There is a lot of engaging work happening in the mobile phone community and we would like to see Drupal become a larger part of it. Half the world's population now has a mobile phone and the lowest common denominator for mobile communication is SMS text messaging.

The SMS Framework module comes with in-line message sending, bulk message sending, phone number integration with user profiles, support for email gateways, as well as support for the Clickatell SMS gateway. For a great overview of some of these features check out a screencast by Development Seed here.

Building on Development Seed's work, we have implemented support for receiving messages as well as support for the Mobile Muse gateway. Mobile Muse is a free SMS platform for non-commercial use hosted here in Vancouver (yes, free – if you're Canadian and would like to have access to the MUSE gateway, we can get you access). Its aim is to foster experimentation and innovation with mobile platforms and for us it is a great way to get our hands dirty with SMS.

We have a live site up at Sifttool.com with a Twitter-like microblogging feature. It allows text messages to be received with a dynamic page that updates as new messages come in. The new SMS receive feature lets us do all sorts of things with received messages, and since it's implemented as a hook, people can extend the functionality. So, commenting on a node or signing up for an event via a text message are just two examples of further ideas you could implement.

For more information and updates, keep an eye on SIFT Tool, the SMS Framework project page, and the SMS Framework group.

Who am I? My name is Tylor Sherman and I am a UBC Engineering co-op student with Raincity Studios for the summer. I have been working with Drupal for well over a year now, with most of that time spent at Affinity Bridge building community websites for non-profits. Recently, I have also been working with Roland Tanglao and the Nokia S60 ambassadors program, with my posts found here. My main interest is the ubiquity of cell phones and how we can lower barriers for mobile development work within Drupal.

With the announcement of the improved iPhone today, I think this a very appropriate time to talking about mobile usage!