Thursday, January 29, 2009
Location based SMS
When I entered the departure area of Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening, my cellphone received a text message.The message came from Cellcom, the carrier from which I have an Israeli SIM card. The text informed me that my phone would continue to work for me while I am outside Israel and that there are discount packages available.
I thought it was most interesting to have seen that my location served as a trigger to generate the message.
In this particular instance, the message came from the wireless service provider itself, not a third party advertiser. How would users respond to location based advertising starting to beep their phones? Are network information messages a way to start preparing consumers for another screen to be targeted by advertisers?
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Cellcom, SMS
Posted by Mark Goldberg @ 1/29/2009 07:40:00 AM 
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On my Rogers Cell I got a text MSG when I crossed into the states informing me I was in the states (I forget the exact MSG).
I didn't like it. Its like being followed. How did you like it? You didn't touch on that point.
If such a service was "opt-in" and not "opt-out", and based on my input on what I want to be sent to me, I guess I wouldn't mind. Provided I had the choice.
If Rogers can tell me I crossed the border, then sure, why not have an "opt-in" service saying the Factory Outlet 10 miles down the road has 30% off on jeans!
But I still didn't like the following aspect and the MSG when I crossed the border.
I didn't like it. Its like being followed. How did you like it? You didn't touch on that point.
If such a service was "opt-in" and not "opt-out", and based on my input on what I want to be sent to me, I guess I wouldn't mind. Provided I had the choice.
If Rogers can tell me I crossed the border, then sure, why not have an "opt-in" service saying the Factory Outlet 10 miles down the road has 30% off on jeans!
But I still didn't like the following aspect and the MSG when I crossed the border.
Posted by 
: 12:09 PM, January 29, 2009
: 12:09 PM, January 29, 2009
While the message you received was similar, I think there is an important difference. Your Rogers message would have said something like "Welcome to [name of country]. Access voicemail as u do at home. 4 Rogers customer care dial [+1...] FREE 24/7 on ur phone."
This message would have been triggered by your phone registering on a foreign network, which is different from a location based message within your home network.
The roaming message serves a number of purposes, not the least of which is to make sure you realize that you are now roaming in another country [Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more].
Of course your service provider knows when you have crossed the border - they send the bills to you from your foreign carrier. There is no privacy issue there.
The message I wrote about was while I was still inside their country. I think there is an important policy distinction, as well as a different technical implementation.
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This message would have been triggered by your phone registering on a foreign network, which is different from a location based message within your home network.
The roaming message serves a number of purposes, not the least of which is to make sure you realize that you are now roaming in another country [Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more].
Of course your service provider knows when you have crossed the border - they send the bills to you from your foreign carrier. There is no privacy issue there.
The message I wrote about was while I was still inside their country. I think there is an important policy distinction, as well as a different technical implementation.
Posted by 
Mark Goldberg : 1:18 PM, January 29, 2009
Mark Goldberg : 1:18 PM, January 29, 2009 << Home
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