Markets on Mobiles

Posted on | April 19, 2005 |

Airtel and IDEA have each launched monthly subscription-based services which provide market information for a monthly fee of Rs. 150. IDEA has it for the commodity markets and is delivered by SMS. Airtel’s is in association with the Bombay Stock Exchange and is a downloadable application.

The way these two services are delivered, one by SMS and other as an application, can be seen as connected with the target customer segment. IDEA’s commodity market information is for the farmers and traders in the non-urban / rural areas. Therefore, delivering it by SMS makes it accessible to the lowest common denominator. On the other hand, Airtel’s service requires its users to have a J2ME phone and GPRS connection. The installed base of phone with the above two functions is not small in India and almost all new medium-range phones come with J2ME / GPRS functionality. Still, its not for everyone. The assumption here could be that anyone who needs a realtime portfolio manager on the go will fulfill the criteria.

IDEA Cellular launches commodity updates service

IDEA’s customers will now be able to receive updates about the current prices in the major exchanges as well as spot markets all over the country, 10-15 times a day, over SMS. International markets of China, London and Tokyo, Vessel positions and port information will also be covered. IDEA Bazaar Bhav on mobiles will initially cover the commodity markets for Oil, Pulses, Cotton and Bullion. In the next phase Grains & Sugar markets would also be added to the service.

Airtel launches mobile stock tracker

The user can also Add, Modify, Delete & Search from more than 6,900 stocks listed on the BSE, keep tab on number of stock sold, calculate total profit on the basis of his stock holding at any point of time, check the performance of a scrip as per its movement in the market & use first of its kind E-Mail feature to send the performance for the day in a excel sheet with profit graphs for better stock analysis to any e-mail ID.

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