January 14, 2005
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| Marketing mobiles to kids |
Marketing to kids can prove tricky. Marketing mobile phones to kids can be even trickier. The Sydney Morning Herald (free reg.) reports that in Australia there is a discussion going on children and mobile phones. New research show handset could threat kids' health and Australian mobile carriers take different approaches to the findings. Virgin Mobile doesn't market its products to under-10s; Telstra says 10-14 years-old are youths not children, so it's ok to target them; Vodafone and Optus have guidelines which prohibit marketing to under-16s.
Who's right and who's wrong? My opinion is that children simply don't need mobile phones.
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January 11, 2005
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| Mobile phones as a fashion statement |
... for men. A new research by Idc found out that young adult males are more likely than females to purchase mobile phones as fashion statements. The study, "What Makes Mobile Users Tick? The Underlying Factors of Mobile Phone Usage and Purchase Criteria" also reveals a number of other corollaries about mobile phone users' perceptions about their phones. For example, productivity and convenience benefits are paramount to more users compared to other fundamental benefits, such as safety and security or style and status.
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December 13, 2004
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| Texting in France |
Sending an SMS in France it's too expensive: 0.12 � per message is a price that discourages French users from texting. In the rest of Europe the average price is 0.10� (but I pay 0.15� with Vodafone Italy), and this has helped the sms mania to explode. An article on Le Figaro (in French) explores the texting habits in France, collecting data and opinion on a market that still has to show its potentials.
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December 10, 2004
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| Napster goes Mobile |
Napster and Dwango have signed a deal to launch �Napster Mobile� across major North American carriers. The service will allow users to choose ringtones that fit their lifestyle, musical tastes and mood from an extensive song catalog while they earn credits redeemable for PC downloads.
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December 06, 2004
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| Mobile Application Awards 2004 |
Ericsson has announced the winners of the Mobile Application Awards 2004. The purpose of the Awards is to find the best, market-ready mobile applications focusing on services that add value, create convenience and make daily life and work easier and more efficient. Over two hundred applications from 34 countries where submitted for the 2004 Awards. Twelve finalists where selected in four categories, based on criteria such as professionalism, market potential, innovation, consumer friendliness and ease-of-implementation by the operators and the media industry. The finalists came from Australia, Germany, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Hong Kong, Austria, USA, and the UK. The finalists got the unique opportunity to present their services live to an exclusive audience comprising of executives from mobile network operators, venture capitalists and other industry players.
The winners were selected by the audience through live SMS voting. In the category "Best Mobile Enterprise Application" the winner has been Lavasphere by Gavitec AG (Germany), while Best Mobile Information Application has been named Wayfinder EuroNavigator by Wayfinder Systems AB (Sweden).
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| Merry Xmas (via sms) |
Australians would rather get (and send) a text message during the holiday season than a Christmas card, according to a survey commissioned by Motorola. As ITnews reports, the findings are interesting also because they show that nearly half of those surveyed preferred to send text messages rather than talking on the phone.
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December 04, 2004
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| MuLiMob, Multilingualism and Mobility |
If you work in the wireless industry, you might be interested in the MuLiMob project. Funded by the European Commission as part of the IST programme, MuLiMob SSA aims to make the most of Europe's multilingual and multicultural diversity for the benefit of its mobile users and workers, by making information available on current and potential developments and by identifying research to be done. Benefits of participation are:
- presence of your brand/company in our reports
- exclusive access to the findings and analyses of our research
- to get connected to the Mulilob network and community
If you want to learn more about the program, just visit the site: www.mulimob.org
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November 25, 2004
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| Business models for 3G players |
3G Americas has published a white paper (.pdf) which identifies the development approaches and business models for consumer wireless applications as well as substantiates the opportunity of this growing wireless data market with the GSM family of technologies.
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November 24, 2004
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| Sms chat with the Prime Minister |
Tony Blair will join a mobile chat room to get in touch with its public. The initiative is the first of its kind, and it's surely extremely interesting. The only problem as The Register reports, is that the questions are being vetted in advance...
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November 22, 2004
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| Text & listen at Jay-Z concerts |
In an innovative in-venue campaign, ThumbPlay has partnered up with Swagger Wireless to provide concertgoers to the current national 'Jay-Z and Friends' tour with an on-screen chat application, in which text messages are displayed on large video screens installed in the concert venues.
ThumbPlay and Swagger Wireless have created the first travelling text-to-big screen application, which enables marketers to develop truly interactive promotional programs with consumers. The application covers all major U.S. carriers, at a cost of 99 cents per message sent up to the big screen. The promotion runs for 30 minutes before each of the 40 concerts on the current U.S. Jay-Z tour, providing a revenue source for the artist as well as a fun, interactive promotional program for audience members.
Are Traasdahl, the president and founder of ThumbPlay commented:
"We wanted to create a promotion that offered something new for the fans, offering a means of interacting with each other in a playful way. The response from the audience has been unbelievable, another sign that the U.S. wireless entertainment market continues to demonstrate steady growth patterns."
