by Jacob David

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA (RUSHPRNEWS) AUGUST 8, 2008 – A gift can open the door to anyone’s heart. What better way than to SMS it to them? Short Message Service (SMS) is not a new phenomenon, but it has gained wide applications in the recent past. From casual chat to purposeful text messaging, exchanging important information and fun facts to saving lives – emergency procedures or sending warnings of national threats to the user’s phone, this technology is gaining rapid speed in the virtual world of cell phones. Now there is an additional benefit to SMS – sending a gift voucher to your loved one anywhere across the world by a simple text message.SMS has over 2.4 billion active users, world over, of which over 78% of all users admit to sending and receiving text messages. An SMS is faster than sending an old fashioned telegram or a long e-mail. It’s a way to keep in touch with your loved one or your best friend who lives hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

Now it is possible to send a gift by MyGiftMate.com, a website that makes it easy to let your loved ones know you are thinking of them. Gifts tug at the strings of people’s hearts and lets them know that you are thinking of them. Special occasions deserve special gifts, but there does not have to be a reason to gift someone.

MyGiftMate.com, launched in May 2008 and a branch of Pay Mate Online, is the brainchild of Ajay Adiseshann. He founded Coruscant Tec, a successful mobile content developer and aggregator company. He also founded Web Resource, an online applications and design company and has a degree with broad and diversified experience in Electrical Engineering.

Pay Mate, the original startup, is a clever ingenuity on Adiseshann’s part, furthering the use of SMS, by allowing the customer to pay bills, reserve event tickets, shop online and send gifts. He is backed up by Probir Roy, co-founder and director of Pay Mate, with 15 years experience in diverse fields of technology and business operations. He also served as CEO of Euro RSCG Interactive – the world’s number one New Media company and Chief Technology Officer of Euro RSCG Advertising, India & Middle East – and also served on their Worldwide IT Board.

Pay Mate started MyGiftMate.com to facilitate monetary and gift remittances across international borders. It has climbed to Asia’s Top 100 successful startup companies since its inception since May 2006. It has remained in the top 100 Asian businesses as noted by Red Herring, a media company based in California which focuses exclusively on companies making notable strides in technology. On December 3, 2007, Pay Mate announced its expansion into USA and Canada.

Pay Mate has garnered exclusive points for being original, highly innovative and being the first company to help people become truly connected in a global sense. Dhruv Singh, the VP of Pay Mate operations for USA, took office in October 2007, is using all his International Marketing and Business Developmental skills in making people see how truly revolutionary this SMS technology can really be in connecting relatives and colleagues. Dhruv Singh was previously Director of Worldwide Business Development at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). “NRI’s living in India and Canada can now send Gift Mate vouchers instantly to their friends and family in India.” says Singh.

Pay Mate, an online entity that helps people in India pay their bills using their cell phone with SMS alerts, that serve as reminders, went a step further by enrolling 3,000 online merchants and the growing repertoire of offline merchants and opening MyGiftMate.com, an exclusively online branch that has merchants with gifts of all shapes and sizes imaginable – from books, to music CDs, DVDs, apparel, travel tickets, holiday booking, flowers, as well as sending actual gift vouchers in varied dollar amounts just by an SMS.

Gift Mate is much more versatile than traditional money transfer companies. The recipient can spend the gift voucher at several merchants at any given time. In addition to merchants, several banks including the Bank of Ceylon, have registered with Pay Mate to help customers pay bills using their cell phones. Gift Mate however goes a step further by actually helping people send gift vouchers.

The gifting process is simple. You register with Pay Mate which automatically qualifies you to shop with any of their validated online or offline merchants. While registering, you can assign your bank or credit card account and the amount for the gift voucher will be debited accordingly from the account you specify. You then get to choose a dynamic alpha code with a four digit pin which helps you send unlimited gift vouchers at total discretion to your loved ones in India. This procedure is convenient, safe and secure, and easy to use. You can SMS the gift voucher to your loved one in India who will be able to use the gift voucher along with the code supplied at the thousands of offline and online merchants. A complete list of merchants is also available at MyGiftMate.com.

India presently has the fastest growing cell phone market with over 120 million users with 6 to 8 million new subscribers being added to this number every month. Carrying cash or credit cards will not be a necessity for shopping anymore as all gift voucher information is securely stored on the cell phone accessible only by the MyGiftMate.com user. This also ensures ID theft protection as well as credit card security. Carrying cash-in-a-cell phone has never sounded a better idea.

Gift Mate is highly selective of the merchants they validate by making sure that their businesses are genuine, and their products are of high standard and quality. Many online and offline merchants are now getting on board this novel way of shopping – using simple SMS technology. It gives them an added alternative to grow and expand their business through cell phone technology, to add new virtual shoppers to their existing data base and encourages them to stock new inventory. All this means one thing to the customer – unlimited possibilities in the world by cell phone shopping.

VP Dhruv Singh says: “Gift Mate is free to send, receive, and use. Gift Mate vouchers are delivered instantly and recipients are free to shop for a gift of their choice. It is a great option to send small denomination gifts, very much like we use gift cards in this country. However, it is important to note that Gift Mate cannot be converted to cash.”

To power this growth, Tata Indicom, a leading mobile solutions provider in India, with a 21 million customer base in 4,000 towns across 20 states, has joined hands with Pay Mate to make all transactions successful in real time. This will make shopping by cell phone a raving technology of the present.

“Pay Mate is building a network of platform and services that enable simple, secure, and convenient payments between individuals, person-to-person (P2P) and between consumers and businesses (B2C),” says Singh. “The Pay Mate network of platform and services has universal appeal. Expect to see more announcements from Pay Mate in the coming months as it builds out its network and goes more main stream.”

“MyGiftMate.com has all the ingredients to be a staple of the connected NRI,” says Shabbir Evershine of Evershine Group, a South-Asian and Middle-Eastern marketing and consumer behavior consulting firm. “It is instant, secure, and readily accepted. More and more people in India have cell phones and Gift Mate allows people in US and Canada to ‘text gifts’ to their loved ones and colleagues in India.”

Pay Mate is funneling over nine million dollars (USD) in various stages into promotions and business development – focusing intently on achieving a superior platform of technology by enhancing security and advanced ease of features for all mobile users. Pay Mate and Gift Mate is setting its sights on providing services globally, not just limiting it to Asian Americans.

For now, NRI’s living in India and Canada can now send Gift Mate vouchers to their friends and family in India instantly and securely. For a limited time, MyGiftMate.com is running a special where customers can send a Rs. 250 gift voucher for free to try the service (limit 1 per customer). Sign up at MyGiftMate.com and send somebody a smile – via SMS.