Boston Fights Crime Through Text Messaging

Boston's police, have set up a system to allow witnesses to tip them off to crime by sending anonymous text messages.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said the "Text a Tip Program," announced on Friday, appeared to be the first in the nation to combine cell phone text messaging with an anonymous police tip line.

From technical perspective, this mimics MESSAGEbuzz's Support2U, an add-on to CRM systems.

If anyone has questions or would like to know more about MESSAGEbuzz's Support2U add-on, please contact us .

Klem

iPhone, Music and SDK (or lack of one)

British firm Omnifone said it had signed content deals with the four biggest music groups in the industry and had agreements with 30 mobile operators in a bid to steal the thunder of the much-hyped iPhone made by iPod maker Apple.

The service called MusicStation will be suitable for 75 percent of mobile handsets already available in the market and will launch first in Sweden on Thursday with Scandinavian operator Telenor.

I am still steaming about the lack of SDK for iPhone. Microsoft learned long time ago that third party application providers add to the core system. Just think how horrible it would be if we would not have any third-party Active-X controls.

Nevertheless, having ability to write for Web 2.0 might sound good, but it is not what users really want. Not everyone have unlimited data access. Apple should rethink their approach to SDK on iPhones. - Klem

I used to have a mobile phone

PC World has some fun pictures.

Heftier: Nokia Mobira Senator (1982)
Introduced in 1982, the Nokia Mobira Senator was designed for use in cars. After all, you wouldn't want to use this phone while walking: It weighed about 21 pounds.

Do you think it had SMS?

MESSAGEbuzz and MooseJaw

MESSAGEbuzz and a leading outdoor adventure retailer, Moosejaw Mountaineering, just completed incredibly successful text messaging campaign. It is one of many campaigns that will come from them.

They are using SMS in four different ways:

1.) Package tracking for their customers
2.) Text2Win
3.) Customer service
4.) Add hock promotions

My favorite is:

"Text me back with Rock, Paper or Scissors. I already know what I'm throwing and if you beat me I'll add 100 Moosejaw Points to your account now."

It was an offer the majority of customers could not refuse. They received 66% response rate!!!

But look at the response that they sent back:

"Paper and you lose. Please note that I haven't lost once since I lost to Machiavelli in 1521. I am adding the 100 Moosejaw points to your account anyway"


Their add hock campaign, advertised only on a banner on their website, "name the worst movie ever and receive Moosejaw Points" generated another flurry of responses.

But these are just samples of their success. The integration of SMS into their branding should be a case study in how to use SMS. They got the fact that it is content that makes SMS campaigns a success.

Also, the addition to their customers service, where anyone can text in question and receive a response back is really a huge addition to their overall service. Most importantly it appeals to their target audience.

We created a really nice sms-email-sms for their CSRs.

All in all, the only thing I can say about their camapigns is: "These guys are good". -Klem