Thursday, February 17, 2011

Facebook for SIM shows

At MWC, Gemalto - in partnership with Facebook - Facebook for SIM proposed a system that allows delivery of Facebook in most GSM phones on the market, the Nokia 1100 to iPhone. The system is obviously very simple and is limited to text, but it has the advantage of not requiring a smartphone or a connection type "data".

Technically, the SIM card actually contains an application that uses the "SIM Application Toolkit", a standardized system for years 90 and allowing the inesrtion simple applications in phones. Typically, operators provide information through this channel. With Facebook for SIM, we have access to some of the available information on Facebook, like the wall, statutes, etc., with the ability to send messages.

The system has the advantage of doing without a connection "data" means any work based on SMS, without requiring the user to see. Gemalto and Facebook is obviously developing countries or Facebook is popular but not very accessible for mobility because of the price of smartphones and 3G connections.

The application itself should be free, delivered on a new SIM, and operation related to a billing period, if it works based on SMS, it is unfortunately difficult to estimate the number of messages that flow . The idea is to offer packages to the period between one hour and one year, with various intermediate levels, and of course entice the customer with an offer to test a fortnight.

In practice, all seems to work, even though we are far away and mobile versions of applications available on some smartphones. Moreover, the lack of images removes some interest to Facebook.

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