Monday, December 29, 2008

Mobile phone users are on the rise

According to comScore, there are 228 million mobile phone users, and data plan subscriptions are on the rise. Subscriptions are up 37% from last year, with 37.8 million users now subscribing to data plans. Unlimited data plans, those without restrictions to Internet access, account for nearly all of that growth, rising 47.4% from 2007.

But what about local search
People in the mobile industry predict smartphones will dominate by 2014. But what will happen in the interim with mobile local search?
Like other advertising supported services, free directory assistance services offer callers a toll-free number to reach an automated system. They then can ask for a particular business or ask for business recommendations by a location in a city. At the outset, the system plays an advertisement, and there can be other ads later in the call. The system can also provide details to the caller’s wireless phone via text messages.

For those trying to reach mobile users who haven’t upgraded to smartphones, marketing with free directory assistance seems the smart way to go.

Friday, December 26, 2008

What about Google Android in 2009

There will be several mobile devices that run the Google Android operating system.
Android is currently only available on the G1 for T-Mobile, but that will change soon. By the end of 2009, we’ll see more manufacturers using Android on their devices, including Motorola and Samsung. In addition to the G1, HTC will be launching more units that run the operating system in 2009.
The Open Handset Alliance will grow, and more companies will promise to have devices running the open source operating system. The hype around Android will fuel development, and make the Android Marketplace successful.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Advertising on mobile phones seems to be getting through, at last.

MARKETERS have often claimed that mobile advertising is taking off. But this time they could be right. Global numbers are hard to come by, but a leading mobile-advertising firm, AdMob, says the number of advertisements it has delivered worldwide has tripled, and this because many of the obstacles that have held mobile advertising back are going away.



Apple’s iPhone, Google’s G1 and the BlackBerry Storm have solved this problem. They have touch-screens large enough to display the web properly—and advertisements, too.
Faster networks and lower rates also help. Having to wait for an advert to download, while being charged for the privilege, was unlikely to inspire warm feelings about the product being advertised. But with download speeds increasing and flat-rate “all you can eat” data plans, mobile services and applications are becoming more popular—and, increasingly, funded by advertising.

Perhaps most importantly, marketers are starting to work out which types of advertising work on mobile phones. Simple text-messages and banner adverts still dominate, but a more interesting idea is to spread the word using several channels. Amobee, a start-up, allows customers to insert adverts not just into text messages and mobile-internet sites, but also into games and other programs that run on handsets.
Advertising on mobile phones, like that on social-networking sites, presents risk and opportunity. The risk is that it can seem intrusive, since it appears in an intensely personal context. But that is also what makes it so attractive to advertisers—provided they can target their audience without seeming insensitive.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Get AdWords campaign into G1 and iPhone

G1 and iPhone ads have many of the same benefits as standard mobile-format ads, such as allowing you to deliver mobile-specific calls-to-action and reaching your audience when they're on the go. Showing ads on the G1 and iPhone also has additional advantages for your advertising. Users are performing a lot of searches on these devices, and searches are likely to go up during the holiday season. Last Christmas, the iPhone drove more traffic to Google.com worldwide than any other mobile platform.

Read more on Google's mobile blog

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Flickr adds mobile video-sharing features



Flickr has "radically overhauled" their mobile video-sharing features in an effort to make the popular video and photo sharing site more easy to use on your phone.

The completely "revamped" m.flickr.com is currently available to users of the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch but will soon be available to any smartphone using Firefox or Opera mobile browsers.

Flickr mobile is still being developed for Nokia N series owners as well as phones using the Android operating platform.