Vani Viswanathan

 I was in India recently and was amazed to see how people used and relied on their mobile phones in their daily lives. Each person in every household had at least one instrument to take with them. The instruments themselves were very compact, attractive, had accessories and versatile. Nobody bothered about the land lines and depended on their mobile much more. One of my cousins cooked up a festive dish without a recipe and all the time on the phone with her aunt giving instructions. Even the ingredients to the recipe were bought from the stores with live assistance from aunt on the phone.

One could set different ring tones for their contacts which can be movie songs, spiritual songs, pop or rock. The instrument makes it is so easy to download the latest ring tones. Popular songs are available as ring tones soon after they are released. When you dial a friend, you can hear your friend’s ring tone. Here is something that is even neater than that – you hear a friend’s ring tone, you like it – you catch it in your phone – it’s that easy.

The television shows these days are very interactive with the viewers. In fact most of the shows are driven by the mobile phone service providers. Viewers send their reactions or send answers to the quizzes by SMS to the TV show. One can send their reactions as many times they want and what better way to promote the service! My cousins send SMS to their friends, relatives, teachers and neighbours at any time of the day. One can even prepare messages and set a date and time in the future for it to be sent out – do it while you remember!

The cost of the instrument and the service charges are very friendly that even the lowest strata of the society are able to afford it. The trend now is to have mobile phones only and discard the land line and its service. During my stay, I was able to hire auto rickshaw for my transportation with the help of the driver’s mobile. It would take me hours otherwise to get anywhere given the location of my house.

The service providers also do a great job of making sure their service is available in most of the remote places. Another great service I really enjoyed was, the instrument displayed the nearest tower to which your service is connected to. It also gave me a sense of location when I was travelling in unknown parts of the state. SIM card is another great feature if you have an instrument that uses it.

Games, camera, contact book and all the other standard features are also available in almost all the phones. All these features of the mobile make the use of it in India an enjoyable experience. Communication is a key factor to the coherence of the society and today the mobile phones play a great role.

The mobile services provided by companies in India have effectively extended it to many countries of the
Middle East like UAE and Bahrain. The instruments from these mid east countries also are very compatible with the services in India. The fancy and cheaper instruments available in the mid east make the mobile phones even more lucrative to India.

In North America, I find that people are connected more through computers and online messengers. Mobile phones and their services are not attractive enough. Many of the service providers do not offer ring tone downloads or they are expensive. Phone to phone text messaging is available with a few providers, but again it is expensive.

USA and Canada being part of North America lead the world in global economy and are always eager to adapt to the ever changing technologies. I wonder why the mobile phone service industry is still not attractive and expensive. Could it be that the development of this technology and services is being withheld by the big brothers for their own political reasons? Could it be that people find computers more practical than the phones?

Maybe someone reading this blog have answers and can help me understand why it is the way it is. I am looking forward to the day I can pick up my mobile and dial a friend without thinking about my long distance charges during weekday daytime and the free minutes left in my plan and of course hear one of my favourite tunes………………..

What’s next in the mobile phone industry in India? It is ‘cellivision’. That’s right; Mobile TV is on the cards right now and is expected to be launched in May. Next time I go to India, I can take my TV everywhere I go.

For more details – http://ia.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/22tv.htm