Hello HN,<p>Last few years I have been developing SMS (binary SMS)-as-a-Service applications, in python and java eco stack, where I've learned the internals of SMS (3GPP TS 23.040) and SIM cards security(3GPP TS 23.048).<p>Now I've allocated 30% of my work week to work on something new, something challenging on my own by mixing this hard earned knowledge with other different domain. According to technology radar 2013 (http://www.thoughtworks.com/radar), there is a need for SMS/USSD UI for applications. Problem is that its very hard to choose a domain where I can apply SMS/SIM knowledge.<p>I need a different perspective from you guys. Please do share your different views of applying it. Maybe I could find a business co-founder here. (Currently I live and work in Norway/Trondheim)
-banking is probably the best shot. (check balance/transfer/pay/etc)
-business applications (booking leave/expenses in a consulting environment where the USSD message ends up in an SAP backend.)
-business applications (project management. dynamic task for the day & then quality control)
-consulting (find these guys <a href="http://www.groupsystems.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.groupsystems.com/</a> and integrate into them so you can increase remote usage of the vote systems)
-it operations (remote triggers for starting/ending jobs on servers)<p>when you build the app on the SIM, are you able to store more data on the SIM so that when USSD messages are sent, they are send encoded & then decrypted on the device rather then sent plain over the air? - tons of banking/payment applications here.
Two-factor authentication using USSD. I've integrated a system like that with OpenLDAP. When you attempt to authenticate, a code gets displayed on your cellphone screen. You could also prompt the user to enter a code, etc. From what I gather it is cheaper to use than SMS, and there's no trace on the phone after the modal dialog is dismissed. Also - works with every handset.
Two key points, IMHO, for a service to be fit for a SMS UI:<p>* Interaction sparsely needed.<p>* Usage where Internet access is either way too unreliable, and/or expensive (roaming? maybe offering different international numbers?)<p>Offtopic: Wait, Trondheim? Heihei, nabo :). Gløshaugen is killing me with exams, but let's have a beer some time.