A new Indiegogo campaign called SmartAds is looking to substantially lower the amount of money you pay for a smartphone or tablet by paying you in return for a bit of a chore. How would you feel about having a smaller phone bill if it meant you had to look at ads on your lock screen? That’s the concept SmartAds is aiming for.
Think of it like what Amazon did with the Kindle. You could buy the e-reader at a standard price, or shave some green off of the price tag by opting for a version that shows you ads. That strategy actually went a lot better than most people anticipated. In fact, many even enjoyed the ads because they were often relevant and nicely designed. The same would apply to SmartAds: view the ad on your lock screen and then either dismiss it to use your phone or tap it to open a web browser with more information.
Right now as I type this article, SmartAds has $1,111 in funding on Indiegogo, which means it’s only about 2 percent funded. The goal is to reach $50,000 within the thirteen days remaining for the campaign. It seems unlikely that will happen, but it’s not impossible, and something tells me this lock screen ads concept won’t go away once the SmartAds Indiegogo campaign ends.
Would you be willing to endure smartphone/tablet lock screen ads to gain up to $25 per month in your wallet?