MWC survey says mobile internet usage has increased, but navigation and discoverability challenges still to be overcome

A survey of Mobile World Congress attendees conducted by SurfKitchen is said to confirm that mobile Internet services are poised for mainstream adoption. One third of attendees surveyed at the industry exhibition stated that their mobile Internet usage has more than doubled over the last year, with 67 percent currently relying on WAP and mobile Internet browsers to access mobile Internet and data services.
Of over 100 attendees surveyed, 90 percent indicated that that they have increased their mobile Internet usage in the last year with 92 percent of respondents still citing email as the most popular service, followed by Internet browsing (80 percent) and news services (67 percent). Of the minority that indicated their mobile Internet usage has not increased, one third reported discoverability and navigation to be the key barriers to adoption.
"One look at the news from Mobile World Congress shows that the industry is focused on the delivery of mobile Internet services and applications," said Michel Quazza, chief executive officer, SurfKitchen. "While our survey is only based on a relatively small sample, it is notable that traditional access models are still used by the majority of consumers to access mobile Internet and data services. We expect this to significantly change over the coming months with mainstream adoption of new mobile Internet platforms and application stores. As a result, we will not only see a much greater increase in mobile Internet usage, but also in the variety of services and applications used by consumers regardless of their mobile device."
The potential of mobile applications stores has been a focus of the show in Barcelona and respondents of the survey who already use applications and widgets to access mobile Internet services reported speed, ease-of-use and choice as the core benefits over traditional access methods of WAP and mobile Internet browsers.
The survey results echo a recent Informa Telecoms & Media report that predicted that annual data services will more than double from USD 148 billion in 2007 to USD 347 billion in 2013. The barriers identified by MWC attendees also matched recent industry research by Forrester Research that found that discoverability and usability are still presenting challenges to the industry.

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MNOs split on LTE plans

by Svetlana Grant at Mobile World Congress
Two distinct groups of operators emerged at MWC. The first is lead by DoCoMo, Verizon Wireless and TeliaSonera, all announcing plans for a fast-lane deployment and commercial launch of LTE in 2010. The rest, led by tier 1 European MNOs, are pushing ahead with LTE trials, but have made no commitments to the short-term rollouts. T-Mobile stated that from a technical perspective it would be ready for LTE from 2010, but plans to spend the next two years boosting capacity of its HSPA networks. Orange expects the first commercial LTE services to become available no sooner than 2011, with HSPA subscriber migration taking place from 2012.
LTE holds out three main values to mobile operators: higher speeds, improvements in latency and spectral efficiency. Although the former is the most frequently quoted benefit, it is the latter two, along with the availability of spectrum, that dictate the timing of LTE launch and migration strategies. CDMA operators will be the first to transition to LTE to avoid the capacity crunch on their EVDO Rev A networks as well as high costs and complicated management of several overlay networks. Verizon Wireless, which acquired ample 700MHz spectrum in 2008, plans to expedite the deployment of its LTE network, announcing that it picked Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent for the initial rollout in the USA.
In Europe, where only a 5MHz TDD band is currently available for LTE, gradual rollouts and a demand driven migration will be a norm, slower in such markets as the UK, where MNOs face the most spectrum limitations. For all of Western European MNOs, the availability of digital dividend spectrum will be critical to provide indoor LTE coverage and better mobile data user experience. T-Mobile's CEO Hamid Akhavan was outspoken on the issue, stating that "digital dividend is absolutely critical for the development of mobile broadband on a large scale".

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Telefónica O2 demonstrates NFC applications

