UK based Affle and one of the leading GSM operators in India, Airtel have been pilot testing SMS 2.0 which says that it can revolutionize the text messaging experience. To be precise, it is an application for Series 60 phones which replaces the default SMS application with SMS2.0.
Before I begin, let me tell you that there are minimal features from the user’s perspective which will revolutionize their SMS experience. This application is nothing but a bait to users by offering free download of the application and in turn, open up a new revenue medium for the marketers. Its basic aim is to deliver users relevant contextual ads while they are composing or sending text messages.
How it works:
There is a cache of ads and content stored on the phone which is periodically update during the day (through a background action via GPRS). Each time the user opens his messaging window, an initial item—which could be a content or an ad—is pulled from the cache based on the user relevance. To enhance user experience this item is usually a relevant content (approx 75% of times)
So you got the whole concept. Now you wanna know what benefits it offers to the recipients. For the time being, NOTHING. But I would be really interested in this app, if my service provider gives me some incentives to read the ads. Free SMSes? Discounts? Well this could be in the offing. Let’s wait and watch.
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