What Is Ringjacker?
Ringjacker.com is engineered by a company called Emotive, and its claim is that you can secretly send a ringtone to your friend’s mobile, which will play when you call them! They demo’d the system at a recent conference and I’ve honestly no idea how it works on a mobile. However, they have also released a version which works on Skype – easier to figure out since presumably the ringtone file gets sent down the wire and then plays when you call. Interestingly it’s backed by Warner Music and Bertlesmann (owners of Sony BMG) who can obviously see potential in the power of the viral marketing. And perhaps they’re right – over 800,000 copies of the application have been downloaded and installed already.
OK, maybe I’m just cynical, but I wonder how long it will be before people start uninstalling it when they realise their friends have the power to send them a ringtone which shouts across the office, “You blow goats for fun”, and you’re not there to turn it off? Or, you’re sitting in a meeting with your boss and suddenly your phone starts saying “Neil thinks you really suck!”. Maybe I just know my friends better than they do…
About Neil
Million Media 