Comments on: In Search of Free SMS

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:58:59 +0000

I feel that we agree on a lot of things, Jane. I think we both agree that Sasanet didn’t have to die as it did. They could have done more; engaged their userbase more; experimented more – anything but die.

What do you think they could have done?

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:56:17 +0000

yeah Kelvin, thats a good idea to inform users that there are ads attached, but there is a difference between the sender (user of the application) and the recepient of the sms plus the advert. You will be suprised romours had it that Sasanet platform used to “read” the sms, which ideally ought to be very private.
For using a phrase” “A message from our sponsors” is fine, but remember an sms is limited to only 160 characters.

That was then, good discussion though…so am sure if this continue to 15 comments there should be a solution…Jane

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:33:59 +0000

Jane, I agree with you on one hand that it is indeed spamming but there’s a way to work round that.

Sasanet could have specifically made it known that all their sms will have adverts at the end. Further to that, they could then have made it clear on the actual text messages that an advert was being served.

Something like “A message from our sponsors”

Don’t you think that was better than, in one move, to kill their core users? Note that once Sasanet stopped the free sms service, they died.

Although I do see your point that perhaps getting advertisers was a challenge. Still, I believe they could have handled their business in a better way. Their users were left in the dark at all stages.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:57:49 +0000

dont u think this attaching an ad at the end of the 3,000,000 sms is SPAMMING? Imagine a college student, who wants to send an sms to his dad requesting for some cash or airtime…then at the end an advert for “…tonight at carnivore, Mike Rua…..” what do u think the dad will think? Lets be realistic….the free sms thing and attaching ads at the end simply died coz of that….See, Sasanet could not limit the number of pple to register and send sms in a day, but were they guaranteed that they will have advertisers?

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:19:38 +0000

Thanks Wyndago. Let us note that on withdrawing free sms, Sasanet essentially died. All the buzz and goodwill it had built up came to nothing.
They should have not only stuck with free sms, but found ways to make the service more accessible.

By: Wyndago

Wyndago — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:07:10 +0000

Kayliz, the difference between you and the anonymous two is that, they think politically- they(sasanet) offer the services, they can as well decide to withdraw it. But you look at it from a business point of view.
A good business, which is normally that which prospers, is that which meets the needs of everyone, the business itself, the businessman and the consumers, a win-win-win so to speak.
Kayliz, you make a lot of business sense.
The site is ever awesome! Good job.

By: kayliz

kayliz — Wed, 02 May 2007 22:42:00 +0000

First off, if you're going to openly attack me, don't be an anonymous coward, leave your name.

I'm not too certain about your calculations. Using your figure, Sasanet used to place an advert at the end of every one of those 3,000,000 sms that were sent DAILY. Now, this is prime advertising because every single person who gets an sms usually scrolls till the end so 98% of those ads would have eyeballs gaze upon them. That's reason enough to charge advertisers well enough to at least cover costs.

Moreover, the sasanet site, where us users used to spend significant amounts of time composing our sms was very prime for ad placement hence more revenue for sasanet.

And I'm quite sure that if I was part of sasanet administration I'd find plenty of ways to make money and still keep the free sms free.

So, dude, sasanet could have made it without being jerky jocks.

I fail to understand what you people have against free things. Freebies dont just make sense to consumers but to the business as well. I counter your argument and says that Kenyan business just dont understand the power of freebies, that's what ails them.

Paul Graham put's it best:
In How to Start a Startup I advised startups never to let anyone fly under them, meaning never to let any other company offer a cheaper, easier solution. Another way to fly low is to give users more power. Let users do what they want. If you don't and a competitor does, you're in trouble.... The ultimate way to be nice to users is to give them something for free that competitors charge for. During the 90s a lot of people probably thought we'd have some working system for micropayments by now. In fact things have gone in the other direction. The most successful sites are the ones that figure out new ways to give stuff away for free. Craigslist has largely destroyed the classified ad sites of the 90s, and OkCupid looks likely to do the same to the previous generation of dating sites.

Serving web pages is very, very cheap. If you can make even a fraction of a cent per page view, you can make a profit. And technology for targeting ads continues to improve. I wouldn't be surprised if ten years from now eBay had been supplanted by an ad-supported freeBay (or, more likely, gBay).

Odd as it might sound, we tell startups that they should try to make as little money as possible. If you can figure out a way to turn a billion dollar industry into a fifty million dollar industry, so much the better, if all fifty million go to you. Though indeed, making things cheaper often turns out to generate more money in the end, just as automating things often turns out to generate more jobs.

LINK

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:18:00 +0000

Now, the problem with Kenyans is that we love free things as if our mamas did not teach us that free things AINT FOR FREE…as a guy you should know that…Sasanet decided to give us the free texts we did not ask for them…so its the same sasanet that has the power to take away what it gave us. Being a business woman, if after some time i saw that being nice is only recognised if i gave out free services..then i think id change my biz and turn to what is benefitial…lets deal with it..lovely day.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:49:00 +0000

Dude…you are clearly the worlds most naive consumer without an iota of business sense. Imagine if you had a 300k user base and were giving 10 free SMS at a market rate of 5sh. (assuming everyone uses up their credits)You have 3,000,000 sms being sent per day at a market value of ksh 15 million.Dude..any business would be foolish to be conceding such an amount DAILY.What sort of investment can you think of that would recoup this investment?

This free free mentality is what ails kenyan consumers.I remain – CreativeMind