Any Question Answered - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

63336 is a premium-rate SMS

Short message service

Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...

mobile question and answer service

Mobile Search

Mobile search is an evolving branch of information retrieval services that is centered around the convergence of mobile platforms and mobile phones and other mobile devices. Web search engine ability in a mobile form allows users to find mobile content on websites which are available to mobile...

and micropublishing service based in the United Kingdom, operated by 63336 Ltd (formerly IssueBits Ltd). Mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

users can text 63336 with any question and get a reply, on a charge per question basis. Launched in April 2004 by former Symbian

Symbian Ltd.

Symbian Ltd. was a software development and licensing company, known for the Symbian OS, a smartphone operating system, and other related technologies...

CEO Colly Myers and Paul Cockerton (Head of Global Marketing Communications at Symbian), the service has gone on to receive widespread media coverage, and has answered over 24 million questions. Spin off publications have also been produced based on questions received and answers sent. After 5 years of providing their mobile question and answer service, in April 2009 the company also launched a commercial SMS text based micro-blogging

Micro-blogging

Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size...

service, AQA2U, similar to Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

, in which 63336 and third parties can set up their own publishing topics, and send text updates to subscribers via 63336, receiving a share of the text message charge to subscribers. This service was discontinued just over a year later.

History

Former Symbian

Symbian Ltd.

Symbian Ltd. was a software development and licensing company, known for the Symbian OS, a smartphone operating system, and other related technologies...

CEO Colly Myers founded Issuebits Ltd. in August 2002, which publicly launched the service first known as Any Question Answered (AQA) on 22 April 2004. AQA was the first SMS text based spontaneous and generalised question and answer service using only a premium rate shortcode number, although other services

Mobile Search

already existed in different forms. AQA was named best mobile service at the Mobile Choice Consumer awards held on 30 September 2004.

Since launching, AQA experienced steady growth in the number of questions answered. By June 2007, 1 million customers had sent 7 million texts to AQA; By December 2008, this had risen to over 16 million questions from over 2 million customers.

In March 2008, the AQA Club was launched, expanding the service available to users above the basic one time interaction model. In March 2009, AQA was rated as the most accurate text answering service, in a survey carried out by the BBC between AQA, 118 118, Texperts (then owned by 118 118), and a celebrity panel of three (See #BBC Watchdog). In April 2009 AQA launched the AQA2U micropublishing service (See #AQA2U Micropublishing service).

In November 2009, the parent company was renamed from IssueBits Ltd. to 63336 Ltd., with the brand name dropping the AQA/Any Question Answered tag, leaving just 63336. "Over time it became clear that the most important communication we could provide to our customers has been how to use the service, which is to text 63336. Coordinating everything to be 63336 will help customers remember what they need to do to ask a question".

63336 Question and Answer service

The basic service is spontaneous, involving a single user interaction. Users are only charged for each question sent, they do not require a subscription to use the service or to adhere to a set number of texts.

The service is available for UK mobile phone users on shortcode 63336 for £1.50 per text, and in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

using the number 57275 for €1.50 per text. 63336 can also be used by UK or Irish mobile phone users in foreign countries subject to network roaming charges.

63336 charges the user per text message sent (per 160 characters) and replies, which are free to the user, are always in one text message. The 63336 service will answer any question on any subject, limited only by set terms and conditions covering certain competence/moral/legal obligations.

63336 Club

This optional opt in service allows users to register a member profile through the website, allowing researchers to use this profile to tailor answers to the member. Members also receive free texts and books, and can view their history of questions and answers.

Operation

The 63336 service operates through a network of home-based researchers who connect with the company's text messaging system. Researchers receive questions, and use their own sources which can include the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

, published materials or a telephone inquiry, to compose answers. Operation is augmented through use of a database of all past answers provided to previous questions, and if applicable, through a user's 63336 Club member profile.

Researchers are recruited from English-speaking locations around the world to provide 24-hour coverage. By using home based researchers, 63336 takes advantage of relatively untapped portions of the workforce, such as students and stay at home parents. Researchers operate as piece work

Piece work

Piece work is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed "piece rate" for each unit produced or action performed regardless of time...

ers paid 30p per answer, and set their own work schedule. All researchers must pass an initial acceptance test and are subject to continual reviews to ensure quality of service. A small central company staff maintains service quality.

BBC Watchdog

In response to a consumer complaint about the 118 118

118 118 (UK)

118 118 is a UK directory enquiries provider based in Cardiff that assists customers with telephone number enquiries and general queries.The service is provided by The Number UK Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of US directory enquiries provider Knowledge Generation Bureau , whose company motto is...

service, the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

consumer affairs television program Watchdog
Watchdog (TV series)
Watchdog is a BBC television series that investigates viewers' reports of problematic experiences with traders, retailers, and other companies around the UK...

investigated the customer service of 118 118, Texperts (by then owned by 118 118) and 63336. The programme set a test of sending 20 general knowledge questions to the companies, sending each one twice to allow for mistakes, and scoring the answers. It also gave the questions to panel of celebrities, Keith Chegwin

Keith Chegwin

Keith Chegwin is an English television presenter, former child actor and singer.-Early career:Chegwin's early roles were in works of the Children's Film Foundation, appearing as Egghead Wentworth in The Troublesome Double Egghead's Robot . He also appeared as a stowaway in Doomwatch episode...

