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Forget SMS Mac 1.0: Use iChat instead

sms macMacCentral has news of a new program for Mac, SMS Mac 1.0, which runs $10 per year as shareware with an additional $0.10 per message sent.

I can understand the convenience of spending $10 to send SMS messages directly from Address Book (although if you have a Bluetooth capable phone you can already do this), I guess, but $0.10 a message sounds like a complete and total rip-off, as you can do the same exact thing for free via iChat.  Here's the MacOSXHints post that talks about this.  Simply launch iChat, choose File-->New Chat with Person... and type in +1 followed by an SMS capable cellphone number instead of a AIM/.Mac user name.  Type away and click send. This has been a free feature of AIM since July 2nd, 2003.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention: this only works in the U.S. and Canada (according to the comments) and it will work via any chat system (Mac / PC / or other) that works over AIM.
 

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MacCentral has news of a new program for Mac, SMS Mac 1.0, which runs $10 per year as shareware with an additional $0.10 per message sent....
 

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david van virden

I am *wetting my pants* the ichat to sms feature is SO AWESOME and such a neat surpriese!!! I can't imagine needing anything else. The six digit number used as a reply number is super mysterious too!

August 21 2005 at 10:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dennis

try this widget instead it is free and uses the contacts in your address book... http://home.comcast.net/~jeff.ulicny/software/entertainment.html

August 18 2005 at 11:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
niji

several comments: 1. i never knew about the sms to mobile fon in USA via iChat. stupid me and thanks for pointing it out. 2. while this is all well and good for people sending sms to the usa, there is an entire rest of the world out here you know: i live in tokyo. it costs, get this, 100JPY to send sms out to any carrier from japan. yes, almost 1US$ per sms. so, when the sendsms widget came out, i ofcourse bought in. its great. i still need it to send sms to china and hong kong etc, but to the usa, it will be iChat. thnx

August 18 2005 at 11:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ales

I don't understand something. I upgraded to Tiger and now I am stripped of sending SMS message through the addressbook. Why would someone deprive me of this wonderful feature. Did anyone else notice it is missing? In Panther, one would be able to open addressbook, connect to a phone via bluetoothe and then click the drop down by any phone number to get the option to send an sms.

May 09 2005 at 1:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Omar Tirado

I live in the U.S.A. I pay 10 bucks a month to have unlimited texting.. I use it for work.. for play.. I abuse it in my opinion.. but thats why its called UNLIMITED texting.. and you pay for it...

May 05 2005 at 1:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patrick Lemmens

To those complaining about the cost of sending sms messages. You have to realise that in most of the world, except the US and maybe Canada (I don't know), the sender pays for sending the sms. In the US apparently the receiver pays. So in most of the world it is perfectly reasonable to charge for sending sms messages through a service like this. And it is actually the right business model! Think spam! As for Adam Michela who sends 250-500 sms messages a day.... what are you? A sms spammer?

April 27 2005 at 10:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
steve Bissonnette

correction: It definelty works within Canada. I use it to send my girlfreind SMS's from work all the time (she's on TELUS). format has to be ... +1 (areacode) (number)

April 27 2005 at 12:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
holophile

Personally, I don't like the way it looks compared to the simple interface that they had showed when they won the widget contest. http://developer.apple.com/macosx/tiger/dashboard/ I gather he's charging the .10 per sms b/c it all runs through his servers and these things cost money. However, since widgets are built on open standards, I don't see why somebody can't create one that looks and acts the same, but communicates to the outside world through iChat. It's just a matter of time. I know I'm gonna be working on it!

April 26 2005 at 11:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adam Michela

Very cool. However, since I already send about 250-500 SMS per day through GMail and AIM for completely free... $5 for 50SMS isn't worth it for a pretty phone widget

April 26 2005 at 11:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
max

holy crap tha's awesome. I've been looking for a way to do this, it was there all along!

April 26 2005 at 5:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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