Google Launches SMS Search Service 239
jSpectre writes "Google's been busy introducing a lot of new things this week. The latest,
a SMS search service. SMS a message to 46645 (googl) and find
local business listings,
product prices,
dictionary definitions, and
more. Go Google!"
More sms goodness (Score:3, Informative)
-- Greg
Re:Outside USA (Score:3, Informative)
SMS is so 1990s for the rest of the world, I guess that's why this in North America only, where its still a gee-whiz thing. I've been using google from my phone for at least 4 years now. A few kB of GPRS is far cheaper than a couple of SMS messages too.
Re:Free? (Score:4, Informative)
With high traffic numbers, you can usually arrange a profit sharing deal with the provider of your services, so if Google's smart (and they are) they'll figure out a way to take a cut of the revenue. That's how the UK's "free" ISPs took off - Freeserve and the like simply said "we will generate X million minutes of phone calls a month, who'll give us a cut".
Google SMS privacy policy (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.google.com/sms/privacy.html [google.com]
Information that we collect and how we use it
When you send a message to Google SMS, we log an encrypted version of the incoming phone number, the wireless carrier associated with the number, and the date and time of the transaction. We use this data to analyze the message traffic in order to operate, develop and improve our services. Google will never rent or sell your phone number to any third party, nor will we use your phone number to initiate a call or SMS message to you without your permission. Your wireless carrier and other service providers also collect data about your SMS usage, and their practices are governed by their own privacy policies.
Re:These guys do it too... (Score:3, Informative)
Google's doing all kinds of stuff (Score:3, Informative)
Wow. Works well (Score:3, Informative)
Woah. I'll be using this one...
-Ben
Re:Doesn't SMS cost money for in/out? (Score:3, Informative)
At $3 for each 300 msgs (I'm assuming this isn't only for the first 300), you could buy 900 for $9. So does the fact that you are instead spending $10 for unlimited messages really mean that you're going to use more than 900 a month?! That's 30 a day. There are people who really use that much?
FAQ (Score:2, Informative)
Does Google SMS work everywhere? Can I find pizza restaurants in Palermo?
Right now, Google SMS only works in the U.S. We're working hard to make it available when and wherever you're on the go. In the meantime, how about a little slice of heaven in Little Italy? (try 'pizza 10013')
most phones support this... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:This may be king of mobile service offerings. (Score:3, Informative)
My friends ask why I use mixed case and punctuation in my text messages. The truth is it's just the most natural and easy way to enter them on the P800. You never even use the number keys.
I sent about two dozen queries to Google SMS today, trying everything out. This is not a chore with such a nice text-entry system.
Re:Outside US... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not knowing what to say, I sent it 'pizza' (Score:4, Informative)