Mobidic, an exciting new South African SMS application

SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) Education in partnership with a private company and the Gauteng Economic Development Agency have recently launched a very exciting SMS text messaging application project in South Africa. Mobidic, is a local mobile dictionary, with mobile content taken from the Chambers-Macmillan South African Student’s Dictionary.

Unlike other mobile dictionaries such as Cellphedia in the United States, this application is not focused on creating a social network amongst users but rather acts as a valuable learning tool in South Africa. At a relatively low cost of R2.00 per premium-rated SMS (and it is hoped that the price will drop even further in the near future), South Africans can receive mobile definitions for words or phrases by simply sending a SMS text message to 34744.

With 98% cellphone penetration in South Africa, SMS text messaging is the most obvious way in which to bridge the technological and educational gap in this country. Available anywhere in the country that has mobile reception, 24 hours a day, Mobidic’s stated aim is to ‘provide real-time access to information’ and assist users in improving language skills and enhancing reading and writing abilities. Seati Molio is the inventor of this mobile dictionary concept and hopes to roll out translation services for other South African languages.

Working on a two-way text messaging system whereby the server automatically searches the database and responds with the correct definition following the prompt word from the customers SMS message. If the word is not found a message will be sent to the user informing them that the word is not currently available and they will be asked to check their spelling. They have included local terms such as ‘jol’ and ‘lekker’ to give it that truly South African flavour!

Mobile dictionaries are just one of many innovative applications that SMS text messaging has been used for. The sky is the limit for mobile application developers looking to cash in on this fast growing market. Bi-directional messaging is simple to set up with a good SMS gateway provider and two-way messaging options are available when using HTTP, SMPP or FTP SMS Gateway API’s (application programming interfaces). These systems are not only being used for mobile dictionaries but also car tracking services, customer management relationship services, premium weather and sports information services and so on.

The advantage of these types of two-way messaging applications is that users can request pre-configured information in real-time whenever they want and wherever they are and that the operator of the service can generate revenue through the use of premium rate shortcode numbers such as the 34744 Mobidic service.

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