Mobicom’s first quarter results and a special request for experts

Mobicom Corp. recently released its first quarter operating results as of March 31, 2008. The figures were astonishing to say the least. The total revenue was $1,382,858. The total revenue for the same period in 2007, just a year back, was only $54,959. No, that’s not a typo. From $54,959 to $1,382,858 in just one freaking year. That’s a whopping, unbelievable, incredible increase of 2416%.

The important thing, though, is that a major part of the revenue was from Mobicom Korea’s consulting division, which helps its clients develop mobile marketing campaigns. So, there you go. A company, whose revenue is driven primarily from its mobile marketing consulting division, has had an astounding increase in revenue – 2416%.

This brings me to a special request which I have for all the so-called experts who talk trash about mobile advertising all the time.

Dear old mobile advertising experts, the next time you decide to write something along the lines of ‘mobile advertising’s future looks bleak’, etc, etc, I humbly request you to read this news item. Once, twice, and then if you don’t understand, one more time. That, in my opinion, will do a lot of good for you.

Thanks.

Categories: Rant.

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Using QR codes in mobile advertising

We’ve already seen that the usage of QR codes in mobile advertising has been very popular in countries like Japan and Korea. Now, it has transcended yet another boundary and gone to Singapore.

Singapore Press Holdings has introduced this technology called ZapCodes in Singapore. With this, mobile phone users will be able to get more information on a product or service simply by scanning the ZapCode in an advertisement through their mobile phone camera. The ZapCode software, when installed in your mobile phone, will scan the ZapCode, decipher the message, and send more information to you via a WAP site. The WAP site will have more information on the product or service mentioned in the advertisement. The WAP site might have pictures, gift vouchers, discount coupons, or videos.

This technology, as I’ve always said, is way easier than the usual text message stuff that we are used to. Just imagine, which one is easier? Taking a snap of an ad with your mobile camera and getting the info in a jiffy via a WAP site or typing a code and sending it as a text message to a number and waiting for the info to come in another text message?

This technology could be particularly a huge success in the U.S., if implemented properly. According to statistics, more than 60% of mobile phones in the U.S. have in-built cameras and this makes a huge market for QR code based mobile advertising.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Using QR codes in mobile advertising a good idea?

One of the stories that I read recently in a website caught my attention. It’s about using QR codes (Quick Response codes) in mobile advertising. Even I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time and the person who wrote that story almost stole the words from my mouth.

For those of you who don’t know – unlike other ordinary codes, the contents of a QR code can be scanned and decoded at a very high speed.

QR codes are very popular in countries like Japan and Korea but not so in the U.S. or even in Europe for that matter. In Japan and Korea, these QR codes in advertisements can be scanned and decoded by mobile phones. So, when you see an ad, you can simply scan the code with your mobile phone and it will take you to a hyperlink or WAP sites where you can get a wealth of information about the product/service mentioned in the ad.

More than 40% of mobile users in Japan use their mobile phones to scan QR codes in adverts regularly. In fact, a lot of mobile phones in Japan come preloaded with the application required to scan such codes. If not, the app can be downloaded from the internet without much trouble.

This has helped mobile advertisers a lot in Japan and Korea. Mobile users find it easier to scan codes to get information rather than having to send a text message or make a call. So, this minimizes effort on mobile users’ part and makes the job of the mobile advertiser easier than ever.

It would be great if U.S. and Europe can catch up with this technology, as it can be a tremendous opportunity for advertisers to reach out to end users without much trouble. I think this idea will get a great response from mobile users as well, as all they need to do is, take a snap of the ad with their mobile phone and get all the information they want. What do you think?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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