SMS, USSD, WAP, JAVA. Overview. Part 2.
And we continue with overview of technologies. Today let’s look at USSD. If you are not in the telecom industry, you have probably never heard that term. Let’s clear this out.
USSD.
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data. Not many people know it, but that’s how the thing called which delivers account balance when you dial short numbers like *100#. It’s an old technology, which wasn’t taken seriously and many people were simply unaware of it. Now we can see that it’s becoming more and more popular. It is often looked at as a rival of SMS. However, it can be a nice addition to SMS or WAP service and significantly increase revenue. It’s not bad as a standalone mobile service either and provides maybe the best user experience on mobile phones due to its simplicity.
Technical stuff.
What really distinguishes USSD from SMS is a session based nature of USSD. Information is not stored anywhere. It goes directly from USSD center to a mobile phone in a real-time session. It means that unlike SMS, every action is performed immediately. This hugely improves user experience as response time is almost as fast as browsing cell phone’s menu. It gives a mobile service interactivity and engagement which any other types of technologies lack.
It also has two modes: pull and push. Pull mode is when users initiate requests. (i.e. browse your service). Push mode handles network initiated requests. It can be used to notify users about any kind of news regarding your service.
Popularity.
There are no exact numbers, but you can rest assured it is very popular. It’s used by almost all operators as balance enquiry technology and used all over the world for self-care services. People are familiar with USSD and there will be no problems to get them familiar with your service.
Where do you get your money from?
You can set price for using a service as a whole or charge clients for every click they make inside service. Both have some specifics.
To charge clients once, operator sends mobile terminated (MT) SMS to a user either when he/she enters service or leaves it. To do this you should go to aggregators which will supply this SMS. There are some issues, though. For example, a user has 2$ on account balance and your service cost 5$. If you charge when user leaves service, then he/she will actually pay only 2$. That’s why it is better to charge with a welcome SMS which can block usage of service if there is not enough funds.
The second option is to charge for requests. It removes the global aspect of a service as you need to go to a carrier and negotiate the terms of billing users for each click.
Pros and cons.
Pros:
• Interactivity. Probably the biggest plus which gives the edge over other technologies.
• Simplicity of use.
• Works on all mobile devices.
Cons:
• Actually, there are no disadvantages if USSD is applied creatively and well thought-out.
Next stop is WAP. Stay tuned.
SMS, USSD, WAP, JAVA. Overview. Part 1.
Following the previous post let’s have a closer look at technologies. You came up with an idea for a service and ready to implement it. You are green as grass and asking yourself “What technology to choose?” Remember, though, there is no ultimately right technology. Everything depends on the context of your service. We are not going to sink in sophisticated telecom terms. Just the basics you need to know in order to learn if technology can suit your particular project.
SMS
Short Message Service. The most popular component of mobile phones in the last decade. It’s a method of communication by sending short text messages between cell phones (in case you didn’t know).
Technical stuff.
It’s called short message service for a reason. The number of characters is limited and depends on alphabet. For Latin alphabet the limitation is 160 characters and for Cyrillic alphabet (Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Bosnian, etc.) and languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Arabic it is 70 characters.
SMS uses store and forward technique. A message is sent to intermediate station where it is kept and can be sent at a later time. It means that if your client’s phone is turned off or out of range he can receive message later. The message can be stored at service centers for days and months (it depends on operator).
Popularity.
In 2009 5.035 trillion were sent. According to Informa Telecoms & Media in Q1 if 2010, 1.475 trillion messages were reported. The figure at the end of the year is expected to be around 6.5 trillion. So, yeah, it’s popular.
Where do you get your money from?
There are two ways to charge money with SMS. The first one is when you simply take money straight from clients’ mobile account for every SMS they receive. Then, you share income from each SMS with operator/aggregator based on your arrangements. The second one is called sponsored service. With this one you don’t charge clients at all because your service is sponsored by another company. Usually it means that ads should be placed at the end of SMS message. The income is still shared with operators as they send your messages.
Pros and cons.
Pros:
• Highly popular.
• As a result user experience is simple and crystal clear.
• Huge amount of aggregators due popularity which helps to find suitable deal.
• Messages are stored on mobile devices
Cons:
• Your multimedia possibilities are limited by 160 or 70 characters.
• Fast delivery of messages during periods of high traffic is not guaranteed.
• Message can’t be received if user’s inbox is full.
Next in line – USSD. Stay tuned.
[photo: flickr/mangee]
How to start up mobile service.
So, you want to create a mobile service. And you have little or no idea how to do that. Well, this post might give you some information how to start and what to look for in this mobile game.
Mobilization is high as ever nowadays, you hear that everywhere and this might be the reason you decided to go mobile. Nevertheless, there are one or two things to consider before jumping on the bandwagon. Creating mobile service is a process of several steps and if correctly executed it can be a great way to advertise your current business or it can be a successful business in itself.
First of all, research market and look for similar services, i.e. competitors. How many of them are successful? What exactly makes them successful? Do you think you can offer something new or improve on existing ones? At last, is there any demand for your service?
