A Sandton-based company has developed a desktop tool that it says will allow users to manage their installations of all aspects of the Microsoft Outlook suite. Softphone, a venture funded by Innovation Capital, aims to bring the "wireless office" to mobile phone users across GSM networks worldwide.
Leveraging off the convergence of the Internet and mobile telephony, Softphone has developed SMSCell and SMSHyperLink - products that it believes will boost SMS traffic revenues. Using these products, standard mobile phones can be enhanced into virtual PDAs, remotely accessing data stored on the user's desktop, customised page or corporate server.
Users of MAPI mail clients such as Microsoft Outlook Express will be able to send SMS that will be received in the form of an e-mail. The conversion happens at the SMS gateway, where SMSCell will pick up messages and forward them on behalf of the mobile user. E-mails received on behalf of the user follow the reverse route and end up as an SMS on the user's phone.
The data flow for users with a permanent Internet connection and who use MS Outlook as their mail client is slightly more complex. The functionality allowed in this instance includes requests to the Outlook application, which allow for such things as calendar or task management.
These requests are sent in SMS format to the operator's SMS gateway. The message is forwarded to the user's PC, picked up by SMSCell and translated. The response can be sent as an outbound e-mail from Outlook, or as a direct feedback to the user, reformatted to SMS.
For dial-up users, SMSCell will extract relevant information from Microsoft Outlook and upload this to the operator's servers when the user has dialled up to the Internet. The user can then request any of this information, which can be forwarded as an e-mail, or returned to the user as an SMS.
The company's target market, according to Paul Alcock, director of Innovation Capital, is broad. "We're targeting GSM operators, server providers and ISPs."
The idea is to license the applications to these players, which would then make them available to their clients at no charge. The revenue opportunity comes in the potential increase in SMS traffic volumes.
The business model is being pitched to GSM operators and Internet service providers worldwide, says Alcock, and distribution and marketing plans are well underway.
Alcock is unfazed by Microsoft's beta release of its Outlook Mobile Manager earlier this year. "This is a product that can be delivered today, and that doesn't require a phone upgrade. It allows pushing, pulling and personalising of content."
The product's flexibility is also expected to provide a competitive-edge.
For further information visit www.softphone.co.za
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