Yahoo's obscure and not fully realized Mixd pilot ends Feb 25th, 2007. The announcement was made by SMS to Mixd service users. Apparently the availability of the service ends then too. I guess the Yahoo network didn't pick up the show. Softly launched, Mixd sketched out a fully featured group SMS service, which included a decent web interface. Despite the polish, the instructions were unclear in areas and photo upload from the phone was never implemented. The revelation of the pilot status explains the half-bakeness of the service.

It's not clear whether the emphasis on the pilot is to test the technical implemenation or to gauge demand for the service. I suspect it is the latter. I've used mixd and service s like it a few times and none of my friends have picked up the service from that viral introduction. I don't think group SMS is a mass market service for everyday use, ie beyond special situations and teenage urban posses. Unless mixd comes back in some form, perhaps as a feature extension to one of Yahoo's existing services, the startups in this space, like 3Jam, could breathe a sigh of relief. But only if the market demand is truly there.

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