In emerging markets, people rarely access the internet through a PC because a PC is too expensive. But with mobiSiteGalore, everyone – ordinary people as well as companies – can build their own websites specially designed for mobile phones. This is the vision behind the product, says S Prashanth, CEO of Akmin Technologies, the company behind mobiSiteGalore.

“You need websites that are optimized for the small screens of mobile phones,” he says. “Even if most mobile phones have web capabilities today, the actual websites are not really compatible. The only way to create these is to allow ordinary users, like you and me, to make their own sites.”

MobiSiteGalore works consistently across all mobile phones and with no technical knowledge – any user can create their own mobile website in less than an hour. To sign up and create your own website, you need a computer and to follow the step-by-step manual. It should then take about 30-60 minutes to create your own personalized website designed for the mobile phone.

MobiSiteGalore has been on the market for almost a year, and so far has about 10,000 users around the world. Ordinary people, as well as big and small companies, have created their own sites. The content includes both business and personal web pages. Most users are in the US, followed by the UK, Germany and India.

Prasanth, who operates his company from Chennai in southeastern India, says: “This in itself is a sign of a good response for a mobile web service. In other PC- and mobile-related projects, India might be in the top 20 countries, not in the top four.”

The product is free for end users, and the business model is simple – licensing fees. Several service providers are licensing mobiSiteGalore, paying fees and customizing the solution with their own brand name to offer it to their clients. The service providers are companies such as Sprint, dotmobi and Network Solutions.

One of the challenges for mobiSiteGalore in emerging markets is language. In India, for example, only 30 percent of the population speaks and reads English. That means that 70 percent of Indian users would need websites in one of the 20 regional languages, such as Hindi or Tamil. But even the latest models of mobile phones do not support these regional languages, says Prashanth.

“It would make all the difference if this kind of phone support could be built into the browser, and people could start reading the mobile web content in their own language,” he says. “We even translated our site builder into Hindi and Tamil, but at the moment there is no point launching it because it will not work in the mobile phone.”

In this first year, mobiSiteGalore has not advertised, but new users are constantly being added. Prashanth has seen the pace pick up quickly as more people get to know about the solution. He expects there to be half a million users in a year’s time, and many of them are believed to be in the emerging markets.

“Affordability is a big barrier in developing countries such as India,” he says. “Here an office assistant or a driver typically has a monthly salary of USD 100-150 and might never be able to buy a PC. But they can afford a mobile phone, and with it they get onto the internet.”

Helena Jansson