With the market saying 'no' to Nokia's Ovi Store, what do you think can be done to change this?
This is fantastic. Aimed at Fife residents who are Deaf or who suffer hearing/speech impariments, the Fife Police introduced the 999 text service in April this year.
By default, qualifying users were sent out a registration form (I imagine registration was introduced to prevent abuse) to activate the service.
Anyway, the service got its first real-life use recently — as this BBC news story describes:
A deaf couple have become the first to use a pioneering scheme to contact the emergency services by text message. Robert Walker used the service when his wife, Michelle Mitchell, thought she was having a heart attack.
An ambulance arrived within 10 minutes at the profoundly deaf couple’s home in Kirkcaldy, Fife.
Absolutely 100% tip top brilliant use of the medium. I’m sure this must give an additional degree of comfort to its target audience. KUDOS to Fife Police. I hope this service is introduced nationwide soon.
Oh, and it was a false alarm — Ms Mitchell is, I understand, quite well. Good good. Always better to make the call or text just in case.
(Thanks Jeremy!)
