Nonprofit Mobile Marketing

Nonprofit Federation & MobileCause Mobile Marketing Pilot Program
If your organization is a Nonprofit Federation member and interested in participating in the text messaging pilot program, please complete our questionaire and submit your response to Jill Murphy. If your organization is not a member and would like to participate, please join here! Download Texting Application (PDF)

Mobile Marketing in the News

It's the way Millenials communicate.  It's also likely the next generation of nonprofit messaging and fundraising.  Here are recent articles on texting to get you ready for the next wave of donors, members and activists.

NEW! DMA Report: Mobile Marketing: Consumer Perspectives

DMA’s Nonprofit Federation Tests Mobile for Fundraising

Mobile Marketer Outlook for 2008

Searching for Mobile Access - Intranets/Information Today, Inc.

MOBILE MARKETER
ECONOMIC TURMOIL PRESENTS MOBILE MARKETERS WITH OPPORTUNITIES: STUDY. A new survey finds that worried consumers may be reducing spending on mobile phones. GetJar’s "Mobile Attitudes" poll revealed that 78% of respondents from a worldwide audience are delaying plans to upgrade or buy a new mobile phone as a result of the current economic climate. Similarly, the study claimed 76% of mobile phone users are immediately planning to reduce the amount they spend on phone usage. But there’s an upside. "Our findings show that 28% of people we have interviewed have switched from a paid premium service to a free mobile application to avoid carrier charges," reports Bill Scott, VP of business development at GetJar, London. "This provides an interesting alternative for marketers, as they can advertise within these apps."
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1988.html

SMS- MOST DIRECT WAY TO CONNECT WITH TARGET AUDIENCE
There are nearly 3 billion handsets worldwide, compared to 1.5 billion TVs and 1.1 billion PCs, clearly demonstrating that mobile is a much more efficient means of reaching a global audience.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1944.html

MOBILE BEATS INTERNET IN ROI
Mobile is measurable and drives return on investment even more than the Internet, according Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising network.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1958.html

ENSURE SMS MESSAGES COMPLY WITH CARRIER RULES
Ensuring your SMS messages are compliant with carrier rules is not as straightforward as you would think.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1970.html

CONTENT PROVIDERS: DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR USERS ARE DOING RIGHT NOW?
As the mobile market matures, user satisfaction and user loyalty will determine the winners and the losers. As content providers continue to enter the market, the ability of “uniqueness” to attract and hold user attention, even when the interface is rough, will continue to decline. In the fast-moving mobile industry, you want to stay in touch with your users – see what they are seeing and what they are feeling.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1910.html

VERIZON SMS FEE ISSUE LEADS TO GRASSROOTS OPPOSITION
If Verizon Wireless implements its proposed $.03 rate hike the mobile marketing industry will topple over, eventually bringing the carriers down with it, according to industry speculators. Executives at mobile companies aren’t happy with the proposal and feel that it would only benefit Verizon. Worst of all, the industry is very disappointed in the Mobile Marketing Association and the fact that the organization hasn’t reacted in any way to the proposed hike.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/1914.html

MOBILE CAN HELP IN-STORE EXPERIENCES MEET CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS: STUDY
Payments made via emerging methods such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and SMS are expected to grow to $400 billion by 2010. This was a key finding of research conducted by the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). In addition, 23% of all survey respondents expressed interest in using a mobile device to make contactless payments in physical stores and that number is only expected to grow. Two-thirds of current mobile banking users expressed interest in swiping a device embedded with a chip at the point of sale. Cisco IBSG surveyed more than 1,500 consumers to better understand how their behaviors and perceptions shape the evolving commerce landscape of shopping and payments.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1807.html

eMARKETER
TEXT MESSAGING OVERTAKES MOBILE VOICE CALLS
The average mobile subscriber in the US sent and received more SMS text messages than mobile telephone calls during Q2 2008, according to Nielsen. This was the second consecutive quarter in which the average number of text messages was significantly higher than the average number of phone calls. Although the research is an indicator of rising mobile data use, the two types of mobile communication are not directly comparable. Users typically convey far more information in a voice call than in a text, so text "conversations" can require multiple messages. Revenues from all ad-supported messaging in North America will approach $4 billion by 2011.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006604

DM NEWS
MOBILE LEGAL ISSUES STILL NASCENT, SAYS ATTORNEY; URGES MARKETERS TO LOOK TO DMA, MMA GUIDELINES.
.Mobile marketing, specifically text message marketing, is so new that it does not have many laws or statutes governing it. But if marketers stick to privacy and opt-in rules that already exist for other mediums, they should be able to avoid legal pratfalls, said Roger Colaizzi, an attorney with Venable LLP. “In some ways, there are no rules,” he said. Colaizzi said the best thing marketers can do is look to guidelines established by the Direct Marketing Association and Mobile Marketing Association for best practices in text message marketing. Both organizations, and Colaizzi, agree marketers should wholeheartedly embrace that the consumer is king.
http://www.dmnews.com/Mobile-legal-issues-still-nascent-ERA/article/118315

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE ISSUES TO TAKLE IN TOUGH ECONOMIC CLIME
Analysts have proclaimed the advent of mobile marketing. As recent Nielsen data showed, there are 40 million mobile Internet users nationwide and growing. As a marketing executive, you would love to reach all these millions of users. However, despite the success of American Idol in getting the United States to vote via text, there is a huge gap between these numbers and reality. People are still wary of receiving marketing messages on their mobile devices. They consider it one safe haven from spam and advertising messages.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1762.html

IS MOBILITY RECESSION-PROOF?
Brands’ curiosity in experimenting with mobile is outweighing any pressure on advertising budgets caused by the current economical recession. Executives from the mobile advertising industry believe that the financial crisis will not have any short-term effects on mobile, but may be detrimental if the crisis is long-term. “We asked consumers, given the economic conditions, what areas they would be cutting back on,” said Joseph Porus, VP of Harris Interactive. “At the top of the list were eating out in restaurants, buying new electronics, entertainment, clothing, and vacations.” On the other hand, he said, “the most bulletproof consumer expenditures were insurance, TV, and mobile phone service.”
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/1777.html

CNET NEWS
AMERICANS TEXT MORE THAN THEY TALK
American cell phone users are sending more text messages than they are making phone calls, according to a Nielsen Mobile survey. For the second quarter of 2008, US mobile subscribers sent and received on average 357 text messages per month, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month, according to Nielsen. The new statistic is a clear indication that Americans have jumped onto the SMS text bandwagon. In the first quarter of 2006, Americans sent and received 65 text messages per month. The number of messages sent and received today has increased 450%.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10048257-94.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

eMARKETER
MOBILE ADS MIGHT WORK WITH TEENS, BUT WITH A PRICE: HARRIS STUDY
Nearly one-half of teen mobile phone users in the US said they would be at least somewhat interested in accepting mobile ads, as long as they got something in return, according to a September 2008 study conducted by Harris Interactive for mobile trade group CTIA. Harris surveyed mobile users ages 13 to 19, and found that more than one-half of respondents were not interested in mobile ads, even in exchange for some type of incentive. Incentives are likely to be part of many mobile ad campaigns, because a majority of users are opposed to mobile marketing in general.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006571

MOBILE MARKETER
US SENATOR QUESTIONS SMS RISING COSTS
Why have the four largest wireless service providers simultaneously raised their text-messaging rates? That is precisely what Unites States Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) has asked the wireless carriers in a letter. The move comes soon after the European Union questioned European carriers on their text-messaging rates, suggesting capped rates for consumer protection.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/legal-privacy/1736.html

LANDLINE CORD-CUTTING TO BENEFIT MOBILE MARKETING, REPORTS NIELSEN MOBILE
More than 20 million US homes rely solely on mobile phones instead of landlines, according to new research by market researcher Nielsen Mobile. This means that 17% of wireless subscribers use their mobile phone as a substitute for a landline connection. The research from Nielsen Mobile, a service of Nielsen Co., suggests that one in five US households could be wireless-only by the end of 2008. The Nielsen Mobile report titled, “Call My Cell: Wireless Substitution in the United States,” talks about the fact that consumers are cutting the cord on their landlines and why.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1741.html

WASHINGTON POST
MOBILE SEARCH ABOUT TO BECOME REAL BUSINESS, SAYS MOBILE CONTENT NETWORKS
Advertising revenue from mobile Web searching is becoming a serious business and could be worth $2.4 billion by 2011, a key player in the industry said. Mobile Content Networks Inc. (MCN), which says it offers a more mobile-tailored search function than Google or Yahoo, said it was seeing strong demand from mobile phone operators. MCN earns money from placing ads alongside mobile phone search results screens and says the market is set to more than double each year as consumption of wireless data and mobile content accelerates.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091701157.html

eMARKETER
TEXT MESSAGES DRIVE MOBILE DATA GROWTH; MEDIUM DEMANDS SAVVY USE BY MARKETERS
Mobile data service revenues in the US rose to $14.8 billion for the first half of 2008, according to the CTIA. That was up 40% over the first half of 2007, when data revenues reached $10.5 billion. Mobile data now accounts for one-fifth of all mobile revenues. Text messaging is a big reason for the jump in mobile data revenues. The CTIA said Americans sent 75 billion text messages in June 2008 alone. Texts are part of a trend toward using mobile handsets to do more than just talk.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006538

eMARKETING
AFFLUENT SPEND THE MOST TIME ONLINE VIA PC AND MOBILE
Among US affluent heads of household surveyed, those with annual household incomes of $250,000 and over spend the most time online, according to a study conducted from March through July 2008 by Ipsos Mendelsohn. The average number of hours logged weekly increased with income, and that users in the top income tier spent nearly 6 more hours online per week than those whose incomes ranged from $100,000 to $150,000. Affluent Internet users who used PCs went online an average of 25.9 times every week. Wealthy mobile Internet users typically accessed the Web with their handsets 17.6 times weekly.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006541

