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by Jacob David
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – A gift
can open the door to anyone’s heart. What better
way than to SMS it to them? Short Message Service (SMS)
is not a new phenomenon, but it has gained wide applications
in the recent past. From casual chat to purposeful text
messaging, exchanging important information and fun
facts to saving lives – emergency procedures or
sending warnings of national threats to the user’s
phone, this technology is gaining rapid speed in the
virtual world of cell phones. Now there is an additional
benefit to SMS – sending a gift voucher to your
loved one anywhere across the world by a simple text
message.
SMS has over 2.4 billion active users,
world over, of which over 78% of all users admit to
sending and receiving text messages. An SMS is faster
than sending an old fashioned telegram or a long e-mail.
It’s a way to keep in touch with your loved one
or your best friend who lives hundreds if not thousands
of miles away.
Now it is possible to send a gift
by MyGiftMate.com, a website that makes it easy to let
your loved ones know you are thinking of them. Gifts
tug at the strings of people’s hearts and lets
them know that you are thinking of them. Special occasions
deserve special gifts, but there does not have to be
a reason to gift someone.
MyGiftMate.com, launched in May 2008
and a branch of Pay Mate Online, is the brainchild of
Ajay Adiseshann. He founded Coruscant Tec, a successful
mobile content developer and aggregator company. He
also founded Web Resource, an online applications and
design company and has a degree with broad and diversified
experience in Electrical Engineering.
Pay Mate, the original startup, is
a clever ingenuity on Adiseshann’s part, furthering
the use of SMS, by allowing the customer to pay bills,
reserve event tickets, shop online and send gifts. He
is backed up by Probir Roy, co-founder and director
of Pay Mate, with 15 years experience in diverse fields
of technology and business operations. He also served
as CEO of Euro RSCG Interactive – the world’s
number one New Media company and Chief Technology Officer
of Euro RSCG Advertising, India & Middle East –
and also served on their Worldwide IT Board.
Pay Mate started MyGiftMate.com to
facilitate monetary and gift remittances across international
borders. It has climbed to Asia’s Top 100 successful
startup companies since its inception since May 2006.
It has remained in the top 100 Asian businesses as noted
by Red Herring, a media company based in California
which focuses exclusively on companies making notable
strides in technology. On December 3, 2007, Pay Mate
announced its expansion into USA and Canada.
Pay Mate has garnered exclusive points
for being original, highly innovative and being the
first company to help people become truly connected
in a global sense. Dhruv Singh, the VP of Pay Mate operations
for USA, took office in October 2007, is using all his
International Marketing and Business Developmental skills
in making people see how truly revolutionary this SMS
technology can really be in connecting relatives and
colleagues. Dhruv Singh was previously Director of Worldwide
Business Development at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
“NRI’s living in India and Canada can now
send Gift Mate vouchers instantly to their friends and
family in India.” says Singh.
Pay Mate, an online entity that helps
people in India pay their bills using their cell phone
with SMS alerts, that serve as reminders, went a step
further by enrolling 3,000 online merchants and the
growing repertoire of offline merchants and opening
MyGiftMate.com, an exclusively online branch that has
merchants with gifts of all shapes and sizes imaginable
– from books, to music CDs, DVDs, apparel, travel
tickets, holiday booking, flowers, as well as sending
actual gift vouchers in varied dollar amounts just by
an SMS.
Gift Mate is much more versatile
than traditional money transfer companies. The recipient
can spend the gift voucher at several merchants at any
given time. In addition to merchants, several banks
including the Bank of Ceylon, have registered with Pay
Mate to help customers pay bills using their cell phones.
Gift Mate however goes a step further by actually helping
people send gift vouchers.
The gifting process is simple. You
register with Pay Mate which automatically qualifies
you to shop with any of their validated online or offline
merchants. While registering, you can assign your bank
or credit card account and the amount for the gift voucher
will be debited accordingly from the account you specify.
You then get to choose a dynamic alpha code with a four
digit pin which helps you send unlimited gift vouchers
at total discretion to your loved ones in India. This
procedure is convenient, safe and secure, and easy to
use. You can SMS the gift voucher to your loved one
in India who will be able to use the gift voucher along
with the code supplied at the thousands of offline and
online merchants. A complete list of merchants is also
available at MyGiftMate.com.
India presently has the fastest growing
cell phone market with over 120 million users with 6
to 8 million new subscribers being added to this number
every month. Carrying cash or credit cards will not
be a necessity for shopping anymore as all gift voucher
information is securely stored on the cell phone accessible
only by the MyGiftMate.com user. This also ensures ID
theft protection as well as credit card security. Carrying
cash-in-a-cell phone has never sounded a better idea.
Gift Mate is highly selective of
the merchants they validate by making sure that their
businesses are genuine, and their products are of high
standard and quality. Many online and offline merchants
are now getting on board this novel way of shopping
– using simple SMS technology. It gives them an
added alternative to grow and expand their business
through cell phone technology, to add new virtual shoppers
to their existing data base and encourages them to stock
new inventory. All this means one thing to the customer
– unlimited possibilities in the world by cell
phone shopping.
VP Dhruv Singh says: “Gift
Mate is free to send, receive, and use. Gift Mate vouchers
are delivered instantly and recipients are free to shop
for a gift of their choice. It is a great option to
send small denomination gifts, very much like we use
gift cards in this country. However, it is important
to note that Gift Mate cannot be converted to cash.”
To power this growth, Tata Indicom,
a leading mobile solutions provider in India, with a
21 million customer base in 4,000 towns across 20 states,
has joined hands with Pay Mate to make all transactions
successful in real time. This will make shopping by
cell phone a raving technology of the present.
"Pay Mate is building a network
of platform and services that enable simple, secure,
and convenient payments between individuals, person-to-person
(P2P) and between consumers and businesses (B2C),”
says Singh. “The Pay Mate network of platform
and services has universal appeal. Expect to see more
announcements from Pay Mate in the coming months as
it builds out its network and goes more main stream.”
"MyGiftMate.com has all the
ingredients to be a staple of the connected NRI,"
says Shabbir Evershine of Evershine Group, a South-Asian
and Middle-Eastern marketing and consumer behavior consulting
firm. "It is instant, secure, and readily accepted.
More and more people in India have cell phones and Gift
Mate allows people in US and Canada to 'text gifts'
to their loved ones and colleagues in India."
Pay Mate is funneling over nine million
dollars (USD) in various stages into promotions and
business development – focusing intently on achieving
a superior platform of technology by enhancing security
and advanced ease of features for all mobile users.
Pay Mate and Gift Mate is setting its sights on providing
services globally, not just limiting it to Asian Americans.
For now, NRI’s living in India
and Canada can now send Gift Mate vouchers to their
friends and family in India instantly and securely.
For a limited time, MyGiftMate.com is running a special
where customers can send a Rs. 250 gift voucher for
free to try the service (limit 1 per customer). Sign
up at mygiftmate.com and send somebody a smile –
via SMS.
*****
Ajay Adiseshann, MD and Founder, PayMate
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Probir Roy, Co-founder & Director
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Dhruv Singh, Vice President of North America Operations
at PayMate
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