SMS and Win !!! - eNidhi India Travel Blog

SMS and Win !!!

How often do you send commercial SMSs? I mean messages sent to four digit numbers as shown in/for the purpose of TV shows, contests, sms polls etc?

SMS can do wonders isn't it? At least it is projected so. By sending SMS you can win prizes worth several lakhs to crores, you can decide who will win the Indian Idol title. You can win a date with a superstar; you can get a whole bunch of products and services at your door step. You can get your loved ones name on screen of a television music channel, you can get whole lot of information related to astrology, weather, cricket, stock, and you name it.

True. But at what cost?

These SMS are not free. They come at a premium price, much higher than the cost of an SMS sent to another mobile number. On an average each SMS cost Rs 2 to Rs 7 (even more). I’m sure most of the people are aware of this. But people don’t mind rather they don’t care. Five rupees is no big amount for many mobile users and this is the fundamental concept exploited by those who run SMS based activities. Tiny drops make mighty ocean. Even if one lakh people out of several crores mobile users send a message each, one can make couple of lakh rupees in no time.

Luring people to waste their currency by tempting them to send SMS is another way to stay in business for mobile operators. The money is shared by network operator, SMS event organizer, and Govt (as tax). When I loose 5 Rs currency per SMS the actual value is always a bit higher. (For 300Rs talk time if I pay 350 Rs while recharging, the actual cost of Rs 5 talk time is 5.83 paisa). But generally no one cares.

SMS based activities are really convenient and hence have picked up momentum very fast. Appears so simple and cheap, but the volume of money involved behind the screen is very huge. I’m not saying don’t send such SMSs. After all it’s your mobile, your money, your fun.

Another factor to be noted is there's nothing you can do after sending out the SMS. There's no guarantee that you'll be informed who won the contest, no guarantee that your vote is counted, nothing you can do if your message doesn't appear on screen.


Let me know what you think of this…




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6 comments:

  1. Timely post nidhi.

    SMS based events are now everywhere TV Channels, news papers, FM channels... Ya thats true for mobile users the cost of these value added SMSes seems little. You are absolutely right in saying that there is no guanrantee of these services. But it is a matter of concern that lot of people are getting hooked to this, seems like its going to race lottery business in this regard.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good one...an eye opener.......tx.
    SKRM

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  3. Nice one Nidhi. Though we know we do tend to send some now and then.

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  4. Thanks all for your positive comments...

    No harm having some fun with SMSs. Just that we need to be aware of reality...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Sufi.

    Someone's loss is someone else's gain.

    Sometimes its mass hypnotysm. When playwin came into existence millions of people lost crores of rupees, under the illussion that they are playing some game. While the fact was it's an outright gamble...

    I dont think your business will be affected by my blog. that's not my intention either.

    If time permits I would love to study people and their behavious.

    thanks for your comment.

    ReplyDelete

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