Telecom QuickChat and Versera: ahead of times
The message would be delivered instantly or a scheduled retry would kick in. Then SMS came into CDMA world, and Quickchat was all but (almost) forgotten. It is still alive (I think) and the web page is still there. I even met some people during some Windows Mobile User Group meetings that actually prefer to use Quickchat than SMS. It's voice after all, with all the impressions and nuances this medium provide, not the cold SMS lingo.
I also worked in another project, for a Latin American telco, where one could send a SMS to any number, and a text-to-speech engine would deliver it as a voice message, with the same scheduled retry idea.
Skip 9 years, and I see this press release:
Glenayre Messaging, a division of Glenayre Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEMS) and a global leader in providing next-generation messaging solutions and enhanced services, announced that VoiceSMS capability will be available on its leading Versera ICE(tm) next-generation messaging platform in the third quarter of 2006. Versera(r) VoiceSMS combines the fidelity of voice mail with the ease of SMS, which allows subscribers to move beyond the limitations of text messaging and provides a new and richer communications experience. The company will demonstrate Versera VoiceSMS for the first time at the CommunicAsia exhibition in Singapore, June 20-23, 2006. (Glenayre stand 4E3-01).With VoiceSMS, subscribers simply dial a short code and a destination phone number then leave a voice message in an easier and faster way than typing out an entire message on the mobile keypad. The recipient gets an SMS message notifying them that they have a VoiceSMS message, which can be played by selecting the link provided in the SMS message.
Oh well... Reinventing the wheel, add a couple of bells, and we have a new car, right?
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Comment by Chris Fair, on 9-Jun-2006 17:08
I understand the need for it in 1996, but now?
It reminds me of push-2-talk. Which has never taken off. I think people prefer sms because of the factors you've stated above 'It's voice after all, with all the impressions and nuances this medium provide, not the cold SMS lingo.' people like to hind behind things (same mentality as school yard love letter) so sms is great for that, it gives no hint of emotion.
If I want some one to hear my voice, I call them.
Comment by taniwha, on 10-Jun-2006 11:33
this tale, is so familiar.
I inherited a telecom application called "picture messaging".. it lets you send photos to other telecom users using your wap browser.. It was built back when GSM had MMS and cdma didn't.
and, it's still running.
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Comment by sbiddle, on 9-Jun-2006 12:12
All you did however was just copy the idea from BellSouth who already had it! :-)
You did cause them some grief however, since they had free 1st minute for VM access you could send a message between VM boxes for free. BellSouth apparently had no way to charge for messages sent internally on their VM platform hence never promoted their own version of the product as it was completely free for those who knew of it's existance!