A new site called HomeHotties.com is officially launching in Australia and the United Kingdom on Feb. 1, with an aim to combine SMS (Short Messaging Service) chat, MMS (Multimedia Message Service) multimedia, and streaming Webcams. A U.S. launch of the "hybrid media" entertainment service is expected in March.
HomeHotties.com, which is affiliated with video chat site AnyWebcam.com, provides mobile phone users with the ability to swap mobile phone messages with the girl of their choice at a cost of several dollars per message billed to the user's phone. The HomeHotties.com service adds the ability to send photographs direct to customers' phones and a web site where they can watch the girl live via Webcam.
Yet despite their business' upward mobility, the folks behind HomeHotties.com feel that there is a lack of interest by the U.S adult industry in the pending availability of premium SMS mobile services.
"We see a huge potential in premium SMS text services," said David Thompson, founder of HomeHotties.com. "On returning from the Internext show in Las Vegas in January, I was staggered at the lack of readiness by the U.S adult industry to capitalize on the availability of premium SMS in the U.S market in the first quarter of 2004.
"In a tiny population like Australia, there are tens of thousands of premium SMS transactions for adult services each day," he continued. "In the U.K, there are hundreds of thousands. With the size of the U.S market, it could easily be in the millions. Maybe everyone in the U.S is just keeping their projects under wraps, but my clear impression is that the industry is largely either unaware or unprepared."
One way that HomeHotties.com said they’ve tried to separate themselves from their SMS text chat competition, is by listening to their customers and implementing changes upon request.
"When we spoke to users of these services, their biggest issue was not knowing if they were really texting a girl or not," Thompson explained. "This fear was justified when we looked into some of these services, where the replies from the girls were either automated responses, or the male owners of the services.
The system keeps a history of callers, so the girls can recall previous text conversations with a customer. Using MMS technology, they can send one of a gallery of photographs or take a photo using their Webcam and send it live to the customer's phone or e-mail on request.
"And for those who don't believe the girls they are chatting with are real girls and really live," Thompson challenged, "they can go to HomeHotties.com and watch them live during SMS chat sessions, and prove it to themselves."
As for the future, HomeHotties.com has a long-term strategy and is building the components for a completely mobile video and chat experience.
"When the networks, billing, and market are ready for it," said Thompson, "we'll have both the products and experience to really capitalize on a total adult mobile entertainment service for mass broadcasters and audiences."
