my world resides on my mobile

Long ago, 24 months to be precise, we were pitching for the BSNL Mobile's (India's largest telecom network) advertising account. Our thoughts centered around just one idea - "my identity is my mobile phone". The thought was consigned to dust back then. SMS was just about starting up, camera phones were things rich kids played with. Ringtones were begining to get fancy and colour was a luxury. Two years on the bloody handset is like a identity tag. The first thing you notice is the handset model. The brick sized monsters mean that you are either a wannabe or have lots of money to buy the latest.

And suddenly my world resides on my mobile phone. I use it to message, email, talk, keep myself busy, update information, entertain, buy stuff. In a city like Mumbai where I live it takes about two hours to get from point 'a' to point 'b', it does not matter that the point b is three kilometers from the start point. This city measures distances in time and not meters. What do I do to keep myself from losing precious hair? I surf the net, download themes and get on to Google. I use the phone very little to talk. I assume the same happens in Delhi or Kolkatta.

Very recently I got on to Google via the mobile phone and typed in "shares" - the results gave me a bunch of results that were bang on target, now if I were to get ads in there using the Google Adwords and have a contact number right there on the results page it would be great. If I were the kind who wanted to invest in shares and found a number which was relevant at that moment, I would call.

The normal method is to click on the ads that Google throws up and fill in a dataform and wait for the company to call back. If the contact number were available on the mobile phone itself it would bridge the gap between the net and the phone.

Imagine being able to fill in a profile on your phone using a small application and then getting offers that interest you as you drive along. I imagine a time when while crossing Granth - a good bookstore on way to work, my cell phone getting a small list of books that might interest me and then being able to buy the ones that I want after reading a small extract by sending in an SMS. The payment added to my phone bill to be paid at the end of the month.

Imagine being able to download a small animated girlfriend - a tart who wants everything from diamonds to Rayban - or she gets angry and sulks away - the only way to satisfy her is to visit the diamond brand that sponsors the section or to the rayban section. You get points for interacting with the brand, the animated girlfriend is happy and you can redeem the points you collected for movie tickets or mechandise.

So if my world is on my mobile does someone have the appetite to exploit the arena. Can someone invest and reap the benefits. Believe me there is huge money here.