'Compelling services to drive mobile infotainment'

By siliconindia staff writer   |   Thursday, 15 July 2004, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: July Systems, a leading provider of mobile service delivery solutions for next generation mobile data services, in association with TiE and NASSCOM hosted the 'Mobile Data Services 2004' (MDS 2004) event in Bangalore today. This year's event focused on mobile infotainment and highlighted the global opportunity for Indian companies in this space. The event was attended by senior representatives and industry leaders from the mobile services ecosystem including content providers, content developers, telecom operators and other service providers. Speaking at MDS 2004, Ashok Narasimhan, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder, July Systems said, "With the number of mobile users worldwide expected to reach 2 billion by mid 2006, the size of the mobile content services market is forecast to be worth over US$38 billion by that year. July's solutions help to transform content into compelling services including contests, mobile games tournaments, mobile communities, rights protected content sharing and gifting, and themed content packaging that increase the consumer's overall service experience. This is the key to driving consumer adoption and usage, and accelerating revenues from mobile infotainment services." The introductory session of MDS 2004 dwelt on the global opportunity for Indian companies in the mobile infotainment space. Speaking in this session, Dr. Sridhar Mitta, President, TiE Bangalore Chapter & Managing Director, e4e Labs said "India is forecast to have an attractive domestic market for mobile infotainment services. We are slated to be among the top 10 in the world in terms of the number of Java enabled handsets, and among the top 5 in terms of number of mobile gamers. This is sure to spur activity and initiatives in this area, by Indian companies and entrepreneurs. I see India becoming a global hub for mobile content development, porting, testing & compliance, and support services". The second session discussed the global potential of mobile infotainment services and the technology and business challenges that need to be overcome to realize this potential. Speakers included Patrick Barile from elkware GmbH (the world's largest developer of mobile Java games), Dr. Wilhelm Bielert, Head of Managed Data Services at July Systems, and Rajesh TS Reddy, Co-Founder & President of July Systems. The highlight of the evening was a panel discussion, chaired by Ashok Narasimhan, that addressed issues pertaining to successfully retailing mobile infotainment services for today's consumers. The panel discussion brought together a group of industry luminaries including Vishal Gondal, CEO of Indiagames; Neville Taraporewalla, Country Head of Yahoo! India; Izhar Armony, a senior partner at the venture capital firm Charles River Ventures; and the international music producer Ralf-René Maue. Mobile Data Services (MDS) is a seminar hosted annually by July Systems. This is the second consecutive year that July Systems is hosting the seminar. The objective of the MDS series is to bring together different players in the mobile services ecosystem, and to identify opportunities in this domain for Indian companies.