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

[S.Murigi Muraya]

Google Africa invested in Mobile Planet but do not know what came out of it.

http://google-africa.blogspot.com/2008/08/announcing-new-investment-in-kenya.html

On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 12:16 PM, Wainaina Mungai
<wainaina at madeinkenya.org>wrote:

> 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.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
> --
> Sent from my mobile device
>
> Wainaina Mungai
> -----
> http://www.bungesms.com
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>
> 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~
>
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