Fed up of spam SMSes? One city-based entrepreneur has the solution. Sagar Bedmutha’s Optinno Mobitech has developed an application which blocks 95% spam SMSes. This innovative application, recognised as one of the best by Nasscom and Nokia, is already being used by about 70,000 users across 110
countries.
The SMS blocker will be showcased at Innovations 2011, an annual event to showcase novel ideas in practice, organised by the Pune chapter of the IIT Bombay Alumni Association, in the city on Saturday. Brought up in Osmanabad with a degree from Raigad, Bedmutha carved a niche for himself in the world of mobile technology. He filed for his first patent for developing a device to lift small cars at the age of 19 and got it after four years.
Bedmutha moved to Pune and worked in Citigroup and HSBC bank. A passionate innovator, he then launched his own company.Without the user specifying which SMSes should be blocked, the application, called smsBlocker, detects and blocks spam messages. The application, which costs Rs199, identifies and distinguishes between a spam and an important alert message and automatically blocks only spam SMSes.
The application, which can be purchased from www.smsblocker.in, needs to be renewed only if the user changes the handset. It is displayed at Nokia Ovi store. It is shortlisted by Nokia as the best application among other applications from India.
“Once installed, our application automatically detects spam SMSes and blocks them. For other such applications available in the market, the user has to specify which SMSes should be blocked. Besides we have added other interesting features too,” said Bedmutha, who is a mechanical engineer.
It took 18 months for his team to develop the application which was launched in July 2010 and got 1,000 users for initial version. “We then conducted a survey of the users to see the result. They said they had got rid of 95% of spam messages. The prestigious Top App Awards from Forum Nokia and Nasscom helped us reach customers overseas. These top-level awards just validate the innovative abilities of Optinno,” added Bedmutha.
The number of messages blocked can be seen on the cellphone’s screen. If the user wishes to receive certain messages which are being blocked as spam, the application allows it through trust sender list. The messages with certain words can be blocked through ‘Filter Content’. A block list can also be created by the user.
The other features include Hinglish spam blocking, SMS preview, single-click-block from cellphone screen. Bedmutha’s earlier innovation, mobi-watchman, too has been widely acclaimed. It is useful for blocking unwanted calls.
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