We knew it was coming! Infortale Communication, which runs information helpline DNA Infoline, has launched a "Miss Call Pe Score" service for the IPL, through which one can get the latest Cricket score via SMS, by giving a missed call to the number 09004444444 from his mobile phone. Although, the user has to dial the service number, he is not charged for the call since the system disconnects after receiving the call, and then sends a text message. It was initially launched during the ICC Cricket World Cup and the company claims that it received 90 million calls, 13.2 million of which were received on the day of the India-Pakistan semifinal. So how does the service make money, or even recover the cost of sending text messages? Also, though anything that is free is accepted blindly, I'm a little skeptical when it is coming from an infoline service, since there might a propensity to use mobile numbers in its database for marketing purposes. The Advent of Missed Call As A Service You might recall that we had discussed the possibility of Cricket scores using missed calls when ZipDial launched their Missed Call verification service. Recently, during recent Lok Pal Bill agitation, a missed call service was used to gather support from the public, and it claimed to have received over 1.3 million missed calls. Missed calls were used by Indians as a tool to overcome high mobile phone tariffs during initial days. It might turn out to be a propellant for Mobile VAS…
