Thursday, June 30, 2005

T-Mobile Offers Mobile Google

A few things I don't understand. Do mobile users really not know how to set their own homepage on their mobile?

Does T-Mobile think that www.google.com on your mobile is that good or relevant?
Have they ever tried doing a mobile search using Google?

Search on your phone is NOTHING like search on your PC, it's navigation. If Google and the other search engines looked at the queries they get from a mobile versus a PC, they would create a better mobile mousetrap. Take a clue from the SMS search companies and what they are starting to offer, THAT'S what mobile search should be.

T-Mobile should create a simple almost SMS like search app for their mobile homepage, so people could get used to the mobile in a different manner than the PC.


From NetImperative.com T-Mobile teams up w/ Google to open up mobile Internet.

T-Mobile has announced it will use the Google homepage as the entry page for its mobile Internet service, in a bid to encourage more of its users to log on to the Web via their mobiles

Ulli Gritzuhn, T-Mobile board member, said: "With the Google homepage we want tell our customers from the first moment that they are carrying with them the Internet they know from home.” They still don't get it.

If U Can't Beat Em, Annoy The Hell Out Of Em

Under the category of "Me Too!".

Microsoft tries to catch Google in search wars by buying a what?


The company that Microsoft has pursued is controversial: Claria, an adware marketer formerly called Gator, and best known for its pop-up ads and software that tracks people visiting Web sites. The Gator adware has frequently been denounced by privacy advocates for its intrusiveness.

Yes, just when you thought those annoying pop-up ad days were over, Microsoft feels they have value.

All of the latest toolbars are newly introduced browsers have made it a key selling point that they block pop-up ads.

I was just talking about how Google is becoming THE WEB ANALYTICS COMPANY for the digital Internet and now Microsoft is trying a backdoor method way.

Have You Ever Looked At Google This Way?

I have been reading a fair amount of articles about Google’s stock price. Is it a bubble, is it undervalued, and what price “target” should be put on it. I have no idea and I really don’t care.

What I have realized is what type of information Google gets every day and I don’t know WHAT kind of value you can put on that. I also wonder why the privacy groups haven't squawked more about this.

Google is becoming more like a portal every day. It is a central location where many services are offered, in spite of what the “do no evil” people say. With that concept comes more Internet traffic. The more focal, the more information. But did you ever stop to think what Google is doing or really becoming?

I would say Google is THE Sociologist of the Internet…. HUH?

Every day you use one of Google’s services, you are telling them more about your interests/habits/patterns by your queries. Every keyword you put into the search bar, every news item you click on and every SMS request you make. Think about that.

YOUR behavior can be measured could be predicted by all of their servers and some software algorithms.

Not only is Google the advertising powerhouse for the "digital Internet", they are becoming THE WEB ANALYTICS company for the digital Internet too. Notice I said "digital Internet", the physical world Internet will have a completely different analytical tool.

That my friends has more value than any pay-per-click statistic.

So when I hear these “analysts” give price targets on TV for Google stock, I listen to see if they really “get it”. Cost per click, online advertising and Internet traffic are the stats I hear regurgitated. There’s also the issue of click fraud and that search is just an advertising commodity.

For right now, Google is numero uno. The more services they introduce, the more of a portal they will become, and the advertising dollars will follow. It's self fulfilling.

When you think about how much is spent on ALL forms of advertising, the database that Google has compiled/is compiling with YOUR interests and habits, I don’t really know how you can value something as big as that.

Thoughts, comments?

Good Mobile Marketing Will Not Be Spam

This is a great story but the title is misleading. Spam is something that is unsolicited(without permission). In every campaign that is mentioned in the article, the user GIVES THE BRAND PERMISSION to market to him. Calling this spam is inaccurate.

Another thing to consider. These examples show more games/prizes like interaction. When people get used to using the phone as a browser, the barcode or shortcode will deliver information about the product as well.

From RedHerring.com Is Cell Phone Spam A Reality?

It's a lengthy read and I highlighted the sentences of interest to me.

Brand-name companies have caught on to the interactive power of mobile phone marketing

Starting this month, Coke drinkers in Germany can use their cell phones to text message codes found under the caps of 800 million bottles created for the campaign this year. In return, Coca-Cola, with the help of mobile marketing company 12snap, will reply with a java-based cell phone game branded heavily with Coke’s logo.

Eventually, the distinctions between the fixed Internet and mobile models will blur. Any kind of ad you encounter on the Internet will be available over mobile.”
-Farid Yunus, Yankee Group

In Western Europe, London-based Flytxt recently offered what the company calls “the first video advertising campaign on the mobile portal.” Over the carrier 3’s service, subscribers can download a 30-second movie trailer clip to preview the film

Unlike Japan, South Korea, and Western Europe, most countries do not maintain the third-generation (3G) cellular infrastructure to carry the rich-media mobile marketing services But because of the low cost of simple text message campaigns—which can cost less than $0.01 per message—combined with the massive population size of emerging markets like China and India, big-name brands have started to look toward developing markets. (This is why searching using SMS imo will be big)

Enpocket, a New York City-based mobile content company with clients like Nike, Levi’s, and Intel, says that its biggest growth markets are India, China, Brazil, and Russia, along with the United States

12Snap will likely open an office in China sometime this year

According to Empower Interactive, a London-based company that provides data services to operators, 84 percent of European wireless users are open to the prospect of receiving SMS-promotions on their cell phones

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Physical World Connection Companies..Connecting A Mobile Phone With A Physical Object


When a display was added to the first mobile phone, a new media was created. Since then, Internet connection and a camera have been added that have created a new way to interact with the physical world.

Soon speech recognition will allow an additional way to browse the physical world too.

Every physical object will have a physical world hyperlink

That means every physical object will allow connection to a designated website and the mobile phone with it's physical world browser will be able to surf the "real world", the physical one.

I think you find THE NEXT GOOGLE in here.

Your ad could be here.

MOBILE BAR CODE COMPANIES

23half and their Thrrum Visual Browser
3GVision
5o9 Inc
Abaxia and their MobileTag
ABBYY
Active Print (Hewlett-Packard)
ActiveSymbols
Aeritas
Airclic
AlpsLab
Applied Digital Solutions and their VeriChip
Aura Interactive
Baracoda
BaToo
BeeTagg
BluePulse
BrandAttention
CamClic
[COD]mmunication
ColorZip Media
ConvergeLabs
CounterFight
DSPV
Daem Interactive
Denim Code
DiMoCo
Digimarc
Domino Solutions
Ecrio
Elcode
Evolution ViPR
Evryx
Exbiblio
G2Tactics
Gavitec
GenTag
GeoVector
GMedia
Google 2D Code
Google Voice
Hitachi
HookCode
Hypertag
Iconlab
Infokall
Innofone
Intelcom
Intellareturn's Append
Intrasonics
JagTag
Jaxo and their BarShow application
Kameleon
KoolTag
L.G. Electronics
Liquid Information
Luna Development
MBarc
M-Bar-Go
Matrix Solutions
MediaSeek
Mobicode
MobileAMA
Mobile Assets Corp
Hewlett Packard'sMobile Bristol
Mobile Discovery
Mobile Tag
Mobile2Win
MobilRelay
MobiMarketing
Mobot
Mobiqa
MyBestPrice
MyClick
MyMobileCast.com
Mytago
MyThum Interactive
NetInformer
Nextcode
Neven Vision
NewFound
NPCTelecom
nThrum
Nuance
Ontela
Kooaba and ooLink
OP3 and ShotCode
Opera
PaperDisk
PixeCode
PriceNoia
Psiloc
QuickMark
QMCODES
RealEyes 3D
Riya
SCANBUY
Scansoft/SpeechWorks
Secure Symbology
Semacode
Semapedia
Sintef
Skuair
SmartPox
SnapTell
Socket
SpyderLynk
SwiftPass
Tagit
TellMe
Trillcode
Tripletail Ventures and their VideoBarcode
Veritec
Tivik
Visual Magic
Vocalocity
VoiceGenie
VoxSurf
w3 Logistics Handyscan
Wappple
WideRay
Xerox
Xobile's Leapscan
XXTreme Measures
ZapCode
ZapLinks

List is not complete due to some companies wishing to remain private about their applications


If your company is not included, please send an email and I will be happy to include in this category.


