Tired of high GPRS cost? Use 'Blacmail'

It’s good news for start-ups and other small business. You can have Blackberry like push mail service activated on your low end phones for no extra cost and if you are a GPRS user you can reduce your bills by one-tenth!

Fifth C, a mobile technology and applications startup company based in Bangalore, has developed an innovative mobile software solution, “BlacMail” that crashes the existing barriers of affordable instant email messaging communications for the masses.

What is Blacmail?

Blacmail is a push mail service offered by FifthC in partnership with BSNL using which you will be notified about new mails in your inbox and also can access those mails on your low end java phones without GPRS connection. All you have to do is download software on your phone using GPRS or data cables and get started.

At present push mail service is available only to Blackberry users. Through Blacmail FifthC intends to make it accessible to the masses. Mr. K. Krishnamohan, Founder and CEO of Fifth C says, “We developed BlacMail with the objective of crashing the cost and performance barriers to enable true push mail experience for all mobile users in India from its current standing as an elitist service reserved only for a privileged few.”

A spokesperson from BSNL said, “BlacMail pushmail platform is unique in spanning the requirements of the broad customer segments that comprise the BSNL base- from owners of inexpensive phones such as students in metros and small businesses in Tier 2/3, to consumers on our 3G network.  Our customers can enjoy the benefits of this service that thus far was only affordable for a niche high-end segment like the Blackberry”.

How can you benefit?

Cost effectiveness is the biggest advantage of using Blacmail. You can save money in two ways:

• You don’t need to own phones like Blackberry or one enabled with features like GPRS. It works on most of the phones, low end ones also. “You can have Blacmail on handsets which are as cheap as Rs 2500 and don’t even have a GPRS,” says Mr Krishnamohan.
• It does not need a GPRS connection. The high cost of GPRS data plan can be reduced by one-tenth, claims Mr Krishnamohan.

Another advantage of Blacmail is that it does not drain phone battery charge fast. Since the server that keeps checking for new mails is located outside the phone, the charge of phone battery does not get affected.

Who will benefit the most from Blacmail?

Any cost effective service in the field of communication is sure to benefit the small and medium companies. It’s not just your Blackberry or GPRS costs that will be reduced but also of all your employees.

According to a spokesperson from BSNL, “BlacMail pushmail platform is unique in spanning the requirements of the broad customer segments that comprise the BSNL base- from owners of inexpensive phones such as small and medium companies (SMB), students in metros and small businesses in Tier 2/3, to consumers on our 3G network.  Our customers can enjoy the benefits of this service that thus far was only affordable for a niche high-end segment like the Blackberry”.

How to get it activated on your phone?

At the moment the free trial version of BlacMail can be downloaded from the company website. If you have GPRS activated on your mobile, you can download BlacMail directly through the website on your phone or else you can download the software to your PC and then transfer it to your phone through your data cable or Bluetooth.

The company is in the process of tying up with mobile phone manufacturers to have the software built in the handsets.

BSNL customers can download BlacMail onto a compatible phone by sending SMS for activating the service instantly. Very soon more service providers will also have Blacmail to offer.