DO ADS FIT WITH MOBILE USER-GENERATED CONTENT?
Once, advertisers only had to worry what was on the facing page. YouTube educated the mass market about authoring and sharing user-generated content (UGC), and now advertisers are catching on, too. One of the first global revenue forecasts for mobile UGC, from Juniper Research, projected that mobile UGC will generate $5.7 billion worldwide in 2012, up from $576 million in 2007. Later research by ARCchart raised the estimate for mobile UGC to $6.6 billion worldwide in 2012, up from $700 million in 2007. Clearly, mobile UGC spending is growing. But advertisers still face challenges in reaching consumers in highly personalized, and often unpredictable, UGC settings.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006525

MOBILE MARKETER
WHY MOBILE MARKETING WORKS FOR MULTICULTURAL AUDIENCES
The Apple iPhone 3G is opening up a whole new world for mobile marketers. With an easier-to-swallow price point, the iPhone now can compete with other mobile phones on a mass-acceptance level, spreading its 3G capabilities across genders, income levels and races. For companies looking to target the multicultural population, mobile provides a perfect avenue to reach this niche marketplace.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1717.html

TWELVE TIPS FOR BUILDING A MOBILE SITE
Marci Troutman, founder of Siteminis Inc., writes: Times are changing and the companies that take mobile commerce seriously now will reap the benefits of their foresightedness way ahead of their competition. Now what makes a good user interface for a mobile customer? Listed below are several tips for a mobile site build.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1636.html

ADWEEK
US ON TRACK TO TOP MOBILE WEB MARKET
After years of lagging behind European countries, the US is poised to take the top spot for mobile Web usage by month’s end, according to data collected by technology firm Bango, which provides mobile Internet access platforms to 100,000 websites worldwide. In July, Bango reported the UK was top ranked in mobile Web usage, accounting for almost 19.4% of the worldwide total, just ahead of the US, which collected about 18.9% of total usage. Rounding out the top five were India (10.8%), South Africa (8.8%) and Indonesia (4.1%).
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3ib06feef71f62cc172113c9154f1d271b

MOBILE MARKETER
SMS SPOOFING: MOBILE ADVERTISING ENEMY NUMBER ONE
You hear a lot of talk about mobile content security nowadays, particularly as a threat to the long-awaited emergence of mobile advertising. While the levels of threats vary from Asia to Europe to North America, today there are four identifiable types of SMS mobile spam messages with which operators have to contend.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1610.html

eMARKETER
MOBILE AD SPENDING SET TO SOAR; HOW HIGH IT WILL CLIMB DEPENDS ON HOW THE MARKET IS SIZED
New mobile ad spending projections seem to appear every day. One of the latest is from Strategy Analytics, which predicts that advertisers worldwide will spend $2.4 billion on mobile in 2009, up from $1 billion this year. The research company expects a growing number of brands to insert ads into different mobile media. eMarketer’s own projections include the entire mobile ad economy: creative, related IT and other related spending. Asked about the range of spending that mobile ads will drive, John du Pre Gauntt, senior analyst at eMarketer, noted that “Some US universities have courses in mobile marketing right now. Mobile is at a point where online was 10 years ago.”
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006487

MOBILE MARKETER
Upfront tips on placing content and ads on mobile Web
As awareness of the mobile Internet grows amongst consumers, more publishers and brands are considering taking the plunge and putting pure content and advertising content into mobile formats. Before one steps into the mobile realm, there are some basic principles we have seen that publishers and advertisers should keep in mind while producing content for the mobile Web.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1555.html

THE NEW YORK TIMES
IT’S NOT THE AD; IT’S GETTING THE BILL; DMA SEES MOBILE AS ONE OF HOTTEST NEW MARKETING CHANNELS
The vast majority of people say they are averse to having advertisements text-messaged or otherwise sent to their cellphones. But nearly a quarter of people who have gotten such ads say they have responded at least once, a figure that is highly encouraging to marketers. “It’s one of the hottest new channels available,” said Edward T. Manzitti, VP for research of the Direct Marketing Association, a trade group that recently released a study of mobile users’ responses to unsolicited offers. Manzitti blames the fact that recipients often have to pay for text-message ads for much of the opposition to them. “If the carriers offered marketers a different type of pricing, where the marketer paid the cost rather than the consumer, you’d see a different type of response,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/business/media/11drill.html?scp=1&sq=%22direct%20marketing%22&st=cse

MOBILE MARKETER
WIRELESS CARRIER RELATIONSHIPS DIFFER ACROSS ETHNIC GROUPS: FORRESTER.
A new study from Forrester Research claims that wireless carriers’ bonds with consumers vary by ethnicity. Forrester surveyed 4,758 US consumers on their overall customer experience and satisfaction with online, store and phone interactions and their plans to stick with their current carriers. “Hispanics get the most enjoyment from wireless carriers, blacks gave highest marks for phone interactions and Caucasians are the least likely to switch,” said Forrester analyst Bruce Temkin in his report with Steven Geller. While only 62% of consumers think that their carriers are enjoyable, 69% of Hispanics felt that way. African-Americans were next, at 67%.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1523.html

Marketers still don't know mobile
An executive from mobile software provider Sybase 365 defined an effective mobile campaign. Rich media, including graphics, videos and advertisements, is omnipresent on the Internet and if deployed on mobile, would be an opportunity for marketers and media companies to reach consumers more effectively.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/1484.html

INTEREST IN MOBILE MARKETING CONTINUES TO GROW STRONG
A study conducted by mobile marketing firm Ad Infuse found there is a significant and consistent increase in mobile advertising interest and planning as 2008 progresses. Ad Infuse collected data at its Mobile Ad Degree events, which take place once every quarter. At the event in March, 64% of the attendees expressed interest in mobile advertising. At the next show in May, this number went up to 81%. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1483.html

Do you really know your end-user’s experience?
Mobile devices have changed the way people access content online. With a mobile device users can get connected anytime, anywhere on a staggering variety of unique devices. The biggest challenge in the mobile market today is supporting the hundreds of different mobile handsets operating over the complex carrier network that all have to provide a satisfying end user experience.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1498.html

Mobile: A branding or direct marketing medium?
There is no doubt that mobile possesses power as a branding medium. A digital marketing research organization, having looked at early averages in its Mobile AdInsight studies, claims that the mobile medium outperforms the online medium across major awareness, association and purchase intent measures.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1543.html

CONNECTICUT POST
COMPANY SENDING ADS TO CELL PHONES; MARKETERS ARE ‘BRANCHING OUT INTO A MULTICHANNEL UNIVERSE,’ SAYS DMA’S LAKSHMI-RATAN
The digital age marketers are here and could be calling out to your cell phone offering coupons, movie trailers, or information about houses and rental spaces as you walk down the street or stroll the mall. On Tuesday, Stacy Pearson, CEO of Bluetooth Advertisements, pitched his service and his vision for the future of direct marketing to Fairfield-based Coldwell Banker Commercial’s The Febbraio Group office. Bluetooth Advertisements uses a four-inch long by two-inch wide computer server to broadcast ads to cell phones, using the same technology that links wireless headsets to cell phones or iPods to car stereos. Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan, Ph.D., executive VP and chief operating officer of the Direct Marketing Association, said Pearson’s company is a good example of marketers branching out into a multichannel universe. “These kinds of systems have been discussed for a number of years,” said Dr. Ratan, a veteran businessman whose career included stints at Bell Labs and as head of marketing divisions at other companies. In today’s world, he said, marketers are trying to coordinate their strategies across many channels. Dr. Ratan also explained that Pearson’s system doesn’t cost phone users money because it doesn’t require the ad to travel through the phone owner’s network.
http://www.connpost.com/businessnews/ci_10132840

DM NEWS
AOL’S PLATFORM-A DEBUTS MOBILE AD PLATFORM
AOL has debuted a mobile third-party ad-serving platform through Third Screen Media, Platform-A’s mobile ad-serving platform and network. Through the new offering, Platform-A will offer mobile publishers the ability to sell ads on multiple ad networks. The new mobile offering allows publishers to partition inventory to dictate how they want their inventory distributed across these networks. AOL acquired Third Screen Media just more than a year ago and made it part of Platform-A. It also offers the Third Screen Media Mobile AdServing Platform, on which advertisers, publishers and mobile phone carriers can access mobile ad inventory for the buying and selling of mobile advertising in WAP, video, SMS/MMS and downloadable applications.
http://www.dmnews.com/AOLs-Platform-A-debuts-mobile-ad-platform/article/113564/

eMARKETER
CHANGING MOBILE TV AND VIDEO, CRAMPED AD SPEND
How much revenue will come from ads, and how much from subscription fees? Worldwide mobile video/television revenue forecasts tend to diverge significantly depending on what is counted and how. A recent forecast from Informa Telecoms & Media projected that mobile video and television will reach $4.8 billion by 2012, up from $750 million in 2007. The extent of ad-supported versus paid content is not clear from this research. Specific mobile video revenue forecasts have emerged as well. In November 2007, iSuppli published figures stating that mobile video revenues worldwide will reach $14.6 billion in 2011, with an ad-supported component totaling $3.8 billion.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006480

eMARKETER
TEXT MESSAGES RULE MOBILE ADS, REPORTS DMA STUDY
Mobile advertising has been the next big thing for a while now. But although text messaging is popular among young adults, the 160-character format has yet to become a mass influencer. Still, consumers who respond to mobile ads are most likely to engage with text messages, according to a survey of mobile users ages 15 and older in the US by the Direct Marketing Association. Seven out of 10 respondents to the DMA’s "Mobile Marketing: Consumer Perspectives" study who had acted on mobile ads said that text messages for a product or service had prompted their actions.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006445&src=dp4_home

