VAS - inventions

Nothing to say? Show an emotion!

IDEA

The idea is that the regular SMS client has an addition for showing emotions with maximum usage of the exact phone capabilities. This can be beautiful high resolution pictures, natural sounds, animated smiles or even video or flash-animation – and the quality is depending on the exact phone screen size, sound capabilities and processor resources. What must be common for all SMSs is that these have a special code tag and the number of an emotion. Something like - &emo=01.

Then, if it’s very old mobile – no any processing of this tag. If it’s new mobile, then there is some media base for emotions which always stored in memory and activating the exact emotion showed by tag number. New mobile here is with meaning that it’s already with special SMS client or it software can be upgraded (patched, changed).

Technically, the Idea is come from the fact that multimedia functions of mobile is very often much better developed than communication functions or deployment of the network modern communications. For example there are lot of mobile with MP3 and even Video player, but with only available GPRS connection or even slowest possible WAP-GPRS, but not with quick internet access like EDGE, HSPA or WiMAX. Then we have quite limited usage of good quality media content for huge scope of subscribers.

The Idea itself is rised from the experience when people always send a smile as final message, because it’s felling to poor just send yes or no. I mean this fact for PC users of chat and messenger systems. Smiles in text view is not so fun and therefore not used separately to dedicate a separate message for these. But, if there is an opportunity to obviously empress an emotion, then there is a reason for usage.

Benefits of implementation are the following for an operator:

• More SMS traffic. Probably there is no reason to answer yes or no in the finish of SMS discussion when everything become clear, but there is a reason to show a final emotion.
• For people who more feel than think it’s a reason just send emotion SMS to their friends time to time. In result there is more SMS traffic without any reason or marketing activities.
• For similar mobile platforms / mobile OSs it’s possible to organize exchange or sell of new style emotions files. Then we have more IP traffic or even content sales.
• There is additional reason to have better SMS’s representation and therefore there is a reason to buy new mobile phone. Except an income for the producers of mobile phones there is traffic increase due to the common psychology fact that several weeks after purchase of new gadget you try to use it as often as possible.

TECHNICAL

Technically this service is some patch for the operator’s SMS Centre, which has to provide some code correction for including additional command in service part of SMS. There are nothing related to transport network, interconnection with MSC or billing or SMS codepage and format. The only thing which can happen is that SMS length can be shorter by 4-8 symbols due to usage of the mentioned additional code.

Administrative part is to develop unique codes meaning together with mobile phone producers. For example, code 01 – smile, code 02 – laugh, code 03 – upset. There can be also some specific sub-culture emotions like – “wassup”, “chill-out” and so on. The task of operator is just to agree such list. What view it has on the exact mobile is the only business of the exact mobile phones vendor!

MARKETING

There are many opportunities for marketing activities. Several ideas about:

• Additional brand personage for your brand. It’s possible that there is unique style of personage for emotions for new phones which selling by the exact operator. For example – Sonic personage is associated with SEGA brand and some other personage can be developed for the exact operator. This personage will be smile, laugh, upset and so on.
• Use photos/videos with happy children for the advertisement. These funny emotions is quite logical for this and meantime children is good way advertisement for parents, grand parents. It’s a good opportunity to demonstrate new technologies for the segment of society which representatives started use high-tech when 30 years old and over.
• Meantime there is possible to offer 3^rd party smiles set for the exact sub-culture. Even if this download fee is mainly income of the 3^rd party content provider, but then we have for operator traffic on download and increasing traffic on SMS.
• One more opportunity for the operator is to offer seasonal upgrade for smiles. Something like personage changing his garment according to season. Even if it will be free feature, then with spends about one thousand EURO for drawings it’s still possible to earn thousands of EURO on IP-traffic. If smiles set are pretend to be something like exclusive painter work, then it’s even possible to sell or distribute with fee subscription.
• In some ultimate variant it’s possible to use idea of the “Artificial Intelligence” in terms of technologies become close to real human communications that even can transfer feelings of your neighbors. This is good base idea to demonstrate in TV reel.

DEVELOPMENT

In a future, when OS of mobile phone will become quite complicated (similar to PC level), there will be possible to offer some similar emotions faces/sounds or the same personage as on screen helpmate. This is analogue of what we all know in MS OFFICE.

Just imagine – you attaching some external device to your smartphone or trying to arrange VPN connection and there is some funny dachshund on a screen which gives you good advices in right in time and barking with smile if you did everything correct. The same always on a screen dachshund can smile you when you got a SMS where smile icon code in the body or start crying if there corresponding icon code.

RESUME

As you can see now – this quite benefit idea is not on the market now only because no one think on it. There are no any technical limitations and even some kind justification of why we pay for so many Multi-Media features in mobile phone which main function is supposed to be - just making calls.

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