New project idea: Bringing back Twitter SMS - Silicon Beach Australia

Message from discussion New project idea: Bringing back Twitter SMS
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Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:58:02 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: Re: New project idea: Bringing back Twitter SMS
From: Elias Bizannes <elias.bizan...@gmail.com>
To: Silicon Beach Australia <silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com>
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People definitely want this. I'll see if I can get some people to put
their hands up, if people on this mailing list don't volunteer to
guide Bart. I know personally I would pay for the SMS service.

On Aug 18, 1:05=A0am, Bart Jellema <bart.jell...@tjoos.com> wrote:
> I don't think pricing is an issue at all... I just build it with my
> modem for fun... using a gateway is just as easy and just as cheap...
> 5c to 7c per message...http://www.clickatell.com/pricing/pricing_wizard.p=
hp
>
> On Aug 17, 8:57=A0pm, Geoff McQueen <geoff.mcqu...@internetrix.com.au>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Bart,
>
> > 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 massi=
ve fine-print caveats on these plans (haven't had a chance to read up on th=
em yet), I imagine they'll come back to not running a commercial service, a=
nd 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 wo=
uld likely end up getting one into hot water pretty quickly, but, what if w=
e 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 t=
he 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 co=
ncept 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 s=
igned in is selected and the central point sends it through to their machin=
e via the internet at which point it is then sent out. The user could nomin=
ate what they're prepared to offer, so, say 250 SMS messages per month, wit=
h a cap of 30 per day (less than your average teenager sends, so, again, th=
ey don't earn unwanted attention) could be what a user could choose, and on=
ce 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 abl=
e to "wake up" applications on handsets using push technology aren't they?)=
, or a Windows Mobile 6 application. Ideally, the "from" number for this so=
rt 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, bu=
t it could have the advantage of being a cost-less solution, and, personall=
y, 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 e=
ffort 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 li=
st... ;-)
>
> > Geoff
>
> > From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com [mailto:silicon-beach-au=
stralia@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
>
> > Interesting stuff here on SMS.
> > As a newbie here, I am looking forward to seeing this SMS idea mature i=
nto a realtime projection.
>
> > Davis
>
> > On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 8:59 PM, Bart Jellema <bart.jell...@tjoos.com<m=
ailto:bart.jell...@tjoos.com>> wrote:
>
> > Just got home from official friday and read (parts of) this thread...
> > Decided to give it a whirl and got it working just fine...
>
> >http://www.tjoos.com/Img/Tweet2Sms.png
>
> > 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 =3D $310 =3D 1240 sm=
ses
> > =3D 4 cents per sms. Obviously you'd set limits on both total number pe=
r
> > 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?
>
> > Time for bed.
>
> > On Aug 15, 10:09 am, Elias Bizannes <elias.bizan...@gmail.com<mailto:el=
ias.bizan...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------=
------=AD----------------
> > > Adding Ivo's message which for some reason didn't post - Elias
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------=
------=AD----------------
>
> > > 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-au=
stralia@go=ADoglegroups.com>"
> > > <silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com<mailto:silicon-beach-austra=
lia@go=ADoglegroups.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 yo=
u
> > > 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 =A0means 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 ou=
r
> > > 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 relativel=
y
> > > 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 SM=
S
> > > 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 wan=
t
> > > to take advantage of this shortcode. I'll be a transparent as possibl=
e
> > > and even share the contract details I have with the aggregator just t=
o
> > > show that I wont be creaming any margin off the top. All I'd ask is t=
o
> > > 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:ge=
off.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 t=
hat is?
>
> > > > If that is the plan, this would require:
>
> ...
>
> read more =BB- Hide quoted text -
>