The internet by SMS
Whilst iPhone, Android and other rich devices continually raise the bar for the high-end mobile experience, it would be easy to overlook the persistent innovation and advance in low-end technologies such as SMS. Common have delivered a number of services which have relied heavily on SMS and we’ve usually been delighted with the “honesty” of the user engagement when any perceived technology barriers are removed and the user is able to focus purely on the content.
Similarly, although mobile applications are extending the reach of mobile services in some areas, mobile access to the internet continues to go from strength to strength. You only have to use the Guardian or BBC mobile sites once or twice and it’s immediately apparent that a carefully optimised mobile internet experience can be easy to use, well presented and allow you to find the content you want quickly. HP have just launched a service which aims to extend mobile access to the internet even further. It’s suggested that the service will primarily benefit developing countries where 3G and data access is limited or prohibitively expensive, by allowing users to “query” the internet using SMS. If the experience and the results are good enough though there’s no reason why this “retrieve a snippet of the internet” approach might not be just as successful everywhere.
