Airwide helps operators to tap into mobile demand

Airwide Solutions has announced that it can help operators tap into the demand for emerging applications by enabling them to enrich existing applications with network and operator data.
The offerings also provide capabilities for managing the extreme traffic surges that are potentially associated with highly popular applications like mobile social networking.
According to a study conducted on behalf of Airwide Solutions by Direct2Mobile, three-quarters of operators surveyed believe that mobile social networking will play an important role in driving messaging growth, and 75 per cent of the surveyed operators plan to invest in mobile social networking technology over the course of the next 12 months.
With this demand come challenges, including how to monetise the opportunity and support what many operators expect will be extreme traffic surges.
Airwide Solutions' suite of offerings, including Airgate Multimessaging, Airmessenger Router, can help operators benefit from and expand this opportunity by enabling them to enrich mobile social networking applications with network and operator data, like billing and location information as well as subscriber preferences, while better aligning revenue with traffic and protecting the subscriber base.
Operators are the keepers of subscriber data and the billing relationship, and in today's economic environment they are acutely aware that all applications, especially popular ones like mobile social networking, can be enhanced using these assets.
In doing so, operators can increase value for their subscribers and social network partners, ultimately uncovering new and expanded revenue opportunities.
Through the flexible business logic of Airgate Multimessaging, and the deep customisation it offers, operators can expose valuable information and operator capabilities like location and billing to social networking applications.
This allows social networks to provide valuable capabilities for which operators can charge, enabling the development of new and lucrative business models.
Using Airgate Multimessaging, operators can leverage flexible business logic to implement new business models that address these social networking opportunities, as well as kick-start their own internal social networking initiatives.
Airgate Multimessaging enables operators to determine the best business model to suit their needs, for example subscription-based charging, ad-funded models, or any number of blended business models that best suit the specific needs of the operator.
Unlike any other application before it, the high demand for mobile social networking has the potential to cause a significant disconnect between traffic generated and operator revenue.
Airwide enables messaging infrastructure efficiency in order to ensure profitable business models with efficient infrastructure that can manage the volume without becoming a cost drain.
Combining Airgate Multimessaging with Airmessenger Router provides cost savings for operators that are grappling with the traffic surge associated with mobile social networking.
Also, increasingly mobile social networks rely on multiple messaging channels to enhance the user experience.
In addition to supporting SMS posts and status updates, social networks now frequently allow users to employ MMS to upload multimedia content to their network.
The result is typically a multi-channel application - for example, a subscriber may upload an MMS photo, triggering an SMS alert to their entire network of contacts.
To support the resulting growth in both SMS and MMS traffic this generates, using Airgate Multimessaging operators can avoid expensive legacy licensing and hardware costs while taking advantage of a common platform that can optimise the delivery of both SMS and MMS across an operator's messaging infrastructure with advanced functionality like load balancing, throttling, and direct delivery.
Airgate Multimessaging also provides safe and secure connectivity for third-party providers as well as functionality for managing numerous service providers, controlling access to network and service reporting and monitoring.

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MMA membership tops 700 mark

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has revealed that its global membership now exceeds 600 businesses.A total of 725 companies are now part of the organisation, a figure which it expects to increase further over the coming year.Mike Wehrs, president and chief executive of the MMA, stated that retaining these members is one of its "key goals" for the next 12 months.He commented: "It is imperative to demonstrate to members and potential members that guidelines, member services, strategic components and industry development are at the top of our list while we grow this association."Mr Wehr, who became president of the MMA last month, added that this is particularly important during the current economic climate.The organisation said it intends to reinforce its presence across the world throughout 2009, protecting the interests of consumers while the mobile sector continues to evolve.

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Las Vegas casino launches mobile marketing campaign

Visitors to the Rio hotel and casino in Las Vegas are being given the chance to sign up for text updates on their mobile phones.Guests can opt in to receive alerts containing information on what special deals are on offer throughout their stay.Katrina Lane, vice president of channel marketing at Harrah's Entertainment, said this allows Rio to communicate with customers instantaneously in a way which is quick and convenient.She told Review Journal that it would be a better alternative than checking their computer to see if they might have been sent an email."It lets us be more timely with our messages," Ms Lane commented.The text messages will contain information on offers relating to the price of food and drink, as well as possible discounts for shows staged at the venue.According to the GSMA, more than four billion people across the world now use mobile devices.