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY
MOBILE DATA REVENUE TO GROW BY 16%
Spurred by a new generation of smartphones, mobile data revenues are expected to increase by 16% annually to $100 billion by 2017, according to a new forecast. A new report by media research firm SNL Kagan indicates more than triple annual increases of 5% for overall wireless services over the next decade. Similarly, the average number of data subscribers will grow by 5.8% in that period, while wireless customers overall increase by only 2.9%. With mobile voice service reaching saturation in the US, carriers are counting on mobile data revenue to make up for the slowing growth in new subscribers.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=87723

BtoB MAGAZINE
WARRILLOW FINDS 39% OF SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS USE TEXT MESSAGING
A new report from Warrillow & Co. found that 39% of small-business owners use text messaging for business. The behavior is not limited to younger business owners. While 90% of small-business owners age 27 or younger report using text messaging, 59% of small-business owners between the ages of 28 and 44 also text, and 34% of owners between the ages of 44 and 62 use text messaging. Only 10% of small-business owners 62 and older text.
http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080801/FREE/315835958/1078

MOBILE MARKETER'S CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE ADVERTISING
Targeting advertisers, media buyers, agency executives, publishers and service providers, Mobile Marketer's Classic Guide to Mobile Advertising offers key tips on executing mobile ad campaigns.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/1468.html

MOBILE MARKETER
TIPS ON DESIGNING MOBILE WEBSITES
In a world that is big on standards but short on implementation, I'm going to take a firm stand on what appears to be common oversights in the design of mobile Web sites.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1409.html

WHY MOBILE AND TRADITIONAL MEDIA ARE A POWERFUL COMBINATION
If mobile is going to be the next big ad medium, it will need the help of the traditional media formats. Mobile's challenge is to engage people on their mobile phones in a legal and non-offensive way. Traditional media, especially radio and television, is struggling to compete with online, reinvent itself and find new sources of revenue. Radio and TV are tremendous broad reach mediums, but are desperate to create more interactivity and engagement with listeners and viewers.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1403.html

INCREASING MOBILE CONTENT UPTAKE WITH DIRECT-TO-BILLING CHARGE
If advertisers and content providers want to take full advantage of the mobile channel, they need a more appropriate payment mechanism than Premium SMS. Premium SMS has been the primary method used by content providers to allow the purchase of content not found on the wireless carrier’s portal. It is a popular method for end users to consume services such as chat and voting.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1396.html

INTERNETNEWS
MOBILE PHONE USERS SMART ON SECURITY
Smartphone users want as much access to data and systems as possible and aren’t adverse to security to protect devices, according to a new study released today by Decipher. According to the Smartphone Protection Consumer Survey, which polled 200 users, 89% of users check email and access corporate information, and 70% access sensitive data away from the office. Mobile device storage is increasing as well, with 69% saying they keep job-related documents on devices for work tasks. The report also notes 75% would be more comfortable during work travel if devices housed encryption technology for protecting access and files, and 85% say enterprises should deploy protection on any device.
http://www.internetnews.com/mobility/article.php/3760566/Mobile+Phone+Users+Smart+on+Security.htm

WIRED
WHAT WORKS (AND WHAT DOESN’T) ON THE MOBILE WEB
When considering the future of the open Web on mobile devices, it’s easy to see that the desktop’s days as top dog are numbered. Nielsen Mobile, one of the many companies that pays close attention to such things, recently reported unique mobile internet usage has grown 73% since 2006. And according to the blog ReadWriteWeb, mobile ad tracking service AdMob claims mobile web use has doubled in the last year. Looking back, people may be able to pinpoint Internet Explorer on Windows CE as the introduction to the wireless internet on mobile phones. Opera argues its mobile browser played a large part as well. True as that may be, the release of the Safari browser on the iPhone was the tipping point towards truly closing the gap between the Web experience on mobiles and on the desktop. Tech research firm ABI Research’s latest report predicts continuing, accelerating growth of real, full-featured browsers on mobiles. The lines are being blurred more quickly than ever.
http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/What_Works_(And_What_Doesn_t)_on_the_Mobile_Web

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE USAGE GAP IS CLOSING: EXPERIAN
The mobile usage gap is closing nationwide, according to a study by Experian Consumer Research.  Consumers of differing ages are turning to mobile for activities such as text messaging, ring tones, photos, videos, games, music, online access, location awareness, streaming video, email, shopping and banking. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1353.html

MOBILE MARKETER
EU TO REGULATE MOBILE TEXTING FEES
Frustration with lack of self-regulation over high text roaming fees has led the European Commission to begin work on creating a new single market for mobile text services within the European Union. The Commission will also work to end “bill shocks” that can hit roaming customers using a mobile connection to go online.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/legal-privacy/1347.html

MOBILE COMMERCE
THREE BUCKETS OF REVENUE LEAKAGE IN MOBILE CONTENT COMMERCE, REPORTS MULTIMEDIA INTELLIGENCE
New research from MultiMedia Intelligence has identified three buckets of revenue leakage in mobile content commerce. Those three buckets are refunds, payment processing for providing content to a consumer without being able to collect payment, and customer service (namely customer service calls). Content providers and wireless carriers should ensure that mobile content is about delivering the right product for the right device, managing access rights and making sure that consumers can use the content. Profitability is affected if these issues aren’t addressed properly. "Ultimately, the carriers are affected the most," said Frank Dickson, cofounder and chief revenue officer of MultiMedia Intelligence, Phoenix.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1327.html

MOBILE MARKETER
REPORT: EU TO PROPOSE LAW TO CUT SMS ROAMING RATES
A report published in The New York Times expects that the European Commission will propose new legislation to cut the cost of sending and receiving SMS messages on mobile phones while roaming. EU information society and media commissioner Viviane Reding will make the announcement. “The commissioner will mention figures that were suggested during the consultation and by the European Regulators’ Group, but no figure has been decided on yet”. The legislation will not cover other types of data transfers through mobile, including Internet services and email messages, said a source.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/1331.html

MOBILE MARKETER
EDITORIAL: NEW BILL IN SENATE FOR MORATORIUM ON WIRELESS TAXES
Mickey Alam Khan, editor in chief of Mobile Marketer, writes: Three months after the US House of Representatives, a new bill was introduced last week in the US Senate to impose a five-year moratorium on new or existing taxes on wireless telecoms and infrastructure. That’s good news for both mobile companies and consumers. The introduction July 11 of the Mobile Wireless Tax Fairness Act of 2008 by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in the Senate comes at a time when the average mobile subscriber pays more than 15% of his or her monthly bill on taxes and fees. That rate exceeds, in some states, the taxes on tobacco and alcohol. It is also twice the 7.1% rate imposed on other competitive goods and services subject to sales tax.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/editorials/1324.html

THE WASHINGTON POST
WHEN THE PHONE GOES WITH YOU, EVERYONE ELSE CAN TAG ALONG
Consumers for years have been able to carry portable electronic devices that can pinpoint where they are on a map or a mountain trail. But yesterday’s launch of the iPhone 3G signals the growing sophistication of an industry, demonstrating the power of marrying precise location technology with the reach of the Internet on mobile devices. Merchants can use this information to target ads, malls to entice shoppers, insurance adjusters to calibrate premiums, employers to catch moonlighters, and parents to keep an eye on children. But what many users may not realize is that by sharing this information, they are creating often permanent records that can tell not only wireless providers, but also social networking sites, other users, and potentially law enforcement and civil attorneys every place they are and have been, as long as their phone and tracking device are on.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071103296.html

MOBILE MARKETER
US LEADS IN MOBILE INTERNET PENETRATION: NIELSEN MOBILE
Although the US lags other markets in terms of mobile, it is the leader in mobile Internet penetration, with 40 million subscribers, or 15.6% of users, accessing the Web from their handsets. This was the key finding of a study by Nielsen Mobile that examined the global mobile Internet market. Of the 16 countries tracked, the US leads in mobile Internet penetration, followed by Britain with 12.9% and Italy at 11.9%. “A number of moving pieces have come together to bring mobile Internet a critical mass,” said Nic Covey, Chicago-based director of insights at Nielsen Mobile.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1301.html

MOBILE SHOULD ENGAGE WITH DIRECT & INTERACTIVE MARKETERS
Mobile marketing has reached a stage where service providers, ad networks and agencies need to cross the street to chat to players in interactive and direct marketing. Many Fortune 1000 companies are already dabbling in some form of mobile marketing or the other. Maybe they don’t have full-blown mobile marketing campaigns, but the ones they do run are creative, eye-catching and ROI-focused. So the awareness of mobile marketing is quite high, at least among the upper echelons of Corporate America. However, there is a problem at the middle-management level – a critical tier on whom rests the execution of marketing campaigns, from television and mail to online and mobile. It is this layer that needs more convincing since they answer to their superiors for ROI. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/editorials/1281.html

MAKING THE MOST OUT MOBILE DATA
Measurement is critical to any business. So it is particularly important to ensure that the products you choose for measuring mobile delivers depth, breadth and accuracy of information needed. By its very nature, the mobile Web lends itself to measurement – a phone is personal, always on and with your customer 24/7. But, as the industry is starting to see, mobile analytics is not so easy given that traditional Web techniques do not work...
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1239.html

DM AGENCY, WUNDERMAN, TO TAKE BUY MOBILE SHOP
Direct marketing agency Wunderman is set to take a controlling interest in Kassius SA, a French interactive and mobile marketing agency.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising-agencies/1260.html

