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To celebrate Halloween here are some costumes we found to be funny.

Mobile advertising to hit the mainstream by 2010

Mobile advertising is set to become a mainstay of UK marketing plans over the next two years despite a current disconnect between usage and understanding of the medium, according to the latest research from the IAB.

Despite the positive findings, the study also indicated that there is still a strong need for industry-wide education, with 76 per cent of respondents requiring further information on the efficacy of the medium.

Jim Cook, editor of MobiAdNews and chair of the IAB Mobile Council, comments: “Expectations for mobile advertising are high but actual understanding is low. The industry needs to address measurement, effectiveness and benchmarks if mobile advertising is going to reach a tipping point by 2010. The IAB intends to tackle each of these areas through quality research, events and collaboration with other mobile trade bodies like the GSMA and the MMA.”

IBM Study: Consumers Pick Mobile Device over PC

IBM has released new survey results which reveal that over 50 percent of consumers would substitute their Internet usage on a PC for a mobile device.

IBM surveyed 600 consumers in the United States, China and the United Kingdom on their preferences regarding the mobile Internet. The survey found that communication, travel and navigation applications, as well as news and information services, are expected to increase in usage over the mobile Internet. With the world's population of mobile-phone users expected to increase from the current 50 percent to 80 percent in 2013, which translates to a staggering 5.8 billion people, the availability of IP wireless broadband and more affordable devices will change the way companies around the world operate and relate to their customers, employees and partners.

"Worldwide adoption of the mobile phone as the preferred device for accessing the Internet is just around the corner," said Dr. Sungyoul Lee, Global Consulting Leader, Electronics Industry, IBM. "With 70 percent of consumers worldwide who believe that the mobile Internet has the potential to add significant to moderate value to their day-to-day lives, the time is now for companies to develop intuitive applications and services that allow people of all ages to effortlessly access and use the Internet while on the go -- anytime, and anywhere."

By 2011, 39 percent of respondents said they expect to increase Internet use on their mobile device by at least 40 percent. The Chinese consumers polled lead the world as the fastest adopting society of the mobile web. This finding is in synch with IBM's previous hypothesis that within emerging markets, the mobile platform will be the primary way of interacting with businesses and institutions. These countries have in many cases leapfrogged the PC era and are routinely using their mobile devices for a variety of consumer services.

71 percent of respondents acknowledged that they expect to increase their usage of communication services such as obtaining maps and directions, instant messaging, social networking, emailing and reading the news from their mobile device. Growth markets like China and India are leading this adoption at a rapid pace and are proving to be the most open towards mobile internet than the mature markets. The survey found that consumers still prefer to execute services such as banking, stock trading, shopping and general search on the PC rather than a mobile device.

The mobile Internet is the most popular among Generation X and Generation Y, as they tend to be more technology savvy and have a greater exposure and acceptance of emerging technologies. Over 50 percent of respondents who chose "Strong to Full substitution" of accessing the PC versus a mobile device were 15-30 years old and believe the industry is doing its best to advance the mobile Web, although most are still unsatisfied with the price and services offered by carriers and handset manufacturers.

GPS-Based Mobile Ads: Where Does Privacy Fit?

Just as in real estate, the mobile world is increasingly realizing the value of location, location, location.

But while the housing market wrestles with woes stemming from the subprime mortgage implosion, vendors of location-based services (LBS) for messaging, marketing and advertising are struggling to overcome their own obstacles.

Chief among these is consumer privacy in a highly connected and always-available mobile environment. Wireless carriers already know, more or less, where their subscribers are. Now advertisers are getting the tools to easily piece together a profile based on mobile Web surfing and online activities from increasingly powerful Web-based phones. Not surprisingly, many consumers aren't thrilled at the prospect.

"Most people surveyed view mobile advertising as creepy," said M.J. Nash, chief strategy officer at LBS applications developer WanderSmart. In Japan, for example, a large number of people consider onboard GPS technology and tools as downright invasive, she said yesterday while speaking on a panel discussion here at Mobile Internet World in Boston.

