Instant mobile communities Quick to deploy and easy to manage communities for pleasure and profit

We all have our toolsets

Some more complex than others

But there is a great leveller

Problem Not many smartphones for good browsing Not many mobile specialized web presences Slow data rates are very limiting

Solution Offload most of the hard work to the server side. Use YQL and other services to really provide rich services with very little work/coding Allow custom YQL queries and service lookups through a simple text based interface All run off simple XMPP client to avoid data costs

On the server Provides an open API by default Free Software Optimized for bandwidth Easy to install Provides YQL and XMPP out of the box With the “tribe” module creates mobile social networks and groups via text based interface

Chisimba tribes Example site at http://www.peeps.co.za (personal test site) Has a web interface as well as mobile interfaces Very rich user experience with Chisimba filters; e.g. [YOUTUBE] filter can be used to pull in video via text message Adapted as a productivity tool, education tool, groupware, social network...etc

YQL Used to search against multiple search engines simultaneously Update from Flickr Perform simple geocoding from text based location strings Announced yesterday that Y! Mail data tables are now available, now a business productivity tool Almost infinitely hackable with custom data tables

What else does it provide? Wikipedia content: “Wikipedia: Chisimba” sent from a mobile phone will return the wikipedia text for the Chisimba page Dictionary lookups Provided by dict.org Simple REST API “dict: monkey” will return a dictionary definition for the word monkey 1 000 000 requests = the price of a single text message (SMS)

Extensible Easily hackable Add more features in a pluggable architecture Super simple PHP code REST or SOAP based calls easy to do in 3 lines of code or less Huge potential

Client side Simple XMPP client for any MIDP 2.0 (Java capable) phone Includes most, if not all, phone models in the wild Free Software Easily customizable (branding etc) Uses GPRS as a minimum which is ubiquitous http://http://lampiro.bluendo.co m/

Commercial clients Huge network of over 12 million users Has a marketplace Uses standard XMPP stanzas so completely compatible Free to download and use Makes money off of value add services Works off most handsets http://www.mxit.co.za

So how does it work? Download and install necessary mobile software Connect to a single Jabber/XMPP contact (e.g. myservice@myisp.com) Install Chisimba and tribe module Start interacting with groups, individuals or web services

Enabling microenterprise Street vendor Downloads and installs client Uses phone to take a picture of goods Uploads picture via MMS/email Posts XMPP message to his/her group

The eCommerce side Clients can select goods to purchase by text message “buy item00861” Premium rate text message (SMS) to pay for goods Goes to escrow account Vendors paid by collection agents (lack of bank accounts) Goods picked up and delivered Courier costs lowered by bulk

Who makes money? Short answer: almost everyone Vendors have access to millions of new customers worldwide Delivery and pickup entrepreneurs can start businesses Web site owners get interest of escrow accounts/charge handling fees Customers have access to new markets and cool new stuff that would ordinarily have been out of reach

Image Credits Tools in Jean pocket: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25837000@N02/2428522073/sizes/z/i n/photostream/ Wooden Mallet http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotobird_1/4511375988/sizes/l/in/phot ostream/ Stop sign http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaneylovey/4501361935/sizes/z/in/p hotostream/ Chisimba images from http://www.chisimba.com Lampiro from http://lampiro.bluendo.com Open sign http://enviralment.wordpress.com/ Street vendor http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230360150457515 3602514063646.html Ecommerce logo http://www.kltmenterprises.com/ Lego Money: Gaetan Lee on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/

Thank you pscott@uwc.ac.za http://www.chisimba.com http://www.paulscott.za.net @paulscott56 Any questions?