Cover4Me is a great mobile application that allows workers to seek job coverage using an anonymous text message. Their application is very robust, and utilizes 3Cinteractive’s Fonebook Mobile API Toolkit. Their integration with 3Cinteractive allows Cover4Me to let coworkers interact through a neutral shortcode without revealing their personal contact information.
Over the past several weeks I’ve grown into the Twitter community and haven’t looked back. The most fascinating part of Twitter was the development of the “@” replies concept. Twitter has evolved and the idea of posting “what I’m doing” has become a theme in social networking (e.g. Facebook Status). Cover4Me designed an application that puts an interesting spin on the new trend of “what I’m doing”. To add to it, Cover4Me allows your co-workers to say what you’re “actually” doing!
It’s a great concept and I’ve been experimenting with it quite a bit inside the 3Cinteractive office. Twitter is a great program, but it misses a lot of the personal social interaction that you get from being face-to-face with someone you’re talking to. Adding the ability for your close friends/co-workers to manage your status adds a bit of fun for your “web presence” and work environment.
Make sure to give it a shot.
- Ainsworth
The numerous options in mobile marketing have confused marketing offices. From native handset applications to MMS and SMS, each technology has its ups and downs.
Because they occur on the handset and can leverage other applications or hardware features (e.g. GPS), native applications offer the most flexibility for user interaction. But, native applications, are subject to one-time installs, and users rarely remember to update their software.
The next bet for content delivery is MMS, and while that is a great medium, the technology isn’t ubiquitous across the major carriers. SMS, the plain text sibling of MMS, is ubiquitous but many marketers shy away because of the misconception that SMS lacks the full package.
Digging a bit further, marketers will jump back to WAP only to find that it too struggles to provide ubiquitous experience end-users. This is partially a result of the lack of standardized browsers, and that Verizon Wireless blocks WAP content downloads to their handsets.
So, after all this research, somehow, handset applications come away with the biggest appeal. They’re fast, they leverage the handset’s features, and they can handle all the fun content without battling a messaging platform. Which leaves me asking… how good was this research?! Yes, a handset application can do all that and the end-users – who actually download it - would love it, but why eliminate such a large audience with all the red tape?
Don’t get me wrong, mobile applications are cool - I had a few before I jumped to the iPhone – but the mobile phone is about speed and convenience. The traditional method of finding and downloading an application has too many hurdles – the iPhone AppStore will change this.
Continue reading ‘Looking to Go Mobile? Start with SMS.’