SMS fuels the growth of the mobile Internet
By ICTWorld, 22 February 2007
The advent of the mobile Internet has not slowed the growth of SMS. If anything, SMS is fuelling the mobile Internet.
“Accessing the mobile Internet using hyperlinks sent via SMS is the norm for delivering rich mobile content, applications or services. Evolving cell phone design and new business models has led to the convergence of these technologies,†says Dr Pieter E. Streicher, MD of Bulksms.com, a wireless application service provider.
Early handsets only recognised a phone number. Then phone enhancements identified an e-mail address or Internet link in a message. Today, phones automatically highlight phone numbers, e-mail addresses and Internet links in a SMS. There have also been improvements in the handling any type of Web site as phones have their own browsers.
“In the days before the mobile Internet, if a phone was not WAP-compatible then it could not display content. Now, all you need to do is click on the hyperlink within the SMS to access mobile content,†says Streicher.
The mobile entertainment industry has led the way in delivering music, videos and games using SMS hyperlinks. Businesses are catching on to using SMS as a cost effective and efficient means to deliver content to mobile phone users, download applications, or initiate viral marketing campaigns. In the latter case, consumers access rich content (such as an advert) via an SMS link and send on the campaign link to their friends. The benefit to the consumer is that the link is sent at the cost of a SMS rather than a MMS.
A good example of a business model maximising on the integration of SMS and mobile Internet is Jamble, a South African social networking service. Users access Jamble by sending a SMS to a shortcode. A WAP link is delivered to the user’s phone and the user clicks on it to open a page on the mobile Internet.
This WAP page allows users to subscribe to Jamble and begin creating a network of friends, send messages or use instant chat, share photographs and video clips, or download wallpapers and tones. Thereafter, Jamble provides alerts to new messages by sending an SMS with a link.
According to Streicher: “The cell phone is all about the immediacy and convenience of mobile communications. The integration of SMS and the mobile Internet takes this a step further by providing consumers with a ubiquitous means of accessing mobile content, applications and services.”