Search form

Anyone know how to start an SMS download business for mob. ph's?

14 posts / 0 new
Last post
Anyone know how to start an SMS download business for mob. ph's?

Hi there.

I used to work in comic books (DC, Marvel, Dark Horse) and have taught myself to animate, I live in Australia which is possibly the most mobile phone addicted culture on the planet, millions are being made here with ads on the TV every night for lame-ass "animations".

I'd like to compete, especially as few of these companies are actually Australian, and Aussie ones like telstra and optus won't provide any info on how to submit toons for their consideration. Obviously I'd like to begin my own competition instead.

But I have no idea on how to set up a "ial (----------) to receive (-----) on your mobile phone" and then recoup $4 AusD as they do.

Any help, info, anything?

Much obliged.

LoveClassics's picture
[I]I'll work 10 hours a day for $350. Andreas does the photoshop posters for Paramount, gets $700 per day at 7 hours plus an hour off for lunch. You do the math as to which is a better deal.[/I]

[I]I'll work 10 hours a day for $350.

Andreas does the photoshop posters for Paramount, gets $700 per day at 7 hours plus an hour off for lunch.

You do the math as to which is a better deal.[/I]

what you can do is this -

get mobile content together, make sure its tested and working.

then you find a mobile content aggregator see if he will pick up your content.

if that happens it takes care of your issues coz they do everything for you but take a BIG chunk

if not what you can do is set up your own portal which would basically mean a wap enabled site as well as a number where people can send sms to download content of. like 8888 etc. so if they wish to download DOG from your site they SMS DOG to 8888.

you can set this up in conjunction with a wap builder or get in touch with Telstra business development.

if you go at it on your own, you will have to get the money to advertise coz thats going to be your biggest expense, besides obtainig content.

Thanks!

However I do not know what a wap enabled site or wap builder means. Though I'd love to learn. ;)

The site content I can do myself, the advertising costs I'd probably weather myself. The problem is my lack of knowledge RE the tech of the "turnkey business" so to speak.

[I]I'll work 10 hours a day for $350.

Andreas does the photoshop posters for Paramount, gets $700 per day at 7 hours plus an hour off for lunch.

You do the math as to which is a better deal.[/I]

dont get me wrong but this isnt a one man show type of job where you make the site yourself.

your advertising cost will also have to be substantial enough to get the number out there to PLENTY of people to get the downloads. which will only happen when your content library is large enough.

google wap builder or something. im sure there are ready made packages for these things.

Thanks

I appreciate the reply. However, I think you might not appreciate the difference between your culture the logistics it presents as problems you cited as opposed to mine. Just look at your bulk population even for any one of your/India's major cities versus the 20 mil populace of Australia as a COUNTRY.

If you look into it, NATIONAL TV ADVERTISING here (using an ad I can create myself) is not that expensive. Additionally, we are able to use "so-called offensive language" and imagery past a certain point/hour of the night whereas other cultures cannot. We have sms-commercials featuring the nearly naked booties (barely clad in a g-string/thong) of brainless strippers after 9PM. (I doubt that's acceptable in India). That's not what *I* wish to use to make a buck but the freedom is there.

Also, our free to air radio programming is different. There are opportunities here for "hype" that - meaning no offense - I am sure no one in India can enjoy, whether they be Vedic, Bhuddist or anything else. This means that if I can get free "airplay" on one of the many radio programs here that cater to the sms-culture, I don't need to spend that much on "exposure/marketing".

It's the one upside to how the current admin of the government has completely screwed over the animators and film makers here.

Bearing this in mind, if someone had a website with sufficient traffic driven to it form national radio exposure and semi-limited national TV exposure offering animations for download that filled a niche the same as the retarded frog riding the invisible motor scooter (from several years back and downloaded millions of times), what would be the problem in making some $? If it was available for purchase via paypal instead of a WAP site?

all the best,

LC

[I]I'll work 10 hours a day for $350.

Andreas does the photoshop posters for Paramount, gets $700 per day at 7 hours plus an hour off for lunch.

