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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telephony |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | San Diego, California, USA |
| Key people | Michael Pousti, Chairman and CEO |
| Products | SMS messaging |
| Revenue | unknown |
| Net income | unknown |
| Number of employees | unknown |
| Website | www.sms.ac |
SMS.ac, Inc. is a mobile data communications company based in San Diego, California. Its domain address uses the .ac top-level domain for Ascension Island.
Membership
SMS.ac claims over 50 million registered users in more than 180 countries, making it the largest community of registered mobile users in the world.
Business model
SMS.ac derives its revenue through revenue-sharing arrangements with cellular carriers. Specifically, it sends users reverse-billed SMS text messages, which incur a charge to receive. The CEO of SMS.ac, Michael Pousti, in a speech at Global Mobile Congress 2004 , made the following remarks:
- "Mobile operators are uniquely positioned to benefit from revenue shares derived from even the smallest transactions. As a focal point of this nascent but exploding industry, it is important for operators to enter quickly into equitable revenue share agreements with third parties. (To operators) Open your billing systems and you will prosper."
- "Nearly 2 billion people worldwide are already paying their mobile providers for mobile phone use. Now, imagine if your company can harness the power of microbilling. If your business has not already embraced an aggressive strategy to evolve to a mobile content or application company, drop most everything you’re doing and prepare your content for mobile. Just be sure to base your offerings on communication. It’s all about communications – not just content."
- “If we try and tether the growth too early with compliance and regulations, the chances that we’ll do more harm than good is almost a certainty."
- "Integrated billing is the path to the future. Refine and improve the process for third-party entities to collect revenues and get paid. Achieve predictability with billing. Work towards standardization. Without this, the industry won’t ever be real.”
Criticisms
- Sms.ac is noted in the blog community for its vigorous legal defense of intellectual property such as trademarks, word marks and service marks.
- A handful of consumers have complained on the Internet and in the mainstream press that SMS.ac has charged them for services they never asked for.
- sms.ac asks for the password to users' email accounts. This is optional. Invitations will only be sent to the contact list with the participant's permission.
See also
References
- "SMS.ac". SMS.ac.
- http://corporate.sms.ac/Press/pr/pr_101204.htm
- "Trademark infringement notice" (PDF). (PDF).
- "Notice Of Infringement Of Intellectual Property Rights/Defamation". JOI ITO (.doc).
- "The End User: Noticing a red flag". International Herald Tribune.
- "Message to the wise about text trick". Chicago Tribune.
- "CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS". Chicago Tribune.
External links
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