Our friends at the 3G Doctor blog weigh in on my last posting re Text4Baby (in which I point out that the system is on track to reach only 4% of pregnant women, the target population):

But… the numbers aren’t that bad. For example they’re already 20 times greater than the number of downloads the average “paid for app” gets on the Apple App Store. It’s also quite amazing IF this will lead to information getting to the 4% of mothers who have the greatest need for information through their mobile phones eg. those from disadvantaged and under represented backgrounds who don’t have internet connectivity at home, speak English etc etc.

Glad to see some discussion, but not really sure what Text4Baby has to do with the number of downloads for the average iPhone app.  

More important is 3GD's point about which four percent of pregnant women Text4Baby is actually reaching. The Text4Baby team hasn't yet released any info regarding the socioeconomic status of their users, but I doubt that those users are mostly drawn from "the population of moms from "disadvantaged and under represented backgrounds who don't have internet connectivity at home, speak English, etc".  More likely, as with all things tech, those most likely to be tech-advantaged are those who are advantaged in other ways.

[As always, though, I'm happy to be corrected by actual data.]

My main point from the first entry about this still stands, however: the problem with Text4Baby is that it's not easily replicable (in the way that a Facebook page, or a Google doc, or a Twitter account is replicable: easily, cheaply or for free, without having to hire anyone). Sure, it's nice to send text messages to expectant mothers, but if I want to set up a similar system to send texts to diabetics, or Armenians, or teachers, or HIV patients, or schoolkids, what am I supposed to do? Make an appointment with the White House CIO? Bring together a consortium of the carriers, insurance companies, etc?

That sure doesn't seem as easy as setting up a Facebook Page, and I'm sure that for the money they've spent for this system (which they haven't said) they could have built a system that would let anyone, with any health or other messages to send, do it without any intermediaries and without any meetings and without hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.  As easily and cheaply as Facebook. or Google Docs.

But they didn't.  And until someone does, we'll all be dependent on powerful consortiums to determine what SMS systems we can set up and what systems we can't.