Self-Help for Cellphones

Niche software companies want to help mobile-phone customers help themselves. The Wall Street Journal reports.

"While large wireless carriers pour hundreds of millions of dollars into answering their subscribers' needs and solving their problems, companies like LogMeIn Inc, which allows problem smartphones to be taken over remotely by technology professionals, and SNAPin Software Inc. , which automates most of the common customer complaints, are finding an opening.

"The calls are getting more complex and taking longer," said Bob Lewis, chief executive of SNAPin. "Customers basically have little PCs in their hands. Guiding them through [their problems] is a very compelling value proposition."

For the cellphone industry, costs from customer complaints can add up quickly. On average, a customer will call four or five times a year, at a cost of $12 a call, according to Roger Entner, head of the communications practice for IAG Research."

emily | 5:07 PM | Cell Phone Aps |
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