I don’t know anything more about it than you do but apparently a UK organization is allowing you do get condoms via SMS. Introducing condomtext.com. Users will be able to send a text message to a shortcode which in return will said a PSMS message in return. What that will say I do not know but one hopes it wishes you have a good time and to be safe. The text message that you get back will cover the cost of the condoms and their postage which will be around around 150 pence per msg which has a maximum of three (condoms and messages). The service is not launched yet.
The goal is to make it easier to get condoms for those who may find it a hassle and ask for a box of French Ticklers or rasberry flavored ones.
The reason… “technical obstacles.” What those are Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom wont say. I guess the example Rafe found was an Alpha Alpha Symbian version. For now if you really want Skype wherever you go you will have to get a Windows Mobile device.
But Symbian and Windows are less than 10 percent of the phones sold out there (and even less in the US market). Skype really needs to get themselves on all the other phones out there…
So the question really is, is this a problem of Skypes or is the moment just not ready yet. Like mobile video star-ups that tried to enter the arena 2 years ago the time is just not right yet. If the hardware is not ready yet because the people are not ready yet then perhaps Skype should just concentrate on higher end phones like Symbian and Windows and Palm (whatever their new OS may be) and wait for the inevitable trickling down of those mobile OS’s. I would imagine at least, in the case of Symbian, this wont take long.
That is f course that when all is said and done the carriers don’t just block Skype traffic from running on their networks and on WiFi phones that are sold with them branded onto it. Which their non-net-neutricality infrastructure is set up to do nicely and which is in their right as Skype would take traffic away from their calling plans. But perhaps this is an inevitability that the carriers will have to deal with as well.
In case you have not heard, the MVNO ESPN Mobile is [add your own ‘giving up’ sports metaphor here]. ESPN Mobile’s parent company Disney announced today that they are putting a halt to ESPN Mobile’s current MVNO practices and will be “revamping” the entire operation to cater the services to already existing carriers. The call to axe the MVNO operations also came from Merrill Lynch already asked Disney to pull the plug in a research note published back in July estimating that MobileESPN had only snagged 30,000 of the 240,000 anticipated subscribers since its Superbowl launch representing a loss of some $135 million. No surprise, really.
I always thought something was up when I noticed that the MVNO side of ESPN was working separate from the already existing “Wireless” part of ESPN in what seemed like trying to get the best of both worlds. I guess they just realized that they should have started out with their original idea of providing wireless services through the carriers.
The ESPN Mobile website has a letter explaining that services will end December 31st 2006 and work to deliver the same content through “another nationwide carrier.” My guess is that it will be Sprint since that was the carrier the MVNO was ridding on the back of.
ESPN Mobile is even refunding the 500 dollar handset after which people could use it as a paper wait or add it to their sport memorabilia.
For what its worth, James at Moconews (link above) makes a good point in the fact that Disney did not even give their MVNO a year. the debate about whether the move is premature will go on, with many leaning towards no. I see many case studies in the future.
Heard of Alarm.com? Alarm.com is a leading provider of wireless, Web-enabled interactive security and monitoring system technology. It’s a company that provides completely wireless security monitoring for anything from your house, to your office, to your yacht. I don’t have a yacht, but maybe one day soon. Alarm.com allows customers the ability to monitor and control their security systems remotely through the Web, and receive real-time text-messages and e-mail alerts that keep them informed of all types of activity on their property, not just alarms. They can even control lights with the click of a mouse button.
The monitoring can be done online as well as through updates to a cell-phone or blackberry. The alert system runs off a WifI connection. With VoIP starting to replace LAN lines in homes and offices, current security systems that utilize LAN lines will, Alarm.com claims, be rendered useless. The idea is that Alarm.com will provide the solution to this problem.
Snap a photo. Send it to PhotoCrank. Get the picture back personalized with captions etc. Share with your family and friends. At least that is what it says on the PhotoCrank website. Various captions get added based on the email address you send the picture to.
So taking a picture and sending it to golddigger@photocrank.com will cause a picture like the following to be sent back to your phone. The whole shebang will cost you 30 cents billed directly by your carrier… that is if you can remember the plethora of email addresses and their corresponding caption.
