Simple concept, not hard to implement, not sure about the ROI.
I mention ROI as a reference to the business model, not because we need or want investors. We are sharing the idea and the progress, not the cost. If anyone sees the idea and wants on board at some point, great. If anyone takes the idea and copies it, more power to you. We are never open source, but we encourage anyone and every one to try their own hand at anything we do. If you do it better, then you deserve the revenue.
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“Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity.”
– Nancy PearcySimple idea.
You meet someone at a bar or where ever and want to exchange phone numbers, but you are afraid of putting yourself at risk for whatever reason, it is a strange and dangerous world.
This is a service/app that allows you to share a simple numeric code instead of your phone number. The app/service will then allow you to dial into the phone server and enter that code, which then forwards your call to the other person. All they see is your code and all you see is theirs. That is it....pure and simple.
Implementation. Again, pretty damn easy.
The smartphone app would really be nothing more than a simple address book, storing the code and name of the person. The app would also be able to access the internal phone system to place the call and would probably have camera access for the use of QR codes for easy number exchange.
The server would be one of two types. Either a self-hosted Asterisk server or a third party simplified phone API. We have bandwidth and extra servers for Asterisk, but I have fiddled with a few online API's that have some great features and are easy to set up. I am not talking about a hosted Asterisk with a GUI, but phone API's that look completely different than Asterisk and use a different client service structure, although the company most likely uses Asterisk itself.
So, you meet the guy/girl of your dreams and want to exchange numbers without risk. You fire up the app, scan their QR code and it creates the entry with their Username and code. You click call and the app uses the internal phone to dial the server and waits for the server to pick up and then shoots out the code to the server which, in turn forwards the call to the other user without your caller ID info. The hardest part of this process is the secondary use of the internal phone system. Both Windows and Android keep that pretty locked up. Simple dialing of the phone to the service is easy, but once that call connects, it is a pain to add more info to the stream or access the audio stream of the call. It can be done, but it can be a pain. iPhone is easy for both parts. Technically the service could be used with a landline or non-Smartphone. Simply dial the server and enter the code for the person you want to call.
ROI.....2 options
1. Audio ad for the person placing the call. While the server processes the call_forward the first person hears an ad. While audio ads are the lowest level of response, the choice of ads just may increase that a lot. Most ads will need an extension on the URL to track the incoming traffic and people rarely use those when "hearing" an ad. Direct ad marketing with businesses can get past that or a forwarded domain to ad would work. The ad type is the key here. Adult personals, adult dating lines and sites are the ones to use. Imagine you met the girl, she gave you the number and now, an hour later you are calling. Most guys are thinking one thing at this point, sex. It is closing time and you are making the move. Then, she never picks up....now what? That is the point of desperation when the guy refers back to the ad he just heard that promises instant romance with singles near you!
2. Paid and non-paid versions of the app. Maybe a call limit, time limit, who knows. The codes and the number are completely transparent so it is not like you can't skip the paid app and place the calls yourself. The server can be set to refuse calls from outside the app, but that might be hard to do. Using the number of the phone where the app is installed can enforce the calls per day limit and that is easy, but not sure if that is the path to take yet, this idea is new.
Anyway, there it is. The idea can be expanded a lot. The app can be used to place the call to the server without an end user and a menu could allow for anonymous calls to others that meet the sex/age criteria. That is already done through other services. Bars and other meeting places could set up games and contests using the service. Speed dating through the phone or something like that. There is a lot of room to play.
Just putting it out there as a new business model. Like I said, you want to try doing this yourself, have at it. Most intelligent people with even a short amount of coding experience probably muddle through making the app and the rest is child's play. Marketing is important and using your local businesses would be a big boost for that. This one will have a start burst of business if it catches on and then a slow, but steady rise. Updates as we progress.