SAN DIEGO, Oct. 9, 2003- Mobile messaging is greatly impacting how society interacts and communicates. While person-to-person messaging will continue to drive messaging activity, more profound and robust applications are emerging as text messaging becomes more ubiquitous. Michael Pousti, chairman and chief executive of wireless communications company SMS.ac, Inc. (www.sms.ac/corporate), recently discussed this topic with other wireless industry leaders at Global Mobile 2003 (www.sms.ac/globalmobile).
"It is amazing to see how many compelling applications people can create for even a basic technology like text messaging," said Pousti. "Youth, especially in Europe and Asia, have been using SMS for fun and flirting for years. But now, we are seeing the technology utilized to support crucial services including politics, law enforcement and health care."
Text messaging (SMS) and multimedia messaging (MMS) are being used with more regularity, and not merely for letting your friend know, "IM going 2B L8" ("I am going to be late"). Societal pillars, including the political process, are now getting a boost from text messaging.
"Both grassroots efforts and major political campaigns are using SMS to get the word out to constituents, including the get-out-the-vote campaign to elect South Korean president, Roh Moo-hynu," continued Pousti. "Other countries have already run trials with voting via text messaging and it is proving to be an effective method for increasing voter participation."
Nearly two-thirds of 43,276 SMS.ac members who responded to a recent poll on the topic said they would be more likely to participate in an election if they could use their mobile phone to vote.
"Technology is playing an increasingly significant role in the political process," said Dr. Shanto Iyengar, director of the Political Communication Lab (http://pcl.stanford.edu) and professor of political science and communication at Stanford University. "Text messaging has the potential to reach out and engage large numbers of people, including segments of the population that might not otherwise be involved."
The dependability of SMS systems makes it a very attractive method of communicating in the event of a disaster. During recent blackouts in the U.S., text messaging continued to operate effectively, while in contrast, mobile calls were dropped or altogether unavailable. Text messaging requires much less network bandwidth than a voice call.
SMS.ac (www.sms.ac) is host to the world's largest mobile community - approximately 10 million registered users in more than 200 countries. A variety of applications are available at the company's community website, SMS.ac, including smsClubs (www.sms.ac/clubs). smsClubs give members the opportunity to participate in group discussions with hundreds or thousands of people concurrently via text messaging. The groups are usually tied by a common interest, goal or need. smsClubs can be set up so that anyone is able to send messages to the entire membership, or so that messaging rights are restricted to only one or more specified members.
"It is very rewarding to see smsClubs around the world actively used to improve people's lives," said Pousti. "For example, text messaging is being deployed to reduce credit card fraud in Brazil and carjacking in South Africa. Messaging is also being utilized in Amsterdam to send the hearing impaired alerts at the same time firefighters set off the city's disaster siren. And in the U.K., the hearing impaired use SMS to initiate police emergency services.
"I am certain we will see the emergence of more applications like these," added Pousti. "They provide invaluable user experiences and consumers are demonstrating a real passion for them. In an SMS.ac online poll, an astounding 84% of over 42,000 respondents said they want authorities to send an alert to their mobile phone in case of emergency."
Individuals and organizations alike are leveraging text messaging to improve health service, to inspire religious and spiritual groups, and to assist farmers. An in-depth exploration of these and other mobile applications took place at Global Mobile 2003, the world's premier wireless communications conference, held in San Diego September 24-26, 2003. This year's Global Mobile theme was: "The Search for the Killer App."
"It's anyone's guess as to how innovative people will become and what amazing applications are yet to be unveiled. Once mobile operators properly incent developers, opening their billing platforms to allow third-party integration, the sky is the limit," concluded Pousti.
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About SMS.ac
SMS.ac, Inc. is a wireless communications company whose proprietary MMSbox technology enables the exchange of text (SMS) and multimedia (MMS) mobile communications across any technology platform and deliverable to any enabled wireless device. A demonstration of MMSbox technology is available at www.sms.ac. With approximately 10 million registered users in 220 countries, SMS.ac is host to the largest mobile community in the world, offering connectivity to more than 400 mobile networks worldwide. Through its core MMSbox(tm) technologies, SMS.ac, Inc. enables interoperable, worldwide wireless interaction between network operators, the Internet, enterprises, consumers and application/content developers. Through its global initiatives, SMS.ac is igniting the widespread adoption and use of wireless data.
SMS.ac derives revenues through shared revenue relationships with mobile operators around the world. Revenues are also realized from mobile advertisements, technology licensing, subscriptions, sponsorships and other streams. SMS.ac's consumer site (www.sms.ac) is an example of the brandable web interfaces to MMSbox(tm) technologies available for licensing. To view the SMS.ac corporate web site, visit www.sms.ac/corporate.