Technology is interesting and it allows people to create different value adding solutions. Unfortunately only few of them get noticed and inspire others. So we thought we should do something to change this situation. A lot of Fortumo users have came up with interesting ideas how to integrate SMS-services to the existing solution and build up a strong business case. We are going to introduce one story every month and hope you’ll find it interesting to read. Hopefully you’ll get new ideas how SMS-sevices can be used and inspiration to create something totally new and innovative.

Enternum is a browser based role-play in which user is a character whose purpose is to be the richest of all. There are many possibilities to earn money, e.g. “robbing”, “working”, “making and selling homebrew”, “trading with stocks” and “casino”. It is possible to own real estate, weapons, stocks and have mafia. For protecting house and health the player can hire security.

“The player can form a gang where to he can recruit other players as well. There are many advantages belonging to the gang: free protection from robberies and opportunity to use gang’s help against the robberies etc. Besides that, users can hire security to guard their houses or buy weapons. With mafia player can rob others and earn benefit from that.”

How have you applied SMS- services in your game?
The main resources of the game are moves and actions, therefore, it expects from the user commitment and constant involvement. Player can make moves for free after certain periods, but it is possible to buy extra moves via SMS. The games has wide opportunities and it’s constantly developing.

Where did the idea of using SMS- services come from?
The idea of making the game came about 3 years ago when I saw a similar Estonian browser-based game. That time they weren’t that popular yet, but a lot of my acquaintances and friends were playing them. While I had learned some programming, I decided to try out something like this as well. At the beginning, I wanted more to exercise, but the game became extremely popular and I decided that I should evolve and amend the game.

Why did you decide to use SMS- services in your web business?
There were a lot of users and people who wanted to be more successful. So I added an opportunity to buy moves via SMS. The idea of adding SMS- services came when I was surfing in the net and I found out that it is possible to start services really easy and with few minutes. There’s a constant competition between players in the game mainly because of getting to the top in the charts. That attracts even more people to play. The game is free to play but for a little money it’s possible to get faster to the top.

What has SMS-service additionally given you?
Adding SMS- services has supported the game mainly financially. It’s not excluded I use SMS- services in other sites as well. It is a really good and fast opportunity to set up your own business!

Today we can see businesses using SMS for different purposes - marketing, notification, news, text to win campaigns and so on. In those cases usually SMS is a small part of a big project. However, there are plenty of businesses where SMS is in the middle of the business case and sometimes gives the competitive advantage. I will introduce four innovative SMS-based business cases that have been extremely successful in Nordics during the past years.

1. SMS-auction

An SMS-auction is where user’s text in a bid for an advertised item. The system can be set for “highest bid wins” or “lowest unique bid wins” mode. Either way, the user receives a reply message acknowledging the bid and advising them of its position. There are different variations on that business model, which all have their own advantages. Get a general idea of SMS-auctions.
* Bimbaso is a good sample of lowest unique bid auction
* sms2bid is an Australian version of highest bid auction
* Sendioksjon is an Estonian neat version of SMS-auction, where every SMS increases the price per 0,006 EUR and extends the auction by 2,5 minutes. Last person who sends the message gets the product.

2. SMS-loan

It is probably the most profitable SMS-based business, which has also raised some ethical issues. Many countries have already regulated their market for SMS-loans and some countries are doing it right now. Business case is simple - give out loans for small sums with big interests in a really quick and easy to use way. Before creating your own SMS-loan office, read those two stories as well: SMS-loan sharking and loanshark 2.0.

3. Browser based games

Browser based games are quite popular among youth. Believe me, there are plenty of people who want to do something besides shooting someone or playing flash games. Business case here is this - if you want to get advantage over other players, use paid services. Get cool widgets, more money, fame, train yourself etc. Many Fortumo clients have said that for micro-payments SMS is the best one. Every player has a mobile phone these days and they are using it impulsively.

4. Social Networks

Who isn’t a member of some social network nowadays. Some of them have a strong business case behind the solution; some of them don’t have a business case at all. Smaller local social networks have solved it really easily. There are 5 simple steps:
1. you have a social network where people love to spend their time
2. think what could be the extra feature for what users are willing to pay small sums
3. monetize these features with SMS
4. let people know about new opportunities
5. start earning revenue even while you are sleeping

Some things that have been monetized: sending presents, changing the background theme of your profile, getting fame, giving higher points to users, highlight your account/ad/picture etc.

I am start getting more and more surprised about how the big companies are gathering interest in the bluetooth marketing. In Paris, for example, you can easily find “interactive” advertising box that ask customers to activate the bluetooth on their mobile phones, in order to send them some interesting content: maps of the city, discount coupons, etc etc.