I think that PhotoCrank definitely has a future but I still prefer applications like Comeks which has a bunch of captions and editing options directly on my phone and is, most importantly, free.
Oliver had a great post on MobileCrunch about YouMail, an application soon to be launched on Verizon, Cingular and T-Mobile all at once. Simply put YouMail your outgoing voice mail message so that it is different - and personalized - for each different caller. So your crazy sick humored best friend will get a different voice mail message then say your mother and your boss.
Youmail even has a feature called “Ditch Mail” which plays a message and then hangs up, not allowing the designated person to leave a message. Great for ex-girlfriends.
My only question is… why was this not already made available by the carriers.
Not that I need it but the clever gentleman over at Drop In Media (a company that has done a plethora of cool mobile campaigns, including Lallapalooza, and is damn good at it) has put the power of their programming to the test by creating “Tough-Ass-Coach” a robotic coach that delivers the motivation you need to work out directly to your cell phone via SMS. That way he or she will find you wherever you are. There is no escaping it lazy one!
You can choose between a soft-spoken coach or one with a little more… attitude. You can even get a 15 minute workout sent to you each morning. Messages are limited to four a day.
The coaching cost a dollar day and can be stopped at anytime.
All in all a great introduction of some of the things Drop In Media can do.
Emily over at Textually is reporting that AskMeNow has pumped up their public relations and is now getting serious about their text messaging answering service by promoting it on prime time with two different TV spots. . I must admit that AskMeNow’s AskMeAnything feature is one of my favorite things to do with SMS. Its rather simple really, text ANY question… I mean any question to the shortcode 27563 and you will receive a text message almost immediately. I was demonstrating it to a friend yesterday and he had a really clever question so here is an example:
Question: Were there paper airplanes before there were airplanes and if so what were they called.
Answer: No, flying models of fixed wing aircrafts were being tested as early as 1803. Jack Northrop invented paper airplanes in 1930
While answers may be distributable and not always accurate they can still point you in the right direction and win you a bet with your drunk friends at a bar. And it will only cost you 25 cents, billed directly to phone bill. AskmeNow claims that they get the answers from a wide array of content sources from all across the Internet who help then to quickly find the answers and information that users desire. According to Walt Mossberg “the company employs real people who sit at computers in the Philippines, furiously researching the Internet (using data from content partnerships) trying to respond to your queries within three minutes.”
The first time I cam across a service like this was actually in London where a friend and I used a similar UK service called 82ASK to settle a dispute about the word “Soccer” while getting knackered at a pub. I was glad to find ASKMENOW when I got back Stateside although it ruined my flight home brainstorm of launching 82ASK here in the States. I am curious if there is any connection between the two services. 82ASK won a 3GSM award in 2005.
AskMeNow goes a little bit beyond 82ASK though and provides a downloadable cell phone application that allows users to tap ASKMENOW’s database of information. With this service users can users can get quick and easy access to 411 listings, Weather, Movie Times, Sports Scores, Directions, Horoscopes, Flight Information, Stock Quotes and more—all from their cell phone. And all, for the most part, for free. Plus, with the AskMeAnything feature, users can ask virtually any question—from trivia and homework help to history and unusual facts—and receive an answer, not links, in return.
And no, AskMeNow will not answer questions that they deem inappropriate. And questions of taste will be answered based on research on opinions but will not always be answered. Popular questions such as “What is the meaning of Life” are data-based already so expect to get a quirky answer like “the meaning of life is a Monty Python film filmed in the late 70’s and according to Douglas Adams its 42.”
I don’t know anything more about it than you do but apparently a UK organization is allowing you do get condoms via SMS. Introducing condomtext.com. Users will be able to send a text message to a shortcode which in return will said a PSMS message in return. What that will say I do not know but one hopes it wishes you have a good time and to be safe. The text message that you get back will cover the cost of the condoms and their postage which will be around around 150 pence per msg which has a maximum of three (condoms and messages). The service is not launched yet.
