If you thought gas prices were rising too quickly, check out what's been happening to text messaging.
Since 2005, rates to send and receive text messages on all four major carrier networks have doubled from 10 cents to 20 cents per message. This percentage of increase is on par with similar price hikes at the gas pump as crude oil prices skyrocket. In 2005, Americans paid on average about $2.27 per gallon for gas compared with more than $4 a gallon today.
Last October, Sprint Nextel was the first to introduce the new price of 20 cents per text message. AT&T and Verizon Wireless soon followed with their price hikes going into effect this spring. And this week Engadget reported that T-Mobile USA will match the other big three wireless operators in jacking up SMS texting rates to 20 cents per message. The price increase goes into effect August 29.
On Tuesday, AT&T announced that texting will cost new iPhone users more than it had previously. The old iPhone plan included 200 text messages in the $59.99 voice and data plan. But plans for the new iPhone 3G that hits store shelves next week will cost $5 extra for 200 text messages, bringing the total price of a comparable voice and data plan on the new iPhone 3G to $74.99 a month. (This is with the $69.99 "Nation 450" bundle plus $5 for the 200 text messages.)
The new wave of price hikes comes just one year after all the major carriers raised individual text messaging rates from 10 cents a message to 15 cents per message.
So what's with the 100 percent price hike in two years? Well, there's nothing that has changed in terms of the cost associated with delivering this service. In fact, text messages cost carriers very little to transmit. And when compared with what carriers charge for transmitting other data services, such as music downloads or surfing the Web, the text messaging rates seem exorbitant.
Carriers limit the number of characters that can be transmitted in a text message to 160 characters. Each character is about 7 bits, which works out to a maximum of about 140 bytes of data per text message. This is peanuts compared with the size of sending or receiving an e-mail or downloading an MP3 song over a cellular network.
One blogger has done the math. If the same pricing was applied on a per-byte basis to downloading one 4MB song it would cost the user almost $6,000 to download a single song via SMS texting.
One can easily assume that the mark-up on a text message is several thousands times what it actually costs carriers to transmit this little bit of data, considering that mobile operators are only charging $30 to $40 a month extra for mobile data plans that offer 5MB worth of data per month.
The reason that carriers are charging so much for text messages is because they can. Even at 15 cents and 20 cents a pop, people are willing to pay for it. The carriers are also trying to get consumers to sign up for text messaging packages and unlimited plans that vary in price from $5 a month extra for 200 messages to $20 a month extra for unlimited texting on AT&T's network, for example.
The massive price markup on texting and the growing popularity of texting have resulted in huge profits for mobile operators. Verizon reported that for the first quarter of 2008, its wireless customers spent $11.94 a month on data services, an increase of about 33 percent from a year earlier. The carrier didn't break out what percentage was spent on text messaging versus other services, but there's a good guess that a lot of the additional revenue from data came from texting. In total, mobile data accounted for about 20 percent of all wireless sales for Verizon's first quarter.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like consumers have much legal recourse for getting carriers to adjust their pricing to a more reasonable rate. There's nothing illegal about charging as much as the market will bear for any service.
But that doesn't mean that consumers like it. What do you think about the high cost of texting? Are you feeling the pinch in your wallet yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the "Talk Back" section below.
Following a recent trend of politicians embroiled in text message-related sex scandals, Finland's foreign minister is facing calls for his resignation Saturday after a tabloid published a suggestive text message he had sent to an erotic dancer, Reuters is reporting.
Ilkka Kanerva sent about 200 text messages to the 29-year-old dancer and at first said they were related to her performing at his 60th birthday party, Reuters says. But on Friday he admitted the messages weren't appropriate.
A Finnish paper quoted him as saying, "I would not present them in Sunday school, but they are not totally out of line either," according to Reuters.
Kanerva is saying he won't resign. His longstanding partner "has accepted his apology over the matter," according to Reuters.
The story sounds all too familiar, what with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick facing charges in a text message scandal that threatens to send him to prison, and salacious text messages playing a role in the fall of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Our role is to highlight the technological trend--not to pass judgment--but that's hard given all we know about how easily phone records can become public records, especially in the case of officials.
When I learned that a company called ChaCha had partnered with the Sundance Film Festival to answer festivalgoer questions via text messaging, I was a little skeptical. I wondered, what makes ChaCha the expert on all things Sundance, and who's going to text in questions when there are festival volunteers, smartphones, laptops, and wireless everywhere?
That was before, however, I found myself stuck in a traffic jam on a crowded shuttle bus, sans laptop and in dire need of a piece of scheduling information. What time was the U2 3D screening and where? That would tell me whether I had time to get off the bus and make it to a private John Legend concert to which my friend got me invited. ChaCha ching...I texted in my question to ChaCha and minutes later got my answer.
