Truecaller aims 150 mn user base, launches SMS app in India

Aiming to double its user base in India, Scandinavian IT firm Truecaller today launched a mobile application, Truemessenger, that will help the users in identifying the sender of an SMS.
"India is our biggest market. It is just a thanks giving gesture for India that we are launching Truemessenger first here on Android platform. After a week, we will expand it to other geographies," Truecaller co-founder and CEO Alan Mamedi told reporters at the launch event.
Globally, Truecaller has about 150 million user of its mobile applications which informs its users about the name of the person making phone calls even if the number is not saved in the phone.

"In India, we have 80 million users and plan to take it to 150 million by end of this year," Truecaller Country Manager and Vice President for Growth and Partnerships in Asia, Kari Krishnamurthy said.
Like Truecaller application, the Truemessenger helps identifying name of sender of SMS. It even alerts its users about spam SMSes and provides options to block them.
"We identify a spam message if the same sender sends messages to 100-200 Truecaller customers and accordingly marks an alert," Mamedi said.

Talking about revenue, he said that the company plans to moentise its application by end of this year and the revenue model is yet to be worked out.

Krishnamurthy said the company has been focusing on user's experience and enhancing user base.
"We have also removed advertisements to enhance user experience. It will be disappointing if we don't achieve 150 million user base in India," he said.
Truecaller has a small team of 10 people in India which it plans to double this year, Krishnamurthy said.