, Konnie Huq

Konnie Huq

Kanak Asha "Konnie" Huq is a British television presenter, who is best known for being the longest-serving female presenter of Blue Peter, having presented it from 1 December 1997 until 23 January 2008...

and Iain Lee

Iain Lee

Iain Lee is a British comedian, and a television and radio presenter. His career began when he performed stand-up comedy gigs across venues in London. He subsequently became co-presenter of the comedy current affairs show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 and RI:SE...

, equipped with an internet connected computer, to also search for the answers themselves in comparison. Watchdog determined that 63336 were the most accurate, with a score of 92.5%, followed by the celebrities on 90%, 118 118 on 72.5%, with Texperts last with 65% per cent. AQA welcomed the result, but also disputed the BBC marking in that one of their answers marked as incorrect was actually correct.

Marketing

A number of 63336 publications have been produced using previous questions received and answered. The service has received publicity through its use by various celebrities and media personalities, and by appearance at public events such as the Edinburgh Fringe

Edinburgh Fringe

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...

in its trademark orange colour scheme. The company's freelance researchers are often used to help in marketing events, which tend to be focussed on the London area. The company has "launched", among other things, an AQA bikini, cocktail, and necklace to promote the number and increase brand recognition.

Passing the 15th million question mark was assisted in part by a rush of use, after customer Graham Norton

Graham Norton

Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...

used 63336 to settle the issue, "Are baboons evil?", during an argument on his television chat show in October 2008.

63336 has received coverage in the mainstream and internet media through various story angles, such as strange questions, researcher back-stories, real-life customer stories, and the commercial or technological aspects of the business. 63336 also provides services to third party companies such as MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

, which has a specialised version of the service called "Mr Know-It-All" that shows the questions and answers on TV over the music videos, and various magazines. The 63336 website publishes a list of the best 5 questions and answers processed each day. New users are provided one free initial question through the website, or three free questions through the 63336 mobile phone app

Application software

Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...

.

In 2007 63336 also worked with leading comedians to develop a comedy show We Need Answers

We Need Answers

We Need Answers is a British television panel game presented by comedians Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne. The show features a pair of celebrities answering questions which have previously been texted in by the public, or the audience, to 63336, a text message service.-Format:In We Need...

based on its questions and answers, sponsoring two years of shows at Edinburgh festival. We Need Answers

We Need Answers

has now been commissioned by the BBC, with 63336 continuing to supply the questions and answers.

Television advertising

63336 produced and broadcast its first television advert in November 2009. The advert referenced Graham Norton's "Are baboons evil?" question, and was the subject of controversy due to the alleged use of Illuminati

Illuminati

The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...

symbolism such as a pyramid and an eye

Eye of Providence

The Eye of Providence is a symbol showing an eye often surrounded by rays of light or a glory and usually enclosed by a triangle...

. In March 2010 the advert was shown for a second time.

AQA2U Micropublishing service

On 20 April 2009, 63336 launched the AQA2U micro publishing service available to the general public, similar to the Twitter

Twitter

model of personal text update distribution. Publishers send content to 63336 , for onward distribution via text to a subscriber base, receiving a percentage of the cost profit from texts sent to subscribers. After paying a 98p subscription fee for a particular topic, subscribers are then charged 25p per text, with the total monthly cost limited to £3.50 per month per topic. Publishers are restricted to 14 text updates each month, with a maximum daily allowance of three texts. Subscribers sign up for updates from a particular publisher's topic, via text shortcode, with the service promoted to subscribers as being spam free, and featuring content screened by 63336 against an editorial policy.

Upon its launch, 63336 setup a number of proprietary topics on popular subjects sent to the 63336 question answer service, such as football scores, word of the day, racing tips and breaking news. Ever since the launch of AQA2U, HORSE2U has been the most popular topic, with just over 100 subscribers.

The service was discontinued June, 2010.

Regulation

The 63336 service is promoted as being spam

E-mail spam

Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...

free for basic users, who will not receive any texts other than requested answers. The service also promises not to use a user's mobile number for any other purpose than the 63336 services. 63336 operates within the UK PhonepayPlus (formerly ICSTIS) and Irish Regtel premium rate service regulators codes of practice.

In popular culture

The use of the AQA service (mentioned as AQA, not 63336), was a brief part of the storyline in the BBC comedy Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey is a British comedy television series. A romantic comedy-drama, the show follows the long-distance relationship of Gavin from Billericay in Essex, England, and Stacey from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The writers of the show, actors James Corden and Ruth Jones, also...

on 3 December 2009 (Series 3, Episode 2), when as Pam reflect on how she never uses the paper edition of the Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...

any more, and Pete reads out the answer he got when he asked AQA whether he should divorce Dawn.
The service was used (as 63336) and discussed in Season 4 of the Ricky Gervais Show (aka "The Podfather"), when Stephen Merchant asked, "Karl Pilkington believes in ghosts. Is he an idiot?"

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.