India Mobiles

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that South Korean operator SK Telecom is moving forward with a $343 million proposal to acquire a minority stake (49%) in Hana Financial Group’s credit card unit. If finalized, the partnership could engender a host of new and combined products fusing together both banking and telecom services. In recent months, SK Telecom, in fact, has been preparing for the forthcoming introduction of a “mobile credit card” that will allow subscribers to enact and complete transactions or similar purchases via a wireless device or through personal banking information. Evidently, the deal now on the table would focus on the ultimate goal of cultivating and promoting the “proliferation of mobile credit cards” and to develop futuristic, next-generation payment models and mechanisms.

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New Payment Tools Born of SK Telecom and Hana Deal?

Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the advertising group WPP, predicts a slow growth in the upcoming year for the advertising industry, but sees great potential in mobile advertising and marketing in the coming years, most notably in countries like China and India where mobile usage is exploding. A recent study from Magna, part of Interpublic Group, predicted “mobile marketing, well beyond advertising, will likely hold the most promise for… commercial activation going forward.” In response to this, chief executive of WPP Group, Sir Martin Sorrell, told the Media Group that mobile advertising and marketing has a “lot of potential and power,” especially in countries like India and China. The fact that Google is chasing after this market, with its recent purchase of AdMob and other plays in space, prove that the reports are on to something. Google’s moves fuel Sorrell’s belief that the mobile advertising and marketing industries are in infancy now, and bound to take off

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WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell Sees Big Growth in Mobile Marketing

Lowering the cost of expensive mobile marketing features for small businesses is key in the growth of the mobile marketing industry in the US. One company looking to do this is InvolveMobile , which late last week launched its integrated mobile marketing platform in the US. Priced at $45 per month for small businesses, the Software-as-a-Service technology allows clients to set up interactive text message and mobile campaigns from a browser and send them to mobile phones on any carrier.

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InvolveMobile Launches SaaS Small Business Mobile Marketing Platform

Those of us consumed in the world of mobile marketing and its subsequent topics tend to easily forget about the backbone of the mobile industry- the wireless companies themselves.  While they exist with a tremendous amount of regulation, the FCC and other government organizations are flooded with consumer complaints and internal inquiries each and every year. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has taken notice of the problem and called on the FCC to not only increase oversight of the entire wireless industry, but to do a better job of enforcing consumer protection rules as well

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Government Calls On FCC To Keep Closer Eye On The Wireless Industry

Elvis may be gone, but he certainly isn’t forgotten. On the perennial list of top celebrity earners who just happen to be dead, Elvis Presley remains both a hot brand and lucrative industry – a veritable business of music, merchandise, and memorabilia that continues to drive revenue for the many employed by all things Elvis. It’s no wonder then that Elvis has finally arrived in the world of mobile marketing. To commemorate a series of events honoring the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth next month, Elvis Presley Enterprises is preparing to launch a free Elvis Mobile app for Apple’s iPhone and iTouch.

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Elvis Presley Goes Mobile

Want a free Slurpee with that? This month, about 200 7-Eleven stores in San Diego are testing a GMR Marketing campaign where users can get free drinks using UBC bar codes. For customers without Internet access on their mobile phones, the coupon can be redeemed with a numeric code. The test, which will run through Dec 31, asks consumers to send a text with the word “FAST” (or fast in Spanish, “RAPIDO”) to “72579.” In return, they will receive a message for a free beverage at 7-Eleven stores.

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7-Eleven Tries Out Mobile Marketing with Free Drinks

The Federal Trade Commission has set its sights set on Google. According to the Wall Street Journal this week, the FTC is looking into Google’s proposed $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising network AdMob. Although many expected the mega-deal to provoke at least some attention from the FTC it seems unlikely at this time that any steps or actions will be taken to preclude the acquisition from actually taking place. No names affiliated with either Google or the FTC were directly sourced in the article to provide inside details. According to a representative for Google, the “investigation” is presented as routine protocol.

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Google’s AdMob Acquisition Eyed By FTC

Google has begun a massive mobile marketing campaign surrounding Place Pages, the small pages that display info for local  businesses on Google Maps.  What’s interesting is that the centerpiece for the campaign is the use of QR-Codes. Google is starting things off by sending QR-code decals to some 190,000 local businesses across the US.  Google determined the most searched for and most clicked local Place Pages for the initial run, though a full release is imminent

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Google Starts Pushing Local QR-Codes For Business Listings, Will It Pay Off?

