India may power Google's instant messenger
RemzyJ
I have posted the whole article.
June 24 2004
India may power Google's instant messenger
Geodesic is believed to be working on a prototype of what could be
Google's instant messenger.
An Indian company could power internet giant Google's next killer
application. Geodesic Information Systems, a Mumbai-based company
listed on the BSE, is believed to be running a pilot project for what
could some day be the Google Instant Messenger. Sources told CNBC-TV18
that the company got the go-ahead to develop the prototype after
meeting Google's founders in Mountain View, California.
Geodesic has declined to comment on the news. The company informed the
BSE yesterday, that it did not provide any inputs to the CNBC report
and would not like to comment on market speculation. Co-founder Mahesh
Murthy, while refusing to comment on the Google project, said that
Geodesic is "doing innovative, world class, original work -
concentrating on patents and intellectual property instead of low-value
services."
Geodesic began as a start-up in 1999, and listed on the BSE in January
2002. The company's core product is an instant messaging (IM) solution
called "Mundu". Mundu's USP is its inter-operability with existing IM
networks such as AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN. Mundu works on handheld systems
as well, and has been endorsed by leading manufacturer Palm. Geodesic's
revenue for the last fiscal stood at Rs 18.1 crore (Rs 180 million).
The company announced a net profit of Rs 8.15 crore (Rs 80 million) for
the same period.
In May this year, serial entrepreneur Rakesh Mathur joined the board of
directors of Geodesic and picked up a stake in the company. Ram
Shriram, once CEO of Mathur's famous startup Junglee.com, was among
Google's first funders in 1998. Mathur himself is believed to be close
to Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Google is currently in a pre-IPO silent period. The company's
announcement in April, that it would soon be entering the email space
sent ripples through the online world. Its Gmail service is still under
testing and has already generated a tremendous amount of hype, thanks
to it offering 1 GB of space and a controversial plan to place
advertisements based on email content. A Google instant messenger, if
and when it is unleashed, is expected to create an equally disruptive
effect. Advertisers could "buy" keywords that would trigger ads when
typed out by users of the instant messenger. The integration with
Google's powerful search technology would also be an added feature.
The leading instant messengers from AOL (which acquired ICQ), Yahoo!,
and MSN are together estimated to have 120 million users. One reason
for Google being interested in Mundu could be that Geodesic's solution
is one of the few IM clients, apart from the top three, that has been
tested on a large enough scale. The popular Indiatimes Instant
Messenger operates on the Mundu platform.
Keith Linfoot
it's as well designed as Gmail is.
--
Keith S. Linfoot
Email: keith....@gmail.com
Website: http://dan-hub.myfileserver.net/danhub
Pragati Shailendra Tiwari Mobile News Reader
dreeming make GMail and Google in every individuals day to day
requirement, irrespective of his job. He may be a qualified one or one
who has limitations in understanding interfaces. Here one on screen key
board can play a great role.
Ben
they wouldn't use Ads in the Instant Messenger...I just hate that.