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MEF study shows optimism in mobile entertainment industry

Companies in the mobile entertainment industry are still optimistic about its potential for future growth, according to a new study.Research by the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) found that confidence in the sector is high, despite the ongoing turmoil in the global economy.Indeed, respondents to the survey believe revenue from mobile entertainment will rise by more than a quarter in 2009.Social networking was highlighted as one of the main drivers of growth in the industry, as more and more mobile internet users are expected to access sites such as Facebook and MySpace through their handsets.Music, video and games were also expected to be in high demand among consumers over the coming months.Rimma Perelmuter, executive director at MEF, commented: "I believe that the positive outlook reflects [the return on investment] that our industry expects to see in 2009."He added that the MEF will be working with its members over the next few months to help them capitalise on various opportunities for growth.

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IPC Media goes mobile to build brand

UK-based publisher IPC Media is moving to strengthen its digital presence by launching a mobile service based on its magazine What's on TV.The magazine has an audited circulation in excess of 1.3 million per issue and also has a website, but the publisher is hoping to further develop the brand and bring in a new income stream via the mobile service.What's on TV mobile will feature free content in the form of the television listings and soap gossip readers would expect to find in the magazine.It will also offer a range of more than 5,000 paid-for downloads, such as games and ringtones, which will be supplied by mobile entertainment developer K2. What's on TV's publishing director Angie O'Farrell predicted that the mobile service would prove to be a useful addition to the brand portfolio. "We have a much-loved and well-established brand and this development further advances What's on TV's presence in the digital space, complementing the successful website," she said.Publishers are increasingly looking at ways to exploit the mobile sector and Newsquest recently launched 148 mobile sites based on its local newspaper portfolio in the UK.

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E.ON enjoys success with mobile marketing campaign

E.ON has revealed that a recruitment campaign which it recently ran on free mobile network Blyk proved to be a real success.The energy supplier teamed up with recruitment advertising specialist TMP Worldwide to design a targeted mobile marketing exercise in order to attract female applicants to its apprenticeship scheme.Blyk, which is funded by advertising, only has customers in the 16-24 age range, making it an ideal place to run adverts for apprentices.A cryptic text message was sent to Blyk's female customers on December 23rd, asking if they were interested in making money.Animated picture messages, complete with links to E.ON's apprenticeship website, were then sent to those who responded.E.ON's employer brand and attraction specialist Alan Davies described the mobile marketing exercise as an effective way of targeting a specific demographic."[The] campaign has already attracted interest from an under-represented group in this area while keeping response costs to a minimum," he said. E.ON, which is the UK's second largest energy generator, offers four-year apprenticeships in a number of engineering disciplines, but has traditionally struggled to attract female applicants for the positions.

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Mobile consumers are 'time rather than money focused'

Consumers have very different priorities when making purchases via mobile phones than when buying online, according to a new Kansas State University study.The academic report, which is published in the International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, concluded that there is still a degree of uncertainty about mobile advertising among consumers.Assistant Professor Esther Swilley, who specialises in e-commerce and mobile marketing trends, explained that many people remain reluctant to receive adverts via text message.She suggested that this is because marketers sometimes find it difficult to identify what sort of products and services would appeal to mobile phone users. "On the internet, people are more money conscious. They want things for free. On a cell phone, they're time conscious. They want things conveniently," said the academic.The types of adverts which may appeal to mobile users are things which would save them time, Ms Swilley added, such as promotions for cafes which enabled them to reply with an advance order. Sandwich chain Subway appears to have already identified some of these trends, as it recently launched a mobile service in New York City which enables customers to order and pay for their food in advance.

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Mobile music revenues to reach $14.6bn by 2013 despite fall in ringtone sales, claims report