MAKING A CASE FOR HISPANIC MOBILE MARKETING
With the penetration of online in the U.S. Hispanic community still relatively low, mobile should seriously be considered as a digital avenue to reach this ever-growing demographic. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics and Latinos make up more than 15 percent of the total population of the United States, a demographic of 45.5 million consumers that is only growing by the day. A 2007 study by M:Metrics shows us that the mobile device is a prime location to reach this group.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1268.html

eMARKETER
MILLIONS TAKE PART IN MOBILE COMMERCE; SECURITY CONCERNS HINDER MILLIONS MORE
A full 9.2 million US mobile subscribers have purchased goods or services using their handset, and one-half of all mobile data users expect to do so in the future, according to Nielsen Mobile. "As more mobile commerce services become available and consumers develop a greater trust for phone-based transactions, we expect commerce to be an increasingly important part of the mobile experience next year and beyond," said Nic Covey, director of insights at Nielsen Mobile, in a statement. Nielsen also reported that 6.5 million US mobile consumers had used text messaging to make a purchase.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006380

YOUNG ADULTS INFLUENCED BY MOBILE ADS, REPORTS BIGRESEARCH Many mobile marketers are still struggling to influence consumers, judging by an analysis of BIGresearch’s "Simultaneous Media Usage Study." Only 6.9% of adults surveyed said that video on mobile phones influenced them to purchase electronics; 6.4% said text messaging did the same. However, mobile media was twice as effective among young consumers, with 14.2% of 18 to 24 year-olds saying that mobile video influenced them and 15.9% saying text messaging did.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006374

Marketing Sherpa
HOW TO BUILD A MOBILE AD CAMPAIGN: FOUR CRUCIAL ELEMENTS TO INCLUDE
Mobile advertising is becoming more mainstream every day. However, to take part, you must have a well-conceived campaign. The founder of a major mobile portal sums up the strategies he teaches his advertisers to capture more value from their ads. He shares the four most effective elements of mobile advertising and tips on how to get double-digit response rates to your mobile messaging.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30675

MOBILE MARKETER
HOW TO BUILD A MOBILE AD CAMPAIGN: FOUR CRUCIAL ELEMENTS TO INCLUDE
Mobile advertising is becoming more mainstream every day. However, to take part, you must have a well-conceived campaign. The founder of a major mobile portal sums up the strategies he teaches his advertisers to capture more value from their ads. He shares the four most effective elements of mobile advertising and tips on how to get double-digit response rates to your mobile messaging.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30675

NELSON MANDELA CHARITIES RUN SMS CAMPAIGN
Mobile messaging service provider Sybase 365 has partnered with 46664, Nelson Mandela’s HIV/AIDS global awareness organization, on an SMS campaign to celebrate the 90th birthday of the former South African leader. Mr. Mandela’s charitable organizations have come together to launch an international premium SMS service, allowing people all over the world to text a personal birthday message to him. A mixture of shared and dedicated premium SMS codes have been set up in more than 20 countries worldwide, including Britain, Australia, Spain, Germany and the United States, as well as many African nations.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/1202.html

BOEING CREDIT UNION FLIES WITH MOBILE WALLET
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing's employee credit union will next year launch a mobile wallet to let its members conduct mobile banking and payments activities through their phone. Now known as BECU, the nation’s fourth-largest credit union has turned to Qualcomm's Firethorn to allow members to check their account balances, transfer funds and view and pay bills through a mobile wallet on their mobile devices. Future service capabilities will include more advanced mobile transactions and mobile commerce.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/banking-payments/1209.html

DON'T FORCE PUSH MODEL ON MOBILE
There’s been a lot said and written about the potential of mobile marketing and why it hasn’t reached that potential. Perhaps a lot of this is driven by the news media’s need for content – self-created controversy. there are some core issues we should surface if mobile is ever going to get beyond a novelty. The first, and perhaps the biggest, is that mobile is completely customer-controlled. Said differently, the push model is dead.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1192.html

CLICK Z
AGENCIES ADAPT TO LACK OF MOBILE MARKETING TALENT.
As agencies seek to grow their mobile offerings in a tight talent market, many have lowered their expectations and begun to hire anyway. But which traits do you select for when all the candidates are under-qualified? "There are very few people that have experience in mobile, even fewer people that have experience in mobile marketing," said Maria Mandel, senior partner and executive director in Ogilvy’s Digital Innovation group. According to Mandel, where direct experience in mobile is lacking, a demonstrated interest may be sufficient -- especially if the candidate in question has worked in digital. http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630013

USA TODAY
US LAGS ON CELLPHONES’ MARKETING POTENTIAL.
They’re hip, hot, and everywhere on the planet. But despite a drumbeat about mobile phones being the new frontier in the ad world, marketers have been slow to dial it up, particularly in the US. That’s in part because creating a mobile strategy and message remain a challenge. The world’s best efforts will be on display this week at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Agencies and marketers have entered nearly 30,000 ads in 10 categories at the ad industry’s biggest annual competition. Some of the campaigns that already have won awards have included mobile components.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2008-06-18-cannes-mobile-marketing_N.htm

MOBILE MARKETER
MARKETING IS HARD, MOBILE IS NOT
Mark Emery from mobile marketing services firm Air2Web’s senior director of agency relations, stopped by our office to talk mobile. Mr. Emery discussed issues related to mobile, its influencers and its destiny.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/1125.html

DIRECT MARKETERS WANT TO GO MOBILE BUT...
A panel on integrating old and new media opportunities at the Direct Marketing Association’s DM Days conference drove home one point: direct marketers are curious about mobile. The session, moderated yesterday by CGSM Inc. president Mark Kolier, featured executives from Huntington Learning Centers Inc., Publishers Clearing House, 10e20 and this writer. It was clear from the line of questioning that mobile was top of mind, especially given Apple Inc.’s announcement Monday of the new 3G iPhone’s launch.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/associations/1133.html

DIRECT
Live From DM DAYS: Mobile Causes Marketing ‘Sea Change,’ Says Speaker The stratospheric rise in the number of mobile phones means that for the first time in marketing history, all media can be consumed through a single device, according to Michael Becker, EVP of business development for ILoop mobile. “A sea change is happening in how we engage with our clients,” he said during a presentation Wednesday at DMA’s DM Days New York Conference & Expo. “If you look at all past and traditional media — TV, radio, recordings, cinema — when the Internet started emerging, it started a convergence.” Moreover, the mobile channel will grow as consumers get increasingly comfortable using their phones to accomplish tasks beyond making calls, he said.
http://directmag.com/news/sea_change_0611/

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
E-TRADE MAKES IT EASIER TO TRADE ON THE BLACKBERRY.
As if BlackBerry users needed one more excuse to be glued to their screens, E-Trade Financial Corp. is giving its account holders an application that will let them get real-time stock quotes and trade on their phones. High-end phone users have for a while been able to access E-Trade’s Web site and those of most banks and brokerages, but the online firm is the first major US brokerage to provide a mobile application with cash transfers and real-time quotes. Online trading through the free application, called E-Trade Mobile Pro, will be much easier than using the Web site through a phone, said E-Trade spokeswoman Pam Erickson. It will allow users to trade stocks and options, set up portfolio watch lists and get news.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-tec-e-trade-blackberry,0,1500827.story

MOBILE MARKETER
Verizon launches text message polling program for moviegoers. Verizon Wireless has partnered with Screenvision to introduce a text message polling program for moviegoers. During 3,500 show times across parts of the country, the interactive text message polling program asks moviegoers questions related to their music preferences and gives them an option to text their responses. After audience members submit their text messages, the actual audience results will be displayed on the movie screen in a bar chart.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/1103.html

MOBILE MARKETER
TARGETING BOOMERS VIA MOBILE MAKES SENSE
Although younger consumers are often believed to be at the forefront of mobile technology, baby boomers are also embracing mobile. Marketers should take advantage of that. According to market research company InsightExpress, the behavior of baby boomers when using the mobile channel is similar to that of younger users. This demographic is comprised of individuals ages 45-64. The majority of baby boomers have mobile phones and half of them plan to upgrade their models in the next year.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/sectors/marketing/1064.html

MOBILE MARKETER
MILLENNIALS DRIVE GROWTH OF MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING: STUDY.
A new study claims that more than 229.5 million mobile subscribers worldwide may use mobile social networking services by 2012. The study, from In-Stat, said that Millennials, otherwise known as Generation Y, will be among the key demographic drivers of this mobile social networking trend. Per the report, titled "Mobile Social Networking: Marketing to Millennials," blogging, photo and video sharing, games, SMS text messaging, instant messaging and location-based socialization services will all mesh into the social networking experience from a mobile phone.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1060.html

GOOGLE EXPERIMENTS WITH MOBILE SEARCH QUERY SUGGESTIONS.
Google plans to build a usage model of query suggestions for users visiting its mobile search page, since typing text using the standard 9-key mobile phone may be hard and time-consuming. The search giant reports that the average query on its mobile search page is 15 letters long, but takes 30 key presses and approximately 40 seconds to enter. Overall, Google believes that mobile phone users will rely heavily on suggestions if they are provided.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/search/1056.html

MOBILE MARKETER
END USER IS KEY WHEN DESIGNING MOBILE CONTENT
The mobile market is exploding with new technology and new content. However, mobile content is successful only when it is easily discovered and quickly delivered. Content providers are employing a variety of tools to reach their consumers, including mobile sites, client applications and SMS messaging. In all the excitement, it is easy to forget a crucial component of the mobile mix – the end-user experience.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1015.html

LOS ANGELES TIMES
ADVERTISERS IN TOUCH WITH TEENS’ CELLPHONES
Yakking teens and phones have been inseparable for decades. The difference today is that teens use their cellphones for a lot more than just talking. It has become a palm-size entertainment and information center increasingly consuming their time and attention. Advertisers are realizing that if they want to reach teens, they need their number — literally. “They’re not watching TV, you’re not reaching them in other places,” said Andrew Miller, CEO of Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising network. “Mobile is where they congregate.” It may all seem a little bothersome, but teens don’t mind receiving messages about products on their phones, says Nic Covey, director of insights at research firm Nielsen Mobile. Nielsen said teens were nearly twice more likely than adults to trust and respond to advertising and pitches on mobile phones.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-teenphone23-2008may23,0,6658236.story