Mobile Content Still Gathering Steam

Talk continues to dominate mobile usage—for now.

As forecasts with big numbers catch marketers’ eyes, hard data reminds us that in many ways, mobile content is still finding its foothold. Most mobile phone users in the US are sticking with the basics for now, according to data released in October 2008 by Accenture.

According to the survey, fielded in December 2007, nearly 80% of respondents did not use their mobile device for gaming, 84% did not use mobile e-mail and 88% did not watch mobile videos.

While 12% of respondents said that mobile e-mail usage took up 1 to 4 hours per week, 4% said it occupied 5 or more hours weekly. For mobile video, those numbers fell to 9% and 3%, respectively.

In addition, there was a notable difference in mobile content use between Generation Y and their parents—those considered baby boomers or older. More than one-quarter of respondents ages 18 to 24 used their mobile phones for voice calls only, a dramatic difference from the 69% of those ages 45 and older who did so.

“These survey results point to important missed business opportunities in the mobile handset and social networking arenas,” said Accenture’s Kumu Puri, in a statement. “Clearly, many consumers are not widely embracing higher-end mobile phone applications.”

As smartphones start to branch out from the enterprise market and make inroads with consumers (think iPhone and Google’s G1), eMarketer believes that mobile content will begin to gain traction. The US market for mobile games is projected to grow from $344 million in 2007 to $1.15 billion in 2012, while spending on mobile music will surpass $4 billion in 2012, from just under $1 billion last year.

Mobile Video Calling Gets Boost

With Global IP Solutions' latest release, videoconferencing from a mobile handset may soon become more accessible. The company's VideoEngine Mobile for the Windows Mobile platform enables peer-to-peer video calling and multiport videoconferencing on cell phones. Handset manufacturers and vendors are the primary market for the product.

GIPS has experience in the mobile VoIP space, and the company told InformationWeek that video was a natural progression.


Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wow the crowd at the New York City intro of T-Mobile's G1 Android Google phone. Video by InformationWeek's Alex Wolfe. Startup Aerohive talks up its distributed control WLAN architecture Jim Vogt talks through the evolution ahead in wireless infrastructure
Jim Vogt talks through the evolution ahead in wireless infrastructure
"Mobile VoIP is increasingly becoming an important service for users who seek to maximize the value received from mobile phones," said William Stofega, research manager at IDC's VoIP services program, in a statement. "With video calling, the mobile operators can now deliver the full benefits and innovations of IP communications, allowing them to offer more value-added services to customers while increasing their revenue streams."

Certain smartphones can already pull off video calling, but GIPS said the existing products utilize separate engines for the video and voice function, leading to jittering and packet-loss issues. GIPS said its VideoEngine Mobile can solve issues like lip synchronization even under adverse network conditions.

"Today's mobile phone users demand the best in quality and rich functionality, which is why there is an enormous opportunity for application developers and wireless carriers to offer real-time video calls to the masses," Emerick Woods, CEO of GIPS, said in a statement. "Our expertise in enabling IP communications will allow mobile phone users the highest-quality video calling experience possible."

The GIPS product represents the first step for increasing video calling, but handset makers and carriers need to get on board before it can get widespread adoption. In terms of the physical device, the video-calling engine needs to be implemented from the beginning for maximum efficiency. GIPS also said the product can offer wireless carriers an opportunity to increase customers' data use, and thus increase the average revenue per user.

The company said it expects the VideoEngine Mobile to be available on other popular mobile platforms like Symbian and Apple's iPhone in the near future.

Will Mobile Marketers Pony Up for Texts?

During the past few weeks there have been reports that Verizon Wireless may start charging $0.03 per outbound SMS message sent to its subscribers. That would double or triple the cost to marketers who send SMS text messages to their opted-in consumers who use Verizon.

