I found this in the Inquirer by Sylvie Barak so here is the unedited version.

AS IF ONLINE SHOPPING hasn't made it easy enough for punters to spend ever greater amounts of their hard-earned dosh, Amazon.com yesterday launched a text message shopping service, allowing people to compare product prices and buy things with an SMS from their mobile phone.

The new service will probably have real-world physical shops seething and foaming at the mouth, as Amazon's TextBuyIt service gives people the opportunity to send them a product name, UPC or ISBN number, directly from their portable phones (even from inside real world retailers) in order to get back a text detailing whether Amazon stocks the object of desire and how much it would cost. If Amazon’s price is better, the customer can even buy it directly, then and there, from their mobiles.

All a customer supposedly has to do is text over their Amazon log-in e-mail address and their shipping post code, after which Amazon calls them and, using an automated message system, guides them through the checkout process. When the transaction is complete, the punter gets both an SMS and an email confirmation of their purchase. If they want to track the item’s delivery, the customer can just check the full fat Amazon.com and see all the details online.

Most importantly, maybe now bookshops and electronics dealers will realise that it's not so easy to rip us off anymore and may have to actually resort to cutting prices to acceptable levels to begin with.

As an amazon user i like this concept as it offers a direct comparison and solution. Sometimes the best ideas are simple.

Experts or directory enquiries bod?

It makes sense. Utlilising your staff and resource. Diversifying through extending your services. But something doesn't seem right.

Yes i am talking about 118 118 launching a text answer service similar to Textperts. The interesting part is that the service formerley known as directory enquiries now offers mobile advertising. I like this and it does work.

The bit that is a concern is Textperts and indeed AQA have created a fun service that is useful. 118 118 will be going in the oppisite direction.

So do they have the right profile staff to compose an answer? Do they offer the CRM capabilities to stimulate the consumer? Will consumers go for a brand that is seen as only a faceless talking directory rather than a witty service with a personlaity?

I wonder if 118 118 may just open the cheque book and buy Textperts outright, it may be the right move, especially as all the other wannabees are sure to follow?

Interestingly, i have often thought that Textperts would carry mobile advertising, i will watch these developments with interest.

Mobile billing in the dark ages?

I was talking to an industry colleague about billing the other day. We spoke about the billing options available and the restrictions placed on both consumers and retailers. The facts are until we can create billing services that are simple for the consumer and efficient for the retailer, it will continue to be difficult for consumers to buy products on the go.

For products I mean things that you just need to purchase when you may not be on the fixed line computer (not ringtones and wallpapers). One example is a HPI Car Check that retails at £17-, I have proposed that we create a mobile version with less thrills for £5. The problem is that after billing costs there is not enough to share, so once again the consumer loses out, unless we go down the credit card booking line, which defeats the objective?

I do not have the stats handy on many people have access to pay pal or Bango at present, but i am pretty sure it is less than half of mobile owners. That is a shame because surely we need to change the consumer behaviour to drive mobile transactions, yet if the cost of doing business is too high then we will continue to adopt low penetration of transactions on mobile.

I am informed that pay4it enhance the billing process, however, will this take away the high level of cost to the retailer who wants to market his goods using mobile?

Interestingly the QR codes could be a driver to increased mobile transactions as the media and advertisers seem to be pushing this. With a changeable back end, this allows retailers to change their offering (product/price)pretty much at will.

The issue now is how do the consumers pay for it?

Back to square 1

I hooked up with the CEO of squace recently. I have often looked at mobile widgets and thought I get it, but does the man in the street? It can be quite tough to download a widget and get it working for you if you are not technically minded and/or no one else seems to be doing so.

squace are developing a product that uses a simple square grid as a navigation tool.The grid is within the widget and operates alphabetically, so for example A would be in the top left hand corner of the square etc..

squace works as a widget i.e. you can set up feeds from your favourite sites. It also allows you to set up groups such as the kids Nursery, therefore creating useful timely secure content from your community, this could for example allow you to set up a notice board to inform that little Johnny is having a party.

Even better, if you cannot get onto the mobile internet (or don't want to) you could text in to the community with your message.

The other possibility is creating a white label version of squace. This could be pre populated with content. To make this work really well, you could focus on a consumer profile using tools such as TGI.

This allows the consumer to get the most relevant content without any hassle and would allow the relevant mobile advertising to become highly targeted. So for me, I would take generic services such as fuel locator, weather, train times and link them with location based services such as restaurants, good pub guide, hotels. The main content feeds would be based around sports, news and film. However, unlike an operator, I would have the choice of the type of content I use i.e. Golf 365 rather than Sky Sports.

squace could potentially overlay on your mobile wallpaper, meaning that mobile content will truly only be one click away.