For background, ChaCha launched publically in September 2006 as a social search site that trains "guides" to answer questions from visitors about anything. In January, it launched a free text-messaging service that lets you text any question to "242242" (or "chacha") and the answer is quickly texted back to you for free.
The idea of promoting the service as a venue-specific information source, like for Sundance, just seemed to make sense given the huge gathering of people with shared interests, said ChaCha co-founder Brad Bostic. "You've got 60,000 people who are extremely passionate about celebrities, film," and the like all wanting to be in the know, he said.
ChaCha co-founder Brad Bostic
(Credit: Brad Bostic's Mobile Search and Technology Blog)So ChaCha, which makes its money through Web-based ads and other means, hired festival scouts who sent information about Sundance celebrities, films and parties to some of its core 8,000 guides operating all around the country.
That's apparently how, when I followed up my prior inquiry with, "will bono b there?" the guide responded: "I'm not finding that he will, but check it out. Robert De Niro and Bruce Willis are at Eccles." (Bono was, in fact, there, as was the whole band.)
Bostic said ChaCha also has plans to assist information-seekers at South by Southwest in March as well as other future venues.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who, upon testing out the service, tried out some harder and more random questions on the guides. ChaCha had no clue, for example, about the John Legend performance. But I got an interesting and informative answer to my question about whether camels have eyelids. They do. "Camels are equipped too deal with harsh desert conditions such as flying sand," the texted answer read.
I'd stay away from asking ChaCha Magic 8-ball type questions, like "When will I find true love?" Answer: "I don't know when that'll happen to you--guides are not required to have psychic abilities! We're here to answer ?s 24/7 tho!"
ChaCha's free service isn't perfect, but it sure makes that $2.98 Verizon charged me last month for "411 Connect" seem ridiculous.
Toys tested by HealthyToys.org
2007 has been the year of toy insecurity. Few parents of young kids escaped the unpleasant task of removing a favorite toy--from Aqua Dots to Thomas the Tank Engine--that had been recalled.
And all parents were left with a feeling of unease, that globalization and lax US consumer standards have left us vulnerable to toxic chemicals being routinely used to make our toys (and cosmetics, food, electronics...but that's a larger topic for another day).
I predict that the big story next year will be the growing realization that European and Japanese standards for chemicals used in plastic toys are much more stringent than those in the USA, and that as a result, toys that are banned elsewhere are getting dumped into the US market.
But right now, Christmas is rapidly approaching, and families are busily shopping for gifts, and will unwrap gifts given by others over the next week. What's a parent to do? The Web site HealthyToys.org gives parents way to weed out toxic toys, by searching the HealthyToys database that provides a detailed breakdown of the substances found in over 1,200 toys they tested for lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and PVC plastic. The results are alarming: of the 10 toys with the most lead, two of them are tea sets, with cups and teapots that are inevitably going to be filled with water that little kids will drink. Some plastic bath toys test high for lead and Chlorine/PVC, and these toys tend to go into toddlers' mouths as well.
... Read moreText-message spam may go up this November for voter-age youth.
Turns out that young people are more likely to vote when they receive a text-message reminder, according to a new study published this month by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Michigan.
(Credit:
WhiteHouse.gov)
The researchers ran their test in the November 2006 election, with text reminders sent to roughly 4,000 young voters. Researchers pulled data and cell phone numbers from voter registration records at the Student PIRG's New Voters Project and Working Assets Wireless; and following the election, they matched the files to find out which registrants had voted.
The study showed that voter turnout rates rose by 4 percent in the sample group of young people who had received a text message to vote. According to the study, short, to-the-point reminders were most effective, with a rise of nearly 5 percentage points.
But in a follow-up survey, nearly a quarter of the respondents said the messages were annoying just like you might expect from unsolicited messages. About 59 percent said the texts were helpful. That percentage could be hopeful news for campaigners this fall, especially considering that the study pegged the added cost per vote at $1.56, compared with about $30 for door-to-door canvassing.
(Credit:
USTelematics)
Met Vivee yet? If you're one of those folks who types text messages while barreling down the highway, you might want to. She's an animated avatar who appears on the screen of your mobile device and reads your incoming e-mail and text messages to you. That way you can keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road--unless of course, you can't keep your eyes off cute little Vivee, in which case you're really screwed.
The new online service from USTelematics connects to the Internet through the Verizon Wireless EV-DO high-speed network, so for now, it's provider-specific. When fully installed on a compatible device, Vivee, in addition to helping keep drivers in line, yields full wireless Internet connectivity--at speeds on par with many DSL services, according to USTelematics.
This talking avatar will read your e-mail and text messages to you.
(Credit: USTelematics)Vivee (short for Voice Interactive Voice Enhanced Email) came into being after USTelematics CEO Howard Leventhal had a close texting call with his 6-year-old daughter in the car. "Howard was driving about 45 mph while texting, and he looked up to see a car 100 feet ahead of him--fully stopped," said Charlene Montalbano, a product manager at the company. "He slammed on the brakes and stopped just inches shy of impact. Later that night after the adrenalin wore off, the idea for Vivee popped into his head."
