From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Thu Jan 31 2002 - 17:34:17 MST
> >I think that the list's resident Singapore resident can probably speak
> to
> >the effects that cellphones have had on his citystate. I've
> spoken with
> some
> >of the companies based there (such as Edgematrix) in the process of my
> work,
> >and it's as much a high-tech hub and center of exciting social
> possibilities
> >as Northern California.
>
> Totally, superior in some respects. SMS is everywhere. The
> disappointment is
> that it's never used for social evolution - that would end up outlawed
> probably - but rather for boy-and-girl stuff almost exclusively. San
> Franciscans do it too of course, but there's more to say than
> just "c u @ d usual plc" if you want to.
The trouble with SMS is it's a bit crude as-is for anything other than
boy-girl stuff. [Is there any tech that isn't used for boy-girl stuff?].
It's actually a pretty ingenious hack on the original GSM specs; it uses a
control channel that wasn't initially intended for this sort of of thing.
One of the things that my company, among others, is working on is the
standardizing of SMS as a packet technology for higher-level apps. The trick
is getting meaningful apps that work on baseline GSM phones -- there's a
number of companies moving in this direction from an infrastructure point of
view (SmartTrust, the aformentioned EdgeMatrix, Rapsodia, etc). They're all
pushing out products that enable WAP concepts like links, multi-screen pages
and addressed data to work in an SMS-only environment. It's pretty exciting
stuff actually; the next 12 months should see a few real winners in
companies that provide the standards for data access GUIs and content for
90% of the cell phone users in the world -- those that use phase 2+, non-WAP
phones.
Reason
http://www.exratio.com/
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