Text messages are the biggest component of mobile message advertising, which will reach $4.5 billion in revenues in the US by 2012, from nearly $1.5 billion this year.

For its part, Verizon told The New York Times the company had not set any specific price for delivery of text messages or a date that any fee might go into effect.

Service providers have definitely been carrying more traffic on their networks as a result of texts. Americans sent 75 billion text messages in June 2008 alone, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association—up from 29 billion in June 2007.

John du Pre Gauntt, senior analyst at eMarketer, said that carriers had some justification for wanting fees from marketers because otherwise they would have to pass full costs on to consumers—which would not serve either industry.

However, Mr. Gauntt said carriers should not just look at mobile marketers as another revenue stream to tout in earnings calls. “You milk the cow once it’s grown, not after it’s just been weaned,” he said.

“Carriers will likely start charging marketers for commercial texts at some point. But in the long run, it will be thought of as negotiating point, rather than a threat to the freedom of the mobile Web,” Mr. Gauntt concluded.

Do you ever turn off your cell phone?

This is the question of the day at Gizmodo.

There are very few times that I power down and usually is it out of sheer frustration. But I did spend one week in Mexico this summer where, GASP, I had my cell phone off, and in the hotel safe for 8 days.

Due completely to the fact that I refused to pay the exorbitant roaming charges I sent one text to my family letting them know we arrived safely and locked my phone away.

And to be honest I didn't miss it at all, OK that's not entirely true. There was one time when I was wandering the hotel and couldn't find my companion that I wish I had my phone to place that "Where are you?" call. But what good would it have done if I had my phone, when his was still in the safe.

And its funny because coming home I thought that my cellular vacation would have made me less dependent on my mobile phone but it didn't it might have made it worse because now I know I can be without a mobile but I just choose not to be.

Will mobile phones kill the TV station?

That’s a question one can’t help but ask Patrick Parodi, CMO of mobile advertising solutions provider, Amobee. As chairman and global board director of the Mobile Entertainment
Forum , Parodi loves to play the role of evangelist, telling mobile operators to turn into a media company. In an interview with ET, the messiah of mobile entertainment and marketing speaks at length on how mobile operators are probably close to missing the bus, the lessons they could learn from the commoditisation of internet service providers (ISPs). And, of course, the fate of the TV station.


Mobile marketing is largely tactical or promotion-led , and is rarely part of a long-term strategy. Is the mobile useful only as a shortterm marketing tool?


To a great extent, mobile marketing is being used as a direct marketing tool for lead generation and as a push model. That’s going to change. We are going to see mobile more as a media option where the user becomes the centre of the medium. That’s largely happening because of the advancement in handsets like the iPhone, or what others like Nokia, HTC and Google’s Android platform are doing. From our perspective, the operator is in the centre of the wireless ecosystem. But they have a big job ahead in accelerating their networks to become media companies.

Online and Mobile Family Connections

Families stay in touch, with and without wires.
Nearly nine out of 10 married-with-children households surveyed owned multiple mobile phones, and nearly one-half owned three or more. Two-thirds of such households had broadband at home. The national average for all households is 52%.

Many of the families surveyed used their mobile phones to keep in touch: 70% of couples in which both partners owned a mobile phone contacted each other daily to say hello or chat, and 42% of parents contacted their child/children every day by mobile phone.

“Some analysts have worried that new technologies hurt family togetherness, but we see that technology allows for new kinds of connectedness built around mobile phones and the internet,” said Tracy Kennedy, author of the report, in a statement.

The Ultimate Social Network

It’s no surprise that text messaging is the most requested feature on mobile phones. In fact, the top 5 most popular features listed in a recent Amplitude Research survey are pretty understandable given the evolution of mobile technology in the past 5 years:

1. text messaging (73%)
2. camera (67%)
3. e-mail (63%)
4. Internet (61%)
5. music (34%)

But what’s missing on this list is the one feature that initiates all communications on the mobile device: the phone book. Without it, mobile phones would be an accessory, not an indispensable communication tool.

