Market by mobile

Quickal, based at the Sussex Innovation Centre at Falmer, says it has developed technology which allows users to send sound, picture and video messages to hundreds of clients.

The four-strong company said it was taking advantage of increasingly sophisticated mobile phones and had backing from all the major mobile phone service providers.

Managing director Samuel Barlow said: "What we have done is create a one-stop shop for mobile phone marketing, where people can upload their media - jpegs or music and video clips - and we feed all of that information into a text message.

"At the moment accessing that kind of technology is very expensive and complicated. We have created a web application that bypasses all of that.

All the customer has to do is decide what they want in their message and we do the rest."

Quickal has its bought its own short code number 78425, which spells "quick" on a mobile phone keypad, which its clients can use for their own marketing purposes.

It means individuals can request information from a specific company, an estate agent for example, by typing in a key word and texting 78425.

One of the main benefits is that people are not "spammed" with frustrating messages but instead have to request the information they want to receive.

More and more large companies are using short code numbers for billboard advertising to attract potential customers in the street or at railway stations.

The company was set up by co-directors Mr Barlow, Mike Fahey, Lucinda Dore and Malcolm Barry, who reckon they have spotted a gap in the market.

They say the potential for the application is huge - and not just for businesses. For example, people could upload holiday snaps on the website and get their friends to text in to receive them or just view them on the Quickal website itself.

Mr Barlow said: "The key is in developing new technology. This is a fast-moving industry but we think we're moving faster than the competition."