Intuit is localizing its product suite for the Indian market and while the company earlier launched GoConnect (in partnership with Nokia), txtWeb is a dynamic content publishing and service creation platform for making information and services available via SMS for FREE”
Think of it as a WWW for sms world, the technology which is present in 700 million subscribers. txtWeb enables app developers to build sms based apps and as of now, there are close to 400 apps already present in the service.
The txtWeb platform is language agnostic and provides SMS-HTTP (back and forth) transformation.
As far as consumer facing side is concerned, the access number for India is 92433 42000. You can try a few of the services by sending the following keywords as an SMS to 92433 42000:
- @cricbuzz : to get cricket scores
- @WIKIPEDIA <search term> – example @wikipedia SMS: to access the write up on SMS on Wikipedia
- @stocktip <stockname> to get stock analysis and quotes (example @stocktip HDFC)
You can also SMS anything without the “@” sign, in which case it will default to search and provide you a list of relevant apps.
Video: Overview of txtWeb platform:
Video: Deploying txtWeb application:
What’s your take on txtWeb app platform? As an app developer, where do you rank SMS based platforms?
Such services are mostly related to informational category, though Indians are high on entertainment. How monetizable are these platforms?
Related: 90 billion SMSes were exchanged in India on airtel last year.
