http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/Index.htm
http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/SAMS.doc
http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/SamPPT.htm
- a powerpoint presentation in webpage format
http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/sam.zip -
a zipped-up file of the sams.doc plus the powerpoint slideshow file
Press
Release - 27 April 2006
Version 4
– 23 January 2007 – minor modifications and additions, mainly the statement
immediately below regarding mobilearts.com, plus a revision downwards of the
royalty payment. Plus the powerpoint presentation.
The company Mobilearts of
*** All
Rights Reserved ***
Concept
outline - SMS-based answerback mailbox - SAM
This is a
phone number to which only SMS messages can be sent. It is not linked to a SIM
card or to a physical mobile or fixed phone.
Messages can be retrieved by sending an SMS to a service number quoting
the phone number and its associated pin code - then all outstanding stored
messages are resent to that originating phone number in one or several SMS
messages, within seconds or minutes of the originating request.
Q. Who
uses it?
A. People
too poor to buy a mobile phone (yes - they do exist!)
Q.
Advantage for the user?
A. It brings
modern electronic messaging to the poor and to those in remote areas
Q.
Advantage for the operators?
A. It
gives non-phone owners the taste of the advantages of phone ownership; and SMS
costs to the operator are effectively zero.
Q.
Advantage for economy/society/government?
A. It can
stimulate small business, by bringing telecoms even to small business who
couldn’t afford it. Tie this in with
free advertising newspapers and you stimulate small business.
Q. Others
who gain?
A. Phone
shop operators, mobile paycall operators.
Q. Other
practicalities?
A. Numbers
allocated by a small envelope only, with phone number on outside, PIN number on
inside. Can be sold for nominal price
or distributed free of charge. Can be
distributed/sold by recharge card vendors.
Instead of
using a phone service to make the Message Retrieval SMS (MRS), many people will
use a friend's phone (with or without payment)
SAM can be
registered by structured SMS to callcenter against a national ID document, then
if pin nr is lost and/or forgotten can be reissued (same or different pin
number) against show of document (a chargeable process).
User can
change pin number by a structured SMS message to the callcenter.
Originating
message retrieval SMS (MRS) can be done with several SAM's (and corresponding
pins) in one message - this reduces cost of checking your mailbox since you
divide by 2,3,4 etc.. This will
probably only be used for SAM’s which rarely receive messages.
SAMs can
be given away free and can be done with free originating SMS for some initial
period if takeup is not immediate and overwhelming.
Number can
be linked temporarily short-term/long-term to a real mobile phone nr to have
incoming SMS redirected to that physical phone... operation is done by SMS with pin number and destination phone nr
– a structured SMS.
Message
retrieval can operate across national boundaries? – maybe that becomes a
chargeable add-on to an otherwise free SAM service.
When a SAM
user converts to a real mobile line all incoming SMS can be redirected to that
real line.
The SMS
for message retrieval (MRS) could be made free-of-charge, since all incoming
SMS generate revenue themselves – there should be no need to levy the SMS for
checking if messages exist; certainly at service startup the MRS (message
retrieval SMS) should be made cost-free.
To
increase SAM security, if desired by MPP and/or clients, then a series of TAN’s
(transaction authorization numbers) instead of one single PIN number can be
used to request message callback.
Q.
Potential coverage?
A. Uganda
2006 has 8% phones/person - watch this go to 16-32-64% SAMs within 6 months of
SAM startup…
Q.
Marketing advantages?
A. Mobile
operators who offer SAM’s can build brand loyalty.
Q. What if
a national government wants SAM’s but all the mobile phone providers (MPP’s)
are lukewarm or negative?
A. By
regulation, the national government can require that MPP’s provide say 3 x the
number of their mobile phone lines as SAM’s (this factor can be chosen by the
government, and/or negotiated).
Q. Is
there a market in Western Economies?
A. Almost
certainly not – since everyone there can afford their own mobile phone and
line.
Q. What is
the equipment impact on MPP’s?
A. Effectively
Zero – the whole concept merely involves a very minor expansion of MPP’s
database capacity and some software changes/enhancements.
*** All
Rights Reserved ***
Additional
material 28 April 2006-
MPP’s may
provide facility for SAM user to dispatch SMS’s from within their account –
thereby making replying simple and more error-free – call this a virtual sender
(VS) facility or feature.
User can
set up groups to be SMS’d using their virtual sender facility as above.
MPP’s may
choose to provide email-to-SAM, SAM-to-email, web-to-SAM, SAM-to-web
interfaces.
Additional
material 19 July 2006.
Copyright Statement
I will require a royalty payment of US$ 0.0001 (was previously US$
0.0005) per sms message made to or from
any and every sms answerback mailbox; this rate is a global rate regardless of
country of origin or termination of sms.
These payments should be made quarterly. Statements should be emailed monthly. This rate will be subject to negotiation downwards with
individual Mobile Phone Operators.
Mr Alexander Weir
4 Brechin Drive
Marlborough
Harare
Zimbabwe
19 July 2006
Feedback:
-----Original
Message-----
From: Dr. Ashish Manohar Urkude
Sent: 19 July 2006 12:32
To: Alexweir1949@yahoo.com
Subject: I liked your concept when I read it on the URL:
http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/index.htm
July 19, 06/ Dr. Ashish to Mr. Alex/ About participation in the World Bank -Discussion
Dear Mr. Alex Weir,
Could you send some more details about your concept? We have problem in Rural India we could use it there.
Thanks and Regards.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ashish
Dr. Ashish Manohar Urkude
Professor and Head Research
Symbiosis Center for Management and HRD,
15, Rajeev Gandhi Infotech Park,
M.I.D.C, Hinjewadi,
Pune, Maharashtra State, India.
Zip Code- 411057
Feedback:
Find a reference to SAM by
myself at
http://rru.worldbank.org/Discussions/Discussion.aspx?id=74
http://www.knowprose.com/node/16011
|
Submitted by Taran on Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 10:36 |
ICT;
Technology · People and Communications · Personal
Notes · QuickProSE · Realist Cult
· Technology & Communications
· Technology
and Society · Technology Observations · Warm Fuzzy |
|
There was a
minor emergency (one Uncle tried BASE jumping without a parachute, he
seems to be fine) so I'm a bit behind. Oddly enough, the network has been
undependable for voice calls over the past 2 days - our wonderful TSTT in action
again. SMS, at least, gets through even if you get the
messages in a week. :-) Thus, when I
came across this Development Gateway Resource, I saw a lot of
potential - and thus, I read up a bit more on SMS-based
answerback mailbox (SAM). One number, multiple SMS recipients. But you can
do that with an Asterisk server too. In
fact, that may be what they are using, the Open Source PBX. It seems
like it comes from the same base as Frontline SMS - but it's distinct in that a PIN
number is used, as far as I can tell. You can read more about Frontline SMS here. The general
idea of both of these ideas is maximizing communication. It's odd that telecommunications providers
haven't already nailed down these sorts of services globally, but... catering
to poor people is not what they are famous for. Still, there are plenty of
business scenarios where they could be used. From Emergency
SMS to business, these technologies are worth keeping an eye on. There's a
half formed idea in the back of my head on this... when it ripens, I'll see
if it has seeds. But maybe someone else will think of it first. :-) |
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