If the Indian Twitter users were using their mobile phone to update Twitter on a UK number, may be the new service by Snockles will bring a great relief to them.

The beta version of mobile social messaging service – Snockles went live on 6^th December 2007 in India & UK simultaneously. Snockles is totally free. It does not charge users either for using the service or for sending/receiving SMS messages. Though charges will apply but from respective users’ mobile network service providers, when they send updates/messages (SMS) to the local number.

Snockles is currently being funded by Web Spiders, a Kolkata based global outsourcing provider of Rich Internet Application (RIA) development services and Systems Integration services. They also have a separate service of Snockles for business and corporate sector known as Enterprise Snockles.

Globally, the micro blogging service is crowded with Twitter, Jaiku, and Pownce. But in the Indian landscape, Snocklers might score over the other global players, due to the cost advantage factor. But again it remains to be seen whether the Indian Twitter users who must have already developed fairly large networks of friends, will change to Snockles.

One of the many analogies between Snockles and Twitter, is the updates he/she gets through the Web & SMS, once a person is tracked is termed as ‘Track’ in Snockles which was called in Twitter as ‘Follow’. The usages of Snockles will be no different from Twitter, but in what ways the Indian Snocklers will use the service can only be answered by time.

With over 261 million wireless users (larger than US by 5 million), the stats speak of India as being the next big market in the mobile messaging space and definitely Snockles has taken a lead. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Indian Social Networking Sites too join the MSN services. I also expect that this medium will develop as the next potential channel for marketing products & services in the coming years and online marketing companies like OuterJoin might want to take full advantage of this.

But for now, Snockles is a refreshing and promising new entrant in the Mobile Social Messaging and Networking space in India. Interested people can log on at snockles.com and register for their free service.

 
There’s a lot of buzz these days in the online DVD rental industry due to the emergence of more than a few companies serving the said market. The tally as of now including Seventymm is nine. Others include BIGFlix, Clixflix, Catchflix, CineSprite, FridayBoxOffice, IndiaHutHouse, MovieMart and HomeView. About 1 million DVD and VCD players are sold in India every month and this generates a huge opportunity for rental services. Estimates put the market size at Rs.2000 crores and growing. The market growth could be pretty big in movie-mad India

Founded by Microsoft alumni Raghav Kher, Seventymm the online movie rental and delivery service like Netflix isn’t the first in the market. But it’s the biggest and arguably more popular than its competitors in many markets. It has a huge library of movies in English, Hindi and in thirteen other Indian languages, which really sets it apart from its competitors. Seventymm has pretty simple steps for users and its offerings are very straight forward. The have a good limited and unlimited package offerings to suit every type of movie buff. Also, they run an excellent referral program with which a movie buff with good contacts can get free movies for life.

Seventymm is not just about movie DVD rental’s but also is about discovering, enjoying, sharing and indulging in the world of movies. There are movie quizzes, ratings, clubs, compatibility testing, reviews etc. There is even a forum where people can participate in their favorite topic for discussions. There is something for every movie monger visiting the site. That is what makes this site such a cool place to hangout too.

Seventymm progress so far has been very good. It has gained good market share in many of the markets (Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh & Hyderabad) it is operating from. But the future is throwing in many challenges. With the cost of DVDs dropping drastically, rental pricings will have tough times to compete. Also with technology becoming affordable and high speed internet connections becoming a reality in many middle income homes, it remains to be seen how Seventymm will compete with newer models like IPTV or the movies-on-demand programs. But that is again open to debate. A positive thing is that it will still be 3-4 years before that happens and Seventymm start facing those problems.

Doing start-up is not easy and is not for everybody. It does not come easy for us with our background, where failures are never appreciated and taking risk in general is discouraged. So then, why is there an increase in entrepreneurship in India and in Indians outside? Is it due to more exposure to the outside world, more financial security than our previous generation, building companies is not that expensive now, peer pressure or perhaps bit of all these factors. Software is deeply linked to all of these mentioned factors. Hence, of all the industries, vertical software is where all the action is.