Jalebis and samosas for Diwali? If that is too cliche, how about a Shahrukh Khan haircut?
Youngsters, especially from small towns in India are exchanging gifts that go beyond the traditional sweets and dry-fruits, all in the virtual world of mobile phones.
What began as a trend of sending e-greetings over the Internet has over the years expanded to include a variety of virtual goods such as games, crackers, sweets and even avatars that can be gifted though a variety of social media applications.
"Young people in the age of 16 to around 30 years, especially in small towns are not able to easily access the various good available in bigger cities so they look towards virtual gifts they can share, says Mohit Gundecha who heads mig33, a mobile community launched in 2005 that delivers communications and social entertainment to over 40 million users.
The community lets users download gifts priced between Rs5 to Rs50 and gift them to others. Also, users can dress up their virtual avatars in festive, clothes, shoes, dress up themselves with unique hairstyles etc.
For women there are several options in lehenga, sarees and various jewellery items and accessories and for men the apparel range consists of kurta pyjama and sherwani, and jootis or sandals.
Community members can also crackers and light up candles and diyas online or even light up the background of a temple.
"Members can engage in vibrant chat communities, share photos, play games, post on each others profiles create avatars and much more. It is optimised to work on practically any Internet enabled mobile phone in India, even low-end handsets," says Gundecha.
Many Indians who are living outside the country such as native Gujaratis in Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa, as well as south Indians in the Gulf area connect with locals in their hometowns through the application.
Globally the virtual goods market is pegged at over US$ 10 billion.
"In 2009, the US market was about US$ 1 billion and we estimate a conservative US$ 7 billion for Asia," says Gundecha.
