Marriott International Inc. claims more than $1.25 million in gross revenue in the first 100 days since the hotel chain introduced direct mobile Web bookings.

Ease of making reservations on mobile as well as the recent snow and ice storms nationwide upsetting air travel plans are said to have helped spur the use of Marriott Mobile.

With this new functionality, Marriott joins hotel chains such as Best Western and Starwood Hotels & Resorts that let consumers make reservations on mobile.

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Kraft Foods, the world’s No. 2 food company, has launched a new iPhone and iPod touch application that offers consumers access to food and meal-planning ideas.

Called the iFood Assistant, the app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store for installation on any iPhone or iPod touch. The app targets consumers on the go looking for recipes. “Our goal is to help make consumers’ lives easier by helping them find the perfect food idea for any occasion, create quick shopping lists and find the nearest grocery store – all just a finger-tap away,” said Ed Kaczmarek, director of innovation for new services at Kraft.

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Have a safe and happy holiday weekend from your friends at Ez Texting!

An interesting two-day text-messaging campaign concluded today in Times Square, which promoted both JVC electronics and the DVD release of the Batman hit "The Dark Knight." As part of the campaign, actors dressed as the Joker's henchmen handed out playing cards in Times Square and drew attention to a massive JVC jumbo screen on a building, which provided instructions on how people could text to win prizes, including a JVC 52" LCD TV, JVC Everio HD Camcorders, JVC DVD Players and copies of The Dark Knight DVD. The SMS campaign also featured ads in newspapers and magazines.

In all the different venues, the short code stayed the same, but each publication had a different keyword, which allows JVC to track which medium performed the best. In addition, JVC is using the campaign to develop a database of interested customers. Once a person entered to vote, they had the option to reply "MORE" for future promotions. The person received a message back, saying that they receive future info, and that they could opt-out at any time.

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Stores like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are using more text-message alerts to spread the news about sales. Online retailers like Buy.com Inc. are sending out daily messages on Twitter, a blogging site that uses short messages, to advertise the latest holiday specials. The Gap Inc., Target Corp., Sears Holdings Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. are pushing new mobile programs this year, too.

Retailers hope these efforts make it easier for customers to shop online, with their cellphones or even at brick-and-mortar stores. And while the prices touted digitally are basically the same as those offered in the store, retailers say customers can get news of sales earlier than with other methods, such as commercials or circulars.

Wal-Mart is sending out more-frequent text-message alerts to its shoppers who signed up for the service, says Melissa O'Brien a spokeswoman for the company. Last year, Wal-Mart sent out three alerts to shoppers' cellphones the entire holiday season. This year, the company is sending out weekly alerts that customers can tailor by category.

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Mobile phones have become such an important part of young people’s lives that an increasing number are showing signs of alarming dependency. Is mobile addiction becoming a real problem? Our friends at UK-based blog Mobile Phones & Safety present the facts, including a shocking case of two pre-teens being admitted to a mental heath center for "severe dependence" on their mobile phones. 

Read the antire article here.

Advertisers are ramping up SMS short code marketing, according to a new Nielsen Mobile report.

President-elect Barack Obama’s text message revealing his pick for vice president remains the most notable example of short code marketing in the U.S., but according to a report by Nielsen’s Telecom Practice, Americans should expect to see more text message marketing in the future. 

“The expansion of short code marketing depends largely on the ability of advertisers and their agencies to use this medium in an interesting and compelling fashion,” said Nic Covey, Chicago-based director of insights for Nielsen. “The text-message audience is there, it’s now up to marketers to create a reason that consumers would want to relate to them through such a personal and immediate medium.

This post from Mobile Marketer left us amazed! According to the Associated Press, a British doctor who is volunteering in Congo used SMS  instructions to perform an arm amputation.

Yahoo and Virgin Mobile have agreed a deal making Yahoo search the exclusive pre-installed search service for Virgin's 4 million mobile subscribers in Britain, the two companies said on Monday.

Yahoo is hoping to steal a lead on rival Google in the nascent mobile search and advertising markets, having lost the battle for dominance in the desktop computer search market, and is spearheading its European efforts in Britain.

"We will continue to focus on investing in this area. It falls squarely within our strategy of indispensable starting points," the head of Yahoo's mobile operations in Europe, Mitch Lazar, told Reuters by telephone.

The Virgin deal will bring Yahoo's coverage of the British population using mobile search up to 80 percent from about 76 percent previously through its partnerships with operators, Yahoo said, citing m:metrics data.

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