Mobile instant messaging and VoIP company Nimbuzz has now started offering location based advertising on mobile phones in India through its application. According to Nimbuzz, the app makes use of GPS on the device, to locate the user and based on that location, the user gets advertisements in his Nimbuzz profile. The company claims that advertisements on the users' Nimbuzz profile are going to be relevant to their surroundings and lifestyle. If GPS data is not available, Nimbuzz will collect location information from the cell ID data of mobile network. However, it clarified that location sharing is an opt-in process for the users. On use of personal data: Nimbuzz collects personal data including contact details (name, address, telephone, mobile, email address etc.) and profile data (age, sex, pastimes, etc.) while registering for a Nimbuzz profile and it intends to use the same information for targeted advertising. According to Nimbuzz, advertisers would benefit since Nimbuzz would offer a much focused target audience and claims to provide a better ROI as advertisers have to pay only on the basis of the number of ads clicked by the user, and since the ads are targeted on the basis of relevance to the user, their chances of getting clicked are on the higher side. Nimbuzz' IM application is available across all major platforms such as Symbian, iPhone, iPod touch, Android, BlackBerry, J2ME, as well as on Windows and Mac desktop computers and enables users to enjoy free chatting, mobile calls, video calls, video-chatting, instant messaging, and social networking…
