Email to mobiles
In addition to voice calling and text messaging, mobile phones are becoming a platform for other kinds of information services like ‘push’ email. The process involves sending email to a mobile phone from a PC. The mobile phone user can reply directly to you, again via email.
It is the ultimate in anytime, anywhere email and there is no restriction on message length as with SMS. And although some web-based email services can provide SMS alerts to receipt of email they still involve going online to receive the full message.
These services are of potential use to nonprofit organisations although they are still in their early days in Australia and mainly used in the business and corporate sector.
The applications available are based on the internet email standard SMTP and so should operate seamlessly with all email systems. Email2SMS works with Internet mail, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes/Domino and Novell Group/Wise mail systems. It's simple to integrate into your mail system and any standard mobile phone can receive SMS messages from Email2SMS and then reply back.
True stories
Texting for president
There are some interesting overseas examples of the use of email to mobiles. On election day 2002 in South Korea, exit polls suggested that the reformist presidential candidate and political outsider Roh Moo-hyun was losing the election. Roh's tech-savvy supporters sparked a wave of internet chatter to drum up last-minute voting support. In only a few minutes more than a million emails were sent to mobile phones and online accounts urging Roh’s supporters to go out and vote. This online rallying cry sent young voters to polling stations nationwide and helped deliver a narrow victory to their candidate.
Stop the torture
Amnesty International utilises its mobile phone supporter database to use email to improve the response time on its prisoner case work. As soon as Amnesty International hears about an imminent threat of torture, it is able to send an alarm to the mobiles and computers of its network of activists around the globe asking them to sign electronic letters of protest. Within hours, the threat of torture is exposed and once exposed, it is more difficult to carry out.
More information
- See more on a wireless PC to mobile phone SMS application: www.bulletinwireless.net/
- Some background on mobile phone activism
- See Techworld review of Blackberry email to mobiles application