Using Mobile Technology
Mobile phones are the most popular communications devices on the planet. Mobile phone technology has improved significantly from the early days when they were about the size of a shoebox and only slightly more useful. At the end of 2007, there were 1.3 billion landlines and 3.3 billion mobile subscribers around the globe. Many mobile phones offer much more than than voice connectivity.
Short Message Service (SMS)
Text messaging or SMS is amazingly popular and is used by 2.4 billion users or 74% of all subscribers. The volume of text messages is huge. Gartner estimated that 189 billion mobile messages were sent in 2007 in North America, and the research firm expects over 300 billion to be sent in 2008. The growth is fueled in part by greater penetration of SMS and decreased consumer costs with unlimited or generous messaging plans. While the millennials (Generation Y - now in their teens and twenties) are the most ardent text message users, more and more older adults are finding out how very quick and useful text messaging can be.
Texting Tips
- If you are going to use SMS, look for a plan that includes a reasonable amount of free text messages. Some carriers charge for incoming messages as well as the messages you send. Worldwide the average cost of a text message is $.11. That may sound cheap but message costs add up quickly and spell big profits for mobile carriers.
- Watch you phone bill and check message and minute usage frequently.
- When you text, focus on texting. Don't try to drive, cook, or chew gum at the same time.
- Short is sweet: text messages are limited to 160 characters. Use abbreviations.
- Use the T9 input method. T9 is a patented software that predicts input based on the characters you have already typed.
- Don't send dumb messages that have no purpose.
Useful Mobile Services
Business Phone Directory: Cell phone vendors charge way too much for 411 services, so it's a relief to find that Google has that covered too. Just call 1-800-GOOG-411 and you will be connected to a voice-activated national phone directory that's totally free. After giving your city and state, you will be asked for the business name or category. If you stay on the line, you will be connected to the business but you can ask for "details" or "text message." If your phone has internet, you can also view a map to the business by saying "map it."
Note: If you run a local business, it is vitally important to have an easy to locate and up-to-date contact info on your website. This way Google will be able to find it and add your location to all its location-based services.
1-800-FREE411 offers a similar service which includes residential listings and reverse phone number lookup.
Information Services: ChaCha provides a mixed voice and text service. Dial 1-800-2CHACHA or text 242 242 and ask any question. After a short delay you will get a text message confirming the receipt of your question. A real person will quickly research your question on the web and text an answer in a couple of minutes. How much does this cost? Nothing! ChaCha uses independent contractors to answer all questions.
Both Yahoo and Google offer an array of mobile applications that make full use of texting or mobile web browsers. Google offers an easy to use SMS service that can be accessed by texting 466453 (Google) and entering a short phrase like "Pizza 55419," "weather Rochester MN," or "define ecommerce."
Personal Data Assistants: There are some very clever free web services that can send text messages to mobile phones. By far the most useful of these service is Jott. When you sign for Jott online you can create send short notes and reminders to your email, calendar, blog, and more. You can even check prices at Amazon while out shopping. reQall is another service like Jott where you can dictate a message on the phone for sending to text, email, or blog. Both services rely on voice recognition software to transcribe your voice message to text.
Data Groupware: If you need to put some data online for a group to access, then MyGADs may be the web application for you. You can add plain text or HTML to a "GAD" and make it available to a select group or make it publicly available. You can give some or all users the ability to edit a gad. Gads can be accessed via the web, IM, or SMS. The possible business uses are endless: shared calendars, company phone or email directories, inventory information,
All of the above services are currently free but they may charge a fee for premium addons in the future.
Tracking Finances: Quicken Online lets you track personal finances using a web browser. It works with the iPhone but is not compatible with other mobile browsers. This web application lets you keep all of your financial data in one place online. You can chart income and expenditures and analyze the results. Reminders to pay bills can be sent as email or SMS. Quicken Online is not a substitute for QuickBooks, but it might be useful for sole proprietors. Intuit offers a free 60 day trial, but after that there is a $2.99 monthly fee.
If you want to find additional SMS services, simply search Google using "keyword SMS." You may be surprised by the results of a simple search for "weather sms," "health sms," or even "facebook sms."