So why doesn’t the phone book appear on this list of must-haves? Most subscribers (and their mobile operators) view it as a standard mobile phone feature. No one would buy a phone without a place to store their contacts. Without easy access to people’s contact information, initiating a mobile call, SMS, e-mail, mobile IM chat or a mobile location-based service is a huge aggravation, if not impossible.

Despite its necessity, the phone book in its current incarnation doesn’t deliver much value to consumers or to mobile operators due to its severe limitations

New on the horizon is the social address book, which transforms the phone book on any standard mobile phone into a social networking platform that makes it easier for subscribers to exchange contact information.

When you think about it, our real social network is the people we meet and communicate with on a daily basis, not simply a list on a Website. The foundation of our social network is literally in the palm of our hands: our mobile phone book. Mobile operators are right in the middle of this real-world network

How Do Mobile Users Spend Their Time?

Texting tops the list.

Mobile users in the US are on their phones more than ever, talking, texting, watching videos and using the mobile Web.

Over one-half (54%) of mobile users surveyed in September 2008 by Azuki Systems said their usage had increased by more than 25% over the past two years. One-fifth said their usage had increased by 50% or more. One-third of respondents talked on their mobile phone more than 10 hours per week, and 34% of respondents ages 17 and under talked for more than 15 hours weekly.

But minutes of talk time became a commodity long ago, and mobile carriers—and the marketers who want to reach mobile customers—are looking to mobile data for new revenues.

The survey results should encourage them: Nearly four out of 10 mobile Internet users surfed the mobile Web for 2 or more hours every week. That number is likely to rise as smartphones continue to go mass market; 62% of mobile users surveyed said they either already owned or would own one within the next 12 months.
Nearly four out of five mobile users said they sent text messages from their phone, and 29% of those who did spent more than 2 hours every week on the activity.

The percentage of mobile users who told Azuki they sent text messages was even higher than results recorded by Nielsen Mobile in Q2 2008. Nielsen also found texting to be the most common mobile content activity, although it estimated that only 53% of mobile users engaged in SMS messaging.

Mobile Phones: 100% Just Isn't Enough

October 13, 2008, was a milestone in mobile communications: the 25th anniversary of the first commercial cellphone call. As the revolution-without-wires has spread, the result is an adoption rate that would have left Alexander Graham Bell himself speechless. Within a quarter century of that call—which was placed to Mr. Bell’s grandson—the majority of people on this earth have a mobile phone.

Think of anyone you know, odds are that person is a wireless subscriber.

In a phenomenon that baffles newcomers to the mobile world, penetration figures sail past 100%—and no one so much as bats an eyelash.

The reason, of course, is that people have more than one mobile. One for home, one for work. A contract phone for around town, a prepaid phone for the road. This happens to a particular degree in Europe, where frequent travel across borders means juggling subscriptions to keep from paying steep roaming fees. Usually, this means carrying one phone and switching out the SIM card, the little chip that stores your subscriber information.

For example, Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that by the end of the year, 28.9% of prepaid mobile subscriptions worldwide will consist of “secondary or tertiary SIM card ownership.” Certainly a very useful figure to know, but can you blame us if “tertiary SIM card ownership” sounds an awful lot like “has more phones than hands?”

Heck, the GSM Association reports mobile phone penetration in Italy at 154%. It’s hard not to picture every man, woman and child in the country carrying baskets of phones, trading them like currency, using them as noisemakers at football matches, building sculptures out of them to stand alongside fountains and in piazzas.

Happy 25th birthday, Mr. Cell Phone

The Wireless Association, is commemorating a major industry and technology milestone this month - the 25th anniversary of the first commercial cellular call in the United States.

