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.
Watch: Interview: Inventor of Mobile ‘Check In’- Neeraj Jhanji
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.
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