* SMS 2.0 is an upgrade to the consumer’s default Cellphone SMS (Messaging) application. SMS 2.0 has converged messaging, content and advertising into one seamless application.

* Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest mobile phone operator, is test marketing SMS 2.0 — the world’s first upgrade to the popular SMS application — in and around Delhi in tie-up with the UK-based Affle and MobileOne Ltd. (M1), one of the main operators in Singapore.

* It creates an interactive channel for the non-intrusive delivery of relevant content and advertising on the SMS window. The consumer chooses his interest area, and the latest information is delivered unobtrusively, while he composes or reads an SMS message.

* The mass-media interactive technology is developed by Affle and only two companies the world over have exclusive rights to this nextgen SMS service — the $4.3-billion Airtel and M1 of Singapore.

* For advertisers, it’s a killer application that will ensure their message is carried to an audience that’s all ears for it. SMS 2.0 is an eyeball-assured media where content is free.

HOW DOES IT WORKS:

* As of now, Airtel customers can download and (Read the rest of this story.)

Here is a news for the subscribers of mGinger concept. There is a competition to pay them more for reading advertisements. If you have gone through my earlier post on mGinger SMS pay backs, then you must be aware of the fact that mGinger is paying back its readers 35 paise in all.

Here is another Delhi-based company TechnoApex Softwares which has jumped into this field with its website admad.mobi offering you to pay back upto 51 paise per SMS through a 5 level affiliate model.

But the point is not just this lucrative pay-out structure, but who will gain the critical mass of advertisers and strike a right balance of readers too, so that it can make all of them happy for using their services. As of now, none of these companies are known to be providing with sufficient no. of paid SMS to their registered readers due to lack of advertisers. But perhaps its just the matter of time the things will pick up.

Technorati Tags: SMS, paid SMS, SMS ads, SMS advertising, Mobile, Cellphone, mGinger

Last month my sister sent me a referral link to mGinger - a website with a unique business model of paying to read SMSs on your cellphones. As I don’t use any cellphone connection I just had a look at this website critically. But I found it to be a good and practical business model. mGinger.com, started by three engineers, works on the principle of permission-based marketing. The website was launched on 19th April, 2007 with a beta version and had less than 50 registered members at that time. SMS advertisements which used to irritate cellphone users could turn out to be money-spinners with this Bangalore based website. It will pay to those who willingly register with it to receive advertisements through SMSs at their convenient hours. For each ad received, the mobile phone user gets (Read the rest of this story.)