Most people have not heard of Toronto-based “AskKinjo” yet – it’s a new start-up with big goals of becoming a major player in the location-based services (LBS) market.
AskKinjo could be for those who don’t have a Smartphone, iPhone, access to Google Maps, GPS or the web on their phone. This free service works by dialing #KINJO (#54656) from your mobile and brings you relevant information based on your location and request. Current categories are traffic updates, gas prices, parking info, ATM locations and nearby coffee shops.
We tried this out and found the voice recognition system needs to be upgraded a bit as there was no noise around us and had to repeat our selection a few times. Frustrating as it’s like speaking with Emily the Bell operator.
This is a free service for us customers, but how AskKinjo makes money is by verbal mobile advertising while we wait for them to retrieve our selections. You do have an option to register yourself for faster service, but this would entail giving all your personal info (which they would probably use for advertising to you). They also make it easy for Rogers & Fido customers by asking them to dial and remember 647-476-6468 instead of #KINJO.
Check them out for yourself here, or, check back here in a couple months and we’ll have updates.
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