I'm not sure from your posts, but it seems that you're implying only smart phones have texting capabilities? If this is true, your definition of smartphone is very different than mine. If I'm wrong, I apologize for misinterpreting your statements.
In every group there are always outliers, and I see this in some cases with techies who for some reason or another simply REFUSE to acknowledge that their cellphone is anything more than a $20/mo voice communicator. You can't really solve for those situations.
Amongst all the people I've known/worked with, SMS-enabled cell phones and monthly service packages are the norm. Building an app or service on top of the premise that people can easily and cheaply send and receive SMS messages is not, to me, all that grand of an assumption.
My solution above also somewhat applies to your situation, as you would be the potential SMS recipient from someone with an app-enabled phone. Also assuming that the SMS messages is of the "I'm running late" variety, which would be most common for business meetings and social gatherings, the 20c surcharge would not seem to be something that adds up to a ridiculous monthly accrual. As a proportion of the cost (as in cost of a normal social gathering where timeliness is of some value), or value (as in the potential value of a business meeting), I think 20c is less than a rounding error.
I used smartphones as a point because most smartphone users have a data plan with unlimited text/instant messages, and because smartphones generally have full keyboards, or at least better data-input mechanisms. I have a Razr that I use for everyday communication, and the process of sending/receiving a text message is a royal pain in the ass. Sending a message is slow and laborious, because a number pad wasn't designed to send fulltext messages, and predictive typing still requires lots of manual corrections for common words (good vs home, in vs go, etc).
As for business meetings, SMS messages almost seem incredibly informal and curt, especially when money is on the line ("We're settling a business deal and you don't even have the courtesy to actually talk to me?").
I'm most certainly not saying that no one should be texting, just that to some people, a phone is a phone, and would prefer to hear someone and chat with them, rather than having short, expensive, impersonal messages flying about. Granted, 20c by itself isn't that much, but when us poor Americans get slapped with charges on both outgoung and incoming messages, it can add up pretty quickly.
Comments
I'm not sure from your posts, but it seems that you're implying only smart phones have texting capabilities? If this is true, your definition of smartphone is very different than mine. If I'm wrong, I apologize for misinterpreting your statements.
In every group there are always outliers, and I see this in some cases with techies who for some reason or another simply REFUSE to acknowledge that their cellphone is anything more than a $20/mo voice communicator. You can't really solve for those situations.
Amongst all the people I've known/worked with, SMS-enabled cell phones and monthly service packages are the norm. Building an app or service on top of the premise that people can easily and cheaply send and receive SMS messages is not, to me, all that grand of an assumption.
My solution above also somewhat applies to your situation, as you would be the potential SMS recipient from someone with an app-enabled phone. Also assuming that the SMS messages is of the "I'm running late" variety, which would be most common for business meetings and social gatherings, the 20c surcharge would not seem to be something that adds up to a ridiculous monthly accrual. As a proportion of the cost (as in cost of a normal social gathering where timeliness is of some value), or value (as in the potential value of a business meeting), I think 20c is less than a rounding error.
I used smartphones as a point because most smartphone users have a data plan with unlimited text/instant messages, and because smartphones generally have full keyboards, or at least better data-input mechanisms. I have a Razr that I use for everyday communication, and the process of sending/receiving a text message is a royal pain in the ass. Sending a message is slow and laborious, because a number pad wasn't designed to send fulltext messages, and predictive typing still requires lots of manual corrections for common words (good vs home, in vs go, etc).
As for business meetings, SMS messages almost seem incredibly informal and curt, especially when money is on the line ("We're settling a business deal and you don't even have the courtesy to actually talk to me?").
I'm most certainly not saying that no one should be texting, just that to some people, a phone is a phone, and would prefer to hear someone and chat with them, rather than having short, expensive, impersonal messages flying about. Granted, 20c by itself isn't that much, but when us poor Americans get slapped with charges on both outgoung and incoming messages, it can add up pretty quickly.