Today, there are now more than 262 million wireless subscribers in the United States - 83 percent of the total U.S. population - and 3.3 billion active cell phones worldwide, making it one of the fastest global dispersions of any technology in history.

The first commercial cellular call was placed on October 13, 1983 to the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell in Germany from the president of Ameritech Mobile Communications at a ceremony held outside of Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill. This transatlantic conversation launched the nation's first citywide commercial cellular system. Weighing nearly two pounds and 13 inches long, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X used on that historic day had only 30 minutes of talk time, a far cry from the sleek, thin multi-purpose wireless handsets of today.

Puma mobile campaign targets Chinese F1 fans

SINGAPORE - Puma is running a mobile campaign around the Chinese Grand Prix created by mobile agency Phonevalley, including a specially created game, a member-get-member drive and mobile coupon mechanics.

Launched the week leading up to the F1 Grand Prix race in Shanghai on Sunday, Publicis agency Phonevalley has designed a mobile campaign centred around an F1-themed Puma mobile website, which features Puma's 'F Wan' videogame racing site. In Chinese, "wan" means "play".
Designed in partnership with media agency Zenith China, the website allows users to download the F1 racing game to their mobile device, complete with in-game advertising.

Players are encouraged to submit their scores by SMS back to the Puma website with the incentive that the top three scorers each week win Puma merchandise. Prizes are also awarded for users who forward the game onto friends.

The mobile site allows gives access to a store locator that identifies the closest Puma retailer. It also provides in-store promotion details and gift coupons, including Puma F1 toys and Puma F1 mobile screensavers and wallpaper.

Banners and text links to the site will be displayed on three Chinse mobile portals -- QQ, 3g.cn and Kong.net. SMS short codes are also integrated into Puma print ads.
Alexandre Mars, CEO of Phonevalley and head of mobile for Publicis Groupe, said: "Following our recent Euro 2008 campaign for Puma, I am thrilled to pursue our mobile operations for the sport lifestyle brand in China.
"With its 600m mobile subscribers, the Chinese market is undoubtedly a fantastic opportunity for Puma to develop its mobile presence."

Mobile marketing spend to rise 150% in five years

Mobile marketing is set to take off as major brands look to invest in the platform over the next five years, according to an independent survey commissioned by O2.

The survey shows brands will have increased their spend on mobile marketing by 150% come 2013 and do not anticipate any impact on budgets as a result of the economic downturn.

The survey, which was carried out by Vanson Bourne in May this year and included marketing and IT directors at 100 leading brands, also found that the personalised nature of mobile marketing campaigns means they generate a higher response rate than traditional advertising.

Of those marketing directors questioned, 60% favoured mobile marketing because it was considered better for close targeting, especially in financial services advertising.

The use of mobile marketing is increasing with specific services gaining in popularity. Text-to-win competitions and text-to-call-back or email campaigns have increased in use by more than 20% each, while retail and financial services ads were judged the most popular mobile advertising areas.

SMS was used by nearly a third of all businesses interviewed, yet half of the marketers questioned who have yet to make use of mobile marketing campaigns claim they are concerned that their customers will view the text messages as spam.

Simon Dean, head of mobile media at O2 UK said there has "never been a better time for brands to engage with their customers via mobile".

Dean said: "One in 10 of those we surveyed already think mobile marketing has saved their business at least £1m when compared to other marketing solutions.

"With more consumers than ever browsing the web through their mobile handsets, there is a significant and largely untapped audience for brands to target their customers directly."

Election Polls Hit Mobile Phones

In yet another sign of tech’s influence on the presidential election, JumpTap and Zogby International are teaming up to poll likely voters – on their cell phones. The surveys have been launched via a mobile ad banner campaign across “premium” mobile sites, the companies announced.

