Verizon intros $5 unlimited international messaging add-on
Verizon unveiled a monthly World Messaging Unlimited add-on that gives you unlimited text messages and voice rates as low as 1 cent per minute when contacting international numbers.
Can SMS be a surrogate for the internet in the developing world?
GeoPoll is using the lowly SMS to engage with and collect survey data from people in developing countries around the world. It’s one of the many means SMS is being used as a stand-in for the internet.
The Pirate Bay founder is raising money for spy-proof messaging app
Has the recent NSA scandal created a greater appetite for fully encrypted communications options? Hemlis, developed by The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde, will be one test of that.
Want to text from your home phone? Zipwhip brings landlines to the SMS club
SMS formerly has been a mobile-phone only club, but cloud-messaging provider Zipwhip has virtualized the SMS client, allowing you to send text messages from any wireline number — if not from an actual wired phone.
SMS is old, it’s boring, and it’s still an effective marketing tool
Much of the hype in mobile marketing centers on cutting-edge technologies like augmented reality and location-based ads. But SMS — plain old text messaging — is still a very powerful tool for those who use it correctly.
Why SMS is still very much alive (and what it means)
Apple, Facebook, and a host of others have drawn headlines for their efforts to “kill” SMS, but text will still be a huge business for carriers worldwide for years to come. And that’s good news for those players leveraging the power of text messaging.
The Apple Roundup: How cable today is nothing like the music biz of 2000
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: why Apple can’t disrupt cable today the way it did the music industry, where the Apple-Google spat is heading, an SMS security concern, plans for Oregon data center.
Who needs data? Google launches Gmail SMS in Africa
Text messaging. It’s one of the few functions of a feature phone that graduated to today’s smartphones and continues to be used heavily by people all around the world. Now, in three African countries, it can even be used for Gmail at no extra charge.
SMS 2.0 could make its first appearance at MWC
SMS is getting a facelift at Mobile World Congress. Mavenir Systems is launching a messaging platform that could turn carriers’ staid old SMS into a much more vibrant platform on par with Apple’s iMessage. But most importantly, the technology preserves SMS’s most valuable asset: its ubiquity.
Safety last? the conundrum of connected cars
With no fear of federal regulation, carmakers are pursuing their “infotainment” strategy of packing cars with the latest consumer electronics. But it’s not clear that the states — which are already fighting distracted driving by cell phone users — will go along for the ride.