The following is instead a more subtle promotion: to promote popular reality show Big Brother 2008 on Channel TEN in Australia, advertising agency Marketforce in Perth came up with a unique bluetooth SMS campaign that really caught people by surprise. The ads embodied the “Big Brother is watching” slogan, which is the essence of the show. The campaign installed Blue-tooth transmitters in over 20 high-traffic bus shelters around town. The transmitters automatically sent two anonymous messages to any bluetooth enabled phones in the area.

The first message was tailored specifically for the local location, with something along the lines of:

I’m watching u. Ur at the (customized current location)

The second message is received 30-40 seconds later with the big reveal, saying:

Big Brother is back. 7 PM weeknights on TEN

Hopefully people won’t get mad at them.

This is an idea that came out from Volkswagen, and it is somehow an extension of their policy about polling about all the usual customs of the people. For example, Volkswagen knows that 73% of the people want to take the tiny soap and shampoo from hotel rooms. They also know that 60% of ice cream buyers prefer cones over cups.

On an apparent quest to learn everything, Volkswagen’s launched SMS polls on a big screen on Times Square. In this picture, for example, you can see how VW asks for people preferences inflight.
Results are generally announced one day after, which is a nice invitation for the people to return to the store soon in order to see the results…

Today, when credit card frauds have increased significantly and even moved to social networks like Orkut, it is wise to consider extra payment forms. It all depends on the service you are running, but the overall trend shows that people are thinking seriously before they are providing credit card data. Obviously it is difficult to substitute credit cards, but it is possible to give people alternative payment forms. People who tend to be suspicious or recently read about credit card frauds would like to use something more secure or at least something that seems more secure to them.

For smaller payments I would suggest SMS-billing as an alternative. It has its own disadvantages, but studies have shown that people sense it as secure, anonymous and easy to use payment method.

Here are some points why web based company should consider SMS-billing:

• almost everybody can use it - over 95% of people in most of the developing and developed countries carry a mobile phone,
• people can use it despite the location or time,
• you are able to target young people and reach those who don’t have a credit card,
• people are using it impulsively - SMS-payment is simple and doesn’t take time,
• smaller prices drive people to consume more,
• no chargebacks - people don’t have to worry that something extra is taken from them,
• it supplements the existing revenue stream - our experience with web based companies have shown that while integrating SMS-billing as an extra option, revenues have increased,
• people sense it as more secure measure, because they don’t have to share their personal data.

This week we launched some important improvements that you have been asking lately. Check them out and we hope you will like what you see.

New short code in Latvia - 1897

To make end-users’ life easier we have opened new short code in Latvia - 1897. From now on, you can create services in Latvia with this new short code. We have also activated all the current services with the new code. It means that you can replace previous three short codes with one in your promotional materials. The old short codes will remain working until 18th of May. After that, only the new one is used. Replace the information and you will see your users getting happier

New keyword WIN in use

We have added new primary keyword WIN for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Mainly it was demanded for campaign services, but it can be used for other ones as well. Spring is the time for some cool text-to-win campaigns - try it out!

New end-user price added in Latvia

Many users have asked for higher end-user price in Latvia. Now it is possible to create services that cost 2,50 LVL (approximately 3,64 EUR), so you can monetize more expensive content and earn bigger revenue.

Additional security measure for Premium SMS-connectivity service

The HTTP GET requests that Fortumo is making towards your script are now signed with a shared secret. You can check the added signature parameter to be sure that the request is made by Fortumo and not someone else. The shared secret can be found from the service settings page. Full explanation and an example PHP script that checks the signature is included here. However, you don’t have to add the signature check, if you don’t want to, it’s fully optional.

For most of the people Web 2.0 is just a buzzword - round corners, a bit childish web design but nothing too special. But there are some key elements that make Web 2.0 different from yesterday’s web (Web 1.0). Major difference is that Web 2.0 websites allow users to do more than just retrieve information - people are able to create their own content and be part of democratic and organic web.

Main keywords for Web 2.0 are openness, collaboration, dynamic, interactive, context sensitive services, third party content. Vast majority of the Web 2.0 doesn’t have a good business model behind it, although recently we have seen a bit more of the ones that do. There is also a tendency that services with a business model tend to move away from Web 2.0 ideology (openness, third party content, content sensitivity). I think that Google AdSense is the best example of Web 2.0 with a great business model.

But what comes next?

