Sunil Goyal is writing a series on wireless data services:
One of the biggest strengths of SMS is, its simple and intutive from a 10 year old to a 50 year old person. You just type and its done. SMS started as a personal medium of communication but now has been leveraged for providing any kind of content.
The second strength that I find in the SMS medium is its “strong contact” with both the online and the offline world. One can find keywords for downloading ringtones in newspapers, magazine, sending comments to news channels, participating in TV shows – all just via keying in a short message to a specific number displayed there and then.
This is the power which mobility gives which I think WAP or XHTML haven’t been able to leverage.
The SMS medium has clearly shown that given a simple and effective medium despite its disadvantages (typing in keys), can still have a powerful impact. People want to participate and by providing services from PC via internet to directly on their mobile phones can have a significant impact.
