The company announced today that it will "offer free 12-month access to music from artists of Sony BMG, the world's second-biggest label, to buyers of its particular music phones, the world's top cellphone maker said on Tuesday."
Nokia ever sets the trend. Not only does Nokia's innovation keep it above water, but this move could help the music biz too, according to Reuters.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Men's Health magazine is fully snap-enabled
SnapTell has partnered with Men's Health to create an edition -- hitting newsstands on June 24th -- in which all the ads are snap-enabled. In other words, readers buy the magazine, sit down with said magazine, see first ad -- for Westin Hotels, say. They take a photo of the ad, send it to SnapTell and immediately get an offer to stay 3 nights at the Maui Westin Villas and get the fourth night free (or whatever the promotion or reply might be). Pretty neat. Every single ad in the print magazine will have this functionality.
I wonder if advertisers paid a premium to get this multimedia contact with readers. In any case, I think this is a first, and a pretty neat one at that.
UPDATE: NY Times reports on the minimal cost to the advertisers:
"For the advertisers, the effort is low-risk. Neither Rolling Stone, published by Wenner Media, or Men’s Health, published by Rodale, is charging advertisers extra for the feature. SnapTell, too, is charging the publishers only a promotional price, 'but the end business model here is we hope the magazines convince their advertisers to pay a little more for this extra feature, and we would then participate in the upside of the revenues,' said SnapTell’s chief executive, Gautam Bhargava.
"Advertisers said they were happy to give it a whirl, especially given the cheap price tag, even if they did not see an overwhelming response.
"'There really aren’t any benchmarks yet, and we are a test-and-learn company,' said Lisa Cochrane, vice president of marketing for Allstate. 'It's cool, it’s innovative and it's not a really big risk to us because there’s no additional cost.'"
I wonder if advertisers paid a premium to get this multimedia contact with readers. In any case, I think this is a first, and a pretty neat one at that.
UPDATE: NY Times reports on the minimal cost to the advertisers:
"For the advertisers, the effort is low-risk. Neither Rolling Stone, published by Wenner Media, or Men’s Health, published by Rodale, is charging advertisers extra for the feature. SnapTell, too, is charging the publishers only a promotional price, 'but the end business model here is we hope the magazines convince their advertisers to pay a little more for this extra feature, and we would then participate in the upside of the revenues,' said SnapTell’s chief executive, Gautam Bhargava.
"Advertisers said they were happy to give it a whirl, especially given the cheap price tag, even if they did not see an overwhelming response.
"'There really aren’t any benchmarks yet, and we are a test-and-learn company,' said Lisa Cochrane, vice president of marketing for Allstate. 'It's cool, it’s innovative and it's not a really big risk to us because there’s no additional cost.'"
Some things you may not need on your handset
I get quite a few press releases on mobile innovations and announcements -- I got one from AccuWeather.com today that made me chuckle -- silently.
Now you can read -- on your handset -- the blogs of meteorologists -- because when Perez Hilton fails to entertain, the next best thing is your favorite meteorologist's blog.
You can also get 15-day weather forecasts -- because the reliability of weather forecasts is so great that you can stretch out that prediction to any length of time, and it will have the same failure rate.
AccuWeather.com is, however, lauching some neat functions -- hour by hour forecasts and weather news. And it will continue to tell you how the weather will affect asthma sufferers and the like, all of which is pretty cool.
So a few of these launches may be a bit off base, but I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Now you can read -- on your handset -- the blogs of meteorologists -- because when Perez Hilton fails to entertain, the next best thing is your favorite meteorologist's blog.
You can also get 15-day weather forecasts -- because the reliability of weather forecasts is so great that you can stretch out that prediction to any length of time, and it will have the same failure rate.
AccuWeather.com is, however, lauching some neat functions -- hour by hour forecasts and weather news. And it will continue to tell you how the weather will affect asthma sufferers and the like, all of which is pretty cool.
So a few of these launches may be a bit off base, but I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Formatting your site for the iPhone
I was up at ad:tech SF last week to moderate a panel on "The Truth about Mobile Advertising and Branding" and a question came up: How, as a publisher, can you get a mobile presence on a limited budget? Well ion interactive might be the answer -- especially if you're looking to reach the iPhone set. They did a campaign for Constellation Energy. You can see the iPhone-optimized version here -- essentially, if you navigate to it from an iPhone, it can sense that and reformats appropriately. If you're navigating to the site from another device, whether PC or handheld, you get a different interface. Pretty cool.
Hyperfactory is another company that offers to take your website mobile on a budget.
Hyperfactory is another company that offers to take your website mobile on a budget.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Baby it's cold outside -- but I don't care!
The NY Times ran an article today on QR codes and snap technology and the issues that they present US-based users -- primarily being price-tag and technical hurdles. Apparently in Japan the process is much more seamless, and the technology is therefore much more popular.
But one very cool application of the technology is detailed by a student's experience with the Mobile Discovery test launch -- apparently you can scan a bus schedule to determine when the next bus will arrive -- the information is based on GPS, not an inaccurate timetable. So you don't have to wait outside in the cold for the bus to finally appear. I like it.
