Bluff Europe (www.bluffeurope.com) is the first magazine in the world to offer its magazine subscriptions by SMS. By texting ‘bluff’ to short code 60155, poker enthusiasts can subscribe to the magazine and pay via their mobile phone bill. This innovative subscription service costs users £3 per month, which they pay via their phone bill through any UK mobile provider.

Once the SMS is sent by the subscriber to Bluff Europe, the sender receives a confirmation SMS followed by phone call from a subscriptions representative who takes the subscribers mailing address information. The subscriber will then get a copy of Bluff Europe sent directly to his home each month following. Once the magazine is dispatched, the user’s phone bill will be charged just £3.

“This is an innovate use of a common technology, and it works because it greatly simplifies an age-old, yet very tedious process – subscribing to a magazine. Forget filling out subscription cards and mailing them in, and forget about having to pull out your credit card and put your details in over the internet. This makes getting Bluff Europe incredibly easy,” said Michael Caselli, editor-in-chief of Bluff Europe.

The service went live on June 1st, in conjunction with Bluff Europe’s newsstand launch in the UK.

“I expect that by the end of the year, we will see copy-cat publishers offering this service too. I’m still excited that we invented it – and I know it’s going to catch on like wildfire,” continued Caselli.