Yahoo! puts SMS in email

By Alexander Villafania - INQUIRER.net

The Philippines will be one of the first countries to have an integrated short messaging service (SMS) from Yahoo! Mail email service as part of the expansion of its worldwide communications services.

The SMS system upgrade of Yahoo! Mail would allow users to send text messages to mobile phones initially to 25 countries, including the Philippines.

The Philippines was chosen to be among the first to use the service due to the country’s high text message traffic. Yahoo! cites National Telecommunications Commission figures stating that there are an estimated 500 million text messages being sent every day this year, compared to just 250 million in 2005.

There are at least 45 million mobile subscribers in the Philippines, according to latest estimates from the NTC.

The service is expected to be activated in two weeks.

Yahoo! partnered with wireless service providers Globe Telecom and Smart Communications for the Yahoo! Mail SMS upgrade. Users of the local Yahoo! Mail (ph.yahoo.com) can send text messages to Globe and Smart subscribers for free.

However, corresponding amounts of two pesos for Smart and 2.50 pesos for Globe are charged to replies to Yahoo! Mail SMS.

Mobile phone users have to first register their phones by typing their Yahoo! Mail username and password and typing the corresponding short codes for each of the telecommunications providers; 62580 for Smart and 2258 for Globe.

Incidentally, Yahoo!’s instant messaging client application already has text messaging features available. The company has yet to verify how the Yahoo! Mail SMS would work alongside the Yahoo! Messenger SMS service.

Yahoo! is still testing Yahoo! Mail Beta, an upgrade to its Yahoo! Mail Classic interface.

Yahoo! also faces competition from local online services company Chikka.com, which is also developing upgrades for its integrated messaging service that allows users to send and receive text messages through the Chikka client.

Yahoo! puts SMS in email

By Alexander Villafania - INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines will be one of the first countries to have an integrated short messaging service (SMS) from Yahoo! Mail email service as part of the expansion of its worldwide communications services.

The SMS system upgrade of Yahoo! Mail would allow users to send text messages to mobile phones initially to 25 countries, including the Philippines.

The Philippines was chosen to be among the first to use the service due to the country’s high text message traffic. Yahoo! cites National Telecommunications Commission figures stating that there are an estimated 500 million text messages being sent every day this year, compared to just 250 million in 2005.

There are at least 45 million mobile subscribers in the Philippines, according to latest estimates from the NTC.

The service is expected to be activated in two weeks.

Yahoo! partnered with wireless service providers Globe Telecom and Smart Communications for the Yahoo! Mail SMS upgrade. Users of the local Yahoo! Mail (ph.yahoo.com) can send text messages to Globe and Smart subscribers for free.

However, corresponding amounts of two pesos for Smart and 2.50 pesos for Globe are charged to replies to Yahoo! Mail SMS.

Mobile phone users have to first register their phones by typing their Yahoo! Mail username and password and typing the corresponding short codes for each of the telecommunications providers; 62580 for Smart and 2258 for Globe.

Incidentally, Yahoo!’s instant messaging client application already has text messaging features available. The company has yet to verify how the Yahoo! Mail SMS would work alongside the Yahoo! Messenger SMS service.

Yahoo! is still testing Yahoo! Mail Beta, an upgrade to its Yahoo! Mail Classic interface.

Yahoo! also faces competition from local online services company Chikka.com, which is also developing upgrades for its integrated messaging service that allows users to send and receive text messages through the Chikka client.

Yahoo offers free texting service for Pinoy users

INTERNET giant Yahoo Inc. will introduce new features today for its free Web-based e-mail service, including the ability to send text messages directly to cell phones.

The service, which will take up to six weeks to roll out, will initially be available in the Philippines, the United States, Canada and India, the company said.

“We’re giving you the right way to connect at the right time with right person,” said Yahoo vice president John Kremer, whose two preteen sons vastly prefer text and instant messages to e-mail.

Yahoo doesn’t charge for sending and receiving text messages, but mobile phone users may be charged fees by carriers that provide their services.

Yahoo’s PC-to-text service seems to compete directly with the services provided by Philippines-based Chikka.com, but it was not immediately clear what impact it would have on the local company.

The changes to Yahoo Mail come amid fierce competition among providers of free, Web-based e-mail services. Yahoo and Microsoft Corp.’s Hotmail have long dominated the niche, but Google Inc.’s Gmail has grown quickly since its introduction in April 2004.

In February, Yahoo announced that it would provide unlimited storage space, and earlier this month Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said Hotmail would increase free storage from two to five gigabytes. Time Warner Inc.’s AOL, the fourth largest e-mail provider, began offering unlimited storage last summer. Google provides nearly three gigabytes.

