Tigertext, a new application from the apple stable, helps you clear all those Surreptitious smses you sent, from the receiver's handset. FYI finds out if Mumbai;s ready for it

We've allu00a0 heard that famousu00a0 fable a mighty tiger left pugmarks all over the place and out came the greatest sporting scandal of the decade. If only those humiliating text messages swapped between Tiger Woods and his mistresses could have committed virtual hara-kiri. Thanks to TigerText, now they can.

TigerText, aptly named after its muse, (though its creators deny it) is an application which gives a text message sender the freedom to set its life span. Plainly speaking, once a time duration has been set, the message erases itself, leaving absolutely no trace of its existence.

Launched in America a fortnight ago and available only on iPhone and iPod Touch, to be followed by Blackberry, it's yet to make an appearance in Mumbai. But that hasn't stopped Mumbai's tech-savvy from getting all excited about it.

Already ringing alarm bells

"I already hate it,"declares housewife Sweta Arya. "To put a check on him, I go through my husband's phone everyday while he is in the shower. But God forbid, if such a technology reaches his hands, I won't be able to spy on him. I will be reduced to a powerless housewife," she laments.

3 Advertising Professionals Debate Tiger Over Tea

This service should be taken up by mobile service providers to erase marketing messages they floor our inboxes with.u00a0 Raji Menon, 27

Wow! This is yet another example of good technology that will be put to wrong use. Ganesh Kshirsagar, 33

I don't really see the need for this application because I'm very particular about the messages I send. But it would do good to erase the hard-hitting ones I send my husband when we fight, so that once we are sorted, there's no trace of bitterness. Manjusha Kulkarni, 28

"This is another example of good technology that will be put to wrong use," says Ganesh Kshirsagar, an Advertising professional. "Trust and faith in my marriage mean that I wouldn't really find the need to use such an application.

But I'm sure it's going to be a huge hit because people would want to buy it for illicit purposes."
Clinical psychologist and relationship expert Dr Pallavi Barthakur Gilaniu00a0 believes such technology does affect relationships in the long run.
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"While it might be convenient for a cheater to keep his or her illicit relationship in wraps, every relationship requires some kind of transparency. The messages can be erased but not the guilt," she rightly points out.

Teens all gung-ho

But carefree teenagers, devoid of the worry of long-term relationships, are already rejoicing.

"I would definitely subscribe to the technology if it comes to India. Then, I can leave my cellphone around without au00a0 care, not worrying that my mom'll be reading my boyfriend's mushy texts," says student Sahila Kundra.

Nirali Shah (name changed on request), a 19-year-old, has plans to visit a mobile phone dealer. "I doubt it's available already but I'm too excited about it and just want to find out when it will be here.

I wouldn't mind investing my pocket money on it as long as it helps me protect my relationship with my boy from my parents. I'm sure many my age would think so too," she says.

Another 16-year-old, Simi Khanna, has been checking TigerText's website (www. tigertext.com) constantly. "I think it's really cool because then my sister and I can sometimes borrow each other's phone without leaving any residue of our chats with our boyfriends," she reasons.
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But it might not be an easy task for TigerText to set foot in India. "If we are talking about deleting messages even from a server, it might present security threats.

Unless we study it properly, the security of the country cannot be compromised," says DK Agarwal, technology advisor at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

For more info, log on to http://www.tigertext.com/