After diet SMS, Tata Docomo is set to strengthen its value added services (VAS) kitty further with the introduction of ?comix-on-the-go? service.

?Comix-on-the-go is a unique innovation in mobile content wherein users will be able to read full comics books on the mobile along with special effects like character vibration, sounds, zooming text bubbles which magnify the blurbs for better reading, and above all downloads smoothly on a 2.5 edge network,? said Zubin Jimmy Dubash, assistant vice-precident (VAS-new products), Tata Teleservices Ltd. The service provides an experience similar to Amazon?s book-reader, Kindle.

?Comix-on-the-go? supports two ways of viewing books, scroll view and picture-story view, depending on the features of the content to be delivered. For bringing in this content, Tata Docomo has partnered with Japan-based Zero-Sum Wireless Solutions. This service is available at Rs 20 per comic book and will remain valid for a year. The comic book content available on the Tata?s mobile portal ranges to about 2000 titles from the mythological tales to Amar Chitra Katha, Mickey Mouse to Winnie the Pooh.

After the per-second billing, the company is now working on differentiating its offerings in terms of customised tariffs. This would not only retain its subscriber base but also help the company to churn in subscribers from the competition. ?Docomo stands for innovation and technology and Tata stands for trust. With this strong brand name and the quality of services and innovations, we will build up a huge and strong subscriber ecosystem,? said Dubash.

?Comix-on-the-go? application is available on all the Java and Symbian supported handsets. The company is also bringing in compression technology so as to penetrate this service from high and mid-tier devices to lower-end handsets of series 40 (Nokia series) and gradually will cover the entire range of GPRS enabled handsets in the market. ?We have 45% of our current subscriber base on GPRS enabled Java capable handsets, which is the addressable market for us for this product,? Dubash added.