Twitter says that 4 out of every 10 twitter users access the site from a mobile device (a device that fits in a trouser pocket) ; Nearly every social network has a mobile version of it; Courtesy, the fast proliferation of android phones from multiple manufacturers and operators in developed markets and ; rolling out of below 100 dollar android phones by native phone makers in the developing countries; more people are consuming content on their mobile devices more than any time in the past.
In short -- A great time to launch a product that can help multitudes of sites and blogs on web properly graduate to the mobile.
Two IITians, Sharat Potharaju, Masters in Engineering Management (MEM) and Ravi Pratap M, an M.S. in Computer Science, who saw the current reality start unfold in US in 2007, with the launch of Apple’s iconic iPhone; decided a year later that they should be a part of it.
And this awareness of the duo resulted in a start-up called Mobstac.
Created with an effort of the past 18 months, Mobstac is a product which helps web publishers (website owners/ bloggers) create a mobile version of their existing blogs/websites that’s optimized for nearly all the existing mobile platforms.
Mobstac provides a framework to convert a usual site or blog on web into a mobile website. In short, Mobstac just tailors a usual site or blog on Web to display adequately on a much small mobile screen. Nothing added, nothing subtracted.
Although the product is quite similar to Mofuse, another framework that helps people graduate their existing blogs/websites to Mobile; what makes Mobstac different is the fact that it’s free (at least for small publishers with 200-300 page views a day). Mofuse which started as a free service has now moved on to a paid model. This is a great lure, for any publisher, who always wanted to have a mobile presence; as it provides him/her the opportunity to try experience for free and if he/she deems fit update to a paid version later one. That apart, Mobstac is surely better than what Mofuse was in its early stage.
In addition to the following salient features ( which are included by the start-up in its promotion pitch too) like:
Deliver page-loads at 400% faster than any mobile plug-in (thanks to our framework)
Render a compelling experience on every mobile phone out there, not just an iPhone
Integrate with Disqus powered comments to keep readers engaged
Plug into (search and social media) and automatically redirect mobile traffic to the mobile site (I love this the most)
Most importantly Integrate with ad-networks with ease to monetize your mobile traffic
what is really attractive about Mobstac is the Analytics – showing Total, Daily and Average site views. This is seldom incorporated in such products, at early stages.
Overall, Mobstac is a good option for any web publisher irrespective of its size. Although it is very likely that Mobstac will adopt a paid model in due course of time, where either 1) advanced features like ability to tweak the design, support for multiple blogging platforms, unlimited page views a day, advanced analytics etc. will be exclusive to the pro users OR 2) the free product is limited to just a trial period and after that every user will have to chose a paid plan according to its needs; getting an opportunity to try the product for free for the time being is worth a try. Here it’s important to mention that, although the star-up can adopt a model, under which it will provide the product for free, but take a fixed cut in the revenue the blog/website makes from advertising; this model seems less viable, considering that most publishers don’t make any money through ads shown.
Regarding the viability of the project, I think if implemented well (which appears to be the case) it’s the right time for such a product. Here I want to put a comparative picture. If my memory serves me right, then Mofuse was quite elated, when it reached 14000 mobile sites around March 2008. Going by the level of content consumption at that time, it was a thing to feel good about. Right now, mobile content consumption has reached much higher levels compared to 2008. The fact that Mobstac can offer itself for free at a time of plenty and fast growth (something which older products can’t) will help it proliferate.
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Home » Start-up News » Founded by IITians -- Mobstac helps you create the Mobile version of your Blog in Just 5 Minutes
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