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Bubble Motion is the provider of BubbleTALK a ‘Click, Talk and Send’ Short Voice Messaging Service (SVMS) that works across operators and networks. The service is a ‘talk and listen’ messaging alternative to the ‘type and read’ text messaging service provided by SMS… So why send a SVMS? see the below video to get an idea. We chatted to the CEO of Bubble Motion on BubbleTALK and messaging in general.

Bubble Motion relies on a carrier to implement and offer the product to consumers. Similar offerings can rely on consumers to download an application. Any plans for a downloadable Bubble Motion mobile application to extend into markets before carriers adopt the service?

Clayton: Yes, we will have a direct to consumer offering in the future as well; however, there are significant advantages to working with the carriers. The user experience and ease-of-use are significantly better. Moreover, interop is dramatically better. Lastly, as part of working with the carrier, it becomes a service anyone of their subscribers can use immediately without having to sign up or download anything. Plus, the carrier’s market the service to their subscribers, so awareness is much greater. Therefore, our traffic and subscriber figures are exponentially higher than any of the offerings that are going direct to consumer.

Any plans for a web based widget (social network site for example), or any other complimentary product developments? video messaging i.e. what is the product road map if any? (or is it perfect as it is now!)

Clayton: Yes, we are looking into widgets for social networking sites and will ultimately evolve to include VideoSMS as well; however, the current service is growing at a phenomenal rate and we have plenty of features we would still like to add to the core service as we keep launching into additional countries.

People like Nuance are actively developing voice to text messaging. What is Bubble Motions view on voice to SMS messaging? Do you think it is a good idea, bad idea, niche target?

Clayton: It’s a good idea for some target markets. Most professionals seem to like the idea and are willing to pay a premium for it, as long as the translation is somewhat accurate. However, the problem is the speech recognition technology is not that accurate, which makes for a lousy user experience. Some of the better services actually route calls through an offshore call center in order to increase the accuracy. However, this increases the cost of the service and thus the price to consumers. That is fine for professionals who are willing to pay a premium for this type of service; however, BubbleTalk is more a mass market service, which is extremely popular with the youth and young adults, who actually prefer to hear voice rather than text – it adds passion to their SMS.

Who / what do you see as your biggest threat to growth?

Clayton: Right now, it’s just ourselves. How fast we can build out in additional countries, recruit and hire. We have more incoming demand from carriers than we can handle and are only gated by time and our ability to grow fast enough. While it is frustrating, we realize it is a good problem to have.

Richard T.