Dhingana, which offers a free service for streaming Bollywood and other Indian music, said today that its mobile apps have been downloaded 3.5 million times. And the company is hoping to reach an even broader audience with the launch of its mobile website.
Through the mobile site, Dhingana said users will be able to listen to its library of more than 500,000 songs in 38 Indian languages, and also access existing playlists. The one major feature that’s missing is the ability to create playlists directly from the mobile web — that’s supposed to come later this quarter, the company said.
The app is already available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia, so Dhingana could hardly be faulted for focusing on a single platform. However, CEO and co-founder Snehal Shinde said the vast majority of India’s mobile Internet usage still occurs on feature phones. For example, Jana Mobile points to an estimate by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that puts the total number of “web capable phones” in India at 406.8 million (other estimates are more conservative), while there are only 24 million smartphones. So there’s a big opportunity for reaching any Internet-connected phone.
Dhingana was founded in 2007. Last year it launched an ad platform and also raised a $7 million Series B led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.