I’m not talking about major buzzword Web 3.0, but we may call it Web 2.5 at least ;). We are going to see business models behind wikis, podcasts etc, so that third parties would also be able to earn revenue. We already have some great examples in that field, but this will become a MUST feature in near future. I believe that creating opportunities for third parties is the next phase in the web and it is almost here.

Context sensitivity, third party content and long tail are creating opportunities for everyone who has ideas, knowledge and will to do something. Everyone will be able to benefit from their knowledge and experience, and what’s most important - the business doesn’t have any borders or limits. One is definitely sure, mobile services are involved as well.

Just wanted to let you know that Fortumo will be attending CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas on 1-3 April. If you happen to be there as well, then we would love to set up a meeting or just have a cup of coffee somewhere. Please e-mail rain.rannu@fortumo.com to get in touch. See you in Vegas

We are very happy that Mobile Monday finally launches in Tallinn, Estonia. Fortumo is obviously there, as well as many of our customers. The opening event will be held at 18:00, Omega Hall, Olümpia Conference Centre.

Mobile Monday is a world known networking format for everyone in the mobile business. Meetings in Estonia are scheduled to be held monthly, alternating between Tallinn and Tartu. Tallinn events will cover general and marketing-related topics, with international speakers and a wide audience. Tartu events will focus on mobile development topics.

7th february
Vodafone & Myspace partner to develop mobile social networking

Vodafone inks an exclusive deal with MySpace allowing mobile users in the U.K. access to the social networking website on the move. The Vodafone deal with MySpace marks the first time that the Fox Interactive Media unit of News Corp. has made its MySpace.com portal available to European mobile users.

23rd february
Lanetro zed acquires Monstermob

The acquisition saga comes to an end when Monstermob shareholders vote in favor of LaNetro Zed’s proposal to take a 52 percent stake in the company. The completion of the deal ends weeks of speculation that China’s Linktone would take control of the company for $78 million, and marks the start of a major shake up of the D2C mobile content sector.

23rd April
Ntt doCoMo & napster launch unlimited mobile music service

This marks the first-ever deployment of the ground-breaking Napster Mobile service that seamlessly integrates mobile and PC, enabling users, for one low monthly fee, to access full-length songs and ringtones that can be delivered over-the-air (OTA) directly to their mobile handset for immediate listening and downloading. The service provides a blueprint for the clear convergence of Web and mobile music services, and paves the way for unique pricing and data models.

15th May
AOL enters into mobile advertising with third screen Media

The mobile advertising land grab continues with AOL snapping up mobile advertising company Third Screen Media for an undisclosed sum. The deal follows Microsoft’s acquisition of French advertising firm ScreenTonic and marks another milestone deal in a period that has seen a mad scramble for position in digital advertising.

1st June
Amp’d Mobile MVnO files Chapter 11

The dream of the content-oriented MVNO comes to an end as Amp’d Mobile files for bankruptcy protection and closes its doors a month later. The news comes just months after the high profile fall of Mobile ESPN, the Disney- owned MVNO that hoped to find a subscriber base among U.S. sports fans by delivering sports-oriented content
over the phone. Will ad-funded MVNO Blyk raise hope?

29th June
Apple launches iPhone & re-invents touch-screen technology

Steve Jobs takes the wraps off the long-awaited iPhone, a game-changing device with touch screen and a raft of features to encourage mobile browsing and content consumption. The iPhone buzz reaches Europe in the Fall, sparking a Christmas buying frenzy.

29th August
Nokia announces Ovi & a move towards internet services

Nokia reinvents itself as a mobile services company, announcing Ovi as an umbrella service for its music, games, mapping and Internet offerings. The launch ends the speculation about Nokia’s intentions in the content sector and marks a significant turning point in the handset maker’s strategy.

1st september 2007
UK. mobile payment goes live with Payforit launch

Major U.K. mobile operators jointly launch Payforit, a new payment service for mobile websites based on Vodafone m-payments. Use is limited to transactions under GBP10 and the user-experience is similar to the Internet. Could this be the initiative that jumpstarts real m-commerce development?

1st november
Nokia buys navigation mapping company navteq

Nokia pays a whopping $8.1 billion for Navteq, a satellite navigation mapping and software company. The technology is
folded into the existing Nokia Maps solution, which is spearheaded in the market by the GPS-enabled N95 Nseries device. Will this be the catalyst for mainstream location-based services (LBS) adoption?

29th november
Eu supports dVB-h mobile tV standard

The European Union formally and finally supports DVB-H as its “official” mobile TV format. The decision to support one standard is seen as an effort to promote consensus and stop market fragmentation. Signs are strong that 2008 will mark the starting point for commercial mobile TV.

by: Netsize Guide 2008 - Top 10 facts