moblf Blog

At moblf, we share a vision of providing access to web services over SMS text messaging. A tall order when you think of it. But when you look at the opportunity it boils down to strategic planning and quick execution.

Some facts:

• Total mobile users: 3.5 billion (3 times more than the internet users)
• SMS Text Messaging is the biggest data application on earth
• SMS Text Messaging Revenues in 2007: $ 100 Billion (a projected growth of 25% year on year)
• 8 Billion SMS are sent every day Or 92,000 SMS sent every second
• A study by Queensland University in Australia last year found mobile phone services twice as addictive as PC based services, and text messaging to be as addictive as smoking.

SMS Text Messaging is instant, as compared to email, where an average user might not access the web for sometime. Email is opened in 24 hours and replied to in 48 hours. SMS is read within 15 minutes on average and responded within 60 minutes. 65% of email is spam and less than 10% of SMS is spam. (more here Putting 2.7 billion in context: Mobile phone users)

Only 1% of the mobile users population own a smart phone, that leaves us with the rest of the 99% who have the SMS Text Messaging feature on their phones.

Here’s how it all fits in:

Scenario 1: How about accessing your mail server via your SMS Text Messaging and keeping update on your mails? Or accessing your Facebook account or Orkut account or…the possibilities here are immense.

Scenario 2: When you walk into a restaurant or a café next and find the service or foods inappropriate, you have the option of scribbling off a quick feedback / review about the place and SMS Text Messaging to a number. How would you like it?

Right customer feedback is of great importance to businesses, there are feedback mechanisms currently, which has a chance of losing its flavor during translation. Or like most people who I have interacted with, may not choose to leave a feedback as they seldom get a feedback form or the feedback number to call is too cumbersome to dial.

Scenario 3: How about you had the option of sharing your experience of a vacation you are at? The website you took the vacation from offers you a SMS Text Messaging number for you to quickly send your review.

Travel companies will love to hear from you, other users who are looking to know about the experience will advantage from you. And as for the review, it’s coming in at real time, just as you are experiencing it!

Scenario 4: SMS Text Message your order to the fast food take away counter at the corner of your street as you wait for the traffic signal to turn green. The order is ready for you to take away as you reach the window. How would you like that?

These are a few examples of how moblf can serve consumers and prosumers via their platform. Let us know what you think of them. Also, please write to us services you think will add value if they were available on SMS Text Messaging for you to use them.

We’ve been in a mull-mode, here at moblf; working towards a few next things, shaping up our long-term goals, so on. This for me is the innate characteristic of a startup, that one will not find elsewhere – the whole experience of evolving the product or business offering, tweaking the main idea, changing it based on user and industry inputs. I am living what Paul Graham has articulated here.

What’s the relevance of moblf to the end user, to the world of communication and to web services – this is something that has occupied a great part of our mindshare here. Moblf is a platform that brings web services on mobile, specifically over SMS text messaging. With this as the premise the opportunity is vast and the possibilities immense. Who we will cater to first, what will we offer initially, what’s a good start – these are questions we’ve been trying to answer and have found some ground too. As a platform we have the opportunity to serve consumers and prosumers simultaneously, we can serve as brand moblf and also as a customized white label enterprise solution. More on relevance of moblf in my next post!

Guest post: Ravi Jitani, is based in Nairobi and works as IT Program Manager, Aureos Kenya Managers Ltd.

Mobility is a synonym to connectivity in our times and also the ability to stay mobile for extended periods of time. We have seen an astronomical growth in number of people using mobiles for voice communications as it is a boon to business people who are constantly on the move. Mobility now has a new dimension which lets us transmit data and run sophisticated applications which has given birth to new lifestyle called “Mobile Life”. This new lifestyle (unlike its grown up mature cousin “computer”) cuts across generations and has been embraced by the rich and the not so rich.

Well imagine as a bank if you have to compete with telecom companies that provide mobile to mobile cash transfer services, to retain the small savers and the casual workers! I am sure you will agree that “mobile life” has truly arrived.

In Kenya a product called “M-PESA” a cell phone to cell phone cash transfer service has been a huge hit in the rural economy where there is a serious lack of banking infrastructure and leaves people with virtually no options to transfer money. This product lets people load money on their cell phones and then use it as a virtual wallet to transfer money or buy products. This is the new life style embraced by the millions of people some of whom have no access to luxuries of life and yet are able to able to do transactions in the comfort of their home while a majority of us are still waiting for our token number to be called?

Welcome to Mobile Life… what’s your opinion, let us know in comments.

Guest post by Sameer Guglani, serial entrepreneur and mobile industry veteran. Sameer is an advisor to moblf

Sarah at Readwriteweb has a written a very good post titled “Enterprise 2.0 To Become a $4.6 Billion Industry By 2013”. I am a firm believer in this trend and have been watching it gather speed at my companies as well as at other companies I am familiar with. Enterprises are increasingly open to invest in tools of this nature.

In this context platforms like moblf will become a very important part of the Enterprise 2.0 solutions as they will allow enterprise solutions to be extended for anytime/anywhere availability, via SMS text messaging. And this connectivity will include all employees, even ones who don’t have regular internet or PC access as part of the job.

Employee facing use cases:

• A pizza hut delivery person can start collect payments from customer using his Mobile phone. The delivery person can also provide real time update - the status of success/failure of the delivery of the order. No need to invest in expensive custom devices with data connections and stuff.
• Popular agile project management tools like basecamp (from 37Signals) and Zoho can be made accessible on SMS. Allowing employees working on a project to create new milestones/tasks from their phone or to get list of pending tasks and milestones which are due this week.

Customer facing use cases:

• Mobile CRM extensions: Customer visiting Startbucks / Mcdonalds can send instant feedback via SMS, they don’t need to call toll free numbers or write an e-mail or go online to give feedback. A simple SMS text message will do the job, “I am the store on Battery Street in SF and service here sucks, my Chai was not hot and the staff was rude”. Customer will get an acknowledgement instantly and the required action can be taken by the company.
• Extend the product search: All online and offline retailers can enable catalogue search via SMS test messaging. The customer can initiate the search from the mobile using SMS text messages, he can choose to purchase via the mobile and get it shipped or go and pick it up from the nearest outlet. Amazon is already experimenting with it in an initiative called Amazon TextBuyIt

What do you guys think about this trens? What can be other use cases where Enterprises can benefit via integration with mobile, especially via SMS text messaging? Lets us know in comments…