Wouldn't your ad look good here?

SMS Player Neustar Prices Its IPO

SMS Player Neustar prices its initial public offering

Neustar manages the authoritative directories for the .us and .biz Internet domains, as well as for Common Short Codes, part of the short messaging service relied upon by the US wireless industry. These databases require that there be one authoritative source for the information in these databases

I think SMS will be the key component for mobile search for some time .

A list of the SMS companies

Outdoor Ads Using SMS

Makes a lot of sense. All that space, why not make them interactive,

From NewMediaAge.com Kinetic puts mobile focus onto outdoor ads


WPP outdoor ad company Kinetic Worldwide has embarked on an education drive to persuade clients to begin including mobile shortcodes as standard on outdoor advertising.

The company's digital agency, OneZeroOne, is leading the drive to convince clients that mobile shortcodes are a far more powerful method of communication than URLs.

"We're starting with areas where people spend a lot of time, such as train stations," said OneZeroOne's head Chris O'Connell. "Here the chance of getting out an Internet-enabled device is small, which is why shortcodes are very effective, as they let people text in for more information or to receive a WAP Push message."

Heres a list of the SMS companies

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Investor's Business Daily Goes Mobile

Want to spot stocks moving up on unusual volume?

Want to check an IBD rating for your stock?

Now you can on your mobile phone.

IBD Mobile


For each listed stock, you get:

Current Price (20 min. delay)
Price change
Volume % Change
Mobile Stock Checkup (from the previous day's market close

Could you offer a real-time quote service too? Maybe you could include a news alert feature for your favorite stocks

SMS Short Messaging Service Companies

What is a short message service or SMS? Otherwise called "short codes", SMS can be defined

To register a short code, Europeans click Here

THE COMPANIES

2SMS
21 Communications
3United
411 Song
4INFO
82Ask.com
A-Tono
Active Media Tech
Ads2Cell
Aglaya
Air2Web
American IDC
ASPSMS
AutoPage
Axontek
Bango.net
BlueBlitz
Brand2Hand
Breathe Communications
Capitext
Cardboard Fish
China Mobility Solutions
Clear Sky Media
Clickatell
CLXLLC
Connection Software
Coruscant
Dada Mobile
Derdack
Dialogue
DreamTXT
E-Spectations
Enpocket
Esendex
Flytxt
General Wireless
Go2.com
Google
House4Cell
Hay Systems
Image Habitat
Impactmobile
Incode
Info2cell
ipipi
ipsh!
Issuebits
Itagg.com
Keytxt
Kapow
Kinetic
Legion One
m-Qube
M Channel
M:Science
Mass Media Studios
Mauj
MarineCall
Mblox
Media2Win
Media Burst
Mkodo
Mobile 365
Mobilereact
Mobiltek
Mobliss
Mozat
MySMSaddress
MythumInteractive
MX Telecom
N5R
NetPace
NetpiperSMS
NetSize
Northwest Nevada Telco
Neustar
Opera Telecom
Opt-It
PageOne
Pocket Reach
PhoneFlyer
PhoneNumbers4U
PlaYtXt
PocketThis
PrompTXT
PropTXT
Proxito
Puca
Q Tags
Quios
Redcoal
RedRock
Retrieval Dynamics Corp
Roaming Messenger
Shazam
Skymo
SimPill
ScoreConnex
SimpleWire
SmarterSMS
SMS.ac
SMSMG.com
SMSPup
http://www.smsactive.com/
Sofia Digital
Synfonic
Tekelec
TeleCommunication Systems
Textin2win
Text Suite
Timesten Oracle just acquired.
Trade Doubler
Travertine Entertainment
Tribal Internet
Txt Nation
TynTec
Upoc
Upside Wireless
UpSnap
ValueFirst
Vazu
Vindigo
Voice Signal
WapMe
WapOnline
Waymobile
WeatherCall
Wiggle Wireless
Wireless Information Network
Xiam
Yell.com
Zed
ZeeWee
Zim

If your company is not included, or know of one I missed, please email me and I will include.

If your company is listed and want to advertise on this page, email me.

OP3's Updates ShotCode

I'm glad to see the physical world connection starting to take shape.

The 8th of June OP3 took the first step in making mobile Internet easy accessible by launching shotCode. OP3 today offered automatic optimization of regular Internet pages, making them readable on the tiny displays.

On average the mobile Internet simply is not being used. 99 percent or even more of current websites don’t look good on the tiny mobiles’ screens. But OP3, the company behind the ShotCodes, has now made its second step in its attempt to eradicate these problems.

Small mobile displays have a lot of limitations, compared to the ordinary PC- and laptop screens. Even if most of the mobile models are able to read HTML, optimization is usually needed. The new optimization feature on ShotCode.com is completely automatic and free of charge.

Here's a great idea that eBay could utilize. Instead of using a lengthy URL , use a ShotCode.

Say you would like to sell your bike on eBay, you can now easily point a ShotCode to your auction’s URL and hang this ShotCode on your local supermarket’s notice board. The ebay pages’ will be automatically updated so that the scanner instantly sees your auction in a readable format.

Another idea.

When you post your garage sale notice at the supermarket, include a ShotCode on the flyer. Click on the ShotCode for the address and the service provider provides a map to the location
.

To get OP3's ShotCode software (for free)on your mobile phone, just point your camera at a ShotCode, (which is a circular type of barcode) click once and you’re instantly connected to the corresponding Internet site

WINCASH With Smart SMS

In my opinion this is NOT how you start SMS adoption.

From BusinessWire.com WINCASH with SMartSMS


June 28, 2005--American IDC Corporation's CEO Gordon Lee announced yet another one of several slated winning campaigns which is starting today.

Anyone with a mobile phone will now have the opportunity to win between $100 and $10,000 per day, using SmartSMS. Players can "Text InTo Win" as often as they like to see if they are Instant Winners. Once they are identified as winners, they will be text messaged a skill-testing question to qualify to win the cash prizes!

All a player needs to do is (1) Find the text message option on his mobile phone; (2) Text in the code "WINCASH"; (3) Send to 76278; (4) Wait for a quick response; and (5) Answer back according to the instructions in the message "Send the return message "WINCASH YES" for a chance to WINCASH instantly!

Here's the catch.

Play as often as you like: .99 cents/msg.rec'd.