USA TODAY
3 IN 10 GET ALL OR MOST CALLS ON CELLPHONES
Nearly three in 10 households either only have a cellphone, or seldom take calls on their traditional phone. The federal figures, released today, showed that reliance on cells is continuing to rise at the expense of wired telephones. In the second half of last year, 16% of households only had cellphones, while 13% also had landlines but got all or nearly all their calls on their cells. The number of wireless-only households grew by 2% since the first half of last year. Underscoring the rapid growth, in early 2004 just 5% had only cellphones.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2008-05-14-cellphones-only-survey_N.htm

MOBILE MARKETER
Mobile marketers must engage consumer groups
Attending the Federal Trade Commission’s inaugural town hall meeting last week on mobile marketing and commerce drove home a point: It’s not all about marketers. The two-day event, titled “Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace,” focused on mobile’s applications in marketing, commerce and content. Sitting through the panels, it seems the mobile channel’s potential has marketers excited, carriers confused, government curious and consumer groups worried.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/editorials/977.html

OECD official releases paper on mobile commerce
OECD official Peter Avery released a paper on mobile commerce with regulations, examples and dispute resolutions that member countries follow. The paper is reproduced in full.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/967.html

We're going to police the wireless space: FTC commissioner
Given the tenor of his comments, Federal Trade Commission commissioner Jon Leibowitz is not going to give mobile marketers a free pass. Opening the FTC’s “Beyond Voice Mapping the Mobile Marketplace” town-hall event, Mr. Leibowitz highlighted several concerns his agency has with the evolving mobile marketing field. “[Mobile is] changing the way consumers reach out to businesses and changing the way businesses reach out to consumers,” the FTC commissioner told representatives from nonprofits, mobile marketing firms, government officials and media.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/legal-privacy/950.html

Vignettes from day 1 of the FTC mobile event
It’s a permission-based real-time interaction channel available anywhere, according to Jean Berberich, digital marketing innovation manager of mobile at P&G. “It’s an extension of a marketing plan,” Ms. Berberich told delegates at the Federal Trade Commission’s “Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace” workshop. “It’s really not a marketing channel. It really gives us the opportunity to interact with the consumer when they choose at the time they need to.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/955.html

Consumer Federation rep airs list of grievances with mobile
The Consumer Federation of America’s representative aired a long list of concerns she had with mobile marketing, messaging and billing at the Federal Trade Commission’s mobile event.Like her fellow panelists, Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation, was primarily worried about the thornier issues that arise as mobile evolves into a marketing and media platform. Take the quantity of information generated by consumer usage of mobile, for example.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/legal-privacy/960.html

Media activist calls for regulating mobile marketing
Jeff Chester runs the Center for Digital Democracy and he’s out to raise a stink on the practices in the mobile marketing industry. Many online marketers are already familiar with this rhetoric. Mr. Chester’s nonprofit and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group plan to amend their 2006 complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on interactive marketing techniques and the supposed threats to consumer privacy. He will add mobile marketing techniques to that complaint, particularly taking issue with the migration of online practices such as profiling and behavioral targeting to the mobile Web.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/legal-privacy/958.html

NEW YORK TIMES
MOBILE TV SPREADING IN EUROPE AND TO THE US
Every day in Switzerland, 40,000 people watch a 100-second TV news broadcast on their cellphones. In Italy, a million people pay as much as 19 euros each ($29) a month to watch up to a dozen mobile TV channels. Tiny TV, the kind that is watched on a cellphone, is spreading beyond Japan and South Korea, where it has been available for about three years. Mobile operators across Europe and the US are investing in new broadcasting towers, mobile devices, and TV programming and promotions, even though it is not yet clear that profit will follow. On Sunday, AT&T Wireless, with 71.4 million phone customers, started AT&T Mobile TV in the US.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/business/media/05mobile.html?ref=business

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC TO HOST TOWN HALL MEETING TO EXPLORE MOBILE MARKETPLACE ISSUES
The FTC on May 6-7 will host a two-day Town Hall meeting to explore the evolving mobile commerce marketplace and its implications for consumer protection policy. Industry experts, academics, consumer advocates, privacy professionals, and government analysts will discuss topics such as the use of text messaging and related messaging services as instruments of commerce; consumers’ ability to control mobile applications; the adaptation of advertising to mobile devices, including the challenges presented by small screen disclosures; mobile commerce practices targeting children and teens; and next-generation products and services.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/mobilemarket.shtm

THE WASHINGTON POST
ADMOB LAUNCHES MOBILE ANALYTICS TO ENCOURAGE MOBILE ADVERTISING GROWTH
AdMob, a mobile advertising company, said it’s launching a beta mobile analytics service that will allow advertisers and publishers to track the effectiveness of an ad campaign. AdMob said the analytics tool will track: where the traffic is coming from, like a search engine or an ad, what operator and device the person is using, the user’s geography, and which ad campaign is creating the most clicks. AdMob had the ability to track this information in-house, but is now making it available to others.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043000857.html

MOBILE MARKETER
DOUBLECLICK MOBILE INTEGRATES SYSTEM WITH MOBILE AD NETWORKS
DoubleClick is integrating its mobile advertising delivery system with leading mobile ad networks to help publishers with their ad inventory. DoubleClick’s Mobile arm is integrating with AdMob, Google’s AdSense for mobile content and Millennial Media’s MBrand and Decktrade performance network. “In the mobile business, when you’re a publisher and you’re getting traffic on your mobile pages, right now you have to choose between selling all your ads directly with your sales force or alternatively outsourcing all of your ads to a network,” said Ari Paparo, group product manager for DoubleClick products at Google.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/ad-networks/924.html

QUALITY COUNTS IN MOBILE
More than 32 million subscribers go online from their phone monthly. Consumers are looking for information that is not only fast and relevant, but also technically reliable and easy to navigate. Given the cludginess of the interface, the size of the screen and the nature of the medium, the average consumer does not want to take chances on sources they are not familiar with. In mobile, quality counts. interesting and relevant content is the primary driver of page views, which is why we still see the highest amount of traffic in weather, news and sports.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/917.html

THE NEED FOR CONSISTENT MEASUREMENT OF MOBILE CAMPAIGNS
Everyone has been talking mobile marketing and advertising for some time. We’ve heard about a number of campaigns, but have they been successful? Why hasn’t mobile marketing taken off a breakneck speed yet? I believe that the missing piece is a consistent way to measure mobile marketing success.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/932.html

MOBILE MARKETER
MAKE MOBILE FRONT AND CENTER OF MARKETING: LEO BURNETT EXEC
We need to put mobile front and center of what we do.” Thus said a top at leading ad agency Leo Burnett Worldwide to an audience of direct and interactive marketers at IMX08, which was hosted by the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing. Mark Renshaw, executive VP and digital practice lead at Burnett, spoke up for integrating mobile into marketing campaigns keeping in mind the potential of mobile for utility, entertainment, and social networking purposes. “Mobile is an access point for everything that people are already using,” he said. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/associations/922.html

NEW YORK TIMES
MOBILE BANKING GAINING TRACTION AMONG YOUNGER CUSTOMERS
Most Americans are still hesitant about banking with their cell phones and PDAs, but young people are increasingly coming around to the idea of mobile banking, according to a new survey. Meeting the needs of these tech-savvy customers is going to be key for banks to stay competitive, the income of “Generation Y” is expected to surge over the next 10 years and exceed that of Baby Boomers. So far, although most major banks offer mobile banking services, 89% of consumers do not use their cell phones to conduct mobile banking transactions, according to a study by IBM’s retail banking consulting practice.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Mobile-Banking.html

eMARKETER
MOBILE MEDIA REVENUES TO RISE
Strategy Analytics forecasts that worldwide spending (both consumer and advertiser) on mobile media services will reach $102 billion in 2012, up from $47 billion in 2007. Consumers will account for the vast majority of this spending in the near-term. Mobile media services include mobile Internet access, video and music. The number of consumers accessing this content will more than double from 406 million in 2007 to 870 million in 2012.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006202

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
MARKETERS EYE 255 MILLION AMERICANS WITH CELL PHONES
For many of the 255 million Americans with cell phones, the gadgets are indispensable for everything from tracking appointments to taking photographs to telling time. Now, advertisers want their piece of the mobile phone. As consumers increasingly use their handsets to browse the Web, it’s no wonder that advertisers see mobile screens as valuable turf. In the US, cell phones haven’t yet proved to be the same kind of advertising bonanza as the Internet, mostly because of the wireless industry’s more controlled nature and the slower adoption of text messaging and mobile Web services. But momentum is gradually building, especially behind text-based marketing campaigns.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-mobile-advertisingapr14,0,1864204.story

eMARKETER
AMERICANS CAN’T STOP TEXTING
Data revenues at US mobile service providers surged to $23 billion in 2007 and now account for 17% of all mobile service revenues, according to the CTIA. The total represented a 53% increase over 2006. Much of that revenue is due to the enormous popularity of text messaging. Nearly 50 billion messages were sent in December 2007 alone. Multimedia messaging is also growing quickly. During the second half of 2007, 4 billion multimedia text messages were sent, compared with 2.7 billion in the second half of 2006.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006144

