Misplaced your cellphone? No longer have one of those old-fashioned 'land lines'? Have easy access to the internet? Quick, to
This site actually works pretty fast. I have never had a cellphone, so I entered my land line number, hit 'Make it ring!' and within two seconds the phone was ringing. Out of curiousity I answered it, a (surprisingly sensual) recording of a woman's voice says, "Thank you for using 'wheresmycellphone.com'. Goodbye now!"
The whole concept of this website seems odd to me, a weird confluence of social trends and technology.
First, cellphone saturation in America is estimated at about 82%, and roughly 1/4 of American homes no longer have landlines. Then, total broadband connections in American homes is estimated at 57%, with most of those through their cable providers (again, no need for landlines).
So somebody noticed a tiny little need and created this website to fill the niche.
Since nobody could be expected to pay for the service it's provided free; the only way to profit then is by selling adspace, which 'wheresmycellphone' does in spades. Seriously, the page is basically one box of service surrounded by a sea of ads (and a lonely 'Donate' button).
I'm reminded, oddly, of the Pony Express, the trans-American mail service from back in the 'Old West' days. I guess because the Pony Express filled a niche, as does 'wheresmycellphone.com'.
However, even though the Pony Express has entered out cultural folklore it only ran for about a year, closing two days after the First Transcontinental Telegraph reached Salt Lake City and connected Omaha, Nebraska and Sacramento, California.
I doubt 'wheresmycellphone' will ever earn a spot in American cultural history. It's sort of the inverse of the Pony Express; extremely limited demand, but doesn't really cost anything to provide (and nothing to use). And with the unlimited amount of 'space' available in cyberspace this site can sit there forever, like a sort of 'Historic Trail' marker for one of the weird little backwaters of web 1.0.
This site actually works pretty fast. I have never had a cellphone, so I entered my land line number, hit 'Make it ring!' and within two seconds the phone was ringing. Out of curiousity I answered it, a (surprisingly sensual) recording of a woman's voice says, "Thank you for using 'wheresmycellphone.com'. Goodbye now!"
The whole concept of this website seems odd to me, a weird confluence of social trends and technology.
First, cellphone saturation in America is estimated at about 82%, and roughly 1/4 of American homes no longer have landlines. Then, total broadband connections in American homes is estimated at 57%, with most of those through their cable providers (again, no need for landlines).
So somebody noticed a tiny little need and created this website to fill the niche.
Since nobody could be expected to pay for the service it's provided free; the only way to profit then is by selling adspace, which 'wheresmycellphone' does in spades. Seriously, the page is basically one box of service surrounded by a sea of ads (and a lonely 'Donate' button).
I'm reminded, oddly, of the Pony Express, the trans-American mail service from back in the 'Old West' days. I guess because the Pony Express filled a niche, as does 'wheresmycellphone.com'.
However, even though the Pony Express has entered out cultural folklore it only ran for about a year, closing two days after the First Transcontinental Telegraph reached Salt Lake City and connected Omaha, Nebraska and Sacramento, California.
I doubt 'wheresmycellphone' will ever earn a spot in American cultural history. It's sort of the inverse of the Pony Express; extremely limited demand, but doesn't really cost anything to provide (and nothing to use). And with the unlimited amount of 'space' available in cyberspace this site can sit there forever, like a sort of 'Historic Trail' marker for one of the weird little backwaters of web 1.0.
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2 comments:
I came across that site before and thought of using it just to try it out. but ws afraid that I'd start getting a bunch of bullshit text messages sending ads.
I kinda thought of that too, which is why I called from work. ;)
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