This is dangerous in my opinion. Kids could get in big trouble with this. It reminds me a lot of search engine www.iwon.com and their advertising campaign. They would pay people to use their product. I don't recall Google ever paying people to use their search engine.

If a product or service is good, people will discover it and get the word out. Case in point, 4INFO. In my opinion it's better than Google, offers great results and last I recall I don't think they were paying anybody to use the service.

I can tell you though, the "early adopters" discovered this service and have done more advertising than any prize contest could.

What happens after the SmartSMS campaign is over, then what? Where's any value in this except to see if you won money ?

MobileReact Gets SMS Marketing

A company that truly gets mobile marketing in many ways MobileReact

I can't help think that if this company was in Europe or in the States, they would be making advertising headlines daily.

This is how you make the mobile phone an effective tool in various advertising campaigns.


M&M's has a promotional campaign that involves using the wrapper and an SMS code to win prizes. Running from 1st of May for 6 months in Thailand, customers send text to 4863003 and include the code on the wrapper to see if they have won.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a broader scale, Mobile React offers their Engage service.

ENGAGE is a simple to use for both consumers and advertisers.

1. Consumer sees an ad which contains a call to action.
Ex: “For more information SMS PSP to 4863333 and we'll call you back”

2. Consumer sends the SMS and based receives an instant customized response via SMS
EX: “Thank you for your interest in PSP. Our sales agent will call you back shortly.”

3. ENGAGE stores the incoming SMS from the consumer in the system log and immediately triggers an alert on the advertiser's PC with a pop up message containing the consumer's mobile number and timestamp.

4. Advertiser's sales agent calls back the consumer.
EX: Hello, I'm calling you about your interest in PSP. May I help you?

This isn't direct connect, but it allows brands a number of exciting ways to make their physical products interactive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want to check on airfare from Nok Air? (any airline could offer this)
Simply type your city of origin, leave a space and then your destination city. Within seconds, the reply message will list all available flights and fares for the date requested.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heineken Taps Mobile Marketing

Specially designed 6-pack of Heineken beer cans contained an embedded scratch-off code inside. Consumers must SMS the code to a dedicated number and receive automatic replies with points they have obtained, for first time participants and with the current balance for repeat consumers. Codes provided 1, 2 or 5 points and consumers could keep track of their points via SMS, through Heineken’s website or via an 24-hour automated interactive voice response (IVR) system. Redemption for giveaways began with 5 points.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To see a list of all of their Case Studies and the list of their services

One of the concepts they are incorporating is interacting using SMS in a TV program. This goes way beyond voting for the next American Idol and this is a great idea that should be adopted here in the States.

Keep an eye on these guys, something tells me their ideas and services will get noticed by the bigger players soon.

Monday, June 27, 2005

4INFO Adds New Sports Features To Their SMS Service

I don't know how many times I have covered this company in the last couple months, but they are constantly improving and offering new services for their SMS service.

If they created a section on their site called "Labs", I might get confused.

4INFO targets fantasy sports fans with statistics app .


Mobile search provider 4INFO Inc. will target fantasy sports addicts this week with a new application that will allow sports fans to access in-game and post-game statistics from their handsets.

Fantasy Sports Stats delivers statistics from recent events to users who text an athlete's name to the company's short code. The service, which is free aside from carrier messaging charges, includes results from National Football League and Major League Baseball players, as well as statistics from Professional Golf Association events.

Send a text to 44636 (4INFO) with your favorite sports star for their stats.

Advertisers Try To Adapt To The New Consumer

Great find from Martina at Adverblog Consumers are in control: what's the future?

From Adage.com Seriousness of changing consumption patterns


The trend, which was until recently little more than a novel notion, has now taken hold with a vengeance as the Internet, digital video recorders, DVDs, satellite radio, iPods, podcasting and other technologies enable millions to control when and how they access -- or avoid -- entertainment content and the advertising that supports it.

But all acknowledged, in some way, that they've got to respond to what is a sea change in the relationship between consumers and marketing and media companies

A "Supreme" Decision

In my opinion, this is very disruptive news. You see who wins and who loses?

From WashingtonPost.com Cable Companies Don't Need To Share Lines .

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that cable companies may keep rival Internet providers from using their lines, a decision that will limit competition and consumers' choices.

The 6-3 decision is a victory for the Bush administration, which sought exclusive control to promote broadband investment from deep-pocketed cable companies

At issue is whether cable Internet access is a "telecommunications service" under federal law that makes it subject to strict FCC rules requiring companies to provide access to independent providers.

Cable companies have invested billions to set up broadband networks and are now reaping the benefits

Left unregulated, cable companies will monopolize the market, with unfettered ability to raise prices and restrict content for their business advantage, they said.

MobileReact Gets SMS Marketing

A company that truly gets mobile marketing in many ways MobileReact

I can't help think that if this company was in Europe or in the States, they would be making advertising headlines daily.

This is how you make the mobile phone an effective tool in various advertising campaigns.


M&M's has a promotional campaign that involves using the wrapper and an SMS code to win prizes. Running from 1st of May for 6 months in Thailand, customers send text to 4863003 and include the code on the wrapper to see if they have won.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a broader scale, Mobile React offers their Engage service.

ENGAGE is a simple to use for both consumers and advertisers.

1. Consumer sees an ad which contains a call to action.
Ex: “For more information SMS PSP to 4863333 and we'll call you back”

2. Consumer sends the SMS and based receives an instant customized response via SMS
EX: “Thank you for your interest in PSP. Our sales agent will call you back shortly.”

3. ENGAGE stores the incoming SMS from the consumer in the system log and immediately triggers an alert on the advertiser's PC with a pop up message containing the consumer's mobile number and timestamp.

4. Advertiser's sales agent calls back the consumer.
EX: Hello, I'm calling you about your interest in PSP. May I help you?

This isn't direct connect, but it allows brands a number of exciting ways to make their physical products interactive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want to check on airfare from Nok Air? (any airline could offer this)
Simply type your city of origin, leave a space and then your destination city. Within seconds, the reply message will list all available flights and fares for the date requested.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heineken Taps Mobile Marketing

Specially designed 6-pack of Heineken beer cans contained an embedded scratch-off code inside. Consumers must SMS the code to a dedicated number and receive automatic replies with points they have obtained, for first time participants and with the current balance for repeat consumers. Codes provided 1, 2 or 5 points and consumers could keep track of their points via SMS, through Heineken’s website or via an 24-hour automated interactive voice response (IVR) system. Redemption for giveaways began with 5 points.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To see a list of all of their Case Studies and the list of their services

One of the concepts they are incorporating is interacting using SMS in a TV program. This goes way beyond voting for the next American Idol and this is a great idea that should be adopted here in the States.

Keep an eye on these guys, something tells me their ideas and services will get noticed by the bigger players soon.

Snickers Goes "Under Cover" With Their Marketing Campaign

If you open any one of 150 million Snickers bars, you'll find a website (URL) and a special code. Go to the Special Site and enter your code.
Register to win lots of prizes.

Great idea, bad execution.

Instead of making people stuff the wrapper in the pocket until they get to a PC, use a SMS short code, so people can send a text to "SNIKR" and include code as subject to see if they are a winner.

Something that was done involving an SMS was done with M&M's and MobileReact where with unqiue codes printed on the inside wrapper of M&Ms packs in Thailand, consumers can SMS the code to win either instant prizes or get points.

