Second Life getting Mobile-Enabled

Came across an interesting write-up (see below). So what are we going to hear next? virtual Google, Yahoo! and MSNs? Wonder if then there is room for a (virtual) mobile email service for your virtual handset to access your virtual email in your Second Life.

Call me in my Second Life
by Kevin Fitchard
As I stagger around CTIA Wireless, chronically late to almost every appointment, I keep getting asked what the most interesting thing I've seen at the show is. I hate to sound negative and trite, but my usual response is "nothing." It's not that the show isn't interesting. I learn a lot, there's a lot of news to cover and technology to learn about. But it's been years since I've seen a demo or participated in a briefing that's knocked my socks off.

That said, I'd recommend taking a stroll over to the Comverse booth if you're here, and ask to see the Second Life demo. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was sock-knocking, but it definitely snapped me out of the exhausted funk I was in by mid-show. (I wasn't even supposed to have a briefing with Comverse -- I was tricked, I tell you.) Anyway, for those of you that don't know, Second Life is the online phenomenon, where you can live a virtual life. Through an online avatar, you can meet other people, buy clothes, flirt, network and generally loiter online, and no one is the wiser to your real identity.

It's an acquired taste, I suppose, but apparently a taste that millions have acquired, spawning a massive online universe, populated not just by virtual inhabitants but virtual stores and organizations from the real world. And any virtual world needs a virtual cellular company. What Comverse has cooked up is a wireless service, where Second Life denizens can call and text one another not only within the game but outside of it. Second Life may be all-consuming, but once you've turned off the computer your virtual life is temporarily on hold. Comverse has developed a way for you to be delusional 24 hours a day.

The virtual cellular carrier issues a real telephone number that doesn't actually end in a phone, but rather a server. That number acts as beard between the real world and the virtual, allowing customers to retain their hidden identities while placing calls within and outside of the game (though all of the men pretending to be women on Second Life might get their cover blown the first time they place a call). For instance: Crazy Legs Sarah sends a text message to my Second Life phone. If I happen to be online, the message is received by my avatar half--Yellow Boy--who dutifully opens his phone and displays the message. If I'm offline, the message is forwarded on to my real-life cellphone, which I can respond to just like any other text message. From there we can set a date to meet at the local virtual dance club, where I can thrill her with my virtual break dancing moves. Online romance ensues.

Second Life hasn't yet signed off on the Comverse project yet, but if it does, it's all done on open platforms that integrate easily back to any carrier's platform. So don't be surprised if you see an Amp'd Mobile or Helio picking up on it in the next year. Now if only they'd host CTIA Wireless on Second Life. I could get some real work done.

Beginning of a new journey

Our company Net4Nuts, has been offering Mobile Value-Added Services (MVAS) to quite a few carriers (we call them "mobile operators") in India and S. E. Asia. Way back in 2001, we were one of the first companies to be offering mobile-email and information-on-demand (IOD) services.


Over a period of time, and in line with changing customer requirements and usage, we have indegeniously developed a comprehensive range of mobile email offerings, including solutions for:

> Email-2-SMS (and SMS-2-Email) - @carriername.com
> Email alerts
> Mobile Email for individuals / consumers (on SMS and WAP)
> Mobile Email for enterprises


A bulk of our solutions so far have been deployed and offered by carriers - burned into their SIM menus or as part of their mobile portals.


With mobile data connectivity getting more pervasive and standardisation of mobile data protocols, we believe this to be an opportune time for offering VAS directly to mobile users. We believe, we are ready to go B2C / B2B with our mobile email solution - aptly named : MeOnGo (as in "me on the go" or "mobile email on the go")


Check it out...