For the last five years, Pramod Jajoo, the managing director of mobile resource management (MRM) applications provider Xora Software Systems, hawked his wares in the United States and Australia. An ex-employee of Oracle, Jajoo felt that consumers there were willing to try new technologies and so were more receptive to his software to track mobile workers and vehicles.

But in the last couple of months, his focus has shifted to India. To tap the booming domestic market, Xora struck its first Indian deal last month with push-to-talk (PTT) service provider Procall Pvt Ltd. PTT is a radio frequency system that allows many users of a closed user group to communicate with each other at the push of a button.

As Indians open their minds to global positioning system (GPS) on mobiles, Jajoo sees his company signing deals with Indian wireless service providers such as Airtel Bharti and Vodafone. “Location-based technology is here to stay. It will intrude on our lives but if done right, it can add a lot of value. The privacy (infringement) aspect (of the technology) can also be taken care of,” says Jajoo.

His optimism on the Indian potential is shared by Procall chief marketing officer Alok Divadia, who believes that once MRM applications hit mobile phones, this market would explode. “The market is just opening up. Today, it is embedded in walkie talkies used by enterprises but once it is on phones for individual use, you can imagine the kind of opportunities it will throw up for both technology companies and providers like us,” he says.

Source: DNA