Dot Go could be 'the Internet for text messaging'

Dot Go, from Scientific Media, is positioned as the 'Internet for text messaging,' and promises companies an easy way for potential customers to communicate with them by text message.

(Credit: Scientific Media)

SAN DIEGO--For better or worse, text messaging has become, according to a company called Scientific Media, the most popular mobile application on Earth. And while many companies are trying to build marketing efforts around people's use of texting, it's clear there is a long way to go before those efforts are coherent.

At the DemoFall 09 conference here Wednesday, Scientific Media unveiled its Dot Go service, a tool it hopes large numbers of companies will employ to try to boost their text messaging-based marketing.

The idea? Blow apart the current texting/marketing dynamic, in which companies try to get users to text questions to them, but in which there's no easy way for people to remember the so-called short codes (the five- or six-number codes people text their questions to) used by most companies.

For example, Google offers a wide range of information via text message, and to access it, mobile users must text a message to 466453, which equates to "Google." That one is kind of easy. But Starbucks, by comparison, uses MYSBUX (or 697289), a much harder to remember code. Similarly, Fandango uses FNDGO, or 36346.

Scientific Media's solution to this problem is to do away with each company having its own hard to remember code, and instead have all text messages to companies go through its service, which is reachable by a single short code, "Dotcom."

Dot Go imposes a single rule, Scientific Media said: The first word of any text message sent to Dotcom (368266) specifies the Internet domain a user is looking for.

So, for example, if someone wanted to get information from Fandango, they would simply text "Fandango" to Dotcom. For Weather.com, they'd text "Weather" to Dotcom. By texting "Gasbuddy 92101" to Dotcom, a user would get a list of the five cheapest gas stations in the 92101 zip code.

One major value proposition of this, the company argued, is that text messaging works on every mobile phone, meaning that anyone with such a device can use the service. Also, while good domains are pretty well locked up in the West, there are plenty of great available domain names in developing countries, meaning, the company argued, that the marketing upside is tremendous in such parts of the world.

What this mean, Scientific Media said, is that Dot Go is "the Internet for text messaging." And while that's a very bold claim, you can see what they mean.

As far as monetizing this service goes, it's clear that Scientific Media is hoping to engage companies like Fandango, Starbucks, and Weather.com in co-marketing deals. Will it work? I don't know. I'm often skeptical of these types of services, because they represent nothing but potential. But if that potential pays off, this could be a big winner.

[jaguar717]

I'd be curious to see how many people have ever actually sent a text to "MYSBUX". I could definitely see a market for services like ChaCha and KGB, and this could compete well with them by cutting out the middle and simply sending the information (without the cutesy commentary).

The downside would be that instead of simply functional stuff like gas stations, movie times, and directions, it would surely get dominated by American Idol and celebrity gossip sites to attract our emasculated myspace generation.

The next step after that is descending into the text-happy world of Britain, where every TV show has an annoying banner covering the bottom of the screen harassing you to pay a pound to vote on something inane.

[jynx510]

In this era of internet-connected devices, I can't see how this technology can possibly be relevant for more than another year at best.

[jaguar717]

Disagree. Until you can fit true PC speeds into a handheld device, and get true broadband speeds on wireless networks, tapping out a quick text is much faster than opening a browser, typing out a web page, waiting for it to load, looking for the relevant info, etc.

Even on a very "fast" device, surfing the web involves some wait and requires your attention. A simple text, containing a tiny fraction of the information, is much faster and can be done almost unconsciously while you plan with your friends or do something else.

And even once devices are as powerful as current desktops, it won't change that you're using a handheld interface. A small screen is fine for simple text but fills very quickly with graphical content, and a handheld keyboard with 100% of your attention still can't come close to your speed on a real keyboard you aren't even looking at.

[mdub311]

i just tried the service and I like what i see. One annoying this is that you get like 3 message for one reply. They could shorten some of the spaces out to conserve on space. I don't want to pay for internet on my simple phone. This gives you the quick and dirty for what you need.

[nfrengle]

This sort of service has been available for quite some time in Europe. We have moved on, with mobile internet taking up where these sort of apps left off. I am, frankly, incredulous, that this seems either novel or new, or that the thought of offering services by SMS is in any way a difficult thing, as it has clearly proven popular in nearly every market save the U.S., where interconnection agreements between wireless carriers came quite late, limiting the usefulness of SMS until fairly recently, and meaning that the market for these services was fairly small, as SMS was less-used than in other places. My guess is that, while good for quick messages when all you know is someone's phone number, mobile e-mail and mobile applications will leapfrog SMS in the U.S. for most applications.

[yanchineseguy]

It seems like Dot Go would replace a 5-6 digit short code with a 6-digit short code (DOTCOM) plus the name of the service (e.g. fandango), which significantly increases the amount of text a person would have to type than texting the service provider directly. I know that it's hard to remember all the short codes of Fandango, Starbucks, etc., but what I do with SMS services that I use is store their short code in my phone book, so texting them is no different than texting a friend.