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October 12, 2004
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| A cell phone for GrandPa |
The US mobile phone industry is ready to target a "new" generation of consumers: seniors. An article on the The New York Times (free reg. req.) highlights the senior population represents a great opportunity for the market to grow. It won't be easy, since elder people have a lot of concerns around mobile technologies, but if the industry will meet their expectations, the success will be granted.
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October 04, 2004
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| The Power of the Force with your mobile |
Orange's customers in seven European countries are now able to access characters, images, film clips and music clips (true tones and ringtones) from the entire Star Wars saga as mobile content. There is a micro-site promoting the initiative. The site will also include exclusive give-aways and competitions, promoting usage of the new services and content. Throughout the 15-month partnership with Lucasfilm, Orange will also be able to use characters from the Star Wars films in Orange marketing.
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October 01, 2004
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| Wireless anti-spam committee formed |
The Mobile Marketing Association has announced the formation of an anti-spam committee, a second step in the battle against wireless spam, after the release of the Code of Conduct in 2003.
As explained in the press release, with 165 million mobile consumers and 2.5 billion SMS messages sent each month, the United States is the second-largest single pool of cell phone users in the world (China is first). The cell phone is by far the most personal communication device for consumers and the most coveted media platform for advertisers. As this industry continues to burgeon to an estimated $5 billion by the end of 2005, industry leaders must strive to insure that the medium remains spam free.
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September 30, 2004
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Mobile gaming growing in Asia
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Evaluating the future of MMS
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September 15, 2004
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Porkers, Grazers and Nibblers... (???)
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August 26, 2004
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The new "Swiss Army knife"
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July 26, 2004
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SMS' classes for over 50s
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July 07, 2004
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The Big Brother gets it wrong
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July 03, 2004
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Tim condemned for spam
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July 02, 2004
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China: text & fear
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June 21, 2004
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Texting mania in CEE
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June 17, 2004
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Entertainment drives cell phones' replacement
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June 13, 2004
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Baseball likes wireless
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June 11, 2004
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Presidential mobile spam
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June 09, 2004
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Mobile spam might be expensive
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June 07, 2004
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All eyes on mobile entertainment
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May 26, 2004
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Good news from the Wireless Summit
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May 20, 2004
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Singapore's fastest SMS thumbs
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Wireless Paradise City
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May 13, 2004
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Cellular TV Comes to Life
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May 12, 2004
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Mobile: teenagers as evangelists
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Spam: the wireless menace
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April 26, 2004
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Premium rate SMS come to the US
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April 12, 2004
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US wireless: cooperation is the key
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March 15, 2004
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Rabobank believes in I-Mode
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March 03, 2004
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Mobile video services will grow
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March 02, 2004
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Motorola presents Rock the Mobile Vote
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March 01, 2004
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Chinese are in love with SMSs
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February 28, 2004
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A look at Spanish wireless market
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February 26, 2004
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Kodak targets mobile camera phone users
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February 25, 2004
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MSN goes wireless
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February 18, 2004
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Here come voice-enabled shortcodes
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Wireless video for Rugby fans
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February 03, 2004
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SMS: it's a question of point of view
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January 28, 2004
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Get Dilbert on you mobile phone
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January 27, 2004
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Putting wireless stats in context
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January 26, 2004
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American Express launches i-Mode site
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January 19, 2004
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Mobile coupons: a new marketing niche
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January 12, 2004
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November: Wap record in the UK
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December 29, 2003
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I'm dreaming of a... "wireless" Christmas
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Teens, Santa Clause and the mobile phones
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December 20, 2003
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Everyday life with mobile technology
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December 15, 2003
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Verizon tries to introduce ringtones mania in the US
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December 01, 2003
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Music downloads to mobile phone: a new business? Not really
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From SMS to Video: Growing Mobile Data Applications
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A new fashion: the ringback tone
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November 05, 2003
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SMS fever in the UK
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October 21, 2003
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BMW introduces 'ConnectedDrive'
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October 20, 2003
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NHL: vote your MVP with an SMS
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October 09, 2003
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The bright future of cameraphones
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October 08, 2003
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Get your next haircut via MMS
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October 07, 2003
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SMS mania in the UK
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October 01, 2003
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Club Nokia: send your MMS as a postcard
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September 16, 2003
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European SME using mobile e-mail
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September 12, 2003
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Pioneers in synchronous mobile and interactive TV
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September 05, 2003
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Mobile marketers, get ready!
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September 04, 2003
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Book Virgin Atlantic with your phone
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June 29, 2003
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U.S. carriers hope to import text messaging
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June 26, 2003
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Charlie's Angels mobile campaign
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June 06, 2003
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The ringtones business
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June 04, 2003
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Introducing wireless marketing
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Are looking for more cool interactive ideas? Check the archives
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