VascoDe can 'smarten' up your brick phone
Posted by: Jon on 06/23/2013 12:27 PM
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This is a very interesting bit of software that will essentially make your plain old simple sally cell phone become, well smarter and still remain cheaper than the big guns. VascoDe has developed the patent pending CMI system, which enables simple-phone users to enjoy advanced applications, such as Gmail, Facebook, twitter, Wikipedia, visual voice mail, mobile Skype and more.
Israeli startup VascoDe established operations in 2009 to enable Emerging Market mobile operators to generate significant revenues from new services, which work on all mobile devices.
VascoDe CEO Dorron Mottes explains to Israel21c that some 83 percent of all phones out there are “simple” phones.
“The real question is how to upgrade their capabilities. For example, someone might have an interest in being on the Web but can’t afford a smartphone and certainly can’t afford the data costs.”
In Soweto, South Africa – a market VascoDe is actively courting – users wanting to go online, even for something as simple as checking email, are forced to visit an Internet café and pay about $1 per hour for access, Mottes says.
More critically, not having regular Internet access can put a jobseeker at a serious disadvantage when applying for and responding to fast-moving job openings.
VascoDe’s software gives that simple phone-owner in Soweto the same connection to email at just 10 to 50 cents per week.
The entirely cloud-based system – it requires no downloads onto the user’s phone – uses the text-based USSD, which is akin to SMS. The user sees only black-and-white characters with no pictures at all. But it works, and it levels the employment-seeking playing field. “It can literally change someone’s life,” Mottes says.
USSD is part of the global mobile standard that works on 2G systems and up. IT is in real time, so when you send a request to VascoDe’s servers, the answer comes back immediately.
VascoDe uses the published APIs (application programming interfaces) from Facebook, Gmail and the like to create its simple phone solutions. Mobile operators offer it directly to customers (the name “VascoDe” is not a known brand).
You have to sign up via computer, but from then on, all you need is mobile.
Israeli startup VascoDe established operations in 2009 to enable Emerging Market mobile operators to generate significant revenues from new services, which work on all mobile devices. VascoDe CEO Dorron Mottes explains to Israel21c that some 83 percent of all phones out there are “simple” phones.
“The real question is how to upgrade their capabilities. For example, someone might have an interest in being on the Web but can’t afford a smartphone and certainly can’t afford the data costs.”
In Soweto, South Africa – a market VascoDe is actively courting – users wanting to go online, even for something as simple as checking email, are forced to visit an Internet café and pay about $1 per hour for access, Mottes says.
More critically, not having regular Internet access can put a jobseeker at a serious disadvantage when applying for and responding to fast-moving job openings.
VascoDe’s software gives that simple phone-owner in Soweto the same connection to email at just 10 to 50 cents per week.
The entirely cloud-based system – it requires no downloads onto the user’s phone – uses the text-based USSD, which is akin to SMS. The user sees only black-and-white characters with no pictures at all. But it works, and it levels the employment-seeking playing field. “It can literally change someone’s life,” Mottes says.
USSD is part of the global mobile standard that works on 2G systems and up. IT is in real time, so when you send a request to VascoDe’s servers, the answer comes back immediately.
VascoDe uses the published APIs (application programming interfaces) from Facebook, Gmail and the like to create its simple phone solutions. Mobile operators offer it directly to customers (the name “VascoDe” is not a known brand).
You have to sign up via computer, but from then on, all you need is mobile.
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