About #FOSS and #Telephony in #India

I found Mr Atul Chitnis on Twitter. He was retweeted and what he had to say makes sense. It also proved to be a find introduction on the subject of telephony and FOSS in India.

Some choice quotes:

A simple test: buy/borrow a phone used by your target audience. Point its browser at your site and try to use it. If you can't, weep.

If you are getting a website developed, ask the developers about mobile support at launch time. If they say "later", fire them instantly.

Almost ALL new Internet users in India will come online with mobile devices in 2011. If they can't read/use your site, shut shop and go home

PC penetration in India sucks ostrich eggs, but mobile device penetration is a different ball game - India leads the world there.

I can guarantee loss of visitors and business (and valuation) for any website in 2011 that is unusable in a mobile browser.

Saying "all mobile browsers show my site correctly" is a clear sign that you don't understand the issues

My take home lesson: if India is to be a strategic market, support for mobile telephones must be equally strategic.
Thanks,
      GerardM