Instant Targeted Spam

2003-02-17

Odakyu, a train company here in Tokyo started a new service today. You register with them and then whenever you exit a train station run by them they will send you ads by e−mail to your cell phone for specials / sales / deals etc happening in and around that station.

Is this something I really want? To be annoyed with ads everytime I leave a train station?

I don't think it's tied directly to your phone, I believe it's tied to your commuter pass so that when you put your pass in the ticket gate it reads your card, connects it to your registered account, looks up the kind of ads you want and then sends the ads to your cell phone by e−mail.

I'm curious how many people will sign up. As it's limited to Odakyu lines only, and only works if you are using a pass, not an ordinary ticket, most of the time you'd most likely be getting ads to and from work.

Still, this seems like the future. More and more of this kind of stuff is coming. I'd be surprised if one of the cell phone companies has not already offered or is thinking about offering a service that sends you ads based either on the location of the nearest cell antenna or based on your GPS info if you have a GPS phone.

I guess we should start calling them "sell phones". 😞

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