by Svetlana Grant at Mobile World Congress
At MWC, Telefónica O2 joined the veteran of contactless mobile services DoCoMo showcasing several NFC applications. Telefónica O2's Czech and UK operators have tested NFC-based transport ticketing with Over-The-Air credit top up and an eWallet application for small payments. The services were demoed on NFC-embedded Nokia 6131 handset using NXP's MIFARE4Mobile standard. Field trials at Telefonica O2 will start around end-2009, with a commercial launch tentatively slotted for 2H 2010.
NFC's adoption in Europe has been much slower than expected two years ago, but recent trials brought it closer to commercial reality. The ecosystem is starting to take shape: Telefónica worked with Visa, Barclays bank, Transport for London and Nokia to support its trials. In France, ERGOSUM NFC initiative brought together the largest supermarkets, such as Auchan and Carrefour, financial services providers and mobile operators Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR, and committed to field trials in 2009 and deployments in 2010.
The availability of NFC mobile handsets is now the main barrier for the mass-market rollout in Europe, as fragmented market has limited the volumes for handset component manufacturers. The recent announcements of universal security chipsets promise to accelerate the release of new handsets. At MWC, Moversa, a JV between Sony and NXP, demonstrated its Universal Secure Access Module U-SAM, which will support three existing standards - Sony's FeliCa, used by DoCoMo since 2004, MIFARE and Java.
ABI Research forecasts limited device shipments in 2009, growing to 300,000 in 2012. The initial trials have used embedded NFC handsets, but Telefonica mentioned that many MNOs would prefer to use SIM-based NFC applications. Contactless SIMs are seen as potentially more secure and flexible, easy to disable when a handset is lost and transfer to a new device during a replacement.

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Identity crisis?

by Alun Lewis at Mobile World Congress
If there's one topic that's guaranteed to get increasingly important over the next few years then it's how individuals expose and share their identities in both the virtual and physical worlds. As far back as 1991, the New Yorker magazine ran a remarkably prescient cartoon showing a dog sitting at a PC with the caption - ‘On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog'.
While the youth market seems to take a typically promiscuous approach to on-line identities, sharing material and information that's inevitably going to haunt them in later life, identity management in its broadest sense is going to be vitally important to the future shape of society as well as to the revenue streams of service providers. So far however, only a few seem aware of this, though some companies are already staking out the ground, ready for an expected surge of interest.
For Doug Daberius, head of identity solution management at Nokia Siemens Networks (who last year acquired subscriber data management specialist Apertio), what began as a simple extension to subscriber data consolidation is now morphing into a potentially critical core function for service providers. "At one end, subscriber identity management is about simplifying the user experience - through single sign-on features, for example. At the other, it's about the service provider becoming a trusted intermediary with all sorts of other Web 2.0 applications and services like permissive advertising. There's also a very strong case to be made that early adoption of an identity management strategy will save considerable operating and capital expense later on as awareness of the importance of identity issues grows amongst the wider population."
Many of these themes are echoed by Amardeo Sarma, a senior manager at NEC's European R&D labs where work on an Identity Brokerage system is underway. "Identity management isn't just about benefitting the privacy of the user - though that's obviously vitally important," he comments. "The world of services out there is getting more complex by the minute with new industries like finance and advertising adding functions and features and traditional boundaries breaking down. As an industry, we have to find appropriate ways to manage this both for the end-user's benefit as well as that of the wider industry."
One of the other important angles on identity is its intimate relationship with policy. Bridgewater Systems used MWC this year to launch its Subscriber Data Broker solution to link policy and subscriber identity information with an increasingly open service environment. David Sharpley, senior VP at the company commented, "Bridgewater's service creation approach to subscriber data management is a major advancement over legacy LDAP-based models that require costly development and integration for each new application. By federating dynamic subscriber data from existing data stores and using sophisticated tools to broker this data to third-party applications, it enables service providers to rapidly create and deliver personalized applications such as mobile advertising."

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Telmap offers operators alternative to Nokia Maps

by Keith Dyer at Mobile World Congress
Operators faced with the threat of Nokia Maps hoovering up potential location-based revenue streams have a tool to fight back with, after Telmap launched an all-new version of its location package.
Telmap CEO Oren Nissim said that the software company had built a new version of the mapping, navigation and location based services software "from scratch". "This is not just a new version of the product, with a few tweaks," he said.
Telmap5 includes new features such as a widget carousel that users can scroll whilst they are within the application. Features such as weather information, nearest retail outlets and other context-aware add-ons can be delivered in a new way, Nissim said. This offers commercial opportunities to operators through sponsorship and advertising, as well as an improved user experience, Telmap claims.
There is also a beefed up search function that delivers location-specific results in a variety of ways. Nissim said the advantage of this is that users can get relevant and targeted results. Telmap and its operator customers will partner with location specific content providers, such as Yell.com and 118 to provide the results, Nissim said. Although that means users would be restricted to search results from these sources, rather than the whole web, the search function was adding to the use case of mobile location, providing a better, more personalized service than before, Nissim said.
"Google Maps has brought that experience of maps, and services, and navigation together," Nissim said. "But its search results deliver a long list, not broken down into categories that add to the quality of experience."
Nissim also claimed that Telmap5 goes beyond the Nokia Maps experience.
"Nokia Maps is really about imitating a full-blown PND experience, and we're just not there any more, we add so much more. Outside of Nokia the handset manufacturers are open to what the operators want," he said, "and we work with the operators to deliver this increased functionality to the device manufacturers."
Telmap uses Navteq to provide the mapping technology, such as points of interest, but says there is no conflict of interest even though Navteq is now owned by Nokia.

