MoblGlobl

MOBILE BIZCARD MARKET HEATS UP WITH BEAMME V 3.0.

2009-07-20T20:48:00.002-04:00

Mobile business card provider rmbrme (www.rmbrme.com) released beamME Pro 3.0 to coincide with release of Apple's iPhone OS 3.0. Rmbrme emphasizes user friendly features and social responsibility: no spam, environmentally friendly, and doesn't require recipient to sign up.

BeamME Pro costs $ 1.99 at the App Store and gives the subscriber service including upgrades, backup, and priority support. BeamME is rated 3 stars in the App Store for all versions; the customer ratings vary widely--of the 116 ratings reported, 39 were five stars, while 45 were one star. The App Store says there haven't been enough reviews of the current version to produce an average.

beamME
Feature	Notes	Pro	Lite
Contact Mapping	uses iPhone location feature; tag where people met; view contacts on map.	y	n
Send any card	Yes	y	n
Send card via SMS, Email, or via beamME	Yes (SMS delivers a link)	y	n
Communication History	review all contact transmissions.	y	n
Advertising-free		y	n
Beam to Twitter		y	n
Subscription	$ 4.99 / month (not required)	y	n
Software Not Required	Recipients receive industry-standard vCard and do not need beamME software.	y	y
Uses iPhone address book		y	y
Setup time	claim twenty seconds	y	y

-Stuart Whitaker

DUBMENOW: A BRILLIANT IDEA JUST GOT BRIGHTER

2009-07-14T00:00:00.001-04:00

We wrote five months that DubMeNow (www.dubmenow.com) was a brilliant idea but was too hard to use. DubMeNow seems to have recognized that they needed a major overhaul, and they have delivered one with version 2.0 on Blackberry and iPhone.

Among the changes:

- integrated with LinkedIn, allowing users to send a LinkedIn invitation along with their mobile business card;
- adopted the Google School of UI Design: minimalistic;
- made it easier to send business cards to groups rather than to simply individuals;
- more of the user's contact details are displayed in emails;
- faster.

More changes are coming. DubMeNow announced plans to release version 2.5 in September with the ability to connect via GPS (details unclear), the ability to add photos, the addition of over twenty social media fields, the addition of group tabs. We cautioned DubMeNow about one idea they are considering that raises potential privacy concerns: analyzing information about individuals in each user’s address book. For example, DubMeNow might show users how many of their contacts are in Facebook. DubMeNow hasn’t developed this capability yet so no privacy concerns have been raised and, of course, this may never be an issue. The DubMeNow iPhone app has an two star rating for all versions, and a three and a half star rating for its current version.

Internally, DubMeNow has moved the development in house, increasing total employees by over three times. DubMeNow reported last year that it had raised $ 1 million of a planned $ 2 million from 11 accredited investors. Owners include Aqualine Investments of Maryland, US, founder and CEO Manoj Ramnani, and Dan Nainan of New York, US.
-Stuart Whitaker

GPS-enabled handsets skyrocket

2009-07-08T00:00:00.000-04:00

Berg Insight (www.berginsight.com) reports that global shipments of GPS-enabled GSM / WCDMA handsets jumped 178.6% in 2008 to 78 million and will grow at a CAGR of 46.5%, reaching 770 million units, in 2014. Berg says GPS technology has become standard in the smartphone segment and will begin its appearance in mid-range handsets in 2009.
-Stuart Whitaker

Google expands further into mobile

2009-07-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

Following Google's (www.google.com) optimization of search results for iPhones and Android devices in the US in December and in twenty countries in March, Google has now delivered the new search format on all (feature phone) mobile devices in over sixty countries and thirty-eight languages.

Google places a high emphasis on the value of what it calls its "universal search" results, which delivers web results along with news, images, groups, maps, books, and video on the same page. Google says delivering universal search has been one of its biggest architectural, ranking and interface challenges. New features provided include:

- news, images, blogs, video, and product results on the results page;
- many popular features appear in the first result;
- Google says it continues to optimize results for mobile, such as, presenting easy-to-select phone.
-Stuart Whitaker

Mobile Money Exchange to Further Global Development

2009-07-06T00:00:00.001-04:00

The GSMA (www.gsmworld.com) has launched a Mobile Money Exchange initiative designed to help financial services companies who are entering the mobile environment by providing a common voice and formal business forum for business collaboration. The Mobile Money Exchange will feature an online knowledge portal with social business networking and community functionality.

Visa and Globe Telecom are the first two founding partners. The Mobile Money Exchange builds on the Mobile Money Program launched by GSMA in 2006. Fundamental principles and requirements that are not currently being met, such as fragmentation and lack of ability to scale, will be addressed, according to GSMA chief commercial officer, Bill Gajda.

The Mobile Money Exchange is open to any organization and seeks to establish a broad-based stakeholder community that comprises key areas including mPayments, mBanking, Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU), and Mobile Money Transfer (MMT).

The Mobile Money Exchange was announced at the GSMA Mobile Money Summit, which was sponsored by Visa, and organized by Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) (www.cgap.org), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) (www.dfid.gov.uk), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) (www.ifc.org/).
-Stuart Whitaker

GOOGLE SMS INTRODUCED IN UGANDA.

2009-07-02T21:37:00.002-04:00

The global economic model that arose over the past two decades that allowed low-wage earners in developing countries to service high-wage earners in developed countries becomes increasingly unsustainable as the wage differential between the served and the servers declines and as technology puts increasingly powerful devices directly into consumers' hands. The conundrum faced by those trying to service developing nations is that there is little wage differential between the served and the servers yet developing nation consumers can't afford state-of-the-art information devices such as Apple's (www.apple.com) iPhone, Android (www.android.com) smartphones, or RIM (www.rim.net) Blackberries.

Google (www.google.com) SMS, announced on June 29, is a suite of services intended to meet Africa's needs. Among this suite of services are the following applications:

- Google SMS Tips (6001*): an SMS-based query-and-answer service that enables users to have a "web search-like" experience--Google says users can enter a free form text query that its algorithms restructure and to which Google responds;
- Google SMS Search (6006*): news sports, stocks, horoscopes, glossary, currency converter, religious texts, translations, flights, Q&A, calculator, and local time;
- Google Trader (6007*): an SMS-based application that helps buyers and sellers find each other--people can find, sell, or buy any type of product or service.

These services are free of charge from Google. Carrier charges are 110 UGX for SMS Tips, while charges for SMS Search and SMS Trader are 220 UGX each. (1 Uganda Shilling [UGX] = 0.0004746 US Dollar [USD]) (*These services are currently supported by MTN Uganda [www.mtn.co.ug/] only.)

Google provided two search examples--one pertaining to the use of urine to control weevils, the other explaining the proper use of condoms—both examples address life and death issues faced by citizens in developing areas. Despite citing an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (www.itu.int) report that shows that Africa has the world's highest mobile growth rate, Google reports that mobile phones are owned by only one-third of the population. Internet penetration is even lower--only one sixth the penetration rate of mobile phones.

Google reports that its Tips and Trader applications are the fruits of partnerships with Grameen Foundation (www.grameenfoundation.org/), MTN Uganda, Busoga Rural Open Source and Development Initiative (BROSDI) (http://brosdi.or.ug/), Straight Talk Foundation (www.straight-talk.or.ug/), and Marie Stopes Uganda (www.mariestopes.org.ug).
-Stuart Whitaker

COMSCORE BEHIND COMMON SHORT CODE MEDIA MONITORING

2009-07-01T00:00:00.001-04:00

Comscore (www.comscore.com) announced that it has been selected through Wireless Media Consulting (WMC) (www.wmcglobal.com) to monitor common short code (CSC) promotional materials for CTIA.-Stuart Whitaker

XTIFY / INTUIT EXTEND LOCATION-BASED SERVICES CONTEST

2009-06-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

Xtify (www.xtify.com) and Intuit (www.intuit.com) have extended the deadlines for their location-aware business application contest. The contest, announced in April, is intended to showcase applications that integrate Xtify's location-based services capabilities with Intuit's Platform as a Service. Intuit's Platform as a Service allows developers to make their web applications available to millions of Intuit users. Xtify's capabilities allow developers to integrate location based features into Internet applications.

The Intuit / Xtify Application Contest will provide up to $ 12,500 in prize money to the top location applications for two prizes: one determined by a panel of judges, and one based on user adoption of entrant applications. The deadlines are:

- August 24: applications must be completed and published;
- November 2: winners will be announced.

The Xtify API allows Web applications to utilize location data tracked by a thin client running on BlackBerry, Google Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian OS smartphones. No plans have been announced for Apple iPhone compatibility. Judges for the contest include:

- Ed Zander – Recent CEO and Chairman of Motorola
- Jeff Samberg – Managing Director of Acadia Woods Partners, LLC
- Alex Chriss – Business Leader of Intuit Partner Platform, Intuit Inc.
- Andrew Weinreich – CEO of Xtify, Inc.

Xtify launched the beta version of its location based platform in 2008. A thin client on users' cell phones pushes location data to Xtify's servers on a periodic basis. Website developers can write to Xtify's API to access the location of participating users and reflect that location in content displayed to that user. Xtify says it is able to know where users are throughout the day and whether they are on the Internet. Users must opt-in to each service for Xtify location sharing. Users control with whom and when their location information is shared.

MeetMoi (www.meetmoi.com), a location-based dating service, and SeeMyWhere (www.SeeMyWhere.com), a social network, have implemented the Xtify technology. MeetMoi offers a free service that allows users to review "matches" and respond to messages initiated by other users. A premium service offers unlimited messaging and other features.

Andrew Weinreich founded meetMoi in 2006, and founded Xtify in 2008. Xtify is privately held, funded by Acadia Woods Partners and ETF Venture Funds (www.etfventurefunds.com).-Stuart Whitaker

iPhone Matures: Hardware and Software

2009-06-26T21:19:00.002-04:00

Apple (www.apple.com) has delivered an updated version of its iPhone, the new 3GS, and of its iPhone operating system, the OS 3.0.

Significant enhancements offered by the new 3.0 OS:

- support for cut and paste;
- support for search through all information on the phone, including address book and email;
- use of the phone's location capabilities to help find lost phones;
- allows users to remotely erase phone contents and to remotely invoke a message on the screen.

Enhancements offered by the 3GS:

- as much as twice the browsing speed;
- a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus;
- video recording with easy upload to YouTube and MobileMe;
- voice recognition that allows users to use their voice to call people in their address book.

While the iPhone itself is now capable of connecting a computer to the Internet (tethering) and sending MMS messages, you can't do so today on AT&T's network.

With over 50,000 applications available for the iPhone, most applications have to be marketed to be successful, and assistance in the form of visibility from Apple is extremely important to an application's success. Apple is highlighting applications in seven categories: working out; around the house; going out; managing money; traveling; getting things done; fun and games.
-Stuart Whitaker

Mobile Health: The Really Big Mobile App

2009-06-25T00:33:00.002-04:00

With traditional information services facing steep pressure, businesses in telecommunications and information services are looking to find significant growth opportunities. While there is much discussion about the number of applications that have been developed for the Apple iPhone and other smartphones, the vast majority of applications aren’t profitable for their developers. The most popular smartphone applications reported by Apple are in the games and entertainment categories. MHealth applications, on the other hand, hold the promise of real profitability, though the number of successful mHealth applications will be far fewer in number than the total number of smartphone applications. Successful mHealth application development will require an understanding of a complex environment involving health care needs, technology, and reimbursement.

The US health care system is much maligned, even in the US, because it reportedly costs twice the cost of health care in other developed nations on a per capita basis and delivers no better, and sometimes worse, health care than that delivered in other developed nations. The late US senator Everett Dirksen reportedly said “a billion here and a billion there, sooner or later we’ll have real money.” A billion dollars is small change in US health care today, which costs an estimated $ 2.2 trillion each year, or 16% of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The US wireless association, CTIA (www.ctia.org), launched an industry-wide wireless health initiative in April 2009, that includes industry events, education, and device certification. As part of this initiative, the CTIA held a briefing in the US on Capitol Hill on June 24th with experts describing both the problems as well as wireless-based solutions.

Speakers at the mHealth briefing were notable medical and policy experts including US Representative and Member of the 21st Century Health Care Caucus Adam Smith (D-WA-9); Chief Medical Officer of the West Wireless Health Institute and Chief Academic Officer for Scripps Health Eric Topol, M.D. and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Fellow Dan Fletcher, PhD.

CTIA says that mHealth solutions today use off-the-shelf applications and technology such as text messaging and mobile voice to prompt patients to take medication, follow a certain diet, engage in physical activity, check their glucose levels, take their blood pressure, detect cardiac arrhythmias and more. By making healthcare more personal and individualized, mHealth solutions are expected to significantly improve the medical community’s ability to resolve epidemics, reduce medical errors and expand preventive healthcare.

In addition, mHealth can make a tremendous impact on chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure, diabetes or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In the US, more than 45 percent of Americans suffer from at least one of these diseases and approximately a quarter of the population has multiple conditions. According to Richard Adler’s Health Care Unplugged: The Evolving Role of Wireless Technology report, if patients suffering from chronic conditions agreed to have their doctor monitor them remotely via mobile wireless applications, (i.e., monitor patients’ health and track and guide self-care beyond the doctors’ offices), the savings would amount to $ 21.1 billion per year by reducing emergency care, hospitalization and nursing home costs. mHealth would allow the millions of Americans living in remote, rural areas to “visit” the best doctors’ offices in the country, eliminating healthcare disparities based on geographic location and economic differences.

The CTIA says Congress needs to ensure that healthcare reforms encourage the implementation of mHealth solutions and are made accessible to millions of Americans, especially for preventive care. For example, a definition of “meaningful use” should be broad enough to include mHealth solutions, and revisions to Medicare be implemented to add mHealth solutions as being covered services subject to reimbursement. These kinds of policies are critical to the medical and wireless industry’s efforts to bring better healthcare services to millions of Americans.
-Stuart Whitaker

CTIA TO HOST MHEALTH POLICY FORUM

2009-06-20T23:48:00.001-04:00

The CTIA (www.ctia.org) is hosting a forum on June 24, 2009 on mobile health (mHealth) solutions for America’s health care crisis. The CTIA believes that a significant part of the solution is something that more than 270 million Americans use daily – it’s their mobile wireless services. Speakers will be from the US Congress, the Obama Administration, and medical and policy experts.
-Stuart Whitaker

TARGUSINFO PROMOTES WIRELESS CNAM.

