Spiral Arm News

Free and advertising-based GPS services.

In Australia, Vodafone are offering one-year of free GPS navigation to new customers.

'IDC wireless research analyst Jerson Yau said it "may be a while before GPS becomes akin to cameras in mobile phones" but expected the technology would become more prevalent towards the middle to high-end of the mobile handset market within 12 months. [..] "You can only sell so many ringtones and so many video and music clips . . . before the consumer says 'I'm after something truly useful to my day-to-day life'," he said.'

From the SMH.

Skype to launch handset with 3.

"Skype is preparing to launch its own branded mobile phone in conjunction with the 3 mobile network as early as this month." Free calls over the internet from mobile devices is the promise. From The Sydney Morning Herald.

USA: two-thirds can send and receive text messages.

eMarketer report on an InsightExpress survey. In terms of features used, 86% of 18-24 year olds sent texts, dropping to 68% of 55-64 year olds. The research found that 41.5% of the adult US mobile users included in the survey of July 207 sent a text message.

"An Ingenio-Harris Interactive study conducted in March and April 2007 found that mobile users were generally opposed to mobile ads. Still, a third of respondents said that sponsored text links were at least somewhat acceptable."

Mobile advertising tiny, but a potential goldmine.

"Advertising on mobile phones is a tiny business. Last year spending on mobile ads was US$871m worldwide according to Informa Telecoms & Media, a research firm, compared with US$24 billion spent on internet advertising and US$450 billion spent on all advertising. But marketing wizards are beginning to talk about it with the sort of hyperbole they normally reserve for products they are paid to sell. It is destined, some say, to supplant not only internet advertising, the latest fad, but also television, radio, print and billboards, the four traditional pillars of the business." The Economist, October 6, 2007, p. 85.

The article goes on, commenting that text messaging is the dominant form for mobile advertising at the moment, but web pages, music, games and video are starting to appear with or as part of advertising.

The potential of mobile advertising is clear:

• Annual mobile advertising revenue could reach between US$11.4b and US$20b by 2010.


• The 2.5b phones can reach a larger audience than the 1b personal computers.


• Handset ownership is growing faster than PC ownership, especially so in poorer countries.


• People carry their phones with them everywhere.


• Relevance: network operator's customer information coluld make mobile advertising the most focussed.

Google mobile advertising launched.

Google press release: "AdSense for Mobile is intended for AdSense partners who have created websites specifically for mobile browsers, and who want to monetize their mobile content via contextual advertising. Like Google's other AdSense products, mobile text ads run on an auction model. The system automatically reviews the content of publishers' mobile websites and delivers text ads that are relevant to the websites’ audience and content. Publishers earn money whenever mobile users click on the ads".

The Register: "Google is planning to trans-code the [advertiser] landing pages to suit the mobile device being used, but even if it can squeeze the whole thing onto a mobile phone in a useable form, it's questionable if the content of the landing page will be of interest to the user."

Sources:

• Google AdSense for Mobile unlocks the potential of the mobile advertising market, Google Press Release.


• Google launches AdSense for Mobile, Computing.


• Google punts ads on the move, The Register.


• Google to Sell Web-Page Ads Visible on Mobile Phones, New York Times.