Try it yourself

I will be covering these guys in greater detail shortly.

I heard THESE GUYS are working on a mobile campaign that offers a direct connect feature.

What I'm trying to figure out is how a guy like Scoble discovered this new marketing technique. Could he be seeing how the physical world is creating advertising opportunites not seen before, or could he just like chocolate?

Scoble did call something similar a Killer App .

Robert, on that wrapper you will find a barcode. See the possibilities now?

War Of The Worlds Has A Different Meaning

From TheCourier-Mail.com It's world war free on your mobile

I would rather call this "When the digital and physical worlds collide".


DATING Katie Holmes is not the only revolutionary technique being used to promote Tom Cruise's new film War of the Worlds.

Hi-tech posters for the film will allow mobile phone users to download free ringtones and wallpapers in Queensland later this month. It will be the first time Hypertag technology has been used in the southern hemisphere.

AURA Digital Communications sales and marketing director Adam Dunne said consumers who had a mobile phone with an infrared connection could download free movie content directly from the posters, thanks to Hypertags concealed beneath the surface.

"The consumer walks up, activates infrared on their phone and then is able to download all sorts of different content, in this case ringtones, wallpapers and a calendar reminder set to go off the morning the film is released," Mr Dunne said.

I've talked about Hypertag before Here ,here and here .

I'm curious do you think Ritalin will be a sponsor for this?....I just had to do it.

Greater London Authority Starts SMS Service

From RevolutionMagazine.com Greater London Authority launches SMS service

LONDON - The Greater London Authority has launched a new SMS service to promote events such as the Mayor's State of London conference.

The services are supplied by mobile marketing company, Incentivated

The initiative kicked off by encouraging the public to text a short code for tickets and a map to the annual conference, where Londoners can mingle with the capital's decision makers.

The event is the first to be promoted though the GLA's new Ticket Request by SMS service. Future efforts will support GLA ad campaigns and include the launch of a "find my nearest" service based on users' postcodes.

Yellow Pages SMS Service

I wonder when we get this service here in the States. My thinking is that it will be a hit when it does.

Yell.com offers a Yellow Pages SMS service.


If you're out and about and need a cab, you've lost your keys, or maybe you're just hungry at the end of the night, get the numbers you want from Yell.com text.

Here's how:
Choose one of the classifications served by Yell.com text (mobile);
Text it with your location*, separated by a space (eg. TAXI SOHO), to
80 248;

They will text you back with the results.

Now here's what I would do with this service to make it THE MOBILE SEARCH KILLER APP

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Tell A Marketing Techniques

Not only is it becoming another media, it's disrupting measurement stats for the other forms of media.

From Media Post.com Arbitron: Younger People Cut The Cord, Become Cell Phone-Only Users


THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO use cell phones as their exclusive or primary telecommunications device is growing rapidly, and this raises important questions about their media consumption patterns

Many believe that cell phone-only individuals are growing rapidly--and their behavior is beginning to influence how they use other media, as well as how marketing and media researchers measure them

So how will their habits/consumption patterns be quantified?

Will mobile analytics replace telemarketing?

Every SMS text request, or barcode scanned, or picture taken via cell phone gives marketing companies more info that any annoying call at dinner time can get.

The time, location(GPS), product and a direct way to interact (cellphone screen) are all provided when the physical world is connected. As a telemarketer, why do I need to harass you at dinner time when I can monitor all of your clicking,scanning and texting.

The database/server that holds this info will be bigger than Arbitron in my opinion.

Friday, June 24, 2005

Mobile Coupons

Your ad could be here.


3United
8Coupons
Active Media
Airtel
Announce Mobile
Aura Digital Communications
bawarao.com
bCode
Cellfire
Convergelabs
CouponZap
emobiad
Enpocket
Flytxt
M Channel
Gamut
M-bar-go
M Dialog
mFusion
Mobile2Win
Mobile365
Mobiqa
MobileReact
MobilRelay
mobiSign
Moffers
MoQpon
MoVoxx
Mozat
mQube
Mvive
MyMobileCast.com
MyThum Interactive
NetInformer
Outermesh
Ping Mobile
PlusOne
Regisoft
Redeemit
RocketBux
SMS Barcode
Smart
SwiftPass
Texting Now
Ticket Text
TopSolutions
Ticketrends
UpCode USA
Vivotech
XSmart(German) XSmart(English)

Zibadoo

I may have missed a few, if so , please email me and I will include.

Wouldn't your ad look good here?

Qualcomm Talks About Mobile Future

Advertisers target the younger generation for their new campaigns, so maybe having a younger Jacob's mind at the helm of Qualcomm will allow more applications to come from their CDMA technology.

From BusinessWeek.com Paul Jabobs: "Answer by Execution"


On July 1, Paul E. Jacobs will take over as CEO at wireless pioneer Qualcomm (QCOM ) from his father and company founder, Irwin Jacobs. Irwin essentially willed the company into being as a champion of the wireless technology CDMA as superior for voice during the changeover in the 1990s from analog to digital systems

The industry is going through a change where voice has essentially been commoditized, and the operators are looking for how they can generate additional revenues through data services

Now, Qualcomm is pushing into more multimedia services, for instance, with its MediaFLO service that will launch late next year with wireless carriers to provide video to the phone.

The mobile phone has advantages over the PC because it's something that you always have with you. And you can do certain things better on the phone. So when you say it's going into a new area, it is and it isn't

Mobile Coupons Not Just A Fad

From DM News.com Mobile Coupons' Redeeming Qualities

Mobile coupons are emerging as a popular alternative to traditional direct marketing strategies. Why? No paper, no inventory, no mess. More importantly, coupons can be targeted to individual preferences and physical location, and users can opt in to receive discounts on items of interest

Companies have created mobile couponing services that let consumers receive unique barcodes on their cellular phones. Coupons with these special offers then can be redeemed at the retailer by scanning the barcode right from the phone screen. The benefits are immediate, targeted and impactful

Some of the world’s largest brands have embraced the move toward SMS technology. Nokia and Coca-Cola have tested mobile coupon marketing, followed by McDonald’s and Warner Bros

Figures such as these suggest mobile marketing campaigns using SMS short-code technology are hardly a passing fad.

The emergence of cell phones as the new mobile media could explain why mobile coupons have higher redemption rates than their paper counterparts

Some of the companies I've identfied in this space.

Flytxt
Gavitec
M-bar-go
Mobile2Win
Mobile365
Mobiqa
Moffers
Mozat
mQube
MyMobileCast.com
MyThum Interactive
NetInformer
Smart
SwiftPass
Vivotech


I may have missed a few, if so , please email me and I will include.

Customized TV Ads

From BusinessWeek.com Cable's Big Bet On Hyper-Targeting
Time Warner will test new software that sends different ads to different viewers

Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWX ) will soon begin testing a system designed by software firm Invidi Technologies Inc. that uses the digital set-top cable box to track what each TV in any house has on. It's expected to go into a household test by yearend, with other cable companies following in 2006.

By analyzing where a viewer channel surfs, Invidi says the system can figure out the age, gender, and probable interests of the viewer. Most important, the system then matches TV ads to the consumer based on what might actually interest them.

