Hello folks. It’s weekend time again and I’m again digging deep into the RSS feeds I’ve subscribed to. To begin with, here’s a couple of interesting tidbits.
1. Email giant Critical Path has published a report which says that around 79% of mobile users in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy, and Spain are ready to accept ads in their emails if their mobile email service was free. I’ve discussed the concept of mobile web in this blog quite often and to be honest, this news doesn’t surprise me at all.
Just think about it. How much do you pay for your Blackberry email service? What if it was available free of cost? You’ll be able to check emails on the go, right on your mobile phone, for free. So what if the emails had ads attached to them? It’s just a small compromise to be able to use the mobile email service for free, right? At least that’s what a majority of mobile users seem to think. And it’s not just in the U.S. Check out the list of countries – Spain, Germany, UK, US, and Italy. And I’ve not even taken China and India into consideration where mobile web is thriving. So, if you’re a mobile user, be prepared to get a free, ad-funded mobile email service from your operator soon. And if you’re a mobile advertiser, you know where the money is. 
2. We already know Google’s penchant for free mobile phones, and it’s been confirmed once again. In a recent interview, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that mobile phones have become so important in people’s lives that a lot of people spend as much as 8-10 hours talking on their phone. With this being the case, advertising on mobile phones looks like a no-brainer. So, he said that the mobile phone should be free. A free mobile phone funded with advertisements is the future, said Eric.
Well; it sounds enticing. A free mobile phone up for the grabs. But the problem is, you need to advertise sensibly. Customers, at least a majority of them, will not be interested in buying a mobile phone if they get bombarded with random ads round the clock. Like I’ve said a million times before, mobile ads should be targeted, relevant, and most importantly, should provide some value to the user. Let’s see.
Tags: advertiser, advertising on mobile phones, Blackberry, ceo eric schmidt, critical path, email service, free mobile phone, free mobile phones, Google, mobile ads, mobile advertiser, mobile user, mobile users, mobile web
Technorati Tags: advertiser, advertising on mobile phones, Blackberry, ceo eric schmidt, critical path, email service, free mobile phone, free mobile phones, Google, mobile ads, mobile advertiser, mobile user, mobile users, mobile web
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.
Just a few days back, I had blogged about U Mobile, the Philippines based company, which claimed to offer free mobile phone service for users who are willing to view ads on their mobile phone. Now, just a few days later, some people have expressed their concern over the company’s ad policy.
The company claims to offer mobile services worth 350 Pesos (Philippines currency) every month for free, in exchange for mobile ads. However, it turns out that you need to get as many as 23 ads in a day to make use of this free service. In other words, every ad is roughly worth $0.01.
Customers have already started to compare this service with Blyk, the U.K. based company which offers free mobile service in exchange for mobile ads. However, Blyk’s customers are asked to view only up to six ads per day to be able to make use of the free service. So, customers of U Mobile feel a little disappointed to see this apparent difference between the two service providers.
However, some people also speak for U Mobile. They say that they get spam ads in their mobile phone every day which are good for nothing and the ads from U Mobile, however little they are worth, are still better than those spam ads as they tend to gain something at the end of the day.
U Mobile’s service has managed to get a mixed reaction from its user base so far, but I think we should cut them some slack. After all, the company has just introduced this new service and we should give them some time to get settled. If they do really well, advertisers might pay them more and in turn they will be able to cut down the number of ads to fund their free service. I for one will wait for sometime before taking a stand in this issue. How about you?
Tags: ads per day, advertisers, currency, free mobile phone, free mobile service, mobile ads, mobile phone service, mobile services, Philippines, service providers, spam ads, U Mobile
Technorati Tags: ads per day, advertisers, currency, free mobile phone, free mobile service, mobile ads, mobile phone service, mobile services, Philippines, service providers, spam ads, U Mobile
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.
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