RIM firmly believes that the only way to take on its arch rivals Apple and Google is to buy a mobile ad network which is big enough to challenge the networks of its rivals. It is said the company has been negotiating with Millennial Media, a Baltimore based advertising network. The talks, however, were not a success as the ad network expected a huge sum – somewhere in the range of $400-500 million.

RIM, understandably, is concerned about paying such a huge price as it believes that it is too expensive a price to pay to acquire the network. If you remember, Apple paid close to $300 million to acquire Quattro and Google paid an astronomical $750 million to acquire AdMob.

Millennial Media, according to sources, is not very interested in the deal as it believes that it has a bright future as an independent company. Also, it believes that an acquisition by RIM would limit its ability to serve targeted ads to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod platforms, which would eventually affect its relationship with Apple. So, it is not willing to give the nod unless it gets the right price.

Since the talks with Millennial Media were less than satisfactory, RIM is also believed to be looking for other mobile advertising networks like Greystripe and JumpTap.

The reason why RIM is so desperate to acquire a mobile ad network is not hard to understand. Its share in the global smartphone market slumped from 19.1 percent to 17.8 percent recently and most of its latest launches like Blackberry Storm, Storm2, and Blackberry Torch have not been a great success. So, to catch up with the rapid growth of Google Android and Apple OS, it believes it has to have its own mobile advertising network. While both Millennial Media and Research In Motion have declined to comment publicly on the developments, it is said that we could expect some big news, particularly from the RIM camp, in the near future.

Voice Keywords is basically a text-to-action version of direct response marketing. Vendors can use certain keywords related to their business in their ads and customers can respond to those ads by texting the keyword to Go800. When they do, a representative from the vendors’ response team immediately gets in touch with them and offers more information about the product.

For example, a mortgage lender can lease the keyword ‘mortgage’ and use it in his marketing campaign. Customers, on seeing the ad, can simply text the word ‘mortgage’ to 46800 (Go800). Immediately, Go800 will call the customers on their mobile phone and connect them to a representative of the mortgage lender. All this happens within a few seconds.

Vendors can lease keywords that they want to use in their marketing campaigns. Go800 says that a lot of keywords, both generic and brand-specific, have been already taken by a number of advertising agencies and businesses.

I think it is a good idea which could become popular with vendors if pitched the right way. There are two reasons why I think this idea will click.

1. It makes it easier for a potential customer to respond to an advert. As a vendor, you cannot expect someone to see your ad, call the toll free number, wait patiently to get in touch with your representative, and get the information. It takes time, which could make some people lose their interest halfway. With Voice Keywords, all a customer needs to do is text a keyword to get a call from a representative instantly.

2. A lot of people do not have smartphones or high end phones with mobile web facility. They will not be able to visit your website immediately and get the information they want. Text messaging, on the other hand, is a facility that is available in almost all types of mobile phones. So, a potential customer can easily text a keyword and get the information he wants in a matter of few seconds.

Go800 plans to make it a global service and is currently building case studies to show potential vendors how they can benefit from such a service.

The idea of a company calling back a customer is certainly new for a lot of people in the industry. So, it might be difficult to convince them to come out of the ‘customer-calling-toll-free-number’ mindset and give this new idea a try. I, however, strongly feel that new ideas like this will become popular in the near future as businesses start looking for ways to become more and more customer friendly.

This news could not have come at a better time for mobile advertisers. 3G services are going to be launched in India by the end of 2010, after which mobile users will be able to access mobile websites and WAP sites at lightning fast speeds. Though India entered the 3G domain in 2008, only the government owned operator, BSNL, was allowed to provide 3G services to customers. So, a huge section of mobile users, who use the services of private players, had to wait for a long time. Later this year, private players will be allowed to provide 3G service, after which there could be a huge increase in the number of 3G users in India.

What makes this report even more special is that Indian mobile market is growing at an astonishing pace. In 2001, there were only about 5 million mobile users in India. Within a decade, the number has increased to a mind-boggling 635 million, which means the market has grown at a jaw-dropping pace. So, India is potentially the biggest market for mobile advertisers all over the world.

Indian mobile advertisers feel that the introduction of 3G services will allow them to reach out to their target customer base more efficiently. So far, SMS advertising has remained the popular choice of advertisers all over the country as a large number of mobile users do not have high-end phones or high speed data connections. The situation, however, is changing rapidly. The increasing number of high-end phone users and the introduction of affordable 3G services mean that advertisers will now be able to reach out to their customers through video based and MMS based ads. So, Indian mobile advertising industry is awaiting the arrival of private players in the 3G domain eagerly.

