If you thought Goa was only about the hedonism of sun & sand, this is going to surprise you. Zakly is a mobile application from a Goa based startup (called Dogears). 
It works as a small microsite, a visiting card or contact info, that can be accessed from any mobile device. You have to register on the Zakly website and fill out your profile (name, address, URL, basic info etc). Next time somebody asks you for a visiting card, give them your Zakly username. They can access http://zakly.info on their mobiles, enter your username and go through your profile/info. The application can be used by users as their mobile visiting card, by companies as their mobile microsite or for providing a place on the mobile web for disseminating simple information. Its creators wanted to create a low bandwidth, no frills contact manager with low entry barriers, that will spread through the viral effect. Their thinking was influenced by how people remember each other’s emails addresses- and decided that something similar might work for the mobile space in this manner. The service is meant to be free and they plan to make money through internet advertising – both web & mobile based.
I like the idea for its simplicity and because it serves a purpose. Four times out of ten, when somebody asks me for my visiting card, I don’t have it; in such cases something like Zakly makes sense. Even otherwise, I think traditional (paper) visiting cards are slowly losing some of their relevance. The information in the card gets outdated quickly as people changes jobs, mobile phones, residences so frequently these days. On many occasions, instead of looking up visiting cards, I prefer looking up somebody’s blog or online profile for finding the latest contact info- email, phone numbers etc. Zakly in that sense is a step in the direction of creating a universally accessible, always updated, centralised repository of your digital identity. And that seems to general trend these days- think of Open IDs, single sing-ons etc.
I am sure this idea will soon take over paper v-cards, especially with those with GPRS mobiles. In fact, we may see parallel growth between GPRS mobiles and use of zakly.
i think this is a great idea.. and far beyond its time in India atleat.. this can bring about a complete revolution in the way people cntact each other.. its going to be a great marketing tool for sure.. hope companies understand this pathbreaking effort and idea and start making good use of it.. all the best to dogears…
Mobile date based applications are still not fluid enough. I think they should add a sms component. If I don;t have gprs then I just sms the contact’s zakly username to a predetermined zakly number.. and I get the reply with the contact details and the contact is also added to my web addressbook.
Also, I think sooner or later, they are gonna run out of 3 letter or 4 letter usernames. Then the usernames are going to get more complicated requiring you to again print it on a card.
In China, msn or skype username is already serving this purpose. I just pass my skype id to my contacts and they get the details via my profile.
Preetam,
Your SMS idea is good and is a logical extension of the application. Hope the zakly guys are listening
yes, we are listening….Preetam’s idea makes a lot of sense
I think that is an awesome application. Saves a lot of times clicking and giving missed calls and then storing. We have tried to do something similar with online visiting cards on our website http://www.linkedzone.com Basically while visiting anybody’s profile you can simply request visiting cards. After that all those visiting cards get stored in your electronic “My Wallet” . My wallet is a online version of the wallet we carry everyday. ( without the money ! )
I love the idea for its simplicity. Pritam is right, a sms component willl definitely enhance its reach