If a 50-year-old father and his 14-year-old daughter each tuned into a Seinfeld rerun on different TV sets, for example, Invidi's system would send each a different ad during the same commercial break. The father might see a pitch for after-shave lotion while his daughter would see one for acne medicine. If this experiment in hyper-targeting works, it could spread fast

This is how the system works: Invidi's software allows the cable company to constantly and anonymously monitor viewers and their channel surfing to build a database of digital profiles

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Wal-Mart Gets Busted For Using "Their" Mobile Froogle

From PromoMagazine.com Grocer Sues Wal-Mart Over Price Scanning .

I'm curious as to what data they were able to retrieve from scanning the barcodes.

Oklahoma grocer Super H filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores for using a scanner to collect barcode data from products on Super H's shelves.

The suit, filed in Osage County District Court on June 13, alleges that Wal-Mart sent workers into Super H to check prices as Wal-Mart readies to open a supercenter nearby in August.

Super H isn't worried about the price information; its real concern is other data the scanner may have captured, such as inventory and wholesale price. "We're trying to get [the scanner] back and find out what's in there," said Super H manager Greg McNeil

What happens when scanning a barcode offers more than just prodcut info from a closed network? Wal-Mart spies will soon be getting coupons, ringtones and video clips when they do their undercover work.

Product-Placement Nielsen Service

From AdAge.com TNS Launches Product-Placement Monitoring System

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -– In the latest effort to establish an accurate method for measuring the impact of product placements in TV and film, TNS Media Intelligence launched the Branded Entertainment Reporting Service earlier this month

A client using the service to access information on the WB program One Tree Hill, for example, would see that Cingular has several product placements and mentions within the show, but would also see on the database that other wireless carriers have commercials within the program

What a client does is they can look either by category or by brand at what they’re doing within regular advertising -- TV, magazines -- and now add in the branded-entertainment slice

Working with Nielsen’s other rating services, the product-placement service also reports how many viewers were watching the program at the time of the product mention

You have multitasking, channel surfing. ... It’s becoming more and more important to the advertisers and networks, quite frankly, to understand who’s actually paying attention at the moment

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

The Fifth Wave

My favorite magazine came in yesterday. I think it's probably the most underrated publication on the street. So many articles of interest.

Here's one I found loads of ideas on. Visionary Om Malik contributed to the article.

Cheap computing, infinite bandwidth, and open standards are powering an epic technological transformation that will churn up huge new opportunities -- and perils for those who can't adapt

Wireless technologies, chiefly 3G (third-generation) and Wi-Fi, are expanding rapidly, making the Internet ubiquitous.

There's another singular aspect of what's happening now, one that by itself creates enormous opportunities. A hallmark of the previous four waves was the almost direct correlation between hardware and software.

If Intel (INTC) made a new chip, Microsoft came up with a new operating system that could make use of the extra oomph. The platform and how it could be used basically moved in predictable lockstep. This time, however, the platform -- broadband networks and the Internet -- is already in place, waiting for applications to catch up.

WIRELESS MARKETING

Most modern cell phones ship with location-based services. Leveraging them to do something other than simple route finding is a no-brainer. For instance, a company could marry the ability to pinpoint a person's physical location with new information distribution technologies like RSS. Users might be alerted to coupons or deals as they walk down an aisle in the grocery store or past a particular store. Merchants could experiment with dynamic pricing to move inventory on slow days or to increase foot traffic.

the Waiting Is The Hardest Part

From Revolution Magazine.com 3G Marketing: Brands wait for 3G opportunity

The next big thing in mobile services is just around the corner, but how prepared are the operators and brand marketers?

Over the past year, 3G services have brought the promise that brand marketing can reach mobile users in style. While marketing in this space is still reasonably scarce, the richness of the content being downloaded by early subscribers is painting an intriguing picture.

Following the, so far, relative disappointment of MMS, 3G hopes to give brands access to elusive customers through interactive propositions built with high-quality video and audio, with more accurately targeted messages. So says the mobile industry.

"3G will mean richer, higher quality applications, as well as video, and that will make mobile a stronger marketing medium," says Dan Parker, chief operating officer at mobile marketing agency Sponge

For the first time in a long time, there is going to be a new visual medium," says Graeme Oxby, marketing director at 3

Marketing is starting to shape itself to the possibilities of 3G in the increased use of shortcodes to guide offline consumers to mobile sites

See where this is going?

The BoneHead Move By BlockBuster

From MSNBC.com Rewinding A Video Giant

Blockbuster is under attack from all sides. Online competition and video-on-demand threaten a well-known brand. They are being attacked by their own dumb marketing.

In its most controversial (dumb) move, in January Blockbuster stopped charging customers late fees. Well, sort of. Customers can keep a movie without penalty for more than a week—more than twice the old rental period. But after that, Blockbuster's new system assumes they've decided to buy it and automatically debits their account for the purchase price minus the rental fee. (Customers who balk can still return the DVD within 30 days for full credit, less a $1.25 restocking fee.)

For a few weeks ago I tried renting Meet The Fockers to no avail. Every time I went in to a BoneHead Video store they were out of the movie.

I then realized why. With their new rental policy I can pickup any movie(providing it's available), pay the rental charge, keep it for a month and be charged an extra $1.25.

They have reduced turnover for that movie, allowed me to let a few of my friends borrow it and watch it for a month, and made sure all first run movies are never available.

Who was the brainchild behind this campaign?

It did do one good thing though. BoneHead Video forced me to use my Adelphia DVR. So for 3.95 I saw Meet The Fockers and didn't have to return it.

Some businesses never adapt and die. Some use bad business decisions to speed the process up.

Microsoft Threatens The Cellcos

From eWeek.com Microsoft, Aruba start work on massive Wi-Fi

Microsoft Corp. is replacing its massive corporate wireless LAN with equipment from Aruba Wireless Networks.

The WLAN will include some 5,000 centrally managed access points as well as an undisclosed number of WLAN switches covering 277 buildings on the Redmond, Wash., campus and branch offices in more than 60 countries.

Spanning more than 17 million square feet and serving up to 25,000 sessions at once, it will be among the world's biggest corporate Wi-Fi networks. The installation already has begun, said officials at Aruba, in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Does anyone see what I am starting to see?

Service providers should be worried, very worried.


David Haskin at Mobilepipeline sees it and Why wireless carriers need a clue--soon

Top Internet Trends

From Piper Jaffray's first Global Internet Summit and Rajesh Jain's Weblog

From an email newsletter by Safa Rashtchy - the top 10 takeaways from the first Piper Jaffray Global Internet Summit:

1) Online Advertising - The Big Winner
2) Changing Traditional Media and Telecom Models
3) Emergence of Mobile Media as the Next Big Opportunity

4) Google's Brand Strength and Dominance in Search
5) Uncertain Future for Music Industry
6) Development of New Web Communities
7) Consolidation Environment with Increasing M&A Activities
8) Limited Upside Potential for Pure eCommerce Players
9) Vertical Search Gaining
10) Spyware, Viruses Could Slow Ad Spending

Those are two areas I have been covering and agree that they will be big trends going forward.

Making The Most Out Of 60 Seconds

From San Antonio Business Journal.com Clear Channel Television strikes new 'e-coupon' advertising agreement

I like how old media is using new technology in order to leverage their advertising.

