dirt cheap communication, week 6 post 2

The companies above are providing communication to its customers at a very low price, and I have noticed many ads- and since now glazed over them- for this service. It seems that communication is very integrated into Swedish society and that a lot of companies use the opportunity to reach the customers via mobile more than in America. For example, the UL bus service allows a mobile user to text a number to UL to get a bus ticket that can be used for 90 minutes. In America, this might be considered very intrusive, as we see more and more spam texts in our inbox if we text numbers for promotions. Because of the cheap cell phone plans and very affordable contracts, texting is a very practical way to carry out other transactions, especially purchasing a bus ticket that is cheaper by SMS than by paying cash on the bus. A local Swede that I am friends with receives text messages from the stores in Uppsala when they are having sales. This is huge for advertising and marketing because once the target market is accepting of receiving texts from businesses, a whole new realm of opportunities opens up. Companies in Sweden have an advantage because this is paperless, fast, and easy. This kind of business, however, limits the interaction between companies directly with their customers. It can be disconnecting and distant for a company to carry out business like this because they are not controlling the way their product is being sold. I think that this system has advantages and disadvantages for Sweden, but overall that the American companies are missing out by not having customers that consider texting to be a purchasing method.