 2006. The company received a funding of $1.7 million from Ojas Venture Partners in the same year. In early 2008, the company re-organised its business and instead of selling its platform to customers such as Justdial, a local search engine, and others, it decided to offer search services to clients. At present, telecommunication service providers such as Aircel, Virgin Mobile, Airtel Sri Lanka and Idea Cellular use Zook to power their services, says Sethi. When subscribers of these companies access information they do it on the Zook platform. While content is primarily sourced from the Web, the company has also tied up with content partners, including Infomedia, BookMyShow, open2save, buzzintown and online news portal oneindia, Sethi adds. Ziva software is looking to add more telecom service providers to its client list, and while agreements have been signed with some, the final testing and integration is under way. Sethi says the company is planning to go international with its services as well. “Over time, we will work with operators in other countries. We are working on scaling our platform so that it can handle a larger in-flow of information,” he adds. RCom unveils new wireless Net service Cabinet gives nod for IPTV guidelines More Stories on : Convergence | Telecommunications | Software
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | The Hindu ePaper | Business Line | Business Line ePaper | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2009, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|
