Mobile 4 Mumbai, a group of mobile application developers, is helping Mumbaikers to get into the right bus with an application which provides BEST bus (Mumbai’s local bus transport) timings and routes on mobile, without the need for a mobile internet connection. The group has announced the availability of a beta version of this application.The BEST application can be downloaded for free and installed from the company’s website, www.m4mum.com. Once users have downloaded it on their computer, they can transfer it on their mobile phone through Bluetooth or a USB connection.
According to Mobile 4 Mumbai, more than 42 lakh people travel using the BEST buses everyday. This application is designed in a manner which can work on any Java-enabled phone which are available for as little as Rs 2500. Speaking to Telecom Yatra, Raxit Sheth, co-founder, Mobile 4 Mumbai says, “The key part is that the application is viral and can be transferred using Bluetooth, e-mail or infrared.”
The application would have been a lot easier if BEST could have provided the route numbers. However, Sheth claims that BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking) has not been very supportive for providing any information for this project.
Almost 70 per cent of routes have been covered up to now, says Sheth. Mobile 4 Mumbai has organised a ‘Get Famous’ contest. Through this it aims to get information of bus routes from local people and the top three contributors will get their name as credit on the application.
Commenting on the promotion, Sheth says, “We are already in an advanced stage of tie-ups with leading newspapers, TV channels, radio, web, blogger network and telcos.” He further states that the branding activity should begin after a month.
Sheth adds that the developer group also has plans of location-based advertising in next six months. Location-based advertising is a form of marketing and communication that uses the location-tracking technology in mobile networks to target consumers with specific advertising on their mobile devices.