Pioneers of the SA telecoms industry have launched Pooosh to give South Africans a mobile messaging system that combines voice chat, instant messaging, e-mail, chatrooms, low-cost international call-back and more, in a single interface that's as useful to a busy executive as it is to a gregarious teenager.
There are three vitally important points to understand about Pooosh. It's not 'yet another free mobile Instant Messaging client' (although it is that too). It's also not 'yet another Web 2.0-style company desperately chasing market share while it scrabbles around for a viable business plan'. What it is definitely is a way to combine a variety of powerful and fun communications tools into a single system, with a single (very reasonable) bill every month.
Pooosh provides a rich array of functionality that's as suited to serious businesspeople as to young tech lovers, with the sole objective of reducing communications costs. As a sign of faith in the Pooosh business, Altech Autopage Cellular, one of South Africa's leading cellular service providers to the subscriber market, will be partnering with Pooosh at launch to offer cellphone packages with six months of free Pooosh premium connectivity.
"This is a fabulous service for Altech Autopage Cellular to offer customers - we are looking at the long term future of the mobile business, and it clearly lies in unified services that you can access from whichever device you want, and pay only one bill. Pooosh provides all of the next generation of communications features that our tech-savvy customers want, in a way that's intuitive to use so that anyone can pick it up easily, and synchronizes effortlessly with the desktop computer environment," says Stephen Blewitt, MD of Altech Autopage Cellular, "Pooosh does it all ... and costs our customers less."
The Pooosh client (downloadable free from www.pooosh.mobi for phones and www.pooosh.com for the PC) provides free instant messaging (IM), and free Chat Rooms (*). It also provides users with a free "push" mobile e-mail client (similar to the functionality provided by a device like the Blackberry), cheap SMS and content downloads. It provides a long-distance call-back, to save you costs on international phone calls. But the feature that users will love the most is the voice messages - you can send "talking SMSes" from your phone to any Pooosh user - great for fun, great to get your emotions across, and a great way to get a quick message through to someone without wasting time tapping away at the keyboard.
"It's a great truth in mobile communications that around eight people make up 80% of your phone bill," says Don Tredoux, CEO of Pooosh Cellular. "This small circle is the spouse, the kids, the boss, a colleague or two and a couple of friends. Once they're on a unified communications system like Pooosh you'll find your monthly cellphone bill plummets. The modern mobile phone is not just a wireless telephone - it's an Internet-connected comms tool, and voice telephone calls are just one of its services. With Pooosh we've taken the most popular message tools, integrated them, and put them in a single, powerful mobile application that is as easy to use from your desktop computer as your mobile phone."
Pooosh is free to download, and basic services (IM, chat rooms, e-mail) are free. Voice messages, callback and content downloads cost a small amount. Altech Autopage Cellular subscribers will have unlimited free access to the Pooosh premium services for six months. Other users of Pooosh can download it free, and download Pooosh premium service vouchers via a premium SMS.
Pooosh was developed with the revenue model in mind, as opposed to other IM platforms that developed an application and are still trying to successfully monetize it. Our management team has over 75 years of combined experience in building profitable telecoms businesses, who's objective it is to grow a stable business, not a huge user base. We don't need millions of registered users to be profitable," says Tredoux.
Key markets for Pooosh will be the tech-savvy consumers, corporates that want an enterprise-class solution to reduce telecoms costs and improve communications between staff, and large groups (special interest groups, clubs, religious communities, etc) that want an effective and cheap way to reach their members. Pooosh will also be partnering with relevant brands to do promotional activities in the Pooosh chatrooms.
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