The Vivee software--which is free to try for 90 days and then costs $4.99 per month--currently works with all Windows or Windows Mobile devices. The company plans to release an iPhone-compatible version by summer's end.
Also available from USTelematics, meanwhile, is the Vivee2go handheld device, which is essentially a GPS unit that reads your e-mail and text messages aloud. (Vivee does not work on preinstalled auto GPS systems.)
A survey by Nationwide Mutual Insurance earlier this year found, alarmingly, that one in five people text while driving. The numbers jump to one in three among 18-34 year olds, and insurers predict that this trend will only increase as more people get access to mobile devices with messaging technologies.
In May, the state of Washington passed a ban on texting while driving, and a number of other states, including New York, California and Florida, are considering similar laws.
A city bus driver in Poland has been fired for sending $34,000 in text messages from his company cell phone.
Leszek Wojcik ran up the bill by by sending more than 38,000 SMS messages, about 1,200 a day, in an effort to win a contest, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The Slupsk city bus driver told a local radio station that he hoped to win the contest so he could buy a second car.
The cell phone was only supposed to have a $5 limit, a spokesman for the Slupsk city transportation agency told the AP.
Don't tell mainstream marketers this, but text-messaging promotions can work.
At least for Virgin Mobile, which used the power of its network of 5 million mobile customers to raise money and awareness for homeless children in America. (There are an estimated 1.2 million to 2.8 million children and teens who are homeless in the United States.) In partnership with the nonprofit YouthNoise, among others, Virgin Mobile urged its customers, via text message, to donate $1 from their account to help homeless kids by sending the word "donate" to the short-code 66473 (or "noise"). Since the beginning of the year, Virgin Mobile has received more than 84,000 text messages.
That's a high number considering that Virgin Mobile's customers pay for service on a month-to-month basis, Ariel Rosen, director of Virgin Mobile's pro-social initiatives, said in an interview Monday. That means Virgin Mobile has a large number of teen-age and low-income customers, she said.
"It's indicative that this is an easy, quick way to evoke 'armchair activism,'" said Rosen. She said the initial 4 percent rate of response to the campaign blows away the standard 1 percent (or below) that direct marketers typically get for promotions.
"If you position charity in a way that?s meaningful with the right technology, people will respond," she said.
Considering that roughly 80 percent of teens with cell phones regularly use text messaging, according to JupiterResearch, this could be a growing means for marketing promotions to kids.
Last week, Virgin Mobile's lobbying efforts paid off, too, when Congress approved a proposal that would make November the National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. (Virgin Mobile worked with several nonprofits to lobby for the cause on Capitol Hill.)
The company hopes to receive at least 112,000 text messages by November. To help its cause, you can also send a text message of the word "karma" to the short-code 68405 to donate a piece of clothing to a homeless child, with help from the nonprofit Stand Up For Kids.
Text messaging as means of political outreach is hardly a new idea, but 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich claims a new drive launched by his campaign on Monday stands out from all the rest.
The vegan congressman from Ohio is asking Americans opposed to the Iraq war to text the word "peace" to the number 73223. From there, he plans to forward on the responses to President Bush and the Pentagon.
It all amounts to what his campaign staff calls "the first time text messaging has been used to try and change American policy." (Wait, selecting the next American Idol doesn't count?)
"You can vote now to end the war in Iraq," Kucinich tells viewers in a video message posted on YouTube Monday. "Text peace now to send a message to the White House and to the Democratic Congress that now's the time to end the war."
Kucinich's video message is also scheduled to air on Monday evening during CNN's first-ever YouTube-inspired Democratic presidential debates in South Carolina, a campaign spokesman told CNET News.com.
Other White House contenders seeking endearment among the gadget-dependent set, including Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, are already offering their followers text message updates about their campaigns. Edwards, for his part, also recently used the tool to hit about 13,000 supporters with the plea, "Will u donate $ to my campaign?"
New York Senator Carl Marcellino
(Credit: SenatorMarcellino.com)A New York state senator has recently proposed a bill that would make it illegal to send a text message while driving in the state. The proposal from Senator Carl Marcellino was made in response to a fatal car accident involving four New York state teens. Police believe the driver, a recent high-school grad, was text messaging a friend before crashing into an oncoming trailer and killing all four in the vehicle.
A recent study shows that almost half of all teens send text messages while driving, making the odds considerably high for this kind of accident. The senator's bill, S.3195, would ban the writing, sending or reading of text messages on mobile phones while driving.
"Talking on cell phones isn't the only distraction that causes distracted driving. The explosion of text messaging has created a new problem," Marcellino said in a statement. "Now is the time to end texting while driving before more of our young people become victims of distracted driving."
Seems like only a matter of time before this kind of legislation shows up in more states.
