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Updating a status message, ‘checking-in’ into our favourite places on Facebook has become an integral part of our lives these days. But not many know that what we think that Facebook created was actually first patented by an Indian.
Meet Neeraj Jhanji, he invented mobile check-in, status updates, location-based marketing and founded ImaHima, the world’s first mobile social networking service in Tokyo in 1999.
The ImaHima patents were acquired by Facebook in 2013. More than a billion smartphone users use mobile check-in and status updates daily on various services like Facebook, Twitter and Google.
Neeraj was born in New Delhi and did his BS in Electrical Engineering from Delhi university in 1993. He then completed his MBA in International Business from University of Hawaii in 1995.
In 2014, Neeraj founded a mobile applications company in Singapore called Tinker Pte Ltd. Tinker’s new product is Pasteasy.
Q. Not many people know but the check-in, status updates and location based marketing were actually a brain child of an Indian. What’s the story behind this and Neeraj Jhanji?
A. The year was 1999. For the first time, the world was beginning to see internet-capable phones — there were only 1 million of them, mostly in Japan. I was in Tokyo wondering if any of my friends were nearby since I didn’t want to have lunch alone. “The phone knows where I am, so it knows where my friends are; why doesn’t it tell me?”, I wondered. A powerful idea was born. “Let me ask users where they are and what they are doing. I will call this a status update”, I thought. So, I named the mobile social network ImaHima, which is Japanese for “are you free now?”. Using ImaHima users can update their status (location, activity, mood etc) and share it with friends. Friends can receive push notifications or view the feed on the mobile site. The service rapidly gained adoption and grew to 500,000 users in no time. Over the next decade mobile social networking took over the world, with over 2 billion users using mobile social networking services today. Later I sold my patents to Facebook.
Q. What happened to ImaHima?
A. ImaHima was a pioneering idea ahead of its time. Almost a decade later, the iPhone was launched. ImaHima’s patents were eventually acquired by Facebook.
Q. Your new venture Tinker has been making a lot of waves in the enterprise space, with Pasteasy (paste-easy) already out what’s next?
A. Tinker is my garage for experimenting with new ideas which can be turned into new ventures. The vision is to collaborate with fellow tech entrepreneurs creating innovative mobile products and spin-off ventures.
Pasteasy is a mobile app exploring the possibilities in the area of proximity sharing. If I want to move a photo from my phone to my computer next to it, why do I have to send it all the way across the internet? So with Pasteasy you can simply copy and paste photos/videos from your phone to your computer. Or text/music/documents from your computer to your phone. Pasteasy makes digital life easy.
I am also inventing patented technologies for ultra low-power heart rate sensors for smart watches, fitness and medical devices under another venture called BioBit. Heart disease is a big issue — my father passed away due to a heart attack — partly the reason why I swim everyday. Using these power efficient technologies, the battery life of these heart rate sensors can be extended up to 10 times.
Q. My Space, Hi5 and Orkut, each product had a life span, how long do you think will it take for something to overtake Facebook and Twitter?
A. Within 3-5 years, there will be several paradigm shifts that will create opportunities for nimble new start-ups to challenge the larger entrenched incumbents. Human ambition, ingenuity and history show that creative innovation is inevitable.
Q. What are your thoughts about the future of social media?
A. Today social media has become very distracting, privacy has become an issue, and social values are eroding. I want to promote technologies that can restore productivity and let humans become better humans instead of ego-hungry information junkies. I want to once again invent something that changes the world.
Q. Apart from being a “technologist” what are the other things that keep you busy in life?
A. I love swimming, water sports, flying and learning from world cultures.