Twitter chat prompts Anand Mahindra to launch emergency-help App FightBack for smartphone users
Thanks to a conversation on micro blogging site Twitter, Anand Mahindra has thrown open for public use, a smartphone application to seek emergency help.
Twitter chat prompts Anand Mahindra to launch emergency-help App for smartphone users
Thanks to a conversation on micro blogging site Twitter, Anand Mahindra has thrown open for public use, a smartphone application to seek emergency help.
Mahindra, chairman of $15-billion (Rs 82,500 crore) Mahindra Group, was participating in a Twitter conversation about the gang-rape of a woman in NewDelhi, when a user suggested that a TechMahindra app called FightBack may be useful for the public at large, beyond Mahindra employees.
Within a couple of hours, Mahindra responded to the user by getting Group firm CanvasM to make the application that tracks a user's location and sends SOS messages to selected contacts in case of an emergency, available for download on the company website for free.
The FightBack app allows the user to press on a panic button whenever she feels unsafe. It tracks her location using GPS and alerts chosen contacts about the location map and is available on Android andBlackberry platforms.
Use of smartphone applications have been growing in India, which has around 929 million mobile phone connections as of now and has a fast growing smartphone userbase. About 102 million mobile handsets were sold in India during the first six months of 2012, of which about 6 million were smartphones.
The gang-rape of a paramedical student in a moving bus in New Delhi, just four days ago, had sparked widespread outrage and protests across the country.
Earlier in the day, Anand Mahindra expressed his outrage on the social networking platform.
"Can't think straight today. Consumed with anger and repugnance after reading about what was perpetrated on the rape victim. Face to face with evil", tweeted Mahindra, who also offered a job to the victim after another Twitter user asked him if he would ensure her decent life.
Twitter is estimated to have about 14 million user accounts in India.
The mobile apps industry in India is estimated to grow to Rs 1,804 crore this year, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
Android has about 55% market share in India, while Blackberry has about 12%.
Within a couple of hours, Mahindra responded to the user by getting Group firm CanvasM to make the application that tracks a user's location and sends SOS messages to selected contacts in case of an emergency, available for download on the company website for free.
The FightBack app allows the user to press on a panic button whenever she feels unsafe. It tracks her location using GPS and alerts chosen contacts about the location map and is available on Android andBlackberry platforms.
Use of smartphone applications have been growing in India, which has around 929 million mobile phone connections as of now and has a fast growing smartphone userbase. About 102 million mobile handsets were sold in India during the first six months of 2012, of which about 6 million were smartphones.
The gang-rape of a paramedical student in a moving bus in New Delhi, just four days ago, had sparked widespread outrage and protests across the country.
Earlier in the day, Anand Mahindra expressed his outrage on the social networking platform.
"Can't think straight today. Consumed with anger and repugnance after reading about what was perpetrated on the rape victim. Face to face with evil", tweeted Mahindra, who also offered a job to the victim after another Twitter user asked him if he would ensure her decent life.
Twitter is estimated to have about 14 million user accounts in India.
The mobile apps industry in India is estimated to grow to Rs 1,804 crore this year, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
Android has about 55% market share in India, while Blackberry has about 12%.
Source : INDU NANDAKUMAR,ET BUREAU