You do the math as to which is a better deal.[/I]

i dont know what you are aiming at with the cultural differences. i studied in new york and the basics of the business are the same.

your project involves

creating content
marketing content
distributing content.

you can create the content or buy it from others.
you can market it by radio and free advertising as you say
distribution is hardly a matter. mobile companies do it for you or you can wap it yourself.

so there you go. millions of $ here you come.

There's no need for sarcasm (or as the net puts it, "snarking"). I'm not after millions. A paltry thousand or so would do fine as I'm merely trying to help the people in the Oz industry who are getting wiped off the map.

Thank you for the suggestion on googling "wap". Though it would have been easy to simply state "Wireless Application Protocol".

[I]I'll work 10 hours a day for $350.

Andreas does the photoshop posters for Paramount, gets $700 per day at 7 hours plus an hour off for lunch.

You do the math as to which is a better deal.[/I]

actually it is easier to say WAP since its three letters.

one more thing youd need to know which i know from experience

1) test the content before you even begin this business. i.e. find stuff you think will sell, check it out on the mobile phones you wish to market to.

2) porting animations for different mobiles is a bigger cost than making them

3) medium of delivery(real player, swf, quicktime, 3gp), file size,

there are many considerations. least of all which is setting up your wap site. that is the last thing you will do. not the first.

I greatly appreciate the advice and information, and thank you for your patience and effort.

Which file type do you consider to be the most "universal" or best for general use? What about ipodMP4 files?

How would you suggest testing an animation? Would having several friends using different manners of mobiles yield a sufficient answer?

[I]I'll work 10 hours a day for $350.

Andreas does the photoshop posters for Paramount, gets $700 per day at 7 hours plus an hour off for lunch.

You do the math as to which is a better deal.[/I]

the most widely used format is 3gp. it bloats up file size and the quality is lowish.

the ideal thing would be flash/swf but it is hardly popular due to certain issues.
like lack of players on phones and $10 price tag for the player.

all phones have 3gp capability so that would be your ideal format for now.

as for testing. you identify popular phones in the market like the Nokia 60 series etc, and then test out the content on all these phones and see if it needs tweaking and how much of it.

i recently did content for a major global portal and i had to provide files in 19 different sizes.

"the most widely used format is 3gp. it bloats up file size and the quality is lowish.

the ideal thing would be flash/swf but it is hardly popular due to certain issues.
like lack of players on phones and $10 price tag for the player.

all phones have 3gp capability so that would be your ideal format for now.

as for testing. you identify popular phones in the market like the Nokia 60 series etc, and then test out the content on all these phones and see if it needs tweaking and how much of it.

i recently did content for a major global portal and i had to provide files in 19 different sizes"

According to what you've said (thanks again) I think there is a typical animation problem here: time spent on learning code/doing code versus time spent on creating content. So I have another question:

I'm costing out what it would cost me to have a local here in Australia do all the tech/code work here with myself and other animators putting in the content side and set it up with a viable conduit (such as Optus and Telstra and crap sites like ringtoneking.com.au).

If you could do that, I'd like to know your price. I ask this not only out of respect but also due to so many people asking for fre work on this site and many others.

If you can't and know someone who can, I'd like to know THEIR price, bearing in mind you'd be - effectively - an agent, and thus get 10% of what I'd pay them for your putting me in touch with them.

[I]I'll work 10 hours a day for $350.

Andreas does the photoshop posters for Paramount, gets $700 per day at 7 hours plus an hour off for lunch.

You do the math as to which is a better deal.[/I]

I also do cartoon and looking to expland my project into animation. Anyone here that interested in teaming or going to parnership with me. check out my content here:
www.yesthisismyday.com
I also wish to learn how to provide background paper for mobile downloading. is it the same like animation. I know I can google everything but I would love to hear comments and suggestions from the pros before starting. Plz advice, thank you!
here r some samples:


I'm looking forward to hearing some constructive comments.

Beo Nguyen - yesthisismyday

find the related resolutions used by Mobile fone operators. when i did my last content set there were 19-21 resolutions for wallpapers 17 for animations.

I would love to go in partnership with s.o who already set up and run this thing. I can provide the content.

Beo Nguyen - yesthisismyday