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Telecoms go green, think low OPEX

by Svetlana Grant at Mobile World Congress
The MWC was awash with the products and solutions marketed as "sustainable" and "eco-friendly". Altruistic motives aside, the numerous "green" announcements are driven by some pragmatic objectives, such as lowering OPEX for MNOs in both emerging and developed markets, responding to the increased energy efficiency requirements from mobile operators, and addressing growing demand for eco-friendliness of IT products from various stakeholders.
Two major themes emerged at the Congress: the use of renewable sources of energy to power mobile sites and the overall improvements in the energy efficiency of mobile devices and network equipment.
Solutions integrating renewable sources with the base station were demonstrated in the Green Pavilion of MWC by several start-ups, such as PowerOasis, Flexenclosure and Structa Power. A small number of base stations powered by solar, wind and hydro are already installed in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Further commitments to deploy "greener" sites have been voiced by Vodafone and Orange. By the end of 2009, Orange plans to bring the number of solar-powered sites to 1,000 from more than 300 today. The CAPEX for these is 3-4 times higher than for the equivalent diesel-powered sites, but the reduction in OPEX is as high as 80%, justifying longer payback period.
High-volume deployments will bring down the prices and improve the business case. "We expect that 2011 will be the inflexion point for the adoption of renewable sources in the mobile industry," said Juha-Erkki Mäntyniemi, Head of Environmental Affairs at Nokia Siemens Networks. To enable the high-volume turn-key deployment of mobile sites powered by renewables, Alcatel-Lucent announced the new Alternative Energy Program.
In parallel, network vendors announced 3G/4G solutions with self-optimising capabilities, reduced number of network elements, and lowered the power consumption of single RAN base stations and IP packet core equipment. Most of these solutions aim to improve the network efficiency, achieving the green end by different means.

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AdaptiveMobile launches Policy Control Framework

AdaptiveMobile, a provider of mobile subscriber protection for enterprises and individuals, today announced a new set of Policy Control Framework (PCF) solutions, designed to save costs for operators by selectively steering or ‘offloading' traffic on mobile devices as the growth in data traffic increases. The solutions have been developed to work with leading equipment provider solutions, such as Cisco's Network Services Director Platform, to enhance user performance and provide cost control and revenue addition opportunities for operators.
The solution, which is an extension of AdaptiveMobile's PCRF portfolio, that addresses over three million subscribers globally, steers connections through or around infrastructure, according to the device the data is being accessed on. Networks have previously only been architected for mobile handsets, but the mobile data accessed on laptops has a very different data flow. AdaptiveMobile PCF provides operators with a cheaper option to deliver connections to mobile data, whilst also enhancing the user experience through automatic recognition of the type of device being used, e.g. PC images are automatically uncompressed so that they appear clear.
The solution also adds intelligence to the network to recognise when capacity has run out. It automatically starts a dialogue with the subscriber to see if extra capacity is needed, providing additional revenue opportunities for operators.
Simeon Coney, VP Business Development and Strategy, AdaptiveMobile, said: "The fast growth of Netbooks, along with the advancement of handsets, like the iPhone and Blackberry Storm, which move data and multimedia on the web, are putting immense pressure on mobile networks. This coupled with the ease-of-use and low price point for accessing mobile data means that networks are doing something completely different than they did a year ago.
"The volume of mobile traffic is so different now that operators must find better ways of generating revenue through the packaging of bundles and also investment in smarter solutions, that enable them to offer a better service to subscribers, whilst also controlling costs."

