Our Dutch speaking friend Alper tipped us of about Hi (a Netherlands MVNO) who are offering something very similar to Treasuremytext the Bewaarbox!.
We just checked them out and although similar in nature there are still plenty of things different about our services. One thing we do love is they let you print a tiny book of your messages. We’re looking to work with Moocards or someone similar to bring such a thing to Treausremytext because it’s really nice to be able to do that. The other big difference is they do MMS also but although we’re asked a lot about it we still prefer to concentrate on doing SMS and doing that as well as we can. MMS is such a different thing that it’s hard to make one thing that could do both really well.
Interestingly as an operator providing this, they don’t seem to be doing anything more magical than we are when it comes to the archiving process. When you want to save an SMS you send it to a number which is the model we’ve been using since we began which we think is the right one for most users. We tried to sign up, obviously to have a look around but couldn’t because it is tied to the Hi network (we’re with Vodafone). This makes sense because they can offer it as a nice service differentiator from the other networks. The downside is if you don’t happen to be with Hi you can’t use it. What happens if you ever switch networks is not obvious.
So if you’re not with Hi (or even if you are) Treasuremytext works just great in the Netherlands on any network and with a local Dutch 06 mobile number it’s probably going to be free with an inclusive SMS bundle for you to use!
If anyone is with Hi and has had a chance to play with it please share what it’s like and a couple of screen shots.
We met up with Rudy De Waele on Saturday ahead of his appearance at Mobile Monday Amsterdam (great presentation, by the way Rudy!) and he managed to convince Paul to do a quick demo of Treasuremytext via seesmic. Very impressed by seesmicing on the move (we were at de Balie); not so sure about the video replies!!
I’m taking time whilst waiting for Mobile Monday Amsterdam to get into the swing of things to post my pictures and thoughts from iPhone Dev Camp Amsterdam on Saturday. It’s been a busy few days of mobile application development in Amsterdam and I’m noticing two worlds about to collide.
Whilst we have long been advocates of mobile+web or web+mobile / integrated services (take Treasuremytext as an example), it seems now iPhone is here, more web people are starting to take mobile really seriously.
iPhone Dev Camp was a fabulous indicator of the appeal of the iPhone platform; with a sell out 120 signups on Upcoming; and a packed Mediamatic all day Saturday. So are there 120 iPhone Developers in Amsterdam? Well, no actually nearly all of these guys would like to be iPhone developers but come from the web world. They’re making great 2.0 apps with PHP, Python, Ruby, but Objective C and Cocoa; skills you’ll need to get going with iPhone seem a long way off. iPhone Dev Camp to the rescue! Peter Robinnet made everyone at home with pancakes and the fun began. The Dutch developer scene is pretty friendly, people are happy to help each other out as they start with small scale apps to learn the basics.
We’re lucky to know at least 3 Cocoa Developers (who’s earning potential at least doubled as they can now easily transition and sell their services as ‘iPhone Developers’). For people who have any Mac development skills this is a huge opportunity. iPhone Dev Camp also highlighted that there are people desperate to have their ideas realised in the App store. The web guys get it too; and know the potential of web+iPhone strategies.
Some of the guys at the event managed to learn enough to create their first ‘hello world’ level iPhone apps - and many did much better with some pretty neat ideas. We managed to get the Treasuremytext for iPhone app tested and very nearly ready!
My pictures are here, and the Treasuremytext for iPhone app will be available very soon.
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