SlipHead Design

Yesterday was the beginning of the registration period for .mobi domains. The idea is that any website with a .mobi domain will be geared for displaying on cell phones and other mobile devices (i.e. low resolution and low bandwidth devices). I bought a few domain names, but it was interesting to see how many of the good names were already taken during the .mobi ‘land rush.’

In the process of thinking up interesting domain names to grab, I was also focusing on various business ideas for mobile devices. Since I do not have the time to pursue all of these, I thought it would be worth making a list that others could add to and comment on:

• Shared Calendar/Scheduling Site
• National and Local News
• Local Weather
• Social Networking
• Group or Individual Chatting
• Live Traffic Updates
• Flight Status Information
• Mapping/Directions
• Price Comparison/Shopping Companion
• Calories of various food items/Healthy Food Information
• Ski Reports
• Surf Reports
• Sports Scores/Game Tracking
• Local City Guides/Attraction Guides
• TV Guide
• Movie Times and Tickets
• Concert/Theater Times and Tickets
• Music/Ringtone Downloads
• Gaming (poker, soduko, etc)
• Advanced Calculator
• Encyclopedia
• Online Payment/Banking
• Golf Teetimes
• Local Hotel Rates/Bookings
• Airline Check-in

I recently had a business idea which I am sure could be a success if only I had the time and money to implement it.

The basic idea is that you create a service where regular postal mail is automatically scanned and emailed to the appropriate recipient.  Nothing complicated or fancy, just a basic service to help bridge the analog-digital divide.
Initially, I envision people signing up for the service on a website and getting a postal mailing address in some large city like New York.  The mailing address would likely just be a PO Box.  Any mail then sent to that PO Box would be automatically opened and scanned by a machine such as the ones made by Opex.  The service would probably cost around $5 a month - although I have not really run the numbers to find the appropriate price point.

If this basic business model ended up being successful, then I envision offering additional lines of business related to the principle of automatic mail<->email handling.  Ideally, it would be possible to partner with the US postal service and offer mail redirection of people’s home address to the email service.  Another avenue of possible interest would be to setup and/or operate digital mailroom solutions for businesses of all sizes.  There are a number of other obvious directions the business could go.

Anyone want to spot me the money to get started?