DM NEWS
MOBILE EXPERIENCE IMPROVING FOR USERS AND ADVERTISERS
As mobile devices continue to become more sophisticated, the cell phone experience keeps getting better for marketers and consumers alike. At last week’s CTIA show in Las Vegas, online giants including Amazon.com, Yahoo, and AOL came out with their latest in mobile offerings, making it easier to interact with the brands via the wireless device. Amazon.com has expanded its mobile offering beyond its mobile WAP site. It has introduced a new service that lets consumers use text messages to search and shop on its site, called TextBuyIt. “Our goal is to allow customers to shop Amazon.com no matter where they are, be it from the PC or mobile device,” said Heather Huntoon, a spokesperson for Amazon.com, in an email. “We have a lot of customers who use text messaging extensively. This is how they want to communicate and consume things.”
http://www.dmnews.com/Mobile-experience-improving-for-users-and-advertisers/article/108709/

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE-ONLY USAGE UPTAKE IMPACTS MARKETING: HARRIS POLL
Mobile phone usage is up and landline coverage is down. That’s the key finding from Harris Interactive’s new US research on consumer phone habits. One in five adults don’t have a landline and one in seven adults (14%) use only mobile phones, according to an analysis of four surveys conducted online between October and January with 9,132 adults. The research found that 89% of adults have a mobile phone, an increase from 77% in October to December 2006.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/797.html

THE NEW YORK TIMES
POTENTIAL AND PITFALLS SEEN FROM MOBILE PHONE ADS
Advertising on mobile phones has huge potential to connect brands with consumers at any time of the day and within a specific location but it must be creative, relevant, and non intrusive, industry experts believe. According to research from Ipsos Mori commissioned by T-Mobile, over a third of 16 to 34 year-olds who own a mobile phone are happy to receive mobile advertising in return for free content such as music, games or video. Analysts expect that number to be higher among the younger members of the age group.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-mobile-advertising.html

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
IN REACHING OUT TO YOUNGER CONSUMERS, MARKETERS TRY TO BE ‘KEWL.’
Brace yourself, big marketers are getting hip to text-message lingo. In ads that begin in two weeks for a new line of Degree deodorant for teen girls, Unilever is highlighting “OMG! Moments.” Print ads running in magazines such as Seventeen and CosmoGIRL show “High School Musical” star Ashley Tisdale at a glitzy affair discovering that she has toilet paper stuck to one of her shoes. A Degree ad uses text-messaging lingo to show that the brand knows how teens communicate. “We wanted to show the teens that we understand them and know how they communicate with their friends,” says David Lang, president of WPP Group’s MindShare Entertainment, which created the print, TV and online effort. Cellphone texting has taken off over the past few years. Americans sent about 363 billion text messages in 2007, up from 81 billion in 2005, according to CTIA, the Wireless Association, an industry group. Young adults 18 to 24 years old spend about 32 minutes a day texting, according to the Yankee Group, a research and consulting company in Boston. The texting phenomenon has given rise to acronyms like “paw” (parents are watching), “lol” (laughing out loud), “g2g” (got to go) and “ooc” (out of control). Some of the ads that use the shorthand have drawn a big audience. Cingular’s spot has attracted more than 1 million views on YouTube thus far. The ad, for an unlimited texting plan offered by the carrier, featured a mom questioning her daughter, Bethann, about all the texting she was doing. Bethann’s response: “o-m-g, i-n-b-d.” (Translation: “Oh my gosh, it’s no big deal.”) She explains to her mom that she is texting her “bff Jill.” The ad has spawned numerous imitations on YouTube.

COMPUTERWORLD
OMG! TXT MSGING SOARS: ABOUT 84% OF AMERICANS HAVE WIRELESS SERVICE, CTIA SAYS
While mobile TV and other emerging technologies attract big headlines, one of the biggest success stories for wireless service providers is text messaging. Text messaging soared in usage last year. In December alone more than 48 billion text messages were sent, about 1.6 billion messages per day, according to a survey conducted by CTIA, an association representing wireless carries. That was a 157% increase over the previous December. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9074218&intsrc=news_ts_head

eMARKETER
NEW MEDIA AD SPEND UP, BUT HOW MUCH?
eMarketer tracks US online ad spending estimates and projections from 23 companies. Estimates of total US online ad spending in 2007 range from $10.9 billion (Universal McCann) to $30.5 (Veronis Suhler Stevenson). Here’s another estimate: US spending on online and mobile advertising rose to $29.94 billion in 2007, according to PQ Media’s “Alternative Media Forecast: 2008-2012” report. The company included 18 digital and non-traditional media segments in its definition of alternative media. PQ Media put new media ad spending at 16.1% of total US advertising spending in 2007, up from 7.9% in 2002.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006112

eMARKETER
MOBILE ADVERTISING BRAND RECALL UP
The number of people who have seen mobile advertising and recall the brands in the ads they saw increased during the first quarter of 2008, according to a Limbo report produced in conjunction with GFK/NOP Research. From January to March 2008, the number of people who recalled seeing advertising on their mobile phones rose from 78 million to 82 million. Of those people who had seen an ad, 41% were able to recall at least one brand, which was up from 34% three months prior.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006116

WALL STREET JOURNAL
PHONES WILL SOON TELL WHERE YOU ARE
Would you want other people to know, all day long, exactly where you are, right down to the street corner or restaurant? Unsettling as that may sound to some, wireless carriers are betting that many of their customers do, and they’re rolling out services to make it possible. Sprint Nextel Corp. has signed up hundreds of thousands of customers for a feature that shows them where their friends are with colored marks on a map viewable on their cellphone screens. Now, Verizon Wireless is gearing up to offer such a service in the next several weeks to its 65 million customers, people familiar with it say. Making this people-tracking possible is that cellphones today come embedded with Global Positioning System technology. With it, carriers have already offered mapping features such as turn-by-turn driving instructions. But they long hesitated to offer another breakthrough made possible by GPS, tracking of cellphone users’ whereabouts in real time, because of privacy and liability concerns. Now, increasingly, the wireless industry is deciding that location tracking has so much sales potential that it’s worth the risks, so long as tight safeguards are in place. It’s a result of the convergence of GPS with another digital phenomenon: a generation of young people who are comfortable sharing a great deal of personal information on social-networking Websites and eager for still more ways to stay connected. The initial target market of location-tracking services: 18- to 24-year-olds. The wireless industry is cracking open this new market gingerly, mindful that it could face a huge backlash from consumers and regulators if location-tracking were abused by stalkers, sexual predators, advertisers or prosecutors. “When it gets to privacy, that’s quite frankly an area where we can’t afford to make any mistakes,” says Ryan Hughes, a vice president at Verizon Wireless.

MOBILE MARKETER
SMS IS DOMINANT MOBILE SERVICE BEYOND VOICE
A new study by Limbo claims that brand recall for mobile advertising was up 20% in the first quarter. Forty-one percent of mobile device users can remember seeing mobile advertising and name at least one brand, which is up from 34% just three months earlier, according to mobile entertainment community Limbo. The number of people who recalled seeing ads on their mobile phones in the last three months has risen from 78 million to 82 million. Forty-one percent of mobile device users can remember seeing mobile advertising and name at least one brand, which is up from 34% just three months earlier, according to mobile entertainment community Limbo. The number of people who recalled seeing ads on their mobile phones in the last three months has risen from 78 million to 82 million.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/753.html

DM NEWS
MOBILE ADVERTISING ENGAGING CONSUMERS, REPORTS LIMBO
Brand recall for mobile advertising is up 20% for the first quarter of 2008, according to a new study by mobile advertising firm Limbo. In Limbo’s Mobile Advertising Report Q1 2008 edition, it found that there are more than 255 million cell phone users in the US, up from 251 million in fourth quarter 2007. The report also found that while text messaging is highest among the 24-and-under age group, with 82% of this age group texting, it’s not just millenials. More than 50% of SMS users are aged 35 or over and 75% are aged 25 or over. SMS continues to dominate, with more than 50% of cell phone users texting, but WAP, mobile enabled Internet, is the fastest-growing medium, with 69 million users.
http://www.dmnews.com/Mobile-advertising-engaging-consumers-Limbo/article/108339/

eMARKETER
EMARKETER REPORT LOOKS AT WHAT’S HOLDING UP MOBILE ADVERTISING
Are mobile marketers moving ahead or merely spinning their wheels? “2007 was not ‘the year of mobile marketing’ that it was advertised to be,” says John du Pre Gauntt, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Mobile Advertising: After the Growing Pains.” “And 2008 won’t be either.” Even though mobile marketing and advertising didn’t break into the mainstream during 2007, with events such as the iPhone launch and other under-the-hood improvements, mobile marketers did take strides to move past the experimental stage of development. In fact, eMarketer forecasts that worldwide mobile advertising spending will reach $19 billion by 2012.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006011

MOBILE MARKETER
VARIOUS SOURCES USED FOR DOWNLOADING MOBILE CONTENT, REPORTS ABI RESEARCH
A new consumer study by ABI Research shows that mobile phone owners access content via multiple sources such as the Web, personal collections and from wireless carriers. For example, there is a higher chance that mobile consumers would watch a video on YouTube on their phone than a video from their wireless carrier's own service. But they are twice as likely to buy ringtones from the carrier versus another source.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/719.html

MOBILE MESSAGING REVENUE TO REACH $212b BY 2013 STUDY SAYS
A new study claims that innovation and customization will cause mobile revenues to grow to $212 billion by 2013. Factors leading to that projection from ABI Research include SMS text messages' rapid adoption in the Americas, mobile email's growth in developed regions, mobile subscriber growth in Asia-Pacific and the increasing popularity of social networking. ABI's Mobile Messaging Services Report covers the messaging market across five common platforms - SMS, MMS, instant messaging, email/unified messaging and voicemail.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/722.html

