Tocmag: The mobile MySpace?
The UK version of Tocmag has launched today. Tocmag is a free service that allows anyone to create a mini-magazine optimised for mobile phones.
Each magazine can consist of up to 6 pages of text, photos, audio and video; it’s being touted in some quarters as the mobile MySpace.
They’re said to be very easy to create – anyone with a computer and Internet access can create a Tocmag. Once created, anyone with a handset can download them to their mobile’s memory, meaning they’re always available regardless of having mobile reception.
During Beta testing, over ten thousand Tocmags were built, and nearly 125,000 were downloaded, apparently exclusively via word-of-mouth recommendation.
The service reports that the current favourite download is ‘dirtysecrets’ that allows strangers to confess all.
Brad Ells confidently says “Tocmag is what mobile users have been waiting for: a free service to develop mobile content. “People will now be able to create and store content-rich messages on their mobiles, full of text, photos and even videos. It certainly beats SMS or MMS messaging.’”
There are plenty of possibilities for using the service. Current applications include virtual business cards, travel logbooks, private couple mags and even a weekly church newsletter.
In order to download a tocmag, a user’s mobile must be Java enabled (there’s a huge list of compatible ones on the site), with GPRS and WAP turned on, and no ‘walled garden’ that disallows data from outside the local network.
Tocmag
