Marketing Pilgrim

InformationWeek reports on the launch of AskMeNow, a search engine-type service that gives people the option of calling a toll free number to ask any question.

AskMeNow does not charge for basic questions, such as weather, stock prices, directory assistance, driving instructions or sports scores. Those are answered at no charge.

But ask for the closest French restaurant, or why the sky is blue, and the company charges 49 cents for each query. Carriers charge separately for downloading answers, which would fall under a person’s normal data service.

The company hopes to make money through advertising - sending one or two targeted ads with each answer.