ChaCha Brings Mobile Answers Service to UK
by Patricia Montgomery, LincsMag Writer.
Date: 21 September 2011
Now anyone in the UK can receive free mobile answers by texting questions to “smart friend” at 85852
ChaCha, the largest real-time Q&A service on mobile phones, has recently announced that its award-winning standard rate service is now available to UK residents who can text any and all questions to ChaCha’s short code at 85852 and receive a personalised answer.
Covering practically any topic including phone numbers, addresses, trivia and fun facts, ChaCha’s debut marks the first time people in the UK can receive free answers to any question on their mobile. Users are charged only standard network text rates when asking ChaCha a question, but unlike any other mobile short code Q&A or directory services that charge premium rates as high as a whopping £1.50 per answer, ChaCha’s answers are always free. Now how cool is that?
Providing incredible value for the money, ChaCha offers a tremendous savings over existing Q&A services which means UK subscribers can ask more questions, more frequently, for significantly less cost.
Text Discovery
By texting ChaCha at 85852, users are able to discover succinct, definitive answers to a limitless array of questions straightaway, whether factual or conversational, like these:
*Who is the youngest player to score a hat trick in the Champions league?
*Why do UK cars drive on the left?
*Do any adults ride the Hogwarts Express?
*Who do you think is hotter – Katy Perry or Lady Gaga?
*Who is the author of the Ghost Stations books about Airfield Ghosts?
*How many trees would be saved a year by everyone transitioning to e-books?
*Where can I get tickets to opening ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics?
Trusted Source
Started in the USA in 2008, ChaCha’s free text Q&A service swiftly became a trusted source to millions of monthly mobile users who have now asked nearly 2 billion questions at a rate of 3 million per day, making ChaCha the number 1 way to get answers.
ChaCha is able to answer this multitude of questions through its unique mixture of cutting-edge technology combined with more than 60,000 highly trained human “Guides” who are tech-savvy Web-based workers. To provide the best quality localised experience for its new UK users, ChaCha has been rapidly recruiting specialised UK-based guides. Interested UK residents can visit ChaCha’s guide recruiting site to learn more about ChaCha’s top-rated flexible remote working opportunities.
Based On A Successful Partnership
Global mobile transaction hub OpenMarket has partnered with ChaCha to enable free SMS delivery of answers to mobile phones in the UK when users text questions to 85852 at standard network rate. This new endeavour expands on ChaCha and OpenMarket’s successful North American partnership.
“The viral growth and mass appeal ChaCha has achieved in the US market has been phenomenal to witness,” says OpenMarket UK and EU General Manager Alex Moir. “OpenMarket is proud to be ChaCha’s strategic partner as they introduce their exceptional service to UK mobile subscribers, and looks forward to supporting ChaCha as they continue to expand to new markets across the globe.”
Innovator and Entrepreneur
ChaCha was created by Scott A. Jones, noted technology innovator and entrepreneur responsible for co-founding the world’s foremost voicemail technology used by over 2 billion people, as well as Gracenote, the world’s leading music recognition and music discovery technology accessed billions of times per year and powering nearly every digital music service including Apple’s iTunes.
“The UK is known for its very clever and active mobile population, and the ChaCha team is anxious to show this new audience why we’ve become the world’s number 1 real-time mobile Q&A service,” says Scott A. Jones, ChaCha’s CEO, “Our unique blend of technology and human intelligence has allowed ChaCha to construct a one-of-a-kind system for answering natural language questions very quickly and cost-effectively without sacrificing quality. Launching in the UK is an exciting and important milestone in achieving ChaCha’s long-term plans for broad global expansion.”
ChaCha’s newly launched UK service is available by texting 85852 on over 99% of feature phones and smartphones across major UK mobile networks including Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile), O2, Three (3), Virgin Mobile and Vodafone as well as all approved network resellers such as Tesco.
So, who’s the premier online magazine for Lincolnshire? Well you don’t have to text ChaCha for that answer ... LincsMag of course!
