SMS.ac, Inc.

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Please improve this article if you can. (September 2007)
SMS.ac Inc.
Type Private
Founded 2001
Headquarters San Diego, California, USA
Key people Michael Pousti, Chairman and CEO
Industry Telephony, Mobile, Internet
Products SMS messaging
Revenue unknown
Net income unknown
Employees 100-200
Website www.sms.ac

SMS.ac Inc. is a mobile data and Internet communications company based in San Diego, California. The company provides web and mobile distribution and billing to people buying and selling digital content (video, music, and applications) through (SMS) mobile billing. SMS.ac's website integrates its mobile billing technology with social networking services like photos, videos, music, and comments.[1] SMS.ac has over 50 million registered users in more than 180 countries, which makes it the largest community of registered mobile phone users in the world.[2]

Contents

[edit] Business model

SMS.ac derives its revenue through revenue-sharing arrangements with content providers and mobile operators. Specifically, the company enables content providers to bill subscribers for consumption of video, music, and widgets through SMS-based (text message) mobile billing.[citation needed]

[edit] Brief History

[edit] 2008

SMS.ac creates the spin-off site fanbox.com, an ad-driven social networking website.[3]

[edit] 2006

  • During the wireless conference, CTIA 2006, SMS.ac received news coverage by enabling content developers to get paid by "moving into mobile content distribution" and allowing consumers to pay through their mobile devices.[4]
  • An article in the International Herald Tribune, while praising the service's integrated billing option, noted that "SMS.ac is one of those right-place, right-time, right-technology companies that has nearly all the elements for colossal success. At least a handful of consumers, however, have complained on the Internet and in the mainstream press that SMS.ac has charged them for services they never asked for, making that billing relationship into potentially its greatest liability."[5]

[edit] 2005

  • SMS.ac is recognized as one of the "the top emerging companies in the wireless industry" by Fierce Wireless's "Fierce 15".[6]
  • SMS.ac is noted in the blog community for its vigorous legal defense of intellectual property such as trademarks, word marks and service marks.[7]
  • SMS.ac optionally asks for the password to users' email accounts. Invitations to contacts in that user's address book may also be optionally sent. This process was referred to as spamming in an article by the Chicago Tribune (a retraction was later published).[8][9]

[edit] 2002

  • At the time of its launch, SMS.ac made history by signing up "nearly 6 million users in its first six months – making it the fastest product launch in Internet history".[10]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ SMS.ac Mobile Homepage service. SMS.ac.
  2. ^ SMS.ac corporate website. SMS.ac.
  3. ^ DomainTools Whois Record for FanBox.com
  4. ^ Fast Company: mocoNews.net. mocoNews.net.
  5. ^ The End User: Noticing a red flag. International Herald Tribune.
  6. ^ Fierce Wireless. Fierce Wireless.
  7. ^ Notice Of Infringement Of Intellectual Property Rights/Defamation. Joi Ito (.doc).
  8. ^ Message to the wise about text trick. Chicago Tribune.
  9. ^ Corrections and Clarifications. Chicago Tribune.
  10. ^ Fast Company: Speedometer. Fast Company.

[edit] External links

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