CONNECTICUT POST
SPAM INVADING CELL PHONES; DMA SAYS FEDERAL LAW PROHIBITS UNAUTHORIZED SENDING OF TEXT ADS.
So far, the spam text messages popping up on cell phones have been largely the work of scam artists, according to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Still, there is no doubt that the growing list of mobile phone customers is a tantalizing target for legitimate advertisers. But DMA Senior VP for Government Affairs Jerry Cerasale pointed out, “It is against federal regulations to send a text message to someone who has not authorized you to send it.” He said DMA supports those regulations. The lone exception, Cerasale added, is the cell phone service provider, which is allowed to send text ads to customers about related services and products.
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_8632237

E-MARKETER
MOBILE USERS WANT FREE GOODIES, FEW ADS; ARE ADS THE KEY TO MOBILE CONTENT ADOPTION?
Getting mobile users to do anything besides talk presents a conundrum. Users are far more likely to interact with mobile multimedia if the cost is low. Yet getting them to view mobile ads, which would pay for the content, can be tricky. 3ple-Media addressed this problem in a March 2008 study. The mobile multimedia company found that more than one-half of mobile subscribers worldwide surveyed said they looked forward to getting mobile multimedia.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006066

MOBILE MARKETER

STUDY ID’S THREE MOBILE BEHAVIORAL PROFILES
New research shows that mobile consumers can be bucketed into three behavioral profiles: Mobile pioneers, mobile wannabes and mobile traditionalists. The study, from InsightExpress, is the third installment in its ongoing mobile research program. The two most important categories to watch are mobile pioneers and mobile wannabes. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/682.html

LOCALIZING DATA KEY FOR MOBILE SEARCH, REPORTS DOUBLECLICK PERFORMICS
A recent study of Search 2.0 trends by DoubleClick Performics claims that mobile display and search are still in their infancy. Though projected to grow more than 400% to $4.78 billion by 2011, mobile advertising will account for only 10% of the total online spend at that time. An estimated 23 million mobile search users live in the US, reflecting nearly 9% of the mobile subscriber population and 75% of mobile Internet users. While fewer in number, mobile searchers look like the larger mobile Internet user population of which they are a subset: most are male and in the 18-44 age group. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/search/688.html

E-MARKETING NEWS
BUILDING THE CASE FOR MOBILE ADVERTISING
Even as ads on cell phones become more common, advertisers are holding off on a full-blown embrace of the tiny screen as a marketing tool. There’s no denying cell phone users are seeing more ads. A Nielsen study found that 58 million US wireless subscribers had viewed an ad on their cell phones in the past month. The problem is that advertisers don’t know what users are doing, if anything, when they see the ads. Until advertisers find out, they may hold off on committing more precious marketing dollars to the mobile medium. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Building-a-Case-for-Mobile-Advertising-62067.html

E-MARKETER
MOBILE BANKING FINDS AUDIENCE IN US, FINDS HARRIS INTERACTIVE.
A recent Harris Interactive survey has found that US consumers are already banking and making purchases using their mobile phones. According to the study, 16% of US mobile phone subscribers use mobile banking services. There was also significant interest among non-mobile bankers. More than one-third said they were interested in checking bank account balances and transferring funds using their mobile phones. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006056

THE NEW YORK TIMES
SOCIAL NETWORKING MOVES TO THE CELLPHONE
Social networks may be nothing new to habitués of the Internet. But now the market is teeming with companies that want o bring the same phenomenon to the cellphone. There are many "mobile social networking" upstarts. The prize, as these start-ups see it, is the 3.3 billion cellphone subscribers, a number that far surpasses the total of Internet users. The advantage over computer-based communities, they believe, is the ability to know where a cellphone is, thanks to global positioning satellites and related technologies. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/technology/06wireless.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

CELL PHONE NOW MOST VITAL DEVICE: PEW STUDY
Americans have become more dependent on their cell phones than conventional phones. For the first time, Americans say they would have more trouble giving up a cell phone than a traditional phone, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said in a report Wednesday. Less than two years earlier, respondents still considered their landlines the most crucial technology. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-TechBit-Cell-Phones.html

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
MOBILE TV, SET FREE; TEST IN SPAIN COULD OPEN UP THE MARKET
A small Spanish company is working on what it hopes will be a new and easier way for people to watch TV on their cellphones. Abertis Telecom has developed a Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld network, known as DVB-H. Phones with DVB-H receivers get signals from television towers that can read a regular TV broadcast network, for example, so people can watch digitally broadcast programs on their cellphones as they are being shown on regular TV. With DVB-H, users don’t need to download programs or watch prerecorded programs, as with other cellphone-TV technology. Other companies have begun testing or deploying the technology elsewhere in Europe. The world’s largest cellphone maker, Nokia Corp., recently pledged to put DVB-H in its new N96 phone as well as the current models that have television capabilities. When Abertis demonstrated the technology last month in Barcelona at the cellphone industry’s biggest annual conference, observers noted it could be the next big step in mobile communications, opening up mobile television for mass audiences.

MOBILE MARKETER
STUDY: 58M MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS SEE ADS ON PHONE
A new study claims that 23 percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers say they have been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/637.html

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE ADVERTISING IS A YEAR FROM BREAK OUT
A breakout year for mobile, but not for mobile advertising. That’s how the Avenue A/Razorfish put it in its recently released 2008 Digital Outlook Report. Avenue A/Razorfish, now part of Microsoft, acknowledged that the mobile industry was poised for tremendous growth. Mobile search and location-based services were cited for their growth, as was Apple’s opening of the iPhone to third-party developers and carriers possibly becoming more flexible. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/630.html

TARGETING AD SPEND KEY IN MOBILE
Fifty-four percent of consumers using the mobile Web come from outside the US and Europe, shedding light on the importance of developing targeted mobile advertising that reaches the intended consumer profile. These findings from mobile Web technology specialist Bango show a shift in mobile Web traffic, from mature mobile markets such as the US and Europe to the developing markets of China and India. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/634.html

INFORMATION WEEK
PEOPLE PREFER SHOPPING TO BUYING WITH MOBILE PHONES
People are more likely to shop than buy with their mobile phones, a market researcher said yesterday. Gartner found that 24% of people in the US are likely to check for prices of items on their cellular phones, while only 12% were likely to buy products. In the UK, the percentages are 18% and 11%, respectively. Younger consumers are more likely to use their mobile phones for retail activities, the survey found. In the US, respondents from 18 year old to 27 years old are, on average, nearly two times more likely to do mobile shopping activities than respondents between the ages of 43 and 61. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GX1EAQGT1V3OWQSNDLOSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=206801216

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
MOBILE ADVERTISING GAINS BUT FACES HURDLES
The audience for mobile ads remains minuscule, and advertisers have been reluctant to commit big budgets to mobile campaigns because results are so difficult to measure. Meanwhile, privacy concerns limit the amount of customer information carriers can share with marketers, which restricts advertisers’ ability to extract key demographic and usage information that could improve their marketing. As a result, while most experts don’t expect mobile advertising to take off anytime soon, they say it will eventually come into its own. Estimates on how the market for ads on mobile devices will develop vary significantly. By 2011, Informa Group PLC in London puts the market at roughly $11.3 billion; Gartner forecasts $12.8 billion in global revenue; and research firm eMarketer Inc. sees $16 billion over the same period. One obstacle has been consumer resistance to commercial messages on mobile phones. In 2006, according to Jupiter Research, 49% of mobile users “strongly disagreed” with the concept of mobile promotions, even if they were relevant and would allow the consumer to save money. What’s more, the market still has few phones that can display video advertising to its best advantage. Jupiter says neither mobile Web nor mobile video has reached 20% penetration in Europe, largely because the cost of downloading video and other data to mobile devices has been prohibitively high.

FORBES
VODAFONE CEO CALLS FOR MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM CONSOLIDATION
Vodafone Group PLC CEO Arun Sarin called for a reduction in the number of operating systems used in mobile phones amid a growing competitive landscape most recently gatecrashed by Internet giant Google. In a keynote address at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Sarin said the 30-40 operating systems now available must be reduced to between three and five to promote innovation within the industry, although he did not say which ones these should be. http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/02/12/afx4643911.html

MOBILE MARKETER
AOL TO LAUNCH OPEN MOBILE SOFTWARE PLATFORM
AOL joins the ranks of Google and Yahoo with plans this summer to launch its own open mobile platform. The announcement for the AOL Open Mobile Platform was made yesterday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress conference organized in Barcelona. AOL’s news comes weeks after Yahoo said it opened its Yahoo Go platform to third-party developers. Google launched its own Android open mobile platform in the fall as part of the Open Handset Alliance. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/525.html

THE WASHINGTON POST
WIRELESS INDUSTRY MEETS IN BARCELONA
Wireless industry players place their bets on the future during the four-day Mobile World Congress opening Monday in Barcelona. They will be exploring big questions: Is wireless broadband beamed into your home in the future? Will advertisers be invading your mobile phone with location-based advertising? Exactly how personalized will your mobile phone become? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/10/AR2008021001329.html

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE INTERNET DEVICES TO GROW IN POPULARITY, REPORTS ABI RESEARCH
A new report predicts that always-connected mobile Internet devices will see incredibly fast growth in popularity over the next five years. Worldwide shipments of such devices will grow from 3.5 million this year to nearly 90 million in 2012, according to ABI Research. The eight classes include multimedia enthusiasts, Generation Y social networkers, younger gamers, soccer moms, lifestyle boomers, adventurers, frugal generalists, and business application users. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/manufacturers/517.html

FCC AUCTION MAY SPUR MOBILE BROADBAND NETWORKS
The FCC raised about $18.9 billion in its 700-MHz auction. “This shows that demand is still great for this spectrum,” said Nadine Manjaro, senior analyst at ABI Research, New York. “It opens the door for new innovators to come in and change the wireless industry. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/carrier-networks/497.html

