We recently checked in at MobileBehavior’s website and stumbled upon an interesting feature located on their contact page – a text-message business card as a complement to traditional paper versions. All you have to do to ‘download’ the business card is text a name to a company specific number (e.g., Text NEWPORT to 83733). You then receive a text message business card directly to your phone (see below).
We like this for a couple of reasons. One, it uses the ever-present mobile phone as an easy tool for sharing and saving contact information thru a well understood technology – text messaging. Two, by making business cards digital, you’re eliminating the need for printing, meaning that you never run out of business cards, while alleviating the environmental impact.
See a video of MobileBehavior’s Allison Mooney discussing the potential ramifications of this idea here.
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
If you want this kind of functionality for your use, you can use a startup called http://contxts.com.
I think with the age of everyone on iPhones/Blackberries in business, this is totally the way to go. As a designer, though, I can’t help but lament the death of the business card.
I don’t think they’ll ever go away, but I do think the popularity of services like Contxts will begin to rise. Maybe even a bot that asks for your email address then performs a few functions like send you an email and add you as LinkedIn friends?
November 7th, 2009 at 3:18 am