While the poll isn’t intended to be a rigorous, scientific assessment of voters’ likely leanings, the companies are hoping to gain insight into user engagement with polls.
“From an mobile advertising perspective, our goal is to show how relevancy in the mobile marketing channel encourages user engagement and willingness to respond to targeted messaging via their mobile phone,” Paran Johar, CMO of JumpTap, told ADOTAS. “From a polling perspective, we are interested to see if and how, a) users on various publisher sites vote in a distinct way, b) if different handset users have a certain political preference, and c) how mobile polling patterns compare to traditional polls – voter preference based on state, age, race and issues.”

Currently, 43 million U.S. mobile subscribers are using the mobile Internet.
JumpTap reaches more than 170 million mobile subscribers through partnerships with 18 mobile operators and numerous content publishers with its search and advertising solutions.
Zogby International was the most accurate pollster in every one of the last three presidential election cycles, and continues to improve its telephone and interactive methodologies using its own live operator, in-house call center in Upstate New York, and its own secure servers for its online polling projects. In the 2004 presidential election, not only was Zogby’s telephone polling right on the money, its interactive polling also nailed the election as well.

How to get the most out of mobile marketing

The movement to access content on mobile platforms is gathering pace: 57 per cent of mobile phone users will have 3G internet access by 2011, according to Forrester Research.

So far, the speed of the mobile internet has limited its development. But the popularity of flat-rate data plans, the proliferation of services and applications, and the emergence of high-speed devices such as the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Bold, have made the technology viable and accessible.

Marketing group Nielsen estimates that going mobile will extend the audience reach of many internet sites by an average of 13 per cent. To get their hands on this ever-growing market, search providers are introducing applications and services, and opening up new possibilities to market on a personal level.

For marketers looking to use mobile web browsers, it is critical that their offering is presented in a practical, consumable way. For media-driven sites such as Disney.co.uk, this is a straightforward proposition - making a 'snack-sized' portal that balances advertising with content. Retailers have been more cautious, given the difficulty in displaying sufficient quantities of information to encourage a purchase.

But, unlike the fixed internet, the mobile web has no established models by which to measure success or failure, which makes it difficult to justify its slice of the marketing budget. It is therefore important for marketers to start to obtain a view of how their customers are interacting with their brand over this channel. Are visitors viewing more than one page on the site? Are their browsers capable of handling video? What screen size do most visitors use?

The mobile internet is reaching critical mass. Digital marketers need to understand its value and how to communicate with visitors accessing their sites with handheld devices. Maximising its potential begins with analytics, and using the lessons of the internet will help us understand how to deliver value.

Is The Smartphone Your Next Computer?

Is the smartphone the new laptop? Can we really ditch our Windows-powered portables when we travel, in favor of BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile-, or Symbian-powered handsets? It's true that full-fledged x86 computing excels at supporting deep views into business intelligence and CRM databases. However, most professionals would like nothing better than to lighten their load on the road. And hey, if they can access their companies' Oracle , Salesforce, SAP, or Sybase apps from a lightweight mobile interface, why not?

What we found is a mixed bag. Smartphone makers are rushing to partner with software houses, as both see big bucks in giving their customers mobile enterprise access. The former envision over-the-air ERP and CRM as ways to drive expensive handsets into the hands of workers who currently don't rate more than commodity cell phones. And software vendors anticipate broader usage--or at least heightened mindshare--for their apps if they can get many more people to spend more time interacting with customer and transaction-oriented data on their handsets.

As for users, we found a market clearly in its early stages though poised for rapid growth. In an InformationWeek online survey of 1,139 business technology professionals, 30% of smartphone users say they use their devices for enterprise connectivity, and 37% either occasionally or frequently leave their laptops at home in favor of their smartphones.

Many more users would like to ditch their laptops when they travel but are afraid of being caught short. Most midlevel execs will only cop to arriving at a meeting armed with just a smartphone if they're on a day trip. So, for the near-term, a dual-use scenario will be the norm, where laptops lumber on in their traditional role.

