Comments on: India’s “missed call” mobile ecosystem

By: Vishesh Likhitkar

Vishesh Likhitkar — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:07:35 +0000

hehe, we are like that onlly ;) but seriously this miss call business is getting annoying, i dont callbak anymore so the other person has no choice but to actually call up if its something important,unless of course its the bai(maid) or the repairman etc…and anyway this is chaiging rapidly as android phones cheaper than 7000 rs are entering the market and u can actually see the garbageman happily surfing the net on his cheap droid…
ive seen the panwala(guy who sells pan and ciggerettes) sporting an iphone…

By: Chigawa

Chigawa — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:52:57 +0000

This is no news at all. No news at all. All these things have been happening in Africa and never made headlines. Please carry out some more research and you will see that you are behind with this so called invention by close to a decade!

By: HDB

HDB — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:13:57 +0000

As I understand, it is illegal to charge for missed to ANY number as per current telecom policy.

By: sona

sona — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:45:28 +0000

sorry RG and physical – india’s saving grace is that it is not the USA – pray tell me how is it not entrepreneurial? or for that that matter, less greedy and unethical like those hotshot financial cowboys who have and continue to selfdestruct taking down many others with them?

personally, as an australian i take my hat off to the indians – they never fail to teach us that there are many ways to skin a cat and never forget that this is an ancient civilisation, perhaps the most ancient, that brought an end to european colonisation without firing a shot – they didn’t have guns

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:37:37 +0000

They do this all the time in west africa as well. They call it flashing.

By: Harmonica

Harmonica — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:04:12 +0000

@H : You assume incorrectly. I mean exactly what I wrote – A housemaid with relatively meager earnings. If you know of any “slaves” in India, I would strongly urge you to bring it to the attention of the authorities, since slavery of any kind is a punishable offence in India. You don’t want to be complicit in slavery by omission, do you?

By: H

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:01:27 +0000

I assume by “poor housemaid,” you mean slave. India has lots of slaves.

By: Geekhyena

Geekhyena — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:00:22 +0000

In Spain they use that as a way of communication, too. Calling and then hanging up means ‘I’m on my way’ or ‘call me’ or a myriad of things, depending on the situation.

By: Harmonica

Harmonica — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:47:30 +0000

I might have been inclined to agree with you. However, circle back 500 years, when India was immensely more wealthy than western nations. Does your logic still hold true? Read books such as “Guns, Germs and Steel” for a more rational explanation for the wealth of nations.

By: Harmonica

Harmonica — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:22:47 +0000

This is how it works, for example: Poor housemaid has a cellphone, but cannot afford to make calls. She give the lady of the house a missed call to indicate she won’t be coming in today. If the person called needs more details, she gives a callback, since she is relatively rich and can afford to make the call. So someone did get charged, but it was the person who could afford it. However, the benefits of mobile communication were made available to a person who would otherwise have been unable to afford the luxury. So the mobile operator made more money than the case where no mobile communication would have taken place, due to affordability.