2009-06-20T14:33:00.001-04:00

TARGUSInfo (www.targusinfo.com), based in Vienna, Virginia, reports that it launched the first commercial wireless Caller Name (CNAM) service in the US. CNAM, also referred to as Caller ID, was introduced by MetroPCS (www.metropcs.com). Based on their analysis and experience, TARGUSInfo believes that regional wireless carriers with 18 million subscribers can generate an additional $12.3 million per month in gross revenue with a 30% penetration of subscribers choosing Wireless CNAM (WCNAM) as a value added feature (assumes $1.99 per month per subscriber).

Potential WCNAM Monthly Revenue
Penetration	5 M	15 M	30 M	50 M
10%	$1.0	$1.5	$3.0	$5.0
15%	$1.5	$4.5	$9.0	$15.0
20%	$2.0	$6.0	$12.0	$20.0
35%	$3.5	$10.5	$21.0	$35.0
Source: TARGUSinfo

-Stuart Whitaker

MOBILE SEARCH EXPLOSION

2009-06-18T23:26:00.001-04:00

ComScore (www.comscore.com) reported that the number of people who sought local information on a mobile device grew 51% from March 2008 to March 2009.
-Stuart Whitaker

UK sees launch of directory assistance with mobile numbers

2009-06-11T23:14:00.002-04:00

UK ICO GIVES TACIT APPROVAL TO MOBILE DIRECTORY SERVICE. Following years of effort to provide mobile numbers through directory assistance (DA), Connectivity (www.connectivityltd.co.uk) has begun the launch of its new UK DA service, 118800. The service is available online now (www.118800.co.uk) and, according to the web site, will be available in the future in the UK by dialing 118800.

While mobile listings are commonly included directory assistance databases in some northern European countries, databases in many other countries--including the US--have only a small fraction of total mobile listings. A European industry-wide effort to develop a mobile listing service never gained much traction--in part because of conflicting interests within the industry--though there have been other recent introductions, including Swisscom's Connect 1811 and Belgacom's "mailbox" service. An effort in the US being spearheaded by the CTIA, which had selected Qsent (subsequently acquired by TransUnion), ran into vociferous opposition from many parties, including Verizon Wireless and US legislators.

To use Connectivity’s online service, users are prompted at the home page to enter a first name, surname, and town. The service doesn't give out phone numbers to enquirers, but says that if it finds the subject of the search, 118800 will text the enquirer's details to the subject and charge the enquirer 1 GBP. The subject won't be charged anything by 118800, though standard mobile network charges apply.

Connectivity reports that its listings come from companies who collect mobile numbers from customers in the course of doing business and have been given permission by customers to share those numbers. Connectivity reports that it is regulated by PhonePayPlus (www.phonepayplus.org.uk) and the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) (www.ico.gov.uk). PhonePayPlus informed us that they regulate phone-paid services but that there had been no issues involving Connectivity's service. The ICO issued a statement to us saying Connectivity had discussed their proposed service and that the ICO provided advice on compliance with the Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). The ICO statement said, furthermore, that it understands that Connectivity's service will possess the following characteristics:

- it will be privacy friendly;
- it will only connect people when the recipient agrees to take the call;
- it will not divulge subject's number;
- it will not use numbers where there is any doubt about whether the consumer was happy for their information to be used by this service;
- it will allow subjects to opt-out;
- it will make opting-out as easy as possible.

We tried the service out, first by entering our mobile phone online in their database--address Russell Square, London WC1B 5BE. We confirmed the entry with the code we received via SMS from Connectivity. However, when we searched for our listing, it wasn't found. We were prompted to narrow our search to an area or borough in London, which we did, but still to no avail, with no further explanation. We also tried the service out by searching for Connectivity's CEO Raj Raithatha and marketing director Shona Forster. No luck there either, and no explanation.

The BBC (www.news.bbc.co.uk) reports that the company has 15 m numbers and that the service has angered privacy campaigners.

Connectivity, which is privately held, has received investments from 3i (www.3i.com) and DFJ Esprit (www.dfjesprit.com).
-Stuart Whitaker

SONY ERICSSON ENTERS APP STORE MARKET

2009-06-04T21:24:00.002-04:00

Sony Ericsson (www.sonyericsson.com), which reports that it began delivering online content in 2003, announced that it will consolidate its Fun & Downloads service into its PlayNow "arena," through which it will begin making applications available. Applications will initially be available in 13 countries that support PlayNow and to the 38 Sony Ericsson phones that are compatible with the PlayNow platform. The app store is being powered by Lithuanian developer GetJar (www.getjar.com). Users with accounts can download content to their phone and computer. Those without accounts may purchase content via premium SMS.
-Stuart Whitaker

Microsoft's Bing411 is Significant Enhancement

2009-06-03T18:26:00.001-04:00

Microsoft unveiled a toll-free information service at 800-TellMe after its acquisition in 2007 of Tellme, and this service still operates, though the new 800-Bing411 has a much better feel and function. Matching many of Goog411's features for business searches, Bing411 provides listing information including a "star" rating and automatically sends an SMS message with details of the search result. In addition, it offers driving directions, the ability share the listing via text with another phone, and to automatically connect to the listing. On subsequent calls, Bing411 offers to provide information about the last listing. One problem we found was that on subsequent calls, we couldn't get the "tellme my choices" option to work.
-Stuart Whitaker

VIRGIN MEDIA LAUNCHES ROUNDU LOCAL SERVICE

2009-06-03T10:06:00.001-04:00

Mobile Commerce (www.mobilecommerce.co.uk) announced that Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) has launched a new mobile internet portal, available for all UK mobile users, featuring the RoundU local search service. RoundU integrates handset location with a comprehensive range of local information. Using listings aggregated from Mobile Commerce’s partners including toptable, Itchy Guides and The Press Association, the service brings a full range of the latest UK arts and entertainment content straight to the handset, as well as complete Thomson business listings.

-Stuart Whitaker

APPLE DOMINATES MOBILE AND HTML SITE TRAFFIC

2009-05-29T22:52:00.000-04:00

AdMob (www.AdMob.com) released mobile metrics for April which showed that 43% of mobile requests to mobile sites and 65% of mobile requests to HTML sites originated from iPhones. iPhone represents an estimated 8% of the total installed base. AdMob reports that 3% of mobile requests to mobile sites and 9% of mobile requests to HTML sites originated from Android phones, which have an estimated 1% of the handset market. iPhone and Android devices are the only platforms for which share of traffic to mobile and HTML sites exceed their handset share.

The relation between mobile traffic to mobile sites versus HTML sites is reversed for Symbian and RIM devices. Symbian handsets, which have 52% of the market, generate 36% and 7% of the requests to mobile sites and to HTML sites, respectively. RIM handsets, which represent 17% of the market, generate 9% and 3% of the requests to mobile sites and to HTML sites, respectively.

Windows handsets, which represent 12% of the handset market, originate 3% and 6% of requests to mobile and HTML sites, respectively. Palm, which represents 2% of the handset market, originates 2% of requests to both mobile and HTML sites.

One conclusion from this information is that development of mobile sites is much more important for publishers who are interested in reaching Symbian and RIM users, and much more important in regions, such as Europe, where Symbian devices predominate. HTML sites are much more important when targeting iPhone and Android users. We think it is likely that mobile web sites will fall out of favor with publishers as the share of more-capable Internet handsets increases.
-Stuart Whitaker

MOBILE APPS FORECAST TO REACH $ 25 BILLION BY 2014

2009-05-27T19:27:00.001-04:00

Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts that the total market for mobile applications, retail, and Value Added Service (VAS) revenue will increase by almost three times from 2009 to $ 25 billion in 2014. VAS includes subscriptions, premium events, and additional content. Juniper expects that by 2011, the majority of all app-related revenues will come from apps delivered via app stores rather than from non-store channels, and that the real value of non-store revenue will decline from 2012 onwards. Operators need to develop app store partnerships to share in the app store revenue.
-Stuart Whitaker

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR: FREE IPHONE APPLICATIONS HAVE HIGHER INTEREST BUT LOWER RATING THAN PAID APPS.

2009-05-26T19:36:00.001-04:00

Our review of the Apple iPhone App Store downloads finds that free applications continue to evoke much higher interest, as measured by the number of “ratings” the top twenty-five free and the top twenty-five paid applications have received, though the rating “score” is significantly higher for the paid applications than for the free applications. The top twenty-five paid applications have received 31,965 ratings with an average rating of 3.8. The top twenty-five free applications have received eighteen times as many ratings as the paid applications—588,718 ratings, with an average rating of 3.0. Games and entertainment dominate both the free applications, which finds twenty free applications in these two categories, and the paid applications, which finds twenty-one applications in these two categories. (Table available). -Stuart Whitaker

New mobile voice services on their way

2009-05-23T11:57:00.003-04:00

Tellme (www.tellme.com) founder Mike McCue is leaving Tellme, which he founded in 1999. Tellme was acquired by Microsoft in 2007 and is becoming increasingly integrated into Microsoft. Tellme recently announced that it will offer the first mobile voice service to combine content and communications, simplifying how people interact with their phones every day. Tellme says it is the first to allow people to press one button, say what they want and get it, whether that is to send a text, make a call or search for information. Tellme has designed a unique version of this experience specifically for Windows phones due out this fall.

Tellme says that the new service puts many of the most popular phone functions behind a single button. Windows phone users just press the side button of their phone to:

* Send a text by saying "text" to open a text box, then speak the text message and say "send" to send it to anyone in their contact list;
* Initiate a call simply by saying "call" and then the name of anyone in their contact list;
* Search the Web with Microsoft Live Search by speaking your request, such as "weather in San Francisco, California", "Pizza in Kansas City" or "Mother's Day gift ideas."

Datamonitor (www.datamonitor.com) predicts, separately, that the global market for advanced speech recognition (ASR) in mobile handsets will increase from $32.7 million in 2009 to $99.6 million in 2014. Datamonitor predicts ASR in-vehicle telematics will grow at a similar rate, from $64.3 million in 2009 to 208.2 million by 2014.
-Stuart Whitaker

TWEETMART

2009-05-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

Tweetmart.com (www.tweetmart.com), started in January, is a Twitter classified service. Users "list an item online," and Tweetmart sends tweets to all your friends (we tweeted Tweetmart to find out whether "friends" means followers, followees, or both, but haven't been retweeted). Items remain active for seven days. "Post a job" lists jobs for thirty days. Users can resend posts at will.-Stuart Whitaker

US Mobile Giving Space Heats Up

2009-05-18T20:12:00.000-04:00

Guide by Cell (www.guidebycell.com) announced that it has become one of Mobile Giving Foundation's (MGF) (www.mobilegiving.com) approved application providers. MGF administers mobile giving for major US phone companies.

According to MGF Chairman and CEO Jim Manis, Guide by Cell is the US leading provider of mobile solutions to the museum and cultural nonprofit community. The Guide by Cell program, which will operate through a new Give by Cell division, allows participants to make on-the-spot donations. Guide by Cell also offers audio tours, mobile advertising, training, and a mobile platform. To make a donation, the donor sends a text message to a short code provided by Give by Cell, referencing the nonprofit's name. The donor receives a confirmation message and will see the donation charge on a subsequent phone bill.

MGF is a tax-exempt non-profit (501[c][3]) organization headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, founded in 2006 by Jim Manis and Jenifer Snyder. Other MGF application providers include Distributive Networks (www.distributivenetworks.com), mGive (www.mGive.com), Mobile Commons (www.mcommons.com), MobileCause (www.mobilecause.com), and Wireless Factory (www.wirelessfactory.com). Mobile carriers collect and forward the donated funds for free.

Some mobile giving campaigns are being aggressively promoted with high-profile advertising. The United Way took a ten second ad (www.youtube.com/watch?v=b38idebP4ag) during the 2008 Super Bowl, urging viewers to text "FIT" to 864833 (UNITED) to donate $ 5.00 to United Way Youth Fitness.

Actress Jessica Biel shot a one minute video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxrR-8sDgQU) in conjunction with Major League Baseball urging viewers to text STAND to 40202 to "Stand up to cancer" (www.standup2cancer.org).

-Stuart Whitaker

AWAITING OVI STORE LAUNCH WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS.

2009-05-12T21:39:00.001-04:00

Announced in February with a planned May debut, Nokia’s Ovi Store (www.ovi.com) has the benefit of learning from mistakes of earlier application stores, including Apple, Blackberry, and Android. One of the most powerful aspects of the Ovi Store is its social networking strategy. Consistent with the hypothesis that advertising is dead—or dying—and making best use Nokia’s acquisition of Navteq’s mapping capabilities, the Ovi Store reportedly will offer a recommendation scheme based on three factors: 1. The individual subscriber’s social network; 2. The individual subscribers’ location; 3. The individual subscriber’s particular interests. The Ovi Store's social discovery feature will allow users to share information about applications that they have downloaded. The Ovi Store will be available initially on an estimated 50 million phones, including S60 and Series 40 devices, using XHTML and Java. Nokia estimates that by 2012 300 million users will have access to the Ovi Store. The Nokia N97, scheduled for launch in June, will be the first phone with the Ovi storefront onboard.

An example of an application running on Nokia devices is the Nokia Sports Tracker (www.sportstracker.nokia.com). Using GPS information in compatible Nokia devices, information such as speed, distance, and time are automatically stored in the user's diary. Data can also be published and available on the Internet. The sports Tracker won the Best Mobile Internet Service award earlier this year at GSMA.

Nokia indicates that there will be thousands of applications initially available at the Ovi Store. Missing from the ecosystem is a public discussion group along the lines of Android, though reports are that a discussion group is being developed and will be available within a matter of weeks. Developer revenue opportunities exist through application subscriptions, advertising, content sales, and application hosting.
-Stuart Whitaker

ORANGE UK APPLICATION CHALLENGE: FIVE CUBED

2009-05-11T23:10:00.000-04:00

The Orange Partner program (www.orangepartner.com) announced a challenge to get five new mobile apps into the Orange UK Application Shop on five devices within five days during the JavaOne conference (actually four days--June 2-5).

The five devices are the Nokia 6500s, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson K800, Sony Ericsson W910i, and Samsung G600. The application must fall into one of the Orange UK Application Shop categories:

- Just for Fun;
- Phone Magic;
- Astrology Zone;
- Orange services;
- Men’s Zone;
- Books & recipes;
- Themes & Personalization;
- Messaging services;
- Health & Fitness;
- Quizzes/Trivia;
- Travel guides. -Stuart Whitaker

CONTXTS WEIGHS IN TO MOBILE CONNECTION MARKET.

2009-05-06T00:22:00.000-04:00

Contxts (www.contxts.com) is a service available in the US that provides a simple way to send and retrieve contact details via SMS. Texting "daniel" to 50500 produces information about Contxts' developer, including his name--Daniel Sullivan--as well as his company, phone number email, twitter account, and AIM account. Daniel--or any other Contxts member--can send his or her details just as easily. From Daniel's phone, texting "send 3034759204" to 50500 would send Daniel's details to 3034759204.

