Analysis of TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. Release of Menu Driven Wireless Web
Capability For SMS
P.
Hayes - May 11, 2000
Event
Summary
In April TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS), a leading developer of
software applications that enable wireless carriers and enterprises to
extend their capabilities to wireless devices, announced the availability
of Interactive Menus, a new capability of the TCS Short Message Service
Center (SMSC) for TDMA, CDMA and GSM networks.
Market
Impact
The advent of menu driven wireless web capabilities for SMS (Short Message
Service) will allow carriers to offer their subscribers fully personalized
web based menus for quick access to stock quotes and, bi-directional transactions
such as e-business or gaming.
The
user performs the actual configuration of the menus, much like a user
would set up his/her own voice mailbox. Users can also customize the frequency
of updates to existing data. For example, Jim lives in Costa Mesa and
wants to receive a weather report for the Orange County area, given that
weather reports change fairly quickly, Jim can select to receive either
one update per day, one per hour, and so on.
From a carrier perspective, the TCS release is highly customizable, allowing
a carrier to define a base set of menus from which a user can select.
SMS enabled applications can use the base set of menus to define basic
tasks such as dialing emergency response numbers, e.g., the state police
or hospital. Enhanced applications will be able to utilize the menu as
a redirection point to external information, such as currency exchange
rates on the Internet.
User
Recommendations
This is great news from an end user perspective, as long as your carrier
supports SMS. Empowering users to customize their access to information
will be critical, not only in attracting clients, but retaining them.
It also takes some of the administrative overhead from the carrier and
places it in the end users hands. Of course, this does not mean that help
desks will become obsolete, merely that a user will have more control.
The
release of customizable web menus for SMS is a win-win situation for carriers
and end users alike.