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MWC Day 3 News Round-up

Here's our final news round-up from MWC, just the main highlights from yesterday. We're heading back to the UK today, so any further coverage of mobile happenings away from Barcelona will depend to some extent on battery life and the ability to track down a mains socket at the airport, but normal service will be resumed in the morning, and we will have one last report on the winnersof the Globile Mobile Awards in the next half hour or so.
Vodafone and HTC Corporation unveiled HTC Magic Smartphone, Vodafone’s first Android-powered mobile, which will be available in the spring. The handset is exclusive to Vodafone in the UK, Spain, Germany and France (SFR) and available on a non-exclusive basis in Italy. A tablet-style device, the HTC Magic is available in white in the UK, Spain and France, black in Germany and in both colours in Italy. The device will be offered for sale in several other Vodafone markets over the next few months. Available from free on various price plans, the HTC Magic has a 3.2” QVGA touch screen display and features a trackball and navigational buttons.
PacketVideo (PV) announced the commercial availability of its mobile video application for the iPhone, enabling the delivery of operator-branded TV and video services on the device for the first time. The application is available immediately and will be sold via operator distribution. Mobile operators are expected to offer the new iPhone application under their own brands via the Apple App Store, enabling subscribers to view local live television channels and on-demand video clips. PV's first ever commercial application for the iPhone is powered by its CORE software platform that has shipped in more than 320 million mobile phones worldwide. In addition to video streaming and playback capabilities, CORE supports the middleware services needed to deliver live and on-demand content, including support for mobile operator TV services electronic program guide (EPG) information.
deCarta, which supplies software and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, and Appello the supplier of Wisepilot, the online navigation and local search service, announced an agreement with LG Electronics to install navigation and local search services on LG feature phones worldwide. Under the agreement with LG, deCarta will supply the Appello Wisepilot navigation application built on deCarta’s Drill Down Server (DDS). Additionally, the application will be integrated with other mobile services such as geotagging and social networking. Users will also have access to a companion personal web portal, allowing further customisation.The services will be offered initially in over 40 countries, where they will be pre-installed on all feature phones, giving LG users a free 30-day trial period, followed by the option to continue the service under a daily, 6- or 12-month subscription plan.
The GSM Association (GSMA) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a programme that will expand the availability of financial services to millions of people in the developing world through mobile phones. The Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) programme, supported by a $12.5 million (£9 million) grant from the Foundation, will work with mobile operators, banks, microfinance institutions, government and development organizations to encourage the expansion of reliable, affordable mobile financial services to the unbanked.The MMU programme will fund regulatory and market research to help overcome some of the barriers of providing these services, and demonstrate the business case for serving this market. The programme includes a $5 million fund to catalyse a new wave of mobile money innovation, encouraging mobile network operators to create new services for previously unbanked people in emerging markets. The MMU programme will support approximately 20 projects in developing countries, focusing on Africa, Asia and Latin America, with the goal of reaching 20 million previously unbanked people with mobile financial services by 2012.Separately, the GSMA, together with 17 mobile operators and manufacturers, announced their commitment to implementing a cross-industry standard for a universal charger for new mobile phones. The aim of the initiative, led by the GSMA, is to ensure that the mobile industry adopts a common format for mobile phone charger connections and energy-efficient chargers, resulting in an estimated 50% reduction in standby energy consumption, the potential elimination of up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers, and the enhancement of the customer experience by simplifying the charging of mobile phones. The group has set a target that by 2012 a universal charging solution will be widely available in the market worldwide, using Micro-USB as the common universal charging interface.
Anam announced that three “major, global” (though unnamed) mobile operators have signed up to its Smart Services for SMS solution. Anam delivers value-added SMS services which enable global mobile operators to increase their revenues from SMS. The three operators are located in Taiwan, Ireland and Vietnam. Anam’s Smart Services solution includes Messaging+, which adds email-like functionality to SMS, allowing users to forward messages or set up an out-of-office alert; Anti-SPAM, which blocks unwanted messages on the network; Ad-Funded SMS, which inserts ads into text messages to allow operators to increase revenues from advertisers and offer subsidised messaging; Parental Control, which allows parents to block unwelcome messages from their child’s handset; and SMS Money Transfer, which allows users to send money to contacts in their address book, via a standard text message.