A sharp fall in ringtone revenues will be more than offset by growth in full-track downloads, streamed music services and ringback tones, according to a new report from Juniper Research which forecasts that global revenues from mobile music services will reach nearly $14.6bn by 2013.
The Juniper mobile music report found that many of the key hurdles to mass adoption of full-track services have been significantly reduced, notably handset form factor, memory constraints, and (in some markets) a reduction of data costs. It said that these factors, allied to the increasing willingness of the major labels to participate in mobile ventures and the proliferation of user-generated content in the mobile space, were likely to drive push adoption and usage levels still higher.
Much of the recent interest in full-track downloads across the industry has been stimulated by the arrival of the iPhone and its successor, the iPhone 3G, which delivered Juniper's Future Mobile Gold Award for Mobile Music to Apple.
"With the arrival of the iPhone 3G it was clear that Apple was heading for this year's Gold Award", said report author and Future Mobile Awards panel judge, Dr Windsor Holden. "The combination of a handset with a wonderful UI and music player and an easily accessible, user-friendly music store is irresistible."
The Silver Award was given to Shazam, for music technology recognition application Shazam ID. Andrew Fisher, CEO at Shazam said: "It's an honour for Shazam to be acknowledged as a company that has made such a mark in the mobile music industry and this award is testament to the dedication of our team to offer customers the best mobile music discovery experience."
The Juniper Research report includes historical, current and forecast market sizing through to 2013, including data on service usage, user numbers, pricing, user spend and end-user revenues together with scenario-based forecasts of the impact of the economic downturn on mobile music adspend.

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Screen Digest Focuses on Microsoft's Mobile Challenges

Media Analyst Screen Digest has published its latest company report, this one looking at Microsoft. The report, entitled ‘Microsoft's Mobile Challenges’, examines the challenges facing Microsoft in the mobile market.According to Screen Digest research, Nokia, Google, Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple pose potent challenges to Microsoft's mobile ambitions. Microsoft aims to become a reference mobile platform, as it has done so successfully in the PC market with its Windows and Office products. The report notes, however, that today's mobile software market is much more competitive, with powerful players like Nokia and Google maximising deep pockets to drive openness in the mobile operating systems environment. Screen Digest notes that RIM’s Blackberry and Apple's iPhone are enjoying considerable success on the corporate and consumer market respectively, with a vertically integrated hardware/software strategy. In 2008, global Windows Mobile handsets shipments dropped 11% to 18 million units, while Blackberry sales doubled to 22.5 million and Apple sold over 13 million iPhones in its first full year of commercialisation. Screen Digest believes that Microsoft needs mobile to compete with Google on advertising and web services. Google has invested considerable efforts to ensure an open mobile Internet; Microsoft has to be very aggressive if it wants to gain crucial momentum in the defining stages of mobile advertising. The analyst expects 2009 to be a crucial year for Microsoft’s mobile strategy. Synchronisation and backup services, application store and revamped user interfaces must be made available, along with Windows Mobile 6.5, to bear comparison with Android handsets and the iPhone. Windows Mobile 7, expected in 2010, must be Microsoft's big mobile platform push. Screen Digest believes Microsoft plans to unite the platforms currently separately powering media players (currently under the 'Zune' brand) and mobile handsets (Windows Mobile). Microsoft's experience in content distribution with the Zune marketplace and Xbox Live is also expected to push this strategy forward."Offering a unified, compelling and hardware-independent handheld computing experience is crucial for Microsoft to differentiate its fee-based business models from upcoming free, open-source alternatives, and compete with vertically integrated rivals," says Screen Digest Analyst, Julien Theys.

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ICUE Powers Mobile Voting and Download Service

The Galaxy British Book Awards has announced that ICUE will run a mobile download and voting service for the shortlisted books. The service will allow consumers to download sample first chapters for all shortlisted books for free, and to vote for each category via their mobile phone. The initiative also offers increased sales potential for shortlisted titles and additional brand exposure for all Galaxy British Book Award sponsors, when consumers select the ‘Click to Buy’ option. This acts as a virtual shop window for books, providing the opportunity to convert sample chapter downloads directly into book sales. “We are pleased to enter into a partnership with ICUE to run this innovative mobile download and voting service for the Galaxy British Book Award’s shortlisted titles,” says Galaxy British Book Awards Executive Director, Alastair Giles. “The promotion will help achieve our aim of promoting the Awards to a younger audience, whilst offering our sponsors brand exposure and creating a sense of anticipation regarding the announcement of the winner.” This promotion will launch on Tuesday 10 March, to coincide with the unveiling of the Galaxy British Book Award shortlist. ICUE notes that its service works on 80% of mobile phones, but not on BlackBerrys, iPhones or Windows mobile devices. ICUE says that iPhone is currently under discussion and BlackBerry will follow that.

