January 3, 2005
Hong Kong 'ring-ring': An ad in every call
The Asia Times reports that "Ad-Phone has patented a system to replace the ring-back tone - that "ring-ring" you hear while waiting for the person you called to answer - with an advertisement or other message.
Using the digital technology that connects calls, Ad-Phone puts messages directly into consumers' ears, whether they're using a mobile phone or a wired line."
"Ad-Phone converts the idle time waiting for calls to connect into a direct channel to reach more than 4 billion consumers around the world," chief executive officer Dr Paolo Conconi said. "We've declared the next revolution in advertising."
In their own words:
The Company own and sell the right of use of their Patent which implies that the Classical Ring Back Tone (the famous Ring-Ring) will be substituted with an “Advertisement” Message which could be Voice, Music Slogan or a combined Voice/Music Message Tone.
We call it “Advertisement Tone Message”.
Be afraid...
What troubles me is their claiming to have patented ringback tones (?). By my books, Ringback tones, called Color Ring, were pioneered by SK Telecom in Korea and launched in April 2002. After China and Hong Kong, they launched in Europe and America in 2003.
According to Brough Turner, Senior Vice President and CTO in an article entitled Changing the Sound of Telephony published in NMS Communications last Spring. NMS sells the technology for ringback service to SK Telecom. cf post in ringtonia.com.
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