Freedom of txtpression

Philippines is considered the text capital of the world -- this may be true before but countries like South Africa, Indonesia, and Malaysia is already battling for that position, but if I was to bet on who wins I'll put my money on China with 1,306,313,812 population. Shit! That's a lot freaking people; I guess a 40% mobile penetration alone would make who ever cash in on that market richer than Bill Gates :))

Still Philippines boasts the most diverse value added services (VAS) for mobile, it may not be as high-tech as the European countries but hell just look-up any newspaper now-a-days and the pages will be covered with VAS advertisements telling you to try out a service by sending an SMS with keyword to an access number.

When I attended the August 17 2004 Open Source Conference at Shangri-La Hotel, I was able to meet up with Mr. Rafael 'Dido' Sevilla, one of the pioneers in mobile technology and value added service in the Philippines. We agreed to start the first-ever local mobile oriented e-group to advance the dissemination of technology and to discuss the status-quo of the mobile industry. Some believed we have reached the saturation point for value added service being offered in the country.

One year ago I didn't believe this so I went on to build a killer application with Friendster, it was a success and we had a hard time keeping up with user's request via SMS. However like the dot com bubble things like this doesn't last at all and I'm starting to believe that the group was right after all. If this is true then a true killer application for mobile is truly not possible?

I decided to give it another take, if a killer app was not possible then maybe a killer service is?

Enter Web2.0 which is fuelling the next dot com boom which many experts predict to be a sustainable this time since its foundation is based on solid applications and market rather than the speculative market. Armed with this new vision we launched a service that would leverage on this trend and the growing importance of domain services.

Introducing TXTmokko.com.

TXTmokko is a service that aims to provice interface for any user or web application to expand its interactivity via SMS and MMS. To explain more here is a text version of the flyer being distributed:

What is txtmokko?

A unique wireless service which is designed to empower individuals and groups of individuals to create and launch mobile services on the fly. You own your personal txt-id. This wireless service enables you to post messages or anything you want to share to anybody and create your own mobile community.

So tell me more!!

Are you the 'loud and proud'? The 'shy and cowering'? Whether you're the average or demented, as long as you have something to share, txtmokko is your tool! It is a venue to txtpress yourself! and reach out to others using the mobile network. Make it your 'mobile post-it' or your 'mobile bulletin board'! Who can have a txtmokko account? Anyone who has an existing and active email account and GLOBE mobile number. What is the access number for txtmokko? txtmokko is accessible thru 2948 for Globe. And soon SMART and SUN Cellular too!

How to start an account ?

Register

a. Log on to the website: http://www.txtmokko.com
b. Fill-up Registration form
c. Create your txt-ID and activate via SMS. e.g. txt christine SEND to 2948 for Globe.

Create a T-box!
a. Personalize your content thru your T-box.
b. Place contents(messages, blogs, anouncements,bulletins etc.)
c. Activate your T-box. and send to 2948 for Globe.
d. Create as many as 10 t-boxes.

Spread the Word! Tell everyone about txtmokko and your new TXT-ID! Visit www.txtmokko.com

*Rates : P2.50/per txt

powered by Megamobile

* UPDATE:

Txtmokko.com - users can register a mobile keyword under and short code number allowing them to receive SMS messages anonymously.

It works like this:

1. Register a keyword.
eg: GODIE
( this is my real keyword :D )

2. Compose an SMS:
eg: MSG GODIE this is a test test, I'm sending to myself

3. Send it to Txtmokko access number 2948 (Philippines only)

4. Log-in to http://www.txtmokko.com

5. Go to your inbox/chats page at http://www.txtmokko.com/?q=chat/form

6. The test message you have sent via SMS should appear in your inbox.

7. You can also read your inbox via a private RSS feed, just click the orange RSS icon on the inbox page.

8. You can reply for free, just click the test message you have sent on your inbox to reply or use the link provided on your inbox's private RSS feed

9. You can set to forward all SMS messages to your email too!

Other things you can do:

1. You can add additional keywords and upload auto-replies in the text-box section at http://www.txtmokko.com/?q=hello/manage

eg: TXT GODIE

2. Let users get up-to-date information about you by composing an SMS and sending it to the short code.

eg: TXT GODIE
then send to 2948

3. Users will receive via (actual sample using my keyword):

Roger aka "Godie" is a 20 something geek from the Philippines. He works as a mobile specialist for the past 3 years which also involves security, networking and banking.

So far it works for Philippine users only and it cost Php2.50 to use the service but its free if your replying to a message.

Its useful for getting customer feed backs, live customer support, interactive Chat, or just allowing your application to receive messages via SMS.