RIM Looking to Acquire a Mobile Advertising Network?

The latest news in the mobile world is that Research In Motion, the famed Blackberry maker, is looking to buy a mobile advertising network.

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.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, RIM.

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Indian Mobile Advertisers Await the Arrival of 3G Services

I have always stated that India is one place where mobile advertising could grow really, really big. A recent report from FICCI-KPMG supports by claim again. It says that nearly 80% of mobile users in India do not mind getting ads on their mobile phones if they get something in return – free music downloads, video games, and stuff like that. More importantly, nearly 50% of mobile users say that they would view the ads they get on their phones.

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.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Mobimag - Print Medium Goes Mobile in the Middle East

Mobivision, a digital media solutions provider based in Dubai, has developed a first-of-its-kind mobile application called Mobimag, which allows people to read magazines and newspapers on their mobile phones.

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.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Applications.

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InMobi Raises $8 Million in VC Funding

InMobi, a mobile advertising network company based in Bangalore, India, has raised Rs. 37 crores (about $8 million) funding with the help of venture capitalist firms like Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB). The company, previously known as mKhoj, has managed to raise nearly Rs. 70 crores (about $15 million) so far with the help of venture capitalist firms, which is quite a feat considering it was started only three years back.

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.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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US Mobile Display Ad Spending Likely to Exceed $1 Billion in 2015

ABI Research’s recent report says that mobile advertising spending on display ads in the United States is likely to quadruple in the next few years. The amount spent on mobile display ads, which stands at just over $300 million now, is expected to exceed $1.2 billion in 2015.

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.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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