If you’re busy taking a dump so you ask your buddy to hop on google for you and find out what time Pizza Hut closes, is your friend suddenly a “new and innovative type of search engine?” No. He’s just another person looking something up because you’re either too lazy to do it yourself or because you don’t have an internet browser on your device, which has turned into the minority in this country since most unlimited packages these days INCLUDE web browsing.

Not to mention people using their handheld’s like sony PSPs or walking around with laptops, pdas, all kinds of things. For someone who is broke and only has text messaging on their cell phone, ChaCha can be fun, but is it actually NECESSARY? I doubt it.

How many times do you really NEED an answer to a question while on the go? Most of the answers people seek from ChaCha are nonsense answers that are just used to pass the time, like how big is the largest pair of tits in the world? That’s not a necessity.

If you find yourself NEEDING an answer to something ten times a day while on the go, like a phone number or an address, things you should have tried to get BEFORE you left the house, you’re probably one of those people who wouldn’t know how to survive a day without the most modern technology, like people who say, “But how will I make I phone calls if I don’t have a cell?”

Pay phones and landlines ring a bell?

And whoever stated that most people don’t have iphones, iphones aren’t the only type of mobile device on the planet and most people with mobile devices DO have internet access.

Personally, when I look at it, ChaCha provides a medium to those of you who wish to work from home. Now they cut your pay in half unless you work enough hours. Well, it’s like a hungry man who used to eat only bread and was given steak. Now they downgraded the steak to just a cheeseburger, and you’re all crying about that? You know you could try those online survey and secret shopping scams where you have to pay money to get in. Try those first and then tell me ChaCha is a fraud.

What a coincidence, “Cry Me a River” is coming on the radio….

They will likely find thousands of more suckers who will do the “job” for 10 cents a question, discarding previous guides in the trash.

Q: Is Halle Barry Single
A: The Oscar winner and her boyfriend, Gabriel Aubry, welcomed a daughter on March 16, 2008. Halle is not single, sorry.

Q: Did the US Men’s Team Win The Beach Volleyball Gold
A: The US won the Gold Medal, They Played Awesome

I believe their business model could be tweaked for success:

1. its a mobile search solution that is quick and easy and works on the majority of mobile phones with text message adoption roughly reaching over a 40% active adoption rate in the US, 80%+ with the younger demos

2. they could make it a premium SMS service (either per request or subscription).

I use to work in data services for a major US carrier and you can’t under-estimate the ubiquity of SMS and willingness of consumers who bill to phone for on the go services. In 2000, there were many folks who believed that consumers would not pay for text messages, mobile IM, picture messages, or ring tones — all of which generate billions per year in revenues. The question is how much of the pie the carriers will take from that margin and having enough left over for the company and the guides, and generating enough free-marketing to achieve scale.

I don’t work for ChaCha.