Peering Inside a Mobile Phone Network

Have you ever wondered why your mobile phone can alert you to new voicemail without having ever rung? Or why a text message can get through when a call can't? Maybe you've traveled across continents and been amazed at how calls still manage to follow you? Or perhaps you've noticed that sometimes your battery only seems to last a fraction of its normal life? And why can the iPhone 3G figure out your location in 3 seconds when it takes takes your car GPS 3 minutes?

Although we normally take the ubiquitous mobile phone for granted; assuming it should work anywhere at any time, there's quite a bit of complex technology involved in sending a call to a device in your pocket. While we've all screamed in frustration over dropped calls and other annoyances, the truth is these are impressive devices, packed with amazing technology, that still hold a few tricks up their sleeves. And after you learn a little more about the inside of the system, maybe, just maybe, you'll be a little less irritated the next time you battle to make a simple call.

Mobile Location-Based Services on the Move

The pin marks your spot.

Consumer mobile location-based services first became available two to three years ago as the performance and cost of mobile handsets—especially smartphones—made it feasible to launch mobile information services that used location data. The iPhone, and all the clones that sprang up after its introduction, accelerated adoption.

eMarketer estimates there will be over 63 million location-based service users worldwide this year, and 486 million in 2012.

“Consumers have discovered that the appeal of location-based services extends beyond pinpointing locations, businesses and other points of interest,” says John du Pre Gauntt, senior analyst at eMarketer and author of the new report, Mobile Location-Based Services. “Buddy beacons and friend finders based on location-based service technology allow mobile users to determine each other’s physical location.”

Not surprisingly, marketers, too, are interested in mobile location-based services.

“Connecting with consumers at the last three feet of a transaction is the holy grail for advertisers,” says Mr. Gauntt.

Where Is Online Video Headed?

eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey spoke about the future of online video recently at IAB MIXX. He said that in the near- and midterm, television and online video models will merge, both in content and ads. TV will get more measurement, targeting and accountability, while online video content will improve to rival TV.

One of the brightest spots will be the on-demand video model. The format, which lets consumers watch whatever they want at any time of day or night, will continue to be largely ad-supported.
David Hallerman is a senior analyst covering online video at eMarketer. Like Mr. Ramsey, he foresees changes in ad models as the online video market grows. New models for online video advertising, such as through widgets, or new/old models, such as product placement and sponsorship, will coexist with increasing use of in-stream ads (for example, preroll), which are currently associated with traditional TV content.

Source: emarketer.com

Worldwide mobile cellular subscribers to reach 4 billion mark late 2008

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré announced in New York that worldwide mobile cellular subscribers are likely to reach the 4 billion mark before the end of this year.

Source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

When a Map is No Longer Just a Map

This past Sunday, I indulged in my one and only reality TV obsession. I long ago gave up on the idea that I could actually be on "Amazing Race" on CBS, especially since my friends refuse to pair up with me to make a team until I learn my left from right.
There is absolutely no way I'd undertake that kind of adventure without a data- and voice-enabled mobile phone with international service. After all, I panic when I leave the house without my BlackBerry. I can't but help think about of all the mobile applications I'd download before taking on an "Amazing Race" adventure. Mobile mapping would be first.
Mobile mapping is just about the ultimate example of relevant, timely, and actionable information. A quick check on usage shows that eight percent of U.S. based mobile subscribers accessed maps from mobile devices over a three-month period that ended in May 2008, according to a comScore report. This represents an 82 percent increase year-over-year. The majority of users were looking for driving directions and accessing the information from a mobile browser versus an application.
Finally, in the mobile space, a map is no longer just a map. The future of navigation for consumers will bridge the gap between point A and point B, bringing people and places (like retail stores and mom-and-pop shops, too) together with marketers like never before. The real promise of on-the-go access is unfolding now. Too bad the folks on "Amazing Race" have to win the old-fashioned way.


Article by Courtney Acuff, The ClickZ Network