Users can log into Contxts online to edit their own details. There is a page for "my contacts," which appears to be a placeholder where users can view information about their own contacts. Assuming this information online will be available in a vCard or other standard format when later versions are released, Contxts' utility will be significantly increased. The service is free and in alpha with very little additional information. The service appears to be based in Denver, Colorado. Other companies in this space include DubMeNow (www.DubMeNow.com).
-Stuart Whitaker

NOKIA INNOVATION CONTEST

2009-05-04T14:37:00.001-04:00

Nokia has launched the 2009 Calling All Innovators (www.CallingAllInnovators.com ) contest, inviting anyone with "bold ideas and tremendous talent" to enter. Nokia says total cash and prizes are worth more than US$ 250,000, including US$ 30,000 for the grand prize winner, US$ 15,000 for the second place, and US$ 10,000 for third place, in each of the categories. Categories include internet innovation; flash; emerging markets and mobile necessities; and apps on maps. The entry deadline is June 30th. -Stuart Whitaker

PLEASE CALL ME (PCM) WIN-WIN: ADVERTISING REVENUE PLUS CALL TRAFFIC

2009-04-30T17:22:00.002-04:00

Vodacom in South Africa offers an advertising-paid, free to subscribers, Please Call Me (PCM) service that allows one mobile subscriber to ask another mobile subscriber to initiate a mobile call--South African mobile callers are charged for calls, while call recipients talk for free. To request a call, subscribers dial *140*TARGETNUMBER, where TARGETNUMBER is the number of the person being asked to place the call.

This service is similar to international "call back" services and South African "beeping" practices. International call back is a service designed to reduce international charges between countries with disparate international telecommunications tariffs. To use an international call back service, a person in country where outgoing calls are expensive who wants to speak to someone in a country where outgoing calls are less expensive, dials a number in the low cost country, hangs up, and awaits a "call back" from the service in the low cost country. The user is then able to "conference in" others in the low cost country. South African beeping is the practice whereby mobile subscribers with zero mobile balances call subscribers with positive mobile balances, immediately hang up, and await a call back.

With the PCM service, the target subscriber receives a text message with the message "Please Call Me," the number to be called, and an advert. Mobile subscribers have the option to turn off receipt of PCM messages. Vodacom reports having over 2.4 million unique users each day and that between 18 and 20 million messages are delivered per day across networks.
-Stuart Whitaker

MOBILE TECH 4 SOCIAL CHANGE GOES GLOBAL

2009-04-23T22:46:00.000-04:00

Following events in San Francisco in November, 2008 and New York City in February, Katrin Verclas from MobileActive.org announced plans for Mobile Tech 4 Social Change (MT4SC) events in Washington, DC, London (http://m4changelondon.eventbrite.com/) and Halifax (http://mobiletech4socialchangehfx.eventbrite.com/) in May, Barcelona and Nairobi in June, Cape Town in July, Kampala in August. Dates for Toronto and Geneva have yet to be announced.-Stuart Whitaker

APPLE POSTS STEADY GROWTH IN REVENUE AND IPHONE SALES.

2009-04-22T00:00:00.003-04:00

APPLE POSTS STEADY GROWTH IN REVENUE AND IPHONE SALES. Apple (www.apple.com) announced second quarter 2009 revenue growth of 8.7%, to US$ 8,163 million, compared to US$ 7,512 million in the second quarter 2008. Net income for the quarter was US$ 1,205, up 15.3% from US$ 1,045 the year before. For the first half of the fiscal year, revenue grew 7.1% from US$ 17,120 million to US$ 18,330 million, while net income grew 7.0% from US$ 2,626 billion to US$ 2,810 billion. Apple reported sales of 3.79 million iPhones, a 123% growth from the same quarter a year ago, bringing total iPhone unit sales to 21.1 million.

Apple

	2Q09 $ M	2Q08 $ M	Change $	Change
Revenue	8,163	7,512	651	8.67%
Operating Income	1,667	1,315	352	26.77%
Net Income	1,205	1,045	160	15.31%
Apple
	1H09 $ M	1H08 $ M	Change $	Change
Revenue	18,330	17,120	1,210	7.07%
Operating Income	3,793	3,441	352	10.23%
Net Income	2,810	2,626	184	7.01%

TELUS PUSHES MARKET TRANSPARENCY

2009-04-13T23:48:00.002-04:00

In a move that reflects a determination to keep the markets fully informed of developments, Canadian carrier TELUS announced that its wireless subscriber net additions in the first three months of 2009 were 48,000, off 46% from the net additions of 88,000 in the first three months of 2008. Churn per month rose 9 points from 1.53% to 1.62%, and ARPU fell 5.6% from C$ 61.88 to C$ 58.39. TELUS attributes these results to the weakening Canadian economy. Detailed results will be released in May. TELUS share price fell 10.46% on the day of the announcement.-Stuart Whitaker (http://tinyurl.com/cjkqox)

CHACHA: THE FUTURE OF INFORMATION?

2009-03-18T22:29:00.002-04:00

Industry-leading advertising-supported game developers have felt the adverse impact of unscrupulous advertising-supported game developers, and we believe information service providers do--or will--face similar reputation-related issues concerning the quality of information they deliver. There was a tremendous backlash in the US in the 1990s as competitive directory assistance providers entered the market using lower quality listing information, some of whom delivered accurate results only two-thirds of the time. As a result, "telco quality" listings became the standard, and the accuracy of successful directory assistance providers now remains in the 90% range.

We are reminded of a sign we once saw—answers: $ 0.25, right answers: $ 1.00, dumb looks: free.

Issues of accuracy become increasingly important as newspapers--historically, the purveyors of objective information--reduce staff and, in some cases, close altogether.

ChaCha's promise to "provide answers, for free, to any question, anytime, anywhere," is simply more than it is able deliver. Here's a simple example.

We called ChaCha at +1-800-2-ChaCha and asked the automated attendant "how much money has ChaCha raised?" We heard an advertisement for AT&T--one of ChaCha's partners--and received an SMS reply shortly afterwards, that read:

"ChaCha heard ur Q as: 'how much money has Cha Cha raised' Stay tuned!"

Within a minute we received a second message:

"You'll have ur answer b4 u know it! 'The Fray is touring this summer! Would u like to get ur tix before they go on sale in Virginia? Rply VAPRESALE"

Shortly thereafter we received this:

"ChaCha makes money from the companies they advertise for. Thanks for doing the ChaCha! *The Fray Presale! Txt TIXVA"

While we don't expect ChaCha's service to provide any inside or proprietary information, ours was a softball question--we would expect them at least to deliver accurate public information about themselves. This information would include, at a minimum, the fact that ChaCha announced this week that it has secured US$ 12 million in equity financing to expand its local and national advertising sales activities, including a newly opened New York office.

Regarding this announcement, Scott A. Jones, CEO of ChaCha, said “this funding is a tribute to the strength of our service and the continuing rapid growth of the mobile search and advertising market."

ChaCha's announcement did not identify who made this new investment, so it is entirely speculative as to whether previously announced investors have re-upped and whether new investors have come on board. Previously announced investors include Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment firm of Jeff Bezos; Morton Meyerson, former President and Vice Chairman of EDS as well as Chairman and CEO of Perot Systems; Rod Canion, founding CEO of Compaq Computer; and Jack Gill, Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist.

In addition to announcing the new investment, ChaCha announced it is streamlining and restructuring itself to preserve its cash. The company is reducing headcount, overhead, and expenditures through a series of cost-saving actions to ensure the company is positioned for long-term success. VentureWire estimates that the company laid off 25 of its 81 employees. ChaCha reports that it delivers 30 million impressions per month and has had 3.6 million users since their launch in January, 2008. Last year, ChaCha reported having over 35,000 guides who had answered over 30 million queries since their launch.-Stuart Whitaker

BOBAJOB ON TOP OF MOBILE PEER AWARDS

2009-02-17T00:00:00.003-05:00

Six Mobile Peer Awards have been won by five organizations. Early stage: Babajob.com won the jury and the community awards, while the audience award was won by Orbster. Emerging stage: the community award was won by Fring, the jury award was won by PopCatcher, and the audience award was won by Unkasoft. -Stuart Whitaker

NOKIA JUMPS INTO CONTENT DELIVERY

2009-02-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

Nokia announced that in early May it will begin distributing content in the Ovi Store. The store will consolidate Nokia's current content services, including Download!, MOSH, and WidSets into a single channel. The content will range from application, games, videos, widgets, podcasts, location-based applications, and personalization content for Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices. The Nokia N97, available in June, will be the first device to include the storefront. Nokia plans to offer advanced content targeting and monetization options for content providers and application developers. -Stuart Whitaker

GOOGLE TAKES GREAT LATITUDE

2009-02-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Less than a week after global technology leaders addressed questions about issues including the future of privacy and control, Google delivered its answer. Latitude is Google's new service that allows you to "see where your friends are." Users who wish may have their location automatically plotted on Google Maps. Automatic location is available today on smartphones including Blackberry, some S60 handsets, Windows Mobile devices, and wired computers (with some exceptions). Automatic location is expected on the iPhone "very soon."

While there has been a host of critics who are extremely alarmed about the loss of privacy that Latitude causes, Latitude is an opt-in service from the ground up. Users will not be visible unless they specifically enable the service; users can control who sees their location, the granularity with which their location appears, users can even spoof the service entirely (I'm in Iceland, at the moment), and users can "hide" themselves at any time. Google says that location information will not be made available to advertisers. -Stuart Whitaker

US RECESSION BUILDS.

2009-01-30T00:00:00.000-05:00

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported "advance" estimates that real GDP declined in the fourth quarter of 2008 at an annual rate of 3.8%, compared to the third quarter. The decrease was attributed to negative contributions from exports, personal consumption expenditures, equipment and software, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by positive contributions from private inventory investment and federal government spending. Real GDP declined in the third quarter by 0.5%. Real GDP for 2008 as a whole increased by 1.3%. -Stuart Whitaker

USAID ANNOUNCES WINNERS IN DEVELOPMENT 2.0 CHALLENGE

2009-01-28T00:00:00.002-05:00

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced three mobile innovation winners, selected from 115 applicants, in its Development 2.0 Challenge. The objective of the competition was to encourage development of low-cost, high development impact services.

The first place winner was RapidSMS Child Malnutrition Surveillance, a service that enables health practitioners in Malawi to share and track children's nutritional information automatically at the touch of a cell phone button, significantly supporting efforts to enhance children's health and vastly reducing the time necessary to detect famines. Kirsten Bokenkamp, a graduate student at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), represented the group as three of her teammates built the project in Malawi.

ClickDiagnostics, one of two second place finishers, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, provides a mobile technology-based infrastructure to connect community-based health-workers to remote medical specialists.

Ushahidi, the other second place finisher, is a platform that crowdsources crisis information, allowing anyone to submit crisis information through text messaging using a mobile phone, email or web form. The system was originally developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Ushahidi's roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis. -Stuart Whitaker

MOBILEMONDAY PEER TO PEER LIST AND LINKS

2009-01-21T10:17:00.003-05:00

The mobile industry isn't immune the global economic recession, lending is at a virtual standstill, and startup capital seems even more difficult still. Nevertheless, innovation in the mobile market continues.

Mobile startups submitted entries to MobileMonday (MoMo) groups around the world, which narrowed the number of entries in the MobileMonday Mobile Peer Awards down to 42 from 163. Two things become clear to us from reviewing these entries: first is that application development knows no geographical boundaries; second is that all these applications--ranging from mobile social to traffic management to job sites to business card replacements--are global in their appeal.

The current list will be reduced to 20 shortly. Contact us for further details.

COMPANY
7syntax
Addict Digital Media
adplace.com
Aka-Aki
Anaeko
Aradiom
Babajob.com
Beabloo
Big in Japan
bioLocate
CIDWAY
Cirius Technologies, Inc.: unavailable
Crave Mobile: unavailable
Creador Estudio Interactivo C.A.
Dazzboard
Dial2Do
Dialy
Fortumo
Fring
Getjar Networks
iKen Solutions
Keynetik
Mob4Hire
Mobintech A/S
mobiSiteGalore
MocoSpace
Nimbuzz B.V.
Orbster GmbH
Oxynade
Palringo
rmbrME
Secusmart GmbH
SINDYK
Smaato Inc.
SoonR
Tellmewhere
Unkasoft
Wapalta
Wapja.net
WorldMate, Inc.
Xumii

-Stuart Whitaker

KGB HAS THE ANSWER

2009-01-14T22:45:00.003-05:00

One of the brightest spots in an otherwise fairly dim looking outlook for 2009 is mobile services. Information service provider kgb, formerly known as INFONXX, has jumped head first into mobile services with a new suite of services designed to deliver information on a 24/7 basis via text, mobile, and Web. -Stuart Whitaker

RUMMBLE LOOKS TO PUT SOCIAL IN LOCATION SEARCH AND DISCOVERY

2009-01-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

In deference to the fact that Rummble, out in Beta, tells us upfront that "we know it's not perfect," it only seems fair to cut them some slack, to acknowledge what they have told us, that it is a work in progress. "We've listened to your cries and we're soon launching a new Rummble explorer which is easier to use in every way." Fair enough then, we'll look at it from that perspective.

Rummble says of itself that it "is a location based social search and discovery tool, enabling users to find recommended content for a location more easily, without a traditional keyword search. Instead, Rummble’s algorithm provides personalised results based upon a trust profile it builds for you and the content in your social network." In November, Rummble launched its iPhone application. Mobility is essential for any location-related search service.

We have a couple primary thoughts about the application. The first has to do with the service concept itself. The Rummble strategy seems dependent on developing a database of "Rummbles," locations that your friends may be interested in. The strategy seems to be develop this service without much in the way content partnerships, though Rummble does use Google maps and does offer connectivity to Facebook and Twitter. Regardless, Rummble's utility seems too dependent upon having subscribers who want a lot of location information and subscribers who are willing to post a lot of location information. It seems to us that it is essential that Rummble find partnerships to increase the breadth of its offering and of its utility.

Though we recognize Rummble is in Beta with a promised revision soon, our second thought has to do with execution to date. The iPhone application is simply too complicated. Most of us have come to accept and expect hierarchies as a matter of course, an ordering of information from higher to lower, greater generalization to finer detail, whether in science or organizations or elsewhere, yet Rummble's organization seems just a bit too unclear, too un-hierarchical. In addition, while we tried to utilize the Facebook functionality, we had a number of problems, not the least of which was the fact that we kept getting kicked out.