Messaging company Acision revealed that it had been awarded a contract for advanced messaging services for 3’s networks in Australia and Austria. Acisions has been tasked with enabling the delivery of enhanced voicemail and videomail services to the networks’ customers.Acision’s IP-based architecture will enable 3’s networks in these countries to reduce the voicemail hardware footprint in its data centres by as much as 90% and provide long term savings, high performance and scalability. It also provides them with further flexibility to easily deploy services such as voice-to-text, celebrity caller greetings, visual voicemail and enhanced voice message notification features.
Mobile marketing and content services technology provider Velti and ad-funded mobile network Blyk revealed that they have partnered to launch the mobile operator’s new content portal – On Blyk. The new service is built primarily on messaging and is now available to all Blyk users in the UK. The new portal acts as a conduit for Blyk members interested in content from relevant brands or lifestyle choices, which the companies claim moves away from the traditional mobile portal business model. On Blyk enables content providers to host their content and then align pricing and promotional activities in line with their objectives. Content spanning areas such as video, chat, wallpapers, games and ringtones are delivered through On Blyk, from established providers including Player X, Saffron Digital and Jumbuck, amongst others.
Scalado, which delivers mobile imaging software solutions, announced that its image technology has been optimized for the Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) OMAP 3 processor-based products – such as mobile phones – running on the Windows Mobile 6.5 platform. By working closely with TI, Scalado has adapted its imaging technology to provide mobile phone users with a broad range of imaging capabilities, including image management, browsing, zooming, panning and handling.Since the introduction of the Zero Shutter Lag technology last year, Scalado and TI have been working closely to optimize Scalado’s CAPS SDK and related modules for TI’s OMAP 3 platform. SpeedView and other Scalado imaging technologies are already included in more than 300 million mobile devices from the top six handset manufacturers.
Mobixell, which provides mobile multimedia and advertising solutions, announced a partnership agreement with mobile and digital advertising company OgilvyOne to deliver end-to-end mobile advertising solutions for mobile operators. OgilvyOne, the global direct and digital unit of The Ogilvy Group, has teamed up with Mobixell to deliver a complete commercial and technological package, which includes advertising, brand management, consumer profiling, campaign planning and execution, ad serving and rich media delivery.
Polaroid unveiled the Polaroid PoGo inkless mobile printer, which enables instant printing of images directly from most phones, almost anywhere. The device uses a Bluetooth or Pictbridge connection to receive pictures and creates full-colour digital photos without the need for ink cartridges or ribbons. The pictures print in less than 60 seconds.
Truphone announced plans for the launch, later this year, of Truphone Local Anywhere, a single-SIM, multi-country mobile service that will make any mobile call within the set of supported countries a local call.Truphone Local Anywhere will deliver low rates on the user’s Truphone plan in any supported country - eliminating the need to maintain separate phones, switch between multiple SIMs or incur expensive roaming charges. The service will also provide savings to people calling Truphone Local Anywhere customers as well. Friends, family or business associates can call whichever number is most convenient to the caller - making every call cost the same as a local call.
Intivation and Freeplay Energy unveiled a solar-powered case for charging the iPhone. The TuffCharge is based on technology from Intivation, that enables users to charge their phone in ordinary daylight conditions. Exposing the case to an hour of sunlight throughout the day will add up to 60 minutes of talk time (or 30 minutes on 3G), or two hours of music playback!
Mobile messaging firm Sybase 365 announced the release of its SMS Locator Service, an intelligent SMS geo-location service, with advanced geographic information, enabling mobile subscribers to request turn-by-turn directions of locations closest to their current position. The SMS Locator Service interface uses natural language software to guide users through the process, providing prompts when necessary and allowing the user to make requests using their own words, by supporting abbreviations, acronyms, nicknames and common misspellings. The company’s mobile banking suite – Sybase mBanking 365, now offers the SMS Locator Service, enabling customers to find their closest bank branch or ATM location.
Digicel Group announced the launch of the Coral-200-Solar, which it describes as “the world’s first ultra-low-cost solar-powered mobile phone”. The Coral-200-Solar, manufactured by ZTE, uses proprietary technology from Dutch-based innovator Intivation, with a solar charger built into the phone.