But one very cool application of the technology is detailed by a student's experience with the Mobile Discovery test launch -- apparently you can scan a bus schedule to determine when the next bus will arrive -- the information is based on GPS, not an inaccurate timetable. So you don't have to wait outside in the cold for the bus to finally appear. I like it.
Gauging mobile's role in integrated marketing
Wondering just how effective mobile marketing is? ioglobal is working to get you answers. It is looking into how a mobile element affects a campaign that runs on TV and the internet.
Per Bob DeSena, GM, North America, ioglobal Inc.: "The Three Screen Trial will provide a 'live lab' to evaluate mobile's impact on both sales and brand health. Because of the unique characteristics of ioglobal's platform, we are able to respond to the industry's need for greater knowledge of integrated communications and the impact of different strategies on campaign outcomes."
I'm interested to see the numbers...
Per Bob DeSena, GM, North America, ioglobal Inc.: "The Three Screen Trial will provide a 'live lab' to evaluate mobile's impact on both sales and brand health. Because of the unique characteristics of ioglobal's platform, we are able to respond to the industry's need for greater knowledge of integrated communications and the impact of different strategies on campaign outcomes."
I'm interested to see the numbers...
Monday, April 7, 2008
Mobile phones on planes
The latest word is that the EU will soon allow airline passengers to use their phones in-flight. (This could happen within the year.)
People still have concerns -- such as the price passengers might have to pay for this service, and the rules of the game -- aka acceptable in-flight phone etiquette.
Some airlines, such as Lufthansa, are sufficiently concerned with noise pollution that they will not allow mobile phone use. Lufthansa instead plans to equip its fleet with internet access, as it did between 2004 and 2006.
People still have concerns -- such as the price passengers might have to pay for this service, and the rules of the game -- aka acceptable in-flight phone etiquette.
Some airlines, such as Lufthansa, are sufficiently concerned with noise pollution that they will not allow mobile phone use. Lufthansa instead plans to equip its fleet with internet access, as it did between 2004 and 2006.
iPhone imposters
Sprint and Samsung are trying to pass as AT&T and Apple -- but they're failing.
Ovum reports that the new Samsung Instinct is no iPhone. Per Jan Dawson, VP, US Enterprise Practice, Ovum:
"Sprint's big announcement was around the Samsung Instinct, which is a clear iPhone competitor. But the devices on display at Sprint's launch event were running beta software which was glitchy and slow, and it was clear that - though they have some nifty features - these devices are not a match for the iPhone. AT&T itself, which has exclusive rights to the iPhone in the US, had another device which mimics certain aspects of the iPhone - the LG Vu - but it is another poor match for the device on everyone's minds. Of all the things that people love about the iPhone - the design, the UI, the browser, the ease of use - none of them were matched by most of the devices on display at CTIA, even though the manufacturers of those devices have been making phones for far longer than Apple. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 showed the most promise of any device I saw at CTIA, but it won't be launched for several months."
Meanwhile Nokia is launching its own iPhone competitor -- internally dubbed the "Tube." Considering Nokia's mobile savvy -- think the Enpocket acquisition, Nokia's social network Mosh and its iTunes rival Ovi -- I have more faith in this "competitor" to the iPhone than I do in the others -- although are we seeing a trend here of Nokia imitating Apple...?
Ovum reports that the new Samsung Instinct is no iPhone. Per Jan Dawson, VP, US Enterprise Practice, Ovum:
"Sprint's big announcement was around the Samsung Instinct, which is a clear iPhone competitor. But the devices on display at Sprint's launch event were running beta software which was glitchy and slow, and it was clear that - though they have some nifty features - these devices are not a match for the iPhone. AT&T itself, which has exclusive rights to the iPhone in the US, had another device which mimics certain aspects of the iPhone - the LG Vu - but it is another poor match for the device on everyone's minds. Of all the things that people love about the iPhone - the design, the UI, the browser, the ease of use - none of them were matched by most of the devices on display at CTIA, even though the manufacturers of those devices have been making phones for far longer than Apple. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 showed the most promise of any device I saw at CTIA, but it won't be launched for several months."
Meanwhile Nokia is launching its own iPhone competitor -- internally dubbed the "Tube." Considering Nokia's mobile savvy -- think the Enpocket acquisition, Nokia's social network Mosh and its iTunes rival Ovi -- I have more faith in this "competitor" to the iPhone than I do in the others -- although are we seeing a trend here of Nokia imitating Apple...?
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Yahoo answers your call...
Even as Yahoo's death cries reverberate across the plains of new media, its mobile innovations continue to impress.
Yesterday Yahoo announced that as part of its oneSearch program Blackberry users will now be able to search the mobile web by speaking into their phones. They can go to m.yahoo.com/voice/ to download the service.
Searches might relate to flights, restaurants, news or websites. The user can switch between typing and speaking the query. Results will be returned within 5 to 20 seconds.
Yahoo teamed up with Vlingo of Cambridge, Mass. for the voice technology.
Yesterday Yahoo announced that as part of its oneSearch program Blackberry users will now be able to search the mobile web by speaking into their phones. They can go to m.yahoo.com/voice/ to download the service.
Searches might relate to flights, restaurants, news or websites. The user can switch between typing and speaking the query. Results will be returned within 5 to 20 seconds.
Yahoo teamed up with Vlingo of Cambridge, Mass. for the voice technology.
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