Being able to print single and multiple SMS text messages from phones is needed too, along with the ability add date/time stamps and other transmission data associated with each message.

Why is it needed

Many people do not need a computer very often. Mobile devices are evolving quickly and are now able to deliver almost everything — email, ecommerce and document management. But not printing.

Unlike conventional computers, we are not able to make a permanent record directly from mobile devices. Or print emails, attachments and other documents. Even SMS messages can have value — as receipts, permissions and records of formal interactions.

Retail and B2B sales will bring in revenue. Another source of revenue can be from manufacturers of printers, who would bundle mobile-printing applications in with their printer products. Printer manufacturers generally sell their hardware at a loss, with revenue earned on the sale of ink. The more that people use their printers, the more money the printer manufacturer earns.

The number of mobile devices vastly exceeds the number of computers. By distributing applications that allow printing from mobile devices, printer manufacturers would greatly expand their market size, especially for portable and lower-end printers.

Where is the money

A printing service could be offered on a per-use or subscription basis. Mobile device users could forward important documents to the printer service, which would print documents and bill against senders’ cellular accounts. This service could be offered by phone stores, Internet cafes and even by cellular carriers themselves.

Perhaps print functions (or portions thereof) could be pre-loaded onto SIM cards, memory cards and USB jump drives to speed distribution.

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is the next generation IP protocol. It will enable everyday appliances to have their own IP addresses — including printers. Ipv6 will make it easier for users of mobile devices to send documents and transaction records to printers and to control how those items are printed.

A premium feature could be print-to-archive or print-to-file for mobile devices, largely utilizing cloud storage. Cell phones have limited capabilities to store (and no capability to archive) SMS messages. This forces cell phone users to delete SMS messages and SMS exchanges that may be needed later.

It would be very beneficiary, for instance, if I can order my burger from KFC by just sending an SMS, or if I pay my DSL bill through credit card (Very limited number of broadband companies offer online credit card based billing), or how about paying my taxi fare by sending an SMS?

I feel that we greatly lack in this segment, either our companies are not patched with latest solutions or our users are not that much aware…but my point lies in the fact that we, as a nation, had never thought of using cellular phones few years back, but now the scenario is different. Similarly, we never had though that the world would become a village before internet based networked world and Bill Gate’s windows based operating system.

Theory is that you offer the luxury, and if it makes some sense, soon it will become a necessity…leave the awareness part to the consumer. They will learn it themselves if your service has the potential.

We have examples around us, such as, Q-Cash in Abu Dhabi, a service through which users will be able to pay their taxi fare by sending an SMS, a system introduced by a famous taxi system working there. And there is no innovation involved in this, a very simple (but centralized) procedure is adopted. The said taxi company will introduce “Q-Cash Card”, with some credit in it (like we used to have in our calling cards), and you can send an SMS to a designated number to get your fare deducted from the card. This way, you can pay your fare without carrying cash and without worrying the change that you normally give away to taxi drivers.

Similarly, in coming days, operators can offer some extra out of our simple SMS services, such as, auto response, auto forward SMS…GSM packet based longer text messages and so on…We are already discussing mobile banking options, but now these projects are supposed to be taken to the ground…so we may get benefited of these.

Hope that cellular companies will think forward to bring in some innovations, rather than just shouting the number of customers or the dancing averts.

[Via ProPakistani]