[Wikipedia-l] Wikipedia for Cell Phones - see kwickee.com as well

Fri Jul 16 19:20:45 UTC 2004

On 07/16/04 14:06, Alex Hottenstein wrote:

> Simply stated, by creating a cell phone web interface for the
> Wikipedia database, instant access to a dynamic encyclopedia could be
> given to all cell phone users worldwide. From what I can tell of the
> site, the infrastructure to undertake such a project is all there.
> I do not know if this is a project that you are already considering,
> but if not, I would be happy to lead this initiative, and am very
> interested in recruiting others who are interested in becoming
> involved in the project.

You want http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mobile_subdomain

This is an idea that's in the air at the moment. Have you
seen this?

     http://www.kwickee.com

Have a look at this thing and read the FAQs and marketing
documents.

It's a collaborative user-contributed articles thing for
mobile phones in the UK, done on a commercial basis.
"The first group to welcome new technologies and ideas are
predominantly the young. Since this group is also the largest
to own browser-enabled mobile phones, we anticipate the bulk
of the market for Kwickee Bitesize will be 16-30-year-olds.
It is also understood that the 30+ market use the Kwickee
website - taking full advantage of the special features and
subscription services."

(i.e., it looks like the sort of wishful thinking dot-com
marketers come up with on a Tuesday afternoon down the pub.)

I think they're onto a loser, because their intended market
uses Internet-capable phones. Which would therefore be quite
able to access any web page readable in Opera. Like OURS,
let's say.

They plan a *significant* marketing push for this thing
(from http://www.kwickee.com/2a_marketing1.html):

"How will Kwickee Bitesize be advertised?
A major marketing programme is planned for the first year of
launch. This will include a major SMS campaign, advertising
in magazines, daily newspapers, cinemas and over the Internet.
The marketing campaign has been awarded to a UK top three
Advertising & Data Marketing Agency."
"How big is the UK market for Kwickee Bitesize?"
"There are approximately 30 million people with mobile handsets
capable of receiving a Bitesize. Alternatively, anyone with an
Internet connection can receive a Kwickee Bitesize."

Dot-com taught us that trying to *start* an idea as a business
that your competitor could start in their garage is unlikely
to work.

We should be able to ride this big time. How does Wikipedia
look on browser-capable mobile phones? Do we have any automatic
function to pull the intro from all articles (that have an
intro) and just send that on request?

(This'll make news style for article intros a better idea ...)

- David.