November 17, 2004

Google now works with inexpensive cellphones, not just the more costly ones with Web access and more features.

Over the last month, the popular search engine company has quietly turned on a new service that lets people use most newer cellphone models to get snippets of information by sending short text messages to a special five-digit number, 46645, which spells GOOGL on a phone keypad.

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People looking for a list of pizza or Chinese restaurants in Back Bay, for example, just have to send the message "pizza 02116" or "Chinese 02116."

Within 10 seconds or so, Google shoots back one or more text messages listing restaurants with addresses and phone numbers from its Google Local page.

Related services from Google let users get a phone number by sending a message containing the desired person's first and last names and city, area code, or ZIP code; they can also use Google's Froogle shopping site to get a price quote by sending a text message with "price" followed by the item's name or Universal Product Code number.

Google's is among a handful of new services that give consumers a much cheaper, on-demand alternative to paying $5 to $15 for a monthly subscription to a plan like Verizon Wireless's Get It Now, Sprint's PCS Vision, or the mMode service offered by the former AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which is now part of Cingular Wireless LLC.

With the Google service, users pay their carrier for only the cost of text messaging, typically 10 cents a message or less when subscribers buy monthly "buckets" of 100 or 500 messages.

The Weather Channel last month activated a service that offers 36-hour weather forecasts when people send a text message containing a ZIP code or city and state name to the number 42278, which stands for 4CAST.

The Weather Channel, part of closely held Virginia media company Landmark Communications Inc., charges 75 cents per use, added to subscriber's phone bills, plus a charge for each text message.

Also last month, San Francisco start-up UpSnap Inc. launched a way for wireless subscribers to get free directory assistance listings for businesses as an alternative to paying $1.25 or more for calling 411 on their cellphone.

Users have to start at the upsnap.com website, where they register their phone number and soon get a text message.

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By keeping that message in their inbox, users can respond to that message with the name and either ZIP code, area code, or geographical location of a business.

UpSnap sends back a new reply message with the phone listing. Recent tests, however, showed the service can take several minutes or even hours to generate replies.

Like Google, the service is free except for the text charge from the phone company. The company makes its money from advertising.

Source: The Boston Blobe