Including Everything Blog

Posts Tagged ‘text messages’

I stumbled across an article today that talks about Verizon Wireless looking into new streams of revenue, initially found by RCR Wireless News.  In short, Verizon is expected to charge $0.03 per text message sent through websites; a fee in addition to the almost $0.20 per message billed to these websites for receipt of the messages.

Original article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/technology/companies/11text.html?_r=2&em&oref=slogin&oref=slogin 

When mobile subscribers already pay for this as part of a service contract, this seems like double dipping in terms of where they’re getting their income.

I question what this will do to the growth of the mobile market just as it’s taking off?  The creative agency I work for, Quango Design + Marketing, doesn’t currently do work with text messaging outside of the mobile networks, but we do marketing that in some part could make use of web text messaging someday.  This type of hard cost makes it nearly impossible to integrate on a large scale unless cost is passsed on to the end user.

Will Free Web Text & txtDrop still remain “free”?  Text messaging & SMS is useful for more than just entertainment purposes.  Text 4 Deaf is a service that enables deaf users to remain connected in a number of ways.  Something of this size could be crippled (no pun intended) overnight by a change like this, or could require higher charitable donations in order to remain operating.  The other alternative would be higher rates to the users of course.

Something as significant as this change may seem like a simple choice to Verizon, but they have an opportunity to help shape the mobile market and be innovators, not stifle it by increases.  People are already paying for the right to receive these messages to their mobile providers (Sprint PCS, ATT and T-Mobile).

Verizon mentions:
“We want to find a way not just to create a toll but build the overall market together”

I don’t view this as building the market as much as I do see it as a toll.  Isn’t there a better way than double dipping on something you’re already profitable from in the service contracts?