In regards to why Verizon decided to block 4INFO text messages from one of its short codes, it’s come to light that the dispute is over ads being placed in 4INFO’s SMS messages, not per-message fees as we had previously speculated . I had a chance to speak with Zaw Thet, CEO of 4INFO, who stated that Verizon had made requests prior to Friday’s blockage in regards to the advertising attached to 4INFO’s messages via its 44636 short code, and that he believed compliance with their terms had been met.  Obviously, Verizon saw it otherwise. “We can’t comment on any part of this dispute other than that we believe that we complied with the Verizon requests, regarding our SMS advertising on 44636, in a timely manner, explained Thet

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Update: Verizon Blocked 4INFO’s Shortcode Over Ads Attached To Its SMS Messages

There’s a lot of opportunities in regards to mobile marketing these days, but many new-age methods rely on the hope that most of the target audience is equipped with smartphones.  Unfortunately, as most marketers know, that’s simply not a reality. HipLogic, a unique startup previously known as Numobiq, has the simple intention of bringing smartphone-like features and capabilities to simple feature phones, or mass market devices.  Put simply, the company’s platform is designed to bring sophisticated applications to the simplest cell phones by keeping all the complexity in the network.  In theory, HipLogic wants to bring the quick, easy interface of the iPhone, Android and Blackberry to more simple-in-nature and lightweight phones that are available for the mass market. By keeping the heavy-lifting in the background, HipLogic’s platform allows users to toggle on a more iPhone-like interface that can bring with it more smartphone-like content such as real-time data, social networking and apps.  It’s all accomplished via a free mobile app that connects the device to HipLogic’s behind-the-scenes technology that incorporates a lightweight JavaScript virtual machine connected to the cloud.  That virtual machine can then aggregate information from network operators and the Web to create mash-ups on the device

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HipLogic Brings Smartphone Tech To Simple, Mass Market Feature Phones

I am so honored to be included on Mobile Marketer’s Mobile Women to Watch List for 2010 . It is so exciting to be listed with other “achievers who have already left their stamp on mobile marketing.” There are some seriously awesome women on this list, like Laura Marriott , who is the Former President of the Mobile Marketing Association, and Tamara Gruber of Crisp Wireless who is one of my long-time mobile women friends and super smart marketer. I’ll let you read the entire list on your own, but want to leave with a couple of the quotes I especially liked: “In mobile, you need to keep an eye on the future and a foot grounded in the present” ALLISON MOONEY Vice president of emerging trends, Omnicom’s MobileBehavior “We need to connect with women in other industries who want to be where the action really is today in marketing” LYNN TORNABENE Chief marketing officer, Quattro Wireless “Currently 0.8 percent of email newsletters are optimized for mobile, yet 20 to 30 percent of folks are checking their email on mobile devices” DEBORAH HALL CEO, Web2Mobile See the Mobile Woman to Watch 2010 list at Mobile Marketer

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Kim Dushinski Named on Mobile Women to Watch 2010

NeoMedia Technologies, Inc., a well-known force in mobile barcode scanning solutions, has revealed a partnership with Sony Ericsson that will preload NeoMedia’s NeoReader barcode scanning application in Sony Ericsson mobile phones. According to the announcement from from NeoMedia, the NeoReader will be pre-installed across all Sony Ericsson platforms. Robert Westin, Business Development Manager at Sony Ericsson, says: “We see great potential in the 2D barcode market and support NeoMedia’s strategy to promote and drive the open 2D barcode standards.” With new evidence mounting by the day that the marketplace is eager and ready for 2D barcodes, Sony Ericsson now appears equally willing and ready to explore the potential of new technologies increasingly utilized by an expansive assortment of retail outlets and brands. To prevent users from needing multiple barcode readers, the NeoReader is a universal barcode scanning application that reads all standard 1D and 2D barcode symbologies, including QR, Data Matrix, Aztec, UPC and EAN.

