AQA 63336 answers one million questions
London, 17 November 2005: Any Question Answered (AQA 63336), the UK text service where you can text any question to 63336 and get an answer in minutes, today announced that it has answered one million questions.
Launched on 22 April 2004, the first question that AQA received was 'What's the population of London ?' The millionth question, received on Thursday 17 November 2005 at 8.47pm, was 'Name Linkin Parks DJ?'
"A million questions is a very significant milestone. AQA has grown through our focus on providing what the customer wants – a really great service. With this huge and growing database of answers we continue to improve AQA's speed and quality of service. Already we're seeing better than one in four answers picked from the database. As a result our researchers are taking, on average, under two and a half minutes to research each answer." said Colly Myers, CEO.
The key to providing a great service is in balancing the speed and conciseness of answers, with a warm and human response that delivers more than £1s worth of value and often exceed customers' expectations. Word of mouth recommendation, targeted marketing and brand partnerships such as the recent MTV deal mean that AQA is now answering over 6,000 questions a day, with over 1,100 new customer's texting AQA each day.
As AQA has grown, so has the number and expertise of its researchers. AQA now has over 500 researchers trained in helping customers with their essential life, work, and trivia questions. 90% of the researchers are based in the UK , with others in Australia and New Zealand to cover the night shift. Researchers can work whenever they want from the comfort of their own homes.
"It took AQA fifteen months to answer the first half a million questions, but only four months to answer the second half a million. With our continued focus on providing a great service we predict that AQA will answer its second million questions in less than five months," said Colly Myers.
And the answer to the Linkin Park DJ question? "AQA: Joseph Hahn is the Korean American DJ for the band Linkin Park . Before joining the band, he worked on special effects for The X-Files, Sphere, and Dune."
Notes for editors
For more information contact:
Donald Parish donald.parish@shinecom.com
Shine Communications Tel: +442071007100
Common beliefs that AQA corrects at least once a week
1. That there are three English words that end in gry?
2. That Marilyn Manson was in the wonder years?
3. That ducks quacks don't echo?
4. That the titanic was the first ship to send an SOS?
5. That you can die from a daddy longlegs bite?
6. That Captain Pugwash's first mate was called Master Bates?
7. That Otto Titzling invented the bra?
8. That it is legal to urinate in a policemans' helmet?
9. That golf stand for gentlemen only, ladies forbidden?
10. That POSH originated from Port Outward Starboard Home?
And the answers:
1. There are only two common English words that end in GRY: angry and hungry. It is a well known hoax if someone asks you to try and find the third word. 2. Marilyn Manson was never in The Wonder Years. There was a false rumour he played Kevin Arnold's friend Paul Pfeiffer, actually played by Josh Saviano. 3. The story that ducks' quacks don't echo is an urban myth which may have arisen because ducks quack quietly and aren't often in places where echoes occur. 4. The French liner Niagara was the first ship to use the SOS signal. The Titanic was the second. SOS replaced CQD as the universal distress call in 1912. 5. Most daddy longlegs (Harvestmen) do not possess poison glands. Those that do have venom pose absolutely no danger to humans, even if they could bite. 6. It is a myth that Captain Pugwash character names were all sexual innuendoes. Master Bates, Seaman Staines, and Roger the Cabin Boy are urban myths. 7. Most experts identify French feminist Herminie Cadolle as the inventor of the bra in 1889 - not Otto Titzling as a common urban myth would have it. 8. It is an urban myth that it is legal to urinate in a PC's helmet, regardless of your medical condition. It is almost bound to cause great offence. 9. It is a myth that golf stands for 'gentlemen only; ladies forbidden'. The word is probably from the Scottish 'goulf', a verb meaning 'to strike or cuff'. 10. Posh dates back to at least 1867 in the sense of meaning a dandy or fop. The best guess as to its origin is that it derives from Romani, Gypsy language.
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