I have been wanting to blog about the Palo Alto startup Mozes for some time now but my busy life style over the past couple of weeks did not provide me with the necessary time to give this amazing technological service the time it deserves. I first introduced to Mozes by Vice President of customer experience Aaron Clark at the Politics Online conference in which he spoke on a panel concerning mobile technology and political advocacy. Aaron was actually a last minute addition, taking over for Oliver Starr who, being wowed by Mozes earlier, recommended that someone from the company take his place when he had to back out at the last minute from speaking. I had the privilege of meeting up with Aaron and the other panelists a day before there actual panel begun. When Aaron began explaining what Mozes did a glaze fell over our eyes, at least that is the way he explains it which actually may not be to far from the truth… Mozes is one of those wonderfully simple “god why did I not think of that” applications that is at the same time, because of its simplicity, hard to explain in words. But once the other panelists and myself got the live demo in the hustle and bustle of a catering hall getting ready for the award ceremony and cocktail hour of the days event, we where all easily floored and knocked off our feet. I could not get enough. I asked for more examples. So, I will to everything I can to try and explain it to the best of my ability but I also strongly recommend trying it out for yourself via the various examples that you will find throughout and at the end of this post all of which I have been assured are up and running. This is a product of which actions really do speak louder than words.

Officially launched in Beta 3 weeks ago during the SXSW music festival, Mozes is, simply put, an amazing mobile bookmaker that puts the information of the world quite literally at our finger tips allowing one to “see it, text it, save it” as it were. The concept is wonderfully simple. Text a registered keyword or other information like an ISBN number to the short code 66937 (MOZES) and go about the rest of the day. First off, shortly after sending off the SMS, you will receive one in return with more information if its relevant. But that is not all, when you get to a PC and sign into your Mozes account, your keywords are there. with more information, waiting for you to turn your offline rendezvous into real online experiences and connections. You can even get the information forwarded to an email account.

Mozes and its CEO Dorrian Porter have already made some important connections with companies like Amazon.Com (which allows you to SMS an ISBN number to bookmark the book as well as recieve for info) and O’Reilly Media which used the technology at its Make Magazine’s Maker Faire in April as a way for individuals to get more information about a person or project they saw there. At SXSW I met up with Mozes employee Andy Stack who was promoting Mozes Beta release by telling people to text the keyword SXSW to 66937 as well as helping connect fans to participating bands by allowing a fan to text the bandname to 66937 and receive an SMS back with band info as well as the usual online bookmark that allows the fan access to more online material once his or her hangover wears off To experience some of the bands that set themselves up to use Mozes on the road try it out yourself and text “lzlove” or “uncleearl” to 66937. I also know of one Mozes employee who has allowed his real estate broker to use Mozes to help sell his and other houses by instructing passer-bys to txt a keyword to the Mozes short-code in order to receive more information about the home as well as further contact information.

Mozes even has some kick-ass deals with radio stations around the country that allow you to text in the name of the radio station to the Mozes short-code which will in turn send you back the name of both the artist as well as the song currently playing as well as links to full lyrics and places to buy or download the album. You will never have to ask what the hell that song is playing on the radio or who the hell sings it again. They are also doing similar stuff with television starting with the hip CurrentTV.

But the truly great thing about Mozes is that anyone can do it. Eventually, anyone who signs up for Mozes gets one free keyword that can send up to 1000 a certain amount of free messages making Mozes the first company ever to democratize the mobile playing field. For those that have not read my article on SMS fundraising (or do not know what a short is) a short code is a special telephone number, shorter than a full telephone number, that is specifically designed to address SMS and MMS messages from mobile phones and they are extremely expensive ranging anywhere from $500 to $1000 dollars a month. With Mozes you do not have to go through the hassle of dealing with the carriers or third party vendors for a simple word of mouth campaign, they have done that already… just sign up and start using, let Mozes do the rest. In short (and pun intended) Mozes parts the Red Sea of cost and hassle that has prevented a plethora of opportunities from entering the mobile marketplace and now makes it possible for anyone to start their own mobile campaign for whatever the venue and or cause.

If you are reading what I am writing then you are getting the idea. Mozes connects the phone to the internet without waiting for the phone to become a internet solution turning your mobile phone into a personal remote that enables you to ubiquitously request information.It thus allows online actions and connections to take place at anytime and at anyplace with or without an internet connection at the moment one is inspired to do so and, most importantly, with the stuff that matters most to you, whether it be music, film, television sports politics, a product whatever… For a marketer, it is a great way of using mobile SMS technology as a marketing tool while at the same time enabling a future online relationship later on, where content can be easier linked to and played with. For the mobile user it makes sure you don’t forget what you wanted to know when you wanted to know it and for the marketer, well, it makes sure that you mobile customers just don’t forget.

To try Mozes for yourself. Text the keyword “MOpocket” to 66937 (Mozes). After or before receiving an SMS reply from me you will, if you do not yet have a Mozes account, receive a text message from Mozes providing you with a confirmation passcode needed to sign up for an account. After receiving the pass-code go to Mozes.com and enter your mobile telephone number and the passcode in the area that says “First time users log on here.” Once you are logged in you should find a MOpocket bookmark in your Mozes acount which means that you are ready to roll! Have fun. The possibilities are endless.

Technorati Tags: currenttv, dorrian, lz love, mobile, mozes, o’reilly, palo alto, radio, sms, uncleearl

This entry was posted on Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 7:46 am and is filed under Mobile Applications, SMS/TXT/MMS, Youth, Political Pocket. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.