Synchronica, which provides next-generation mobile messaging services, has secured a contract win with a ‘Top 10’ Indian device manufacturer to bundle the company’s white-labelled Synchronica Mobile Gateway solution on a number of its handsets, enabling consumers in India to experience an affordable BlackBerry-like service on a range of devices.
The deal will provide Synchronica with a monthly, per-user hosting fee, in addition to licence fees and a 12-month support and maintenance contract. Mobile Gateway will enable the device manufacturer to provide users with mobile email, calendar/contacts synchronization and instant messaging, as well as connectivity to social networking sites and RSS feeds.
Synchronica already has a strong foothold in India; the company signed a reseller contract in March 2010 with another Indian device manufacturer and also has live installations with two of India’s largest mobile operators as a result of its iseemedia acquisition last October. 
The country represents a major target market for Synchronica. Indias mobile subscriber base grew by 16.3m connections during May 2010 to take the total number of subscribers to 617.5m, according to statistics from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This equates to a penetration of just 52.3 per cent, meaning that the market will remain a high-growth one for the considerable future. According to Informa, the value of the cellular non-voice market in India will exceed $13.8bn (£8.9bn) by 2014, with messaging services contributing approximately 30 per cent of this total.
“The Indian mobile market is a fascinating one,” says Synchronica, CEO, Carsten Brinkschulte. “Mobile teledensity is still only just over 50 per cent, mobile penetration is continuing to grow extremely fast, prepaid dominates and competition among device manufacturers and mobile operators is intense. As a result, device manufacturers and mobile operators in India are turning to value-added suppliers such as us to differentiate themselves from their competitors. We are pleased to see our strategy to enable messaging for mass-market device manufacturers unfold.”
