[kictanet] SMS becomes e-mail and chat – Safaricom implements new service and others will follow shortly

[Wainaina Mungai]

Hi,

How is this different from the SMS2Email service that ran on
Safaricom's 123? It was implemented by Mobile Planet, a Kenyan mobile
company.

Wainaina


On 5/31/10, alice <alice at apc.org> wrote:
> (From Balancing Act)
>
> SMS becomes e-mail and chat – Safaricom implements new service and
> others will follow shortly
>
> In issue 452 in May 2009 we asked what the difference was between e-mail
> and SMS? Answer: A different interface and one has a far more limited
> length of message. The moment has now arrived at which the distinction
> between the two will now become completely blurred. Russell Southwood
> talks to Jeremy George, the COO of ForgetMeNot Africa about the
> implementation of a new service called Kipokezi which has just launched
> with Safaricom.
>
> ForgetMeNot Africa’s implementation means that all standard phones that
> can SMS can be turned into phones that can use e-mail and chat. The
> company sets up a gateway for the operator that translates SMS into
> e-mail and vice-versa. So for example, if your message is longer than a
> single SMS it will go out as two linked SMS messages and it will also be
> possible to send it to e-mail addresses.
>
> Users need to register but there is a simple “auto-register” procedure.
> The user then simply simply adds a contact and gets a number to send the
> e-mail to. The user can also set up a chat with another user by just
> adding “chat”. Everyone registered gets their own e-mail address which
> is “Yournumber at safaricom.com
>
> So now 15 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya – over a third of
> the country’s
> population - will now be able to access email and online chat regardless
> of the make and model of their mobile phone. The new Kipokezi service is
> being rolled out by Kenya’s largest telecoms operator, Safaricom,
> suppliers of mobile phone connectivity for almost 9 in 10 Kenyan mobile
> phone subscribers.
>
> Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph pointed out that it has been “the price of
> Internet-ready phones that has kept many Kenyans off the web,a trend we
> are determined to
> Change”. According to the company, 3.5 million out of the 5 million
> Kenyans who access the Internet do so through their 3G network. He
> believes that it will be widely used by the tech-savvy youth of Kenya,
> particularly for chat services like MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Windows Live
> and Gtalk so that users can send and receive messages and invitations
> globally.
>
> The only downside is that if your message is two SMSs long, you pay for
> two SMSs to send it but you pay nothing to receive it. However,
> Safaricom’s tariff for chat is a third of the cost for e-mail as most
> chat messages are shorter. Another network ForgetMeNot Africa is working
> with is looking at a chat tariff that will be one sixth of the e-mail rate.
>
> So is the service being picked up anywhere else on the continent? Econet
> Lesotho implemented it at the end of last year and has already got a
> “high single figures percentage figure registered” out of their total
> subscriber base.
>
> ForgetMeNot Africa is also working with another half dozen operators on
> implementation: one in Southern Africa (which is just a few weeks away
> from launch); a couple in West Africa; and a couple in East Africa
> (which are at the trial stage).
>
> In several previous stories in the last year, we have talked about how
> the Internet in Africa will gain “critical mass” over the next two
> years. The blurring of the distinction between SMS and e-mail is another
> clear step in that direction. Users just want to communicate and they
> want to be able to do that as easily as possible.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> This message was sent to: wainaina at madeinkenya.org
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/wainaina%40madeinkenya.org
>

-- 
Sent from my mobile device

Wainaina Mungai
-----
http://www.bungesms.com
http://www.madeinkenya.org
http://www.wainainamungai.com

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life
of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by
being shared. ~ Buddha~