Google India has started a new product called Google SMS Channels that lets you to subscribe to news alerts, jokes, stocks etc via SMS messages.

You can also create a channel based on your site’s RSS Feed and open it for subscribers. If you are based in India and would like to subscribe to this site on your mobile phone via SMS, please join the Techie Blues SMS channel.

Though there are several established sites already in this arena (like My Today and SMS Gupshup), it is Google’s first initiative towards mobile updates. Another important aspect is that Google SMS is free for all ( both publishers and subscribers) and you can also create any number of channels you want on Google SMS.

You also have option to create private channels and stay in touch with your friends and relatives. To send an SMS, you can either publish via Mobile (Normal SMS Charges Apply) or through the web (Completely Free).

You can also create and send multi lingual SMS through the web (It currently supports creating messages in English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada).

The only possible glitch (if we say so) is that it is available only for Indian Numbers and is not applicable for International numbers.