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Mini Pump makes phone calls easier - Nation Multimedia Mobile-phone users will no longer be limited to buying prepaid cards only at convenience stores. Instead, they will be able to prepay for calls online at petrol kiosks called Mini Pump. Published on August 21, 2007 Sakol Sachdev, managing director of Mini Pump (Thailand), said the Mini Pump was an intelligent kiosk that allowed motorcycle drivers and others to purchase small amounts of petrol and prepay mobile-phone fees using coins, banking facilities and mobile phones. Customers can buy petrol via mobile phone using True Money services. Customers just send an SMS to identify the Mini Pump kiosk number to the system and then insert the value of the petrol in their mobile phone to transfer the money. The bill will be sent to customers at home. Customers who want to prepay mobile-phone fees can go to the Mini Pump and choose their mobile company - True Move, Happy or One 2 Call. They then press their mobile phone number and the amount they want to pay. The system will send an SMS back to the phone to inform the customer of the money in their mobile phone. "The Mini Pump will make it comfortable for users who want to buy petrol and prepaid mobile phone services near their home and it will be suitable for businesses that want to sell petrol in their community," said Sakol. He said the firm also plans to expand to Cambodia and Vietnam in the near future and expects this year to distribute more than 500 units nationwide. It also plans to allow customers to pay for utilities services such as electricity and water at the kiosks next year. Teerawat Pudchakul, researcher and developer, said the firm has a pilot project to bundle the global information system into the kiosks. The firm spent six months on research and development. Jirapan Boonnoon The Nation Source

Independent shipper MailWorks keeps things on the move Kathie Price Special for The Republic Aug. 20, 2007 05:24 PM Name: MailWorks. Kind of business: Independent shipping store. What it does: Shipping, packing, mailing, notary and mailbox rentals. Location: 3330 S. Price Road, Suite D-105 (in the former Michael's plaza). How it does it: Serves its own neighborhood in a 3-square-mile area to emphasize less waiting and more personal service than major carriers. Gains ideas and support from membership in trade associations. Products/services: Any size package shipped via customer choice of carrier; fingerprinting; greeting cards; three sizes of mailboxes rented in quarterly increments; laminating up to legal-size width in any length; mail forwarding for people traveling; will receive packages for someone on vacation; small office supplies and mailing products; candles; a few small antiques. Special feature: Ships as many as two boxes a week of old cellphones for the national Cell Phones for Soldiers recycling project. MailWorks accepts the donations and then ships them to a company in Michigan which removes and sells parts. The proceeds go to purchase phone cards for soldiers and their families. More information: www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com Unusual requests: A customer called while on vacation to get the address of her cousin in New York to whom she had sent mail via MailWorks. Another person brought in a dirty metal rim from a car to ship and instructed her: "Be careful so it doesn't get dinged. They're fragile." Unusual mailings: An antique saber, a grandfather clock, a stereo cabinet from the 1960s and chairs shipped overnight from a design studio. Biggest challenge: Ever-changing postal and mailing rules. Customers: People from the neighborhoods near Southern Avenue and Price Road and customers of the two restaurants flanking the store. Facility: 900 square feet for retail sales and packing/shipping work. Owner: Eileen M. Landt, a Tempe resident for 30 years, raised her children in the same Tempe neighborhood and still lives near her business. Background: Landt, 59, was born in Illinois and moved to Arizona after many vacations to the state. She was a stay-at-home mother with a part-time catering business for 22 years. After a divorce, she worked in sales, learned how to use a computer and then sampled different businesses through a temporary-worker agency. Beginnings: Visited some 50 shipping and mailing stores to get ideas for how to set up her own store and to determine what would work best for shipping software, store layout and products. Completed small-business classes before she opened MailWorks in December 2004. News flash: Just added helium balloons for all occasions and holidays. Quote: "I love coming to work every day, dealing with the public," Landt said. "If someone is crabby, I smile and try to turn their day around." Hours: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Information: (480) 777-1770. Source

Connecting digital signs, cellular phones By James Bickers, For several years, pundits and analysts have breathlessly heralded the coming age of the cellular phone as all-in-one personal information center and payment device, a replacement for the wallet — one that not only makes phone calls but keeps track of appointments and contact lists and takes the place of debit and credit cards. Makes phone calls? Check. Appointments and contact lists? Check. Replaces debit and credit cards? Well, this one has been a bit slower in coming. As with most in-store technology, this is another area where Japan leads the pack. J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., vice president and chief analyst of Frost & Sullivan, said the first real use of the cell phone as payment device took place in Japan in 2001. "NTT DoCoMo (Japan's largest cellular operator) set up a number of vending machines with a data line connection to the back of the machines," he said. "Then, they put code numbers on the items in the vending machines. The user sent a short code with something like 'buy' and the network sent a signal to the vending machine to dispense the product." Source