i-Free, which provides mobile value added services in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, has launched two new mobile services in India, customized to the local market. The first is a cricket scoring game, the second, an SMS holiday greetings service. The services are available to the subscribers of Reliance, Indias premier CDMA operator.
i-Free says the services are highly relevant for the Indian market: cricket is Indias favorite ball game, while SMS is a popular way for Indian people to greet each other on national and religious holidays.
The mobile cricket game designed for India uses a scoring model where the user does not have to pay to download the game, but pays for its additional functionality, which is optional.
The SMS holiday greetings service comes as a mobile application containing a choice of ready-made text messages. The application is free to download. The subscriber can then choose text messages and send them to other mobiles.
The new services are supported by an R-lite platform which is compatible with most makes of phone, including all budget models, even phones with a black and white screen, giving the services good potential reach.
We are attentive to local market nuances when we develop new services, says i-Free-India  Managing Director, Pankaj Choudhari. These new R-lite-based services cannot fail as few Indian subscribers can afford expensive mobile phones.
i-Free-India says it plans to launch similar services, based on Java technology, with Indian operator Airtel, in the near future.