'Push Ringtones' Establish A Whole New Level Of Pointlessness

from the no-there's-a-great-idea dept

Mon, Apr 23rd 2007 3:02am — Carlo Longino

As ringtone sales begin to fall, the mobile content industry searches for something else to sell people. They've tried ringback tones -- which replace the regular ringing noise callers hear with a song -- and even endtones -- snippets of songs to let you know your call has ended. Unsurprisingly, these haven't really sold too well. But brace yourself for an even more useless idea: "push ringers". Push ringers are ringtones that get pushed to your phone by whoever's calling you, meaning they'd get to control the sound your phone makes when you receive a call. While such an idea holds a fascinating potential for abuse, it's hard to imagine very many people willing to cede control of their ringtone to whoever happens to call them. Never mind the technological barriers to the idea, the sociological ones make it bound to fail.

26 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Paul Renaut, 23 Apr 2007 @ 3:24am

Not to mention...
..how will you know that it's your phone that's ringing?
Say, if the phone's in your jacket pocket on a hook, or if you're in a noisy environment with a bunch of people and you can't quite tell where that "Bridge and Flocking" ringtone is coming from...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fat Tony, 23 Apr 2007 @ 4:03am

The Perfect Push Tone
www.illwillpress.com - Foamy saying "Follow the sound of my voice and kill whoever is holding this phone"
Absolutely perfect...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cixelsid, 23 Apr 2007 @ 4:08am

Haha
Clearly moronic in every aspect but if this idea does get "pushed" through you can bet your ass my boss' phone is going to ring "I had cock for breakfast" during some important meeting or something.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Jerk, 23 Apr 2007 @ 4:09am

Screw that!!
I'll drop any carrier that starts to offer this, if it ever even becomes an option. I've switch carriers for less!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Nasty Old Geezer, 23 Apr 2007 @ 5:21am
  
  Re: Screw that!!
  No way in hell do I accept this crap. But, the cell phone companies could make a lot of money on an arms race -- extra price to push the ringtones (paid by caller) and extra price to block the damn things (paid by the victims).
  
  The only way to stop is to drop the carrier instantly if they offer the push service.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Rick, 23 Apr 2007 @ 4:12am

If they pay me?
I too see this as an idea that will probably fail. But, if I were paid to 'accept' ring tones - maybe.

If I get $1, every time my phone rings and a jingle for cola or a television show plays - perfect. I'd assume my provider would screen them for vulgarity, etc. I had 120 incoming calls/rings last month - I'd relish the check for $120 to pay my cell phone bill with.

Maybe they'd even let me be picky and choose who to promote for 50c a ring?

They could Google-ize it and set it up as an auction - the users set their lowest acceptable ring price and the rings flow...

I can't see much money in it for phone companies without hundreds of advertisers, but I still think their first idea that consumers would pay for this feature is idiotic.

Advertisers, on the other hand, do rather well paying for the web - why not our phone service too?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2007 @ 4:16am

I actually like the idea
Actually, I kind of like the idea. I think there could be some safety measures of course, to prevent creative minds from bullying me with abuse tones, but I would definetly like to let my friends submit their own tones for my phone.

I know they could just email me a ringtone or something, but I am lazy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Charles Griswold, 23 Apr 2007 @ 4:23am

Push Ringers?
So, they want me to let random strangers play sounds really loudly from something that's in my pocket? Hell, no!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lewis Baumstark (profile), 23 Apr 2007 @ 4:57am

Audio Spam
Imagine using it with a wardialer. Now you don't even have to answer the phone to get bombarded with telemarketing drivel.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dosquatch, 23 Apr 2007 @ 5:21am

Actually...
I see a use for this. Maybe. After they implement this, perhaps some creative mind can hack the system and force all of the phones to ring out something that sounds like a GOD DAMNED BELL.
God I miss those old dinosaurs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Jessie, 23 Apr 2007 @ 10:29am
  
  Re: Actually...
  see a use for this. Maybe. After they implement this, perhaps some creative mind can hack the system and force all of the phones to ring out something that sounds like a GOD DAMNED BELL.
  
  God I miss those old dinosaurs.
  
  I LOVE YOU!! Are you single?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wolfger, 23 Apr 2007 @ 5:25am

I can actually see potential for this.
If I can turn off my voice mail (allow the phone to ring forever) and have my computer at home call me on Skype while streaming my music collection as the pushtone... Instant cell-to-iPodWannabe conversion!

