Beauty Horoscope- Leo

I’ve been racking my brain for a few days now trying to come up with some World changing ideas to submit to Verizon’s Powerful Answers Contest.  I think I have a few legitimate ideas, one in education, and one in healthcare.  Unfortunately, it may all be for naught for the winning entry may have already been found before the contest even begins.  The reason for my defeatist attitude?  The offline internet. 

That’s right.  You may soon be able to access the World Wide Web without having to connect to it.  What better way to leverage Verizon’s platform after all than to create a phone based mobile service that could provide internet access to millions of people in the developing World.  

According to this article in last month’s issue of Wired UK, Deepak Ravindran, has created just such a network in India called SMSGyan.  Here’s how it works: ‘Users text a question to Innoz’s server, whose algorithms then crawl the web and its related databases and send an answer as a 480-character text message. It costs the equivalent of 1p per query. “We work with every telecom provider in India, they just love it,” says Ravindran. “They get 50 to 70 percent revenue share per search.”‘

The article goes on to say that, “SMSGyan has caught on among India’s 900 million mobile owners: by the end of 2012, it had 120 million active users and brought in annual revenues of £1.8 million. It’s partnered with Wikipedia, Bing, Wolfram Alpha and databases that aggregate health, transport or sports data. “And you can send Gmail messages, update your Facebook status or tweet, just by texting,” says Ravindran.”

If you ask me it sounds like Verizon has already found their winner as this is exactly the kind of concept that leverages their services and could lead to a scalable business.  This isn’t just some flash in the pan daily horoscope texting service.  This is a game changer.  A whole new way of staying connected with the World.  It’s the ultimate Plan B.  Verizon, I hope you’re paying attention.Deepak Ravindran as pictured in last month’s issue of Wired UK.