19 posts categorized "Mobile Web"

Only days removed from the wildly successful launch of the iPad, and on the eve of the launch of the iAd network, Dan Butcher at Mobile marketer asks, Is Apple’s iAd a threat to competing mobile ad networks?

“With the introduction of both iTunes and the App Store, Apple has repeatedly shown that they want to control the consumer experience of their brand, so I think this latest announcement is just the latest incarnation of that strategy,” said David Gill, Austin, TX-based senior director mobile media at the Nielsen Co.

“Given the hype surrounding the iPad launch, this news should be good for mobile advertising, as it forces advertisers to think about mobile advertising as more than just a ‘mobile phone’ strategy,” he said. “It’s really about connected devices.”

...

“I think it’s safe to say that it will draw attention to the ecosystem and probably stoke interest in mobile advertising, particularly if Apple is able to deliver some compelling new ad formats, which is part of the idea here,” said Andrew Frank, New York-based research vice president at Gartner.

Read more (and there is a lot more) @ Mobile Marketer.

Dan Butcher at Mobile Marketer looks at Yahoo's Mobile Search efforts and asks some tough questions:

Yahoo’s CEO Carol Bartz recently broke up the company’s mobile group and spread out the employees across other departments, leading to the departure of several senior executives. In addition, T-Mobile USA discontinued its search deal with Yahoo, instead tapping Google as its default mobile search provider, although Yahoo is still the default on the carrier’s European networks.

...

And despite the fact that it is the early days, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo all understand the stakes.

As smartphone penetration increases and brands start to realize the potential of mobile search, revenue will grow quickly.

This all may be moot though:

Yahoo is transitioning its algorithmic and paid search platforms to Microsoft, with Yahoo becoming the exclusive relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers globally.

...

Microsoft’s Bing is the default search engine for Verizon Wireless, which is the No. 1 carrier in the United States in terms of the number of subscribers.

Interesting times in the mobile search space, which is growing rapidly. Read more @ Mobile Marketer.

JP Morgan is out with their 2010 Internet Industry Outlook. If they're right, the mobile world is set to keep on growing:

JP Morgan’s leading industry analyst Imran Kahn released the 328-page Interest Industry outlook which notes that total U.S. mobile advertising for 2009 is estimated at $2.6 billion, up 62 percent, with $2.3 billion of that from text messaging. Just 178 million was mobile search, and $140 million was display. Both of these were up 80 percent last year.

Turn to 2010, and mobile advertising is, according to Kahn, forecast to grow 45 percent to $3.8 billion ($3.2 billion SMS advertising, $253 million mobile display, and $31 million mobile search.)

Read more:
Mobile Marketing Watch
OnlineMediaDaily

Mobile Marketing Watch has picked up on a press release that has huge implications for the future of mobile advertising:

The planned $750M acquisition of AdMob by Google announced earlier this year is stuck in limbo as two consumer groups today began to lobby the FTC to block the purchase, claiming it is anti-competitive and raises privacy concerns.

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With $22 billion in expected revenue this year, the deal, which could help Google become a monopoly in the mobile advertising space in time, needs to be carefully scrutinized by the FTC and anti-trust groups, however, it may still pass. This greatly concerns many involved in the space.

“The mobile sector is the next frontier of the digital revolution. Without vigorous competition and strong privacy guarantees this vital and growing segment of the online economy will be stifled,” wrote John M. Simpson, consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog and CDD Executive Director Jeffery A. Chester, in a statement.

Head over to Mobile Marketing Watch to read more.

SFGate's Tech Chronicle reports on Google's innovative attempt to disrupt yet another market:

The Mountain View Internet colossus said it will send out window decals to more than 100,000 U.S. restaurants, shops and hangouts that have proven popular on Google's search engine and map service. The stickers will proclaim the businesses a "Favorite Place on Google," helping to lure customers in much the way "Zagat Rated" signs or framed newspaper reviews have done for years.

But Google being Google, there's a technology twist.

Each decal will include a unique bar code that consumers can scan with the cameras on their mobile device -- like iPhones or Android-based handsets -- to find reviews and coupons or eventually submit their own feedback.

Users may have to download a so-called QR-Code reader application for this to work.

Google explained in a blog post: "This launch is part of our overall effort -- online and offline -- to provide you with the best local business results whenever you're trying to figure out where to go, whether it's a trendy Cuban restaurant in Philly, a comics shop in LA or a hip hotel in NYC."

And just how do you qualify for this program? By adding verified data to Google's small business listings, which helps Google enhance the quality of a notoriously difficult to cleanse set of data:

The company said that business owners who want to be identified as a "Favorite Place" must unlock their local business listing at its business center. They can't pay for the privilege of receiving a coveted sticker, but can improve their odds by ensuring the information about the business is accurate and adding content like photos, videos, menus and coupons, Google said.

Read more at SF Chronicle.

As MediaBistro's MobileContentToday laments, many companies have turned their attention away from their mobile websites in favor of iPhone apps, thereby limiting access to innovative new features. The Weather Channel is bucking that trend:

Read more @ MobileContentToday.

Popular URL shortening service bit.ly (recently made even more popular by becoming the default shorting service on Twitter) has rolled out a mobile friendly site. Media Bistro reports:

I prefer to use the bit.ly URL shortening service since its click tracking helps me figure out which links I mention on Twitter (you can find me there @toddogasawara) are interesting to other people. I typed...

m.bit.ly

...to see if it led to a mobile friendly version of their website and found that it did! Once you login to the site, you can see links you recently shortened using bit.ly. From there you can select a link to view the referred page on your mobile device or email the link by tapping on the envelope icon.

I don't know how long this mobile friendly website has been available. But, it is just one more reason for me to continue using bit.ly URL shortening service.

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.

Read more.