Clear Channel Television Interactive entered into a new partnership with Coupons Inc. that will give television advertisers the option of having printable coupons placed on station Web sites.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Coupons Inc. is a privately held technology company that allows consumer-products firms to create, distribute, track and report electronic coupons. These are coupons that can be printed out and redeemed in grocery stores.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

2.3 Billion By 2009

From ZDNetblogs 2.3billion wireless subscribers by 2009

Worldwide, wireless subscriber growth is experiencing robust expansion after several years of slower growth due to the economic downturn of the last few years, reports In-Stat. By 2009, the research firm forecasts the worldwide wireless market will grow to more than 2.3 bln subscribers.

That's 2.3 billion TV sets, PC monitors, billboards, radios, magazines. Maybe advertisers need to think of it in those terms in order to realize how big mobile advertising will be.

If you asked ANY brand manager, "would you like to advertise to 2.3 billion screens?", what do you think the response would be.

Wi-Fi For Location Based Services

From MobilePipeLine.com Positioning system uses Wi-Fi, not satellites

Skyhook Wireless Monday launched a positioning service that uses Wi-Fi instead of satellites, which it claims will be simpler and less expensive in many environments

The company said that the old GPS systems required separate hardware and line-of-site access to satellites. Such systems also are unreliable in some urban aras, according to Skyhook. The WLAN-based location system eliminates those problems

"With the market set to explode, the applications for Wi-Fi positioning software are endless including search and recovery, E911, proximity advertising, and fleet management,". Skyhook's CEO Ted Morgan said in a statement.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Advertisers Need To Think Inside The Box, The Four Square Inched One

A couple major heavyweights have made shifts in their advertising budgets in the last week. Procter/Gamble announced they are cutting back on their TV advertising and tonight the Wall Street journal is reporting that GE is cutting their TV advertising by 30%

The disruption is taking place.



From USA Today.com Advertisers forced to think way outside the box

Consumers such as Fetchik pose an increasing challenge for the advertising industry as it competes for consumers' attention and time. Technology — from wireless devices to iPods to digital video recorders (DVRs), have given time-pressed consumers more choices and control over what they tune in or tune out — and also split the audience into narrower slices

Faith Popcorn, CEO of ad consultancy BrainReserve, also thinks the days are numbered for TV ads' dominance. But she says many marketers remain reluctant to look at new media alternatives, in part because they don't know how to use them: "They don't know what to replace (TV) with."

Oh come on, what is the one screen EVERYBODY carries with them all day long?

You want to know where the next land grab will be for advertising is?

BusinessWeek Covers New Media Changes

From BusinessWeek.com Change: A User's Guide

It's nice to see old media make strides to adapt to the new media offerings. Nice going Business Week.


Change Hurts. But it's also exciting, refreshing, challenging -- even therapeutic.

It's no secret that rapid changes are occurring in media, marketing, and advertising and that these shifts dramatically affect people who market products and services, as well as those of us in information businesses.

In this issue, we launch "Media Centric," a weekly column by Jon Fine that will chronicle these changes and help readers react quickly and intelligently to the new realities.

If you're a newspaper, magazine, television, radio, or online-media executive, how do you compete in this confusing, fast-moving environment? How can you maintain old revenue streams while investing in new ones?

Who's figuring this stuff out fastest, and what can we all learn from them? Who's getting left behind, and why?

Physical Media Teams Up With Digital

From DailyTelegraph.com Optis,Packer in web alliance

OPTUS clients will be able to use PBL's online portal NineMSN to get e-mails, online content and NineMSN's Messenger on their phones and PCs after a deal between the media and telecommunications giants.

Optus customers will have access to online content from PBL's stable of magazines and to PBL's television broadcaster Channel Nine.

Now let's see. Are there any other MAJOR media companies that could leverage their digital connection?

I'm thinking of an OBVIOUS ONE

Play Monopoly Live Game Via SMS

From NetImperative.com Monopoly board game comes to life in online promo

Advertising agencies DDB London and Tribal DDB have created a real-life Monopoly game that invites consumers to play live via the Web and SMS, to promote the updated version of the popular board game.

The game will be played out for real on the streets of London, using taxis as playing pieces via GPS technology.

To see the Monopoly Live Game

Each taxi is Monopoly-branded and fitted with a GPS transmitter, using security technology, so that its location is known at all times.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Coming Soon

Coming Soon,
I have identified hundreds of companies and have categorized them accordingly.

Physical World Connection
Mobile Search
GPS-LBS
SMS
M-Commerce
Mobile Advertising

Friday, June 17, 2005

Winners And Losers From Internet Revolution

From RealMoney.com (subscription required) Losers of the Internet revolution

The Internet revolution can't be stopped, and it really is disrupting just about every media and telecom company on the planet. I've spent a lot of time looking at the probable winners, but there are also going to be some ugly losers along the way.

Clearly, the Internet's impact isn't and won't be a zero-sum game, but we're already seeing the demise of some heretofore great growth companies that have been positioned incorrectly and now can't afford to shift.

Cody focuses on how the Internet is affecting the telcos,newspapers, music, radio, advertising and video. A good read.

I wrote a piece of how advertising has changed, and will change over the years entitled We Interrupt This Broadcast

The trick is to find out where the puck WILL BE, not where it is now, and find all the companies that will play a role.

This is something I have tried to do with the Pondering Primate.

Ingenius Website Advertising

I saw this the other day and was waiting for someone in the search world to pick it up and comment.

From MediaWeek.com Activ8now sues Conde Nast


Online technology firm Activ8now , and its operating company, Active8media, filed a suit in United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia for patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation against Advance Publications

Activ8now owns several patents for producing interactive electronic versions of magazine advertisements. According to the suit, Condé Nast entered into a license agreement with Activ8now to use the company's technology for the September 2004 issue of Vogue

The suit isn't the key point, it's what Activ8now's technology does. Activ8now technology should be used for EVERY advertising website. It's ingenius.

This technology will also be coming to TV soon too.


See how it works for yourself

Wallet Phone

From Business Week.com Will that be cash, credit or cell?

For years, techies and wireless phone companies have coveted a dream: turning the ubiquitous cell phone into a virtual wallet. In the late 1990s everyone from Nokia Corp. (NOK ) to Visa was plotting to roll out services in the U.S. that would let people use their cell phones to buy everything from soft drinks to cars

C-SAM Inc., a tiny, privately owned software developer in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., is expected to announce plans on June 20 to roll out a service early next year that will allow people to use their phones as credit cards.

Some require buyers to dial a phone number to authorize payment. C-SAM, on the other hand, lets users navigate through a cell phone menu

What will really work is waving your cell and the credit card chip inside will be recognized. I explain HERE

Product Placement Should Be Product Interaction

From BusinessWeek.com An onslaught of hidden ads

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM ) has asked at least three major magazine companies to explore product integration -- that's product placement to you and me -- of its cars into magazine editorial pages. Say hello to another indicator of changing media mores

Ad-page volume at magazines last year came in below that of 1998 -- meaning the medium's recent advertising wipeout erased the gains of the dot-com boom and then some. Advertisers point to reality TV and say, hey, why not? And they're not terribly interested in print's traditional ad-edit divide.

Last weeks issue of Business Week magazine had 170 pages. Sixty of those pages were full page ads. I'm not sure what Business Week charges for a full page ad, but I bet it's pretty steep.

