Mobile Innovation

Advertising is making its way into the mobile industry, following in the footsteps of mobile marketing, according to a recent IDC study. Mobile operators will have to embrace mobile advertising, which is key in their strategies for the coming years. Mobile advertising does potentially offer a new way to add value to the mobile chain. Operators predominantly rely on customers to generate revenue, and as voice revenues are declining, they are trying to offset this with data, but with adoption taking place at a slower pace, advertising could play an integral part of the revenue mix.

In any case there is an opportunity to monetize content in a way that carriers haven't previously explored, but what is proving to be the biggest headache is how best to introduce adverts over mobile. This is due to the variety of business models, and discovering which one to implement will be a case of trial and error, certainly in the early stages. Whichever one works best will depend on market dynamics and characteristics.

It may also represent an important part of their off-portal strategy and revenue. Off portal is an area that mobile operators are actively seeking to bolster and opening up their portals will facilitate greater opportunities for advertising. They have increasingly opened up their portals and advertising may prove to be another source of revenue. This will naturally complement their on-portal strategy, especially given the introduction of free browsing or flat rate pricing plans. In addition, the operators will be able to offer content sponsored by brands. Content can vary from type of service as well as how it is delivered or the creation of communities such as chat groups.

End users may well accept mobile advertising, provided there is a code that is respected and followed. Users do not want to receive spam but are willing to opt-in provided that ads are targeted, useful, and meaningful to them.

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Posted by Mobile Innovation at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Communication over GPRS and other mobile data connections is quickly becoming a popular and cheap alternative to SMS and BlackBerry's push-email service. Two companies leading the way in the fight for cheaper text and email services are Hotxt and Emblaze.

Hotxt, a company managed by Doug Richard, a former member of the Dragon's Den, lets you send and receive text messages for less than 1p. All you have to do is download a Java application to your mobile phone and subscribe to the Hotxt service for £1 a month.

It works via the Internet, through GPRS or 3G, and you read and write your messages in the Hotxt Java app. The catch is, it's only considerably cheaper if both the sender and the receiver have Hotxt installed on their phones. Plus, instead of getting a normal text notification, you get a missed call, and then you have to access the Hotxt program to read your text. All in all a lot of work, so steer clear if you're not a text maniac.

As long as the person you're sending the message to also has a Hotxt account, then you only pay for the amount of data you send or receive, which according to Hotxt is much cheaper than a normal SMS. You can also send messages that are two and a half times larger than SMS messages -- so texting your housemates at 3 a.m. about why you forgot your keys can become much more creative. If the person you're messaging doesn't have a Hotxt account then you can buy credit and use Hotxt Out, which sends messages via the Hotxt service, but as an SMS, and which the company claims is still cheaper than a normal SMS.

If texting isn't your thing and you yearn for a more refined way of chatting to your buddies, then Embalze's Emoze may tickle your fancy. It's a similar concept to Hotxt, but instead of transferring text messages this program uses the Internet to push emails straight from your email server to your mobile phone.

The Emoze push-email software is free to download, but alas only works on Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 6.0 phones. Emblaze says that it's constantly updating the number of devices and platforms supported by Emoze, but check that your phone is supported before.

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Posted by Mobile Innovation at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)