Making your app interact with voice and SMS often requires learning new software and buying hardware. 46elks is a Swedish start-up that offers a cloud-based platform that easily connects apps with telephony technologies. Founded in January this year, they have just released second alpha version of their product. The newest addition to the release enables apps to interact with phone calls as well as send and receive text messages. Developers can try it out for free with an invite, which you can get by registering on their website. Priority is given to developer communities from Europe to get feedback from their early users.

46elks' main value-proposition is to allow developers connect mobile, web and computer applications to voice, SMS and MMS technologies. Their platform provides a dashboard to monitor one's activities and track account's use.

The company's overall aim is outlined as 'enriching developer communities by providing them a simple API to create awesome telephony applications'. If the company delivers on their promises, the platform can definitely make lives of developers easier, though at this stage it is too early to say how much such a service would cost.

46elks' offerring is not unique, though. Companies like Twilio and Tropo have been offering similar service in US since 2009. Both a backed by experienced entrepreneurs and considerable amount of capital.

Naturally, there is still space for competition. Focusing on European developer communities so far sets 46elks apart. Besides, the start-up has only existed for half a year: who knows what their offering would look like by the end of the year.

Interestingly enough, founders behind 46elks prefer to remain incognito for now. The reason for this is to add gamification and early adapters engagement: the more users and followers of the service Tweet about the company, the more the founders would reveal about themselves. Whether the approach works remains to be seen but it is definititely an unconventional way of attracting attention.