0		Google, launch, free, group, SMS

Google will soon be launching free group SMS facility to the Indian subscribers. This would benefit the 250 million strong Indian mobile subscriber base. There are several group SMS sending facilities like Twitter, GupShup, MyToday already available in India. But they limit the number of characters to be sent to be less than 160 characters. Some even have a limit of 80 characters. This is to include the advertisements for the rest of the character space.

Google is not planning on imposing the limit. The full 160 characters will be available for the users. Google is not ruling out the possibility of monetizing this. This would be a great tool to individual groups to keep their users informed. Only imagination is the limit for this service. I cannot think of a organization or an NGO which cannot use this facility. The launch will limit the number of channels one can subscribe to 30. You can receive a maximum of 10 sms’s per day. You can also restrict the timing of the sms’s.

This facility is extremely useful for small organizations that want to inform their employees about the traffic updates or any other unrest in the city. The fact that you can send the SMS via web makes it more versatile.

As always with Google, people expect quality services and expect it to be ahead of the existing services.