Aryty Blog

Filipinos are known for being among the most text savvy in the world. Many Filipinos living abroad also keep in touch with their family and friends in the Philippines using text messaging.

One of the cheapest ways to let your loved ones reach you is by carrying a second phone from the Philippines utilizing a roaming SIM card. This allows anyone in the Philippines to send a text message to a local Globe, Smart or Sun Cellular number for only 1 peso per text. Once you get the message you can text back using your own local phone, Yahoo messenger or Chikka Messenger.

If you don’t have a phone from the Philippines you can get a roaming SIM card in places like the Filipino sari sari or even a Free Philippine Sim Card online. Make sure to keep your SIM doesn’t expire by keeping it loaded online at www.aryty.com.

Happy texting.

New York and New Jersey is home to thousands of Filipinos and todays attendance at the Philippine Fiesta in the Meadowlands was standing room only. Starting with the young talents in the morning time to Piolo making a PA and almost bringing the house down!

The Aryty Team was busy giving away free Globe load, Smart load and Sun load to folks who stopped by the booth to say hello in addition to handing out some promos! Lots of Filipinos still don’t know how easy it can be to help a loved one by sending load so it was a great chance for us to spread the word. Surprisingly many people have roaming mobile phones from the Philippines and were excited to learn they can buy load and recharge their mobile using Aryty. A special surprise was Beau Canlas, the fast rising star on MYX coming to the event with his family from Virginia and the Philippines! He kicked it with the Aryty Team and even took pictures with fans.

Tomorrow the Fiesta will start with a mass at 10am and then the day really gets exciting with Pops Fernandez making an appearance in the Aryty booth at 2PM! What a true honor and privilege to have this beautiful filipina and Concert Queen stop by! Of course we know everyone will cherish a picture with Pops and we’re excited to offer the chance.

See Pops Fernandez, meet Beau from MYX, watch the Miss Philippine Fiesta pagent, hear the next Philippine Idol and enjoy Filipino cuisine all at the Philippine Fiesta 2007! oh….bring your friends by our booth so we can tell them about the best way to buy load too!
Get Philippine Fiesta Details

People will blame low iPhone sales in the Philippines on the phone price but that’s won’t be the problem. The fact is most Filipinos find a way to afford something if they really want it. The problem lies in texting!

Filipinos are notorious for text. After all the Philippines is the text message capital of the world. Most Filipinos can and do text without looking at their phone. They can’t stop texting whether it’s while driving, sitting in class, standing at work or even scratching their back using their phone and texting at the same time!

You can’t text without looking at the phone using a touch screen! This is one of the reasons people in the Philippines prefer Nokia so much over the razor. It’s all about buttons and being able to feel the keys you are pressing. Hence the iPhone will be more i and less phone for the people that do actually buy one!

1 week away!

It didn’t look this big in the commercials

I took these pictures as I passed the Apple Store on Prince Street this morning. My sneaker head instincts told me to drop a chair and start the line to buy one next week. Then I remembered iPhone isn’t a limited pair of AF1′S. I can wait! haha

Just in case you didn’t notice we slipped a new feature into Aryty last week allowing you to send load automatically! Using our new Schedule a Load you can have load sent on a reoccurring basis each week, certain days every month or on a special occasion like a birthday.

Scheduling load saves you time from logging into your account to send load and also keeps you out of trouble from forgetting to send load as well! You can pick the day you want load delivered to your loved one and even choose the local time in the Philippines you want them to get it. It doesn’t get any easier to buy or send Globe, Smart or Sun load!

When I went to the Philippines a few weeks back I created schedules to make sure I was automatically loaded every few days and scheduled load to some friends as well. Giving load is the best way to boost your popularity in the Philippines! hahaha

To create a schedule just log into your account and look for the schedule load link in “My Account” section. If you have any questions or suggestions of ways to improve it please make sure to let us know.

Schedule a Load Now

Last Saturday, Karla Maquiling of Pinoy Centric assisted in arranging a lunch for us at the Shangri-La Hotel to present Aryty to a number of pro bloggers in Manila. It turned out to be nothing less than the perfect venue to exchange ideas and share more about Aryty with top Filipino bloggers “in the know” about the latest trends, technology and cultural issues taking place in the Philippines.

The influential blogging crew (a.k.a. BoB) included Jayvee Fernandez, Sasha Manuel, Gail dela Cruz Villanueva, Annalyn Jusay, Markku Seguerra, Ederic Eder, Mike Villar, Aileen Apolo and J. Angelo Racoma. I was also happy to see my friend Veronica Bartolome who just happened to be in Manila and made time to join us.

While it was nice to demonstrate how easy it is to buy Globe, Smart or Sun eload and discuss some of our future plans for Aryty the part I enjoyed the most was getting feedback and suggestions from the group. What a great opportunity to avail insight from some of the brightest in blogsphere! Conversation included subjects parang G-Cash, Smart Money, online loading, sari sari’s, OFW’s, remittances, new Aryty features and plenty about Globe, Smart and Sun loading habits.