We look forward to Rummble's response to our cries and the launch of its new version. -Stuart Whitaker

DUBMENOW TAKES CONTACT MANAGEMENT ANOTHER STEP FORWARD

2009-01-12T17:59:00.002-05:00

While the Apple iPhone is given credit for being the first device to provide true mobile Internet browsing, the mobile Internet wars are just beginning. Mobile broadband, including mobile broadcast, is on the horizon. In the meantime, there is a great deal of functionality being delivered today through applications on a variety of mobile devices.

A new service, called Dub from DubMeNow, begins as a business card replacement. After installing either the Blackberry or Android application (Windows Mobile and iPhone applications promised soon), users find a number of features designed to replace paper business cards. Users can text or email their contact information to another smart phone, which will load the contact data, including updates, directly into the recipient's mobile address book. Information can be synchronized with Outlook and other CRM applications. Changes made to one’s own record are automatically updated in the applications of one’s contacts. The Dub application is integrated with LinkedIn so that users can invite contacts to connect via LinkedIn. DubMeNow was introduced in public beta in November, 2008. It is competing in the Mobile Monday Peer Awards contest to present at the February GSMA congress in Barcelona.

DubMeNow was founded by CEO Manoj Ramnani, who previously founded technology solutions firm Astegic. The DubMeNow advisory board includes D.P. Venkatesh, founder and CEO of mPortal, Shane Oleson, President of Keymind, Jon Jackson, Mobile Posse CEO, and Kevin Ross, CEO and Founder of Metova. Partners included Google, salesforce.com, Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, Intelligent Office, and The Networking Community (TNC). -Stuart Whitaker

MOBILE NORDIC INTRODUCES LATEST ENTRY IN SMART PHONE DIRECTORY BATTLE

2009-01-09T18:58:00.002-05:00

Norwegian-based Mobile Nordic has introduced its latest entry in the mobile directory battle with the introduction of enhancements to its 118 Mobile product. Mobile Nordic's 118 Mobile product is designed to make mobile search easier through a variety of enhancements, including integration of the phone's call log, reverse lookup, sending free searches to friends, finding people and companies through up-to-date databases, and access to a live agent for assistance.

Mobile Nordic, co-founded by Rudi Rørstad and Inge Andre Sandvik, announced in August 2008 that were back in business now that their non-compete clause from the sale of their first company, Mobile CTI, to Opplysysningen, had expired. Efforts to launch their new service have been underway in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Germany, with Norwegian partner Schibsted.

With the most recent upgrade, Symbian, Java, and Windows Mobile users can now download the Mobile Nordic application from m.get118.com, and receive a two week free trial. Features include:

- automatic reverse lookup of incoming calls;
- preview of incoming SMS messages;
- ability to search by number in the phone’s call log;
- integration of external databases with the internal call log;
- ability to automatically store external information in the phone’s database;
- ability to view listing information on a map;
- links from database to Google or other search engines;
- ability to search external directories for people and companies, using the current country as the default selection;
- ability to send completed search results to friends, to save friends the search expense.

Mobile Nordic says it will introduce further enhancements, including an autosync feature, in the first quarter of 2009. -Stuart Whitaker

MICROSOFT TO DELIVER PORTAL, LOCAL, INTERNET SEARCH, AND MOBILE ADVERTISING TO VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS UNDER FIVE YEAR AGREEMENT

2009-01-08T14:59:00.001-05:00

The new service will be introduced when Microsoft Live Search becomes available for Verizon Wireless phones. Verizon Wireless customers will be able to access Microsoft Live Search from a device’s home screen, by downloading an application, or through Verizon Wireless’ Mobile Web service. Microsoft will manage search and display advertising on Verizon Wireless' Mobile web service.

According to John Stratton, Verizon's chief marketing officer, wireless data now represents more than 25% of Verizon Wireless' revenue. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says mobile search and advertising offers tremendous opportunities for innovation and growth, and that Microsoft will deliver a fully integrated, voice-enabled solution. -Stuart Whitaker

VERIZON WIRELESS TO USE MICROSOFT

2009-01-07T17:39:00.005-05:00

Reuters reports that Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will announce at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that Verizon Wireless will use Microsoft search services. Google and Yahoo are the losers in this contest.

With respect to broader Verizon opportunities, Seidenberg cites Gartner & In-Stat estimates that the Telecommunications industry will grow by US$ 125 B between 2008 and 2013, driven by wireless data, broadband & video, and advertising, content, & applications. US Wireless revenue has doubled in the last six years, spurred in significant degree by growth in wireless data, and Seidenberg sees the wireless industry continuing to evolve from voice to data to broadband. Verizon wireless data revenue has risen from US$ .09 B in the first quarter of 2006 to US$ 2.8 B in the third quarter of 2008. Verizon's wireless data revenue as a percentage of total revenue has increased significantly from 43% in 2005 to 55% in the third quarter of 2008.

Verizon Wireless is expected to surpass AT&T to become the largest US mobile carrier this week with the acquisition of Alltel, which Seidenberg says will bring US$ 9 B of net present value synergies. -Stuart Whitaker

SWISSCOM INTRODUCES PRIVACY-PROTECTED MOBILE DIRECTORY SERVICE

2009-01-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

Introduction follows along the lines of the service introduced by Belgacom. Swisscom introduced a new service called CONNECT 1811 that connects callers to unlisted Swisscom Mobile NATEL subscribers. Swisscom offers a variety of NATEL packages, including: NATEL easy and NATEL easy liberty, available without subscription; and NATEL basic xtra-liberty and NATEL swiss xtra-liberty plus, available with monthly subscriptions.

To use the service, a caller within Switzerland dials 1811 and states the name and address of the NATEL customer--the called party--who the caller wishes to reach. The called party is notified of the call and can take the call by pressing 5 or saying CONNECT, or can defer the call by pressing 6 or saying SMS, in which case the called party will receive information about the caller by SMS. If the called party is not available, the information is stored for later retrieval.

Because this is an opt-in service, customers who desire to be reachable via this service are invited to send a free text message, "start connect," to 444. Swisscom says the service will begin within 24 hours. Customers may change the address on record by placing a voice call to Swisscom. The service can be stopped as easily by sending a text message, "stop connect," to 444. Business customers must call toll-free to 0800 88 99 11 to opt-in.

This service can connect callers to all private NATEL customers and business customers who have registered. This service cannot reach customers under 16 and fixed line customers who are ex-directory. Commercial use is prohibited.

The cost of the service, which is free of charge to the called party, varies. All callers are charged CHF 1.50 (1 USD = 1.09214 CHF) for the connection, CH 0.70 for the first minute, and CHF 0.22 for additional minutes. NATEL subscription customers pay an additional CHF 0.30 per minute, and prepaid customers pay an additional CHF 0.80 per minute. The cost for callers from other providers depends on each provider.

After a test trial, Belgacom unveiled a similar service in December, 2008 that allows callers to reach unlisted numbers. A significant difference between the services is that the Belgacom service uses the mobile voice mail notification feature, rather than SMS. -Stuart Whitaker

JUMPTAP SELECTS SKWEEZER TECHNOLOGY FOR MOBILE WEB CONTENT OPTIMIZATION

2008-12-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

Skweezer Inc's mobile content optimization technology is now available with JumpTap's mobile search implementations for wireless carriers. Mobile search and advertising company JumpTap will be using Skweezer technology to accelerate and optimize PC web pages accessed from the search results, thus improving overall mobile search experience. JumpTap is using Skweezer Private Label, a carrier-grade solution that optimizes web content for PDAs and cell phones. "While companies are still figuring out how to discover new mobile content, JumpTap has moved ahead of the pack to provide easy access to relevant content regardless of where it resides, including on-deck, off-deck, Internet, or mobile web," said Skweezer CEO Kevin Perkins. "By using Skweezer technology, JumpTap can enhance the users' mobile search experience and generate more revenue for carriers." -Smarajit Dasgupta

GOOGLE DELIVERS ADWORDS TARGETING ON IPHONE, G1

2008-12-23T00:00:00.001-05:00

Google has added an option allowing AdWords advertisers to display their desktop text and image ads on the iPhone, the T-Mobile G1, and other mobile devices with HTML "full browsers." Advertisers will be able to target ads on mobile devices, create campaigns for them, and get separate performance reporting. They can also choose to restrict ads only on desktop and laptop computers by opting out. AdWords advertisers can target ads for specific devices by selecting "Networks and Bidding" within "Device Platform," by visiting their campaign settings. A video demonstrating AdWords for iPhone and G1 can be viewed on Youtube. -Smarajit Dasgupta

ADMOB LETS ADVERTISERS TARGET SPECIFIC MOBILE DEVICES

2008-12-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

AdMob now allows advertisers to target specific mobile devices through its self-serve ad targeting user interface. Advertisers and application developers will be able to target ads to over 4,500 mobile handsets from over 200 manufacturers, including Android and Windows Mobile devices. While device-specific targeting may reduce traffic for advertisers, AdMob believes it can improve click thru rate. Using the self-serve interface, advertisers can search the names of the specific devices and add them. Advertisers will be able to see the devices in the "Your Targeted Devices" table on the ad creation / edit page. -Smarajit Dasgupta

LOCATIONET POWERS TELEGATE’S 11 88 0 MOBILE LOCAL SEARCH AND NAVIGATION SERVICE

2008-12-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

European information services provider Telegate AG has teamed up with LocatioNet Systems Ltd. to debut a free ad-funded mobile local search and GPS navigation service. It lets users search in the 11 88 0 directory for businesses in Germany, and lets them view results on a detailed map. Users can also choose to get visual and voice guided turn-by-turn GPS navigation to the desired address. It can also calculate the fastest routes between two locations, save and manage personal favorites list, and offers five days weather forecast. The service is powered by LocatioNet’s amAze. Mobile users can directly get the application for free from navi.11880.com or via www.11880.com. The ad-funded service is free but data charges may apply according to the mobile users’ data plans. Users will receive ad banners that will be presented to them only in idle moment of usage. The ads can include special offers and coupons offered by local merchants. The 11 88 0 directory service currently covers Germany and the mapping and navigation service is covering Europe, North America, Middle East, Australia, parts of Asia and South Africa with additional coverage being updated. -Smarajit Dasgupta

KGB TO ACQUIRE SMS SEARCH PROVIDER TEXPERTS

2008-12-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

DA provider kgb has acquired UK-based SMS search company Texperts. The acquisition is expected to enhance kgb's ability to build on its text advertising program TXT//Ads, which launched in the UK in 2007. "Texperts is a perfect strategic fit for kgb as we continue to grow our SMS mobile find businesses across Europe and North America. With their innovative software platform and industry experience, Texperts will enable us to serve our millions of customers better," said kgb CEO of Mobile and Digital Services, Bruce Stewart. "At kgb we have built our reputation on bringing millions of consumers immediate, specific, accurate, and convenient answers to their questions 24 hours a day via phone, text, and the Internet. Acquiring Texperts will extend our strength in that space and broaden our capability to better serve our customers, as well as the advertisers who want to reach them." -Smarajit Dasgupta

TAPTU RAISES UK₤ 6.45 MILLION, APPOINTS NEW COO

2008-12-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

Mobile search engine Taptu has raised UK₤ 6.45 million in a series B funding round from its existing investors 3i and Sofinnova. The funding is expected to be used to accelerate Taptu's continued growth over the next twelve months. UK-based Taptu has also appointed Andreas Bernstrom as the Chief Operating Officer. Bernstrom will be part of Taptu's senior management team, responsible for managing the company's commercial growth and formalizing Taptu's mobile advertising position worldwide. Previously, he was COO at Internet marketing company TradeDoubler. -Smarajit Dasgupta

BELGACOM LAUNCHES MOBILE DIRECTORY SOLUTION

2008-12-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Belgian provider of telecommunications services Belgacom has launched a new “mailbox” service that allows callers to leave voice mail on nearly 2 million of the estimated 10.6 million Belgian mobile phones. Belgacom says that the service is being offered by Proximus, the brand under which Belgacom's wholly-owned mobile subsidiary Belgacom Mobile markets mobile services, and Belgacom brands 1307, 1207, 1405, and 1407, the dialing codes under which Belgacom offers French, Dutch, English, and German directory assistance (DA). Belgacom reports that Belgacom Mobile served 4.6 million customers and 43.8% of the market of active customers as of the end of 2007. Belgacom, which has maintained its dominant market share in the DA market in part because of the fact that the regulator did not adopt a 118xxx dialing code, receives 140,000 calls each work day and 42 million calls annually. Belgacom sees that its DA volume is decreasing approximately 5% annually, considers the Internet to be its biggest competitor, and hopes that its new mailbox service will help reduce the decline in its DA volume.

Until the launch of this mailbox service, callers to Belgacom’s DA service could obtain numbers for 95% of the fixed lines that were listed but only approximately 4% of the mobile numbers for those mobile customers who chose to opt-in to the DA service. An estimated 30% of subscribers are mobile-only customers, and 95% of Belgian mobile subscribers have voice mail. With the launch of the new mailbox service, when callers ask for a listing of a mobile subscriber who has not opted-in to the directory database, the caller is given the opportunity to be connected to the voice mailbox of the “called” party. The called party is notified of the voice message and may do with it what they wish.

Belgacom’s DA service is available to every Belgian subscriber. DA charges are approximately 1.25 EUR from fixed lines and 1.40 EUR from mobile phones. There is no charge to retrieve voice messages. Mobile customers were notified in advance of the launch that this service was going to be implemented, they were given the option to opt-out of the service, and may opt-out of the service at any time. Approximately 100 customers have opted-out so far. There is no charge to opt-out.

While Belgacom Mobile reports 4.6 million mobile customers, less than 2 million listings are initially available because approximately half of Belgian Mobile subscribers are prepaid, about whom Belgacom does not have listing information, and because Belgacom chose to initially include residential listings only. Belgacom hopes that other Belgian mobile carriers decide to participate and make their listings available. Prior to this launch, Belgacom had approximately 4 million fixed and 400 thousand mobile listings. Belgacom has 480 operators in 10 call centers in Brussels, Antwerp, Roeselare, Aalst, Hasselt, Mons, Charleroi, Namur, Liège and Eupen.