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NeoMedia Barcode Scanning App Gets Pre-Loaded

The concept of augmented reality (AR) is still very much in its infancy, but the opportunities it presents in the areas of mobile marketing, commerce and gaming is more than plentiful.  How far have we come in bringing AR to fruition and what does the future hold for the concept? A new report from Juniper Research projects the technology combining the physical world with virtual imagery and information will generate only $2 million in revenue next year, but the projection is set to increase dramatically to nearly $714 million by 2014.  By then, most of that revenue will be derived from things like  paid application downloads, subscription-based services and advertising, according to Juniper

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The Future Of Mobile Augmented Reality

Baidu, the Chinese search engine equivalent of Google, is taking aim at their US competitor by directly targeting Google with a new mobile search application that, according to multiple published reports, will begin turning up pre-installed on mobile phones. For now, Baidu will only say that the much-hyped search will start shipping “sometime in 2010.” If you’re wondering which mobile devices will carry the app, your guess is as good as anyone’s. Baidu is still ironing out details with yet-to-be named device manufacturers

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Baidu Targets Google with New Search Engine App

Looking at the data of Black Friday purchases over mobile phones, one would wonder if we’re recovering from a deep recession. On Black Friday 2009, mobile online payments through PayPal were up nearly 650 percent year-over-year, according to the eBay-owned payment company, in data reviewed by Dow Jones . The data was compiled from eBay’s PayPal and TheFind.com, a product search engine. Searches from mobile devices increased from about 5,000 on Black Friday 2008 to about 200,000 this year according to product search engine TheFind.com.

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Black Friday Sees Mobile Shopping Explosion

The musical Avenue Q might want to update it’s lyrics to “The Mobile Phone is for Porn.” While Apple has avoided allowing a porn store on its iPhone, Google’s Android device won’t judge. Called MiKandi , the world’s first adult-only app store was recently launched for Android devices. In the porn-only store, users can search a range of free and paid applications. Users can post reviews and join discussions. What does adult videos have to do with mobile marketing

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Should Porn Be Apple’s Biggest Fear?

This does not have to be a long post, I just wanted to set the record straight once and for all. There is a difference between “Mobile Marketing” and “Mobile Advertising”. A lot of times you will read an article about a successful mobile marketing campaign and it has to do with mobile advertising, I suggest you try and set the author straight. Its important we are all talking the same language.

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What’s the difference between mobile marketing and mobile advertising?

Email marketing has been a useful tool for a long time, and even though mobile is a new-age channel for marketing, the same strategies and optimization used for email campaigns can – and should – be implemented in mobile campaigns as well. There was an interesting article on Marketing Vox recently that talked about SMB’s increased interest in email marketing, citing several surveys showing that nearly three-fourths of all SMBs plan to implement email marketing due to its high ROI.  A recent report from the DMA states the average ROI for email campaigns is $43.62 for every dollar spent, and that it remains a top marketing medium for it’s low cost and high ROI. The article also listed several tips for email marketers, including priorities such as targeting and relevance, which seem to mirror the tips and strategies necessary for successful mobile marketing as well.  Advertising to email and mobile devices is very similar in nature, especially if you’re comparing email and SMS marketing

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Applying Email Strategies To Mobile Marketing

There’s been a lot of speculation as to what plans Google has for AdMob, and why it spent such a large chunk of change to acquire it .  While it’s obviously interested in it’s broad mobile reach in terms of advertising, Google likely had its eye on something else only AdMob has- all that iPhone user-data. With the onslaught of smartphones in recent years, the complexity has increased dramatically and so has the advertising targeted to them.  AdMob spearheaded the movement to focus on creating unique ways to market to smartphone users, and particularly iPhone users – one of the most advanced and widely-used smartphones around.

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Google Wanted AdMob’s iPhone User-Data

Over at VentureBeat, Mobclix writer Megan Berry poses the question “does your business have a plan for mobile?” She provides some solid advice for any marketer or company looking to test out the mobile waters. Berry writes that you don’t need to go “charging in” to develop your own iPhone app to get the benefits of mobile marketing. Her recommendations for getting into the mobile boom are as follows: 1. Mobile Advertising and Marketing With mobile advertising networks and exchanges offering highly accurate targeting for mobile campaigns, this provides an unprecedented opportunity for you to reach your customers with as little as one ad buy.

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How to Take Advantage of Mobile Marketing

Google is on a mobile-ad buying frenzy. Earlier this week, the search giant announced that it acquired Teracent , a display ad company focused on creating customized display ads in real-time. The move comes just two weeks after Google announced its $750M acquisition of mobile marketing company AdMob and Teracent’s San Mateo, CA neighbor. Teracent’s technology uses machine learning algorithms to customize the ads with the option of thousands of creative elements.

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Google Acquires Teracent for Real-Time Mobile Ad Customization