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Global Mobile Award Winners Revealed

The winners of the 14th Annual Global Mobile Awards were announced last night by the GSM Association (GSMA). More than 450 companies submitted entries for the awards. The winners were as follows:
Best Mobile GameWinner: Gameloft - Real Football 2009Highly Commended: Digital Chocolate - AvaPeeps: FlirtNation
Best Mobile Music or Video ServiceWinner: BBC iPlayer on Mobile
Best Mobile Advertising ServiceWinner: Turkcell - Tonla Kazan
Best Mobile TV ServiceWinner: MobiTV - MobiTV
Best Mobile Enterprise Product or ServiceWinner: Vodafone - Vodafone Global Enterprise Best Mobile Internet ServiceWinner: Nokia - Nokia Sports Tracker Best Mobile Money ServiceWinner: Safaricom and Vodafone - M-PESA Best Mobile Handset or DeviceWinner: INQ - INQ1Highly Commended: Nokia - Nokia E71Highly Commended: T-Mobile - T-Mobile G1
Best Broadcast CommercialWinner: KT Freetel – ‘Show is…’ Best Mobile Brand CampaignWinner: R/GA London - Nokia Urbanista Diaries
Best Use of Mobile for Social and Economic DevelopmentWinner: Nuance Communications - Airtel-T9 India Consumer Vernacular Messaging Campaigns Best Network Technology AdvanceWinner: Nokia Siemens Networks - Flexi Multimode BTS Software defined HSPA/LTE
Best Service Delivery PlatformWinner: NewBay Software - LifeCache Social Networking Solution 2.0
Best Billing & Customer Care SolutionWinner: Expert System - COGITO Answers Best Mobile Technology BreakthroughWinner: RIM - BlackBerry Storm 9500 SurePress Screen The Green Mobile AwardWinner: Smart Communications - Alternative Power for Cell Sites program GSMA's CEO Award for Outstanding Environmental ContributionWinner: Nokia
Government Leadership AwardWinner: The Government of France
GSMA Chairman’s AwardWinner: Research in Motion (RIM)
The EMEA leg and final stage of the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition also took place this week at the Mobile World Congress, where 15 nominees competed in five categories for the chance to pitch their innovative products and services against finalists from the Asia, Americas and Virtual legs of the competition for the title of 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Champion.The winners of this were as follows:
Winner: Cootek, China (Most Innovative Wireless Device-centric Technology)
Global Finalist: Advanced Receiver Technologies, USA
Global Finalist: Intivation, Netherlands
And the five category winners are:
Most Innovative Wireless Device-centric TechnologyIntivation, Netherlands
Most Innovative Carrier Infrastructure or PlatformSunbay, Switzerland Most Innovative Mobile Application in a Vertical MarketWorldMate, USA
Most Innovative Consumer Application or ServiceMobile Nordic AS, Norway
Most Innovative True Mobile Start-UpAdvanced Receiver Technologies, USA
The GSMA’s Mobile Innovation initiative has also launched a new Awards format as part of the 2010 Global Mobile Awards. The Mobile Innovation ‘Grand Prix’ will showcase promising entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized companies developing and introducing innovative products and services that seek industry support in order to achieve market deployment. The first leg of the competition, the EMEA Tournament, will take place at the World Innovation Summit in Barcelona in June. Entry opens on 25 February 2009.There’s more information on the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix here.

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MEF Confidence Index Reveals, er, Confidence

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) has launched the first quarterly Business Confidence Index (BCI) for the global mobile entertainment industry, which it says is worth $32 billion (£22.6 billion). It reveals that the industry is confident it will continue to grow, despite the economic downturn. The respondents, MEF members, predicted an average revenue growth of 27% in 2009.The MEF BCI, compiled in collaboration with KPMG, is the first of its kind, and was undertaken to gauge the confidence of the mobile entertainment industry and to highlight specific trends over time. Every quarter, the MEF will survey its members across the globe. This first Index found that 88% of respondents anticipated that their company’s headcount will grow or remain stable in the next quarter.As well as being optimistic about the growth of the industry as a whole, the MEF BCI identified a number of areas within mobile entertainment which are set to grow throughout 2009. The top five areas of growth were social networking, music, video, games and infotainment When asked whether demand for mobile entertainment consumption would be impacted by the credit crunch, over half of respondents said they saw mobile entertainment as a ‘feelgood’ affordable purchase that would therefore be resilient to the effects of the downturn.The MEF BCI also reveals the spread of mobile entertainment revenues across the globe, with China and Central & South America being seen as hotspots over the next 12 months and respondents predicting growth in excess of 50% in both regions. ‘I believe that the BCI’s positive outlook reflects ROI that our industry expects to see in 2009 and beyond after almost a decade of investment in mobile media,” says MEF Executive Director, Rimma Perelmuter. “With growth anticipated across key segments of the industry, MEF will be working with our members to help them capitalise on new opportunities and address existing bottlenecks presented over the next 12 months.”MEF members were surveyed from across the mobile entertainment value chain, from operators to content owners, billing aggregators and service providers. They were asked a total of 15 questions relating to their confidence in the mobile entertainment value chain. Questions relating to investments plans, revenue, headcount and marketing decisions were asked alongside those about the confidence in different types of mobile content. A report on the findings of the first Business Confidence Index can be accessed by MEF members via the MEF website.

