Cellnext Solutions, a value-added service provider on mobile phones has created a software that would enable newspapers to appear on mobile screens.
"We have termed this innovation as cell-paper," Ajay Vaishnavi, chief operating officer of Cellnext told PTI. "We have created a multimedia publishing platform that would allow publishers to put their products on the screens," he says.
"Unlike the 160 characters supported in SMS technology, M-paper will have full stories with images and even audio facilities," he says. The facility is equipped to offer about 20 to 25 stories along with five photographs in a single package, he adds.
While, the service will be available in English only in the initial stages, Hindi and other regional languages will be introduced gradually. Discussions are now in progress with with some newspapers and mobile service providers to launch the facility in a month's time.
"Consultations are going on with some leading English dailies and mobile operators. We hope to launch the service within a month," Vaishnavi says. The company also claims to have pioneered this technology globally.
"At least we have not heard of any other country in the world where newspapers can be read on mobile phone screens," Vaishnavi says. "We have plans to launch the service in other countries after India," he adds.
Once launched, the service is expected to be even cheaper than the real newspapers available today. "The subscription to this service will be on a monthly basis," he says. "So it will be much more economical than our daily newspapers," he says.
But the service will not be available on all mobile phone models. "Phones with MMS technology only will be able to avail the service," he says. While, GSM users will be able to use it, we have plans to offer the service to CDMA users as well, he adds.