What if Business Week said to each advertiser, "we can make your full page ad interactive, would you like more details?" What brand manager would say No to that?

Instead of changing the actual medium, change what the medium can do.

What to know how? An exciting advertising strategy is coming.

Stay tuned.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Treo Users Can Now Scan Barcodes

I'm a Treo owner and can't wait to try this out.

From MyTreo.net New Product by JFMw: Barcode

mytreo.net Star Developer JFMw has released a remarkable new program that utilizes your Treo 600 or Treo 650 camera to read bar codes.

Like the author's incredibly popular program Brightcam, which has been downloaded from mytreo.net more than 17 thousand times, Barcode is donationware and can be used without purchasing a license

Barcode/13 is a full software barcode scanner for palmOne Treo600 and palmOne Treo650. Barcode/13 uses the Treo camera to scan ISBN, UPC-A and EAN-13 barcodes and exports the decoded value to the system clipboard. Barcode/13 can be launched within any application, and the returned value can be retrieve from the clipboard to make use of it into the initial application.

Barcode/13 is a free alternative to expensive hardware solutions. Barcode/13 can't be seen as a business solution, but it is definitely the cheapest solution for non-business use, like cave, books, CDs or DVDs inventories.

Barcode/13 recognizes EAN-13 and UPC-A subset of EAN-13 with a leading 0, but if you have some difficulties with a barcode you can tell Barcode/13 the first digit: if your barcode is a UPC-A barcode (US barcodes, 12 digits, x xxxxx xxxxx x) you can start the scanner pressing the "0" key.

If your EAN-13 barcode (european barcodes, 13 digits, x xxxxxx xxxxxx) begins with a 3, you can press the "3" key, and so on. I recommend using this feature only if automatic recognition fails: usually, I press the digit keys only if Barcode/13 fails twice to read a barcode (this happens more frequently when scanning bottles, you should not need this for standard barcodes in normal lighting conditions). Only for palmOne Treo650: space key can zoom/unzoom, but you should use this only with very small barcodes.

When running Barcode/13, you can see a red target with 2 widths and a green line. Green line is the position that will be used to analyse the barcode, the four vertical lines are recommended sizes for large and small barcodes. Recent barcodes are often large barcodes, but some products have smaller barcodes. If you have a large barcode, point your Treo to fill the large target with your barcode (keep the barcode inside, don't oversize it). If you have a small barcode, the small target will be a better idea. If your barcode is medium size, something between the 2 targets will be fine

Click HERE to download the program

I think this is my weekend project. I will report my results.
.

Motorola Buys Messaging Infrastructure Anam Mobile

From Wireless Week.com Motorola invests in wireless

Motorola's investment arm continues its flurry of activity, with an investment in Anam Mobile, a messaging infrastructure products developer

Anam , which develops next-generation SMS and MMS delivery platforms under the Smart Services brand, plans to leverage the investment to expand its global reach and enhance its product portfolio

ipsh! Teams Up With Oxygen And Fabio

From BusinessWire.com ipsh! and Oxygen team up for Fabio text campaign .

Women want a little text with their romance -- at least that's what Oxygen and ipsh! discovered with the results from their most recent mobile marketing campaign for The Oxygen Network's premiere of Mr. Romance, a "romance academy/reality series" hosted by Harlequin novel hunk, Fabio

the campaign is being hailed as one of the first successful non-teen mobile campaigns to generate close to 2X the conversion rate of traditional teen mobile campaigns handled by ipsh using data of over 300 campaigns conducted in the U.S. since 2001.

To see ipsh!'s EZTXTMSG model click Here

In addition, the integrated campaign featured on-air promotion of a shortcode (you guessed it, "FABIO") where audiences could, in American Idol like fashion, cast their votes for show contestants in real-time. Online, banners allowed audiences to send Fabio's Valentine's Day greetings to friends and interact directly with the show's content as well as download free mobile wallpapers of Fabio and contestants

Bango, Simpay..How Do We Pay?

Mike Masnick over at The Feature.com discusses how T-Mobile looks to be quitting Simpay .

Simpay offers merchants and content providers a single common solution, which will allow them access to the customers of all participating operators, without having to worry about different mobile technologies and networks

Almost exactly two years ago, European operators Orange, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile and Vodafone decided that their mobile payments consortium.

Last week another mobile billing company Bango decided to go public

Bango enables firms to cash in on selling content via mobile phones and includes The Sun, Camelot, Maxim magazine and Channel 4 among its list of punters.

By paying Bango a monthly fee, end users can then pay for content through their mobile phone bills or credit/debit cards.

Now here's what I'm thinking. What happens when you're able to text to pay or scan your phone to pay for a service/item? Soon there will be a service (introduced by service providers) that will allow you to send a text to a specific number and include the code for payment.

Not long after that, you will be able to wave your cell phone and pay with your credit card that is "built in" already.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Mobile Payment For Parking Meters

From Sun Sentinel.com Coral Gables tries pay-by-cell parking technology .

Drivers lacking coins now may use cell phones to feed parking meters in Coral Gables, purportedly the first city in the country to offer such a service.

The automated system allows drivers who subscribe to simply dial in from their cell phone, punch in the number assigned to their parking spot, and the required costs plus a 25-cent usage fee will be billed to their credit card. When leaving, subscribers call back and end the billing cycle.

PayMint, the Toronto-based company that offers the service, e-mails users copies of their transactions, plus allows subscribers to track their usage online

Maybelline's Uses SMS For Lipstick Campaign

From PromoMagazine.com Maybelline uses cells and e-mail to distribute lipstick samples .

Maybelline NY is using text messaging and e-mail to reach its young female target with thousands of lipstick samples, all the while building its opt-in databases.

Players in the Txt 2 Shine sweeps giveaway must complete a two-step process to compete.

A pre-registration period, which ends June 20, asks for name, address, email, birth date and whether the player would like to be contacted for this giveaway via text message or email.

On June 24, a text message goes out to those who requested information via cell, alerting the participant that they will receive a "Text to Win" message three days later to which they must reply to be entered in the sweeps.

Maybelline is ahead of the curve when it comes to mobile marketing. I discussed how back HERE

The Microsoft RFID Browser

I have received a number of emails on my Microsoft RFID browser post and felt I better explain my thoughts/reasoning. I could be way off base, but this is what I see happening.

Don’t be afraid to tell me if you think I’m full of bunk.

There are a few things you have to accept to come to my conclusion.

Every RFID tag will have its own URL (website) some day.

Symbol Technologies is THE pioneer of scanning the current dominant machine readable identifier (barcode).

Microsoft wants to dominate the mobile device and search space.

When Microsoft announced they were teaming up with Symbol Technologies for RFID, I immediately saw a mobile device with MSFT OS that would be able to scan an RFID tag.

Every physical object will now be interactive. Think about that for a second. Every physical object is a website, what will it tell you?

I saw the mobile phone side of this venture. There will be plenty of supply-chain applications, but my thinking is consumer/advertising and the effects it has with a cell phone.

What makes Google so successful? They offer an easy way to search a huge database. One site offers info from many. The Google site is the focal point that allows info retrieval from a vast database. Advertisers have recognized this and are spending their dollars accordingly.

What happens when you turn the equation around?