Target audience defines technology you choose to run your service on. Technologies at your disposal:
• SMS
• USSD
• WAP
• Java
• WEB
The best way is to research the target market and choose the appropriate. Creating web site is the easiest way as you bypass carriers and simply make it at home. However, the primary audience for web sites is smart phones. You should also examine different smart phones, for example smart phones with touch screen. This means web site have to be adjusted for different devices. Significant advantage of web is that service can be accessed from any carrier.
WAP is another option where carrier is not involved and which can be accessed worldwide. It can’t provide decent, let alone great user experience, though. Few people know how to set up it on mobile phones and you need to consider its low popularity.
SMS/USSD combination is the best combination for setting up a mobile service. It gives the best user experience which is one of the key factors of service success. Remember, though, if you want to concentrate on particular local area, remember that people have different carriers. It means you literally have to start service several times. Multiply costs too.
When everything is ready and you came up with business strategy the next step is to launch service. This is where you go to aggregators. Aggregators are companies that operate independently from mobile operators and serve as intermediary. They are your destination as it’s not always easy to reach operators. Aggregators naturally want (surprise) share in your income. You don’t have to deal with operators as aggregators make contract with them and handle all issues for you.
If your service is SMS/USSD based you should get short code. Aggregators usually already have a number of such codes (CSC) for use. However, if they don’t have any or you are dealing directly with operator, obtaining CSC takes about two months. Costs may vary from country to country, typical US costs:
• One-time operator setup – $1,000 to $2,000
• Random number – $500
• Aggregator fees – $1,000 to $2,000
It takes about six weeks after submitting short code to carriers to get an approval. Service should meet carrier’s marketing strategy as users will recognize it as if its operator’s.
Don’t forget about law if you make a worldwide service. Law is different around the world so make research. For example, in some countries there is a ban of dating services, so setting one up is penal action.
Creating service is complicated thing so we’ll come back later and look more deeply at how to make it properly. Stay tuned.
What people want from mobile services.
The astonishing truth about mobile services is that people use them when they are mobile. It may be an obvious statement, but it is something many service developers forget when implementing their ideas. Bearing in mind mobile environment where people with mobile phones are placed, the first thing you have to think of is how fast and easy your service can be accessed and used. Not how many features it can provide.
Mobile service should serve one particular task, and it helps if this task is unique. It’s not a necessary condition but it can certainly be good for your pocket if you occupy a new niche. However, as said this is not essential.
What essential is user experience. There might be dozens of weather forecast services, but if you make one where you have to press less buttons it can have success. Look at Google and Apple, for example. Companies with no mobile background released just one phone each and now nobody can touch them in terms of sales. Nowadays there is no lack of functionality. What separates the best from others is user experience. No matter how many options and features your service have, if it doesn’t provide convenient and easy experience its doomed to be left unnoticed.
People don’t want to dig out hidden “gems” you carefully placed for them. In fact, they don’t want to spend more than 10 seconds to find out how service works. They are busy with their lives, standing in a queue or driving a car and they really don’t want to think hard about their mobile phones. Its there to ease their lives, if they want to get some info fast, or entertain them if they have some time to kill. Both these functions presume efficiency so your primary task is to make user experience of your service efficient.
What you need is to come up with an idea and implement just the minimum to make it work. Don’t add some stuff just because you can. The function of any service should be crystal clear as its interface. Imagine a car where a steering wheel, pedals and gearshift are replaced with just two buttons – go and stop. Thats what we call a proper user experience. Make effortless UX the primary thing to achieve and results won’t take long to appear.
We’ll explore user experience more in the future. Contact us at info@eyeline.mobi if you want additional info.
[photo: flickr/kirainet]
How to improve ARPU of your mobile service.
ARPU stands for Average Revenue per User and is a measure that mostly used by telecommunications companies. It helps to find out how much money a company makes for the average user and is a general indicator of effectiveness with which company is accessing its customers revenue potential. It can also show how good a company is in moving users to new services. Anyway, if you are reading this, chances are you know quite well what ARPU is.
So, how to improve revenue of your service? The short answer is…USSD. A good old technology that can be used in a rather new way. Let’s say you have WAP service and you want to attract new consumers. The thing with WAP is, well, it’s not so popular. First of all, it takes time to set up it properly. And this is where WAP end for most people with mobile handhelds. Ask anybody on the street whether they know how to set up and use WAP. You won’t get much information.
One thing people know for sure is to how dial number on a mobile phone. And this is what USSD is about. Fast and simple. Essentially, USSD is a menu which a user gets when dials a short USSD number like *555#. What it all has to do with WAP? Well, you can put USSD number on any ads of your service. For a start, with the help of it people can learn how to set up WAP in order to access your service. This can increase your audience quite well.
Everybody also knows that it’s quite unpleasant to type long web addresses on a mobile handheld. Just create a copy of your WAP site sections which a user gets in the form of USSD menus. There he/she can choose necessary section and access it in the matter of seconds just pressing buttons a couple of times. It improves user experience drastically as there is no need to write essay in the address bar now. Even more, you can use USSD as just another part of your service and move information there. Unlike WAP and SMS it provides interactivity which is the key factor to keep interest of a consumer.
Basically, USSD can be added to any mobile service, be it SMS, Java or WAP to improve user experience. It is considered an old technology, but it one of the best things mobile phones can offer in terms of interactivity, engagement and simplicity. Read about USSD here or contact us to learn more.
[photo: flickr/nathangibbs]
