Loop Mobile in collaboration with SMSGupShup has announced a new service ‘Reply All’. This service which almost seems a mobile phone version of Google Groups will allow Loop Mobile subscribers to SMS many people simultaneously. The company itself describes the service as something similar to CC and reply-all features on email.
The basic process of this service is that a Loop Mobile subscriber can start a conversation by sending the following message to 555999: CHAT 98210xxxxx 98200xxxxx 92235xxxxx (where 98210xxxxx etc. are the numbers of the friends, who may be on any operator network). The system will create a group and assign a shortcode to the group. The user will then be prompted to send a message, which goes to all participants in the group. Participants can reply to the message – which will also be sent to all participants in the group. Subscribers can create a group of maximum 6 friends but friends from other operators can also be invited.
Every message to this group or shortcode will be charged 50p but currently its being offered for free to all Loop Mobile subscribers till June 30. On being questioned as to what led Loop Mobile to come up with this service, Mr. Surya Mahadevan, COO Loop Mobile said, “The insight we had was that today’s youth operate in & communicate within their preferred groups. We are seeing a shift in communication today where SMS, emails, internet chat etc is between “many–to-many”, not just 1-1 of the previous generation.”
The company Loop Mobile (previously BPL Mobile) cited this service as one that would take social networking via mobile to a new level. Only time will prove or disprove the veracity of this statement but there is another important emerging trend that this service brings to the fore. Service providers are developing more and more services to reach out to people via sms. Recognizing the huge penetration of mobile handsets in the country across all strata of society, it seems that people are gradually waking up to the fact that to capitalize on this market, services will have to reach people despite the lack of internet capabilities. This realization across the industry will definitely lead to the introduction of some interesting services. What do you think?