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O2 Wins Eco Award

O2 has become the first UK mobile network operator to be officially certified with the Carbon Trust Standard. The award is recognition of O2’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint and the 15% reduction in energy consumption it has achieved over the past three years. The Carbon Trust Standard is the world’s first carbon award that requires an organisation to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint and make real reductions year-on-year. O2 has implemented a range of initiatives over the past three years to improve energy efficiency. These include a £1.4 million investment in smart metering technology to accurately monitor real-time energy consumption across cell sites, retail premises and offices; the installation of more energy efficiency technology in the O2 network; the replacement of air conditioning units with free cooling fan boxes on certain cell sites; and a reduction in PC monitor standby times. Additionally, a significant internal recycling initiative championed by O2 employees has contributed towards an overall saving of 47,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.“Part of our success can be put down to a realisation that you don’t always need to spend large amounts of money to see energy and carbon improvements,” says Telefónica O2 UK CEO, Ronan Dunne. “For O2, we saw some of our early wins from simple initiatives such as changing heating & cooling patterns in the offices & contact centres and our awareness-raising ‘Flick the Switch’ campaign targeting energy wastage. The results improved our bottom line, without excessive expenditure. Really, it’s all about listening to your people and suppliers, and addressing their needs with minimal energy consumption.”

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E.ON Enjoys Success with Blyk Recruitment Campaign

UK energy company E.ON has used a mobile campaign as part of an apprentice recruitment drive. Recruitment communications consultancy TMP Worldwide devised the campaign, in partnership with E.ON.E.ON apprenticeships offer training for jobs such as electrical and mechanical fitters, overhead linespeople and cable jointers. The scheme attracts mostly male applicants, but E.ON was keen to promote its schemes to wider social groups that reflect the community in which it operates, especially a female demographic. To meet this need, TMP Worldwide approached ad-funded mobile network Blyk. Blyk’s network offers free texts and minutes to 16-24 year olds. In exchange, users receive appropriate advertising based on collected lifestyle information. On 23 December, E.ON sent a targeted Christmas message to young women through Blyk. The message read: “Turn on more than fairy lights this winter. And earn good money while you’re at it. Interested? Yes or No.” Anyone who answered “Yes” received an animated picture message, encouraging them to join an E.ON Apprenticeship. Further information was available by scrolling down, with an option to visit E.ON’s Apprentice website. A follow up HTML email was sent as a reminder, once the application period started. The campaign achieved a 23% positive response rate. Alan Davies, Employer Brand and Attraction Specialist at E.ON, says: “This campaign has got 2009 off to a great start, and demonstrates how we are looking to use technology to target a specific demographic, as part of a wider campaign. TMP’s campaign has already attracted interest from an under-represented group in this area while keeping response costs to a minimum.”

