GTIP

GTIP was a premium-rate SMS question and answer service dedicated to providing computer game-related information. The service was based in the UK, and originally launched in December 2002 alongside the Game Guru television program. The service was run by AlienPants Ltd. Using GTIP and its licensed implementations, mobile phone users could text GTIP with any computer or console game question or cheat request and receive an answer within a few minutes^{[citation needed]}.

GTIP was available for UK mobile phone users using a number of different UK shortcode and keyword combinations in the UK, and in the Republic of Ireland using a shortcode. AlienPants once launched two access keywords in Germany, providing the same computer game cheats service to German customers^{[citation needed]}.

Since the commercial launch of GTIP in January 2003,^[1] a number of similar services have launched, including AskMeNow in the US, and 82ASK, Text a Vet and Any Question Answered in the UK.

Underlying Service

The underlying service that GTIP is built on is predicated on the answering of questions sent in from customers via SMS, with the questions being queued and presented to multiple independent researchers through a web interface. Each independent researcher then selects and answers questions when they are available. Answers are then sent back to the customer via a premium-rate SMS.

Typically an implementation is built upon a unique keyword, used for branding when supplied to a customer, and whilst the GTIP implementation is deliberately limited to answering computer-game related questions (a business decision around this particular brand), the service itself can be used to provide generalist question answering services (such as Any Question Answered, or closely controlled question answering services (such as a customer support service for a single business.)

References

External links

• GTIP website
• AlienPants Ltd GTIP and underlying service provider.
• GTIP service on T-Zones (WML).