Date:31/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/31/stories/2006033106970500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

News updates from The Hindu on SMS from today

Staff Reporter

On offer for users are headlines and features from the daily

CHENNAI: Starting Friday news updates from The Hindu can be accessed on mobile phones by sending a text message (SMS) to 6397.

The SMS service, being launched by the over 127-year-old newspaper, is a continuation of the tradition of the daily to re-invent itself in various formats as technology leapfrogs.

On offer are headlines and features from the daily. It will allow users to obtain news, track the latest in the world of sport and entertainment, keep themselves abreast with poll updates and participate in exciting contests on the mobile phone virtually round the clock.

In the first phase, the service will be operational in Tamil Nadu.

Explaining the need to offer the SMS-based service, a spokesperson of The Hindu said: "We are catering to a generation that is `always on' — a generation that demands news and information faster than the one that preceded it. We are also aware that the mobile phone has come to play an important role in our life today."

IMImobile, a Hyderabad-based next generation value-added services enabler offering mobile value-added services to major Indian telecom companies, will provide backend support and manage the short code. It has put in place a content management system that will provide content services. The company is equipped to partner and deliver applications anywhere in the world.

Bibhu Kumar, Vice-President (Sales and Marketing), IMImobile, said: " The Hindu is not just a newspaper. It is a tradition of good writing with newer, fresher ideas, wonderful design, topical features and reliable news delivery. To partner with this magnificent media house is a dream for anyone and we are pleased to be associated with its mobile version."

As it launches a new service in partnership with IMImobile, The Hindu will project its core values — truth telling and accuracy, freedom and independence, justice, humaneness and working for the social good — on the new platform. At the same time, it will be engaging, offer variety and display an unswerving sporting spirit.