Interactice SMS based application

In Sri Lanka and hope in other countries too, small advertisements are published in news papers. One of the characteristics of these advertisements is the limited number of words. This is because cost is based on the number of characters. However, people want to know more information and they have to make calls to the number given in the advertisement. This is a very cumbersome process and takes time. Sometime, calls are made to see whether that offer (actually an invitation to offer) is still available.

One possible suggestion is having a shot code or number with in the  advertisement. So, that a person can send a sms message with the given short code or number  to the number given in the advertisement (the number of the person who put the advertisement). In the sms message, certain information can be asked (this is the area that needs some work). For example, "available", "sold price", "last price", "location". When a sms is received, it is passed and relevant information is obtained from the database and send the result back to the requester.

Advantage is that we do not need to make several telephone calls and also answer many calls. Sometime, this method is easy way to send some information such as location of the place via google map link, links to pictures of the item to be sold, addresses, etc.