I'm thinking you might be onto something here. There has recently been a dramatic increase in the number of "unlimited" mobile plans on the market, which include unlimited text. While there are of course going to be massive fine-print caveats on these plans (haven't had a chance to read up on them yet), I imagine they'll come back to not running a commercial service, and a fair use policy that you don't go completely nuts.
As a result, buying a couple of these plans and then opening up shop would likely end up getting one into hot water pretty quickly, but, what if we could do something a little more "community" with it, and run the service in a bit of a decentralised fashion, so that a number of individuals with these sorts of unlimited plans put up their hands and take a small bit of the load in a way which doesn't breach fair use or commercial provisions in these sort of plans?
I haven't thought about it enough to consider its mechanics, but the concept would probably be to have a central marshalling point where messages are read from Twitter (XMPP, API, whatever), and then a random user who's signed in is selected and the central point sends it through to their machine via the internet at which point it is then sent out. The user could nominate what they're prepared to offer, so, say 250 SMS messages per month, with a cap of 30 per day (less than your average teenager sends, so, again, they don't earn unwanted attention) could be what a user could choose, and once they have used up their quota, they're not part of the random selection list.
Methods that come to mind include something like the HSDPA modem you're talking about, or via an iPhone application (Apple are promising to be able to "wake up" applications on handsets using push technology aren't they?), or a Windows Mobile 6 application. Ideally, the "from" number for this sort of service would be changed to be the +44 UK gateway (which twitter will still receive messages via), so the innocent are protected.
Anyway, this is a whole lot more engineering than other suggestions, but it could have the advantage of being a cost-less solution, and, personally, I'd say the world would have to be in awe of Aussie ingenuity for coming up with this work around (and since Twitter's domestic support is limited to USA, Canada and India for the time being (I think?), open sourcing the effort could result in a massive peer supported network of these gateways.
That's enough weekend dreaming for me... back to the 300+ item to do list... ;-)
From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Davis Weddi
Sent: Sunday, 17 August 2008 8:42 PM
To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: New project idea: Bringing back Twitter SMS
Twitter sends notifications to my email. I poll my email every 30 secs
and if a new twitter direct mail arrives I'm sending out an SMS using
my Huawei E220 USB HSDPA Modem. I can put any SIM in this device, so
could load a prepaid vodafone one with $49 maxicap = $310 = 1240 smses
= 4 cents per sms. Obviously you'd set limits on both total number per
day/week and total number from 1 person per day/week to prevent
someone creating a crazy bill.
So..... who would pay something like 10 cents per received sms? Should
I build this prototype into a real solution? Does anyone really care?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
> Adding Ivo's message which for some reason didn't post - Elias
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
> Hi Elias and Geoff,
> I tried posting to the group but got an error message - maybe I'm not
> allowed post. I've joined the group on google. Does someone need to
> set me up to post?
> Anyways heres my email.
> Ivo
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Ivo Brett <ivo.br...@gmail.com<mailto:ivo.br...@gmail.com>>
> Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:38:12 +0100
> Subject: Re: [SiliconBeach] New project idea: Bringing back Twitter
> SMS
> To: "silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com<mailto:silicon-beach-australia@go oglegroups.com>"
> <silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com<mailto:silicon-beach-australia@go oglegroups.com>>
> Hi there,
> Thanks for including me on this email and thanks to Elias for
> introducing me2mobile.com<http://me2mobile.com>. Premium SMS and bulk SMS is an area I know
> quite a bit about after having struggled with many different business
> models in this area. Its interesting that you've mentioned this as I
> have spent the last couple of weeks looking into the area of SMS
> enabling 'life streaming' services.
> A few things I've learnt about running a premium SMS business that you
> might not already know. Firstly, the costs for a shortcode with a
> carrier is expensive to setup and maintain. The revenue share is
> stacked in favour of the operators and they take a large share for no
> risk. Secondly, you need to be doing a large volume of SMS for any
> business case to pay off. This means that the only people who make
> money out of premium SMS are the companies that can afford massive
> marketing (e.g. late night text for a babe type services). This has
> resulted in premium SMS being considered a slightly "grubby" service.
> For all these reasons me2mobile has moved away from premium SMS as our
> core offering. We now make most of our money out of selling
> interactive SMS services to businesses (i.e. SMS campaigns using bulk
> SMS) rather than premium SMS.
> That being said, I think that your idea has a lot of merit. Twitter
> have done the hard work of creating a market for this idea (they've
> just withdrawn their own heavily used sms service). There is also a
> sizable and well connected twitter user base so it would be relatively
> easy to get this service 'out there'.
> Geoff and some of the other posters correctly pointed out some of the
> necessary mechanics of how premium SMS works so I wont go over them.
> But you thing that wasnt mentioned was the ability to send a low
> charged premium SMS (MT) to each follower. This could be as low as 25
> cents. I do, however, accept the point from Silky that its a pain to
> have to pay for incoming tweets especially since you dont know how
> many there'll be but as Elias says you can give people the option to
> opt out (or set a daily limit on how many they'll receive).
> Not too make it sound too trivial as I know there'll be some gotchas
> but I reckon I've implemented about 75% of what needs to be done for
> this project. I also have an agreement with one of the top premium SMS
> and bulk SMS aggregators. I selected them after indepth selection
> process and I reckon I have the best rates and revenue share that one
> can get. The best thing about this aggregator is that they have
> premium SMS connectivity in 28 countries so if this offering proven
> successful in Australia it would be very simple to roll out
> internationally.