The Roundtable

No Name Cafe Next Time?

Gail and Jayvee

Peace!

Salamat po!

You can check out these All Star’s blogs below. And if we missed you on this trip to Manila drop us a line so we can make sure to invite you to our next gathering! Hope to see you~

The Parody
Kutitots
Ajay’s Writings on the Wall
Rebelpixel Productions
ederic@cyberspace
Mike Villar
Stitching
The J Spot
Pinoy Centric
s’assombrir ange immortelle
A Bugged Life

More Event Pics Here

Japan has a reputation for the being the leader in mobile phone technology and for good reason. They were the first with camera phones, tv and now they’re taking mobile games to the next level.

Last weekend in Tokyo I went to check out the debut of Docomo’s newest phone the FOMA 904i. The two take away features not in any prior models: 2in1 phone numbers & email and motion sensor gaming. The 2in1 allows you to have 2 phone numbers and 2 email addresses with 2 address books in the same phone. What really blew me away however was the motion sensitive gaming. You play the games by using your handset like it’s a Wii handset. I tried the bowling and to throw the ball you swing your phone just like it’s a bowling ball. Saya saya naman.

The event was at Omotesando Hills and featured dancers, dj’s and of course Docomo girls modeling phones. Seeing the future of mobile was just an added bonus I guess!

Try it out

Naks!

Where’s Heart?

More on the Docomo FOMA 904i

Mother’s Day is the biggest long distance calling day of the year. This Mother’s Day when you call your mom or loved one in the Philippines make sure you try Gorilla Mobile. Gorilla Mobile allows anyone in the U.S. to call the Philippines from their mobile or home phone without having to switch carriers or pay a monthly fee for a plan. You can call to the Philippines from your mobile phone for only $0.14 per minute and there is even a free trial that gives you up to $5 of free calls!

Save up to 85% on International Calls with Gorilla Mobile!

So why not save some money when your calling Mom and take advantage of the Gorilla Mobile Free Trial. And make sure to send a Globe, Smart or Sun Cellular load using Aryty while you’re at it. Happy Mother’s Day!

Try Gorilla Mobile Free

Many Filipino’s use a Globe, Smart or Sun sim card in the U.S. as an inexpensive way to to allow their loved one’s to send them text. Not only is this a great way to stay in touch from abroad but when you go to visit the Philippines you’ll already have a phone with a local number.

Aryty allows you to buy cellphone eload for all prepaid Philippine mobile phones even if you are in the U.S. using a roaming phone. This includes buying load for any Smart Buddy, Addict Mobile or Touch Mobile sim. There is no need to search for a load card as you can do everything online or buy the load using SMS. It’s important to keep your roaming sim loaded to make sure it does not expire. You also need to extend by text your roaming period. The carrier should send you a text advisory when you need to extend.

If you are looking for an easy place to buy a Philippine sim card you can find several places online including Ebay and Cellular Abroad. Once your sim is activated for roaming you can use it in just about any country you want. Just remember to keep your roaming Philippine phone loaded at Aryty!

Get a Philippine Sim Card Here

Buy Cellphone Load Here

Not only is Aryty a fast and simple way to buy eload for any Globe, Smart or Sun cellphone but is also one of the cheapest ways to buy load as well.

Each time you decide to send a load to a loved one in the Philippines or add load to your roaming phone we give you the load choices available with the cost in U.S.D. Although this price may change from time to time due to a change in exchange rates there are never any extra service fees or hidden charges! You will always know what you are paying upfront.

Currently we only show the prices to buy load to our registered users but that is about to change. We realize many of you would like to know the price before using our free trial or having to register a credit card. Several people have asked if there is an extra charge to pay by credit card or some type of minimum purchase and the answer is no!

Here’s the cost of buying load with Aryty today:

Globe
150 pesos $3.12

Smart
115 pesos $2.39
230 pesos $4.78
345 pesos $7.18
460 pesos $9.57

Sun Cellular
150 pesos $3.12
300 pesos $6.24
500 pesos $10.40
1000pesos $20.80

Load is typically delivered into the Philippine phone within seconds of you clicking “Send” to make the purchase. An SMS confirmation is also delivered by the mobile carrier and Aryty to let the person who received load know who sent it to them. You are able to view all transactions and charges whenever you wish simply by logging into your account.

Fast and simple just as it should be. And please contact us if you ever have questions or difficulties so we can assist. Aryty!?

More on How It Works here

Google released a shiny new version of their mobile search today and I must say it’s really sweet!

There are lots of cool new features but the one I like most is the way prior search locations are stored and used for future searches. This feature allows you to avoid having to enter your zipcode each time you want to find a movie or check the weather since it will automatically use the last zipcode you entered on a prior query.

Even their Icecream is good!

I admire what a great job Google does at building effective tools that are really simple to use. Congrats on this release to Yael, a good friend and Product Manager on the Mobile Team! Now I know she really has been busy. Nice one mare!

Read all about the new mobile search functionality here on Yael’s blog post.