Replace Google’s database of websites with physical products and replace one site on your PC (Google) with your mobile phone. Not only do the results change, but they grow exponentially.

Take the physical world (enormous) , add 180 million browsers (cell phone users) and add the mobile variability and you have one mind boggling industry taking shape .

Where Google was your search engine for the digital world, a mobile phone w/ the ability to read an RFID tag becomes your search engine for the physical world. The same thing works if a cell phone can read a barcode. An RFID tag, a barcode will really be just physical world URLs soon. How will Google penetrate the physical world database then?

So what I see is Microsoft providing a “browser” for the mobile phone that can read an RFID tag and direct the user to the corresponding site. THAT, is what will get the advertising dollar. When every can of Coke, CD, bottle of Tylenol is Internet accessable by their identifier (barcode, RFID tag), that is when Microsoft owns mobile search by being able to "turn on and browse" every physical world object.

Yahoo Gets In VOIP With DialPad Buy

Yahoo! buys Internet phone provider .

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) said Tuesday it had acquired DialPad Communications Inc., a 6-year-old company whose software lets people to place calls over the Internet for a fraction of the cost of regular telephone service.

AOL has their 20m plus users connect via Instant Messenger. AOL has made new technologies associated with the Internet easy to use. They should try to tap into their existing subs and offer this to PC users as well as mobile users.

I'm waiting for Google to get into this space. Just think, Web, Images, Groups, News, Froogle, Local and Phone

I think it will be awfully hard to compete against the cable cos and telcos in this space though.
.

Vivid Entertainment Licenses Xobile's Barcode Scanning Technology

This gives physical world connection a different meaning.



From BusinessWire.com Vivid Entertainment licences Xobile's Leapscan barcode scanning technology

June 14, 2005--Vivid Entertainment Group, the world's leading adult film company, has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Xobile a subsidiary of for advanced Leapscan(TM) technology that will enable cellphone users to preview films while they shop in adult video stores.

The system utilizes proprietary Leapscan barcode scanning technology that allows cell phone users to stream videos such as trailers of videos onto camera-equipped mobile devices as they hold them in their hands

All consumers need to do is point their camera phone at the barcode of our DVD box. The Leapscan software in the cellphone interprets the barcode, accesses the Web browser on the phone, then either downloads or streams a video trailer from a Xobile server to the customer's wireless device. It takes a matter of seconds and the viewers will be able to tell immediately if they want to purchase a specific video

The software can be downloaded by SMS from a friend or from and other designated websites

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Wi-Fi Provides LBS For Local Search

From DirectionsMag.com Wi-Fi aids location determination for local search and asset tracking .

If GPS or assisted-GPS can not accurately meet the requirements for the FCC's E911 mandates, then Wi-Fi may be the next technology embedded into cell phones and other mobile devices.

No less surprising is the potential for Wi-Fi to assist local search. With all of the interest by Microsoft, Google, MapQuest and Yahoo to compete for advertising dollars and use local search to squeeze more from local market retailers and others, Wi-Fi is an obvious catalyst.

Skyhook now has a database of Wi-Fi hotspots in 25 major cities and hope to hit 100 cities by year end. They employ a proprietary scanning technology to "sniff" for Wi-Fi access points and retrieve the base station's name and unique identifier.

Skyhook is in a pilot phase with another company to build a broker layer between A-GPS and Wi-Fi to make the hand off to get a more precise location if either A-GPS or GPS fails to do so. So, the possibility exists that future handsets will employ GPS and Wi-Fi chipsets to aid location determination

Qualcomm Buys Vesuvius IP For Wireless Advertising

From RCR News.com Qualcomm buys 10 patents for wireless broadcast

Qualcomm Inc. acquired 10 patents covering a wireless broadcasting technology that allows operators to send bursts of content to select groups of subscribers

Qualcomm scored the patents through an acquisition of the assets of Vail, Colo.-based Vesuvius Inc

The company owned 10 patents covering what it called narrowcasting/multicasting technology.

The company's technology would allow wireless carriers to broadcast content to a select group of subscribers based on demographics or geography. For example, he said, carriers could target residents of Chinatown in San Francisco or Harley Davidson enthusiasts and send them content including alerts or streaming video

The Tipping Point For Digital Brands

From Revolution Magazine.com Apple tops the list of fastest growing brands as digital overtakes traditional .

LONDON - Apple, creator of the iPod, is the fastest growing brand in the world, with internet brands Google, Amazon, Yahoo! and eBay following close behind, pushing notoriously powerful brands like Coca-Cola off the list.

Handheld email and phone device Blackberry and internet search engine Google tied in second place with 36% growth, putting websites Amazon and Yahoo! in fourth and fifth place respectively with 35% and 33%.

Power brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald's, which typically spend the most on advertising, did not even make it into the top 20.

Just spending money on advertising isn't cutting it anymore.

Two things I find of interest.

1. Some of the top brands don't have a "physical product" but provide a service (Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Ebay).

2. Google and Amazon don't even spend money on TV advertising (or other mediums for that matter) and they carry that much brand awareness.

The ways to market a product/service are changing. Who adapts?

MSN Partners With PriceGrabber

From LostRemote.com MSN Shopping partners with PriceGrabber

According to a partnership signed earlier this month, the shopping site's comparative listings and review database will be integrated into the MSN shopping vertical.

Anyone noticing a trend here? and C/Net Offers Mobile Shopper.

With pioneers Amazon and ebay leading the way, portals and big media are appreciating the long tail approach to e-commerce in order to reach hard-to-get local advertisers.

What price compaarison shopping sites are still single?

Wireless Marketing Is Like The Internet In 1994

A great read on mobile advertising.

From CMO Magazine.com Goin Mobile

Nike is doing it. So are Volvo and Allstate. Hyatt tried it. "It" is mobile marketing—a direct, personalized channel of communication with the power to touch people anytime, anywhere via their mobile phones and other wireless devices.

Consider the possibilities:

There are some 184 million U.S. cell phone subscribers, collectively sending billions of text messages a year to one another, according to JupiterResearch. That's 184 million potential customers, each one carrying a perfect little message-delivery system.

Imagine telling Google they could tap into another 184 million PC's every day, would they want to get into this market? How would they do it?
It would be the equivalent to Google registering their domain in the better part of Europe. 184 Million potential screens to sell advertising on.


You can reach your customer where that customer is at any time, connect individually and develop an interaction.

I love this quote..

Mobile is hot right now, almost as hot as another market boom we all remember fondly: the Internet. "There's a direct parallel between where we are in 2005 with wireless marketing and where we were in 1994 with the Internet," says Bill Carmody, CMO at Seismicom, a brand promotion agency.

You can reach your customer where that customer is at any time, connect individually and develop an interaction.

If this medium is so personal, don't you think advertisers will pay up to get access to the next medium

Cell Phone Becoming The New Walkman

From Yahoo News Sirius, Sprint reach deal on music channels .

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sirius Satellite Radio on Tuesday said it reached a deal with Sprint to supply music channels nationwide to the telecommunications company.

I'm wondering what this does to XM Satellite Radio's MyFi Portable model?

I have been waiting for satellite radio to be available on my cell phone. I'm not a big commuter, so it's not worth the expense to buy the service, but this might fit the bill.

Now if we can just get the service providers to do their main task..give me a clear signal without dropped calls.