user6: I am considering working on giving Africans access to trade using Bitcoins. 
In many ways, parts of Africa is more developed when it comes to mobile payments than the west. The success of M-PESA confirms this. Their security is based upon a special SIM card (see Step 1 in this getting-started guide).
My question
Would it be possible to set up a service where one could send and receive Bitcoins securely via SMS? An additional condition to this question is that the SMS could be sent from a good old crowbar mobile phone without any access to a computer to perform encryption. One should also notice that postal services in these countries should be considered insecure.
Motivation
My motivation for this project is the heavy costs involved with making an overseas transaction to an individual in Kenya, because M-PESA only accepts transactions from oversees using Western Union. This is important because I know that there are huge flows of money going from Africans (and more so Asians) in Western countries to their family-members at home.
Additional points
It should be noted that one can send SMS for free amongst others to Kenya via Google SMS. Their only condition is that the receiver responds to the SMS occasionally in order to avoid it getting used for spam.
Currencies in some African countries are very unstable (for example in Zimbabwe), so the Bitcoin currency could maybe be considered a "hard currency" compared to the local ones.

user1415: the question is how old are the mobile phones. if they have J2Me it would be possible. you just need a sms 2 btc gateway that stores the blocks like BCCAPI and allow users transactions. and a j2me app thats hold the privat key and with the possibility to send and recive sms. (given by the j2me api)
you would need do develop this both software, and test it if it is practical usable on most of the african mobile phones
greetings treaki

user153: Coinapult's SMS wallet is currently only available in the U.S. and Canada but it works as you describe -- usable for a transaction where either or both parties are using a feature phone with only SMS / text messaging service (i.e., no other data service necessary).
Coinapult may be adding support elsewhere, but their current freemium business model might need revision to be feasible in regions where the text message costs are higher.

user108: You can make bitcoin transaction via SMS because it's just couple hunders of symbols, but it requires internet connection to verify transaction against double spend attack. You can setup man-in-the-middle that will hold customer's bitcoins in it's database and sell or buy bitcoins for them. Customers would be able to add or withdraw fiat currency via SMS and send bitcoins via internet website. But if you want to give users control of their accounts via SMS then you would have to develop application and distribute your own SIM card.

user153: As of April 2012, the two methods are:

What countries is the service available in? Argentina, Australia,
  Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile,
  Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
  Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia,
  Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
  Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa,
  Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom,
  United States of America


http://blockchain.info/wallet/sms-phone-deposits

and

http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Btc-Direct (for two dozen countries)

For the latest, search "SMS" on:

http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins


user145: Just an account on http://phoneco.in/  because thats exactly what the service does.  [Update: Phoneco.in is defunct.]
Update: A new service as well to check out. http://dialcoin.com/ [DialCoin's site is up yet but has suspending service.]

6: <p>I am considering working on giving Africans access to trade using Bitcoins. </p>

<p>In many ways, parts of Africa is more developed when it comes to mobile payments than the west. The success of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa">M-PESA</a> confirms this. Their security is based upon a special SIM card (see Step 1 in this <a href="http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=258">getting-started guide</a>).</p>

<p><strong>My question</strong></p>

<p>Would it be possible to set up a service where one could send and receive Bitcoins securely via SMS? An additional condition to this question is that the SMS could be sent from a good old crowbar mobile phone without any access to a computer to perform encryption. One should also notice that postal services in these countries should be considered insecure.</p>

<p><strong>Motivation</strong></p>

<p>My motivation for this project is the heavy costs involved with making an overseas transaction to an individual in Kenya, because M-PESA only accepts transactions from oversees using Western Union. This is important because I know that there are huge flows of money going from Africans (and more so Asians) in Western countries to their family-members at home.</p>

<p><strong>Additional points</strong></p>

<p>It should be noted that one can send SMS for free <a href="http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&amp;answer=164876">amongst others to Kenya</a> via Google SMS. Their only condition is that the receiver responds to the SMS occasionally in order to avoid it getting used for spam.</p>

<p>Currencies in some African countries are very unstable (for example in Zimbabwe), so the Bitcoin currency could maybe be considered a "hard currency" compared to the local ones.</p>
 1415: <p>the question is how old are the mobile phones. if they have J2Me it would be possible. you just need a sms 2 btc gateway that stores the blocks like BCCAPI and allow users transactions. and a j2me app thats hold the privat key and with the possibility to send and recive sms. (given by the j2me api)</p>

<p>you would need do develop this both software, and test it if it is practical usable on most of the african mobile phones</p>

<p>greetings treaki</p>
 153: <p>Coinapult's <a href="https://coinapult.com/sms/info" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SMS wallet</a> is currently only available in the U.S. and Canada but it works as you describe -- usable for a transaction where either or both parties are using a feature phone with only SMS / text messaging service (i.e., no other data service necessary).</p>

<p>Coinapult may be adding support elsewhere, but their current freemium business model might need revision to be feasible in regions where the text message costs are higher.</p>
 108: <p>You can make bitcoin transaction via SMS because it's just couple hunders of symbols, but it requires internet connection to verify transaction against double spend attack. You can setup man-in-the-middle that will hold customer's bitcoins in it's database and sell or buy bitcoins for them. Customers would be able to add or withdraw fiat currency via SMS and send bitcoins via internet website. But if you want to give users control of their accounts via SMS then you would have to develop application and distribute your own SIM card.</p>
 153: <p>As of April 2012, the two methods are:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>What countries is the service available in? Argentina, Australia,
  Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile,
  Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
  Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia,
  Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
  Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa,
  Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom,
  United States of America</p>
</blockquote>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://blockchain.info/wallet/sms-phone-deposits" rel="nofollow">http://blockchain.info/wallet/sms-phone-deposits</a></li>
</ul>

<p>and</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Btc-Direct" rel="nofollow">http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Btc-Direct</a> (for two dozen countries)</li>
</ul>

<p>For the latest, search "SMS" on:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins" rel="nofollow">http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins</a></li>
</ul>
 145: <p>Just an account on <a href="http://phoneco.in/" rel="nofollow">http://phoneco.in/</a>  because thats exactly what the service does.  [Update: Phoneco.in is defunct.]</p>

<p>Update: A new service as well to check out. <a href="http://dialcoin.com/" rel="nofollow">http://dialcoin.com/</a> [DialCoin's site is up yet but has suspending service.]</p>