Many carriers and DA service providers throughout Europe and elsewhere in the world have been looking for ways to better serve mobile customers, and will be looking to see whether Belgacom’s offering will be a success. -Stuart Whitaker

LOOPT LAUNCHES ANDROID APPLICATION

2008-12-15T00:00:00.000-05:00

Social-mapping and communication service Loopt has launched its Android application. The application includes the major Loopt features including background location updating which enables users to receive alerts when a friend is closely. Users can also switch between map modes for a satellite view of their friend map or to monitor traffic delays. Loopt users can also share their information with sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter or personal blogs and websites. Loopt is currently supported on more than 100 handsets including the iPhone and BlackBerry and is now available on select phones with the Android Market. Loopt users can share their location between carrier networks with fellow Loopt users on AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Boost, MetroPCS, and T-Mobile. -Smarajit Dasgupta

CITYSEARCH LAUNCHES IPHONE APPLICATION

2008-12-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

Citysearch has launched an application for the iPhone and iPod touch, available via the Apple App Store. It lets users access local editorial content, browse nearby listings, sort by preferences, and write reviews on-the-go. Aided by location-based technology, Citysearch identifies local restaurants, hotels, bars, and shops nearby and allows people to search for business listings or categories by keyword. Users can map the results to find their desired destination. "We set out to build the most convenient and trustworthy local city guide on the iPhone," said Dinesh Moorjani, VP of IAC Mobile. "As consumers grow accustomed to relying on mobile devices to inform urgent decisions and share local, user-generated content, Citysearch on the iPhone and iPod touch empowers users with mobile reviews, featured write-ups on local neighborhood venues, and hyper-local content including user and editorial reviews." -Smarajit Dasgupta

CHACHA SMS SEARCH MARKET SHARE SOARS

2008-12-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

ChaCha said it has captured over 28% of standard rate SMS search transactions in the third quarter according to the Q3 Mobile Messaging Report from The Nielsen Company. ChaCha pointed out its 28% share of transactions is up from just 7% in Q2, representing a 300% quarter over quarter gain, driven by a 660% quarter over quarter growth in overall ChaCha transactions. ChaCha reports that they now deliver 30 million impressions per month and have had more than 2.5 million users since the SMS answers service launched in January 2008. "ChaCha's viral growth of a new user every seven seconds is proof that ChaCha's mobile answers service is unmatched – we offer the easiest and most effective mobile search experience in the US," said ChaCha CEO Scott A. Jones. "Our rapid growth, millions of searches and demographic clearly demonstrate to advertisers that we are a major influence on the mobile search market, and have the capability to impact users' buying decisions – which is especially relevant given advertisers' interest in getting as much as possible out of their advertising dollar during these tough economic conditions." -Smarajit Dasgupta

JUMPTAP LAUNCHES ADTAP FOR PUBLISHERS MOBILE MONETIZATION SOLUTION

2008-12-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

Mobile search and advertising firm JumpTap has launched ADtap for Publishers – a solution offering mobile publishers, media companies, and iPhone application developers a means to monetize their traffic and streamline sales to brands and agencies. At the core of the solution is the tapLink Platform that builds targeting intelligence from multiple sources including search queries, browsing history, demographic, and location data. “Our focus is to align ourselves with high quality publishers to maintain an inventory that is relevant to users and advertisers," said JumpTap CMO said Paran Johar. “Inventory quality and effective targeting are critical factors necessary to create a positive user experience, where the ad is actually viewed as valuable content. Our technology leverages data from multiple sources to deliver the relevant ads that in turn drive higher effective yields for publishers.” Advertisers in JumpTap’s mobile ad network can run ads across a set of premium mobile channels including different audience segmented packages like entertainment, finance, news, reference, sports, lifestyle, social networking, travel, and games. JumpTap cited M:Metrics data suggesting mobile browsing has been up 89% from last year and page views is up 126%, to note that targeted mobile advertising is now a key strategy for numerous publishers. Of 2.3 billion total available monthly impressions, JumpTap claims its Premium Mobile Ad Network attracts more than 26 million unique users with over 450 million premium page views per month. -Smarajit Dasgupta

TAPTU RELEASES WAPEDIA FOR IPHONE

2008-12-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Taptu, in partnership with Wapedia developer Florian Amrhein, has released the Wapedia mobile wiki iPhone application. Taptu says it focused on making the application as fast as possible by scaling images for the iPhone, showing a table of contents to jump down to a section of the page in a snap and paginating the very long pages to speed up loading. The application is available in English, French, German, Iitalian, and Spanish.

We tested the application and found it works well, our only complaint being that we've become spoiled by voice recognition which, unfortunately, Wapedia doesn't offer. -Stuart Whitaker

XTIFY LAUNCHES PLATFORM TO ASCERTAIN REAL-TIME LOCATION OF MOBILE USERS

2008-12-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

Xtify Inc has launched the beta version of its location based platform enabling software developers to ascertain the location of their users independently of the wireless carriers. Developers can program into Xtify's API and incorporate location into their existing website without having to build their own applications. Xtify licenses a client that users can download to their phone. The client extracts the location of the handset and pushes that location to Xtify's servers on a periodic basis. Any website can write to Xtify's API to access the location of their participating users and reflect that location in content displayed to that user. Xtify has the ability to know where users are throughout the day, and whether or not they are surfing the Internet at any given time. Users need to opt-in to each service for Xtify location sharing and can always choose with whom and when their location is shared. "We don't believe it's feasible for every application developer to re-build their websites or mobile websites into downloadable programs that access location," said Andrew Weinreich, Xtify CEO. "We also think that in order for location to be ubiquitous it needs to be offered outside of the wireless carriers." Location based mobile dating company MeetMoi and social network SeeMyWhere have already implemented Xtify technology. -Smarajit Dasgupta

VLINGO LAUNCHES VOICE-POWERED IPHONE APPLICATION

2008-12-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

Voice servies provider vlingo Corporation has introduced the vlingo for iPhone application on the Apple App Store. It gives users the ability to dial their contacts, search the web, access Google Maps, and send status updates for Facebook and Twitter, simply by speaking. “The iPhone offers an innovative multi-touch user interface that is fundamentally transforming the wireless industry," said Dave Grannan, CEO of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based vlingo. "We’re proud to debut our breakthrough voice recognition technology on iPhone, taking simplicity one step further by reducing much of the reliance on typing, making mobile data and applications easier to find and use.” A demo video of the application is available.-Smarajit Dasgupta

PROXIMIC DEBUTS PROXIMIC AGENTS APPLICATION FOR IPHONE

2008-12-04T00:00:00.001-05:00

Search and contextual advertising firm Proximic has introduced the first version of Proximic Agents, a mobile search application. Currently available at the iPhone App store, Proximic Agents focuses on offering personalized and intelligent news on the iPhone. The application will scour through over a million RSS news feeds to find relevant content. Proximic Agents comes with a number of smartphone-friendly features, such as "Point to Search," which enables users to find relevant information just by pointing to an entire block of text on the touch screen. In addition, Proximic Agents enables users to request and receive timely information on any number of topics. Based on Proximic's language-independent approach to finding and matching contextually relevant information, the new application enables users to search and receive information by using features designed for new generations of mobile phones like touch screens, while de-emphasizing features better suited to desktop computers. Proximic's "pattern proximity" search approach automatically reads and matches relevant content according to interconnected "patterns" that are not even based on words but which exist within each document. Later versions of the application will look to increase the relevance of information and substantially decrease the users’ efforts in accessing that information. "The market for search and contextual advertising has as much potential – if not greater potential – on the mobile handset as it has had on the computer desktop," said Proximic CTO Thomas Nitsche. "But first, search must adapt to the way consumers use their mobile phones. Mobile handset manufacturers have spent a great deal of time and energy understanding how consumers use their phones. It's time for the search market to catch up, and become more proactive and less of a strain for the users. At Proximic, we want to contribute to solving this situation and make a big move in the right direction."-Smarajit Dasgupta

MULTIPLIED MEDIA, YELLOW PAGES GROUP FORM MOBILE DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT

2008-12-03T00:00:00.001-05:00

Calgary-based Multiplied Media Corp has formed a distribution agreement with Yellow Pages Group, which integrates business directory information from YellowPages.ca into the mobile versions of Multiplied's Poynt local search service. The Poynt local search service is now available through Windows Live Messenger and BlackBerry in Canada. Users can enter search terms, and find relevant retailer, product, or service information near their location, including phone and address information as well as enhanced data such as interactive maps, driving directions, movie reviews, and ticket purchase. Multiplied Media CEO Andrew Osis said, "By extending our agreement with Yellow Pages Group to Poynt mobile applications the tremendous growth we are seeing in user numbers and user queries will have a positive impact on our projected revenues." Poynt for BlackBerry can be downloaded from m.mypoynt.com via their BlackBerry browser. The Windows Live Messenger version can be accessed by adding poynt@live.com to one’s buddy list. -Smarajit Dasgupta

AT&T TAPS CHACHA FOR TEXT AND VOICE ADS. AT&T

2008-12-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

AT&T and mobile search services company ChaCha have formed a partnership that will enable ChaCha to use a co-branded greeting and promote AT&T when consumers call 1-800 2ChaCha (+1-800-2-242242). The companies will look to further explore opportunities in both text and voice ad-based services. "AT&T continues to look for new ways to make its voice and local search services tailored to the needs of today's consumer – in the voice space specifically, beyond just traditional name and number searches," said Susan Johnson, senior VP of AT&T Customer Information Services. "Our work with ChaCha provides a great opportunity – really, another vehicle – to put information and answers right at people's fingertips." -Smarajit Dasgupta

NOKIA UPGRADES MAPS, INTEGRATES WITH OVI

2008-12-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

Nokia has upgraded its mobile mapping and navigation service Nokia Maps, as well as its personalized online mapping experience on Ovi by Nokia. Nokia Maps now include high-resolution aerial images, 3D landmarks for 216 cities, and terrain maps, as well as a new route overview during routing and during Drive, the purchasable turn-by-turn car navigation guidance. The higher quality of maps can be attributed to the relationship between Nokia and NAVTEQ. The level of detail in the maps has increased to the point that users can view multiple entrances to the same underground metro station. Nokia Maps now also offers instant access to real time information such as camera alerts, safety spots, and traffic information for selected countries, as well as Wcities event guides providing real-time information for events and movies in over 450 destinations. Nokia Maps plus Ovi allows people to plan their journey at home on their PC and synchronize with their mobile, giving access to pre-planned routes and favorite destinations while on the move. The new version of the Nokia Maps application for selected devices is available on the Nokia Beta Labs. Additionally, the online version will be accessible at maps.ovi.com. -Smarajit Dasgupta

CHINESE MOBILE SEARCH COMPANY EASOU SECURES US$ 12 MILLION

2008-12-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

Chinese mobile search company YETI Group Ltd. (Easou) has raised US$ 12 million in a third round of financing led by iD TechVentures and AXA Private Equity (www.axaprivateequity.com). Shenzhen-headquartered Easou intends to utilize the funds for further R&D, marketing, and geographic expansion. CEO of Easou Frank Wang, said, “We firmly believe in the bright future of the wireless Internet business in China, and will continue to provide mobile users with high-quality and easy-to-use mobile search services.” Easou was founded in March 2005 and provides mobile users with search based information services, and offers SMEs with targeted marketing and advertisement services. -Smarajit Dasgupta

CALL GENIE BAGS A CONTRACT WITH CHILE-BASED LA GRAN GUIA

2008-12-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Call Genie has entered into a “full product suite” multi-year contract with La Gran Guia SA, a Chile-based directories publisher owned by El Mercurio SAP and VTR GlobalCom SA. It is anticipated that the solution will be commercialized in phases over the course of next year and into 2010. "Our contract with La Gran Guia represents a significant beachhead into a large, and rapidly expanding Latin American market," said Call Genie CEO Mike Durance. Call Genie will be utilizing a comprehensive suite of its products to commercialize a mobile local search and advertising solution for La Gran Guia. The contract is based primarily on a revenue share arrangement, but also includes upfront implementation fees, transactional fees, and hosting fees. -Smarajit Dasgupta

GOOGLE ENHANCES SMS SEARCH IN INDIA

2008-11-28T00:00:00.001-05:00

Google India has launched a new version of Google SMS Search with enhanced features. Users can text their query to 9773300000 at the cost of a regular SMS and get answers. This service is available across all operators in India on both GSM and CDMA mobile phones. SMS Search offers cricket scores, Indian Railways information, stock quotes, horoscope, news, movie showtimes, flight status information, weather, currency conversion, calculator, and more. It also offers local business search across 34 cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Vadodara, Surat, Kanpur, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Rajkot, Ernakulam, Cochin, Gaziabad, Bhuwneshwar, Aurangabad, Lucknow, Nashik, Indore, Panaji, Bhopal, Agra, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Jalandhar, Amritsar, and Coimbatore. -Smarajit Dasgupta

TAPTU SELECTS ESENDEX FOR SEARCH CONTENT SHARING

2008-11-28T00:00:00.000-05:00

Cambridge-based mobile search engine Taptu has chosen communications provider Esendex to enable rapid content sharing via SMS. Mobile content searches can now be shared more easily via text message across the Esendex SMS network. "Enabling consumers to not only find great entertainment super-fast but to be able to share it with their friends is proving very popular with our users. But our users demand that what they share will be received, so its essential we have a confidence in our SMS partner. We chose Esendex as it has direct links to the five major UK mobile operators and the service is proven, reliable, and effective," said Lynsey Tucker, Head of Commercial at Taptu. -Smarajit Dasgupta

118 218 INTRODUCES SMS Q&A SERVICE IN FRANCE

2008-11-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

France-based DQ provider 118 218 has launched a text message based Q&A service called “Tout sur Tout.” The service aims to answer any kind of questions on any topic, including directory based queries. Users can SMS their questions to 118 218 and expect to receive a response within 3 minutes. The questions are handled by 118 218 call center operators who draw answers from the web, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and content provided by partners. The service is accessible from all mobile operators in France and is priced at € 0.50 per question, chargeable only if an answer is found. -Smarajit Dasgupta

ALLTEL WIRELESS LAUNCHES IDLE SCREEN-BASED CONTENT AND ADVERTISING SOLUTION

2008-11-25T00:00:00.001-05:00

Alltel Wireless has launched a customized interactive content service called Alltel Perks, which delivers sports scores, weather information, trivia, etc directly to the idle screen of customers’ phones. One needs to download the free Alltel Perks application from the Alltel Shop to receive content even when the handset is not in use. The content may also include discount offers from local merchants and coupons for restaurants. The service, powered by Mobile Posse, is fully customizable based on consumer preference and feedback. It delivers content based on the customers’ ZIP code, age, and gender, in addition to providing information and offers related to specific times of day and days of the week. Delivered messages are maintained in the “Recent Offer Menu” folder for a short period of time, so customers can take advantage of the current offers and discounts. As offers are pushed onto the handset, users can open the banner to display more content by selecting the “View” hot button as indicated on the phone. If any other button is selected the offer will go away. Airtime charges may be applicable for the service. “The launch of Alltel Perks represents an innovative way for our customers to receive offers and information that is of interest, while providing marketers a powerful vehicle for reaching potential customers wherever they may be,” said Jeff Giard, Alltel’s VP of product development and mobile advertising. “As handsets continue to evolve into entertainment, media and content delivery devices, Alltel continues to provide our customers with the most useful services and applications, such as Alltel Perks.” -Smarajit Dasgupta

GOOGLE MOBLE APP DELIVERS MOBILE SEARCH RESULTS WITH FEWER KEYSTROKES

2008-11-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

The keyboard limitations of mobile phones are a significant disincentive to moble phone search which the new release of Google Mobile App for the iPhone, dated November 14, is designed to address (this seems to be a very early release--v. 0.3.142.951). Google Mobile App team member Mike LeBeau demonstrates the features of the new release in a Youtube video available from a PC and, in an innovative use of mobile video, on the iPhone under the Google Moble App Settings, About section.

