Geodesic to develop IM applications for telecom firms

Geodesic Information Systems Ltd (GIS), which is into developing Internet-based technology, is in the process of developing customised instant messaging (IM) applications for at least 18 telecom operators.

The applications will be specially-designed for GPRS, EDGE or WiFi-enabled mobile phones.

Having been assigned the task of developing customised IM applications for around 18-25 telecom operators, Atul Chitnis, senior VP "" product technology and strategy of Geodesic expects the company to cross one million users mark for its IM applications. At present, the company offers Mundu IM for internet and mobile phones.

"Geodesic has also pioneered in developing the first IM application for Apple's iPhone. Moreover, BenQ also now are bundled with a customised IM application developed by us," claimed Chitnis, declining to reveal details of the other telecom operators.

Since 2000, Geodesic has added up around 3.5 lakh users for its IM applications as well as it's internet radio application, Mundu Radio.

Chitnis attributes the growing number of users for IM applications and internet radio to the drastic drop in the rates for connecting internet to mobile phones.

"We added around 96,000 users on just our Mundu IM application for Apple's iPhone over the last one month. We have also seen an increase in the number of users for Mundu IM and Mundu Radio by 80,000 and 2 lakh, and have seen a steady growth of 25-30 per cent in every quarter. The high growth has resulted from the increase in ownership of smartphones in the country," said Chitnis.

The company claims its flagship product Mundu IM was a runaway success among mobile phone users.

"Earlier, the problem people were facing was that they had to run multiple client like AOL, ICQ, Yahoo! or MSN to keep in touch with all their friends or colleagues. But for Mundu IM, we tied up with all the major clients so that a user can have access to contacts of all the clients simultaneously," added Chitnis.

Geodesic develops its products at two development centres, one each in Mumbai and Bangalore.