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mKhoj Hires Frisbie from Yahoo! for US Role

mKhoj, the mobile ad network for Asia and Africa, as appointed Anne Frisbie as Head of its North American operations. She joins mKhoj after almost five years at Yahoo! where she served as Vice President of Category and Sales Intelligence, and was charged with leading Yahoo's advertising sales strategy for its most important industries.Her experience prior to Yahoo! includes founding an online shopping service in 1996 that was ultimately funded by CMP Media. She then focused on local search at Zip2 Corporation, where she served as a Director of Publisher Development until it was acquired by AltaVista in 1998. She worked at AltaVista as a Director of Strategic Alliances, and later ran sales and business development for the company until it was sold to Overture. She moved to Yahoo! when it bought Overture.As Head of North America for mKhoj, Frisbie will be responsible for helping US based publishers monetize their mobile inventory in India, South East Asia, Africa and the Middle East and will also help advertisers reach their target audience in these geographies. “The growth of the mobile internet in Asia and Africa is astounding,” says Frisbie. “The strength of mKhoj’s ad network in that region, combined with its strong local expertise, brings tremendous value to our North American partners as they look to grow their sales and consumer acquisition efforts in these ‘mobile-first’ markets."

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Samsung Embeds Shazam in New Handsets

Mobile music discovery provider Shazam has embedded its technology in the Samsung Beat DJ (M7600) and Beat DISC (M6710) handsets announced earlier this week at Mobile World Congress. The phones will initially include Shazam’ ‘Find Similar’ and ‘Find Tag’ features to give customers an even better music experience. The Beat DJ goes on sale in April, the Beat DISC in May. The Find Similar feature uses Shazam’s collaborative filtering technology to offer customers other tracks they might like based on the individual track they’ve just tagged. When an end-user tags a particular track, recommendations are provided for similar tracks, based on the behaviour of more than 35 million other ‘Shazamers’ around the world. Find Tag enables users to trace details of existing tracks on their phone where all or some of the information is missing or incorrect. By selecting a track within the Find Tag feature, the song is analysed and the correct metadata, including title, artist, album and genre, is returned and the information added to the track. Shazam says that Find Tag enables users to fully explore their collection from searching, sorting or creating a playlist by artist or genre to enjoy a deeper engagement with all their music. It adds that the feature does not work on DRM-protected files, that it has to be done one track at a time, and that it cannot replace or overwrite album artwork. “We’ve been working with Samsung for several years and our service has been embedded in many of their handsets,” says Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher. “We’ve worked closely with Samsung to incorporate feedback on how we could build on the existing Find Music service, and these new features for Samsung’s latest handsets offer an even greater music experience for their customers.”

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T-Mobile Top, Orange Bottom in Kaizo Advocacy Index

T-Mobile is rated the number one brand online in the Mobile sector, according to the latest Kaizo Advocacy Index published today. The biannual Kaizo Advocacy Index measures the online reputation of 20 major brands across four sectors. In the Winter ‘09 study, the highest score in the Mobile sector is claimed by T-Mobile (14.6), jointly followed by O2 and Vodafone (12), followed by 3 (8.3) and finally Orange (-0.8).An active presence on Facebook and Twitter has helped T-Mobile take top spot within the Mobile sector, says Kaizo, with posts recommending T-Mobile as the brand with the best deals. Even though the brand is rated number one, its score is reduced by criticism over poor customer service, which Kaizo says is a recurring online theme within the mobile sector. “In the Mobile sector, customers frequently comment and engage online, both positively and negatively,” says Kaizo Managing Director, Rhodri Harries. “Brands need to be extremely active, responding to posts online as well as developing consistent proactive online communications strategies to maintain brand reputation. Getting involved in these conversation will no doubt have a long term benefit, in terms of offline word of mouth and ultimately sales.” In the study, Vodafone generated a large amount of passive chat, suggesting the brand could easily boost its online reputation through more effective social media outreach. Online conversations regarding O2, however, demonstrate more polarised opinions. The brand receives positive comments over its contract deals, however it is criticised for poor communication with its customers. 3’s broadband service stimulated positive chat, but, as with other mobile brands, poor customer service generated negative comments. Orange scored the lowest out of all the mobile brands, with reports of poor customer service dominating online conversations. Kaizo says that the Winter Kaizo Advocacy Index not only demonstrates that the amount of negative online brand chatter is increasing due to issues relating to the economic climate, but also that some brands are taking advantage of the opportunities online to boost their reputation. The introduction in this year’s study of searches on Facebook Groups and Twitter recognises the growing importance of social networks and micro blogs. Overall, Virgin Atlantic, as it has been for the last three studies, remains number one across all sectors (Food, Software, Airlines and Mobile). Brands with the worst scores include BMI, Microsoft, Symantec and Ryanair.

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