Prime intellectual property

IMImobile is a global player in providing content and value added services (VAS) to mobile operators and is a pioneer of the managed services model in this space. Michelle Mills speaks with Vishwanath Alluri, founder and CEO of IMImobile about the exciting prospects for VAS and his company’s evolving business model

“Mobile advertising is a question of when and not if. It is at early stages right now, but advertising will definitely come in to subsidise the content delivery,” Vishwanath Alluri, IMImobile’s CEO states. “But right now, there is not a right advertisement model that is appealing to advertisers. The mobile phone is a personal device, if you are to exploit it you really need to personalise it.”

Alluri believes mobile advertising holds great potential in the coming years – whether through content, banners, targeted SMS or integration with games – however, the online model of advertising that has been extended to mobiles by the likes of Google and Yahoo! is far too broad, Alluri suggests.

The online model is based on IP addresses so that when a user logs on to Google in the UAE, for example, the page comes up in Arabic. However, the usage pattern of a mobile subscriber can be captured more easily than an Internet user and therefore these channels need to be safeguarded if they are to be utilised for targeted advertising campaigns.

Alluri believes IMImobile is in a good position to capitalise on this forecasted future growth with its unique Ad- Ring platform. Touted as the industry’s first fully-integrated mobile advertising platform, Ad-Ring provides an environment in which multi-format ad campaigns can be created and delivered to consumers over SMS, MMS, voice, WAP, ringback tones or video streaming.

Alluri predicts that 3G video will also be one of the growth sectors in coming years facilitating a quality viewing experience on the mobile screen. While he says Apple’s iPhone has “liberated the content industry” in more mature markets because content providers are able to push content at a higher quality than ever before, the device is yet to make much of an impact on India’s content industry because the number of smartphones and GPRS-enabled handsets is negligible.

“iPhone’s impact is relative to the maturity of the market. The pick up is increasing in frequency but GPRS-usage still has issues with ease of use, cost and speed. Even though the majority of handsets sold are now GPRS-enabled, very few subscribers have activated the service,” he says.

IMImobile has come a long way since Alluri founded the company in 1999, from his vision of harnessing India’s intellectual resources to develop an IPR-centric technology company.

The company has now grown to become a global content aggregator boasting relationships with more than 400 content providers and lists Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, Bharti Airtel and Etisalat amongst its operator customers.

Alluri is quick to point out that while the VAS space is dominated by systems integrators that depend on third-party software products, IMImobile owns the intellectual property rights of the platforms it provides, such as WAP portals, which places it in a better position than its competitors who license the software platforms.

“When it comes to troubleshooting and maintenance, it is companies who own the source code that are in a better position to troubleshoot quickly and maintain the service levels,” Alluri contends.

“The mobile data space is fast-evolving and is becoming increasingly software-intensive, which makes the licensed model problematic. Normally by the time operators have finished the procurement process and the licensed software is installed, the market has moved on, thus making the licence model a complex one to operate.” IMImobile’s content includes news, music, ringback tones and games in the local languages of its Indian, African, Middle East and Latin American markets. The company is currently working on an entry strategy for the United States and Europe.