1. AT&T still remains the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S. The unprecedented success of the iPhone has helped AT&T increase its subscriber base significantly. In such a case, a shift towards Microsoft is seen by many as a shift away from Apple.

2. Microsoft is not a very big name in the mobile phone domain today, which is ruled by two of its greatest rivals – Google and Apple. So, many believe that AT&T will not gain much from a partnership with Microsoft.

On the surface, it looks like AT&T is taking a big risk by ordering such a huge number of Windows Mobile 7 devices. However, if you take a closer look, you will realize that it is not as risky as it seems.

First, there are rumors that the exclusive deal between AT&T and Apple might end soon. Industry insiders say that a Verizon version and a T-Mobile version of the iPhone might be in the offing, which would effectively end AT&T’s stint as the exclusive iPhone carrier in the country. If these rumors are indeed true, it makes sense for AT&T to look for an alternative since the iPhone will be no longer unique to its network.

Microsoft, due to various reasons, is still struggling to compete with Apple and Google and is desperately trying to become a dominant force in the mobile phone domain for ages. It is betting big on Windows Phone 7, which is expected to be loaded with highly advanced features. If Windows Phone 7 becomes a success, AT&T will be able to retain its position as a prominent carrier in the country and Microsoft will be able to gain a much needed foothold in the mobile phone market. So, whichever way you look at it, it is certainly an interesting move by AT&T. Will it pay off? Let us wait and watch.

Mobimag is an ad-funded platform, which means it is available free to customers. The developers call it an intuitive, effective, and interactive advertising platform. They say the adverts could be in the form of small applications, games, videos, or animations, which gives advertisers a variety of choices to reach their target customer base. The platform has a ‘click to call’ button which customers can use to respond to the adverts.

The USP of the application is that it displays magazines and newspapers exactly in the same format as their print versions. It allows users to open and view the content in a mobile friendly format. Accessing print material on mobile phones is a fairly new concept in the Middle East, so, understandably, the application has garnered a lot of attention quickly.

Prominent UAE publishers including Campaign Middle East, Gulf Business Magazine, and the 7DAYS newspaper are available on the platform. Mobivision plans to have at least 20 publishers onboard within the end of the year. It should not be a problem as the platform offers a solution to a problem that most publishers in the region face – lack of multiple revenue streams. So, publishers are most likely to use this platform to deliver their content to the fast-growing mobile phone user base in the region.

Mobimag is compatible with more than 240 mobile phones, including Windows Mobile and Symbian based smartphones and certain models of Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, and HTC. Surprisingly, it is not compatible with the Blackberry, Android, and the iPhone – three of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the Middle Eastern region today. The company, however, has stated that customized applications for the Blackberry, Android, and the iPhone will be released later this year. It has also mentioned that a very special application for the iPad will be released shortly.

InMobi specializes in serving ads, most of which are CPC (cost per click) ads, on mobile sites and mobile applications. The InMobi platform serves close to 17 billion ad impressions every month, of which nearly 10 billion impressions are served in the Asia Pacific region alone. It is not surprising since the company’s largest market, India, which has more than 600 million mobile phone users, and a number of other smaller markets including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand are from this region.

InMobi plans to use these funds to expand its presence in the US, Japan, and African markets. Abhay Singhal, the co-founder of the company, stated that the company is keen on investing in technology and manpower to establish their presence strongly in these regions.

Such news, in my opinion, will send a positive signal to a lot of mobile advertising startups not just in India, but all over the world. Despite the fact that the global economy has taken a bad hit, mobile ad firms continue to attract VCs and get funds to expand their presence, which is quite amazing. It just goes to show that the number of people who believe that mobile advertising, as an industry, has a bigger and better future is growing by the day.

Go! Shopping is a location based application that lets people find their way through the busy shopping malls of Singapore. It gives people access to indoor maps of various shopping malls in the country. With this app, people can find the details of particular stores at the click of a button. They can even save the details for future references.

Price Pal is a barcode based application that lets people find and compare the prices of various products easily. All a customer needs to do is scan the product barcode using his cell phone camera. The app will immediately display the prices of the product sold in various retail stores. This helps people compare the offers of various retailers and make an informed purchase decision.

Property Buddy is an application that gives valuable real estate information for people. If a customer needs to get a list of properties for sale or rent, all he needs to do is point his mobile phone camera towards the direction of the properties he wants to search. The app will display a list of for sale/for rent properties available in the area and their transacted prices.