Sunnyvale-based Yahoo bills the changes as the most significant overhaul of Yahoo Mail since its launch in 1997. The new version replaces a one-year-old beta program and adds new features, including text messaging, a more comprehensive e-mail search engine and an easier to read and edit contacts database.

Yahoo is making its upgraded service available to the 254 million users of its e-mail service as it competes with rivals Google and Microsoft for “eye balls” that can be parlayed into advertising revenues.

Improvements include making the service faster and enabling users to have instant message conversations with people using Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger service.

The new version allows users to click on a contact and then select whether to send that person an e-mail, instant message or text message. You could send an e-mail or instant message if you know the recipient is at the computer—or a text message if the recipient is on the road with a cell phone.

“This gives people the ability to reach anybody in their contact database anytime,” said Michael McGuire, vice president of research at industry analysis firm Gartner Inc. “For good or evil, it’s going to be much easier for anybody to get a hold of you.”

Users who do not want the upgrades—or whose computers are too slow to handle them—can opt to remain with the current version, which Yahoo will call “Classic.”

“Consumer inertia is a powerful force,” McGuire said. “You are not going to get everybody wanting to learn the new one.”

McGuire said the enhancements add value to Yahoo’s e-mail.

“These are all important features they have to keep adding to the platform in the face of Hotmail, Gmail, or whatever,” McGuire said.

“But this is more than keeping up with competitors. They have added value.” AP and AFP

A young ICT entrepreneur

VIRTUAL REALITY
By Tony Lopez
A young ICT entrepreneur

Meet Dennis N. Men­diola. He is 39. He finished BS Economics, summa cum laude, at the Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania. He has a BS Electrical Engineering Degree, Moore School, also at UPenn.

Pennsylvania is the university where Lance Gokongwei obtained two degrees, both summa, one in finance and the other in engineering. On a personal note, it is where my son-in-law, Benedict Cabal­tica, obtained his masters degree in law, major in taxation. His wife, Ivy Lopez, my daughter and a lawyer, took up a year’s studies there in real-estate investments.

Young Filipinos cannot get any better than Dennis. He is chief executive of Chikka Asia Inc. A source told me Chikka makes $20 million in annual revenues though Dennis wouldn’t confirm the figure to me.

I first met Dennis in the early 1990s working for a pittance as one of the technocrats of Dick Gordon, who had taken over management of Subic when the Americans left. Dennis was in charge of screening locators at the sprawling former US naval facility. Dick Gordon introduced him to me as (the then) boyfriend of Lea Salonga.

Last week SGV and Ernst & Young honored Dennis by naming him the Information, Communications and Technology Entrepreneur of the Year. I doubt that he had any rivals for the plum.

Connecting the world wirelessly is Dennis Men­diola’s business. He does so using two technologies dominant during this 21st century—the Internet and short message service, or SMS, or cellular text messaging.

Doing so, he brings untold benefits to up to perhaps 35 million subscribers, 70 percent of whom are from the Philippines, and the country’s eight million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Having done so, Dennis is looking at the rest of the world to conquer.

Recognizing the rapid expansion of broadband In­ternet throughout the biggest markets in the world, Chikka Asia is now investing substantially in PC online technology, and working to adapt mobile technology to the online world. Chikka Asia is also exploring ways to open up Latin America and Europe to mobile applications.

Dennis’ penchant for challenges enabled him to take on the task of bridging what he calls the “digital divide” between the increasing Internet activity of over eight million Filipinos overseas and the text revolution in the Philippines. He connected these two different platforms of communication through a program known as Chikka Text Messenger, the flagship project of Chikka Asia Inc.

Launched in 2001, Chikka Messenger is the world’s first instant messenger that fully integrates mobile features via SMS. It allows Internet and mobile users to stay connected through user-friendly applications. Today, more and more Filipinos locally and overseas are hooking up to Chikka Messenger. Chikka Asia now has a presence in the USA, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Guam and Hong Kong, through tie-ups with over 30 international network operators.

Chikka Asia also offers applications that allow mobile subscribers to access and manage e-mail through SMS, settle various bills using mobile call credits, and participate in mobile-enabled auctions and matchmaking sessions. Chikka created programs such as celebrity newsletters/updates, as well as platforms to download ring tones, logos and other MMS content. Its products cover all areas of mobile space, including communities, content, commerce, communications and corporate solutions.

Despite riding high on Chikka’s wave of success, Dennis is already anticipating the shift of global trends in Internet-based technology.

Chikka Messenger is also able to promote social responsibility by allowing its users to donate microdenominations to charities such as the Philippine National Red Cross. The application also gives Filipinos a venue to get in touch with government agencies such as the Philippine National Police during times of emergency and the Land Transportation Office for suggestions on service improvement.