LeBeau stresses four new features: voice-initiated search using the iPhone Accelerometer; search results based on location; mannually initiated voice search results; faster suggestions for search results on keyboard-initiated searches.

The voice-initiated search using the iPhone Accelerometer requires that the Screen Rotation feature be turned off. Using the Google Mobile App with the Screen Rotation feature turned off, lifting the iPhone to your ear starts the recording, lowering the iPhone from your ear initiates the voice recognition and search. This feature works as described.

The search results based on location also works as narrowly described, but not broadly. Asking for "movie showtimes" produced a listing of showtimes for movies in our location. However, "movie schedule," "traffic reports," and "weather reports" produced results without consideration of our location. The first results for "movie schedule," "traffic report," and "weather report" were wap.fandango.com, www.traffic.com, and www.weather.com.

Initiating search by tapping the microphone icon produced the same results as the motion-initiated search, while bypassing the Accelerometer.

The fourth feature demonstrates Google's reach into the wide range of data. By initiating a keyboard search for "weather," Google Mobile returned a link to a Google Maps search for weather, a linke to "The Weather Channel" in the phone's contact list, a link to www.weather.com, and various other links.

Google isn't the first to voice-enable the iPhone--we wrote about Say Where from Dial Directions last month--and it isn't without limitations. One limitation is the Youtube demo on the iPhone in the Google Mobile App Settings, About section: it didn't work. While it did bring up the Youtube video, the video itself kept pausing and wouldn't play without constantly pressing the play button. Another limitation is the fact that voice-initiated search results don't include information in the iPhone contact list--though some privacy-sensitive individuals may in fact prefer what we see as a limitation. With respect to driving directions, Google Mobile App doesn't attempt to deliver driving directions in the same manner as the Say Where application from Dial Directions--Google Mobile App would merely take you to Google Maps.

Finally, advertising-supported applications from Google are all about driving traffic to applications and because Google has made no secret about its belief that mobile services will offer as great or greater revenue opportunities as the fixed-line Internet. To that end, conveniently located on the Google Moble App main window is a link to other Google Apps: Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Talk, Reader, Goog-411, News, Notebook, Photos, orkut, Translate, Maps, YouTube, and Earth. Google Mobile App is likely to be a very powerful tool--for Google. -Stuart Whitaker

YAHOO! ONESEARCH TO POWER T-MOBILE’S WEB2GO SERVICE

2008-11-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! oneSearch will power mobile search made using T-Mobile USA's new web2go service. Yahoo! will also deliver mobile sponsored search results and in some cases display advertising within the search results presented through T-Mobile's web2go. Yahoo! and T-Mobile partnered earlier this year with Yahoo! powering mobile search and advertising for T-Mobile International across ten European countries. OneSearch will enable web2go users to access to news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos, web images, general web, and mobile web content. It will also display relevant ringtones, wallpaper, games, and other content available in the T-Mobile Store within search results. -Smarajit Dasgupta

TRAFFICCAST, DIAL DIRECTIONS DELIVER VOICE-ENABLED TRAFFIC SERVICE

2008-11-19T22:40:00.001-05:00

Madison, Wisconsin-based traffic data analysis company TrafficCast International and voice-enabled mobile LBS provider Dial Directions have partnered to develop products and services designed to integrate real-time traffic congestion and travel time forecasts to mobile navigation and routing solutions. TrafficCast’s DynaFlow technology will combine with Dial Directions’ voice-based solution to enable the matching of traffic information to specific routes. Drivers can simply speak their destination to receive audio traffic reports containing travel times and traffic alerts. For pre-trip planning, drivers can call ahead to provide their desired route, receive real-time traffic information, and make informed travel decisions. “Real-time personalized traffic updates will further differentiate our navigation solutions,” said Dial Directions CEO Adeeb Shanaa. “We’re delighted to partner with TrafficCast to deliver an innovative mobile service that can be used every day by drivers.” -Smarajit Dasgupta

GOOGLE OPTIMIZES SEARCH FOR THE IPHONE

2008-11-19T22:39:00.000-05:00

Google has finally optimized search for the iPhone and iPod touch firmware version 2x for US-based users. The local search results feature "Get Directions" and click-to-call links. When one searches for local businesses, maps are displayed by default in the case of a single listing. For multiple listings, one can view maps by clicking on the "Show map" link. Users can also switch back to the regular Google desktop search format by clicking on the "Classic" link near the bottom. A demo video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARiwhbeyXFM. -Smarajit Dasgupta

AIRTEL TO OFFER ASKLAILA-POWERED CITY SEARCH IN INDIA

2008-11-17T23:35:00.002-05:00

India-based local search provider asklaila has partnered with private telecom service provider Airtel to power its city search services. The free “Airtel city search” service will reach more than 30 million users across the six cities where asklaila is available, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Bangalore. The uniqueness in Airtel’s offering lies in the fact that the local search service will be available across three screens, i.e. mobile, PC (via Airtel’s broadband service), and TV (Airtel DTH). The mobile service will be available across four modes: SMS, USSD, WAP, and Airtel Live. To use it via SMS, users can text a keyword to 54321. Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is an instant messaging type phone service and can be used in even basic phone models. This is accessible under Airtel Live USSD portal by dialing *321#. It will also be integrated in the Airtel service menu, under the Airtel Live brand. asklaila is a service of Four Interactive and its search features include proximity search, syntax-free search option, address compression, locality short forms, and landmark information. -Smarajit Dasgupta

YAHOO! ONESEARCH FOR VOICE LAUNCHES IN THE UK

2008-11-17T23:33:00.002-05:00

Yahoo! oneSearch with voice is now available in the UK allowing mobile users to initiate searches by speaking. It lets consumers perform unstructured searches and adapts to the user's intonations and accent, providing increasingly fine-tuned results as the product is used. Users can switch between speaking and typing at any time. Yahoo! oneSearch with voice for UK can be downloaded from uk.m.yahoo.com. The service is free, though carrier data charges may be applicable. -Smarajit Dasgupta

SCANLIFE 2D BARCODE APPLICATION NOW ON SPRINT CAMERA PHONES

2008-11-14T00:00:00.002-05:00

Select Sprint phone users can now use the New York-based Scanbuy Inc’s ScanLife application to obtain information via 2D barcodes. Customers can scan a barcode and send it to a website via their Sprint phone to find information such as pricing, availability, and additional product information. “Sprint is excited to launch Scanbuy’s 2D barcode technology, which combines with the speed of the Now Network to give our customers a new way to access information they want the instant they want it,” said Len Barlik, VP of wireless and wireline services at Sprint. “Mobile barcode scanning promises to help customers quickly get to information and services.” ScanLife will be initially available on more than 30 Sprint camera phones. It can be downloaded by visiting www.getscanlife.com from the mobile browser or by texting “SCAN” to 70734. The 2D barcodes can be placed by companies or individuals on any physical media. For the creation of barcodes ScanLife also has a Code Management Platform at www.scanlife.com. Barcodes can also be linked to one’s contact information or social networking profiles. -Smarajit Dasgupta

REPORT: MICROSOFT NEARING MOBILE SEARCH DEAL WITH VERIZON WIRELESS

2008-11-14T00:00:00.001-05:00

The Wall Street Journal reported citing sources that Microsoft is closing in on finalizing a mobile search deal with Verizon Wireless whereby Microsoft will become the default search provider on Verizon devices. The deal is said to be worth US$ 550 million to US$ 650 million over five years. Reportedly, this figure is nearly double of what rival Google has offered for the same deal. Microsoft is apparently also negotiating a deal with Verizon to distribute Windows Mobile software via more of the carrier’s devices. Combined worth of the two deals could be to the tune of US$ 1 billion. -Smarajit Dasgupta

ITSMY.COM CHOOSES TAPTU FOR MOBILE SEARCH

2008-11-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

Mobile community itsmy.com has appointed Taptu to power mobile search and provide access to an index of mobile-friendly web content. itsmy.com, a brand of Gofresh GmbH, boasts of over two million users, who will now be able to access to a variety of content via Taptu including videos, music, images, and more. itsmy.com CEO Antonio Vince Staybl said, "We wanted to work with a company that really “gets” mobile and understands that desktop search isn't mobile search. Taptu is made for mobile and we love its unique and social way to search the mobile web." In addition to core search functionality, Taptu offers mobile search sponsored links to its mobile partners. Taptu mobile search can also be accessed at taptu.com on Internet-enabled mobile phones with a standard mobile browser and is available in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and German. Founded in 2007, Taptu is privately held with investors including 3i and Sofinnova. -Smarajit Dasgupta

LOCAL.COM BRINGS LOCAL MOBILE TO VIRGIN MOBILE NETWORK

2008-11-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

Local.com has launched Local Mobile on the Virgin Mobile USA network offering the carrier’s more than five million customers access to Local Mobile directly from all 3G Virgin Mobile USA handsets. Local Mobile is an ad-supported local mobile site that provides users with access to directory services and search results for local businesses, products, and services. Local.com president and COO Bruce Crair said, “This partnership allows Virgin Mobile USA customers to easily access relevant local business information from their mobile devices, and is part of Local.com’s efforts to expand the reach of our Local Mobile product to consumers nationwide.” Local.com partnered with mobile community applications company Trilibis Mobile to develop and deploy Local Mobile. Features in Local Mobile include local business information based on “what” and “where” search; business profile pages with mapping; driving directions; click-to-call; listings sent to a mobile phone or device via SMS; and sorting of results by relevance, distance, or name. -Smarajit Dasgupta

HIOGI INTRODUCES COMMUNITY-BASED MOBILE Q&A SERVICE VIA SKYPE

2008-11-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

hiogi has launched a mobile question and answer service "hiogi for Skype" that enables users to ask for advice by typing a question into their Skype chat window. "hiogi for Skype mobile is the easiest way to receive quick answers while traveling," said Bjoern Behrendt, CEO of hiogi. "It's like chatting with a good friend, who is always willing to help and who knows everything." Questions are answered by the online community. Users can register for free, add their Skype name on the site, and approve hiogi to be added in their contact list. Questions can be sent to hiogi directly on Skype by writing the keyword “ASK” before the question. Answers are accompanied by references or comments on the Skype chat window. A list of all functions can be requested by typing in the keyword HELP into the chat window. -Smarajit Dasgupta

RELEVANTADS.COM LAUNCHES MOBILE BUSINESS DIRECTORY

2008-11-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

SEO firm Relevant Ads recently launched a mobile search business directory to coincide with the launch of T-Mobile G1 Google Android-powered phone. Relevant Ads founder and CTO David Rodecker said, "We launched our mobile directory to coincide with the launch of this device so that its users, and other mobile device users, can access our customer's business profiles on the Internet. Now, our customers will not only be found by people searching the Internet at home and work, but also while searching the Internet from anywhere on their mobile device." RelevantAds.com has included all of its existing local business customers in the new mobile business directory at no additional cost. It has also rolled out Google's Mobile Adwords program to its customer base. -Smarajit Dasgupta

ABI RESEARCH: 82 MILLION MOBILE LOCATION BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING SUBSCRIPTIONS BY 2013

2008-11-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

ABI Research predicts that there will be over 82 million mobile location-based social networking subscriptions by 2013. According to ABI Research, licensing agreements with carriers and handsets manufacturers will be a crucial success factor for location-enabled social networking. Ad-based models are expected to prevail in the long run. The emergence of location-enabled instant messaging with applications such as Palringo Local and Nokia Chat are also enriching mobile communication with location context. "While growth will be mainly driven by the availability of multimedia-centric GPS handsets, other mobile form factors will also become important," said ABI Research director Dominique Bonte. "Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) with built-in GPS receivers have been announced, with location-based social networking site GyPSii supporting Moblin-based Intel Atom processor-powered MIDs. Connected PNDs and outdoor GPS solutions are other obvious candidates for location-based networking. Nissan Carwings' in-car telematics solution allows the sharing and ranking of fuel consumption in Japan." -Smarajit Dasgupta

A WALK DOWN THE ANDROID MARKET

2008-11-04T00:00:00.001-05:00

With the launch of the first Android-powered phone T-Mobile G1 and the opening of the Android Market, a number of online applications for the Android platform have gone live. Google and the Open Handset Alliance have also made the Android platform source code open to developers letting them build applications and services for Android-powered devices. The Android Market lets users download, rate, and comment on applications. These user ratings coupled with usage statistics will determine how the applications are ranked. Developers need to register with a US$ 25 fee and go through an authentication process before being able to put up their applications on the marketplace. The initial applications will be the free, but from first quarter 2009 developers will be able to distribute paid applications. Developers will be able to take home 70% of the revenue generated from the paid-for applications, while the rest of the revenue share will go to the carriers and billing settlement fees (Google will not keep a share for itself).

Applications available already fall into six categories: Contacts / Events; Environment; Information Services; Location Based; Shopping; and Social Networking.