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In game mobile advertising Advergaming company Unkasoft new deals with Zeemote and Mobixell

Posted by Bena Roberts on Feb 23, 2009 8:51
Unkasoft ZeemoteUnkasoft, a leading provider of advergaming and mobile marketing, today announced that it is offering free games via the Gamespace Portal that are also compatible with the popular Zeemote JS1 Wireless Controller. The Zeemote JS1 is the award winning Bluetooth gaming controller.
GameSpace (http://unkasoft.mobi/) provides media companies with an effective way to promote digital content or products and brands to vital segments of the market through games delivered on user’s mobile phones. GameSpace provides a host of benefits to the mobile operator, including an increase in income from content, the potential to widen the number of users by offering content for free, or for preview, and a new income source for back catalogue games. All games on the GameSpace Portal are now compatible with the Zeemote JS1 Controller, enhancing the overall mobile gaming experience for the user.
Unkasoft MobixellUnkiasoft and Mobixell have formed a strategic partnership. Unkasoft will deliver a mobile gaming platform to publishers and third party developers will be able to insert ads, messages and video games.The joint solution enables the dynamic insertion of rich media adverts in games, as part of a unified multi-channel campaign management environment.
What we think?Unkasoft is the dark horse of the mobile gaming world. The small Spanish player is making strong partnerships and making the right deals to ensure growth and strategic success in difficult times.
The Zeemote game controller has also improved considerably (it rocks!) and Mobixell has strong operator connections globally that can also benefit Unkasoft.
Partnerships such as this are vital moving forward.

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Tanla Solutions and Zed announce Joint Venture

Posted by Bena Roberts on Feb 23, 2009 9:08
Tags: Mobile Content, mobile coupons
Tanla Solutions is forming a JV (50:50) with Spanish mobile VAS Zed. Together they will develop and sell mobile content.

The JV is for the Indian market.
What we think?
I am very positive on this. Tanla has made mistakes in the past with spamming people. Zed has never had this type of reputation but it does provide killer content. India is a huge growth market and together they can build a strong solution to engage the enormous Indian market with the right mix of educational and fun content.
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PointRoll interactive rich media ads – half a billion impressions per month

Posted by Bena Roberts on Feb 23, 2009 9:26
Tags: iphone, mobile, mobile advertising, Mobile Content, pointroll
PointRoll, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) and leading provider of rich media advertising announced expanded distribution partners to run its rich media ads on the Apple iPhone. ESPN, AOL’s Platform-A, Millennial Media, and USA TODAY are all featuring PointRoll’s interactive rich media ads, creating over half a billion impressions each month on the iPhone.
From the press release“The growth of our advertising footprint on the iPhone enables leading brands to create interactive and targeted messages that can be served on some of the most popular mobile sites available,” said Jason Tafler, PointRoll CEO.
“As the first mobile ad network to offer PointRoll technology, Millennial Media’s advertising clients can now deliver additional rich mobile formats that are creatively consistent with their online counterparts. The iPhone will also now be a showcase for the newly formed relationship between USA TODAY and Millennial Media,” said Paul Palmieri, President & CEO - Millennial Media.
What we think?I first met Point Roll when they were just launching (see: http://www.gomonews.com/in-a-black-limo-with-iphone-advertising-player-point-roll/)I am glad that the company has landed on its feet in a difficult time. But partnering with Millennial Media is a good start and the ads that we saw at the time were certainly interactive. The iPhone is a great rich media device and interaction is vital for the mobile eco-system so this is all good news.
Of course I would like to know more than just the number of impression and CTR would be great -but I will badger the company about that next time I meet them!

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The Mobile Marketing Chaos Theory at Mobile World Congress

