SMS a request for a movie

Aug 15, 2005: A new SMS information service has been launched in Australia that allows users to send movie enquiries via SMS and receive the latest information on new releases, session times and cinema information.

For example, a user could ask: "What's on?", "What time is Wedding Crashers showing at Crown?", "Where can I see Wedding Crashers?" or "What is showing at Crown on Saturday?"

The system has been launched by Village Cinemas, Greater Union and Birch and Carroll & Coyle cinemas, and it will use information it already knows about the movies, theatres, dates to make an accurate assessment of the user requests, and then return the results accordingly.

Jordan Jensen, the managing director for Village Cinemas, said that people are increasingly technologically savvy and relying on their mobiles almost as a life-connection device.

"So it is relevant and important to provide our customers with a convenient way to find out when and what movies are showing at their favourite cinemas."

Michael Mak, the CEO of START Corporation, the provider of the 1999-FILM service, added that START feels that it needs to create a common industry standard so that consumers will find these types of SMS services easy-to-use and easy-to remember.

"The pilot results show that the NLP input method returns recognition rates in excess of 90 percent more than quadrupling its keyword-based counterpart. The same technology can be easily deployed to book movie tickets, take pizza orders, make payments and take call-centre enquiries. For example, users can simply text in 'Book two tickets at 2pm' or 'Call me about my account'. The possibilities are limitless.

The SMS natural language processing capability is based on START's TextWise patent-pending SMS-NLP technology.

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