Application, Developer, URL	Description
Contacts / events
e-ventr, Michael Zitzelsberger, www.e-ventr.com	A personal event organizer and friendship scout that allows one to arrange meetings, organize activities, and accept invitations.
iSkoot For Skype, iSkoot Inc., www.iskoot.com	It lets users access their Skype contacts, make and receive Skype calls, chat, and place SkypeOut calls from their mobile phone. Currently available in the US only, iSkoot does not require a WiFi connection or 3G networks.
Maverick, Multiple Facets Inc., www.multiplefacets.com	Maverick is a Google Talk compatible instant messenger that integrates photos, scribbles, audio clips, location, and graphical emotions into the experience. It also enables users to receive Gmail notifications.
Environment
Ecorio, Jeff Kao, Robert Lam, Gary Pong, Taneem Talukdar, Jason Wong, www.ecorio.org	Ecorio tracks one’s “mobile carbon footprint” and encourages one to reduce and offset it. It runs in the background of one’s phone and tracks when one is moving by car or public transport and adds up the trips and calculates carbon output for each trip. It also draws from Google Transit to suggest transit routes one could take for the trips. One can purchase equivalent offset amounts based on their carbon footprint and these are used to fund greenhouse gas reduction projects.
Information services
BreadCrumbz, Amos Yoffe, www.bcrumbz.com	A picture-based navigation application for mobile phones that lets one navigate using pictures as well as a map. One can create their own picture routes and share them.
WikiMobile Encyclopedia, Bonfire Media Inc, www.bonfiremedia.com	Provides access to all 2 million Wikipedia articles, including pictures and quick facts. Users can bookmark their favorites for easy tracking.
Wikitude , Philipp Breuss, www.mobilizy.com	A mobile global travel guide based on location-based Wikipedia content. It helps in planning a trip or to find out about landmarks in one’s surroundings. It offers searching of 350,000 world-wide points of interest by GPS or by address and have results displayed in a list view, map view, or camera view.
Location based
cab4me light, Skycoders , www.cab4me.com	Lets one select the pickup location on a map or from their contacts to get a cab. cab4me light then provides a list of cab companies serving the area along with contact information.
iMap Weather, Weathertop Consulting LLC and Weather Decision Technologies Inc, www.wdtinc.com	Offers graphically enriched "street level" weather information including high-quality radar images, lightning strike information, current weather conditions, weather forecasts, and active severe weather watches and warnings notifications. Users can explore local weather conditions interactively, create pinpoint forecasts, and zoom in and out of radar weather data for current or chosen locations.
iSafe, Navee Technologies, www.freefamilywatch.com	iSafe offers safety guides with voice alerts on high-crime neighborhoods, severe weather, allergies, air quality, and speed limit monitoring.
LifeAware, LifeAware LLC, www.lifeaware.net	LifeAware lets one use their phone or the LifeAware website to locate friends and family. Users can setup zones to trigger alerts when friends or family enter or leave the area. They can also tag locations with descriptions and images and share them. Users can specify whether to use GPS, network, or both.
Locale, Clare Bayley, Carter Jernigan, Jasper Lin, Jennifer Shu, Christina Wright, www.androidlocale.com	Locale is a location-aware settings manager that automatically changes one’s phone's settings based on conditions, such as location. One can create Situations, which specify conditions under which one’s settings should change. Examples of true/false-based condition questions are "Am I at home?" or "Is my battery below 20%?" and corresponding settings can be "turn on call forwarding to my landline" and "turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth" respectively. One can also use it to automatically turn their phone into silent / vibrator mode when they near their office by specifying distance and location.
Marvin, Laurent Pontier, www.marvinreloaded.com	Marvin lets users publish and browse user generated content by location, type, services, keyword, or all combined. It provides access to a collection of location based services such as buddy and family Finder (MyLocation), job search (MyJob), real estate locator (MyHouse), cars locator (MyCar), geo-blogging (MyLog), and friends seeker (MyHeart).
Shopping
Compare Everywhere, Jeffrey Sharkey, www.compare-everywhere.com	A shopping assistant that allows users to scan a barcode and instantly search online and local stores to find out if the offered sale price is a good deal. The application also offers reviews and allows keeping track of shopping lists and wish lists and sharing them with friends. Users can connect with stores using driving directions or phone.
ShopSavvy, Big in Japan, www.biggu.com	ShopSavvy is a comparison-shopping application that lets one use the mobile phone camera to scan the barcode of any product to find the best prices online and through the inventories of local stores using GPS.
Social networking
MySpace Mobile, Myspace.com, www.myspace.com	MySpace Mobile for Android lets one stay connected with friends on their MySpace network, share photos, view their inbox, comments, bulletins, etc. Users can also add photos from their phone camera, send messages, and post blog updates.
Wertago, Wertago team, www.wertago.com	Wertago is an application designed for nightlifers that lets users share their experience and rate and tag venues, upload and comment on pictures, and connect with other socialites.

-Smarajit Dasgupta

MASSIVE US GET OUT THE VOTE (GOTV) EFFORT DEPLOYS THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY IN NEW AND INNOVATIVE FASHION

2008-11-02T23:48:00.003-05:00

Technology has been embraced by many in this US presidential election, and it is being put to through rigorous on the job testing. One example is a service called Twitter Vote Report (TVR), which has been launched as a US "election protection" effort. Voters are encouraged to send reports of election conditions as they are experienced, letting others know that voting is going well or not, the length of any delays, or that a serious problem exists which requires election protection.

Reports can be submited in four ways:

1: Via Twitter: sending #votereport will call a "tweet" to the TVR's attention. TVR supports these codes:

- #[zip code] to indicate the zip code where you’re voting; ex., “#12345″
- L:[address or city] to drill down to your exact location; ex. “L:1600 Pennsylvania Avenue DC”
- #machine for machine problems; ex., “#machine broken, using prov. ballot”
- #reg for registration troubles; ex., “#reg I wasn’t on the rolls”
- #wait:[minutes] for long lines; ex., “#wait:120 and I’m coming back later”
- #early if you’re voting before November 4th
- #good or #bad to give a quick sense of your overall experience
- #EP[your state] if you have a serious problem and need help from the Election Protection coalition; ex., #EPOH

2. Via SMS, sent to 66937 (Mozes), starting the message with #votereport.

3. Via Phone: (567) 258-VOTE from a touchtone phone.

4. Via iPhone application Vote Report: the application prompts users for input, including an optional voice message.

TVR is itself an all volunteer effort supported by individuals, non-profit and for-profit organizations, including:

- Campus Progress Action;
- Common Cause;
- CREDO Mobile;
- Current;
- Demos;
- Election Protection;
- Independence Voter Foundation (iYear);
- League of Young Voters;;
- Mobilize.org;;
- Mozes;;
- NetworkRedux;
- Not an Alternative;
- NPR Community;
- Ohio Telecom Association (OTA);
- pbwiki;
- Plodt;
- Rock the Vote;
- Stop Political Phone Calls;
- Student PIRG's New Voters Project;
- TechPresident;
- Twittervission;
- Video the Vote;
- Voter Supression Wiki;
- Why Tuesday;
- Women Donors Network (WDN);
- Women's Voices Women Vote (WVWV);
- Zerion Consulting;
- Zetetic.

We tested this service, as we have tested other election-related services. Mashups such as TVR require that components provided by multiple organizations work together. TVR is a sophisticated application--or multiple applications if one considers each of the four methods by which users can submit information--and we found that some of the methods worked better than others. We tested the service by trying to send a message through each of the four methods, and found success with only one out of the four:

1. Twitter: our messages never seemed to arrive.
2. SMS: messages arrived without a problem.
3. Phone: we were immediately and automatically disconnected each time we dialed.
4. iPhone: the application hung each time we tried to send.

It is possible that the first method failed because of user error, though we don't think this is the case. We are confident that the third and fourth methods failed for reasons other than user error.

TVR reports are also supposed to be displayed on a Google map mashup, seen below. Some data appears, though it doesn't seem as though all the data is coming through or that the data is being refreshed.

Our conclusion is that this TVR service is a bit buggy and, if not for the press of time, wouldn't or shouldn't be rolled out just yet. While TVR and other election protection services are in greatest demand on election day itself, some estimate that as many as 25% of the voters have already voted and that as many as 33% will have voted before Tuesday. Fortunately, early voting means that there will be less pressure at the polls on Tuesday. However, it would be helpful to have services such as TVR available during the entire voting period, not just election day.

There is some optimism that the margins in this election will be so great that a few polling snafus here and there won't really affect the result and that there will be little need for election protection.

-Stuart Whitaker

KGB GOES HEAD TO HEAD WITH CHA CHA ON US ELECTION INFORMATION

2008-10-31T22:01:00.002-04:00

Because of intense national and international interest in the US presidential campaign, political information services such as Huffington Post and Politico have seen their traffic skyrocket during the campaign, and we have now seen kgb begin to compete directly with Cha Cha in the delivery of US election information. As is the case with voice directory assistance (DA), this battle pits a free service, from Cha Cha against a paid service, from kgb.

kgb has extensive experience in the voice DA battles in the US as a leading DA wholesaler, and in the UK through The Number and through other entities elsewhere in Europe. Discussions with kgb make it clear that kgb is a firm believer in a user-paid model. Cha Cha was not availalble for comment.

While the free versus paid battle hasn't been settled yet in the US, The Number's experience in the UK offers some insight into the impact of price. In the UK, The Number found itself competing against lower-cost--but not free--directory enquiry (DQ) provider Conduit when the UK market was opened to competition. The finding in the UK was that Conduit's lower price didn't attract enough additional traffic to offset the fact that The Number made significantly greater margins on each call than did Conduit. DQ calls, in some respects, are relatively price inelastic. The result was that The Number won the battle and ended up acquiring Conduit. Another key factor in The Number's success was their creative and intensive advertising which dominated the landscape. We haven't seen any advertising for kgb's new service--and the US election is of almost over so we may not see any--but the coming battle between kgb and Cha Cha is likely to involve heavy advertising--though access to capital today is far more limited than it was in the past so advertising dollars may be harder to come by.

We decided to test out kgb's new service, reached by texting to kgbkgb (542542), by sending kgb the same questions we recently sent Cha Cha.

We received a response almost immediately to our first question, asking us to reply "YES" to confirm our willingness to pay US$ 0.30 plus whatever other "std / othr" charges may apply. We dutifully complied, and after 30 minutes, we have these results to report:

Question: "What are the positions on climate change?"

Answer: none received.

Question: "What are the hours of absentee voting in Virginia?"

Answer: none received.

Question: "What are the odds, the line on the presidential race?"

Answer: "Barrack Obama is leading with odds of 1-2 according to Sportsbook. thx!"

Analysis: unfortunately, this answer is wrong--our review of Sportsbook shows Obama at 1-8, which is consistent with Linesmaker at 1-8, and in the same range as 1800-Sports at -1100.

We will report answers to the other questions, when and if they arrive. -Stuart Whitaker, Smarajit Dasgupta

ACCENTURE STUDY: MAJORITY OF US CONSUMERS NEVER USE HIGHER-END MOBILE APPLICATIONS

2008-10-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

An Accenture mobile usage study indicates that despite rapid consumption of mobile devices in the US, the usage of higher-end applications remains low. As high as 88% of 5,047 adult respondents reported they never use their mobile phones or other mobile devices to watch videos. Moreover, 84% never use mobile devices to send email and 79% said they never employ them to play games. The survey was divided into three age groups 18 to 34, 35 to 54, and 55 and older. It was found that 18-24 year olds were more than 10 times as likely as those over 55 to use social networking sites (73% versus 7%) and seven times as likely as those 55 and olders to write blogs or contribute to online sites (35% versus 5%) using the phone.

US mobile consumers:
Never watch videos on mobile phones	88%
Never send emails using mobile phones	84%
Never play games on mobile phones	79%

source: Accenture, n = 5,047

“These survey results point to important missed business opportunities in the mobile handset and social networking arenas,” said Kumu Puri, a senior executive with Accenture’s Electronics & High Tech practice. “Clearly, many consumers are not widely embracing higher end cell phone applications. And the vast majority of older Americans, in particular, are not inspired by the social networking phenomenon. To capitalize on these market realities, consumer technology companies need to customize their ease of use and design differentiation for the different age groups. This begins with envisioning a specific consumer’s experience and delivering that through hardware, software, and services that are more compelling and enjoyable.” -Smarajit Dasgupta

SURVEY INDICATES HIGH RECALL VALUE FOR MOBILE MARKETING

2008-10-28T00:00:00.001-04:00

A mobile response survey by HipCricket indicated very high brand recall rates for mobile marketing. More than half of 517 respondents that received mobile marketing messages within the past year could recall at least one brand. As high as 96% recalled the promotion’s call-to-action and more than one-third said the promotion made them more likely to make a purchase. Moreover, 37% reported telling a friend and 6% forwarded the promotion. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said if they received a mobile coupon they would be “likely” or “very likely” to redeem it, with 70% of those respondents expressing interest in redeeming mobile coupons both online and in-store.

However, more than half of respondents in the survey said they never access the mobile web and only 5% said they would use their phone to click on a mobile ad. Steve Siegel, VP of Brand Solutions at HipCricket said, “Mobile advertising is a great complement to many of our multi-faceted mobile marketing campaigns and we anticipate growing interest in advertising on the mobile web as consumers continue to adopt web-enabled devices with superior online experiences, such as the iPhone.” -Smarajit Dasgupta

ADMOB SECURES US$ 15.7 MILLION IN SERIES C FUNDING, LOOKING TO EXPAND GROWTH

2008-10-27T00:00:00.000-04:00

Mobile advertising marketplace AdMob has raised a Series C investment round worth US$ 15.7 million, led by Sequoia Capital's Growth Fund along with participation from existing investor Accel Partners. AdMob said that over the past year it has more than tripled the number of ads served on a monthly basis to 4.5 billion in September 2008. AdMob’s publisher network now includes more than 6,000 partners worldwide, including MySpace and MovieTickets.com that came on board this year. The company has plans of making significant strategic investments by boosting growth of worldwide operations by hiring local staff in key markets and adding new language interfaces, with an emphasis in Western Europe, India, South Africa, and Japan. It will also look to deepen its mobile technology platform, including its targeting, optimization, and ad serving algorithm. Additionally, AdMob plans to expand the breadth of offerings for both publishers and advertisers. Omar Hamoui, founder and CEO of AdMob, said, "We chose to raise this new round of funding to continue to grow both the mobile advertising market and AdMob's clear advantage in it by investing in the technology, operations, and team that have set the bar for the mobile industry." The company has so far raised over US$ 30.7 million in various funding rounds. -Smarajit Dasgupta

ORANGE FRANCE LAUNCHES 118 712 BY TEXT

2008-10-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

Orange has launched an SMS directory enquiries service called “118 712 by text” in France. It allows mobile users, with any operator in Metropolitan France, to look up professionals or individuals or perform reverse searches. The user needs to enter an activity or name along with the city or postcode and send it to 118 712. For reverse search one can simply enter a 10-digit telephone number and SMS it to 118 712. Pricing for the service is € 0.50 per request, in addition to cost of the SMS depending on one’s mobile plan. If there are multiple results, 118 712 by text offers a list of up to five choices. Users can then send a text requesting further information at no additional cost for three of the results. There is no charge levied if the service is unable to respond to any user request. In France, Orange also operates 118 712 landline and mobile voice service and the 118712.fr online directory site. -Smarajit Dasgupta

LOCATION SERVICES SPACE HEATS UP WITH POINTABOUT LAUNCH

2008-10-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

The location services space has seen the sudden arrival of PointAbout, a Washington, DC-based firm that launched earlier this year to enhance mobile service applications by making websites "location aware." Launched by veterans from Microsoft, GE, and others, one of PointAbout's strengths is the fact that it is able to leverage its understanding of handsets and carriers to develop solutions more easily than firms without such understanding. PointAbout's first customer is real estate firm Long & Foster, for which PointAbout will location-enable their listings. PointAbout is now setting about replicating their Long & Foster agreement everywhere possible.