Posted by Bena Roberts on Feb 22, 2009 11:35
Tags: mobile, mobile advertising, mobile marekting, mobile news
I found little ecstasy or excitement sitting in the conference panels at the conference this year. This was not only because of the lack of creativity of the speakers, but also because no one really knew what they were talking about.
Sounds harsh? Good. It is supposed to and hopefully it will help brands and business focus on the message of mobile search, mobile advertising and mobile marketing. Because what we have now is jargon.
People keep spitting out the term mobile advertising as they see a demand and an opportunity in the market. Do they have a core set of products? No.
What I found was the classic “lets find someone to buy this” marketing. What I mean is that I saw lots of meat on new advertising services but when I asked “who is using it?” I was confronted with silence. The plan is to pretend that a strong mobile advertising platform or opportunity is in place and then to get them to pay for development.
To earn the attention of mobile operators you need have more than vapour. Latching on to a new service because of the hype factor is meaningless and unfortunate. But out of the 90 briefings I had – the value was very very hard to find.
So what is this?
This is quite simple it is a Chaos Theory1. Offer everything2. Provide everything3. Promote everything4. Say “yes” to everything5. Air brush keywords such as “advertising, relevancy, marketing, hope and presence” into every third sentence and ……6. ….. fingers crossed you ride the recession with at least one or two deals.
What should have happened?In all honesty. Mobile Advertising is the single biggest opportunity in the market for brands and vendors moving forward. As operators and consumers become cost conscious brand and agencies and mobile marketers should have been focusing on education.
So many people have no idea what the difference is between: CTR, CPM and C2C. It takes one minute to explain what you mean. Not being big headed and by simply guiding potential clients through jargon so that they can succeed in the new media marketing space is the secret recipe of success.

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Porsche mobile effort outperforms online display ads

By Giselle Abramovich
February 16, 2009

Porsche's mobile WAP site
Luxury automaker Porsche used mobile as part of a bigger, multichannel campaign to promote its luxury vehicles as affordable.
Porsche’s “I Can” campaign targeted mobile consumers on Weather.com and Yahoo and encouraged consumers to click on banner ads that said, “You can own one, click to see how” and “Can you afford a Porsche? Just say 'I can.'” The four-month-long mobile initiative is said to have outperformed Porsche's broader campaign.
“The overall strategy was to emphasize the affordability of Porsche products to people who didn’t think this car brand was in their reach,” said David Katz, vice president of mobile advertising and publisher services at Yahoo, Sunnyvale, CA. “Porsche was trying to touch buyers on the go.” When consumers clicked-through, they arrived at the campaign’s WAP site at http://m.porscheusa.com. There they could view Porsche models and prices and click to call a dealer.
Porsche found that consumers clicked mostly over the weekend while out shopping or test-driving vehicles.

Otto mobile
The carmaker thought mobile would be a good fit because its buyers can be classified as technologically savvy.
"The objective of the 'I Can' campaign was to address misperceptions about the price of a Porsche and break down barriers to consideration," said Brian Mandelbaum, vice president and interactive group media director at Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago.
Cramer-Krasselt is Porsche’s ad agency.
The campaign was inspired by company research that shows that the majority of consumers believe that the car's price tag and ownership costs were higher than they really were.
The mobile initiative delivered 22 percent of the campaign’s overall digital traffic and the click-through rate was six times better than Porsche’s online display advertising.
Mobile generated three times the volume to Porsche's call center than online and twice as many dealer look-ups.
The mobile site’s number of visitors was 40 percent higher than those to the online site, it was also claimed.
Porsche used Yahoo behavioral targeting tools to serve ads to smartphone users whose Web-surfing behavior implied they were looking for coupes, sport utility vehicles or luxury cars.
The carmaker plans to relaunch the mobile campaign in the spring to promote the March debut of the new Cayman and Boxster models.
"Cramer-Krasselt developed an engagement strategy from the perspective of the active consumer, facilitating one-on-one dialogue through mobile," Mr. Mandelbaum said. "Not only are Porsche customers generally tech-savvy and connected, but from a lifestyle perspective, mobile is an ideal way to engage them.
"Porsche is all about front-of-foot engagement," he said. "The Porsche consumer is not someone who just plops on the couch and watches TV or curls up with a magazine everyday. They are far more active and demand more immediate access to information."
Porsche isn’t the only big brand that has seen results running ads on Yahoo’s mobile properties.
Visa wanted a multi-screen approach to promote its tie-in with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Visa ran banner ads on Yahoo’s Mobile Olympic site. Ultimately, the goal of the campaign was to drive traffic to Visa’s mobile site at http://visa.mobi/goworld and engage users with a rich mobile experience through background stories on featured athletes.
Focus with a mobile marketing effort is key, as Yahoo tells advertisers.
“What I liked about this campaign is that Porsche came in with a clear objective and was really pushing affordability,” Yahoo's Mr. Katz said. “We thought they had simple, yet relevant mobile experiences.”
“Porsche really took advantage of mobile in good ways and they made use of our Yahoo behavioral targeting tools,” he said.

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