Alpsoft Enterprises Pte Limited, a Singapore-based provider of wireless application solutions like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies, is set to launch Bluefrog, an infotainment hub based on the Bluetooth network, by this year end.
The $20-million (around Rs 92 crore) company, which has its development centre in Visakhapatnam, has tied up with the Cafe Coffee Day chain to create wireless hotspots at the latter’s 200 outlets across the country at an investment of Rs 6 crore to offer these services, KPK Raju, managing director (India operations), Alpsoft, told mediapersons here on Monday.
The Bluefrog technology allows a user with a Bluetooth-enabled mobile device to get free access to the Internet, download wallpapers, ringtones, movie trailers and games, besides sending text-to-voice SMSes free of cost.
The company is currently offering the Bluefrog service across 40 Cafe Coffee Day outlets in Bangalore and one in Hyderabad on a trial basis.
“The idea is to promote our City Contacts service, which comes pre-loaded with 10,000 business entries across categories like hospitals, computer hardware, restaurants, theatres, shopping establishments, educational institutions and emergency services. The entire City Contacts directory, which will be loaded into the mobile once the user enters the cafe, will occupy only 500 kb on the device, similar to the space one image takes up,” Raju said.
He said the company was in talks with the Future Group for creating hotspots across their various format stores besides. It is also negotiating with five major mobile retailers to have the list pre-loaded into new mobile phones.
Raju said Alpsoft was looking at launching the City Contacts service from March 2009 across 11 major cities – Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Goa, Vijayawada, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai.
“We are targeting to offer the service to 1 million mobile users within two months of the launch and garner revenues of Rs 20 crore in a year from then,” he said.