Pinger brings free texting to Europe

While the tech savvy consumers of the world are making use of data for “free” texting with apps such as Whatsapp or Kik messenger, believe it or not, but a majority of the world still rely on good ol’ regular text messaging. Unfortunately in most parts of the world, people don’t have “free text” plans, and still need to pay exorbitant fees to send text messages to each other.

Well, Pinger has plans to get rid of these fees worldwide, country by country, and wants to begin in Europe with Germany. Starting next month, users with the Pinger SMS Free app for iOS/Android phones will be able to send and receive free text messages to any phone number. Here is an official explanation of Pinger:

The Symmetry Model – Pinger’s New European Gamification Technology

Pinger has developed a patent-pending technology to allow anyone to exchange text messages for free in Europe. This new technology ensures that no end user sends more texts than he or she receives. By keeping texting volume symmetric, overhead costs are eliminated for Pinger, allowing the company to provide this free service to anyone.  This symmetry model also works for voice calls, which Pinger plans to bring to Europe later this year.

How Pinger’s symmetry model works:

• The user downloads the Pinger SMS Free app from the iOS App Store or Android Market and chooses a local Pinger phone number
• Pinger credits the user with 100 Pinger points, worth 10 texts
• Each text received increases the point total by 10, and each text sent reduces the point total by 10
• The user thus continues texting absolutely free as long as texts sent are about equal to texts received
• If the user approaches 0 points, she can opt to use Facebook or email to ask friends to send her a text
• Pinger refuses to charge for texting; the app is completely free, as Pinger’s revenue comes from advertising

This basically means that users will be able to text for free – as long as they receive texts themselves. This method will also prevent numbers from using Pinger to send spam texts and will ensure people stay in touch with each other. Pinger will be available in Germany later this summer. Find out more at the Pinger website.

George Wong
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: europe, free, germany, texting