Ah, now then, this is interesting.
ROK Entertainment have joined the burgeoning field of text answer services with the launch of Ansanow. Bit of a difference though. First of all, answers cost only £0.50 (plus standard text charges). Second, you can actually join the team yourself to answer questions — and generate continual revenue by doing so.
I’ll quote from the press release:
When you text a question the brains at ANSA will first search a database for your answer, if it’s not in the database then the question will be sent to ANSA experts around the globe. The ANSA will then be checked by one of the moderators at HQ before being sent on to you, all within 10 minutes. – There’s no denying that by having the ANSA number stored in you phone, you mobile will boost your brain power.
Better still the expert that answers your question correctly get’s paid 10 pence, then whenever that answer is used in the future, the expert gets paid 5 pence. ANSA uses a global network of experts so you have access to knowledge from around the world 24/7. ANSA is always looking for more experts; go to ansanow.com for more information.
Now that’s rather nifty. That could be rather lucrative if you can answer some of the most popular questions being asked.
130 people worldwide, offices in London, LA and Beijing… they’re not messing around, nor are they dipping their toe into the water. They’re live today in the UK — with China and America coming soon.
Interesting, interesting. 82ASK and AQA have been sat there knocking out answers for £1 a go (plus standard rate message costs)… and ROK have now arrived to market, halving that. Good for the customers. Should be good for ROK…. bad for the incumbents who’ve been used to that extra 50p in revenue.
The question is, how loyal are you to your answering service? Hugely, I reckon. Particularly given that 82ASK and AQA have done a ton of marketing to try and get the service into the minds of their customers whenever they’ve got a question.
BUT at the same time, if the customers get wind of a service — ANSA — offering similar for half the cost… well, that may well be good enough for me.
Watch this space.
The issue is ‘is it any good’.. This is also hardly ROK’s forte (or am i wrong?).
This story is interesting –
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6205714.stm
I’ll only ever use 82ASK period 🙂
ok playing devils advocate here. You know I’ve always said 82ask is one of my fav mobile apps, I’ve used it loads of times in anger and been very impressed with the answers. but maybe time is moving on…
– I’ve just tested ANSA and they told me the name of the river running through oxford in 4 minutes. cost: 50p+a standard text
– whilst waiting for the answer I started up Opera on my handset, went to google and typed exactly the same question and got the answer from the very first link, in 2 minutes. cost: a small amount of data charge.
So, is there really now a market for 3 companies (or frankly even one) which do exactly the same thing and that are fast being run out of town by services such as google? Text your answer to ANSA, AQA and 82ASK because their shareholders are going to start asking the question an awful lot…
sorry guys, it was once a fantastic idea but I’m afraid I fear for the long term viability if you don’t innovate something new that can’t be done as easily in a mobile browser.
steve
Why pay 50 pence when one can query wikipedia or google thru opera mini?
I’ve always found that my customers (for GTIP – a game cheats-specific service we launched in 2002) like the convenience of the service. Sure, they could look up the answer themselves, but that means stopping playing. With our service, they just ask the question and keep going. We do the research, send them the answer, and they’re happy.
They’re so happy we’re still getting new first-time users on one of our keywords more than 2 years after advertising on that keyword stopped – all word of mouth 🙂
Whilst anything can be looked up on a browser, you don’t get the personal touch. I love using AQA because the answers are so humourous. You feel like you’re getting witty advice from a clever friend. Most of my friends use it as much as an agony aunt as a knowledge source. Long may they last!
It depends how many questions you ask. Don’t forget that 82ASK offer a deal for £3/wk for unlimited questions, so if you ask a fair few then 82ASK still would be the best in terms of value for money?
Just a thought.