SingTel has stated that these applications will be available free of cost for its subscribers. It, however, adds that it plans to generate revenue with the help of advertising. It says that the apps will come with standard in-app mobile ads that people will not find too intrusive. It also gives its customers the option of receiving targeted ads based on their preferences. These ads, however, are meant only for people who are interested in disclosing their preferences. The rest, who are not interested in the offer, can continue to enjoy these apps with limited ads.

Neil Strother of ABI Research says that a survey conducted by the firm in February revealed that 28% of mobile users use the mobile internet facility regularly. He says that the percentage of mobile internet users has increased phenomenally in the last 14 months, which is a great sign for the mobile advertising market.

The report, based on the inputs from a number of mobile marketers, technology vendors, mobile network operators, and advertising agency executives, says that there has been a steady increase in the amount allocated for mobile ad campaigns by companies. Industry insiders say that they have been seeing year-over-year increases of 25%-30%, which is unprecedented when you consider the fact that the industry is still in its infant stage.

Marketers use different types of ads like mobile display ads, text message ads, in-app ads, search ads, and video ads to reach their target audience. They rely on simple text message ads to reach people with low end phones that lack advanced features like mobile TV, internet, audio, and video. On the other hand, they use a variety of rich, multimedia ads to reach people with smartphones that come loaded with advanced features. Statistics show that smartphone penetration in the US is just about 20% now. As this number increases, we can expect a huge surge in the number of mobile ads served across the country.

One of the important signs that indicate a bright future for the industry is the entry of big players like Apple and Google. So far, the industry has been dominated by independent ad networks like Millennial Media, Jumptap, and Greystripe. Google’s acquisition of AdMob and Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless, however, has changed the scenario completely. It shows that the idea of using the mobile phone as an advertising medium is slowly getting mainstream acceptance, which is great news for anyone is related to the mobile advertising industry.

The report sheds some light on Apple app store, the most popular name when it comes to mobile applications. As some of you might be aware of, Apple’s mobile app portal registered its 4 billionth download in April 2010, which is a remarkable feat. While ‘4 billion’ sounds like a huge number, the fact that most of these downloads were free makes us look at the statistics in a completely different manner. In fact, the number of paid-for applications is somewhere in the range of 5% to 15% of the total number of apps downloaded. So, the report says that the number of downloads and the amount of revenue generated are not directly proportional and hence an increase in the number of downloads does not necessarily mean an increase in industry revenues.

One of the main points that the report raises is the importance of developing mobile applications that can be accessed using a wide range of handsets. While platform-specific applications can be downloaded and used only by a particular set of mobile users, these generic applications can be downloaded and used by anyone who has a mobile phone. This move can be particularly effective in developing markets where the use of high end mobile phones and smartphones is very rare as most of the people still use low end phones.

The report also discusses in detail a number of topics including the need for scale, the need to monetize the mass market, app store overload, and content legacy. You can find more details here.

The FTC was reluctant to approve Google’s $750 million acquisition of AdMob because of just one reason – it thought the move would give Google an edge over all its competitors and make it a monopoly in the mobile advertising market. It thought the deal would make Google too big for any competitor to take on. Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless in January, however, changed everything.

The acquisition of Quattro gave Apple a strong chance to dominate the mobile ad market. Moreover, an increasingly large number of people are using Apple iPhone and iPad to access the web on the go. So, the FTC decided that Apple’s deal with Quattro Wireless, coupled with the fact that the company has a significant presence in the smartphone market, will definitely mitigate the dominance of Google as a mobile advertising powerhouse and approved the latter’s acquisition of AdMob.

The FTC, in its own words, admitted that the decision was very difficult to make as the parties involved in the deal (Google and AdMob) are two of the most powerful mobile advertising networks in the world today. The regulators were worried about antitrust issues, which is one of the main reasons why they did not approve of the deal right away. The deal between Apple and Quattro Wireless changed their opinion and overshadowed their concerns. As a result, Google can now breathe a sigh of relief.

This, in my opinion, is the best thing that could have happened to the mobile advertising industry. Apple, which recently released the iPad, is poised to become a dominant force in the market and Google, with its Android OS, is already making waves in the market. As of now, the top players in the market include Apple, Symbian, Blackberry, Android, and Microsoft. The AdMob deal, however, gives Google a definite edge over its competitors.

The deal has made Google the largest mobile advertising network in the world today. As some of you already know, AdMob recently served its 200 billionth ad and serves, on average, 8.5 billion mobile ads every month. The company has its presence in more than 160 countries and has some of the biggest companies in the world as its clients. So, Google is all set to become the most dominant player in the market. Its competitors have their work cut out. It should be an interesting battle.