Indian Startup MoFirst to Launch Regional-Language Smartphones by March

Indian technology start-up MoFirst has plans to launch regional-language based smartphones, with patented technology that allows users to change languages with just a swipe, across India by March 2015.

"Language is one of biggest barriers that prevents people from using mobile phone functions exhaustively. We have launched and tested response to smartphones that supports Gujarati language. By March 2015, we will launch phones for all regional languages," MoFirst Solutions Co-founder and CEO Rakesh Deshmukh told PTI.

The company, founded in December 2008, has developed smartphones under the brand name Firstouch, which features the company's patent technology of translation and transliteration from English to regional language and vice-versa.

"Our swipe technology helps customer to communicate in regional as well as in English even if they don't know one of these languages. A message typed in regional language can be translated to English by swiping finger left to right and transliterated by swiping finger right to left," Deshmukh said.

(Also see: Are Indian Languages Ready to Replace English Online?)

He said that customers have the option to keep the entire menu of the phones in the regional language, as well as the application store.

The company has plans to launch the Firstouch phones in Hindi and Marathi language in July, Tamil, Telegu and Bengali by September; Kannada and Malayalam by November, and the rest of the regional languages by March 2015.

"We will launch 10 models of Firstouch Regional Smartphones in price bracket Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 12,500 in next one year. By the end of March 2015, we want to be present all over India," Deshmukh said.