Of course, as so many people point out (and Fat Tony does it wonderfully), the potential for abuse is far greater.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Enrico Suarve, 23 Apr 2007 @ 5:27am

Absolutely Fucknuts
I can this being abused so easily (yup I WOULD ring you with a "thanks for the blowjob" message while you're having dinner at your grans)

I can also picture more advertisers with the Intel-alike jingle ringing then just hanging up all the time - basically free advertising since there would never be an actual call

On the other hand this will take bandwidth to transmit meaning you'll likely start getting charged for calls you make whether they go through or not and calls will take longer to connect

So an utterly annoying service with no real redeeming factors - sounds perfect for the telecoms industry, I bet verizon are chomping at the bit
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2007 @ 5:44am

It's a whole new way to curse someone in public. Inventive.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
xxdesmsu, 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:07am

advertisers?
Just wait until advertisers start using this "wonderful" service to push audio advertisements to your phone without your agreement....

Yeah, I think I will keep my phone permanently on vibrate if this service actually sees any kind of broad acceptance.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:19am

I can just hear the fart noises coming
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Overcast, 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:19am

Yeah, it sounds like a bad idea indeed. Although it might be funny if you knew a CEO's cell number to push some tune from Lords of Acid or something during a board meeting, lol.

I guess, it's a fine idea - IF you have the option of overriding and using only the ringtones you prefer. Frankly, most ringtones other than the 'standard' ones, just annoy me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Jessie, 23 Apr 2007 @ 10:33am
  
  Re:
  I say we push a sound of Deep Throat to the cell phones of all these CEOs (and their attorneys) who are standing trial. Right when the judge is about to sentence them, the courtroom is filled with the sounds of women moaning. Perfect!!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bobshaker, 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:29am

I don't know how some advertisers call me when im that no-call list thing. I get sms without warning when I don't have that in my service which means I pay extra. So theres the advertising annoyance of it. Furthermore, I can count quite a number of ppl who would abuse that to annoy me. For some reason they don't like the fact that I say they're stupid....well they are. So I wouldn't want 'die, motherf***er' blare from my phone in a public situation. Hilarious though, the scene would be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bobshaker, 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:34am

They cell-to-ipod conversion is a good idea. So is getting paid for letting your phone be used for advertising.But...

How can they make any ringtone be heard?
Firstly the phone should support that format. Then, shouldn't the phone hold the ringtone itself? On the phone memory no less, to play it? Even if they transmit it...what's the use if the phones on silent or vibrate? My phone is on vibrate a lot of times. Thats just a waste. Its quite a dumb idea really...except I can prank the hell out of a lot of ppl. That would be fun.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
David King, 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:49am

If they're giving away free phones and service, I'll happily accept incoming ringtone ads for a call.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
James, 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:52am

Rediculous
I'm all for creativity, but what bored "gotta get earnings up somehow" moron thought this up?

Push me a ring tone? Uhmm... no. I liked the idea of being paid to accept them, though ;-)

Here's a money-making idea for the telecoms. Sell us the home, mobile and work phone #s of anyone who sends spam so we can all call them and bother them the same way they bother us. I'd pay .50 a call to tell them to F*** OFF! :-)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Emotel, 23 Apr 2007 @ 8:19am

It's Called "Permission"
I am familiar with the prototype. What is not mentioned in the press is that the Push Ringers operate exclusively in a "closed circuit", i.e., between the buddies listed in the user's address book . . . and the user can instantly disable harassing callers on an individual basis or from time to time. So, essentially, it provides a much more intrusive type of calling between known peers in a private social network.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Buzz, 23 Apr 2007 @ 10:50am

wow
I thought of this very concept a few months back. I knew it would be a horrible idea because I too immediately began imagining the implications behind someone's dirty music blaring out of MY cell phone. I'm perfectly happy with my Legend of Zelda ringtone that I selected. Why would I want others to override that? I choose specific ringtones for people (again, MY choice) such as my wife.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Craig, 5 Nov 2008 @ 10:52pm

Push Ringers are PUSH TONES!
Wrong....South Korea pioneered this technology and the official name for these are Push Tones, not push ringers. I have all the info on my website. Learn about push tones here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Alan Asgari, 23 Jun 2011 @ 7:57pm

push ringtones...
I thought of the push ringtone idea back in 2004.. With smartphones these days, it would be very easy to implement..

and the chances of abuse can be reduced greatly with the way I would implement it..

any programmers want to work with me on this?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]