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC TO EXPLORE CONSUMER PROTECTION IN A MOBILE MARKETPLACE
The FTC will host a two-day Town Hall meeting to explore the evolving mobile commerce marketplace and its implications for consumer protection policy. The Town Hall, titled “Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace,” follows up on the FTC’s November 2006 forum, “Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-Ade,” which examined the key technological and business developments that will shape consumers’ core experiences in the coming decade. The Town Hall, which is free and open to the public, will be held May 6-7 in Washington, DC.http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/02/townhall.shtm

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE MESSAGING WILL COMPLEMENT EMAIL: FORECAST. Mobile phones are nearly ubiquitous, offering marketers a personalized platform for targeting consumers. JupiterResearch has forecast that advertisers will spend $2.9 billion by 2011 on mobile messaging and display ads. Three out of four organizations have already established a corporate standard for mobile messaging devices. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/461.html

ADVERTISING AGE
MOBILE SEARCH EXPECTED TO GAIN SHARE IN NEXT SIX MONTHS: SURVEY
The “Wave Eight” survey, conducted by market research firm Advertiser Perceptions, asked marketers to weigh in on the current type of mobile ads they used and their planned media spending for those ads in the next six months. Podcasts and video saw the biggest decline from April and May of 2007 to October and November of 2007, with the percentage of marketers who use podcasts dropping from 33% to 24% and the percentage of marketers who use video dropping from 31% to 29%. http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=123100

MOBILE MARKETER
46 MILLION MOBILE DATA USERS CONDUCT MOBILE SEARCH: NIELSEN STUDY
An estimated 46.1 million mobile data users in the US used mobile search functions in the third quarter of last year. The data, from Nielsen Mobile, showed that the most popular form of mobile search among data users in that quarter was 411, accounting for 18.1 million users. SMS was next, used by 14.1 million data users. Nielsen found that local listings were the leading search objective, with 27.1 million data users, followed by 14.8 million consumers who searched for sports scores, news or weather. About a quarter of mobile searchers, claimed they searched for mobile content. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/372.html

MOBILE MARKETER
REPORT: 78 MILLION CONSUMERS REMEMBERED MOBILE ADS LAST QUARTER
New research claims that 78 million US consumers saw or heard advertising on their mobile phones in the last quarter of 2007. The finding was published in the “Mobile Advertising Report” that was produced by mobile entertainment community Limbo in conjunction with GFK/NOP Research. The report also highlights the brands and sectors that consumers remember seeing advertised in the mobile channel. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/327.html

eMARKETER
$5 BILLION IN MOBILE ADS FOR US, EUROPE
US and Western European mobile advertising revenues will reach a total of $5.08 billion by 2012, up from an estimated $106.8 million at year-end 2007, according to Local Mobile Search’s “US and Western Europe Mobile Advertising Revenue Forecast, 2007-2012.” Local Mobile Search predicted that the US would account for about $2.3 billion of the total, with $2.8 billion coming from Western Europe. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005813&src=dp1_home

USA TODAY
RACE IS ON FOR MOBILE WEB’S POT OF GOLD
AT&T and Verizon Wireless lately have embraced the idea of giving consumers greater control over the wireless devices and applications they use. Warming up to “consumer choice” is a new riff, to say the least. For years, both have pushed cheap, subsidized handsets to grow their wireless businesses; they penalized these same customers by imposing a raft of restrictions on devices and applications. Now, big profit potential is driving change. As the mobile Web gains traction, a big chunk of online revenue could migrate to wireless. That’s financial catnip to players of all sizes, from wireless incumbents such as AT&T to wireless newcomers such as Google. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2008-01-09-google-phone_N.htm

MOBILE MARKETER
TOP MOBILE MARKETING STORIES OF 2007
If there is a year to which all mobile marketing achievements will be benchmarked, it surely is 2007. Mobile Marketer presents the top stories that Mobile Marketer ran this year that showed the progress and potential of the mobile channel. Go to the top stories

THE WASHINGTON POST
GROUPS TO PRESS FCC TO PROHIBIT BLOCKING OF TEXT MESSAGES
A consortium of consumer groups is planning to urge federal regulators to clarify how much control cellphone companies can have over the messages and services delivered over their networks. In a petition to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission today, these groups say the FCC should prohibit wireless carriers from blocking text messages sent by any company, nonprofit group, or political campaign. These groups also say carriers should deliver all text messages to their customers, including those sent by competing phone services. Read on...

MARKETINGSHERPA
HOW I FINALLY GOT MOBILE MARKETING RELIGION (blog post)
I was giving a speech at a PR association meeting in New Jersey in early 2001 about how the Internet was affecting PR tactics, when a group of older-looking grumpy attendees just sat there like lumps and left as soon as possible afterward. "What's up with them? Was my speech that awful?" I asked the organizer. "You were fine!" she reassured me. "These are the guys who are pretty close to retirement, and they hoped the Internet thing would not get so huge, so quickly that they would have to learn it. They just want to coast for a few more years until they can retire."

I have been reminded of that moment time and time again. Not because these people are mired in the past -- to the contrary, most are straining with every fiber toward a better, brighter future. Nope, that grumpy old person who does not really want to learn a whole new marketing tactic has turned out to be me. I, who embraced the Internet so wholeheartedly, have grown old. Do I really, really have to do it all over with mobile phones? Read on...

WALL STREET JOURNAL
WHEN PHONE MEETS WEB: BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS OF PHONES’ WEB GARDENS
Ever since wireless companies began offering Internet services on cellphones, users have shared a similar complaint, largely because the companies want to control which sites their customers visit. Phones come with browsers designed to go mainly to the Web sites the carriers chose — usually the ones they have revenue-sharing deals with. It is possible to go to sites outside this “walled garden,” but the experience is so slow and cumbersome that most users don’t try. But now those walls are beginning to break down, in a development that harkens back to AOL’s failed attempt to limit its Internet subscribers’ surfing in the 1990s. “Having a Web browser and the ability to browse the open Internet on your mobile phone will be a given in the future,” says Tony Cripps, an analyst at research firm Ovum in London. Many new browsers to ease surfing on the Web are being developed, and some wireless carriers have begun opening up Internet use for customers.

COUPONS GAIN NEW MARKET ON CELLPHONES
One of the advertising world's most durable but low-tech marketing techniques is getting a new lease on life as marketers look for a way to get their brands on cellphones -- without irking consumers concerned about privacy. One method gaining traction lets cellphone users sign up for mobile coupons that offer discounts on products ranging from CDs and DVDs to fast food. Cellfire allows users to redeem coupons via their cellphones. About a million people have signed up for the service, offered by mobile marketing firm Cellfire. The company's CEO, Brent Dusing says the service makes it easier to use coupons, commonly available in newspaper inserts. Cellfire is just one of a myriad of cellphone marketing shops cropping up to grab a piece of the mobile-marketing business. Mobile advertising is still a nascent business, with marketers in the US spending just $421 million in 2006, according to eMarketer. That compares with the $13.5 billion advertisers spent online in 2006. While marketers have long felt little compunction about saturating airwaves, print media and billboards with advertising messages, they are conscious that some consumers feel cellphones are personal space. That is prompting advertisers to tread more carefully in the new medium.

SHOPPING ON YOUR CELLPHONE IS GETTING EASIER AS CHOICES EXPAND, SECURITY IMPROVES
Retailers and wireless companies have been buzzing about enabling consumers to purchase everything from flowers to flat-screen TV sets from their mobile phones for years. But mobile versions of popular online Web sites have been slow to catch on because they have been difficult to find and can be painfully slow to load. Now new services, many of which are being offered for the first time through wireless carriers, are trying to make mobile commerce more mainstream. While many still require multiple steps and an agility with small screens, they are making mobile shopping easier through better interfaces, wider selections and more secure payment options. Ultimately, the services hope to transform the mobile commerce industry — currently dominated by purchases of digital content such as ringtones and games — into a mirror of the online shopping world where virtually any item can be retrieved with just a few clicks. Sprint Nextel Corp. today plans to announce its launch of Mobile Shopper, a mobile shopping service that is free minus charges for data usage. The service allows users to search for and buy items from some 30 stores, including Target and eBags, by clicking on a Web icon on the main menu of their data-enabled phones.

NEW YORK TIMES
REACHING MORE CUSTOMERS WITH A SIMPLE TEXT MESSAGE
When it comes to advertising on the mobile Web, marketers should be cautious. Few consumers are buying items through their mobile devices. But some online retailers say they have found success from early marketing efforts, as long as those initiatives are aimed at keeping themselves on the radar of customers as opposed to trying to prompt an immediate purchase or a visit to the company’s Web site. Of the roughly 230 million Americans with cellphones, about half have used them to send or receive text messages, and about 32 million use them to browse the Web, according to Sterling Market Intelligence. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/16/business/media/16ecom.html?ref=business

GOOGLE BETS ON MOBILE MARKET
Google is setting the stage for its biggest push yet into the US mobile market, in a strategy that delicately straddles the line between partnering and competing with the major cell phone operators. Last week, Google signed its most significant deal with a US wireless operator to date. Sprint Nextel will integrate the company’s mobile services with the carrier’s new 4G WiMax network. But in a move that could pit Google against wireless operators, the company recently announced plans to bid in the Federal Communications Commission’s upcoming 700MHz wireless spectrum auction. http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1039_3-6199725.html

UNWIRED NATION OFFERS NEW TAKE ON TELEMARKETING
Remember those unwelcome dinnertime phone calls from marketers? Start-up UnWired Nation has come up with a new take on telephone advertising that it says will get marketing messages across without the same intrusions. UnWired will deliver automated voice alerts to mobiles on everything from news stories and stock moves to the score for a favorite sports team or details on upcoming events. The idea is consumers set the time and type of information they receive, rather than face unwanted calls at inopportune times. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-unwirednation-advertising.html

IN WIRELESS COMPETITION, MOCKERY IS THE LATEST STYLE
With growth in the wireless market slowing, Alltel is turning to a sophistic