PointAbout has also submitted the first entry to the Apps for Democracy contest being sponsored by the District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), digital agency iStrategyLabs, and Mashable. The objective of the contest is to spur innovation from the private sector to utilize data publicly available from the city's data catalog, which provides real-time data from multiple agencies. The city believes access to this information will be a catalyst ensuring agencies operate as more responsive, better performing organizations. Data available runs the gamut from juvenile arrests to vacant property. The contest will divide US$ 20,000 between 60 winners, the highest award value being US$ 2,000 and the lowest being US$ 100. The application deadline is November 12th, and the awards ceremony will take place on the 13th.

After installing the PointAbout application on an iPhone, the application presents the user with a number of "location aware" applications, such as Wi-Fi Hotspots from Zone, Zagat, Events from Yahoo! Upcoming, Movies from Fandango, news, Weather, local gas prices, Yelp, and Washington Metro (some of the applications are not yet enabled). Selecting Washington Metro as an example--this seems to be one of first applications PointAbout introduced--PointAbout displays the closest metro stations, sorted by distance from our location. Selecting a station then allows us to see the next train, get directions to the station, or get more info.

This is a Beta application, so there is no surprise about the fact that we encountered a number of problems, though it's not always possible to determine whether the problem is with PointAbout or with the network. One problem we encountered involved screen navigation--the left arrow buttons don't reliably take you back to the prior screen so it seems faster to get out of the application and get back in rather than to wait to see if the arrow button will work. PointAbout does a great job showing information about the next train. PointAbout pulls up Google Maps to provide directions and pulls in the Metro's home page for more info--both selections are valuable--but the presentations suffer from the fact that neither the map nor the Metro home page have been configured for the smaller phone screen. Another question we had is that while one can install an application in PointAbout--which is of course itself another application--it's not entirely clear that there will always be an advantage to doing this. In the case of Yelp, for instance, the Yelp iPhone app is already location aware. PointAbout will have to differentiate itself somehow in order to justify using Yelp within PointAbout rather than simply within the home screen.

PointAbout CEO Scott Suhy explained recently that their immediate objective is to gain revenue from enterprise agreements, though they anticipate moving towards a 50/50 mix of enterprise revenue and mobile advertising revenue in the future. They expect to be profitable this year and are looking for funding to expand. -Stuart Whitaker

MOBILE COMMERCE’S “NEARME” ON SONY ERICSSON PHONES

2008-10-21T00:00:00.001-04:00

Sony Ericsson’s 8.1 megapixel Cyber-shot C905 phone will come preloaded with Mobile Commerce’s “NearMe” application. The tool will also be available for download on the GPS-enabled C702 Cyber-shot and W760 Walkman handsets. UK-based Mobile Commerce describes “NearMe” as a local search service that provides users with detailed address and phone number information on local businesses, amenities, venues, and events, all based on current location using the GPS capabilities of the user’s handset. The application, being offered for free by Sony Ericsson, includes UK wide content such as cinema, club, and gig listings; over 11,000 recommended venues for eating and drinking in; as well as over 1.9 million business search listings, and optimized Multimap maps. Users can also select locations from pre-stored favorites and find, where relevant, additional information such as film reviews, costs, and show times. David Hilton, Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson UK & Ireland, said, “Creating a Java application with best of breed content was a key objective to showcase our GPS handsets to our prime target market. Following an extensive market search we selected Mobile Commerce as our application partner and we are delighted with the “NearMe” application and have already defined a roadmap of enhancements to bring even more functionality and choice to our customers.” -Smarajit Dasgupta

ZI CORP CONSOLIDATING FOOTHOLD IN ASIAN MOBILE SPACE

2008-10-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

Mobile search, text input, and advertising solutions provider Zi Corporation said it has entered into several new licensing agreements within the Asian mobile space. Zi has extended its eZiText licensing agreements with Guohong Communication and Digital Technology Company, an OEM focused primarily on the Chinese domestic market, and with UTStarcom for its mobile device division in addition to the previously announced deal with UTStarcom's IPTV set-top-box division. Zi has also formed an agreement with Longcheer Telecommunication Limited of China, which has licensed eZiText in several languages for use in its mobile handsets. CK Telecom, a Shenzhen manufacturer, has licensed Zi's handwriting recognition product Decuma. Under these agreements, Zi will receive both licensing fees and royalties. Earlier this year with China’s ZTE and Lenovo Mobile, UTStarcom, Kyocera Corp., and Trolltech, all licensed Zi products. Zi Corporation’s president and CEO Milos Djokovic said, "The mobile market in Asia is one of the fastest growing in the world. It is at the forefront of technological design and development, making it a highly competitive and desirable market in which to be a leader. This makes the fact that we have won these major deals in the region over the past few months, all the more satisfying for Zi and proves that our products are recognised as some of the most innovative and forward looking in a market where users are continually looking to maximise the capabilities of their device." Zi has subsidiaries in China and supports the entire region from its Beijing offices. -Smarajit Dasgupta

CHACHA / ROCK THE VOTE BEGINS TO DELIVER

2008-10-20T00:00:00.001-04:00

Despite a few delays, Chacha has begun to deliver answers to questions about the US presidential election sent in the US to RTVOTE (788683), a political information program being operated in partnership with Rock the Vote. We sent three queries on October 15th and again on October 20th. We never received answers to the queries on the 15th, but received the responses as indicated to our queries on the 20th:

Query: "What are the positions on climate change?"

Answer: "Both candidates are for controlling emissions to stop climate change and reverse the greenhouse effect. ChaCha for now!"

Analysis: while climate change is considered by many to be the most important issue we are facing, it doesn't rank nearly as high as the economy or the war on terror in American voters' minds. While Chacha's answer doesn't reflect any of the differences in the candidates' positions and isn't likely to excite anyone to go to the polls, the answer seems reasonable given the complexity of the subject, the similarity of the candidates' positions, and the limitations of the SMS media.

Question: "What are the hours of absentee voting in Virginia?"

Answer: "The polls are open (6:00 AM to 7:00 PM). Telephone: 804 864-8901, Toll Free: 800 552-9745. Ask ChaCha 24/7! *Reply VOTE2008 for Election info."

Analysis: This is clearly non-responsive--the right answer to the wrong question. The polls are open on election day, November 4th, from 6 AM to 7 PM. However, many people are interested in voting early by absentee ballot either because they will be unable to vote on the 4th or because of the difficulties Americans have experienced recently with election mechanics. Absentee ballots may only be cast before November 4th at limited locations and may be cast in person during much more limited hours than this answer suggests. Rock The Vote's objective is to increase turnout, so incorrect answers such as this are counter productive. The 2000 election was decided by the US Supreme Court and if this turns out to be a close election, it is likely that there will be extended litigation on voter fraud and voter suppression--including incorrect or misleading voting information such as this.

Question: "What are the odds, the line on the presidential race?"

Answer: "Barack Obama: -600 John McCain: +350 if you were thinking about betting McCain, now is the time as his odds dropped considerably $Rply VOTE2008 for more info."

Analysis: this seems like a reasonable response, consistent with the results we found on www.1800-sports.com/presidential-betting-odds.shtml, which explains that a US$ 100 wager on McCain will pay US$ 600, and a US$ 600 wager on Obama will pay US$ 100. (Linesmaker.com offers a different yet similar response: McCain at 4-1, Obama at 1-7).

Services such as ChaCha are terrific for casual questions and social networking, but they may not be as well suited for questions that people take seriously, involving matters such as heated elections. ChaCha was not available for comment on these results. -Stuart Whitaker

NAVTEQ RELEASES NAVIGABLE MAPS FOR ARGENTINA

2008-10-17T00:00:00.001-04:00

NAVTEQ has released detailed navigable map coverage for Argentina. It includes over 200,000 km of road network across the entire country and up to 260 attributes per road segment. These road attributes enable navigable solutions to support route guidance. The maps include addresses, as well as over 3,600 named city or hamlets. “The increasing adoption of global positioning systems (GPS) technology in Argentina creates opportunity for Personal Navigation Devices (PND) and hand-set manufacturers, as well as telecommunications carriers to develop navigation and location-based services,” said Jim Dineen, director and general manager of NAVTEQ Latin America. Founded in 1985, Chicago-based NAVTEQ has presence in 42 countries. -Smarajit Dasgupta

VIRGIN MOBILE OFFERING MOBILE SHOPPING TOOL SLIFTER

2008-10-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

Virgin Mobile USA is now offering location-based mobile shopping application Slifter allowing Virgin’s five million customers to search and share products and promotions at neighboring retail locations. Slifter provides access to over 300 million products at more than 150,000 local and online retailers and offers price and availability information, deals, and detailed directions to stores. One can also create a mobile shopping list with favorite products and promotions. Slifter is available on all Virgin Mobile USA phones at no additional charge on VirginXL and the mobile web. "Virgin Mobile USA is excited to bring another great solution to our members. We think that the Slifter site is amongst the best mobile shopping experiences available today. Its a blending together of search and location information that really gives our members an advantage in finding the products they want, at the right price, at the most convenient retail location,” said Wes Radez, Director of Mobile Content at Virgin Mobile USA. -Smarajit Dasgupta

VIANETIX DRIVING DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER MOBILE CONTENT

2008-10-16T00:00:00.001-04:00

While much has been made of mobile carrier efforts to capture additional service revenue and to avoid becoming simple bit pipes, mobile services consulting firm Vianetix is advancing the idea that mobile Domain Registrars, who have been selling .mobi top-level domains since 2006, are well positioned to get in on the mobile content business. Mobile technology providers have traditionally focused on mobile operators as their distribution outlets, but now see domain registrars as an alternative outlet.

Domain registrars currently engaged in creating mobile Internet sites include goDaddy.com, mobiSiteGalore, mfinity, handango, netbiscuits, crispw, NeworkSolutions, BuildMyMobi, Dotster, thumplay, Peperoni, and Swift. About 20 registrars control 80% of worldwide domain registrations. Many global brands have launched mobile sites, including Ericsson, Samsung, Vodafone, Google, BMW, NBA, Nokia, Rolls Royce, BusinessWeek, Microsoft, Obama, BankofAmerica, McGraw2go, Visa, Zagat, and AAA.

Despite the position of registrars and corporate interest in mobile sites, Vianetix founder Glenn Roland believes many companies are don't view registrars as an alternate content distribution channel, and that registrars will have to aggressively pursue this business in order to achieve such recognition. In order to succeed in the mobile Internet site creation business, Registrars will have to begin to deliver a "higher-touch" service than that which they deliver in traditional Internet hosting.

Separate from the content site creation opportunity, Vianetix sees an opportunity in the "domainer" market in which companies actively buy and sell domain names. Current "domainers" include Maveron LLC, Perot Investments, and the Jacobson family. The top four dotMobi name sales are poker.mobi at US$ 150,000, ringtones.mobi at US$ 145,000, news.mobi at US$ 110,000, and hosting.mobi at US$ 101,000. -Stuart Whitaker

ADMOB MOBILE ADVERTISING TRAFFIC TRIPLES IN PAST YEAR. ADMOB MOBILE ADVERTISING TRAFFIC TRIPLES IN PAST YEAR

2008-10-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

AdMob announced that the number of requests on its mobile ad network rose from 1.5 billion in September 2007 to 5.1 billion in September 2008. The increase is attributable to a combination of organic growth and the addition of thousands of new mobile sites and applications to its network. The number of sites and applications in AdMob's network increased to mover than 6,000, with 4,308 publishers requesting ads in September 2008.

The Apple iPhone generate 103 million ad requests in September 2008 and is now the number 4 handset behind the Motorola RAZR, Nokia N70, and Motorola KRZR. In the UK, the Nokia N95 is now the leading handset with 9.7% of the requests. -Stuart Whitaker

APARTMENTS.COM OPTIMIZES FOR MOBILE, OFFERS SEND2PHONE LISTINGS

2008-10-15T00:00:00.003-04:00

Apartments.com has made its more than three million apartment listings available through web-enabled mobile phones. The Apartments.com site has been optimized for mobile browsing and lets renters conduct fully customizable search of all apartment listings on Apartments.com through a mobile phone. Other than "Apartments.com Mobile Web," Apartments.com also offers a "Send2Phone" feature allowing renters to send information about an apartment listing from the Apartments.com site to their mobile phones as a text message. Chris Brown, VP of product management at Apartments.com, said, "After taking into consideration multiple operating systems, mobile devices and carriers, Apartments.com has created a user-friendly experience for renters on the mobile web, delivering apartment listings, photos, and detailed information through a rich data format conveniently accessible from any web-enabled mobile phone and carrier." Apartments.com is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures LLC. -Smarajit Dasgupta

CHACHA AND ROCK THE VOTE TEAM UP ON US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

2008-10-15T00:00:00.002-04:00

Chacha announced that it has partnered with Rock the Vote to deliver answers to engage and inform young voters as well as to provide voting, polling, and related information for the November 4th US presidential election. Questions sent to RTVOTE (788683) will be answered by politically-trained ChaCha guides who will provide informed, non-partisan answers.

ChaCha has over 35,000 Guides and has answered over 30 million queries since launching in January of this year. Rock the Vote's mission is to engage and build the political power of young people in order to achieve progressive change.

We posted three separate questions via SMS text today, the day the service launched (verbatim):

"What are the positions on climate change?"

"What are the hours for absentee voting?"

"What are the odds, the line, on the presidential race?"

We will report the results when answers are received. -Stuart Whitaker

DECARTA’S CONNECTED NAVIGATION SERVICE NOW AVAILABLE COMMERCIALLY

2008-10-15T00:00:00.001-04:00

deCarta has made available its real-time, two-way connected navigation (CNAV) service for PNDs and smartphones. The CNAV service is offered to existing and new PND suppliers, carriers, handset manufacturers, consumer brands, automotive OEMs, and in-vehicle service providers. It provides components to deliver a full-featured, customizable connected navigation application. CNAV’s location-aware capabilities include real-time and predictive traffic-aware routing; corridor search allowing relevant and practical results for searching along a route; finding cheapest gas nearby; sending information to device from user's PC; and weather information. "Connected navigation not only enhances the driving experience for the user but is also a significant point of market differentiation for navigation device manufacturers and associated service providers," said J. Kim Fennell, president and CEO of deCarta. "We're excited about our deployment plans within the high-volume PND channel and look forward to the first wave of deCarta-enabled CNAV devices as they're introduced into the market for the holiday buying season." The first major customer is expected to deploy PNDs utilizing deCarta's CNAV technology in late October. -Smarajit Dasgupta