> I have a good premium SMS shortcode already set up (19961996) with
> this aggregator (its 55 cents MO). Note: If you were to set up a
> shortcode yourself it normally takes 6 to 8 weeks to get a shortcode
> set up and sometimes operators knock back the applications.
> To be perfectly honest - the most expensive part of my agreement is
> maintaining the premium shortcode and I have been considering closing
> this part down altogether. There is one customer using it extensively
> but I dont push our premium sms offering anymore. Therefore, ne
> possibility is that I share my current agreement with others that want
> to take advantage of this shortcode. I'll be a transparent as possible
> and even share the contract details I have with the aggregator just to
> show that I wont be creaming any margin off the top. All I'd ask is to
> be involved in the service and any revenues generated by it.
> I'd like to be involved in this project as I think its got a lot of
> legs. I'm back in Ireland at the moment but I can have a call with
> others if that helps speed things up.
> Ivo
> On 8/14/08, Geoff McQueen <geoff.mcqu...@internetrix.com.au<mailto:geoff.mcqu...@internetrix.com.au>> wrote:
> - Show quoted text -
> > Elias,
> > Sounds interesting. As someone who's messed around with premium SMS before,
> > could I confirm the idea is:
> > 1. A "short code" or 19 number be registered in AU
> > 2. People who send to this number pay a premium to send their SMS
> > 3. Some of this premium is revenue that goes to the "owner" of the 19 number
> > 4. This revenue be re-invested in the community, in whatever form that is?
> > If that is the plan, this would require:
> > 1. Account setup with a carrier, which I take it you're suggesting mobileme
> > (although [3] wasn't referenced in your post)
> > 2. Some glue to tie submission posts to the short code as submitting to the
> > Twitter API
> > 3. Resolving who's going to pay for broadcast/outgoing messages from Twitter
> > (unless people agree to cop a fee per message they get delivered a la late
> > nite adult tv commercials)
> > I see aspect 3 of the requirements above as the hard bit financially; this
> > is why Twitter is removing support for international 'sending', and unless
> > I'm missing something, the premium SMS creature is more to collecting a form
> > of premium revenue on the user sending you a message, not the other way
> > around.
> > Of course, this AU gateway could truncate the messages and fund the outbound
> > transmissions via advertising, but that might be a bit hard to swallow.
> > Or, am I missing something really important here?
> > Geoff
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com<mailto:silicon-beach-australia@goo glegroups.com>
> > [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com<mailto:silicon-beach-austr alia@googlegroups.com>] On Behalf Of Elias
> > Bizannes
> > Sent: Thursday, 14 August 2008 9:46 PM
> > To: Silicon Beach Australia
> > Cc: ivo.br...@gmail.com<mailto:ivo.br...@gmail.com>
> > Subject: [SiliconBeach] New project idea: Bringing back Twitter SMS
> > Boys and girls,
> > <rant>
> > Since our discussions, things have predictably settled. It was never
> > the intention that this mailing list becomes a 'chat' forum - there
> > are plenty of other places for that. Instead, it's a way for us to
> > have a central node as a community to collaborate on. I'm quite proud
> > of what's become of it.
> > One new initiate has been born - the distributed database - which
> > several silicon beacher's having picked this up and are experimenting
> > with now. It's going to be interesting to see what we can cook up for
> > release later this year.
> > </rant>
> > But I've now got a new proposal. Building on some thoughts I tweeted
> > before[1], I have a solution that will do three separate things that
> > will help our industry.
> > Background
> > Twitter has become the most important social networking site for the
> > Australia tech community. It facilitates meet ups, keeps people up to
> > date, breaks news, and generally builds community.
> > Today - news was announced that twitter would be shutting off its SMS
> > service for international numbers because they now long can
> > sustain[2] . This leaves Australian users completely out in the cold
> > on one of the most valuable features of the technology. Separately,
> > the micro-blogging revolution that Twitter has created is going to
> > create transformative impacts on the industry. The embrace of Plurk
> > and Identi.ca by Australia's twitter community to name but two
> > examples, of how things are happening. However what these open source
> > solutions lack is an SMS solution.
> > The idea
> > What I propose, is that as a community, we create a SMS solution that
> > brings back Twitter to the phone for us as well as supporting other
> > twitter clones.
> > SMS gateways, including an Australian startup in Sydney, allow you to
> > set up premium SMS plans. So for example, if people subscribe to your
> > plan - it will cost you 55 cents. However, as the organiser of that
> > plan, you get 18 cents for every message you get. It's an innovative
> > revenue model, which I have explored in the past as part of my
> > research into the mobile web opportunity.
> > If we can hack together something that links the twitter API and a SMS
> > gateway API like that of Ivo Brett's startup[2], we can restore SMS
> > functionality. Oh, and make a bit of money.
> > Sure, this is a market opportunity for a entrepreneur. I reckon you
> > could make a quick buck, until a phone company or Twitter wakes up.
> > But personally, I think it's too small scale an idea to launch a
> > business, but too big an opportunity to pass up.
> > So by building this service, as Silicon Beach - we've now got a
> > revenue stream...for the comunity. The revenue raised, will be 100%
> > reinvested into the community. Sponsoring conferences, meetups - heck
> > wherever there is value to support effort in the community.
> > Twitter becomes useful + we make opensource microblogging useful + we
> > fund our community without realising it. Three bigs things, and all it
> > takes is a bit of API hackery as some Jelly-a-thon.
> > Thoughts?
> > [1]http://twitter.com/liako/statuses/887005932
> > [2]
> >http://blog.twitter.com/2008/08/changes-for-some-sms-usersgood-and-ba...
> > [3]http://www.me2mobile.com
|
