Mundu-ing the World

In the Malayalam language, the word Mundu refers to raiment that
covers the lower torso. It is worn in place of trouser and fairly ubiquitous in
the 'God's own country' or the state of Kerala. Mundu is an icon of the
provincial pride, loved by many and hated by no less. Of late, the term is
gaining global popularity thanks to an egg-headed cartoon character that
currently appears on around 200,000 mobile phones across the globe providing
close to 150,000 Internet radio channels. The application is called Mundu Radio
and the best part is that the product has been conceived and built in India.

Creating Global Products

Geodesic came into being in the late nineties in Mumbai at a time when
Internet ruled supreme, and every other corner shop was going online. Geodesic
developed an e-commerce engine hamarashop.com. As time flew and the euphoria
faded, the directors realized that being a straitjacket online company could no
longer guarantee success. The directors went into a huddle, and after much
deliberation they decided that the future spelt products. The company would now
focus on creating products that not only stood out in the Indian marketplace but
globally as well.

"It was a brave choice that we made way back then. We were
into content aggregation and decided to pool that money into product
development. We were sure of the risk that we were taking," says Kiran
Kulkarni, MD, Geodesic. For the next few years, the design team at Geodesic was
building a product that would win over the world and in 2004 the company
launched Mundu Instant Messenger. The USP of this IM was that it brought
together different IM like Yahoo, MSN, and AOL on the same platform. Thus, a
Yahoo user could chat with a MSN user and vice-a-versa. "Even then, people
used multiple chat ids and hence it was quite difficult for people to
communicate with each other. Mundu IM made that immensely easy," says
Kulkarni.

It was not only the messenger service, but the application
stored all the relevant information about the user and it could interact with
other applications to display content that is relevant to the needs of the user,
more like the Yahoo or Google preferences. "The idea was not only to
provide a single platform for different IMs but also to make Mundu IM the
central application of the user," adds Kulkarni. Fortunately for Geodesic,
it stuck gold immediately.

The application was well received globally and a basic sign-up
fee ensured that with each download a few more dollars would be added to
Geodesic's coffers. Over the years, the company has tweaked the IM in many
ways, added new features and changed things, ensuring that even today the
product is relevant when a few of the IMs are interoperable.

After tasting success with Mundu IM, Geodesic became more
ambitious and decided to work on a product that not many were offering-a way
to listen to Internet radio over the mobile phone. While FM channels are quite
popular in India and over the world, there is little one can choose from due to
limitations like bandwidth. There is paucity of channels that subscribe to
specific user's taste. Fortunately, for people on the lookout for a radio
channel that exclusively plays hard metal or trance, there is the Internet.

Mundu Radio

Over the years, Internet radio has exploded in a major way. As of now, there
are thousands of channels set up by individuals and small firms to cater to
these likes. "As Internet radio was gaining popularity, the phones were
becoming more and more powerful. I was sure that the convergence between the
Internet, desktop and mobile phone was in the offing. To tap this opportunity we
launched Mundu Radio in October 2006. The response has been quite
phenomenal," gushes Kulkarni. People across the globe have downloaded this
free application and are listening to the Internet radio channel of their
liking.

	"The idea was not only to provide a single platform for different IMs but also to make Mundu IM the central application of the user"
	-Kiran Kulkarni, MD, Geodesic

"Mundu Radio effectively does away with the need for MP3
music, et al. The listener need not bother to update his playlist as there are
hundreds and hundreds of channels of his liking that are available at a touch of
the button," says Kulkarni. The service is currently available for smart
phones that work on the Symbian, or Windows OS. The company is rapidly expanding
its reach to other mobile smart phones, like E61, etc.

Yet, according to Kulkarni, the most heartening fact of the
success story is the response from India itself. "Of the 200,000 downloads
so far, close to 22% have been from the Indian soil. The word on Mundu is
spreading like wildfire," he says.

Far from resting on its laurels, Geodesic is back to the drawing
board. This time, trying to cook up something more innovative, something more
unique. "Video is going to be a big thing in the future. We are also
working quite keenly on hand-writing technology. India has a lot to offer to the
world in terms innovation and Mundu is a validation of that," says Kulkarni
with a touch of pride. Thus, like the Mundu that so effectively covers the
torsos in South India, may this Mundu cover the entire globe and announce the
arrival of Indian technology and Indian expertise.

Shashwat Chaturvedi

maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in